Okay y'all, there has to be a lot of AU from this point forward with what TPTB did in season 9. There will still be spoilers but there also will be plenty of my own creation. Spoilers for 9x1
Chapter 15
Time continued to march on; the heat and humidity making anyone left in the city a little stir crazy, even as Gus admonished them all for not understanding how smothering humidity truly could be.
"I don't see you itching to visit your swamp in summer, sunshine," Don teased as the gang gathered around to grab a couple of drinks after closing a case and raise a couple of pints to his father's memory.
Adam nodded in agreement, "yeah, I'll take a dry heat any day. Though this is better than the cold!"
"Tell that to my ConEd bill," Danny grumbled, "I think Lucy figured out how to work the thermostat, every morning I wake up to penguins stealing my cereal."
Lindsay rolled her eyes, "it isn't that cold, and quit blaming your daughter for everything. Next you are going to tell me she's the one leaving the toilet seat up."
"Daniel Messer!" Jo admonished, "you have two women if your life now, you can't have them falling in in the middle of the night!" She gestured to the other men at the table, "please tell me y'all do better?"
Sheldon and Don nodded in unison, while Adam looked sheepish. "Maybe?" he croaked out.
"Okay, okay, let's move on from the great toilet seat debate. I think we also have to cheers the fact that Mac should get to go home this week!" Gus said, topping off their pints from the pitcher on the table.
"Now that we can all agree on," Jo said, raising her glass, "cheers!"
A couple of people didn't get to go home were Tom Lafferty and Will Thatcher. Don and Gus' fellow homicide detectives being arrested by IAB late one afternoon after it had been discovered they had threatened to kill a nightclub owner they had been doing private security for when the man was late paying them. It turns out the pair had a history of doing this but had never gotten caught and now they were facing several extortion and conspiracy charges.
The pit was suddenly down two detectives, but the crime rates weren't. Don was glad Gus was his partner because otherwise he wasn't sure when he would actually get to see her; even though summer was creeping towards fall, the calls kept coming. Both Don and Gus were relieved that this visit from IAB had nothing to do with them or Mac and bore little resemblance to the Truby ordeal.
"I'm starting to think we should sublet our place, babe," Flack said, trying to work the kinks out of his neck after catching a catnap in the bunk room.
"I think Mrs. Potter stole Gracie," she sighed, hanging up after asking her neighbor to walk their inherited mutt for the umpteenth time, Sam too busy between work and staying on the wagon.
"At least there shouldn't be much blow back on their cases," Gus said, gesturing to the desks formerly occupied by their now incarcerated colleagues.
"Small blessings," Don replied, letting out a small groan as Gus worked her hands over the knots in his neck.
"Save it at least for the supply closet, yous two," Parker chided them.
"You ever think about taking up comedy, Charlie?" Gus shot back, groaning as her phone started ringing from dispatch.
"And another one," Flack grumbled, grabbing their jackets.
"What do we got, Rodgriguez?" Flack asked the uniform as they got to the crime scene.
"A doozy," the man replied, leading Gus to call in the troops.
"I didn't mean all the troops," Gus said as a familiar truck pulled up to the scene.
Flack gave her a look, pausing from talking to Rodriquez about the neighborhood canvass. "What was that, sunshine?"
She pointed, as Mac exited the vehicle, almost seeing like an apparition after months away. "Did you know?" she mouthed to Jo who shook her head.
"Daddy's home," Flack remarked.
Gus nodded, studying her uncle carefully. "Speaking of which, I wonder if Stella has talked to him yet," she said more to herself than anyone.
"Kick ass out there, blue eyes," Gus said, giving Don a heated kiss before he disappeared into the locker room.
He gave her a wink and a smile, "especially if it is any of the hose draggers you dated."
"Let it go, Flack, it wasn't like I was a bunker bunny," she called after him, blowing him a kiss before going to join Jo and Sheldon to watch the NYPD vs FDNY hockey game.
"I can't watch," Jo said, putting a hand over her eyes as the tied game came down the last seconds; Danny and Don both trying to get the puck back, Adam guarding the net.
