Chapter 5, er, yeah, it's more of the same really, slightly less action this time around, but angst and some moments i really liked and smiled writing, er. Yeah. OC's are mine, everything else is CBS.
Hmm. just a note, as i post this my clock reads 07:14 am...i havent been to bed yet. Just incase any one was wondering if i really am an insomniac.
Please Review, my reviewrs are amazing, love you all.xxxxx
Mac was biting his lip as he pulled the jeep over the curb and climbed , barely remembering to grab his kit as he saw the ambulances, the other patrol cars.
There was a black muscle car parked haphazardly across the pavement, and Max spotted Nox directing uniforms around the mouth of the narrow alley way, keeping them from going in.
"Mac, come'ere" Nox waved him over "I kept everybody out of the alley for you Mac, I know with the rain there isn't gonna be a lot for you to find but-" he trailed off, shrugging slightly.
His black hair was curling slightly against his head and Mac noted he seemed to be dressed in sweat pants, basket ball shoes and a battered jacket over a t-shirt.
"You get pulled outta bed?" Mac remarked.
"Didn't you?" Nox asked, looking down at the similar out fit Mac was wearing.
"What happened?" Mac frowned as Nox began leading him through the rain.
"Dispatch got a call, no one on the other end but dispatcher could hear some unusual noises on the other end of the line, thought maybe a fight, managed to trace the phones location before it died on her, ambulance and patrol get here to find our boy sitting, bloody and beaten, in the middle of the street. He said there are people in one of the buildings in there, who may be linked to Chelsea Harper's killer, and possibly to his attacker, so I sent a couple uniforms around to the front to find a way in without disturbing the alley way too much" Nox pulled up short "He's over there, I oughta warn you Mac, cos he's one of yours, he's pretty beat up, he'll live, but he got hurt" Nox gave him a grim frown.
The came around the back of the ambulance. The paramedics had moved inside the rig its self to escape the rain and Mac had to climb up into the back to see his CSI.
Danny was sitting on the stretcher, stripped down to his tracksuit bottoms. His ribs, which had held a sliding but small bruise earlier, where purple and black reaching across his whole chest, radiating out from that one original injury. There was blood on his head, from the first cut and a few new ones, staining his hair and skin. He had blood around his nose and mouth, a bruise dancing around the side of his right eye, and a bruise over his mouth Mac could almost see getting darker. His glasses seemed to be missing.
One of his hands was bloody and the medic appeared to be picking out small shards of glass with a pair of tweezers.
"He had a broken glass bottle in his hand when they found him" Nox explained.
"It was self defence" Danny said hoarsely, glancing at Mac "Hey, I uh…sorry" he said, wincing as the medic pulled another shard of glass.
"You want to tell me what happened?" Mac asked, sitting down on the stretcher across from Danny's.
Danny, uniquely vocal for once gave a one shouldered shrug without thinking and hissed between his teeth "I saw her again, that kid Pixie…stopped her, talked to her…she brought me here" h while the medic continued to work on his hand, Danny relayed what Pixie had told him, what he had learned about Docto Guide.
"You get a bad vibe off him?" Nox asked from the door way, seeming non plussed about the rain falling on him.
"Oh yeah" Danny gave a small nod "He was…nice and polite and all but…he wasn't a good guy" he stated.
"what about the girl?" Nox asked.
"She seemed okay…loved the fact that I don't know too much about her but I didn't feel like she was…tryna set me up or anything" Danny was staring at the bloodied palm of his hand.
He was acting like he was fine, but Mac knew him, knew how freaked out he was. He could see it in the set to Danny's shoulder, the tightness along his jaw, the tension running through him.
"What happened when you got into the alley?" Mac asked quietly.
Danny glanced at him and took a breath, finally seeming unsettled "I didn't see him…I was walking through the alley, you see how dark it is in there? It's weird…well, I'm just getting to the light from the street lamp and he hits me in my side, right on where I already got hurt right? So I freeze, he knocks me down, starts whaling on me…I go for the mouth of the alley again and he gets his hand over…over my mouth…he was uh….he was smothering me and…I was tryna get to my phone and I saw a knife, or I think a I saw a knife…I jabbed him in his arm, you know right here?" Danny pointed at the area of his arm where the nerve cluster would be "He got off me, I got out to the street…he didn't follow…he let me breathe for a second, like Hammerback was sayin, he let me breathe, started smothering me again…same MO, it was our killer" he croaked, his voice sounding painfully rough.
