Don Flack, his mind reeling from the things Mac had said, stared down at the body before him. The guy, Jack, had obviously taken a beating. Even though he had most likely died soon after being beaten, the bruising had already started to rise, his face puffy, bloodstained where a few particularly vicious hits had broken the skin.
It recalled to Flack's mind a situation that had taken place after a case involving a violent husband and his battered wife. Danny had, as was his way, gotten too emotionally involved, finding it difficult to restrain himself when it came to arresting the husband who had laughingly called his wife a bitch and told her to have his supper ready when he came home even as he was frogmarched out of his apartment by two armed officers. That night, Danny and Flack had gone to the gym together to burn off the stresses of the day and Flack had watched, silently horrified, as Danny pummelled a punching bag until he split the knuckles of his right hand open. Danny had claimed to just be taking out his frustration in a way that wouldn't harm the case, which was true, but Flack had never quite forgotten the look on his friends face as the young CSI had thrown punch after punch at the bag - a look of utter hatred and rage. They hadn't been wasted hits either. Danny clearly knew how to inflict damage, even on a punching bag.
Flack turned his back on the corpse and cast an experienced eye over the apartment. He sighed and marched wordlessly out of the apartment and into Danny's place, which had officially been included in the entire crime scene. It did, Flack had to grudgingly admit, reek of beer. And it was not as neat as Danny usually kept it, looking as if he had banged around for a few hours, probably while getting more and more drunk...
'No,' Flack thought to himself, 'don't go there, Mac's given up, don't let Danny down too.' He surveyed the scene. Aiden had followed him from the other apartment.
"It's so weird." She shook her head slowly in confusion. " We shouldn't…we shouldn't be in here, not like this…Danny's isn't a criminal he's not a victim," she said, her voice thick with emotion.
"We're here for Danny," Flack tried to reassure her. "To help him"
"We shouldn't have to!" Aiden snapped.
Flack took a deep, mournful breath. " I know, Aid, I do," he stated. " It sucks, it's fucked all the way up…but that doesn't change that it happened…we need to get our heads on straight, to think about what went on here, what went wrong…Danny has a temper, that's a fact right there. Another fact, that man in there is dead and Danny is nowhere to be seen. Fact three, Danny doesn't have his cell, his badge, or his gun. No badge means he didn't go in there as a cop, at least not flashin' gold." Flack motioned with his hands as he spoke, making slicing movements in the air as if physically separating all his thoughts out. " But he would have announced himself, stated that he was a cop…Danny ain't stupid, that's for damn sure," he nodded to himself. " I checked the records, the dead guy has had complaints against him before for bein' drunk and disorderly but no bodies ever reported him for abusing his kid…which is bad for Danny…but then again lookin' at that apartment, its obvious he was neglecting his parental duties." Flack took another breath, feeling the wheels in his head begin to spin as he tried to map out his thoughts. " So we got a drunken dad, a possibly drunken Danny, and a kid stuck in the middle of this. Things get worked up, maybe the guy was makin' noise and Danny, not in his right mind, goes over there, they get into it…Danny…Danny goes too far…we could claim self defence..." he looked over at Aiden who shook her head.
"Nu uh, Danny's all but won awards for marksmanship, he's lethal with a gun, he's a cop for gods sake…it's like if a soldier kills a guy out side of combat, even in self defence, the soldier could get life, because he knows he's lethal when he goes into the fight." She shook her head. "Danny knows how good he is with a gun…and the guy was shot through the damn forehead Flack!" She seemed ready to throw her kit down on the ground until Flack walked over and took the case from her, raising an eyebrow.
She gave him a ghost of a smile and took a very deep breath, in and out, as Flack set her kit down near the door in an area they had already cleared. "I'm already thinkin' like Mac." She shook her head. "I know he didn't do this, in my gut I know but god damn it, it's lookin' bad-what if he's hurt? What if he needs our help and he's somewhere out there right now and we're just screwing around in here while he sits waiting for us to come get him!" she snapped, her voice - once again - thick with emotion.
"If he is out there, he'll figure out how to get help from us," Flack said, soothing him self as much as her.
