Alright, had to revamp the last couple of chapters so it's an officer that dies instead of Angell. If I kept up the way I was going, I was gonna screw up the timeline of the fic. If you readers want to check out the changes, feel free, but it's really just Flack being less depressed and whatnot. Now that that's settled, onwards. This is another short chap, but I'm gonna have a lot of updates in the next few days, 'cause I have a Christmas chapter for this fic. Enjoy, and don't forget to review!

--

Don Flack was not happy. With a few officers "out sick" after the recent shooting, his superiors had thrown him on various cases- even ones that weren't homicide. Others in his position would've loved the change, but homicide was his thing. Mac, Stella, Danny and Hawkes were his team. Now he was stuck with some chatty redhead detective that was like a bad mix of Adam and Sid. It wasn't only his temporary partner that got to him, but what they were heading for: a gentleman's club that was supposedly hooked into some trafficking ring.

"I think this is it… wait… no."

Don rolled his eyes. The redhead was hopeless. He couldn't even remember the guy's name. It was McKinley, or something similar. The thing was, he didn't care. He was beginning to realize he probably would've preferred Sid and his random useless facts over this guy who probably couldn't tell the difference between Radio City and Madison Square Garden. "No, this is it." He pointed to a building with heavily tinted windows and a violet exterior. "Come on." He opened the door and was tempted to go right back out when the vibrations from Britney Spears' "Circus" playing on the speakers practically knocked him to the floor. "Great…" He glanced at the picture of the man in question they were looking for. He started showing it around, asking people if they had seen the man. Some of the women that he figured were the strippers shook their heads and attempted to rub up against him, saying things along the lines of "good time." He had learned to tune them out, so he just kept pushing passed them. He turned around once one of the girls accidentally hit his shoulder. In doing so, he spotted the man they were looking for. "Hey! Hey!" he waved his arms, trying to get the man's attention.

It did. The man started looking Don over, then his eyes finally rested on the badge. He tensed up.

Don groaned. "Don't run, don't run… come on, make it easy for once." He silently begged. However, a higher power didn't seem to work in Don's favor, and the man took off. Don sighed and tore after him. "Nothing screams 'guilty of anything' more than running, asswipe!" he growled, knowing full well the man couldn't hear him. He made it up and out of the door, then managed to tackle the man. "Running from the law, pal? Bad idea!" He cuffed him. "We didn't even read you your charges, man. Trafficking ring, and now running from the cops? You're screwed. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense." He dragged him around to the front of the building where the squad car was, then shoved the man inside. He finished in time to hear McKinley calling for him up front. "What?" he called without turning.

McKinley nodded. "I was about to ask these two if they had seen that guy when we split up, then they took off I grabbed them right when they were about to get out."

Don blinked. Yes, he had run off without the guy, which was dangerous, so sure, he'd take it as "splitting up." The thing was, the "two" he had "grabbed" were nowhere in sight. "Let's see 'em." He turned, but what McKinley had to say was drowned out right when his eyes settled on one of them. He simply gawked at the person who looked mortified and guilty all at once. Hell, he had reason to. It was Robin. He tilted his head at her and set her his usual "you've got to be kidding" look.

Robin smiled weakly, only momentarily. "Uh… hi, Flack."

Don wasn;t sure whether to want to kill her, or hug her and demand what she was doing in a place like that. His cop side won over. "Get them over here. Now. I wanna talk to the blonde. The brunette can go in the car."

McKinley raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Flack?"

"Just do it." Don snapped.

McKinley's other eyebrow went up, but he did as he was told, nudging Robin towards him and leading the brunette around to the other side of the squad car. "Take those two in. I'll take her."

"But-"

"McKinley, it'll be fine. I have a friend who's car I can borrow and get back. She won't cause trouble."

McKinley looked back and forth between the two, then sighed and got in the car and drove off.

Don turned to Robin. "Explain. Now. I thought you said you weren't that kind to be seen around that crowd, or be part of it, if that's what that was about."

"Well, I'm not, but my friend Jill is." Robin shrunk back slightly.

Don glanced at the disappearing squad car. "Was the brunette Jill?"

Robin nodded rapidly.

Don sighed, then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ugh. You better have one Hell of a story. Alright, tell me what you were doing in there. I can't help you if you don't. It woulda helped if your protection was on you. Where Is Jake anyway?"

"He had a family emergency, and I figured I was gonna be safe when I'm three blocks from home."