Nox gave a cough and excused himself, the medic taking the same cue and climbing out of the rig after having wrapped Danny's hand in a bandage, muttering something about needing to make a call.
Mac watched them go and moved along the stretcher so he sat directly opposite Danny who was biting his lip, staring at the floor.
"You okay?" Mac asked quietly.
"I'm fine" Danny muttered.
"Right. What where you even doing awake this time of the morning Danny? Have you been sleeping at all?" Mac asked.
"I cant" Danny said very quietly as it pained him to admit it "I try. But I cant"
"Why not?" Mac found himself feeling guilty all of a sudden, wishing and not for the first time that he could find some way to help the kid.
"I don't know" Danny's voice cracked and became a whisper as Danny glanced up with wide, shiny eyes, unshed tears making him look impossibly young "I want sleep, I'm tired. I just…I cant switch it off, my mind wont shut up" he seemed almost desperate.
"Do you take anything?" Mac asked gently.
"I don't like to tempt fate" Danny gave a grim smirk "With my luck I'd OD by accident"
"Herbal remedies, teas, less caffeine?" Mac suggested.
"Mac I don't drink coffee, I don't talk you know that" he gave the smallest smirk but it was tainted with sadness "…I tried some of them relaxing teas but nothing works. It's not that my body isn't tired, it's…I don't know…" he glanced away and Mac silently cursed as he actually saw Danny reign himself in, begin to put his walls back in place "I'll be fine" he stated and Mac sighed.
"Danny if you need to talk to the department shrink, no one will think badly of you" Mac told him.
"No" Danny said in a tone that seemed to signal the end of the conversation.
The medic chose that moment to climb back into the rig "I talked to a doc at the ER…she says it's up to you if you want to go in, you're hurt enough that I think you should get checked out but you're coherent and not in any obvious distress" the young man shrugged.
"You're going, I want those ribs x-rayed, Stella'll be over to process you" Mac stated "No arguments"
Danny have him an angry look but didn't protest as Mac climbed out of the rig and walked toward the alley way, hearing the ambulance take off behind him.
"It really is…weirdly dark in their Mac" Nox told him, "I put in a call for some flood lights, they're en route"
"Thanks" Mac pulled a torch from his pocket, flicking the beam to it's highest setting.
He walked into the alley way carefully, aiming the torch low to the ground. The rain had soaked most of the floor, washing away any evidence that there may have been. He spotted Danny's broken glasses, wincing at the sight of them. Danny hadn't seemed to notice they'd been knocked loose. There where puddles of rain scattered around, covering the floor in some places in two or three inch deep pools of water.
Mac edged forward, his torch light reflecting off the glossy cover of Danny's cell phone.
Mac picked it up from the puddle it had been dropped in, tilting it to see if it was still working.
The screen was frozen on the 911 call Danny had made, and a light on the back indicated the camera attachment was still on.
"Wait," Mac muttered "Nox did Danny mention taking any pictures on this phone?" he called back to the detective.
"Not that I heard" Nox replied "Why?" he asked.
"His camera phone is switched on…he might have gotten a picture of his attacker" Mac bagged the phone, making a note to have the pictures extracted as soon as was possible.
He picked up Danny's glasses, bagging them as well, shining the torch around. There where boxes, milk cartons, broken bottles, garbage bags, scattered around in what looked like a random fashion but which Mac knew where intentionally placed, to deter people from venturing further into the alley way, to find the back door to the theatre.
"See much?" Nox asked.
Mac sighed "There's hardly anything to get, any trace is long gone, this weather better clear up soon or every defense attorney in New York's gonna have a good chance at taking our cases apart in the court room"
"Oh, Mac, come here" Nox called.
Mac cast a last look around, shaking his head and walking out of the alley way.
A group on uniforms where herding a bedraggled group, the Liberi Noctus, toward the alley way.
