All in a Day's Work
Shipping: FlackOC, possible DL & MS
Spoilers: Through the end of Season 2; later chapters may reference Season 3, but I'll be sure to let you know if they do.
Summary: When a case hits close to home, Flack and the team must rush to keep one of NYPD's own from being killed.
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI: NY or any of its characters. Nor do I own Law and Order: SVU. Please don't sue me, I don't have any money.
Sunday, October 8th, 2006
Detective Don Flack sat in the speeding ambulance as it raced through the streets of Manhattan. Elizabeth Armstrong, the battered detective he'd pulled from the dumpster, was still gripping his hand as one of the paramedics was applying pressure to the large cut across her abdomen. Judging by the amount of blood that coated her dress and the pile of bloody gauze on the ambulance floor, she'd lost more than a little blood.
"Which hospital are you taking her to?" Don asked. Elizabeth's hand was clammy and she was looking worse with every passing second.
"We're taking her to Bellevue. They've got the best Emergency Center in Manhattan and it's one of the closest hospitals. We should be there in a minute or two. Ms. Armstrong, do you know what blood type you are?" Elizabeth nodded; her pale face had broken out in a cold sweat and her eyes were beginning to lose focus.
"Can you tell me what type you are?"
"She can't talk; her throat's messed up from her attacker." The paramedic grimaced as he realized how her attacker had hurt her throat.
"Are you an A? Are you a B? An AB?" She shook her head after each question. "An O?" She nodded. "Okay, O positive?" Again she nodded.
"Ernie, call the hospital and tell them we need bags of O positive ready for a transfusion." As Ernie the driver called the hospital on the radio, the other paramedic shook his head. "We better hope there's some available, O positive always runs out fast."
"I'm O positive. I've donated at the blood bank and I've got one of those emergency family card-thingies where you can have your donations given to your family. She can have the blood I donated; she needs it more than me." The paramedic looked relieved at Don's statement.
"Do you have your donor card? I can get the hospital to phone the blood bank and have an emergency drop-off at the hospital." Being careful to continue holding Elizabeth's hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He flipped it open and pulled out his Red Cross Blood Donor card and handed it to the paramedic. Don heard the sirens shut off at the same moment the ambulance jerked to a stop. The doors to the bus were thrown open and ER doctors quickly helped to pull Elizabeth's gurney from the bus.
Don was forced to let go of her hand as they rushed her into the ER room. Just before the door shut behind them he saw Elizabeth's head twist around to look at him, and Don felt a jerk in his chest. Goddamned son-of-a-bitch is gonna pay for hurting one of our own! Frustrated, Don ran his hand through his hair. Judging by the list of injuries the paramedic had listed off, she was likely to be in the ER for a while.
Don flipped open his cell phone and quickly dialed Mac's number.
"Taylor."
"Mac," Don could see through the large windows as Elizabeth was hooked up to an IV and several other machines. Then one of the nurses pulled the curtain around her bed closed and she was lost to him.
"What's her status?" Mac's question startled Don from his thoughts. Shaking his head, he answered.
"She's in the Bellevue ER right now. She's in bad shape Mac. She's got a stab wound to her stomach, she's got broken or bruised ribs, head trauma, and she was raped. She's probably gonna be in there for a while. You gonna send Stella to do the rape kit?"
"She just pulled up with Danny and Hawkes. As soon as I bring them up to speed, I'll send her to the hospital. I'm on my way to Police headquarters to talk to Chief Detective Armstrong and Commissioner Wilson."
"I'll keep you updated on her condition. Let me know how things go, okay?"
"After I talk to her father and uncle, I'll stop by to see you and Elizabeth. Keep her safe Flack; her attacker is still out there and he might want to finish her off before she can ID him."
"I won't let her outta my sight until we catch this guy, Mac."
"Good." Don flipped his phone shut and took a seat on one of the plastic chairs outside the ER. Every couple of minutes he'd twist around in the chair to see if he could see what was being done to Elizabeth, but the curtains around her bed remained closed as the doctors and nurses rushed to do their jobs.
