Hi folks! Here's a new chapter, and as a treat, I'm posting up 2 chapters at once! Ain't that great? Hehe. I should have a new chapter up within the week, and there should be more to come. Sigh, the 3rd season is about halfway gone and I'm still on last season's storyline...

Spoilers: #2.24 - "Charge of this Post".

38: AFTERMATH

Mac and the team were one step closer to identifying the bomber. DNA tests on a hair found on the duffel bag at the Chelsea University Library showed traces of a drug used to treat schizophrenia. Not only was the bomber potentially dangerous, he was also a mentally unsound individual who hasn't been taking his meds.

Further investigations on the bomb components reveal that the blasting caps and C-4 were stolen from the National Guard Armory at Fort Wadsworth .

The search led Stella and Mac to an abandoned house in Queens , which bore signs of a bomb-making facility of sorts. They also found the stolen laptops from the Department of Homeland Security. The evidence revealed some aspect of the bomber's personality. He was someone in a desperate search for an identity, and had applied unsuccessfully to the military three times. He also seemed to have taken an interest in Mac, having researched Mac's career as a Marine.

Mac's cell phone rang; it was the bomber giving him a warning about another explosion that was set to go off in an hour's time.

Back at the temporary Command Post at the first blast site, Mac and Stella meet OHS Tech Dean Lessing. Stella had met with him earlier when he was taking photographs of the debris left behind in the explosion.

Lessing left behind a footprint stained with blue ink on a piece of paper on the ground. This led Mac to suspect Lessing as he had earlier stated that he did not have clearance to go inside the building. The blue ink was everywhere inside the gutted building, a result of an exploded copier. It meant that Lessing had to have been inside at some point.

Out of the several sites that the bomber gave, Mac zeroed in on a theater that was closed on Sundays. They already knew that the bomber's purpose was not to claim lives but to make a point.

XXX

"Danny, we're going to the Goodmanson Theater."

Danny was sitting with Morgan when he got the call from Mac. They had found the bomber, and they were going to the theater to stop him from detonating another bomb.

He raced over to join Mac and the others outside the theater where they geared up with their weapons and bulletproof vests. Advancing into the theater, they were careful not to give themselves away, knowing that they were at a disadvantage because Lessing was obviously familiar with the surroundings of the theater.

It was this disadvantage that led to Agent Fielding being taken hostage by Lessing, who asserted that he was just trying to make people see that the Department of Homeland Security wasn't ready to handle bomb attacks such as what he had done.

After a few tense moments, Mac assumed the bearing of a Marine officer and ordered Lessing to put down the weapon he was holding, addressing him as a Marine. It worked, for Lessing released the female agent from his grip and promptly secured his weapon and finished with a salute. It was what his deluded mind needed to hear, to be addressed as a Marine as he had always dreamt of.

"Please accompany the Lance Corporal out of the building," Mac said to the NYPD officers standing by. Lessing walked off with them without any resistance. He was a man grappling with his sanity, but Lessing was no longer dangerous.

XXX

Night had fallen.

Mac and Stella return to the hospital where they find a tired Morgan half-asleep beside Flack's bed. Stella lightly tapped on the glass window of the room and Morgan looked up. She motioned for the younger woman to step out and Morgan did.

"We got him," was all Stella said when Morgan stepped out of the room and she hugged her colleague in relief.

The doctor showed up soon after, and Mac got up to speak to him.

The three of them sat together for a while until Danny, Lindsay and Hawkes showed up.

"How's he doing?"

"The doctor says there's room for 'cautious optimism'," said Stella.

After learning that Flack was scheduled for a brain scan the next day, Hawkes promptly excused himself to go to talk to the neurologist in charge of Flack's case.

"Once a doctor, always a doctor," Stella said to Morgan with a smile as she got up to get coffee for them.

Morgan went back into the room with Danny following behind as Mac remained outside.

"They caught the bomber," said Morgan as she held Flack's hand. "You hear that?"

"Danny." Morgan sounded as if she had been sapped of all energy.

"What if he doesn't wake up?"

Danny knelt on the ground to look his sister straight in the eye. "Don't think like that," he said. "He'd better wake up or he's going to get it from me."

Morgan leaned forward to touch Flack's cheek. "Why did you have to make me become so dependent on you, huh?"

She was about to say more when Danny interrupted her. "I'm telling you, Don. If you don't wake up right now I'm going to kick your ass until you do. Remember what you promised me?"

"Promised you what?" Morgan asked but Danny kept talking as if he hadn't heard her.

"You swore that you would never make my sister suffer. You'd better not die on us, Don. Don't you dare."

Danny took one more look at Flack before hurriedly exiting the room and mumbling something like " Montana 's waiting for her ride". Morgan followed him out to see him leaving with Lindsay.

He didn't have to say anything for Morgan to realize something was wrong. It wasn't like Danny to leave just like that when his buddy wasn't yet out of the woods.

Fate had it that Flack had been admitted into the same hospital as Louie Messer, their half-brother, who had been in a coma for a few weeks without any sign of regaining consciousness.

"Let him be," Mac said when he saw Morgan staring after Danny.

Stella returned with coffee but had to leave soon after when she got a call from Dispatch. Mac was about to ask Morgan to go home and rest when she said adamantly that she was going to be staying.

"Looks like the both of you are going to be staying," said Stella. She left after promising to get breakfast for the both of them the next day.

XXX

Mac and Morgan enter Flack's room and sat on either side of his bed. Mac grabbed Flack's hand as he spoke to the unconscious detective.

"Don, if you can hear me, squeeze my hand."

Mac waited a while, and then he felt the faint grip of Flack's hand on his. He looked up to alert Morgan, but she was already fast asleep. Her head was resting on her arms on the bed. He decided not to wake her up, and shrugged off his own jacket, draping it over her shoulders to keep her warm.

Mac returned to the other side of Flack's bed where he sat on the chair and dozed off for a while.

Morgan was still asleep when Mac awoke from his brief slumber. He pondered over whether he should call Danny to come and pick her up, but knowing Morgan, she probably wouldn't leave unless she was dragged away.

Mac dialed Danny's number on his cell phone and hung up when he didn't answer after a few rings. Danny was either asleep or somewhere else, Mac figured. It wasn't easy having to see your buddy and brother both in critical condition at the same hospital.

Even though it was late in the night, Mac couldn't go back to sleep after waking up. He silently exited the room, thinking of taking a short stroll around.

Mac found himself walking to the section of the ward where Louie was. He showed his badge to the nurse on duty and asked if he could visit Louie. The nurse agreed, but warned that he should not take too long.

He stood at the foot of Louie's bed. "How is he doing?" Mac said to the nurse, who had followed him into the room to check on Louie.

She shook her head slowly. "Still the same."

There's a new chapter following right behind this one! Hoped you like it!