"What is going on here!" a blonde, curly haired woman snapped as Mac and Nox approached.
"A man was attacked and beaten in this alley way" Mac told her "Not to mention the fact that seven people linked with your little group here? Have been murdered over the past eighteen months"
"No, they haven't, people leave…what are you talking about?" the girl asked.
"You got a name?" Nox asked her.
"Claudia" she purred, switching from bitch to flirt as she dropped back into her 'vampire' role.
"Right, well 'Claudia' who owns the building?" Nox asked.
"As a matter of fact, I do" she stated "So we're not trespassing" she seemed smug.
"Damn…you're right. Mac we cant arrest them for trespassing" Nox glanced at the older man.
"That's lucky for them" Mad admitted.
Nox nodded "It is, that's really all we could have gotten them on. Oh" Nox pulled an overdramatically shocked face "No, wait, officer bennet over here? He just handed me this" Nox held up a baggie of weed "Oh no…drugs" he shrugged "Mac, we cant arrest them for trespassing but we can get em on drugs" he smiled brightly.
"I can live with that" Mac smirked as Claudia's smug grin dropped from her face.
"That isn't mine" she rolled her eyes.
"Sweetie, I took it outta ya hand" a burly officer standing beside Nox told her.
Nox chuckled "Alright" he handed the bag to Mac "A man was at your little meeting just before, turned up with your friend Pixie"
"Danny?" Claudia asked "He talked to Doctor Guide I think…what about him?"
"He was attacked when he was leaving, right in the alley way there" Nox pointed "You all didn't here anything?" he asked the assembled group who where, in some cases, being rudely awoken by the weather, the cops.
"it's a theatre. It's basically soundproof in there" Claudia said sullenly, "that's why we chose it"
"You have to be kidding?" Nox growled.
"Go in there and get some one to yell for you or something" Claudia raised an eye brow.
"Hm" Nox frowned at her, turning from her to Ben Marr. "Ben" he said it in a tone and the bulky man began to curse.
"Dude…I couldn't tell you about a meeting, I couldn't betray my friends" he whined.
"Did you even tell them they may be at risk?" Mac asked.
"I don't think they are" Ben sniffed.
Mac pressed his lips together "Well then in that case, line up ladies and gentlemen and start listening" Mac raised his voice as the gathered insomniacs shuffled to attention "We have reason to believe you are being targeted by a serial killer" he started, hoping that the kids where not too stoned to remember his warnings.
Stella knocked on the door to the room, walking in slowly as Danny turned his head ever so slightly in her direction.
"Hey Stel" Don Flack called croakily from his bed "I'm outta the game for a few months and you let Danny get his ass kicked?"
Stella couldn't help but smile at the sight of Don, even though he lay, pale and drawn in a hospital bed, hooked up to more machines than Stella could count.
"Hey he picks the fights!" Stella shot back as she came to stand behind Danny "He also wanders off from his room" she said pointedly.
Danny, wearing hospital scrubs, gave a small shrug "They did all their X-rays" he stated "I was sitting there in that room getting bored"
"So he went to Louie's room but they where doing some test, so left with no where else to go, he relented and came to see me" Flack grinned.
"Well it was you or the old folks and they're all asleep" Danny smirked.
"I love how I was your second choice man, that's special, that touches me here" Flack placed his hand over his heart as he chuckled.
"Second choice my ass, I was forced up here, the nurses said you where getting handsy, I'm supposed to tell you 'no means no'" Danny joked.
"How's Louie doing?" Stella took the other seat by Flack's bed, placing her heavy kit down for the time being.
"Same" Danny muttered "Flack here though, Flack's got half the nurses set up for dates after he goes out"
"Hound dog" Stella grinned.
"I'm not kidding!" Danny told her "hand to god, he's got…Sheryl set for a Monday, a Mira for the Tuesday, Lorraine for Wednesday…uh, what was her name?"
"Katherine" Flack provided.
"Katherine for Thursday, Tia for Friday and Saturday, he's got the whole day so there's at least four of them!" Danny was grinning his Cheshire cat grin and Stella couldn't resist the urge to match it, as it was Pure Danny.