Detective Mac Taylor flipped his phone shut and turned to face the CSI Suburban as it pulled up alongside the curb. Stella got out of the passenger seat as Danny grabbed his kit from the back. Hawkes, who'd been driving, reached in and flipped the flashing lights off.
"I'm glad you're here. We have one DB in the dumpster down the alley. Flack's at the hospital with our other victim, Detective Elizabeth Armstrong." Mac saw the looks of astonishment on Danny and Hawkes' faces. "So you know what this means. We've got to solve this case and solve it fast. One of our own has been brutally attacked and raped and we need to get her attacker off the streets. Stella, I want you to head to Bellevue to do Elizabeth's rape kit. Danny, Hawkes, I want you to comb every inch of this alley to get every piece of evidence you can. Lindsay, I'd like you to head to the One-Six and talk to Elizabeth's partner in the Special Victims Unit. Maybe her partner can shed some insight on any people that may have a grudge against her."
"Meanwhile, I have the duty of informing the Chief of Detectives that his daughter has been attacked. Keep me posted. The Commissioner and the Chief Detective will want to know what's happening as soon as you find anything." As soon as Mac had finished speaking, his team split up to perform their assigned tasks.
Thirty minutes later Mac was standing outside the office of the Chief of Detectives for the NYPD. Chief Armstrong was apparently busy, according to his secretary; Mac was getting angry, after all this was important.
"I need to speak with Chief Armstrong immediately. This is an emergency!"
"I'm sorry Detective Taylor, but you don't have an appointment. If you come back this afternoon I could—hey! You can't go in there!" Angry at the secretary's indifference, Mac had pushed past her and opened the door to the Chief's office. He was startled, however, by the company that the Chief was with. Don Flack Sr. was sitting in the chair facing the Chief's desk, though both of the men were now staring at Mac in surprise.
"I'm sorry sir, I told him you were busy, but he just barged in here!"
"That's okay, Christine. You can go; I'll deal with Detective Taylor." Shooting an angry glance at Mac, Christine left, shutting the door behind her. Chief Armstrong stood up and walked around his desk to address Mac.
"You'd better have a good reason for barging in here Mac. You may be fellow Marine, but that doesn't mean you can have the run of my office."
"You had better sit down, Peter." Mac said softly.
"Why? What's happened?"
"About two hours ago, two convenience store workers discovered two female bodies inside a dumpster off of West Broadway. One of my detectives—Flack Jr., actually—was doing a preliminary look at the scene when he realized one of the victims was alive. Peter, the victim he found was Elizabeth. Your daughter was left for dead inside the dumpster." Peter collapsed against his desk.
"What?!"
"She's been badly beaten, Peter, but she's alive. Flack is with her right now and I have my entire team working this case."
"She's alive?"
"Yes, but Peter…" Mac paused; there was no easy way to say it. "Peter, she's been raped."
"Oh God!" Flack Sr. had jumped up to steady Peter, who looked on the verge of collapsing.
"She's in the Bellevue ER. Flack, if you could arrange to bring Mrs. Armstrong to the hospital, I'll take Peter there now."
"Of course; I'll head over right now. Everything's going to be all right Peter, Lizzy's still alive and they're gonna catch the guy who did this to her." With a nod to Mac, Don Sr. quickly exited the office. Mac gave Peter a few minutes to compose himself, before he spoke.
"Peter, you need to call the Commissioner and tell him what's happened. This is going to be all over the news, and he shouldn't find out about his niece's attack from a news bulletin." Peter had slowly regained some of his coloring after Don Sr.'s comments of hope.
"You're right. If you can just give me a few minutes Mac?" Mac stepped outside to offer Peter privacy. Don Sr. must have said something to the secretary who didn't comment on Mac's presence. Ten minutes later, Peter stepped out of his office and Mac led him to his car. "We need to pick my brother up from his home, if that's alright with you Mac?"
