Flack's gaze was still lingering on the foreign object which was obtruding from his friend's body where it did not belong. It sounds like a cliché but in moments like this you genuinely freeze – your mind just isn't strong enough to deal with the multitude of emotions trying to occur at once.

"Don." The voice came again but this time a little weaker than before.

Flack was suddenly brought out of his stupor as the colour and noise flooded back into his world.

"Okay… okay man… has it…I mean is it…you know in your leg." The ever controlled and composed Detective was now in a situation he felt was spiralling out of his control. He took a deep shaky breath and tried to steady his hands – Danny needed him now more than ever and he had to get his act together.

No wise cracking comment came in reply Danny merely widened his eyes and raised his eyebrows toward the sky – a look which said it all. "What the hell do you think?"

"Right – just stay with me buddy." Reaching back into his waist band Flack pulled out his radio and took a breath before speaking as clear and slow as he could. "Detective Flack to Central, I have a 10-13. Repeat I have a 10-13 – Officer down. I need EMS assistance immediately to the alley at 52nd and King."

His radio cracked and gurgled out a response – to which he paid no attention, medical help ways on its way and that was all he needed to know. His mind raced back to his training at the academy and the numerous re-training days he was made to go on during his career, desperately his mind searching for any scarp of information which would help him here and now in this alley.

"Okay here's what were gonna do…" Flack tailed off as he caught sight of Danny's eyes. Both pupils were now huge, filling up most of his the inner eye, sporadically his eye lids flickered and his vision would roll toward the back of his head.

Gripping Danny by the shoulders he gave him a forceful shake – "Dan! Danny!"

Lazily the blue eyes roll forward roaming the alley before coming to rest on Flacks shoulder, looking down he tried to see what Danny was staring at but could find no source of interest.

Danny ran his tongue over his lips slowly trying to get some relief to his unexpectedly parched mouth. His vision was swirling and twisting like something out of Lucy's Disney movies, colours were leaping out from the air. He found it impossible to focus meaning that everything around him seemed to be coming toward him and then suddenly they had gone back to where they came from.

Flack was staying crouched beside his friend helplessly watching the events unfold with very little he could do to help. The effects of the syringe were clearly taking effects on Danny's body and mind. A red hue was filling Danny's usually sallow cheeks, the colour spreading out beneath his eyes and across his cheek bones. Raising a hand Flack touched the backs of his fingers to a cheek, instantly the intense heat radiated into his fingers.

"Come on Danno don't do this to me?" Flack muttered under his breath looking quickly along both sides of the alley. It couldn't have been more than 10 minutes since he spotted Danny's foot from behind the dumpster.

New York traffic was a bitch at the best of times, never mind Friday lunch hour when all the city workers were making their way around for their midday meal. Flack's only hope was that the ambulance could bully its way through the streets at record speed – the 10-13 call should have been enough to get them moving a double sped.

Running his hand down from Danny's cheek it rested upon his chest, as he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt in an attempt to let some of heat out from his body. As Don's hand worked the buttons, he could feel Danny's chest rise and falling shallow beneath the fabric.

This was a clear sign to Don that things were starting to go very very wrong. Danny's usually strong breath, used generally for snorts of contempt or laughter, was barely registering beneath Don's hand.

"Okay here we go Danno…trust me for a plan of action?" Pushing several boxes to the side he slipped a hand around Danny's neck and tilted him to the side laying him gently into his lap.

"Right we gotta make a deal here buddy. You keep those eyes open and keep breathing" he tried to keep his voice as even as possible, "and in return I promise not to tell anyone about the time Anna Jessop stood you up in the bar for that air force dude."

It was a vain attempt to do something he kept up the inane chatter to Danny, even though he could no longer see the pupils of his eyes as they were rolled back so far, sweat trickled down his forehead and his breath getting shallow with every difficult pant.

'Where the hell is this ambulance...'