Date: July 21, 2008

Title: Running from the Past

Author: Soccer-Bitch

Chapter: 10 of ?

Rating: T (for language)

Pairings: Don Flack/Madison Messer

Warnings: Some Strong Language

Feedback: All opinions are welcome!

Disclaimer: I own Madison Messer and any other characters that I make up as this story progresses. Everything else does not belong to me!

Summary: Close to twenty years after leaving the Big Apple, Maddy Messer returns home, running from a past that won't leave her alone. Will her cousin be able to save her or will the past catch up with her?

Chapter 10

Danny was working on his fourth beer and second shot of tequila when he felt someone sit down next to him. Wearily, he looked up to see Flack sitting there. He didn't say anything, just slammed back the shot before chasing it with a beer.

Flack looked at him, concerned about his well being. "Dan? You okay?"

Danny just shrugged. "I don't know, man," he slurred slightly. "You ever think you know a person and they turn out to be completely different?"

Flack raised an eyebrow, not sure what had happed but growing concerned. Danny didn't get drunk very often and when he did, something bad had usually happened.

"Danny? Who are you talking about?" he asked, trying to get some more information out of his friend.

"Addy. Christ, I thought I knew her but why wouldn't she tell me what happened?"

Flack felt panic rise in his chest. He took a deep breathe, trying to calm himself. "Dan? Is Maddy okay?" he asked sternly.

"I don't know. Hell, right now? I don't care," Danny replied.

"Daniel Messer. Is Maddy hurt in any way?"

"She's the one that hurt me!" Danny shot back as he slammed the rest of the beer back. "She should have told me."

Flack thought for a moment, Danny wasn't making much sense in the state he was in. Is he talking about the fact that we slept together?

Danny shook his head and without prompting continued. "We've been tight ever since we were kids. It was just the two of us against what my father wanted me to become. It was because of her that I didn't go down that road. But for her to keep things from me? I don't know her anymore. For a year she kept it from me. A year, Flack. Why?"

Flack shook his head, confused. "Danny? What are you talking about? What did she keep from you?"

Danny opened his mouth to tell Flack everything, but his brain finally kicked in. "Nothing, man. If she hadn't told you, I ain't gonna tell her secrets."

Flack looked at Danny with bewilderment on his face. "Danny where are your keys?" Flack asked.

"Why, gonna take me home?" Danny said crudely.

"Dan, where are they?" Flack asked again before having to resort to searching his pockets himself.

"Look, I'm fine. I don't need you to look after me," Danny told him as he started to walk away from Flack.

"Flack," the bartender said looking at a drunken Danny and back to the Detective. "These are his keys. I took them because I had a feeling he wasn't in for just one beer,"

"Thanks. Did he use his tab?" Flack asked taking the keys from the bartender that he knew since he and Danny would come here all the time.

"He did. Take care Flack," the man said before going back to closing up.

It took Flack a while but he finally got Danny into his department issue SUV. He just let Danny sit there while he called Aiden, who might know what in the hell was going on.

"Burn," Aiden said answering her phone on the fourth ring.

"Aiden, have ya talked to Maddy?" Flack asked as he started the engine.

"No, not since last night. I crashed at her place and what not. Why what's going on?" Aiden asked with a yawn.

"I guess Danny and Maddy got into a fight, a big one at that. Danny is plastered, so I am driving back to his place. Do me a favor and call Maddy and find out what is going on," Flack told her with a long sigh.

"Do you know what time it is Flack?" Aiden asked him as she looked at the clock on her bed stand.

"No," Flack said before glancing at the stereo.

"It's two in the morning. Maddy is probably asleep. I'll stop by her place before heading to work. Good night," Aiden said hanging up her phone before Flack had a chance to reply.

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It was seven in the morning and Aiden was knocking on Maddy's front door. She hadn't answered her cell or the house phone. She was getting worried and she was running late for work.

"Can I help you miss?" an older gentleman asked coming out of the apartment to the right of Maddy's.

"Yeah, have you seen the tenant of this apartment?" Aiden asked turning her attention to the man.

"Last night I heard shouting. Madison was arguing with a man. He stormed out. And then around five this morning, I heard her door slam shut again. Not sure if she left or let someone in," he told her.

"Okay, thank you," Aiden said before reaching into her pocket for her business card and handing it to him. "If she comes home between now and five, can you please give me a call?"

"Is Madison in some sort of trouble, Detective?" he asked.

"No, she's not. I just need to talk with her. Thank you for your help," Aiden said leaving Maddy's apartment building and heading to the precinct before going to the lab.

When she walked in she saw Flack sitting at his desk so she walked over so she could get to the lab and not get her ass busted for being as late as she was. She was surprised that Mac or Stella hadn't called her yet.

"So I called Maddy and her house phone, just rings and rings. Her cell goes straight to voicemail. I went to her place this morning. I was there way longer then I thought I was. A neighbor said that he heard Maddy arguing with a man last night and then he stormed out. Then around five this morning Maddy slammed the apartment door and left. She hasn't been seen since. I gave my card to a man and told him to call me when she gets back," Aiden said.

