AN: I don't own any of the CSI:NY Characters or any of the show's storylines that I may refer to from time to time, but the rest of the plot is mine.

21. Reconciliation

Danny, Don & Lindsay were in the breakroom in silence waiting for the OK to go home. Don got up and went to the door. Danny looked up at him, noting the tension in his friend's face. "Mac said to stay here. Flack, where are you going?"

Don looked back. His friend had no idea what was going through his mind right now and sitting in silence was doing his frayed nerves no good. "Something I gotta do ... I can't wait here". He left.

Lindsay watched the door close and looked at Danny. "Danny, we'd better go too, I bet he's gone downstairs" Danny rubbed the back of his neck as Lindsay's words sunk into his tired mind.

"Monroe, you're right, they would have brought Nikki here." He stated as they got up to follow Don. As they left the room Don was talking to Mac at the end of the corridor. As they approach Don walks away. Mac looks up. Lindsay thinks he looks as tired as she feels.

"Danny you're with me, we're going to interview this guy. Lindsay, Stella and Hawkes will be back soon, they could probably use a hand. Once we've finished the interview I'll debrief you all and you can go home." Mac instructed them.

Danny looked over Mac's shoulder where his friend had gone. "What about Flack?" Mac raised his hand indicating Danny not to follow him. "Don't worry, he's cool ... he's gone to get some air."

Lindsay scrunched up her nose. "Shouldn't someone go with him?" Mac shook his head. "Give him some space." With heavy hearts they turned away. Lindsay returned to the breakroom while Danny followed Mac to the interrogation room. After a while Mac left the interrogation room and made a call.

Stella and Lindsay were in the hallway of the police precinct near the interrogation rooms talking. "Mac just called he confirmed the guy was a former colleague of Jason's. Apparently has been fixated on Nikki since he saw her at the memorial service after 9/11, except that he lost track of her. He happened to be on duty her first day and recognised her and Flack. He's tracked her ever since. " Stella was telling her.

"I'm just sorry we couldn't have ... Stella you ok?" Lindsay saw the shocked expression on Stella's face and then a hesitant grin as she looked past her. Lindsay turned around to follow Stella's line of sight and gasped when she saw what her colleague was looking at. Sheldon was standing in the shadows talking to someone who looked like Nikki. Sheldon looked up at them then he and his companion approached the two women. Lindsay was first to recover from the shock. "Nikki! ... you're alright?"

Nikki looked at them nervously. "just a bit battered and bruised ... we're sorry about the deception, it was a spur of the moment decision to end it."

Stella hugged her and she winced a little in pain. "Does Flack know you're here?" She asked.

Nikki nodded. "Yeah, it was his idea." Lindsay's phone rang and she wandered away to answer it, just as Don arrived and wrapped an arm round Nikki and hugged her as she wrapped her arms around him and groaned as he pressed against her side.

"I'm sorry Princess, you ok?" She looked up at him. "I'll be fine". Sheldon still insisted she went to the hospital to get checked out properly. At that moment 2 uniformed officers escorted a man from the interrogation room. He saw Nikki and stopped.

"You tricked me! You and I could have had it all baby, I could have made you happy just like Jason did. But you never even looked at me, you wouldn't understand what Jason wanted, for me to look after you" Nikki shivered. Don still had an arm around her and felt the reaction and he couldn't hold back any longer, he rushed the guy grabbed him by his collar and forced him against the wall.

"You creep, d'you realise what you've done to her? Huh?!" He spat at him.

"No!" Nikki rested a hand on Don's arm "Don, he's not worth it, let him go." He nodded and let the uniforms take him away as he turned to Nikki put his arm around her and they walked away.

At the hospital a doctor finished replacing a bandage on Nikki's side as she sat on the side of the bed. "You were very lucky, it's just a graze from the bullet and some bruising. You'll be ok to return to work in a few days. I'll just sort your paperwork and you can go." Nikki smiled and thanked him as he left the room. She looked up at Don who was standing next to her. She could tell he was tired, by the tension in his face, but otherwise she couldn't tell what he was thinking. She reached for his hand and asked if he was alright.

"I don't know ... I'm sorry about everything tonight ... I know you agreed to act as bait, but I never expected it to put you in danger and I didn't plan-" He'd started to ramble. Nikki cut him off.

"I know you didn't. I've got my own apology ... I said some horrible things to you the other night, I'm really sorry for that, I know you care."

"About earlier, I don't want to mess up our friendship anymore because of it."

"You need to know something ... I told you Jason was only part of the reason I came back, there are still things in my past which I need to deal with.

Don looked at her " ... so what else brought you back?"

