Title: Their Love, Her Murder

Disclaimer: Slash. Violence. Angst. Language. Character death.

POV: Danny

Chapter Sixteen: Hitting the Ground

Flack was gone when I got up the next morning. A note in the kitchen let me know that he had left for work. He didn't want to make the people in charge regret their decision to let him keep his badge. I smile. Once a detective, always a detective. I crumble the note and throw it into the trash can. A picture on the fridge catches my eye. My happy mood is quickly torn from my grasp. A picture of Aiden and me at the last company Christmas party. In the picture we are standing under the mistletoe, but not kissing. Instead she's smiling from ear to ear while behind her I pull a childish prank and give her bunny ears. Good times. I sigh.

I decide that staying home will just depress me and drive me crazy. I wonder if Mac will be upset to see me in work. There's only one way to find out. I check the clock on the stove. I still have more than enough time to get ready and be there like it is a normal day. Like this week has been nothing but good times.

It doesn't take me long to shower, change, and drive to over to work. All the company cars are present, so everyone is here. No cases? This shakes me up a bit. Why isn't anyone out looking for that bastard that murdered Aiden? I shake my head. Get a grip. There is evidence to process first. Always start with the evidence. Of course, that's where I'll go. That's how I'll start my day.

I wave to the secretary out front and give her a small wave. She returns both gestures with a hint of surprise. My body is currently torn in two; a side of me is happy with how things are in my life, the other side is trying to drag me down. A war raging inside. I can only imagine how I look on the outside.

"Are you alright?"

I glance to my side. "Yes, healthy as a horse, I would. Course, I don't really knowing anything about horses."

Mac smiles. "Your spirit seems to have improved. I'm happy to see that." He stops. I stop and turn to him. His face holds a serious look. "Danny, I can honestly tell you that death is not an easy thing to deal with. I'm sorry and I miss Aiden, too. So don't feel like you're alone in this."

I smile to mask the pain inside. I guess I know which side is winning. "Thank you, Mac. I never thought of myself as being alone. She was as much your friend as mine. I'll just work extra hard to catch the jackass responsible."

He furls his brow. "Now, now, Danny, be careful. Don't go letting anger be your judgment. You have to follow the evidence. Not your own hatred."

"I know." I feel like a child getting a lecture. Mac always has a habit of making me feel that way.

"Well," he says standing straighter, "I should go check on incoming cases. You get to work. The people in charge are starting to notice your lack of work ethic lately."

He leaves before I can comment on that little tidbit of info. How interesting. Is he trying to tell me that my job is on the line? Have I not just gone through this with Flack? I sigh and continue my way to the lab with the mounds of waiting evidence.

Hawkes stops me next. What a surprise, I figured he would still be avoiding me. "Danny, you look good. Happy."

That's all he says before Stella comes along with a file in hand and whisks him away. As I watch them walk away Stella glances back over her shoulder, shooting me her trademark smile. Why does it seem like everything in the world is the way it should be? It's as though Aiden never died. Do they just not care? Can they really be that cold hearted?

Whatever.

My stomach growls so I detour to the break-room. Once again I've left the house without eating breakfast. Déjà vu. Lindsay is inside grabbing a banana. She giggles softly as I reach for an apple.

"Haven't we been here once before?" She asks.

"Yes, I do believe that we have. Life has its own little mysteries. Ones that even we can't solve."

"So true." She eyes me up and down, studying me.

I take a bit of my apple. "What? Something wrong?"

"There's something different about you." Her eyes begin to twinkle. "Did you really have a migraine yesterday? Or was it something else?" She asks coyly.

I almost choke on the piece of apple in my throat. "What the hell are you talking about?" Tears of pain come to my eyes.

Her attitude changes quickly. Her posture straightens and her eyes lose that miniscule sparkle. I turn around to see Stella standing behind us. I give her a wave.

"Morning, Stella," I say.

"You two are actually getting along? Has hell frozen over and no one notified me?" She grabs a cup of coffee. The look on her face is unpleasant. What is her problem all of a sudden? Wasn't she just smiling at me in the hallway? "Tootles," she says sweetly.

I look to Lindsay for an answer. She just shrugs her shoulders and follows Stella out. I throw the apple core away. Okay, I was fast at jumping to conclusions. Things are still not right in the world. Stella has a problem with me being nice to Lindsay. Jealousy? Impossible, she likes Mac. I know she does.

Think, Messer, with Aiden out of the way Stella is a prime candidate for your best friend. Or so she thought. She never thought that you would get along with Lindsay. Maybe Stella feels left out. Maybe…

I sigh. Woman. Thank the stars above that I have Flack. He's easy to read. Easy to understand. I head for the evidence lab. The time to work is now. I can dwell on other things after work. Like what Flack and I will be doing tonight. The plan is already running through my head to call him later and invite him over. He'll say yes. I know he will. With the flourish of a happy guy I don my lab coat and get to work, losing myself in the task at hand.

Hours must pass while I work for the next thing I know someone is standing beside me. I glance up to see Stella.

Change her name to Wicked Witch…

"Something I can help you with?" I ask curtly.

The look on her face is an unpleasant one. "Just run this through for me." She hands me a bag of something green. Possibly a drug. Her tone is icy. What is her problem?

"Can do. I'll have it for you by lunch time," I remark, turning back to the microscope in front of me.

"It is lunch time." The words come out like venom.

I look at her. "Sorry, I must have lost track of time. I'll get it to you by the end of the day than." Her eyes grow darker. "Make that an hour."

She storms from the room. I relax. What the hell has gotten into Stella? Why must women be temperamental and get jealous about friendships? I don't see how turning to Lindsay instead of Stella is such a problem. Lindsay stepped up. She was there when I needed the help. Stella was avoiding me. It is easy to see how I made my choice. In time, Stella will get over it. Won't she? I can only hope.

Flack enters the room, looking back over his shoulder. "What the hell is wrong with her?" He asks as though read my mind.

"She has a bug up her butt about me being nice to Lindsay," I remark.

"Really? Women." He shakes his head. He steps further into the room and after a quick look around kisses me.

"Hey," I protest. "Last time you did that someone saw us."

His eyes take on that surprised look that always turns them from blue to the color of the ocean. "Oh? You never told me that. Who was it? Please tell me it wasn't Stella."

I chuckle. "No, it was Lindsay. And judging by the way she looked at me today, I'm an open book and she now knows about last night."

"So?"

"That doesn't bother you?"

"Not one bit. I don't see how it's any of her business. So I loved you last night. I watched you sleep for a while before going to work this morning. The end of the world hasn't come yet," he states.

"True." I smile. "I did enjoy last night. Though I was a little heartbroken to find you gone when I woke up. Playing Mr. Good Cop today?" I joke.

He gives me a mock salute. "Yes, captain. I'm actually here to see Mac and thank him for the help. Than I need to rush back to over to my desk and continue filling out the boring, mindless paperwork."

"It's only for a short time," I tell him.

He chances another kiss before he leaves me alone. Something in my mind is nagging at me. What it is, though, I can't tell. The world isn't right. I wish I had the time to figure out what it was but the evidence wasn't going to process itself. So I dig back in.

Stella stands in the doorway, sending chills my way. The hair on the back of my neck stands up. My body is instantly filled with a foreboding feeling. I turn to her.

"Well, wasn't that quaint? I wonder what the chief of police will think when he finds out that his golden boy detective is sleeping with a CSI. A male CSI." The color drains from my face. "There's only one way to find out and I'm very curious."

She turns and leaves. I don't move. I can't. Now I know what the nagging feeling is. It's the dread that something bad is going to happen. Like my world falling down around me.