"Mac sent me to process you" Stella told him.
He sighed over dramatically but nodded "Fine, what do ya want?" he asked.
"Fingernails, hair, uh, where's your clothes?" she asked.
Danny pulled a plastic bag out from under his seat, passing it to Stella, "I know the chances of me getting those back are slim but…try not to wreck em up to much" he smiled.
"I need to get pictures of you too" Stella told him.
"Any excuse!" Danny smirked at Flack.
"You call me a hound" Flack chuckled at her.
"Why are you even awake, it's five am" Stella frowned at him.
"There's a nurse, called Delia, who comes on at five" Danny smiled "Always comes in to check on the patients on the ward, including Donny boy, Don, always, makes sure he's awake to say hi"
"How do you know?" Stella grinned as she began to unpack her camera.
"Danny comes in here early in the morning sometimes" Flack said "he claims he gets up early any way" he said doubtfully.
"Well I'm awake early" Danny corrected.
"Off with the shirt" Stella told him.
"See, cant get enough of me" Danny told Flack.
"Take it off Messer, let me see what you got" Flack raised an eyebrow at him.
"You are such a weirdo" Danny shook his head, standing painfully and raising his arms to pull she scrubs top over his head.
He froze with his arms half way up, his lips pressed together hard enough that they where going white under the bruise around his mouth.
"Danny?" Stella asked, concerned.
"Uh…I cant quite lift my arms that high" Danny said, his voice laced with pain "Could you…Stel could you help me out" his voice cracked on the last and there where tears of pain in his eyes that Stella and Flack politely ignored.
Stella stepped forward as Danny lowered his arm. She gripped the billowing edge of the sleeve, pulling it forward as Danny pulled his arm backwards, through the sleeve.
"How'd you take the other one off?" Stella asked.
"They cut it" Danny said painfully, "I'm just glad it wasn't like…one I cared about, it was just some plain white tee"
"They had to cut off your shirt?" Stella asked as she pulled the sleeve down over his arm, lifting it over his shoulder as he ducked his head automatically for her to lift the collar "And you're worried about what I might do to it?"
"I can sew it back together if it's just cut" Danny raised his other arm enough for Stella to pull his other sleeve down until he stood naked from the waist up, aside from that chain.
"You're a natural at being undressed by a woman?" Flack smirked.
"My mom used the exact same method to undress me if I got in a fight as a kid" Danny gave him a tight lipped smile "she'd do that, thow the clothes in the wash and me in the bath, then it was straight to bed"
"Damn Danny" Flack said gently, observing the bruises on Danny's chest. He paused, taking in Danny's skinnier frame too "You see this, I'm gone for a month or so and Danny goes anorexic and gets beat up, I mean I'm glad you finally started caring about how you look but really, the lollipop head isn't you, and what happened you forget how to fight?" Flack made a joke of it but there was an undercurrent of concern in his words.
"I just want to be pretty for when you get out" Danny joked "And for your big fat information, I was grabbed from behind in a very dark alley way" he said the last quietly, trying to play it down.
Stella raised the camera, taking the photos as quickly as she could, knowing how it felt to be on the wrong end of this process. Danny joked with Flack through out but Stella could see the flinch in his eyes every time the camera clicked, a flinch that had nothing to do with the bright flash. She focused in on a few bruises that where more distinct than others, looking like boot prints.
There where a few actual cuts on his skin, which Stella took a few images of before setting the camera down. "Just let me swab those cuts and then you can put your shirt back on, although you are loving the attention" Stella raised an eye brow at him.
"What can I say, I'm hot" Danny smirked.
Stella retrieved her swabs and wiped at the wounds, rolling her eyes as Danny winced and protested petulantly. "Quit bein such a wuss" she snickered.
"They hurt Stella" Danny snapped, but it was good natured.
"Hey, I know, remember?" Stella grinned up at him.
"Yeah, open wounds can sting" Flack smirked.
"You don't get to play" Danny pointed at him with a grin "You got an unfair advantage"
Stella swapped the rest of the small cuts and grazes, making the effort to be gentle even though she joked with Danny and Flack about Danny's pain threshold.
