Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it ain't mine, if you don't it is.
Chapter 6: Together Again
Don flipped his cell phone shut and set it on the nightstand before facing Danni. She had been sleeping on her side tucked into the crook of Don's right arm before he'd had to move to answer Angie's phone call. Now she was curled up around the extra pillow and her face was obstructed by her hair. He slid his hand up to tangle his fingers in her hair and turned her head to the side. Don smiled as he leaned down and nuzzled her neck and kissed his way up her jaw line.
Danni let out a moan and shifted; she slowly opened one eye and gave him an evil look. "You know, I could have sworn you were as exhausted as me last night, yet here you are waking me up."
"I'd much rather we repeat our earlier, and very enjoyable, activities, but Angie called. My team is here and there's been another shooting in a nightclub."
"Oh fuck!"
"Yeah, that's what I said. Why don't we grab a quick shower? I still have to see a doctor before I can continue to work the case, so if you know someplace I can get in at," Don paused to squint at the clock on the desk, "Six in the evening, we should head over there fast."
"Mmm, I've got a couple of favors to call in. Let's grab a shower, and not together. If there's been another shooting, they'll need us in the field ASAP."
"I agree you go first; I gotta pull off these bandages before I can jump in the shower. Sorry I don't have any clothes for you, but we can stop someplace so you can pick some up before we head to the station."
"Don't worry, the doctor I'm taking you to is my neighbor. He works for Cedars-Sinai Hospital in the ER. He can check your arm real quick and I can change while he does it."
Half an hour later, they were in Don's rental and speeding down the freeway towards Danni's apartment building. "Here, this is my exit." Danni said while digging through her purse to find her house keys. Don still couldn't figure how she'd managed to hide so much stuff on her body while wearing that skimpy outfit at the club. "Okay now, left and then right at the light. Yeah, it's the peach building." Don pulled the car to a stop in a parking spot that Danni had waved him over to. The building was nice looking and was a three story Spanish villa styled apartment complex. As they walked towards a security gate, Don caught the reflection off of the complex's pool.
"Nice, too bad they don't have places like this in New York. My apartment building is a shithole." Danni laughed and held open the gate. Don followed her through the gate and up the stairs to the second floor of the complex. Danni stopped at number 214 and knocked on the door of the apartment. There was a pause and then the door was pulled open. A guy, short with brown hair and brown eyes, stared blearily at them while rubbing his eyes.
"Danni? What's going on?"
"Hey Tim, I was hoping you'd pay back that favor you owe me."
"Uh, now? I just got off of my shift and I'm dead."
"My buddy Don here got shot yesterday in the shooting at the Emerald Room. He needs to be cleared by a doctor before he can get back to work and we got have time to get him to a hospital. I was hoping you could look him over."
"Yeah, sure, I can do that. C'mon in," Tim said stepping back and pulling the door open further.
"Don, I'm going to change clothes real quick while Tim checks your arm. I'll be back in a minute." Don nodded and followed Tim into the apartment. The place was clean, but sparsely decorated. Don figured if the guy was an ER doctor, he probably wasn't home a whole lot. Tim motioned for him to sit on a barstool next to the kitchen counter while he headed into what Don guessed was a bathroom. He came out a minute later carrying a large white case which he set on the counter and opened up.
"That's an impressive first aid kit you got there." Don commented.
"Be prepared. That's my motto," Tim replied, pulling on a pair of gloves and pulling out antiseptic wipes.
"Yeah that was mine too…when I was a boy scout." Don rolled his eyes.
"Why don't you take your shirt off and I'll check out your arm." Tim watched as Don pulled off his coat and tossed it over the back of a chair, followed by his tie and his shirt. Don sat back down on the bar stool and let Tim examine him.
"Can you hold your arm straight out for me?" Don extended his arm gingerly, the injured skin pulled when he moved his arm. "Does that hurt?' Tim asked turning Don's arm so his palm faced up.
"Yeah, it fucking hurts. I was shot!" Don snapped. Tim raised his eyebrows but didn't comment on Don's snarky reply, causing Don to regret being so rude. Tim wiped down Don's arm with the antiseptic wipes and Don hissed in pain, but managed to keep his arm still. Tim then grabbed a tube of something from his kit and applied it to Don's wound; the cream felt cool and eased the burn of the antiseptic wipes. Tim grabbed a roll of gauze and wrapped it around Don's arm, until a relatively thick layer surrounded the wound. After taping the gauze on, Tim grabbed a tablet and a pen and wrote out a prescription.
Handing it to Don, he said, "Here's a prescription for some antibiotics. Take them until they're gone and they should keep you from getting infected. I would recommend refraining from any heavy lifting or strenuous activity involving your arms for a couple of weeks. Once the wound has closed over, you should see a physical trainer about doing getting some exercises that will rebuild muscle strength. Here's some extra gauze, antiseptic wipes, and some Neosporin. Change your dressing at least once a day, if it gets dirty or damp, change it immediately. Any questions?"
"Uh, can you give me a note to give to my boss, to say I'm cleared for work? Christ, I feel like a kid with a note from my mom to get outta homework or somethin'." Tim laughed and walked over to a desk where he quickly wrote up a note, which he stuffed into an envelope and then handed to Don.
"It has my phone number on there if they want to contact me."