"Dagnabbit!" Gus screamed as the puck slid past Adam, the FDNY taking their six consecutive victory. She shouldn't have been shocked when Danny and a hose jockey started to tussle, or when Don joined in, but she was a little shocked at how much her husband pummeled the man like he was Colin Murphy, the cheating firefighter she had briefly dated all those years ago.
"Good lord, babe, you didn't have to take me so literally. For a second there I had to make sure #29 wasn't Murphy," Gus said as they were called away from the rink to do crowd control at a fire scene.
Don raised his eyebrows, "worse, he talked about you and my sister."
"Well in that case, I surprised you let him off that light. Your time in the ring is paying off," she said, giving him an impassioned look at she got out of the car and pulled her badge out from under her shirt.
The crowd was growing as the building further engulfed in flames, more alarms being sent up, firefighters running everywhere, their badges going little to quell the chaos.
Gus had her back turned to the building, physically trying to convince a couple of kids to go across the street at least, when the top floor seemed to explode outward, glass raining down on them. Instinctively she shielded the two children with her body, even while yelling, "and that's why I said get back," grimacing as the glass and debris bit into her flesh.
"Go home, now," she ordered the kids, trying to catch sight of the rest of the team in the pandemonium. She saw Mac first, staring up at the building in horror. Gus realized his friend and fire captain had been inside and judging by the roar of the flames and the frantic codes over the radios, he hadn't made it out.
"I think I finally got the smell of smoke out," Gus said, toweling her hair later that night.
"And the glass," Don winced, stepping on a piece as he got in the shower.
"Sorry, babe," Gus said, her forehead furrowing.
He shook his head. "I'm tougher than that, sunshine."
"Oh I am aware, can't believe you don't have a black eye from that tussle," she said, studying him carefully as he washed off.
"Freaking D'Alessio," he growled, looking down at his knuckles, recalling the man mouthing off about his wife and sister. What kind of schmuck was he? Of course Tony would be burying one of his own in a couple of days, so he should probably let it slide.
Gus appraised Don as he tied his tie in the mirror beside her as she finished swiping on mascara. "Remind me why you stopped wearing suits at work again, blue eyes?" she simpered, turning and pulling him to her by his tie.
"Because we would be late for every shift, babe" he said as he broke off the kiss. "Besides, think of all the money we are saving on dry cleaning since they changed the dress code."
"Fair points," she replied with a nod. Though she very much would have preferred to take the suit right back off of him instead of heading the the FDNY funeral for Curtis Smith, trying to see if the arsonist who had set the fire would show up as they were wont to do.
"You think Brooks will show?" Gus quietly murmured at the grave site, suppressing a shiver as Smith's family was handed his melted helmet.
"Not unless he wants his ass kicked by half the FDNY," Don replied, surveying the crowd, relieved that Pops had been retired and they didn't have to do this whole dog and pony show. He could see the tension in Gus' jaw, taking a moment to entwine his hand in hers, giving it a slight squeeze. She squeezed back letting go only when Don's phone started buzzing.
"Ready, Flack?" Mac asked as they pulled up to the building.
"Can't wait," he replied before turning to Gus. "Get their statements while we grab him, would ya sunshine?"
She nodded, more than happy to avoid the burned out shell of a building in her heels.
Gus sat across from Leonard Brooks in interrogation engrossed in his file, not saying anything to him as she waited for Mac to join, knowing he was going to stick it to Brooks. Which he tried, even as Brook denied setting the fire saying he was being framed.
"Let me get this straight, Mr. Brooks, you are saying that you are addicted to setting fires and that arson is a behavioral addiction? I must have missed that update in the DSM," Gus said,
Mac shot her a look that she wasn't entirely sure how to take, nor did she like Brook's eyes boring into her as he offered up his services as an arson investigator and pleaded with Mac to be let back to the scene they had just picked him up from.
She left the interview room shaking her head, stunned that Mac was seriously considering it. Jo and Don seemed just as surprised.
"You buy this addiction thing?" Flack asked, using air quotes.
Jo tapped her pen against her lip. "Behavioral addictions do exist, gambling, shopping, porn."