She finished and help Danny put the shirt back on, going the easier route by having him hold both arms out in front of him like a zombie and running the sleeves over his arms, then simply lifting the collar over his head and settling the shirt for him.
He sat back down and she slid her chair forward, holding his hands steady while she scraped under his nails, combed through his hair for any trace evidence there might be.
She bagged what she got, not much, and put it all together in her case, sitting back in the seat, regarding the battered pair.
"Look at you two" she shook her head "Hopeless" she threw up her hands.
"You gonna let her talk to us like that? Go on Flack, get her" Danny grinned.
"You get her" Flack moved in the bed "I'm all hurt and weak"
"You're a male whore is what you are" Danny shot his friend a look "You better share the love around, give out my number"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Flack yawned.
"You want to go back to sleep?" Danny asked.
"I might" Flack yawned again "Nothing good happens here till ten anyway, that's when Julie, the nurse with very small personal boundaries comes around" he gave a devilish grin.
Stella smirked "Danny where you told you could leave?"
"Yeah, they gave me some pill pains, I got cracked ribs but nothing serious and I can come back to work" Danny nodded and once again, Stella was struck by how he seemed to be his old self.
She could tell it wasn't just for being around Flack, it was common knowledge that Danny visited his brother and Flack almost every day, or was more like being around some one who he could just talk to, just joke around with, some one he knew cared about him but wouldn't pester him with questions about how he was, would know what he was going to talk about and what he wasn't. FLack could make a joke about Danny's condition, make light of it in a way that showed his concern, but didn't make Danny feel like he was being scrutinised. It was some thing he'd always been able to do for his friend.
"You need a ride home?" Stella asked him.
"Yeah alright" Danny pushed himself up out of his seat, picking up a smaller bag which held his keys, his wallet and badge, tapping Flack's leg "I'll see ya man, I'm tapin the Yankees game for you, I'll bring it over in a couple days" he told the detective.
"Bring some popcorn this time, or at least like, some cracker jack, make it like a real ball game man, set the mood" Flack told him.
"You're such a geek" Danny smirked as Stella leaned over and gave Flack a quick peck on the cheek as a good bye.
"Yeah says the science nerd" Flack said pointedly.
"What ever, I still kick your ass at hand ball" Danny said and bounced out of the room.
"Talk to you soon" Stella grinned, hefting her kit, the bag of Danny's clothes.
"Take care Stel" Flack called as Stella pulled his door shut behind her.
Danny had walked down the corridor and was rounding a corner as Stella followed him.
She found him in Louie's room, standing at the end of his brothers bed, chewing his thumb nail.
He was staring at Louie's still form, his eyes wide, his expression almost nervous. Wearing the over sized hospital scrubs, he looked impossibly young.
Stella waited patiently while Danny walked to the head of the bed, running a hand through his brothers hair gently.
"I'll come by and we can catch up better in a couple days, but uh, I got a case going right now, it's a doozy though, I'll tell you about it. And mom said to tell you that Cookie Fustanzi, you took her to prom? She's getting married" Danny gave his brother a smile "Mull over that till I come back okay? Love ya bro" he squeezed Louie's hand once and Stella stepped away from the door way, letting Danny emerge from the room, pretending like she hadn't seen the intimate moment.
He gave her a small smile as they walked down the corridor, taking the kit from her hands almost automatically "You're drivin me home it's the least I can do" he said to her questioning look, carrying the case even though it had to cause him pain.
"How is he doing?" Stella glanced back at Louie's room.
"Like I said, the same" Danny said, clearly avoiding the question "He just lays there"
Stella sensed that he wouldn't say any more on the subject. "Flack's lookin better" she noted.
"Yeah, yeah he has good days and bad" Danny said.
There was a long moment while they waited for the elevator, the unusual tension hovering in the air.
"Danny" Stella said.
"Don't" Danny cut her off "I'm fine, I got beat up, I'm okay, I'm not wiggin out over it…I appreciate the concern though" he told her.
"We just want you to know you can talk to us" Stella told him as they stepped into the elevator and Danny hit the button for the ground floor.