"What if he can't? Or thinks he can't? We don't know too much about him but we know that he's been on the wrong end of police investigations." She looked over her own shoulder and stepped closer to Flack, lowering her voice conspiratorially. " If he did do something that he could get into trouble for is he likely to stand his ground and take the punishment for it or would he run?" She met Flacks eyes and her gaze was intense enough that Flack didn't even bother trying to lie to reassure her.
CSI
Danny was trying to convince himself that by relaxing his body he wouldn't feel as cold, but it wasn't working - at all.
He was still cold and would stay that way, no matter what he told himself. He was actually colder than he would normally have been because of the wound in his shoulder. Beside him, Vincent hunched up as much as he could, making himself as small as he was able. Danny wanted to pick him up and carry him, but even as small as he was, Vincent would be too much weight with the injury.
They had found their way to a street that was either an alley way or a very small road, it was hard to tell with the snow covering everything. There was what looked to be an abandoned car half covered with snow, several dumpsters, and a number of doorways that looked like the front entrances to buildings. "The snow is filling our foot steps," Vincent spoke suddenly.
"What's that?" Danny said, trying to figure out why Vincent's voice sounded as if it came from several feet away.
"The snow," Vincent said patiently, "It's fillin' up our foot prints behind us." He turned and pointed back the way they had walked.
"Oh…yeah," Danny stated feeling oddly non-plussed. " So we should find like…um…some help right?" He frowned down at the boy.
"Yeah," Vincent said slowly. " Maybe we should try some doors?" he suggested.
Danny nodded slowly. "Yeah, that would be good."
Vincent headed over to the first door and Danny tried to follow him but his feet seemed to be on strike and he stumbled.
He fell over into the snow, pain shooting through his shoulder as he tried to catch himself.
"Danny!" Vincent cried out, running over and kneeling at Danny's side.
"I'm alright, I'm fine," Danny lied, trying to push Vincent away.
"No, you're bleeding again! We should go back, maybe the police are there, they can help us!" Vincent's teeth where chattering as he spoke.
"No!" Danny snapped. "No, the cops wont help us, they never help any body!" he said, his voice ragged.
Vincent hesitated and drew his hand back from Danny's shoulder. "But…you're a cop," he said, frowning. " Aren't you going to help us?"
Danny looked up at Vincent and frowned again, trying to see through the fog that had suddenly clouded his vision. He tried to speak but he found it too difficult to form words, and instead reached for Vincent as he slumped toward the snow on the ground.
CSI
Danny was curled up in the crook of his dad's arm, his head resting on his fathers shoulder, his dad's jacket pulled up so it covered Danny's head. It had been raining torrentially since the middle of the day and Danny and Leo had gotten caught on their way home from evening mass.
Danny was half asleep; the warmth of the church combined with the lulling rhythm of the hymns during the mass having soothed him into a gentle doze. His dad had picked him up wordlessly, carrying him out of the church as soon as the mass was over. Danny was ten but he was small for his age, small enough to carry.
"Hey kid, you wanna go straight home or you want something to eat" Leo asked Danny, shaking him slightly in his arm.
"Home please," Danny murmured.
"Alright," Leo stepped closer to the street, trying to spot a cab. They where not too far from home but Danny had been coughing a lot lately and Leo had been making an effort to keep him out of bad weather.
"Taxi!" Leo yelled, holding his hand out as a yellow cab crawled by.
This wasn't the best neighbourhood and the driver knew it. He sped up as Leo stepped toward the curb, driving the car through a puddle, which splashed dirty water over Leo's jeans. "Fuck!" Leo spat angrily, shocking Danny awake.
"You want me to walk?" Danny asked.
"No Danny, don't worry about it," Leo said distractedly.
Another cab crawled by in the rain, this one basically a domestic car with a painted-on sign.
Leo hesitated but the cab stopped and the passenger side window, which was closest to Leo, rolled down.
"Where to buddy?" the cabbie asked, leaning over the seat.
" Um, just up the way a little," Leo said, giving the driver the address. "I know it's not that far but it's raining and my kid's ill."
"Sure, sure, get in," the driver grinned, flashing crooked black teeth at them.
Leo looked at Danny and raised an eyebrow. Danny just shrugged.
Leo matched the shrug, grinning warmly at Danny, and opened the back door, sliding into the seat a little awkwardly with Danny in his arms.
