1Lying In Wait

Chapter 22. This is Danny, kidnaped and held under horrible circumstances, thinking about everything he's been through. It also has Arielle's thoughts about him. Thanks for everyone's reviews! And R&R as usual.

It was a tiny room, dirty and ashambles. There was one window, covered in muck and mildew, overlooking a small street. Danny lay on his back, chained to the filthy mattress, dizzy and weak. His wrists ached from chafing, trying to work himself out of the chains, and his legs were bruised. He knew his stomach must have been even worse- his ribs had taken hit after hit from a stick, and a few of them had to have been cracked. He tried to sit up, but riddled with pain he gave up.

This was torture. They had grabbed and drugged him, dragged him to Staten Island, and stashed him here. He had been here for at least four days, and he didn't know anything. He didn't know why they had him, and he didn't know when- or if- he was getting out.

He lay back onto the bed, eyes closing, in the dark against his eyelids going through the events of years before. His childhood... playing baseball, dodging Tanglewood, acing science... being chosen from a long list of CSIs, and trying his best to hold up the honor... meeting Arielle, embracing her, becoming friends with her as she helped him and Aiden out on different cases, and soon falling in love with her.

He'd never know if she truly felt the same way, no matter what words she had said in the past...

The door opened, and rough hands grabbed him. "Wh-what do you want?" Danny croaked, his voice strained and cracking from dehydration.

"Don't ask questions," the voice snapped back, hitting him over the head. He reeled from the blow, spitting out blood that rose from him biting the inside of his cheek. Arielle's face jumped out at him at that moment, and he thought, Please, help me, sweetie. Someone find me, please.

"You think you're some hotshot cop, who can come and jeopardize everything we've worked so hard to get? You think you're going to rat us out, huh, Messer?" the man yelled, jerking him around to face him. Danny had no choice but to keep his eyes open as wide as they could go, though he could barely see the man's face clearly- images were swimming around in his eyes.

"Hmph," he said, and dropped Danny back onto the bed. "Oh, yeah, we know you. We know all about you, and your ridiculous job. You could have been freewheeling with us, but no, you had to come off all noble."

Danny stayed quiet. "Do you think you're going to get out of here, asshole?" he spat. "Answer me, Messer."

"No," Danny choked out, eyes welling with angry tears.

"Do you think anyone's going to find you?"

"No."

"Do you want to get out of here?"

"Yes."

"But you won't. Nobody's looking for you, God damn it."

Arielle drove down the highway, silent. Her mind was filled with images of Danny, when she first met him, when she became close to him. She had always felt a sense of attraction to him, a crush. But she had never thought he felt the same. It was only until she had felt something in common with him that she realized how close she had become. But she had been seeing Flack, mainly because she thought Danny didn't trust her, could never trust her. She thought Flack would be the better choice in the long run. But she had never loved him as much as she had fallen for Danny.

"Arielle? You okay?" Aiden asked. Arielle swallowed and nodded, and stopped in front of the addressed house. They crept to the door, which was small and dingy, just like the rest of the house. They paused, then banged the door open and shouted, "NYPD!"

Nothing. They walked in and looked around. It was dismal. Dirty, trashed, messy. Any of those synonyms would have been fine. Upstairs, they heard someone talking. "NYPD!" Aiden called, holding her gun up.

They went upstairs, and found the room where they had heard the noise. And there, they saw Danny, upon a bed, bloody and bruised, but very much alive.