Unfinished Business

CSI: New York

Mac/Danny

PG:13 a.k.a. FRT

On The Job, Tanglewood, Crime and Misdemeanor

PART THREE

Danny knew that this was it. He would tell Mac the truth, no matter the consequences and, hopefully, Mac would, at the very least, understand him and, at the very most, reciprocate his feelings. If not, well, Danny figured he would just leave, go back home, and he'd nurse his heart back to health, again.

"First off, I never officially joined Tanglewood Boys, I didn't 'just hang out' with them, but I don't have the tattoo. I was an unofficial member because Sonny knew what my family would do to him if he made me get the tattoo.

"Second, I lost someone I loved too. We weren't married but he and I loved each other just as much as you loved Claire. He was murdered in a bank robbery. That's what pushed me into both Sonny's and the NYPD's arms, and when I said it pushed me into Sonny's arms, I meant literally.

"And lastly, I got over him. I moved on with my life only to fall in love again, with you."

Mac was shocked. It took him quite a few moments for everything that Danny said to sink in, but when it did, Mac was pleasantly surprised. He had, for a while now, had feelings for his friend but had kept silent for many reasons. Danny was: male, younger than him, straight, a flirt, his employee; what ever his reason was for that morning not to corner Danny in one of the labs and kiss him senseless. Mac knew that both of them had been waiting for a clue from the other one, a clue that they would never have received.

Mac looked at Danny, his head was down and he was staring at the ground, waiting for his answer. Mac slowly stood up and untangled their bodies. He saw Danny's body slump and start to shake with inaudible sobs. He knew that his actions had been interpreted as a rejection.

Mac knelt in front of where Danny sat and gently lifted up his face. Brown eyes met blue as Mac assured Danny that he wasn't mad, that he felt the same way. The next thing either of them knew was that they were kissing, desperately, passionately.

Danny's phone rang, and the two men fell apart, breathing heavily. By the time either of them had gotten their breathing back to normal the answering machine had claimed the call, and Don Flack's voice rang out through the apartment. He was just calling to warn Danny that Mac was going to stop by on his way home from work. Flack had also apologized for 'accidentally' hinting to Mac that Danny had a problem or two that he needed help with and wished Danny luck. He was chuckling as he hung up.

"That demonic jerk. He swore he wouldn't say a word to you."

" He just said that you looked pale. Does he know that you..."

"Love you? Yeah, that's the main reason we broke up." Danny said with a sigh.

"I thought he and Aiden were dating." Danny laughed at Mac's expression of jealousy. He took his hand and laced their fingers together.

"Nah, he likes her though. That was the underlying reason why we broke up Mac."

"Flack set us up didn't he?" Mac asked, his words were now laced with humor.

"Yep, 'fraid so. Wanna help me kill him later?"

"After a goodnights sleep, yes, defiantly." Mac replied after a quick glance at Danny watch.

"What time is it?"

"Nearly midnight, too late for me to drive home."

"You can always stay here. I won't have any nightmares of the shooting if you stay."

Mac stood up and pulled Danny to his feet as well. Still holding hands Danny led Mac into his bedroom. Both men stripped down to their boxers and climbed into Danny's bed. Mac found the light switch and turned out the lights and turned out the lights before turning around to face Danny and folded him into his arms as He gave the blond a goodnight kiss and whispering-

"Goodnight Danny, I love you."

"Love you too Mac, goodnight."

Fin