Chapter Six

(As of now, this story has gone AU due to the recent episodes of CSI:NY)

Aiden slowly pushed open Flack's hospital room door, taking precaution whether or not she would disturb his peaceful slumber. Aiden had decided to see him after everyone else left, leaving her to stay with him as long as she pleased.

The constant beeping of the heart monitor greeted her as she found a nearby chair and slowly pulled it up to his bedside. She eyed the numerous tubes that covered his body and the large bandages that made presence from under his hospital gown. It pained her to see him like this because all she was ever used to seeing was him as the snarky, witty and tough detective. Well, unless they went out to drinks but that was different.

She reached out and reached for his hand, lacing their fingers together as she looked over at him. Aiden could feel hot tears forming behind her eyes as she pulled his hand up to her lips and kissed it lightly. "They're gonna find out who did this to you." Aiden whispered, unsure if he could hear her. "And, um, I'm sorry about earlier. You know, not listenin' and what not. I understand where you're comin' from but I feel safe just knowin' that you and Danny are lookin' out for me.

She looked at their joined hands before giving a small squeeze, her voice barely above a whisper. "C'mon Don." And she rested her head beside him, her lids slowly closing as she surrendered herself to sleep.

What seemed like hours later, Aiden woke to the feel of fingers running through her hair, the touch gentle and calming, making her skin demand for more. Within seconds, Aiden opened her eyes to see a pair of piercing blue looking back at her. The gaze was held for a moment before she quickly looked away, her cheeks flushed.

"Sorry." She said as she sat up straighter in her chair, eyes still avoiding his. "So, you're awake."

He noticed her embarrassment, it was out of habit, and he laughed before it turned into a cough, his lips still curved into a smile. "Yeah, still feel some pain but I think I'll be fine."

Aiden nodded and smiled, her fingers playing with the corner of the blanket that was covering him. "Yeah, you're one lucky SOB. Nearly had all of us worryin' about'cha." And this time, she looked straight at him, her tone now completely serious. "And if ya ever get yourself in this situation again Don, I swear to God-"

"-Aiden." Flack quickly said as he sat up a little straighter, making sure he was not hurting himself so much while doing so. Her face was turned to him, her lips in a tight line as she blinked, trying everything in her power not to cry.

And this was something that made Flack's heart stop. Here, in his hospital room, Aiden was showing a side of her that only people she truly cared and trusted were able to see. She was surrendering her pain to him.

"Aiden." He repeated, his voice softer and raspier as he turned his hand over so that it was palm up, calling out to her. "I'm fine. I'm-"he stopped and Aiden looked up at him, her eyes widening with fear as he began to cough.

She blinked back the unshed tears as he began to cough again. "You need some water?" She asked in concern as he nodded before coughing harder.

Quickly standing up, Aiden let go of the blanket and nodded. "Okay, hold on. I'm gonna go get you some." And as she turned to move out of the room, something caught her attention.

Blood.

"Oh my God."

There was blood on the hospital room floor, Flack's bed and on his face. Aiden could feel her hands begin to shake as he began to cough the blood up again. Horrified, Aiden ran out of his room and yelled down the hall "Someone help! Someone help, please! He's coughin' up blood!"

The nurses, who had been in the hallway at that moment, quickly grabbed their equipment and ran towards Flack's room. They pushed her aside and ran to Flack's aid, gloves snapping onto fingers faster than Aiden had ever seen done before.

"His pulse is dropping." Nurse one.

"Someone call Dr. Swanski. This doesn't look good." Nurse two.

Aiden felt her mouth go dry as she frantically glanced around at the nurses passing her. "What's happenin' to him?" She asked, her tears reforming behind her eyes as a young looking nurse quickly approached her and grabbed her forearm gently.

"Miss, we're going to step out here." The young nurse told her as she managed to pull Aiden out of Flack's room, despite the small struggled attempts, before closing the door behind them.

Aiden pulled her arm free and rushed to the glass to peer through, her heart dropping as she watched the nurses turn Flack over, their voices louder than that of the heart machine.

"Miss?" The nurse asked as Aiden quickly snapped out of her trance and looked over her shoulder at the woman.

Aiden cleared her throat. "Uh, sorry. He was talkin' to me and then suddenly he just started to cough and then there was the blood…" Her voice trailed off as she turned to look through the window. "There was just so much."

"There must be something else that caused the bleeding." The nurse said quietly as Aiden looked over her shoulder to meet her gaze. "You sure there's nothing else you need to tell me?'

Aiden blinked. "What?"

"His stab wound could not have done this. There must be something else in his system that is causing these symptoms."

"Mac, we've got a problem." Lindsay said as she walked into the layout room where Mac was currently seated at, a piece of white paper held in her gloved-hands. "You might want to take a look."

Looking up from the microscope, Mac turned his attention to Lindsay and gave her a curious look before she basically shoved it at him. "I process Flack's clothes. Found some kind of substance at the knife entrance. I'm thinking that maybe something was on the knife when Flack was stabbed with it but I'm not sure. There's a small enough example and yes, I've already sent it over."

Mac glanced up from the paper. "Lindsay, this is DNA results."

Lindsay nodded as she shifted her weight to her left leg, arms crossed slightly at her chest. "I know. That's DNA pulled from the hair we found on Flack's clothes. Now, I know I do not know a lot about her but I wanted you to see this."

Curious, Mac studied the results and as his eyes scanned, he felt his heart stop at the name at the side of the paper.

Aiden.

"You sure about this?" He asked as Lindsay gave him a look that could have passed as 'you're kidding, right?'

"Mac, I'm positive. So either Aiden was being really friendly with Flack, killed him in the alley-"

"-or someone framed her." Mac interrupted as he reached into his pocket and flipped open his cell phone, thumb dialing before placing it to his ear.

"Bonasera."

"Hey Stella, are you and Danny still at the crime scene?"

"Um, we're actually about to finish up, why?"

"I need you to re-look at everything and see if you can place Aiden at the scene."

There was a slight pause. "Mac, what's going on?"

"Lindsay found Aiden's hair on Flack's clothes. If there's evidence that puts her outside of the alley-"

"-Then we can find out what really happened. All right, Danny and I are going to start doing that now. I'll call you if anything comes up."

Mac thanked her before closing his cell phone, stuffing it back into his pocket as he sighed and looked at Lindsay.

This whole case was spiraling out of control.

TBC.