Don grudgingly pulled his lips away to feel Danny go limp in his arms. Geez, the guy passed out! The kiss wasn't THAT bad... If the multiple whiskey shots fuelling the slurred rant hadn't been enough of an indication that this would happen, the look of sheer exhaustion on Danny's face should have been.

Don propped Danny up against him and proceeded to drag a very slouched CSI to the car.

Man is the only creature that fares to light a fire and live with it. The reason?
Because he alone has learned to put it out.

"Mornin', Don." Flack nearly shrieked and jumped out of his skin. Startled by the presence he swivelled around to see who was addressing him. Of course, he already knew thanks to the resonant, mid-pitched and sexily accented voice that always threatened to give him a heart attack, but he just wanted to make sure. He loved to stare at those pink, pouty lips, which he now knew (thanks to taxing investigation) felt as soft as they looked, whenever Danny was talking. And that was just a kiss...

"Geez, Messer!" Flack bellowed while consciously trying to throw off all suspicion that his mind was currently divided between the walking sex (wearing a tight, white polo shirt), and thanking whoever invented tight underwear. "You scared the shit outta me!" Don's low voice reverberated in the glass room. He resumed his pre-heart attack activity of placing report copies on Mac's desk. "So...whattaya doin' in here?" he asked rather stupidly considering yesterday's events.

"Waitin' for my Hour of Judgement," came the sarcastic reply, "Whaddaya think?" Danny's shrewd eyes studied Flack's profile.

Don sipped at steaming coffee and rearranged the papers in his files. The heavy, silent tension in the room was broken only by the rustling of papers on the desk and a staccato rhythm as Danny's shoe made repeated contact with the floor.

Finally, Don set the organised stack onto Mac's spotless desk and started towards the door. "What happened last night?" shot the voice from the corner. Normally it would have been an unintelligible, fast-paced question but Don had asked himself the same question over a thousand times last night.

Don did a good job of not sputtering out his coffee, stumbling, shrieking or otherwise making a complete fool of himself. His head was at such an angle that Danny could see his eyes, which would have betrayed his bewilderment.

"Nothin'," Don said, regaining composure, " why?"

Danny, who had been observing with a hawk's eye, opened his mouth and closed it just as soon. The indecisive silence was uncomfortable for both men. "Well," he started and paused, "...I remember... I had a weird dream." Don could tell Danny was having trouble choosing his words. "I just wanna know... What happened?" Danny's eyebrows were furrowed and Don was searching his expression for any hint of recollection.

"Nothin'... nothing' happened, Danny." The coffee mug in his hand suddenly riveted Don's pupils when Danny tried to look make eye contact. Oh fuck! I hope he ain't homophobic or anything... He briskly walked out before the CSI could say anything more. If he remembers it he might think I'm... GAY. Or maybe he liked it. Nah, he fuckin' passed out, that's what. Don downed a huge gulp of black liquid and walked away cursing his stupidity that ever justified kissing Danny and risking everything.

Soon, the sound of a second pair of footsteps behind him was audible. Oh shit, he's on my fuckin' ass. Is he actually followin' me? Don knew damn well that Danny was stubborn and persistent, and he should have seen it coming. Having information withheld from him made Danny go crazy, and one way or another, if it meant cornering you in the parking lot, he would get it. Don had kindled a tiny flame but, being ornery as he was, didn't want to put it out.

"Don..." The tall detective stopped abruptly and turned around to face the dirty blonde. "What hap-"

"What, Danny!" Don's voice was now laced with annoyance, not that Danny cared in the slightest bit. "Why d'ya keep insistin' that somethin' went down last night?" Wrong choice of words, in Don's case, things had been going up.

"Why d'you keep actin' like something' did?" The defiant expression on Danny's handsome face was complemented by a look in his eye that Don couldn't quite place. It looked a bit like desperation. Desperate hear that somethin' did go down? Or somethin' didn't?

"Nothin' happened." Don insisted insolently, "You ranted, passed out, I took you home and headed back to my place." He resumed his walk down the zig-zagging glass corridors only to promptly hear the second pair of footsteps, this time more pronounced, indicating that Danny was getting impatient. The flames were hot on his heels and he sped up a bit trying to lose him, to no avail. "Don'tcha havta see Mac or somethin'?"

"It's 8 o'clock and a slow Monday. Nobody's in for at least another hour, Don." He felt, rather than saw, Danny smile that sexy, feral little grin. "You tryna get rid a' me? I ain't goin' anywhere 'till ya give me the truth." His voice lowered slightly, "What happened?"

As far as Don knew, the Italian was a man of his word. The fuckin' stubborn lil' prick! "Nothin'," Don growled stubbornly. "Nothin' fuckin' happened, Messer! Get THAT into yer thick head!" Again, wrong choice of vocabulary, but Don was too pissed off to entertain the notions that the sentence would otherwise entail.

Danny smiled, and Don felt it. They both knew he was getting under Don's skin. The tall detective decided that if it weren't the sexiest thing in the world, he'd hate that devilish smirk.

"Why can't you tell me that to my face?" The flame increased in size and stayed in hot pursuit of detective Don Flack. "Why can't ya look at me without shiftin' your eyes? Why were ya starin' at me in Mac's office? Why'd ya almost choke when I first asked? And why are ya walkin' so damn fast!"

Damn CSI detectives...pay too much attention to everything! Don came to an abrupt halt, pressed the button for the elevator and turned to face Danny. His piercing blue eyes were met by a large, alluring pair of equally blue eyes. Both pairs stared unblinkingly. This was turning out to be a contest, Danny was challenging him, testing his resolve. "You had a weird dream, aright?" His voice was dangerously low-pitched now. "Nothin', nothing happened." Don finished, stretching the words.

Danny was quiet for a second, leading Don to believe he had been satiated with the answer. "I'm not stupid, Don." came the sexy accent as soon as Don let a breath out. "And don'tcha think you're too old to be lyin' like that?" Danny persisted, smirking. The elevator had just arrived and Don was inwardly rejoicing as he thought of escaping. "I mean, you actually think I'll buy that load of bull-"

The dirty blonde CSI found his words being pushed back down his throat by Don's tongue as he was pulled into the elevator. The kiss was similar to the first, in that it was sweet and spontaneous, and also served the purpose of shutting Messer up. It was, however, more confident on Don's part, but too short lived for both of the involved, each secretly pining for their lips to make contact again.

"That's what happened, Messer." Don breathed out and searched Danny for some reaction. He turned around, disappointed in only the bewilderment gracing the shorter man's features. He pressed a button and the elevator started to move downwards.

"That's ALL?" The words were thick with surprise but held faint undertones of playful mocking and daring.

"Dunno what you were expecting, Dan-" The ebony haired detective words were replaced by a large smile to match that of the infamous feral grin he had turned to see plastered on Danny's pink lips.

Flack hardly had time to hit the emergency stop button before being pulled into a corner, the only one not covered by the video surveillance camera, by a very naughty-looking Danny with a firm grip on his tie. And Don couldn't care less because, after all, he had a whole hour.

Fin.

A/N: my alternative end and 1st fic is COMPLETED! reviews are appreciated. i prefer this ending to the other and i'd like to know which one you guys prefer. thanks for reading!