Author: Ceindreadh Email: Website: n/a Permission to archive: Yes to WWOMB, anybody else, please ask first Fandom(s): CSI-New York Genre (general, hetero or slash) : Slash, angst, hurt/comfort Pairing/Characters: Don/Mac Rating: PG-15 Summary: Don feels abandoned by Mac after the bombing Warnings: spoilers for S2 finale Disclaimer. I don't own the CSI-NY characters, I'm only borrowing them, and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.
Previously on CSI-NY: A week after the bombings, Don is still in hospital but Mac hasn't gone to see him.
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Don will move on, thought Mac. He was young, he'd recover from his injuries, get back to work, and sooner or later he'd find somebody else to be with. It wasn't as if Don was in love with him. He'd find the right person and when that day came, Mac was sure he'd be happy for him. Mac just wished he could convince himself of that.
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2
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Stella had a frown on her face as she watched Mac walk away. Something was definitely wrong with him. But she didn't have time to stand there thinking about it, not if she wanted to check in on Don. She'd been doing that a lot the last few days. As had practically everybody in the department. Any time a C.S.I. was called to the hospital, they usually made it their business to spare a few minutes to see their injured comrade. Everybody that is, except Mac.
Stella stopped off at the gift shop on her way upstairs and picked up a small stuffed frog. It had become something of a tradition with the team to bring a stuffed toy as a gift. Danny of course had been the one to start it, showing up the day after the explosion with a giant stuffed rabbit. Flack had glared at him and threatened to throw both it and Danny out the window once he was feeling better, but the idea had caught on, and by the time Flack was discharged, he was likely to have a veritable menagerie of stuffed pets to take home with him.
Stella sighed as she pressed the button for Flack's floor. It was likely to be several more days if not another week before Don was going to be fit enough to be released, and even after that, it would take time for him to regain his strength sufficiently to return to work. Stella knew Don well enough to know that he wasn't looking forward to his enforced period of idleness.
"Hey there, Flack," said Stella, popping her head round the door.
"Stella, good to see you." Don was sitting up in the bed and his face lit up as he saw who his visitor was.
"Just a quick visit," said Stella, "Brought you a new friend." She gave Don a quick hug before handing him the frog.
Don rolled his eyes, "I am so gonna kill Messer when I get back to work. What'd he do, send a memo round the whole department?" He gestured at the box of toys on the floor beside his bed.
"Actually I think it was an email." Stella pulled up an empty chair and sat down. "So how're you doing?"
Don shrugged, then winced at the twinge of pain in his side, "Okay I guess. Doc says I'm healin up okays. Should be able to go home maybe next week."
"That's great news."
"So what brings you here? Not that I mind the company. These guys might be nice and bright to look at," Don waved his hand at the box of toys, "But they're not what I'd call good at making conversation."
"Just some routine evidence collection," replied Stella. "Mac and I were called in to..."
"Mac's here?" interrupted Don, his face brightening.
Stella couldn't help but notice his reaction, and how his face fell as she replied, "He had to go back to the lab, start with the processing, but he said to give you his best."
"Yeah, I'll bet he did," Don's voice was low and he lay back against the bed.
Stella thought about letting it go at that, but her instincts both as an investigator and Don's friend, told her that this was something she needed to get to the bottom of. Her voice was gentle as she asked, "What's going on, Don?"
"Don't know what you're talking about," mumbled Don, not looking her in the eye. He wished that she'd just leave him alone already.
Almost a week now and Mac hadn't been to see him. At first Don had made excuses to himself, figuring that the lab was probably backed up processing all the stuff from the bombings and Mac was likely run off his feet and hadn't had a chance to come visit. But to know that Mac had been there...had been under the same roof...only a few floors away...and hadn't wanted to see him. Don figured that there was only one reason why Mac wasn't coming near him.
"Okay, I know I might not have a great poker face, but right now yours is even worse. Come on Don, spill it."
Don plucked at the bedclothes in front of him and wouldn't meet Stella's eyes. "I just figured...I thought he'd come see me...but I guess..." Don's voice trailed off and he was silent for a few seconds before continuing, "He's always been there when I needed him...but now..." Don looked up at Stella, "I need him now and he's not here and I never realized how much I needed him and it's not just cause I'm all beat up and feeling like shit, it's more than that. He and me...we've been sort of...together...or at least I thought we were...but now..." Don looked away and sighed, "Maybe he just doesn't like seeing me all messed up like this. The doc says they did what theys could, but there's gonna be scarring. I mean I never figured Mac to be bothered about stuff like that...but maybe he just can't handle it."
"You and Mac?" Stella couldn't hide the surprise in her voice, but the more she thought about it, the more things started to make sense. "How...how long has that been going on?" She kept her voice carefully neutral.
Don shrugged, "Bout a year or so. We just...sometimes we just needed each other. Shit, I shouldn't have said nothing. I just...I miss him Stella...it's only been a week, but it feels like my heart got ripped out along with my gut. Damnit," he thumped the bed in frustration. "I shouldn't be feeling like this. Me and Mac, we never said we were together together. We were just there for when we needed each other...but now I need him...and he's not there, and I don't know what to do..." He looked so alone and desolate that Stella instinctively moved to him and wrapped her arms around him.
"It'll be okay, Don," she said softly. "I promise you it'll be okay."
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to be continued