Title: Poison

Author: Helice

Rating: FRT / K+

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the words.

Summary: A simple sentence could be the most deadly poison……Loose sequel to "Turned", set after a few month after Danny's turning.

Author's Notes: This is actually the first part of my Mac/Danny story that I started with, and thought it as no more than a snippet shot for quite some time, struggled with getting more of it out so I could have the whole story……Then I realized since other part of this story would be mentioned in "Prescription" -- which I might not get out any time soon, but supposely the main storyline – this IS "Poison"……Besides if I don't get it out now the odds are I'll never get it out anyway so……bite me smirk. Oh and……I think there should be a character death warning……but since we all know Danny's not realy "dead" so……shrug hey Danny, you're my favourite boy so don't worry, I won't kill you! wave

Author's Notes 2: Once more, thanks to Bev for letting me playing with her great creation! And this is an AU of Sylum's official setting, so Mac (and Stella and Aiden) knew nothing about vampires and Sylum – but Flack is still a Chosen

Fandom: AU Sylumbase-CSI:NY

Sometimes it's really hard to tell, how much hurt can a simple sentence do to people.

Mac never forget that day, the day that they lost Danny – he lost Danny, though he never talk to anyone about anything of that day. The stories about it were long, could even be chased back several months ago, but in his mind it always seems to start with the simple sentence he answered Danny, which ended their last conversation.

"I'm not sure I can."

He knew it wasn't right, not at the least, not under any circumstance, and he'd known he didn't mean it even at the moment he said it.

But there it was, like a huge block of ice, cold and heavy, its deadly weight always on his chest whenever he thought about it, and made him felt nothing but freezing breathless numb.

There were so much going on at that time, and Mac couldn't seem to always taking the right turn in all the choices he had to make. However later when he put a stop and looked back to all the things they had gone through, it was too obvious that he had made the most important turn wrong, while being busy on making all others right.

Mac was under a lot of stress then, most of them caused by Danny. First they found out Danny's past, with the Tanglewoods, which had put him in some sort of emotional chaos. He couldn't quite put his fingers right on there, but somehow he felt angry, betrayed, and hurt. As soon as he noticed Stella and Aiden, even Flack didn't seem to have the same feelings about these, realization had dawned to him that he might have feelings for Danny – which, to be honest, scared him.

Mac never really handled a relationship in his life, with Claire everything just happened when it should happened – and the only one that shouldn't be happened was her sudden pass, while it had hurt him deeply, it also left him in a complete loss of emptiness. Many people had told him to move on, to let go his pain, and to go find another right person to spend his rest life with. He couldn't do it. Not that he didn't want it, he just didn't have any idea exactly how to "move on".

Then Danny came.

And suddenly the things he had no idea, changed themselves from "how to move on", to "how to move on with Danny".

Mac took notice of Danny, more and more. How he did his works, how he kept his personal emotions in check, how his life outside office was almost a mystery. It only served to bring up his frustration, when Mac admited to himself that he, of all people, seem to be the only one who had never trully reached Danny. Stella was like a big sister when she came to care about Danny, Aiden seem to share a sibling bond with him, and Flack……Danny and Flack were so close sometime after the Tanglewoods case that Mac had doubted the two were more than just friends.

He had trusted Danny, despite how others rumored about his past. He had waited, waited for Danny to come in his office, talk to him, for whatever he wanted to say.

But Danny never came.

Instead of reaching over, Danny had distanced himself.

Then Danny disobeyed an order. Then Danny shot an undercover cop.

All things went into a mess. – Underline: Danny is truly a messer, with the initial capital or not.

Mac still trusted Danny, he still waited for him. But it was getting harder everyday, not to think about that maybe, just maybe, Danny did have some not-so-good secrets about his past which hold him from talking about it. What else would he not say anything for himself, against all those nasty rumours? And it was getting even much harder every time not to grab Danny and made him spell, than not to doubt.

Instead of Danny, the case came.

All of them were in that case and it was a really tough one. Some crazy freak stalked his victims who were random people and waited until they walked in some depopulated places, then poisoned them. The guy was quite an expert on poisoning, none of the victims were given the same kind of poison, the one thing in common about the poisons was they were all quick-resulted and had no particular effective prescription to detoxify. He was also sly and cautionary, left nothing on the scenes, which as the victim numbers increased, was pushing harder and harder for them to get their killer.

Then things happened.

Mac had assigned Stella and Danny in one group, while he and Aiden were the other. They got two more scene came in that night, so he had Stella and Danny went to one while he and Aiden handled the other. When the call about Stella being attacked came to him, Mac just couldn't believe it. Apparently the cops had left after cleared the scene, and when Danny walked away tracing some non-seeing six-sense, the killer returned. Stella had fought before being injected chloroform and slipped in a dying coma, but managed to keep a little piece of evidence that the killer came back to fetch – which connected the serial murder to Tanglewoods.

Later when Stella survived and regained consciousness this had been proven only a trap the killer planned – the piece of evidence was intentionally left in Stella's hand rather than the result of her fought to keep, in the purpose of making Danny suspectable and thus got him alone – 'cause he was, much to everyone's surprise, after Danny.

It should not have worked at the least, but it did, and the consequence had came out in the most hatred way.

Mac lost it there.

All the tenseness built from the several months ago, from the long and hard and fruitless waiting, from the case, from the situation that Danny should be there for Stella but he's not……had finally pushed Mac pass his limit.

He called Danny in and explained to him, in a expressionless way, that under the condition of the evidence and his possibly AWOL, which all needed to be investigated, he had been pulled off the case, and needed to take several days leave, until the questions were cleaned.

Danny had been quiet all the time, searching to meet his eyes, which he avoided. Only when he finished, and before he waved Danny leave he heard Danny spoke quietly, and finally allow himself to see Danny on eyes.

"Mac, please, just trust me."

The simple words were spoken in such a sincere, almost pleading way, that all he wanted to say was he did, he really did, he wanted to say he's sorry about all these suspicions and untrusting going around all the time, he wanted to say no matter what he'd always trust Danny……

But there were so much complex unreadable emotions showing twisted in his eyes, even something he never thought Danny had in him – and never will suspect that way, had they not met each others' eyes.

Mac couldn't remember when was the last time he actually seriously looked at Danny eyes to eyes, maybe he never did. But now that he did, the Danny he knew suddenly crushed and faded, like a facade, and the person standing in front of him felt more like a stranger than his Danny.

That was when it came out, the simple sentence that started everything in that day, the simple words that he had hoped for countless time that he could pulled back.

"I'm not sure I can."

And those were the last words he said to Danny.

- END -

For Now