"But they aren't universally recognized as a diagnosis, Jo and even if it is true, that his brain is wired like that, taking him to the scene is the equivalent of handing him a baggie full of cocaine!" Gus protested.
"Great so now we gotta watch him get his rocks off while I try to not get soot on my favorite suit?" Flack sneered.
"Seems that way, blue eyes," Gus replied as Mac exited with a pleased looking Brooks.
Gus studied Brooks like a test subject as he took in the fire scene, carefully observing his behavior, watching as he responded to stimuli much like an addict would. Pupils dilating, breath rate increasing, the hair on his forearms standing up. She forced herself to not make a face, Brooks was clearly enjoying this more than a small amount.
Flack didn't hide his disgust, informing Brooks that the convicted arsonist did not have an ounce of his respect; the pair getting in a verbal tussle ending only when Mac intervened, still hoping for something useful. Gus couldn't suppress a shudder as Leonard Brooks informed them how useful being at the scene was to him, even if it wasn't to them.
Brooks noticed, locking his eyes on hers and saying, "sorry I wasn't more of service…was it doctor or detective?"
Flack moved in front of Gus protectively, glaring at Brooks and clenching his fists until Mac led the other man away.
"It's raining whackadoos," Gus said as she and Mac left the interview room after questioning a firefighter impersonator who had been at the scene that killed Smith.
Mac let out a small snort, "you've been with Flack too long, Gussie, I don't think whackadoo is in the DSM either."
"Thanks a lot," Flack said, having come up to let the pair know that Brooks was in the wind thanks to swapping out clothes with a plumber. "And this addiction or whatever ya wanna call it, it's definitely still in him, Mac!"
"I guess I just hoped he has learned to control his impulses," Mac stated.
It was Gus' turn to snort, "yeah, because I'm sure he attended arsonists anonymous in prison."
"Don't say it, Gussie," Mac warned in the rearview mirror as they headed across the Brooklyn Bridge to pick up Brooks from the scene of another fire.
"Say what, Uncle Mac?" she blinked trying to look innocent from the backseat.
Flack smirked, "I'll say it, Mac, 'told you so'," he stopped as they pulled up, Leonard Brooks getting the crap pummeled out of him by New York's bravest. "Yo, hey!" launching himself out of the truck and immediately getting into fisticuffs with one of the firefighters.
Mac's hand went to his holster as he commanded the rest of the squad to back up as Gus knelt beside Brooks, waving a couple of EMTs over to check him out, not leaving their side since he had already proved how slippery he could be. That didn't stop her from hearing the verbal confrontation between Don, Mac and Tony, who couldn't seem to stay away from Flack's fists, and was now getting arrested for assault.
Gus leaned against the rig, not taking her eyes off Brooks as the EMTs assessed him, giving the barest of nods to Don as he and Mac went to check out the sprinkler system. She rode along in the back of the ambo when the EMTs decided his injuries warranted a closer look at the hospital.
Brooks didn't say anything to her for most of the ride as she glowered at him until they were pulling up in front of the emergency room. "I was just trying to run into who is setting these fires, Miss," he said, his eyes narrowing as he looked down at Gus, "or Mrs." he said, barely raising an eyebrow.
Gus realized her chain had worked itself free of her shirt and the gold her wedding ring was clearly visible against the navy of her button-down. "Detective, is fine," she replied, resisting the urge to tuck it immediately back inside, her skin crawling at his observation.
"I gotta…coffee," she said waving the air as soon as Mac and Don made it to the hospital, a look of disgust clear on her face.
Don waited until they were back at the precinct, moving Gus over by the copier that everyone avoided to have a tiny sliver of privacy. "You alright, sunshine? Because I already wanna kick Brooks down a flight of stairs and if he did or said-"
Gus resisted the urge to cradle his face, shifting her weight so she was leaning against him and giving him a soft smile. "You've gone enough rounds this week, Don. I'm fine, he just gives me the creeps. Now let's go do our jobs and figure out if he is working with somebody, okay?"
He nodded in agreement, tugging on her ponytail before giving in to pulling her in for a kiss.