The Past Never Stays Where It Should

Part Three

The next morning Carmela entered the kitchen to find Danny dressed for work and eating a bowl of cereal.

"Hey", she said softly as she walked over to the fridge.

"Hey", he replied, watching her as she filled a glass with milk, "So I was thinkin' about what you said last night."

"Oh yeah?" she asked, sitting down at the table next to him.

"Yeah. I'm gonna talk to Mac today. You were right, he might be able to help."

"Good. You can't deal with Sonny on your own and Mac might prefer it if you found him first before he had to find you"

Danny nodded his agreement, "I'm gonna go in a little early and try and catch him before shift starts." He took his bowl over to the sink and rinsed it out.

"Okay. Franco's gonna sort the delivery for me today so I don't need to be at work till lunch", Carmela said as she stood up and stretched.

"Lucky for some", Danny smiled before wrapping his arms around Carmela's waist and kissing her softly on her lips. Carmela put her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.

Pulling back she whispered, "Stay outta trouble today."

Danny smiled, "I'll try." Carmela hit him lightly on the shoulder and smiled. He pecked her on the lips before releasing her from his arms and slipping on his scarf and coat.

"I'll see you later", he called as he headed to the door.

"Bye. Love you"

"Love you too"

Danny arrived at work 20 minutes before the shift was supposed to start. He bounded up the steps to Mac's office and smirked, 'Mac would sleep in that office if Stella let him', he thought to himself.

He knocked on the door and stuck his head in, "Mac can I talk to you?"

"Sure Danny. Come on in", he replied.

Danny explained everything to Mac about Mikey and Tony's death and the Tanglewood involvement. When he was finished Mac was silent for what seemed like an awful long time.

"I'm glad you came to me Danny, although I don't appreciate you lying to me in the first place."

Danny hung his head like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"But", Mac continued, "It's good that you decided to tell me the whole story. Don't worry about Sassone, from what you've told me he's not got anything on you. You didn't do anything with the drugs and weren't a witness to the murders."

"Sometimes I wish I had been there. I've always wondered if I could have stopped him, saved Tony and Mikey and not have to have seen the pain in Carmela's eyes", Danny sighed.

"Believe me Danny, nothing you could have done would have stopped Sonny Sassone firing that gun. And if you had been there then Carmela would have so much more pain to deal with all by herself."

"I know but … I just think that if I had been there then maybe things could have been different", Danny shrugged.

"Come on, shift's about to start", Mac said as he ushered Danny out of his office and he picked up the cases that were to be solved today.

The small team of CSI's were gathered in the break room and waited for Mac to delegate the cases.

"Aiden and Danny I want you two to look into a break-in and assault of a young woman in her apartment," Mac informed them as he handed the manila folder to Aiden, "She is currently in hospital recovering. Stella and I will be investigating a drive by shooting in Queens and we should be heading over to the scene", he finished before leaving with Stella.

"So we'll head over to the hospital and talk to the vic?" Aiden asked Danny.

"You go ahead, I just need to check something with Chad then I'll head over to the scene."

"Okay, see ya later then", Aiden said as they went their separate ways.

When Aiden arrived at the hospital their victim had been admitted from the ER. The nurse directed her to the room the young woman was in. Aiden glanced in the little window in the door and frowned.

"Can I see her chart?" Aiden asked the nurse.

The nurse handed her the chart and Aiden checked the name written at the top.

"Do you mind if I use your phone?" she asked before she walked over to the nurses' station. She glanced anxiously at the door their victim was behind as she waited for someone to answer the phone.

"Danny?"

"What's up Aiden?"

"Are you still at the lab?"

"Yeah. What's go-"

"You need to get to the hospital now"

"What? Why?"

"Our vic… It's Carmela."