Sotto copertura

Chapter Three: Missione (The Assignment)

By LoveAnimeForever


"Morning, sunshine," Danny greeted as he walked into the lab.

"…Is that another one of your country girl jokes, Messer?"

"Morning, Lindsay," he corrected, déjà vu striking him for a moment.

"Better."

"Haven't seen you around for some time-"

"Before you say anything, Mac gave me the week off. Said he'd call me if the pace picked up again."

"Lucky girl," Danny teased.

"No, actually. Had the most boring week of my life. But! I'm back now; maybe a bit of a feminine touch'll help break that case of yours. Been stuck long on it?"

Danny tried to appear as grudging as possible in his admittance. "Not long, exactly."

"Right."

By this time they'd taken the familiar routes to their usual places at the lab benches, and they placed their boxes of archived evidence before them. There'd been a suspicious pattern relating the cold case Danny and Sheldon had been working on with another file, which brought another pile of evidence, and, hopefully, a new set of leads. With Sheldon out doing a bit of field work, the Montana girl was much-needed help. Maybe they would break the case with her input. Danny covered the details and the investigation so far, and they were about to settle in for a day of reprocessing the archives when Stella appeared at the door.

"Oh, Lindsay, you're here. Wonderful. You can take Danny's place in the cold case investigation."

Her two juniors looked up, confused. "Why?"

"Mac and I need him on our case."

"What, signor and signora can't handle a double homicide?"

"Knock it off, Danny."

"Alright, alright… What do you need me for, anyway?"

Stella smiled, a little too sweetly for its meaning to be anything good. "You'll see. Now, come on, Mac wants us at his office."

"You sure he doesn't just want you at his office?"

"Toeing the line, Messer… Watch it." But she was still smiling, and there was the faintest hint of pink on her cheeks.

"Si, signora- ow!"

Lindsay laughed quietly to herself from the bench as her colleagues left. Despite the sudden load on her first day, it was good to be back to work.


When Stella and Danny reached Mac's office, both the man and Don were already there, waiting, the one sitting behind his desk and the other in a chair facing it, like Mac and Stella had been the evening before. The other two CSIs entered, and after greetings, Stella ushered her colleague into the remaining chair beside Don and standing between them, arms folded.

"Alright, boys," she began, finally, "Mac has an assignment for you."

"It was your idea, Stella."

"Your personnel."

Mac sighed. "Alright, we need you two to go on an undercover mission."

Don raised an eyebrow. "That's it? You called me down from the precinct-"

"And pulled me from my case-"

"For an incognito?"

"Not just any incognito…" Mac hesitated, clearly uncomfortable with the subject matter.

Stella sighed, amused, and took over to spare her friend the mortification. "We need you two to go undercover." Nods from the two men. "For our case." Nods again.

Don looked slightly confused, but Danny glanced over. I'll explain that later.

"As a couple."

Silence. First was shock, and then –

"Wait, wha-" Pause. Realisation. Don blinked, incredulous.

"Hell, no!" Danny got up from his seat and whirled around to face Stella, a disbelieving grin on his face. "You're joking, right?"

An I-told-you-so look from Mac.

"Sadly, no, I'm not joking."

"Yeah, and Sid's actually perfectly normal."

Danny folded his arms, almost like a stubborn child. His grin had been replaced by a frown and Don didn't look too pleased, either.

"Look, you two are the best candidates – if not the only candidates – for this case, considering that the only people we want to send are people that we trust."

"Well, why not you and Mac?"

Mac pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping to ward off the headache he could just feel coming. "We need two guys."

Don's jaw dropped. "Why?"

"Our murderer goes for gay couples."

"He went for one gay couple, Stella," Danny countered. "Mac says it all the time; once isn't enough to establish a pattern, let alone a killer's MO."

"It's the only lead we have."

"…I don't think you should send us."

The discomfort was clear in Don's voice as he kept his eyes trained on Danny's back, watching for a reaction. Stella caught him, though he didn't even realize he was doing it subconsciously. She smirked. Ah, but you do think so, Donnie…

"At least give us a reason, so we can live with ourselves. If we take the job."

"Doesn't sound like we have a choice," Don muttered.

Danny sighed and turned. He mouthed a few words. Against her? No we don't.

Don snorted.

"There, you see? You're practically telepathic! You'll pass off for the role easily, and you're already close enough to live together without any problems."