"Thanks man, I appreciate it."
"Hey anything for Danni; she's bailed me out a couple of times."
"What's the diagnosis, Doc?" Danni asked as she stepped into Tim's apartment. Don nearly choked. She was wearing skintight black pants with high-heeled black leather boots, an ice blue vest top, and a black motorcycle jacket. Don grinned; she really had a thing for tight clothes. She smiled back at him as she made her way over.
"He's good to go. I gave him a 'script for antibiotics and some stuff to keep it clean. No heavy lifting for him Danni." At Don's look he replied, "Hey, I'm a guy. I know we don't like listening to doctor's orders, we think we're too tough or too strong to follow them, but Danni will make sure you don't fuck your arm up any further." Don nodded, seeing the sense in Tim's words.
"Hey thanks Timmy, have a good rest of the day off. I'll see you later, once we get these shootings solved."
"Okay, you be safe. I don't want to dig a bullet out of you again anytime soon. You were the worst patient I ever had."
"Yeah, yeah; let's see how you'd like getting shot in the ass, Tim. It's no walk in the park, let me tell you."
"You were shot in the ass?" Don asked, unable to keep from grinning.
"Yeah, and if you know what's good for you, you'll drop it. Now."
"Okay," Don said holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Consider it dropped."
"Good; now we better get going Don. See you Timmy."
"Bye Danni. Nice to meet you Don," Don waved at him before closing the door behind him. He followed Danni back out to the car and slid into the driver's seat after dumping the medical supplies Tim had given his in the backseat. Glancing at his watch, he figured they had just enough time to grab a bite to eat before getting to the station.
"You hungry? I'm starvin'."
"Yeah, hey let's stop and get a burger. There's an In-N-Out around the corner."
"An In- and what?"
"In-N-Out, it's a fast food place. They're only in California, so I'm not surprised you haven't heard of them. Turn right here," she gestured. Don pulled into the drive-thru and waited in the line. "What do you like on your burger?" Danni asked as she fished for her wallet in her purse.
"Everything but tomatoes; and relax, I got this," Don said pulling out his money. When they got to the window, Danni leaned over him so she could order.
"I'll have two double-double combos, one with no tomatoes and one with nothing but the lettuce. Oh, and two chocolate shakes." Don laughed as she finished the order with a smile to the guy taking their order. Don handed over a twenty while the guy got their shakes. He handed them their food and Don's change and they pulled over into a parking space to eat their food.
Twenty minutes later they were pulling into the station's parking lot. Don followed Danni into the station and into the wing designated for the crime lab. They ran into James along the way, and he told them the New Yorkers were ten minutes away from the station. Danni went and got him a cup of coffee and they sat in the break room reviewing the new data from their second club shooting.
Both of them looked up when there was a knock on the door. "Hey, your buddies just arrived. They're in Angie's office." Don got up and headed down the hallway to Angie's office, followed by Danni.
He pushed open the door and everyone looked up. Mac was the first to react; heading around the desk to stand at Don's side.
"How's your arm?"
"Good, I got it checked out by a doc before we got here. He even gave me a note and everything."
"Aww, did he give you a lollypop, too?" Danny asked with a grin. Don noticed his arm was slung around Lindsay's shoulder.
"Fuck you, Messer." Don said with a laugh. "I'm ready to get back to work Mac."
"Okay, Don. We're going to need all the help we can get."
"Mac, this is Detective Danika Adams, she was with Flack here during the Emerald room shooting." Angie said, stepping around the desk to stand next to Mac.
"Nice to meet you Detective Adams," Mac said as he shook Danni's hand.
"You can call me Danni, Mac."
"Boy, this is gonna be confusing," Danny interrupted. Lindsay shushed him.
"This is my team, Detective Stella Bonasera, Doctor Sheldon Hawkes, Lindsay Monroe, and Danny Messer." Danni gave them all a grin.
"Danni," both of the CSIs turned. "IAB wants to interview you now. They figure you're in the clear since eyewitness reports corroborate your story, but Martinez's lawyer is claiming unnecessary police brutality. He says that you didn't need to fire twice to bring Martinez down and that kicking him was unnecessary."
"What! That's total bullshit, Angie! What was I supposed to do, let him shoot at us? He'd already shot Don, I wasn't about to let him shoot me too! And then the idiot was trying to get away. I didn't want to shoot him again, since I'd already shot him twice."
"I know you did only what was necessary, but you still need to give your statement. If your story matches the eyewitness accounts, you'll be put back on active duty immediately. So go get it over with. The sooner you do, the sooner you're back at work"
"Fine, this really sucks." Danni muttered. She gave Don a quick kiss on the cheek, after all their co-workers were in the room, and headed out the door. "Before the door was fully shut, Don heard her say, "Damn IAB sharks. They should be shot, the whole lot of 'em." Don turned back to see the smirks and grins of his co-workers.
"Hey, what can I say? Outta all the girls I could meet in L.A., I meet a CSI detective. I guess I just have great taste in women, huh Danny?" Danny only laughed.
"Right; now we get to work." Mac said.
It was going to be a long day, Don thought
A/N: Hope you like it. He he, I was watching "Officer Blue" I love Flack's line when he's looking for the street vendor guy, "Hey you got any Kate Spade?" He's just so cute. Chapter seven is in the works.
