Stella looked up from Mac's final report and turned to face the two men who looked solemn, their faces concerned and a little wary, and not just for Danny.

"Oh. Well. I see." Stella was uncharacteristically lost for words and a few tears worked their way loose and dripped down her cheek.

What could she possibly add to what she had read? But now she had read it, it explained why Danny had finally reached the limit of his endurance and gone under. Losing Aiden and his brother, losing Lindsey if only temporarily and nearly losing his best friend – a man could take all of those things if dealt them as single blows over a greater period of time, but one after the other? In less than a year? No-one could withstand that kind of emotional and psychological assault. Knowing Danny, his way of coping would have been to throw himself into his job and this time it had been the worst thing he could have done and had made things much much worse.

After a long silence she felt she had to say something.

"He's dead."

Mac went as white as sheet and sagged back into his chair. Hawkes shot to his feet, his chair clattering to the floor behind him.

"What?!"

"What the…?!"

Stella shot to her feet and reached out to grab Hawkes before he could disappear out of the door. Her hand snagged his shirt and he spun around to face her, his entire being tense with anxiety and distress.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Hawkes! It's not… Danny… I don't mean Danny. I'm sorry."

Hawkes sank back into his chair, his legs suddenly weak and shaky, as Mac righted it under him.

"Stella." Mac's voice was overly calm and controlled an obvious sign of his inner turmoil. "I really think you need to explain what you have just said."

"Louie." Her throat tried to close up. "He lost Louie." Another tear slipped down her cheek and she quickly brushed it away. "Flack told me earlier today that Louie Messer died 2 weeks ago."

Mac stared at her, his face slack with shock and Hawkes dropped his head into his hands. There was a heavy silence and none of them were willing to break it. The three of them sat wrapped in their own thoughts for what seemed an age, each processing their own reactions and emotions, too wrapped up for the moment to speak up or speak out.

----------------------------------------

Adam looked through the glass walls of Mac's office. He had rushed the results of Mac's latest case and having already had the urgency of it impressed upon him was anxious not to dither. He could see the three detectives sat around Mac's desk but they didn't appear to be talking and so he took a chance on knocking.

"Uh. Mac? I have those uh, results you wanted. You… you're not going to believe…"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as Mac lumbered to his feet and strode heavily across toward him ushering him backwards out of the door. At first he thought he was going to close the door in his face but Mac stepped into the corridor and gently closed the door behind him.

The look on Adam's face, had he been in the mood to analyse it, was a picture of apprehension and terror.

"Uh, your uh, results came back from the Hinchcliffe case? They're negative. The DNA isn't a match. I know you uh, wanted them ASAP…" Adam trailed off at the look on Mac's face.

Mac scowled. His focus wasn't really on his case but on Danny, and he was torn between the job and his friend, for the first time he considered throwing the case to someone else to complete and getting it out of the way. His thought miles away, he nodded absently to Adam.

"Thanks. I appreciate…" Mac paused. "Wait a minute Adam; I thought when I last spoke to you that you were backlogged?"

Adam almost stuttered "Uh, well I uh, had some help."

"Help? You haven't processed any paperwork for…" Mac was confused.

"Well, uh, no, uh, it was Detective Messer. He, uh… Have I done something wrong?" Adam gulped.

"Danny helped out? Just how long has this been going on?" Mac was still confused. Just when had Danny had the time to do overtime in the lab? Had he even been home in the last few months?

--------------------------------------

Hawkes watched Stella trying to work her way through what she had learned. Her face was not as impassive as she thought and most of the time her emotions could be clearly read on her face.

"I'm sorry Stella. I should have…"

"No." Stella interrupted. She couldn't blame Hawkes. Danny was good at eliciting promises to hide injuries from Mac. Hell. She had done it herself for him a time or two.

"It's fine Hawkes. You're not the only one who's done it. I guess I just wish he had said something himself and not left us to find out this way."