"Of course, just tell me how to get there."
Don sat on the hard plastic chair outside of Elizabeth's ER room. She'd been in there for over an hour. He'd had no news, either from her doctors or from Mac, and it was driving him crazy. Shortly after she'd gone in, one of the ER nurses had taken down his information as well as all the information he had on Elizabeth Armstrong.
"Hey stranger," Don looked up to see Stella heading down the hallway with a sad smile. She was holding her CSI case and a camera bag.
"Hey yourself."
"Any news on her condition?" Stella asked as she sank down into a chair next to Don.
"Nah, they're still working on her. They brought in a cooler full of blood bags about forty minutes ago, but other than that, no one's gone into or out of the room."
"How'd she look?"
"Like a corpse; if she hadn't opened her eyes, I never woulda figured she was still alive." They were both silent for a moment as they thought about what would have happened if Don hadn't realized she was alive. "When we find the guy who did this, I'm gonna kill him. How anyone could hurt a woman is beyond me."
"I know," Stella said softly.
"You know, if Frankie hadn't already been dead when we found you, I'm not sure who would've shot him first—me or Mac." Stella laughed softly and squeezed Don's hand to show him she appreciated his concern. Just then, the door to the ER swung open and a doctor stepped out in messy scrubs.
"Detective Flack?" Don stood up and walked over to the man.
"I'm Detective Flack."
"I'm Doctor Walters. Ms Armstrong is in stable condition right now. She's being moved to the ICU so we can keep an eye on her. As per your orders, all of her personal effects have been saved and we have them in an evidence bag for you. We were careful not to wash away any evidence from her rape, so a kit can still be administered."
"How's she doin'?"
"She has a minor concussion and two broken ribs on her left side. Her throat is still swollen shut from her attack, but should show signs of improvement within a couple of days. The stab wound to her stomach tore up some of her stomach muscles, but didn't cause any damage to her organs, which is a miracle. Unfortunately, that wound as well as several that are on her legs, the head trauma, and the bleeding from her rape caused her to lose a considerable amount of blood. She's very weak right now and her concussion is making her feel nauseous, but there's nothing more we can do but make her comfortable. Due to the head trauma and her broken ribs, we want to keep her here for at least three or four days to be sure there aren't any complications."
"Of course; is there any way we can see her now?" Don asked, he wanted to see for himself that she was okay.
"Yes, she was asking for you, Detective." Dr Walters said with a smile.
"I though her throat was still swollen shut?"
"It is, but she can speak sign language. One of our nurses has a deaf son, and she was able to translate for us. She says she needs to talk to you right away." Surprised Don nodded and gestured for Stella to follow.
Dr. Walters led them down the hallway into the ICU and pointed out the door number 191. "Our nurse volunteered to translate for you and is waiting inside with Ms. Armstrong." Thanking the doctor, Flack and Stella pushed the door opened and entered the room. Elizabeth was sitting up on her bed; she looked pale and very fragile.
"Hi," Don said softly as he sat in a chair next to her bed. She gave him a painful looking smile, and reached out for his hand. Don squeezed it before turning to introduce Stella.
"Elizabeth, this is Detective Stella Bonasera. She's going to do your rape kit. She's one of the best Detectives I know, and she's gonna help us catch whoever it was that did this to you." Elizabeth pulled her hand from his and made a few gestures that Don didn't understand. He turned to look at the nurse, who was watching Elizabeth's hands.
"She says she knows the man who did this to her and that she can tell you his name," the nurse translated.
Duh-duh-dun!
A/N: Anyways, there's chapter four. I'm kinda sad that no one reviewed my last two chapters. Please someone review so I know whether people are reading this.
Also, I tried to make it more obvious where the POV changes, since I know a few people had trouble with that in chapter 1.
The next chapter is going to be the rape and will definitely not be for those faint of heart. Again please review, even if it's criticism, at least I'll know someone read it.