Title: Sons of Man, Daughters of Heaven
Author: Bekah26
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: none
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, wish I could, but I don't.
Content Warning: CSI NY/ CSI Miami fantasy AU cross
Chapter 1
Danny, Aiden Burn decided, had been jumpy all day. And not just jumpy, he acted paranoid, skittish, and kept an eye on his surroundings at all times. She finally had enough of it and told him so at lunch, in her own delicate way.
"Snap outta it, Messer!" She slapped the back of his head. "I'm all for vigilance but you're driving me crazy!"
He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Aid. It's just, I've got this feeling, ya know?" And then he looked around again.
"DANNY! Enough! So you got this feeling, ok? Just talk it out with me. What brought this on, girlfriend's husband catch on?" She smirked and sipped her cola. Danny grinned back.
"Naw, you should now me well enough to know that I don't get caught." But then his expression leaked towards serious. "But honestly, I don't know, its like that early warning you get when approaching a perp, ya know? That tingle that says it could go one-way or the other? That's what its like."
Aiden's frown matched Danny's. "And you don't know why?"
Danny shook his head.
Aiden watched him for a minute, studying the look on her friend's face. The tension she expected, they were in the middle of an open case after all, but there was a shadow hovering over his expression that seemed out of place, making his normally sparkling eyes seem haunted in the lab's lighting. Finishing her sandwich she slammed her palms on the table-which had the added bonus of startling Danny out of his thoughts-and stood.
"Here's what we're gonna do. We go back to work and you keep your head in the game, Messer." Danny frowned and looked about to protest about his current state of mind. Aiden raised a finger to stop him. "And then we go out tonight and forget about, maybe head to Sullivan's, maybe to a club so you can hook up, ease your tension. THAT is what's gonna happen, got it?"
He looked at her and then a smile crept out. "You taken' lessons from Stella?"
She grinned and winked at him. "Of course! How else do you think she keeps Mac in line?"
They linked arms as they walked out of the break room, grinning at each other, mood forgotten.
"Leather cuffs."
Easier said then done, Danny sighed and rubbed his nose, lifting his glasses off his face. He had lived too long to know when not to ignore that little sixth sense and it was screaming at him now. But for what reason he couldn't figure out; there was no one he had pissed off (not even Mac), and the case had closed with no problem. So, he worried, what was it? He was still wondering about when he wandered into the locker room and was just grabbing his stuff when Mac enter, looking solemn.
"Danny," He said and then Danny knew.
"Yeah Mac?" The words were a hoarse croak; he hadn't survived three years under this man and hadn't learned to read his body language.
"I just got word from Miami, Danny. Officer Timothy Speedle is dead."
"What?" Danny gasped, hands digging into the metal of his locker painfully, the edge biting into his palm; he didn't feel it.
"He was killed in the line of duty. I'm sorry, I know that you had formed a friendship during the case that brought Caine to New York. I just, thought that it would be better to hear it from me then in rumors."
Danny's eyes snapped open. "Why? Why would there be rumors, Mac? How did he die?"
"In an investigation his weapon proved faulty, and he was shot at the scene. At first they believed his gun was dirty, but their ballistics found that the firing pin malfunctioned."
No, Danny thought, it wasn't possible. He knew Speed, knew that while neither of them liked guns-hell, Danny preferred to foot it after suspects rather then draw- they both knew that keeping their partners safe was paramount; therefore, they cleaned their guns. But, for this to have happened...His eyes widened. It wasn't an accident. It wasn't a tragedy. Deliberate, but, deliberate by who? And why? Speed lived a quiet life, one Danny had unmercifully teased him about, so who would have targeted him in this way and why? Out of all of them Speed was the most gentle, caring-
Lord.
"Danny? Danny!"
"What?!" He twisted his hand towards Mac, teeth clenched as realization flooded thorough him. Mac was staring at his hand where it had grabbed hold of the locker's edge deep enough to bleed.
"Fuck." Danny pulled it close, closing his body language down, curling in on himself. He couldn't do this, couldn't be here right now, not when it was so close, not when he knew what Speed had done but not why.
"Danny let me see," Mac demanded as he closed in, but Danny was used to this, to being of the defense, and sidled away with ease.
"Its nothing Mac, just a cut. My shifts over and I'm going home; let Aiden know that plans are cancelled, yeah? See ya tomorrow."
And he was gone, making his escape with practiced ease, fueled with the desire to get out.
He never knew how he got home just that he was there, in his comfort zone, with no comfort in sight. His heart was bursting out of his chest, painfully beating against his ribs like it wanted to escape, and really, Danny couldn't blame it.
"What the hell happened Tim, that made you do this?"
It was a painful exclamation, shouted rage and pain without outlet, and the words fell down upon him like whip lashes.
"Why didn't you call me?" Danny whispered as the sobs overtook him where he had crumpled to the floor, fetal position, alone and desolate.
From the corner of his mind he took notice that someone was banging on his door, pounding on it like their life depended on it but he couldn't move. The pounding continued until he did move, had to move, anything to shut it up. His hands fumbled on the latch and close as he was to it now, each hit made his head swell and explode.
"Stop intruding on my breakdown you asshole!" Danny snarled, wrenching the door back with violence he usually kept contained. All action froze when he was faced with the dark-haired woman on the other side, hair askew, clothes and skin covered with dirt, and hand raised as if to pound again. Blue eyes met brown as they stared at each other, frozen in the tableau before them, until the woman calmly lowered her arm and rested her body against the doorframe.
"Is that anyway to talk to your baby sister?"
One corner of her mouth curled up wearily, her body slowly making its way towards the floor, until finally falling as its owner lost consciousness just as Danny lunged forward.
"Speed!"
