On Best Friends

(General spoilers up to and including, Season 4, episode 1 Can You Hear Me Now?)

Goodbye my almost lover,

Goodbye my hopeless dream,

I'm trying not to think about you

Can't you just let me be?

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Nove Kent's song which had been running through Danny's head all day had hit a bit too close to home. It's really pissing me off. It didn't help that Stella was standing right next to him when he first heard it. And now it wouldn't leave his mind.

"Where are you off to now?" Flack called out to him, after their shift ended.

"Date with Lindsey. I just wanna run home to grab my Harley first." He was picking Lindsay up from her apartment, and he liked having his own ride for dates.

"Well, skip the subway. I'll drive you."

"What, you don't got anything better to do?"

"Not today. Besides, I wanna pick up some steaks from that butcher round the corner of your street."

"Yeah, no one cuts them like Charley," Danny said, getting into the car.

"You got that right," Flack answered, buckling his seatbelt.

"So how're things going between you two?" Flack asked, after being on the road for a few minutes, "You even make it to third base yet?"

"Man we're way past that."

"Then why not make it official? Why all the secrecy?"

"It's not like we're hiding or anything, we just want to keep it low-key."

"Meaning you're worried Mac'll fire you if he finds out."

"He wouldn't do that, at least at I don't think he would."

"You'd better hope so," Flack said, stopping at a red light. He glanced at Danny, "Is it really worth the risk, though?"

The CSI couldn't keep the smile off his face

"I guess that stupid grin says it all, huh?" But Flack's light comment held deeper meaning, which Danny picked up on immediately: Are you happy? And he answered accordingly.

"It's been better now than it has been for a long time, Don." Deep blue eyes searched clear blue ones. Then Flack nodded, satisfied. In front of him, the light turned green, and he stepped on the gas.

"Good. I'm glad for you."

"What about you? You ever gonna asked Stella out?"

"I decided I don't wanna mess up a good friendship."

"She already has a friend, Don."

"I know she has Mac, but it's not like you can have too many friends."

"I'm her closest friend," Danny stated.

"I though Mac was."

"No she's his best friend."

"Am I missing something here? That's the same."

"No it's not. She's his best friend, but he's not her best friend. It all has to do with who needs who more. Who's mostly on the receiving end," he clarified.

"So you're saying he needs her more than she needs him?" Flack stated, catching on.

"Exactly."

"And she needs you more than you need her?"

"That's right."

"And how'd you figure that?"

"Well, I know what she needs from Mac but isn't getting so I fill in the blanks. On the other hand, I don't need her all that much," Danny explained.

"Oh yeah, and why's that?" Flack challenged, valiantly keeping himself from adding that Danny was the neediest person he knew.

"Cause I got you."

Flack didn't expect that answer.

"So you're saying you're my bestest best friend friend. Pretty sure of yourself aren't you?" he cracked, swerving to avoid a pizza delivery guy on a motorcycle.

"That's not what I meant. You are my closest friend, cause I'm the one whose on the receiving end," Danny answered seriously, fiddling with his cell phone.

Flack was humbled by this sudden honesty, but mostly he felt a bit embarrassed.

"Danny."

"What?"

"Have you been drinking?" Flack asked, taking his eyes off the road for a second to see Danny scratch his neck, looking determinedly out the window.

Flack realized that he was hurt. Danny was very inhibited when it came to talking emotions. For whatever reason, he had opened up to Flack who, in his surprise, hadn't given him the response he needed.

"This is the weirdest conversation I've ever had," he explained, quietly.

Danny remained silent. Flack knew he was still upset.

"So, I'm you're best friend, but you're not mine. Does that mean I need to put in an ad in the personals? All this time I thought I already had one," he stated, keeping his tone light, but his tone was serious so that Danny knew he wasn't making fun of him. He hoped it was enough to soothe his friend's fragile ego. It took a minute, but Danny finally answered.

"I try to be," he said, still looking out the window. To which Flack immediately replied,

"You are."

A few more minutes passed before Danny was able to look at Flack, and go back to the comparatively less awkward original subject.

"Anyway, in case you ever do decide to try for her, there's something you oughta know: its Mac you gotta worry about, not me. I may be her best friend, but even I don't know if there's anything between them."

Inwardly, Flack noted the advice, but verbally brushed it aside as not being needed.

"Like I said, why waste a good friendship? There are plenty of girls out there. There's gotta be someone I can go out with that I don't have to worry about implications if things don't work out. Hasn't that ever worried you? Dating Lindsay?"

"Nahh. I like her, so why worry about something that might or might not happen?"

True. Flack thought, impressed by the reasonableness of Danny's statement. On the other hand, he couldn't really take his friend's words at face value. There was a certain air of possessiveness when Danny stated that he was Stella's best friend. Plus, Flack found Danny's urging that he ask Stella out a bit suspicious. The guy is trying too hard. It's as if he wants me to go out with Stella, so he can finally close that door. Sorry Danny, but I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to get stuck in the middle of anything. This is something you gotta work out on your own.

He hoped Lindsay could help his friend with that. Even though Flack doubted she had the emotional capacity to get Danny to open up to her, he knew that given enough time, Danny would slowly do it on his own. It just took him longer than normal to start trusting people.

Author's Note: It's taking me a while, but I'm slowly getting back in the groove. I had to wait for my CSI Season 4 box set to arrive. I've already seen the season, but I need to rewatch all the episodes before I can confidently post up the chapters relating to them.