"It must have been some fight they had," Flack said taking a gulp of his coffee.

"Did Danny tell you anything about the fight?" Aiden asked curiously.

Flack thought back to the night before responding. "He did. He asked if I ever thought I knew someone and they turned out to be completely different and then he went off about Maddy and how she hurt him and some secret that she didn't tell him about for a year. You know what they fought about," Flack said looking at Aiden's surprised look when he mentioned the secret.

"I think I do. And I can bet you Maddy is going to be hiding. And she doesn't work today since its Wednesday," Aiden said.

"Where would she go?" Flack asked, "What's the secret and how do you know?"

"I know because we had a girl's night and she confessed along with some other things. I have to get to the lab, so let me know if you hear from her," Aiden told him before leaving to get to the lab.

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Maddy knew Danny would be at work but she still ended up at his apartment. It was only last night when he hurt her worse then she thought he could. She couldn't sleep after he left, so she went for a run around five in the morning, and she was still in her outfit. Maddy just let a sigh out as she turned around and went in the other direction. She didn't know anyone besides Danny, his parents, Flack and Aiden in the city. Her only option was to go and see Danny's mother who she hadn't seen since she first got settled into her apartment. She just hoped that her uncle wouldn't be there. He didn't like her too much, he only tolerated her because his wife.

Once she got to her aunt's house, she realized that she shouldn't bring them into this. It was truly between Danny and her. Even if she wanted to she knew she couldn't do it. So she just drove somewhere else. She had gotten tired of not being able to just go for a drive like she had done in California, but she wasn't in California anymore.

Maddy ended up at Central Park. She grabbed her phone off the passenger's seat and turned it on. She had a lot of missed calls and a few voicemails. She listened to the voicemails, all but one was from Aiden, and the one that wasn't from her was from Flack.

"Where the hell are you?" Flack's irate voice echoed through Maddy's cell phone. She had called him hoping he wouldn't know about the fight with Danny.

"In my car," was Maddy's retort.

"Want to tell me why you are hiding from everyone?" Flack asked after taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

"I'm not hiding," Maddy denied as she played with the radio as she continued to sit in her car.

"Well, ya could have fooled me," Flack said.

"I didn't call so I could get a lecture," Maddy said as she started to get aggravated.

"Look Aiden went to your place and you weren't there. Your neighbor said you stormed out around five and your phone has been off, what were we supposed to think?" Flack continued to interrogate her like she was a suspect in one of his cases.

"Maybe I needed some time to think. I didn't want to talk to anyone about it. Look Danny hates me, isn't that enough? I shouldn't have called, I know you and Aiden have already taken Danny's side on what happened and don't worry, no hard feelings," Maddy told him before hanging up her phone.

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"So Maddy called me," Flack said to Aiden while they were getting food from a vender.

"Is she ok? What'd she say?" Aiden asked taking the hotdog from the vender.

"She thinks that we have sided with Danny over whatever they had fought about," Flack said as he paid the vender after he took his hotdog from the man. "Hell, I have no idea what they were even fighting over," Flack said annoyed at the fact he was in the dark about the event.

"It's not my place or Danny's to tell you," Aiden told him. "But I do get where she is coming from. She feels like since we've known Danny longer then her that we are going to take his side no matter what,"

"How can I take a side if I don't know what sides there are?" He looked at Aiden confused. "Did that even make sense?"

"It doesn't matter even if you do take a side," Aiden told him as they made their way back.

Flack just shook his head. "Yes, it does. How am I supposed to..." he trailed off, not wanting to reveal his feelings to Aiden.

"How are you supposed to get back into her pants?" Aiden asked as she looked at him with a smug look on her face.

Flack stopped in shock, his face turning red. "Please tell me Danny doesn't know," he muttered.

"As far as I know, he has no idea, but me on the other hand, well I know it all. So when were you gonna tell me? Or Danny for that matter?" Aiden asked before taking a bite of her hotdog. "You realize that no matter what, Danny will flip when he finds out,"

Flack rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I know, but this is not a one night stand. I want more with her. I want to treat her right," he looked thoughtful as he finished off his hotdog and threw away the napkin. "I...I just don't think I can choose between them."

"Either way he's gonna find out and he should find out from you, but I gotta say," Aiden started before taking another bite of her hotdog. "You and Maddy, make sense. At least better then your last girlfriend,"

Flack snorted. "Anything is better than her. God, she whined all the time when I had to go out on a call." He sighed. "But it doesn't solve the problem. Maddy thinks that we've chosen Danny over her. How do we convince her that we haven't?"

"I'm not sure, really," Aiden said throwing away the napkin after making sure she had nothing on her face, "Maybe someone should camp out at her place or stop by her work and not leave until she sees what we are,"

Flack shook his head. "I'd think it'd better be you. I really need to have a talk with Messer,"