A/N: See, I'm keeping up with things. Just takes me a while. XD
"Danny, get up. Something happened to Flack." Aiden said quickly as she shook the man by his shoulders, receiving a small grunt in annoyance as the detective slowly opened his eyes. "Flack. He's been rushed to the ER."
Somehow or another, that seemed to send a quick energy boost into Danny's brain as he stumbled to sit up, placing his glasses on before giving Aiden a curious look. "What?" Ever since last night when Danny had left Flack's apartment drunk as hell, he had managed to only stumble a couple of yards before he was hailing a taxi and making his way over to Aiden's. Something about the whole fact of Pratt seeking his revenge was making him extremely nervous.
"They found him behind Joey's Pizza place."
Danny's brows furrowed. "Wait, that's-oh fuck. That's right across from his apartment complex."
Aiden nodded slowly as she grabbed her coat and slipped it on. "Mac called your cell phone and I answered it. He was…" she smirked and laughed slightly, "a little confused as to why you're here but I told him the truth. You found your drunken ass over here and collapsed."
Danny gaped and Aiden laughed good-humouredly as she patted him gently on the shoulder. "I'm just kiddin'. Said that you were here checkin' up on me, seein' how I was doin' and that's all."
He sighed in relief. At this point, he seriously did not want his boss to be hearing words of 'Danny is drunk right now!' or then again, never. "What about Flack?" He asked, the smile slowly disappearing from Aiden's lips.
"We're gonna go see him now. Mac said someone did one hell of a beatin'."
Xxx
The hospital was roaring to life with sounds, images and chaos. It enclosed around Danny as if he were in a cage, trapped within the dangers that it possessed and if he wasn't about to get out, he was going to explode.
"Hi." Aiden said quickly as she rushed up to the front desk where a young woman stood behind, her blonde hair currently tied up in a bun on the top of her head. Her glasses rested on the edge of her noise as she curiously looked up from them to meet Aiden's intense gaze. "Lookin' for a Detective Flack. He was rushed in to the ER and we're wonderin' where he is."
It seemed like forever before the young woman quickly nodded and glanced down at her binder, which held all the rooms and the patients that were occupying it. "Yes, I remember. Big 'ole thing up in here. Had police and doctors everywhere." She ran a delicate finger down the list before stopping, tapping it lightly before looking up. "Room 304. Suppose'ta get out of surgery 'bout thirty minutes ago."
Aiden glanced up at the clock before giving the woman a quick smile. "Thank you so much." And she grabbed Danny by the wrist and quickly took off towards the stairs.
"Aiden!" Danny protested as she flung open the door to the stairwell. "Why the fuck aren't we takin' the elevator? Might be faster."
She quickly began to climb the steps, Danny managing to keep up with her from being pulled by the wrist. "There was a line, Danny. And plus, good exercise here."
They past the first floor and Danny smirked, their pace quickening slightly. "Burn, ya sayin' I'm fat?"
Despite their situation and setting, Aiden couldn't help but laugh loud and long as they finally reached the third floor and she held the door open to him, her smile reaching her eyes. "I miss you so much, Messer."
Xxxx
"How is he?" Danny asked once he and Aiden had managed to find the room (after turning down the wrong halls a couple of times) as Stella and Mac turned to look at them, concern lingering across their features. "Is he gonna be okay?"
"They're not sure." Mac said solemnly as Danny looked through the window as his eyes widened in fear. There Flack laid, bandages and deep cuts lingering across the detective's flesh. The constant sound of the beeping from the monitors seemed to pound deeply into Danny's brain, reminding him of times here at the hospital as he sat and waited with Louie as their father found himself making constant visits to the ER. Dangerous busy his father played and the only thing Danny could remember was the constant rhythm of the heart monitor.
"You called?" An unfamiliar voice called as Aiden turned around sharply to see a woman with a NYPD badge hanging on her hip walk up to Mac, a worried expression on her face as she glanced at the room where Flack laid.
And it was at this moment, that Stella and Danny had too turned around to see the awaited reaction – the first time Lindsay and Aiden would come face to face. Both women had heard not much of the other, despite little sayings here and there, and to finally meet the rumors was something that the team had seemed to want to prevent.
But with Flack in the hospital, there was no choice.
Mac tore his eyes away from Flack's room and gave Lindsay a nod. "Yes, I need you to process Flack's clothes. I want to know everything about what happened in that alley and anything we can do to find the person who did this."
"Think it was personal?" Lindsay asked, completely unaware of Aiden's presence.
Aiden couldn't seem to help herself as she rolled her eyes and sighed to Lindsay's question. "Ya think? It's not like an accident for anyone to go around beatin' the fuck out'ta cop, right?"
There sat a heavy silence as Lindsay hastily looked over at Aiden, brows furrowed as she took in the other woman. "Excuse me?"
"Aiden…" Danny began before the tough brunette shot him a glare and he closed his mouth. Nope, not going to mess with Aiden. He learned that the hard way.
Lindsay's lips curved into a smile as she placed her hands on her hips, head cocking to the side. "Aiden Burn?"
"The only one."
Stella took in a sharp breath of air as Mac observed them from where he was standing. Truth be told, he had been curious as to how something like this would have gone. Best to let them get things out instead of interrupting and facing two women who wanted to fight him back.
"Did you have a problem with something I said?" Lindsay asked curiously.
Aiden gave a small shrug of the shoulder which obviously meant 'perhaps. Let's talk about it'. "Kind of. Just sayin' that ya know, people usually attack cops because of somethin' personal. So basically, yes, I was answerin' your question."
"You sure about that?"
"I've worked with the NYPD longer than you have. I'm pretty damn sure I know." Aiden said coldly as Danny quickly interrupted, not caring whether or not the two of them would hate him for doing so.
"Okay, okay, relax ya two. Right now Flack is in there and no one knows what's gonna happen so the least ya two can do is fight. So please, Lindsay, go process Flack's clothes and Aiden, back off." He lowered his voice so then Aiden could only hear. "Plus, this 'ain't your job anymore so stop fightin'. Let her figure things out on her own."
Aiden abruptly turned to Danny, shocked. "Hello? Is that Messer in there or someone else talkin' because I'm not understandin' ya clearly."
Lindsay quickly took this moment to retreat and she embarrassing smiled at Mac. "I-I'm gonna go process now." And she walked off, not bothering to turn around to give one last look at what she had replaced.
TBC.