Unfinished Business
CSI: New York
Mac/Danny
PG:13 a.k.a. FRT
On The Job, Tanglewood, Crime and Misdemeanor
PART TWO
The door creaked as it slowly swung open. Mac turned around to face Danny. He looked like hell, and that was putting it mildly. Danny was as pale as a sheet and looked as if he hadn't slept at all these past two days. Well, neither had Mac. He'd been far to worried about the young man in front of him to even consider sleep as an option either night.
"You look like hell Danny."
"Thanks a'lot Mac. You wanna come in?" The words hadn't even left Danny's mouth when Mac pushed, gently, past him and into the small apartment.
Mac sat down on Danny's old sofa and waited for him to finish locking the door. Mac couldn't help but smile when he realized that Danny was purposely taking as much time as he could. Danny had been tense lately, he'd been tired a lot too, Mac suddenly wondered if there was more to Danny carelessness then just what he saw.
When Danny finally gave up buying time and joined Mac on the sofa he sat as far away from the older man as physically possible. Mac frowned, internally, at the distance between them. Didn't Danny know that he hadn't come over to yell at him? Mac had just hoped to talk to Danny, to find out why he had reacted the way that he had. The aloof, 'unemotional', Mac Taylor did care about Danny; he cared too much about Danny, that was why he was here and not over at his apartment, catching up on some seriously needed sleep.
Since it looked obvious that Danny was too tired and wouldn't speak first Mac open his mouth to begin, only to be interrupted by Danny.
"Look Mac, I screwed up. I proved them right and I embarrassed you. I'm sorry. I had no clue what I was doing, but I swear, I never heard Minhas ID himself. I know it musta' happened, but I didn't hear it. In my mind I was in danger. Why else would I shoot a cop?"
Danny spoke with both conviction and passion in his voice, and Mac knew that every word that he had said was the truth, well almost.
"No Danny. You didn't disappoint me, and I really don't care what anybody else says. I don't regret hiring you. You will never disappoint me."
"I already have Mac, or have you forgotten the Tanglewood incident and the Silver Man case? Third strike Mac, I guess that means I'm out." Danny's words held a finality to them; they also held sadness and pain that he was desperately trying to filter out of them.
"No, you're not out yet Danny. I don't intend to give up on you anytime soon, so don't give up on yourself. You are one of the best men I've ever worked with. So what if you've screwed up? Show me one person alive who hasn't screwed up at least once."
"Noone, once was bad enough, I screw up enough out of work, guess I didn't expect to screw up during work, much less three times during work."
"So your just going to quit? Throw all your hard work away?" Mac asked as he shifted closer to where Danny sat.
"What else can I do?" Danny asked redundantly. "I can't go on like this Mac."
"Like what Danny? What's going on in that brain of yours? I can help you Danny, even if all I do is listen I can still help."
"You have your own problems Mac, you don't need mine on top of your own."
Mac sighed heavily. He knew that getting Danny to open up to him would take some convincing, but he didn't care, Danny needed to talk and he needed to know what was bothering Danny. Mac suddenly decided to try a slightly different approach. He slid right next to Danny and put his arm around his shoulders, effectively pinning the younger man between himself and the sofa's armrest.
"Flack said that you told him that I 'Didn't have your back.', care to explain that statement.?"
"What I...What I meant was..." Danny trailed off. And looked helplessly at Mac.
"What you meant was?" Mac urged Danny on.
"What I meant was that I thought you weren't doing the best to help me. I thought that it would be better if I came clean. I was wrong, 'bout everything. Sorry Mac."
"Oh Danny, why on earth would you ever think that I didn't have your best interest in mind?"
"I don't know. I know I shouldn't have doubted you. That guilt is half my problem."
'Half of his problem?' Mac thought, 'He cares enough about me to make me half of his problem?'
"What is the other half?" Mac asked Danny, the tone of his voice left no room for argument; Danny would respond, honestly.
"Unfinished business." Danny said after a lengthy pause.
"Unfinished business? I don't quite follow Danny."
Danny paused again and tried to think of the best way to phrase his answer.
"I guess it just recently sunk in that any one of us could be killed any day, and I didn't want to die without telling you a few things." Danny finally answered.
"I'm here now, so, tell me."
To Be Continued