"Oh, so we have to live together, now? This just keeps getting better."

"Yes," Mac cut in, "it does. And when the situation calls for it-"

"Which it will," Stella interjected.

"Which it will," her partner acceded, "you will have to act the part, too."

Don glanced at Stella. "And what does that entail, exactly?"

Her eyes lit up. "For one? Be comfortable in each others' space – but then again, you already are. Did you know, that you're already invading each other's personal sp-"

"Stella, you're starting to sound like Sid."

"…And then you have to hold hands, and-"

Danny rolled his eyes. "And what, make puppy eyes at each other and say 'I love you' every other minute?"

"Well, yes, pretty much. Glad you get the idea."

Danny sunk back into the chair he'd been using earlier. Stella's grin only got wider as he and Don shared despairing glances.

"And just how long is this assignment going to be?"

"Indef-"

"Three months, tops." Mac shot Stella a pointed look.

"…And it's imperative we do this, or you won't get your killer?"

"Close enough."

"…We don't actually have a choice, do we?"

"Actually, y-"

"No, you don't."

Don and Danny glanced between Stella and Mac, who seemed quite out-of-sync compared to their usual behavior. What with their answers overlapping each others', the two guys didn't really know who to listen. The pair was had a silent conversation across the desk, and then Mac sunk into the back of his chair, conceding the argument to his partner.

All the worst answers.

"So, we don't have a choice…"

"And we have to stay on the case until we get the guy?"

Of course, they both knew they could pull out at any moment they wanted, because Mac – despite his outward appearance and attitude – cared a lot for his colleagues, and even Stella wouldn't force them into a mission they didn't want to take. But if it would solve the case… Another glance between the two soon-to-be undercover agents.

"Flack, I love you, man." Danny managed a semblance of a grin after his words, but it was more of a grimace.

Don cringed. "Never, ever, say that again, Messer."

Mac offered them a sympathetic smile, then proceeded with the briefing. He spread the various pages and photographs of the case report across his desk, and they covered everything from the layout of the crime scene to his and Stella's less-than-pleasant meeting with Pastor Wilfred Fletcher. Some of the information was redundant to Danny, but he waited patiently so his partner would get all the details he was missing – which was pretty much everything, seeing as Don hadn't been assigned to this case. Up till now, that is.

Finally, Stella pointed to the last two envelopes they'd not opened. "Profiles," she said, "yours."

"And the keys to your rental apartment." Mac handed two copies over, one to Don and one to Danny. "The labs will keep a copy, just in case."

Resigned, they accepted the items. Upon opening the envelopes, they found a brief personal history of their personas, as well as fake IDs.

"Dominick Flynn. How many favors did you have to pull to get these, huh, Mac?"

"A few."

"A few." Danny echoed, looking at his ID. "Deyon Marx."

"Alright? No fierce objections?"

"Actually-"

"Now, why don't you two lovebirds go and check out your new house?"

The pair groaned at Stella's teasing.

"Is it at least furnished?"

"Yeah, you just have to get your personals and clothes there."

"Joy," Don muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Well then, let's move it, Dominick." Danny wrinkled his nose in disdain. "Ugh. I am so going to enjoy this…"

"Like I'll hate it any less?"

"I'm sorry it had to be you," Mac offered, but it was ruined by the upward tilt in his lips.

The pair nodded resignedly.

"Have fun!"


Out in the hallway, it was suddenly awkward for them to walk side-by-side, or to chat, and they gave each other a wider berth than usual. As they passed the trace labs, they met Lindsay just from her bench, heading in the opposite direction, toward Mac's office.

"Oh, hey guys. Is something wrong?"

"N-no. Don't poke your nose in other people's business, Montana. Or didn't they teach you that outback?"

"No, they didn't," she retorted. "Did you two get into an argument, or something?"

"Not with each other, no," Don muttered. "Look, Messer, why don't you get your affairs" – he tilted his head toward Lindsay – "in order, first, and I'll meet you tomorrow at the… apartment."

It left a bad taste in both their mouths.

"What, only a day's grace before we have to start on the assignment from hell?"

"To hell, more like. Remember, I don't like this anymore than you do."

Danny sighed. "Yeah, alright. See you."

Don nodded to the two CSIs, then sidestepped them and headed for the exit of the winding glass corridors that made up the CSI building. Behind him, Lindsay tried to coax a little more information from her colleague.