Danny crawled over to the other side of the seat as Leo closed the door and the driver set off. It was warm in the cab, enough so that Danny dozed off again, leaning, on Leo's arm. Leo too was soothed by the heat and his eyes began to droop closed. The pair where jerked awake when the car went over a bump in the road and Leo peered out of the window.
"What the hell!" He frowned. "Where are we!" he snapped at the driver.
Danny jerked awake again, pushing his glasses up his nose and blinking up at his father.
"Shut up," the driver growled.
"Fuck you, where are we!" Leo banged the back of the drivers' seat.
The driver stamped on the brakes and twisted in his seat, punching Leo hard in the face.
Leo snapped back from the blow, clutching at his nose. The driver climbed out of the car and ran around to Leo's door, pulling it open and dragging Leo out. " Gimme your wallet!" the man yelled, throwing Leo roughly to the ground.
Leo lay dazed and groaning on the asphalt as the driver glanced around nervously.
Danny jumped out at the driver, his small hands curled into fists. He punched the driver hard enough to make the man's nose bleed but the guy caught him before Danny could do any more damage. He threw Danny roughly to the floor, kicking him the way one would kick a dog.
Danny howled in pain as Leo lunged for the driver, tackling him around the waist and knocking him back into a puddle.
"Dad!" Danny cried, curling around the pain in his side.
The driver hit Leo with something and Leo went down again. "Just give it up!" The driver snapped.
He kicked Leo twice and Danny pushed himself painfully to his knees, yelling for help at the top of his lungs.
The driver turned on him, dragging Danny to his feet only to slap him back down again. He kicked Danny in the ribs and legs, stamping on Danny's ankle when Danny tried to kick back. The driver held Danny by the scruff of his neck and punched Danny repeatedly in the face, ignoring Danny's screams of pain.
Leo tackled the guy again but he was dazed and the assault was feeble. The driver turned and began beating on Leo with the same ferocity he had unleashed on Danny.
When Leo finally lay still, the driver of the gypsy cab rooted through his pockets, finding his wallet and taking the few bills it held. He stormed back to his car, kicking Danny once more as he passed.
The driver left them lying in the street, Danny sobbing breathlessly as each breath caused more pain to flare through his body.
"Danny?" Leo's voice came "Danny, are you ok? Talk to me!"
Leo's voice changed, becoming higher, younger, Vincent's voice. "Danny!" The boy was clearly frantic and panicked and Danny realised he was lying in the snow.
"I'm okay," he breathlessly lied again.
"What happened!" Vincent said.
Danny opened his eyes and focused on Vincent's tear stained face.
"I just tripped, I'm fine," he replied more harshly than he meant to.
Vincent drew back, frowning at Danny. "I was just trying to help," he said meekly.
"Yeah, well, I'm sick of you askin' questions all the time!" Danny snapped " I'm in charge here, so quit questioning me," he said wearily.
"I'm just gonna assume that you're in a lot of pain and that you're not your self," Vincent said diplomatically.
Danny glared at him and chewed the inside of his own lip angrily. He slowly, painfully, pushed him self to his feet, shivering against the cold. "I'm sorry," he said gruffly. " I don't…I don't know what's wrong," he muttered to himself.
"I really wanna go back," Vincent stated, "I think my dad will have passed out by now, we can call the cops!" he told Danny.
"No!" Danny snapped. " Cops can't help people like us, don't you get it? They figure we'll just kill each other off and all they'll have to do is come in and clean up the bodies." Danny bent awkwardly to look into Vincent's eyes. "They'd rather it be that way," he said.
"But…you said you would help me." Vincent, tears running down his cheeks whimpered. "And you're a cop"
"Look, I'm somebody you can trust, I'm somebody who'll get your back. That's all that matters," Danny assured him.
"You're sweating," Vincent said, changing the subject so rapidly that Danny had to take a second to figure out where he was in the conversation.
"What?" he frowned.
"You're sweating like it's hot…but it isn't hot, it's still snowing." Vincent frowned, pressing a hand to Danny's forehead. "You feel like you have a fever Danny. We have to find a doctor!" he exclaimed. "This isn't right, you're sick!"
Danny pulled away from Vincent's hand. "I'm fine," he said softly. " We oughta keep movin', we'll find help quicker if we do"
He walked unsteadily away from Vincent, barely even glancing back at the boy.