Nikki looked up into his eyes. "You, ... when Cassie rang me after the bombing, it made me realise how important you are to me. I was so scared I was going to lose you too. I decided that whatever was necessary I would come back and face everything."

"Did Cassie tell you what I said when I first woke up? That it was you I asked about? I didn't want you to hear about it on the news" Nikki nodded. "... why didn't you tell us you were coming home?"

"I was scared, we hadn't spoken in 2 years, I didn't know you wanted to see me"

Don rested his hands on her shoulders and fingered her hair, "Of course I wanted to see you ... I know we made a major screw up, but I hoped we could get past it. But it wasn't going to work on other sides of the country"

"Yeah, well we haven't done so great being in the same city either. ... I want to sort things out so I know what to tell Amy." He saw the pain and uncertainty in her eyes.

"I think its time you told her the truth ... Everything's changed, we've changed, but we were always friends, I don't want to lose that. ... I had time to think while I was in the hospital, I was scared you'd give everything up to come back, I guess I expected you to; then when you didn't I got mad at you."

"I know. I wanted to be here, ask Cassie. I couldn't; I was handling the city councilman case and I was in court too on a case I worked solo they wouldn't let me go and I couldn't just walk out. I needed my job to support us. You don't know how hard it was not being here" Tears started running down her face, he gently wiped them away.

"I wouldn't have wanted you to fly across the country to be my nurse anyway" He tried to lighten the mood, he hated seeing her cry. He caught her tear soaked eyes looking at him a hint of soft defiance in them,

"and so Donald Flack what makes you think I would have nursed you?" She already knew the answer.

"you have done before," Nikki looked up at him.

"That was different, you would never have been injured if I had paid better attention to crossing the street. I owed you for saving my life, and you know that."

Don wrapped his arms around her and hugged her as she slipped her arms around him. She rested her head on his shoulder and for the first time in several months feeling that things were getting better. Nikki pulled back a little and looked up at him again. "Can I ask you something?" He looks at her and opens his mouth, but she doesn't wait for an answer. "Did you ever ring that girl you wanted to ask out on a date?" He shook his head. "You should try again." She suggested.

He shook his head again. "Not now. It's too late. ... you ready to go?" She nodded at him and slipped off the bed, his hands resting on her hips to support her. "Just one more thing ... about earlier ... my apartment .. Forget it, ... I shouldn't have done it"

"We've been there before and things haven't worked, each time its taking us longer to repair the friendship. Think that's what got us so messed up?" She asked

"What? Because I love you, because I want us to be more than just friends?" The words slipped out before he could stop them. As his stomach tied itself in knots as he watched her for a reaction. He could tell he'd surprised her, she went quiet for a moment. If his hands hadn't been resting on her he would have curled them up digging his nails in his palms as he waited for her to speak. She could feel the tension in his fingers as he held her hips.

"... you are?- you do? ... and I said you couldn't surprise me!" she croaked.

He was still holding her, he finally gave in to his gut and admitted how he'd been feeling. "Seeing you tonight when that bullet came through the window, I froze, I thought it hit you, ... I'll be honest Nik, I don't know that I can handle a friendship anymore, I want you. Tonight scared the shit out of me; that I thought I was really losing you. Maybe I should have told you years ago, but I didn't. I let you walk away after 9/11, I shouldn't have done. ... Don't cry sweetheart." He brushed away the tears running down her cheeks. She caught his hand and pressed a kiss into the palm.

"You don't know how hard it was to go" she began as she realised that he had put into words what she had realised the night Cassie had called her about the bombing. "but I had to. I needed time, you did everything you could to get me through those first couple of months. I just wasn't ready to deal with it, not properly. I had to leave, I know you understood that for a while."

"Amy changed that. I never understood why you never brought her back, to meet her family. Doesn't she deserve to know who they are?

"She will. I'm going to bring her here soon, I can't keep her away any longer, I just need to work out the details. She wants to come, I've been priming her about my life here, we've looked at photos."

"When did you decide?" he asked a smile playing across his lips.

"I started thinking about it after the bombing which is why I started talking to her, but tonight, I had time to think about a few things while I waited for you all to get back to the lab, ... I can't pretend anymore Don, tonight's made me realise that ... I'm in love with you too, and I'm ready to see where it takes us ... there's just one thing" she paused staring into his eyes "Amy and I are a package, you can't have me without her, are you prepared for that?"

"I've always been ready, to have my two favourite girls in my life." Before he could say anymore Nikki slipped her arms around him pulling them close as she tilted her face up to his and kissed him as he tightened his hold on her.

This chapter is longer than the others, but I couldn't split it. You like? please review...

Future updates may be a bit slow for a while due to studies, but already have the ideas.