"Stella I'm not gonna bother you and Mac with my minor foibles when you two both got your own shit going on!" Danny told her "I mean, how are you, how are you doing over…over Frankie?" Danny asked her.
"I'm fine. But I actually am fine" Stella said pointedly has he gave her a doubtful look "I talked to the shrink, I hung out with some friends, I mean I still have night mares every now and then but I'm making my peace with what happened, I'm putting it behind me" she shook her head "You cant do that" She told him gently.
"What do you mean?" Danny frowned.
"I don't mean it as a slight to you, I mean…you cant move past what happened to Louie, what happened to Flack, shit, what happened to Aidan and don't try and deny it, I know you visit her grave every week…you cant move past them because they're…you see Louie and Flack in the hospital every day Danny. It's sweet that you care so much but it's not healthy" Stella said "To get over bad things happening, you need to distance your self from them. Flack would understand if you didn't stop by for a few days" she shrugged and it wasn't until she saw him look up slowly that she realised her slip.
"What about Louie?" he asked her quietly "Would he be okay, or would he just…not notice?"
"Danny, you know I didn't mean it like that" Stella stated
"I know" Danny nodded "But you're right" he said softly.
"What do you mean?" Stella asked gently.
"Stella, I'm his brother, they tell me this stuff first" he pointed out "They keep saying that the longer he goes showing no signs of improving…" he cut himself off, his frown deepening "I know he's probably not gonna wake up Stel…I just…well come on, it's not an easy thing to be aware of all the time" he glanced at her "And every time some one asks, in tone 'hey, how are you, hows your brother' all Icanever thinkto say is 'he's gonna die actually, how the hell are you?'" he shook his head "Just let me deal with it my own way" he told her, but there was a lilt in how he spoke that made it a request.
Stella nodded "I understand" she told him "Just…"
"Yeah, know you're all there" Danny gave her a grim smirk.
The elevator reached the ground floor and Stella and Danny walked to her car.
She navigated the streets quickly, easily, making idle chatter about the early morning radio shows, the horrible weather, until finally she came to Danny's building.
"You need me to come up with you?" She asked him.
"You'd compromise the chain of evidence" he pointed out.
Stella smiled "Do you ever switch off?" she asked.
"Nope" he told her, the word carrying much more meaning than it ordinarily would have.
"Well Mac said to take the day" Stella told him.
"Well Mac can prepare to be shocked, I'll be in in a couple hours" Danny replied.
"I don't think he was suggesting" Stella stated.
"Good for him, I'll see you" Danny climbed out of the car before Stella could protest and all though his injuries slowed him down, there was no point in her chasing him.
He would come into work regardless, even though he would probably ordered to sit quietly in a seat or go sleep on the sofa, he would be at work.
Stella drove away, leaving Danny to make his way to his apartment, his body aching with literally every step he took.
By the time he reached his floor, stepping off the elevator, he was gasping in pain, which just made it worse as his lungs over inflated to draw in more air.
He let himself in, automatically opening a window over the sink almost as soon as he walked into the kitchen, hearing the sounds of the rain and waking city fill his apartment.
A blur moved past him as the cats went out of the window, off to hunt rats, and Danny pushed the button on his answering service as the lit number informed him he had a message.
"Danny, I called your cell but your voice mail gave me this number….he cheated, I followed him to a car, got the make and model and most of the plate…" Pixie's voice came over the speakers as she recited the information "I didn't see where he went though…I'll talk to you later…if you need to talk to me, call me at this number…I don't always pick up but, its something" she recited the number "Oh, I just remembered, I left you alone in that alley way…sorry if you shinned yourself on a box or something" she hung up.
Danny got a pen and paper and played the message again, writing down what she had told him.
He set the note pad down as the phone rang, the shrill, sharp sound making him jump, sending spikes of pain radiating through him.
He grabbed the phone, hitting the button.
"Yeah" he hissed, clenching his teeth.
"Danny, I hate to do this but…can you come in today?" Mac asked.
"I was gonna any way Mac, what's wrong?" Danny told him.
"Dispatch got a call, Caucasian male, early twenties, probably hasnt been dead more than an hour…he's escalating Danny, it's the same MO as Chelsea and the other victims. The son of a bitch killed another one"