Vincent stood alone in the snow, seriously debating whether he should carry on with Danny. He looked back the way they had come and realised he would never find his way back on his own, so ran after Danny, hanging back just a little instead of taking Danny's hand like he had done previously.
Danny walked over to the door they had attempted opening before Danny had collapsed. He pushed it and it opened with relative ease, so he walked in, apparently unconcerned about sneaking in.
"Any idea where this is?" he asked Vincent as they stepped into the dark building.
"Nope," Vincent replied.
"Shit," Danny said without much conviction.
"Should we yell for help?" Vincent asked.
"No!" Danny snapped "You tryin' to get us killed by some gun happy rentacop?" He laughed oddly, shaking his head as if it was the funniest joke he had ever told and he couldn't get over his own comedic talent.
Vincent stared at him, his eyes focusing on the bullet wound. It was bleeding again, visibly, and Vincent was guessing it was infected. He put Danny's odd behaviour down to fever but it worried him, as Danny was growing noticeably paler with every step they took.
"If we're careful about what we say he might not shoot us," Vincent suggested.
"Nu uh, rentacops are worse than real cops, they got wannabe hero complexes, they take it all too seriously. Jeez kid, you got a lot to learn, I'm amazed you've lasted at all in this city."
Vincent frowned again and wondered if this behaviour was normal or brought on by the illness. He hadn't known Danny long enough to know the difference. "You're bein' kinda mean," he said sadly.
Danny gave him a look that Vincent couldn't identify. "I'm not bein' mean I'm teaching you." he smirked.
"Teachin' me what?" Vincent frowned.
Danny ignored him and carried on walking into the building. It seemed to be the back room of some sort of store, and Vincent immediately began searching for a first aid kit.
"If there's a phone we should call the cops," Vincent said cautiously as Danny stood shivering near the doorway.
"No," Danny said slowly " No, the cops won't help us, its just you and me now'" he stated quietly.
"What?" Vincent asked.
"The cops don't help people like us, they just tell us we're being dramatic. We have to stick together and only look out for one another." Danny looked up at Vincent, his eyes glinting oddly.
"I don't-" Vincent started to say but Danny stepped forward, his hand held out to silence him.
"Listen!" Danny hissed, "Do you hear that?" his eyes where wide in his pale, sweat covered face.
"No'" Vincent replied in earnest.
"They followed us!" Danny said, cursing "We can't get caught, I'm not goin' back home in a cop car, do you know what he'll do to me?" he asked.
Vincent found himself lost for words as Danny grabbed his arm and pulled him further into the store, shoving the door closed behind them.
He dragged Vincent into a small storeroom, finding the deepest darkest corner and crouching down, pulling Vincent to sit beside him. "We'll stay here until they've passed by, then we can run for it, make our way somewhere safe." Danny sat with his back to the wall, pulling his knees up in front of him.
"Who?" Vincent asked simply.
"Sh!" Danny said harshly, making Vincent move so that if the door opened, Danny's body would shield Vincent. " We can just stay here for a little while, until its safe," Danny muttered, his voice growing faint.
Vincent huddled nervously beside Danny until he realised Danny had passed out. He went to move but Danny stirred, muttering something. Vincent moved again, pressing his hand to Danny's fore head. Danny's skin was burning hot but Danny was shivering, growing worse even as Vincent watched.
Vincent looked around the room and spotted some kind of large sheet or dust cover. He pulled it over and opened it out, using it to cover both Danny and himself. Vincent made Sure Danny was as covered as he could be, then sat beside him, moving closer to try and keep Danny as warm as possible. He didn't know if it would help or make things worse, but he figured any rest Danny got was a good thing. Danny whimpered, some dream he was having disturbing him in his unconscious state. "Shh, it's okay," Vincent whispered, finding Danny's hand under the sheet.
He held Danny's hand, squeezing it comfortingly "We'll be okay," he promised. " We will"
NYNYNYNY
"Stella c'mere!" Mac yelled suddenly, making Stella jump.
She followed the sound of his voice through Jack's apartment, noticing the blood trail leading into the bathroom.
"Mac?" she asked, stepping into the bathroom where she was sure Mac's voice had come from.
