Disclaimer: CSI: New York belongs to someone else, who is richer than me.

Pictures Don't Lie

Danny was on his way to interview Jack when his phone rang. Since Flack was driving, he took a second to see who was calling. It was Mac. Now what does he want? Danny had just talked to Mac a little while ago. He rolled his eyes and answered the phone.

"Messer", he greeted Mac professionally.

"Danny, Jane just got a match for the blood we found in the apartment."

"How? We don't have anything to compare it to." Danny was confused.

"He has a close male relative in the department." Mac wasn't quite sure how to tell him.

"What are trying to say?"

The hell with it. "James Messer is your son."

"WHAT!" Danny's shout startled Flack, who looked away from the red light long enough to give Danny a strange look.

"He is your son. You are the only family he's got left." Mac repeated.

"No way." Danny still didn't believe him.

"You said you knew a girl in Boston."

"Yeah, but that was a long time ago."

"Eleven years, maybe?" Mac was getting tired of arguing with him.

"I can't even remember her last name. She never called or anything." Danny was finally starting realize Mac wasn't kidding. Well, at least this explains why he seemed familiar. Danny wasn't sure what to say. It had just been a one-night stand over a decade ago. Now Danny suddenly had a kid to take care of. He was little overwhelmed. I can't take care of a kid. I can barely keep myself out of trouble. Danny shook his head. He needed to do the responsible thing for once.

"Danny?" Mac took Danny's silence as a realization of what happened.

"Sorry. I'm not sure what you want me to say." They sat in silence for a minute.

"You and Flack get his statement. You should probably tell Jack what's going on." Mac hung up the phone. He didn't know what else to say, either. The irresponsible, impulsive Daniel Messer had a kid to take care of.

Mac thought about it for a minute. "What's up?" Stella knew something was bothering him.

"Danny has a ten-year old son to be responsible for." The more Mac thought about it, the more he realized Messer was probably a lot more responsible than he gave him credit for. Danny hadn't tried to deny it, anyway.

"Are you talking about the thirty old teenager?" Stella considered it for a moment. "He can barely take care of himself."

"Give the guy some credit. Who knows? Maybe this will force him to be more responsible."

"Well, I hope so."

"What was that all about?" Flack knew Danny usually didn't shout at Mac for no reason.

"Apparently Jack is my son." Don wasn't quite sure how to respond to his friend's statement.

"Well, what are going to do about it?"

"Tell him, I guess. I'm the only family he's got. He needs someone to take care of him."

"That's quite a responsibility." Flack knew Danny was feeling a little overwhelmed. "You ought to be able handle it, though."

"I sure as hell hope so." Danny was glad Flack thought he'd do all right. At least somebody did.

"Of course, if he's anything like you, the city's in a lot trouble." Don joked. Danny had to smile at that. He felt a little better about the whole situation. They reached the hospital. A nurse told Danny and Flack where to find Jack.

They enter the room to find the boy lying unhappily in a hospital bed. Jack looked like he'd gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson. Danny was reminded of what had happened to him when he and his father had gotten into the wrong cab. He shook his head and spoke to the kid. "Hi, Jack." The kid looked at him.

"You here to figure out who did this?" James Messer got straight to the point. He hated it when grownups treated him like he didn't understand what was really going on.

"Was it the guy from the park?" Danny asked.

"Yeah. He knocked on door. Mom was expecting pizza, so she opened door." Jack was fighting back tears. He paused for moment to get his emotions under control. "The he stabbed her. I saw him do it. That asshole killed her." Jack had to stop again.

The three of them just sat in the hospital room for a minute. Danny looked at the boy, not sure what to say. Finally he spoke, "We'll catch him. But we can't do anything unless you finish telling us what happened." That got Jack start talking again.

"Then he turned and saw me. I was watching from the living room. He tried to get me, too. Beowulf bit him on the leg. That made the guy drop his knife. He screamed and threw my dog into another room. I fought him but the guy was a lot bigger than me. I'm not sure what happened next expect I knew Beowulf jumped on the bad guy and bit him again. He was trying to save me. Then we heard police cars outside. That got him to run. I guess you guys know the rest." The boy looked at them. He was still trying not cry in front of the strangers. Little kids did that. But Jack couldn't hold back anymore.

Danny found himself giving the poor kid a hug. He held him for a few minutes. "We're gonna get the bad guy. It's not going to bring your mother back. Nothing can do that, but at least he will pay for what he did. He won't be able to hurt anybody ever again." Danny was also not one to bullshit people. He wasn't gonna lie to the kid. Danny knew they would be able to catch the killer at the hospital. That huge mutt had probably chewed him pretty badly. Danny almost wished the dog had killed Joey Sassone.

Flack went to check to see if their perp had checked into the ER, leaving Danny and Jack alone. After the boy had calmed down a bit, he decided to tell Jack what Mac had just told him.

"You said you don't know who your father is." Danny was trying to find a good way to phrase it.

Jack was confused by the change of subject. "Yeah. Mom said he was some guy from New York. He met her on spring break. She said that he was going to be a cop."

Just get it over with, Messer. "Look, I know this kind of sudden, I'm your dad. I can't change what happened to you mother, but I can help you." Danny gave the boy a moment to process what he just said.

Jack considered it for a few seconds. "Why didn't you try to find me?"

"I didn't know you around."

"All right." Jack believed him. Danny hadn't seemed like the kind of person to lie about it something like that. He knew some grownups would lie, but he didn't think Danny would. They sat together and talked.

Jack fell asleep a little while later. Danny just watched him. He called Mac and read him Jack's statement. Mac told him to stay with Jack. He would go to the hospital to process the kid. He knew if Jack fought him they would be able to prove Joey was killer without having to put Jack on the witness stand.

A/N: This chapter took forever to write because I don't usually write this type of chapter. I know it's got a lot of angst and drama, but I promise the next will be full of action. Please tell me what you think. I had a hard time with this one and I really would like to get some feedback. Huge thanks to all of you who reviewed last time.