"Safe? This is New York, sweetheart. You're not very safe anywhere, whether you have people after you or not!" Don objected.

"Hey, you wanted to know. Anyway, Jill's trying to get away from that whole scene. I'm apparently her ticket out, so even more reason to stay here in the city. I was dropping off her lunch."

"And why did you run?"

"Because she asked me to get out when she saw the badge on the both of you. She doesn't have a good repartee with cops, alright? She hasn't told me why, but it franly scares the shit outta me. She saw you and freaked, told me to lead her outta there. If I knew it was you, I would've assured you that it was gonna be okay-"

"You still ran-"

"Again, she gets freaked out. I dunno if she was arrested in the past, or had some screwed up relationship, but if she wanted out, I was gonna help her get out. It's what friends do, okay?"

Don pressed his lips together, then sighed. There was no trace of a lie whatsoever in her voice or expression. "Fine. Whatever. We have our guy, you're off the hook. We have our guy that we're really after, anyway."

"And you have no reason for holding Jill."

"And that'll be taken care of shortly. Now come on, my friend's just around the corner here."

--

Robin wasn't quite sure what was going to happen. He was taking a different route than the usual one home. She wasn't sure if he had actually lied and she was in the middle of taking her to the precinct to book her. She trusted Don, but he was a cop, and she had still run from him, no matter how she talked him out of it. However, he did in fact pull up to Adam's place, and Jake was on the sidewalk, and now he was gaping at them.

Don put the pieces together. "You stinkin' liar!" he scoffed. "Family emergency, my ass!" he laughed normally now.

"Right. Sorry. Bye, Don! Thanks for the ride!" she practically threw herself out of the car. "You're gonna take care of Jill, right?"

Don rolled his eyes in her direction.

Robin laughed. "Sorry." She patted the roof of the car, shut the door and took a flying leap to the space in front of Jake.

Don laughed when Jake glowered at her, then pointed inside. He reached towards the ignition to turn on the car again, just when he heard gunshots. He ducked out of instinct, then looked over by Jake and Robin. The man had already gotten Robin inside and was now looking for the source of the gunfire. "Damn it." He got out of the car and slid across the hood to land beside Jake. "Anything?"

"Not yet." Jake replied quickly, still looking around, just as another round of gunfire went off. One bullet made it to the sidewalk just between Don and Jake. Don took out his walkie talkie. "Shots fired, my location. Requesting backup now!"

"And medics." Jake added.

"What? Why? You hit?" Don asked.

"No. That first shot grazed Robin's leg."

"Damn." Don nodded. "And an ambulence. Repeat, backup and an ambulence."

There was a static-filled reply, followed by another round of gunfire. After a minute or two, a yell of pain came from the other side of the road after Jake and Don took their turns to fire their weapons.

"You think that was our boy?" Jake asked.

"Don't know, but seems like it. Stay here, keep an eye on Rob." He ordered.

"Yes sir." Jake nodded, moving back as Don hightailed it to the other side of the street. Shouting at a few other people who had been in the area to stay down. He spotted a man on the ground with a bullet wound somewhere in his abdomen. He was holding a gun. Don smirked. He had gotten the guy, after all. He raised his gun. "There some reason you shootin' at those nice people, pal?"

The man just glared up at him.

"Who are you workin' for?" Don continued.

No response.

"You keepin' your mouth shut isn't gonna help out your case."

The man smirked. "He'll kill you before you even have a chance at talking to me."

"Oh really?" Don smirked. "We'll see about that."

He waited, gun still trained on the man, until the medics and other police came. Don started calling orders. "We need information from him. He goes into the ambulence; the girl who got grazed is going in the next one, or she's coming with me in a squad car."

"Yes sir."

The orders were carried out, only to be interrupted again when a black car came speeding into the area. Don barely had time to register what was going on before it was confusion again. A gloved hand came out from the car's open window. Don started calling for the officers to shoot when he saw that whoever was in the other car was now pointing a gun around them. He had just finished bringing his gun back up when he heard the same yell of pain that he had heard seconds ago, then looked a few feet away, seeing that the man he had shot now had several other gunshots in him, judging by the red growing on the sheet over him. Don knew he wouldn't last another minute. Even thirty seconds was pushing it. "Goddamn it! Get the plate number! Get the number!" he barked as he watched the car retreating. When it was out of view, Don called if anyone had gotten it. He got several different partials. Once again, he was not a very happy man.