Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:NY. I wish I did. The characters belong to CBS. The ones invented by me are completely fictional.

Summary: Danny Messer's life is in danger. The past even he had forgot isn't a secret anymore, neither is the future he doesn't want to embrace. Danny/Don friendship. Set some months after Snow Day. No season four. Please read and review.

Warning: Rated for violence and mature references.

Some time later, Danny heard footsteps approaching and looked up expecting to see Flack. Instead, there was a blond woman at the door.

"Yeah?", Danny said, wiping his tears using the back of his hand.

"Mr. Messer. Cheryl Yalkalos. Pleasure to meet you. That man that left your room in the wheelchair... Was that Gennaro Tizanelli?", she said very fast.

"Who you said you were again?", Danny frowned.

"Cheryl Yalkalos. So, was he Gennaro Tizanelli?", she repeated.

"Why do you want to know who's visiting me?", Danny asked suspiciously.

"Well, Mr. Messer, Gennaro Tizanelli is a CEO notorious for his alleged links to the mafia and you are a NYPD officer. In my book, this is recipe for at least something fishy. Although I couldn't hear the words properly, I could tell you were having a heated discussion. You were yelling. Do you mind telling me what you were fighting about?", she questioned.

"It was a private conversation and we weren't fighting about anything. Now, would you please leave? I'm not in a chatty mood.", Danny answered, annoyed.

"How would you describe your relationship with Mr. Tizanelli?", she insisted.

"I just met the guy. We have no relationship whatsoever. Now, please, leave me alone?!", Danny replied, impatience clear in his voice.

"How were your days while in captivity? It's clear that you have been mistreated. Did you think you were going to die?", she persisted in her questioning.

"What are you doing here?", Flack barked, entering the room.

"Detective, my name is...", Cheryl stuttered.

"I know who you are! He's not giving any interviews so get out before I drag you out! You know very well you're not allowed in here!", Flack growled.

"Okay, I'm going... There's no need to get aggressive, Detective.", Cheryl lifted her palms up and backed off.

"Fucking reporters...", Flack spat, closing the door. "I'm sorry, Danno. They're getting agitated after all these days camping outside."

"Forget about it. Now, how are you holding up?", Danny raised his eyebrows.

"Huh? What do you mean? I'm fine.", Flack stared at him.

"You're tense, Flack. You're not fine.", Danny stated.

"It's nothing, Dan. It's just that these last days were rough on all of us, not knowing whether you were dead or alive, lots of dead ends till we finally found you...", Flack shrugged and sat.

"No, it's not just that.", Danny retorted.

"Yeah, it is.", Flack insisted.

"No, it is not. You were acting weird before all this happened, Flack. I was worried about you then and I still am now. You seem to know things about me that even I don't know. The least you could do was tell me what's going on with you. Maybe I can help. We're friends and I can't understand why you went to Mac and Stella instead of talking to me.", Danny sighed.

Flack looked up and took a deep breath. "We didn't know if we should say something to you or not. We knew that something wasn't right. There were rumors flying around, talks about your father meeting Tizanelli... And then you started being followed. It wasn't your paranoia, I saw them too. Turns out that Tizanelli put you under 24/7 surveillance when he received a threatening call from someone that he thought it was Jack. He started doubting he had really killed him. Later on, we discovered it was Michael."

"So, basically, I was worrying about you because you were worrying about me?", Danny interrupted, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, I guess.", Flack bit his lip.

"That's so ridiculous!", Danny started laughing and grimaced in pain.

"Danno, stop laughing... This is not funny... Your life is a mess right now.", Flack pleaded.

"Don..." - Danny snorted - "my life has always been a mess... I've got to laugh once in a while."

"Good to see that your sense of humor is intact.", Flack looked at him, amused.

"Yeah... I'm a pretty tough guy.", Danny smirked and looked at the door as they heard a knock.

NC17 Life, wraiths-angel and ShadowWolfDagger,

Thank you once again for your reviews. They are what keep me updating.

ak-stinger,

I was so pleasantly taken aback by your happiness with my update that I decided to post a small update sooner in your honour, considering that this chapter had Protective!Flack, as you put it.

I'm also in a very good mood as I saw 'Admissions' and that was an 'A' episode all around - wouldn't hurt to have more Danny in it, though... but alas, you can't have everything all the time.