First off, I'll ask for a moment of silence: Carmine Giovinazzo is now officially off the market (and there goes my chance at him, and those of millions like me!) *tear*
OK, back to serious business: Thank you once again for your awesome reviews everyone: I'm really excited that you want to take this ride with me (I just hope I don't disappoint anybody!)
This is just a short one, getting the Messers from their home to the station. I hope you like it!
Enjoy!
The ride back to the station had been a quiet one. After Lindsay secured Lucy's carseat in the back seat of the Avalanche, a task Danny had offered to do if Lindsay took Lucy but Lindsay ignored, Danny placed Lucy in the seat and took a seat behind Stella. He had hoped that Lindsay would take the other spot in the backseat, but when she instead took the front passenger seat, Danny couldn't help but feel a little hurt.
The entire ride, he kept looking over at her, wanting her to glance back and even acknowledge him, but Lindsay kept her eyes forward, glued to the passing scenery out the front windshield. When Stella pulled the truck into the garage, Danny noticed that Adam and Hawkes were anxiously waiting for them. Danny undid his seatbelt and reached over to get Lucy out of her seat, where she had once again fallen into a deep sleep during the car ride. Stepping out of the vehicle, he went to join everyone else at the back of the vehicle.
"Adam, go get the carseat," Hawkes instructed the young man, sharing a look with Stella before he turned his full attention to the couple. "Here Danny, give Lucy to me. Adam and I will watch her for you." Hawkes reached out to take Lucy, but Danny reacted by tightening his hold on her and backing away from his co-worker.
"Why are you two going to be watching her? Where the hell are Lindsay and I going?" Danny was careful to keep his voice somewhat calm, but his eyes showed the anger he felt building up inside. Hawkes made no attempt to answer, instead looking at Stella once more. With a heavy sigh, she answered Danny's questions.
"You and Lindsay are going to be questioned by IAB, so somebody need to stay with Lucy. I'm staying with you, so Hawkes and Adam are taking Lucy to your office and letting her sleep there until you're done."
Danny looked at his three co-workers, unable to believe what he was hearing. "That's not happening. You're not separating us."
Stella stepped forward and placed a hand on Danny's shoulder. "After everything that you guys have been through in the past two days, it's the last thing that anyone wants to do, but this needs to be done by the book. There's no room for error here."
Danny wasn't sure what to do: he knew deep down that Stella was right, but the biggest part of him didn't care about that, he just wanted to keep Lindsay and Lucy with him. He looked to Lindsay, hoping that she would back him up.
Lindsay kept her eyes trained on the ground below her during the entire exchange. She was only vaguely aware that everyone was staring at her, waiting to see her reaction to what was being proposed. Her answer finally came when she looked up and nodded, making eye contact with no one, and handed the playpen off to Adam as he came back to join them with the carseat.
The will to keep fighting left Danny, and he turned his head to place a kiss to Lucy's temple before handing her over to Hawkes. Hawkes made sure she was securely on his shoulder before he reached down to grab the handle of Lucy's suitcase and her diaper bag. "She'll be OK with us, don't worry. Just focus on what you need to do now."
Neither Danny nor Lindsay reacted to what Hawkes said, so with one last glance at Stella, he headed for the elevator, Adam following closely behind. Danny watched them in silence until the elevator doors closed, and then he turned back towards the truck. Stella watched him with sad eyes while Lindsay once again stared at the ground, keeping her hand on the handle of their suitcase.
"Ready?" Stella asked. Danny nodded without thinking and Lindsay led the way to the elevator, followed by Stella with Danny bringing up the rear.
Stepping off the elevator and beginning to walk through the station, Danny noticed the hush that followed them as people saw them. He tried not to let the stares get to him, but he felt every single pair of eyes fall on them, some with pity, others with confusion. Finally arriving at the interrogation rooms, Danny noticed that there were two CSIs from the other shift, a man and a woman, already waiting for them. Stella nodded at the two in greeting and stopped, waiting for both Danny and Lindsay to catch up and face her.
"You're being put in these two rooms across from one another. Your clothes are needed for evidence, so you'll need to get some clothes…"
"Stella, we know how this works, you don't need to explain it to us," Danny curtly responded, reaching for the handle of the suitcase. His hand lightly brushed against Lindsay's, but she acted like it didn't even happen and just let go of the handle. Danny leaned down and opened the suitcase, grabbing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans for himself, and closed it up once more.
Without another word, he walked into the interrogation room on the left and placed his clothes on the table, remembering that he needed to sit on the side facing the two-way mirror for once. There was no need for the CSI to explain what he needed, so Danny watched as he quietly closed the blinds and took the necessary tools from his kit.
Danny first took off his shirt and placed it into the evidence bag, exposing the bruises he had sustained from his confrontation with Shane Casey in the lighthouse. "The bruises are from the lighthouse fight, not from tonight." He knew that they'd be able to tell that these weren't hours-old bruises, but Danny felt the need to clarify anyways.
The CSI said nothing, taking photos of the injuries he saw as required. Danny removed his pants and stood there as photos were taken of his battered left knee, the one Casey had kicked in an attempt to get the upper hand in the fight.
As the CSI put the camera away, Danny knew he could put his clothes back on. Dressed once more, Danny stood still as his hands were tested for GSR and the CSI scraped under his fingernails for any trace evidence.
With his job now finished, the CSI packed up his kit, took the evidence bag with Danny's clothes and left the room, leaving Danny all alone with his thoughts. He began to pace back and forth in the room, wondering if someone was back there watching him through the mirror. He thought about going over to the glass and banging on it, but having been on the other side many times when a suspect had done that, he knew that nobody would respond. Instead, he moved over to the window closest to the room his wife was in and peaked out, seeing that both CSIs were now finished their tasks and were out in the hallway talking with Stella. He focused on the room where his wife was for a moment, but he saw absolutely no movement from behind the closed blind of Lindsay's room.
Danny put his head and hands up against the blinds and closed his eyes, feeling his frustration not only at being separated from his family but also at the huge wall Lindsay had thrown up around herself. He felt the first few tears begin to roll down his cheeks and he pushed himself away from the window, stumbling over to a chair and collapsing in it. He let his head fall into his hands and started to cry, afraid that Shane Casey had indeed managed to destroy his life without killing a single person he loved.
Alright, I think I've danced around the subject enough: in the next chapter, you WILL find out what happened at the apartment, as IAB arrives and begins their interrogation…with Danny.
Until then, thanks for reading everybody!