"Out here!" Mac yelled.
Stella walked over the open window, leaning toward it slowly, realising that some one injured had gone out the window. "Some one came out here." Mac's head appeared outside the window, frightening the crap out of Stella so much that she yelled out loud.
"Damn it Mac!" she snapped.
"Somebody came out here hurt Stella, and look, that door over there? I think they went through there to get out of the alley. The other end is walled in." He sounded almost excited "Look at this blood trail…somebody came out here bloody enough to leave this trail the whole way. It's something to follow, a lead to find Danny and the kid," he told her.
"Plus…this blood trail starts at that pool in the den. That means that that blood isn't Jack's. Maybe it's Danny's." She gave Mac a worried look.
Mac grimaced "Maybe," he grunted. " Or maybe it's the kid's."
"Mac, what the hell is your problem?" Stella sneered.
"What do you mean?" Mac shot back.
" I admit this scene doesn't look great for Danny but there is no excuse for your attitude right now. Even if you're his superior, you're his friend too and you should at least be giving him the benefit of the doubt, because as much as this might look like Danny screwed up, it also looks a lot like he's in trouble, and needs us, depending on how you choose to look at it. For what ever reason, you're condemning him and that Mac, is a shitty thing to do," Stella said haughtily. "So as your friend I'm telling you, get your attitude sorted the hell out, now, because there is no way you can remain objective on this case based on the way you acted back in there. And that's another thing. Blowing up like you did in front of the rest of the team was just bad form." She shook her head at him.
Mac stared at her, open mouthed anger colouring his face as he took in what she had said. He looked away from her, visibly restraining him self, taking a deep breath.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
Stella raised an eyebrow. " I should think you are," she bluntly told him.
"I'm just… every time Danny gets into trouble…I.A. starts sniffing around and it takes a lot more effort than I care to admit to get them to back off. This whole thing right now? Even if he is totally innocent in what's happened, it's another black mark against his name and he can't afford many more. The reason I lost it like I did is that…I'm worried that this might be the one time where he is in the wrong, when he has done something we can't save him from." He sighed.
He looked up at her and she saw the genuine concern in his eyes. She shook her head slowly. " Well that's still no excuse for what you said Mac, and I can see you don't totally think he's innocent. Admit it Mac, part of you thinks he screwed up." She glared at him.
Mac sighed again. "As a CSI I have to remain objective, I have to follow what the evidence tells me. Right now the evidence points to Danny being the guilty party. Until I see something to contest that, I can only believe what I see," he said diplomatically.
Stella gritted her teeth but she nodded. " Thank you for being honest at least."
Mac nodded. "Back to the matter at hand, I think we should think about calling in some kind of search party to go through that door and see where it leads, Danny…what ever happened, would probably have wanted to get away, either from Jack, or what he may have done. That door is the only way out of the alleyway and Danny's a survivor. I'd bet cold hard cash that he went through there," Mac told her.
"I'll take a sample of the blood back to the lab, make sure we know exactly who's injured. If it's Danny's, everything changes." She looked at Mac, who nodded.
Stella swabbed the blood in the bathroom, photographing each drop as she went, while Mac, carefully as possible, made his way down to the alley. He called Flack and before long the detective was standing on the fire escape platform, watching Mac lower himself carefully onto the snow, avoiding the half filled depression there.
"Somebody fell here," he yelled back up.
He photographed the depression, then knelt, and began carefully scraping the snow aside, moving it until he saw blood.
"I got blood," he called. " Our injured party definitely fell here."
"Any other sign that it was Danny?" Flack called down.
Mac looked around himself, sliding the snow around gently. Something glinted in the light of his flashlight and Mac leaned over, pinching what he saw was a chain between two fingers and pulling it out of the snow. He held it up.
"What is that?" Flack called, leaning over the railing of the fire escape.
Mac swore as he held his torch so that he could see what was dangling from the long chain. It was a St Christopher pendant, a small silver crucifix and a silver engagement ring. It was Danny's chain, the one that he always wore. The chain and the pendants were covered in blood.
"Mac, what is it?" Flack yelled.
Mac lowered his torch and swore again, looking at the chain, realising what it meant if Danny had dropped it. He looked up at Flack. "It's Danny."