"Assignment from hell?"

"You don't want to know, Montana. Really."

"I'll just ask Mac and-or Stella. I was just going to check in with them, anyway."

Danny didn't bite, only winced. "Enjoy yourself. I gotta get going."

"…Alright, then. See you-"

She didn't have the time to finish her sentence before he nodded, and then retreated to the locker rooms. What on earth-?


"Hey, Stella?"

"Yeah?"

Stella had joined Lindsay at the trace lab to pick up some of the slack that Danny had left behind, now that he'd been transferred to her case. She was running a distillation, while her junior was attempting a bit of DNA extraction. Sheldon was just back from the field, too, and was analyzing some security videos from the archives.

"Danny and Flack were acting kinda weird earlier… Said something about an assignment from hell?"

"Oh, that." Stella grinned. "No one's told you about the case Mac and I are working on yet?"

"Nope."

Stella gave a quick overview of her case. "So, we're sending Danny and Flack undercover."

"Oh, this sounds interesting." Sheldon padded over, curious.

The two girls raised their eyebrows at him.

"What, I couldn't help overhearing."

"Sheldon Hawkes, I – we – demand that you stop spending so much of your time with Sid Hammerback."

"Yeah, you're turning into him, Hawkes."

Grins all around, then Lindsay continued. "But what about an undercover mission? It doesn't sound too bad."

"Oh. This is for the crucifixion case, isn't it, Stella."

"Yeah. Care to fill in the blanks for me?"

"Well. Correct me if I'm wrong, but" – he paused for effect, like he used to in the autopsy lab – "you're sending them in as a couple."

"No need for correction." Stella beamed at her junior.

Lindsay gaped. "You have got to be- Wow."

A rap on the glass wall facing the corridor. It was Sid, just from Mac's office. In fact, Mac was standing behind him, arms folded and amused smile on his face.

"I believe fraternizing should be done outside the lab?"

"Oh, come on, Mac. This is a big thing, not just fraternizing."

Sid chuckled. "What evils have you concocted now, Ms Bonasera?"

"We're sending Danny and Flack undercover for our case," Stella announced, gleefully.

"Your case… That would be the crucifixion case…" A pause. "Oh. That's brilliant, Stella."

"I know, right?"

Mac shook his head. "Is that all this is about? Stella, you promised it was a secondary objective."

Sid glanced between the two head CSIs. "I believe… Even if it's a secondary objective, we're still allowed to have a betting pool on it?"

Three pairs of eyes lit up, and Mac shook his head resignedly. "I had no part in this."

Lindsay stopped him on the way to the door. "On the contrary, you authorized this mission. Therefore, you actually have the second-largest part in this."

"Largest going to Ms Bonasera, of course," Sid added.

"Alright, rephrase: I had no part in this betting pool of yours."

Stella rolled her eyes. "I'll just bet enough for the both of us, then."

Mac paled. "Stella…"

Sheldon snickered. "Why not just bet, Mac? You know you want to."

Sighing, Mac returned to the bench they were crowding around, Lindsay following suit.

"After I hear your bets, first."

"I give them a month, and a hundred dollars," Stella declared.

"I don't know; they looked really against it…" Lindsay frowned slightly, thinking, then, "I say two months."

Sheldon nodded. "Two sounds reasonable. I'm in on that."

Sid shook his head. "Amateurs, all of you." He flashed a grin. "I say, they won't get together until after the assignment is well over, and even then, only with a lot of hassle."

Incredulous looks.

"They're guys. Not to mention, stubborn guys. Worse, one's a cop and one's Italian!"

"He's not really Italian…"

"Your point being?"

"Fine!" Lindsay couldn't help the laugh. "But I won't take it; too much drama."

Nods from Stella and Sheldon.

"Suit yourself. But remember, I've never lost a bet. Three hundred."

Everyone paled slightly, except Mac. "Alright, I'm in for Sid's prediction…" He smirked. "Five hundred."

The incredulous looks returned, now directed at the supervisor of the CSI division. He shrugged.

"Okay, now we bet on who'll top…"

"Oh, that's no fun. Everyone knows the answer already, anyway."

"Point taken…"

"Alright, alright, break it up. We have cases to work on, remember?"


Notes:
Opening scene reference from CSI:NY 101, Blink.