CSI: New York

Phantasmagoria

Phantasmagoria by definition is a scene that is something like you see in a dream.

FOURTEEN

"So what did you find in my box?" Isabelle asked the moment Don returned to the table out in the backyard.

"What did you find in my box?" he retorted before he grinned. He settled down in the chair next to her and watched as Lisa played with her cousins by the beach under the supervision of Julia and of course, Jace. "I found several DVDs, vampire-related novels, and of course the dismembered teddy bear I gave you," he laughed. "I still can't believe you actually cut it up."

Isabelle felt the blood rushed to her cheeks. She looked away immediately as soon as Don's eyes met hers. "Well, I was mad at you," she said sheepishly. "What was I supposed to do?" She watched as Lisa ran with the ball they had played the day before with Jace chasing after her, whom behind him was the rest, screaming and laughing all at the same time. "Stop looking at me."

Don laughed softly. "What if I don't want to?"

Is he flirting?

"What are you going to do?" he asked after a moment.

"What?" she asked looking back at him.

He smiled. "Back to your question earlier—what were you supposed to do? It took me half an hour trying to decide which bear you'd like, it took Aiden another half hour to come down and help me decide, getting in line to pay took me fifteen minutes, it cost me fifty-five dollars for it, another six dollars and fifty cents for the cab fare to get to your apartment, a minute—"

"I get your point," she cut him off, laughing, that he took note of all the time. "But it was the only thing that was huge to remind me that it was from you. So I cut it up – crying." He looked at her amusingly. "What, it was a nice bear, adorable and huggable and I was cutting it up mercilessly because I was mad at the giver. It wasn't fair for Koji."

"Koji?" he asked, feeling lost suddenly.

"I named it Koji," she smiled sheepishly. "Anyway, have you packed your bag? We're leaving tomorrow."

It amused Don how sometimes he found himself in a heated argument with a psychotic and extra aggressive Isabelle whom he loathed with all his heart and yet there were times he felt just at ease with her presence which he loved. It was one of those times when they would sit down and actually really talk without bickering or arguing or mouthing each other off.

And this was one of those times.

"Don't worry about me," he finally said. "I can just shove everything in at the last minute."

She shook her head with a small smile as she once again looked away. "Is that how you pack your bag—just shove everything in?"

"At most times," he shrugged, "yeah. Even if I did fold and pack everything neatly away, it's my mother who does it for me."

"You seriously need to learn to do things yourself," she remarked. "It's a simple thing to do. Even Lisa can do it."

"You sound just like my mother."

"Well, maybe you should just find a girl and settle down and let her do all the simple things for you in life." She glanced at him and smiled. "I know, I sound just like your mother."

"Did she possess you for a moment there?" he joked, drinking from his cup.

"You lovebirds done flirting?" Jace laughed as he settled down in the chair from across them, sweating and breathing heavily. Lisa screamed for him by the beach and he turned around. "I'm taking a rest!" He turned back around and unscrewed the bottle cap. "That Lisa sure can run." He drank from the bottle and looked at Isabelle. "Just like her favorite aunt. Maybe she'll be a detective like you."

"I'm no—"

"She's no longer a detective," Don informed Jace, cutting Isabelle off.

"Ah," Jace said, "how come? Is it because of Aiden?"

It had just occurred to Don that Isabelle never did tell why she quit her job at the crime lab before. He had tried asking Danny and Stella, even Mac but nothing much was revealed other than that Isabelle just wanted a change of air. He sensed that Isabelle was uncomfortable with the question asked and that she was quiet. Before he could say anything to change the subject, she shrugged.

"I just wanted a change of air," she said quietly fiddling with the silver bracelet on her left wrist. "Aiden was just part of the reason."

"There's another reason?" Jace asked, intrigued. He ignored Lisa's calling from behind him to start playing again. "What is it? From what I've heard from Aiden, you loved your job as much as she did. So it's quite surprising for me to know that you quit."

"I'm not telling you," she declared, smiling at him but looking serious at the same time. "Lisa's going to throw tantrums if you don't go there and join her now." Jace laughed and stood up but before he walked away, she said, "Never make a DeFranco wait too long. It will get ugly."

Don and Isabelle watched as he ran towards Lisa. After Don was sure he was nowhere near in earshot, he asked, "Do I get to know the other reason?"

She smiled almost sympathetically at him. "You should know, Don; you don't need me to tell you."

For a moment there, they sat in a comfortable silence with the sound of waves crashing upon the shore, the young children laughing out loud, Jace's voice screaming from the distant, and Julia's constant voice of worry for the children in fear that they would fall and hurt themselves.

Then Don decided to end it.

"How ugly will it get if I made you wait for too long?"

"If it's you then it'll definitely get beyond ugly," she chuckled. "You know I hate to wait, Don. You shouldn't ask at all."

He exhaled and shrugged his shoulders, "Thought maybe you've changed over the eight months." He smiled triumphantly to himself; he remembered she had been gone for eight months which Danny had amended him instead of being a year. "I guess not."

"You counted?" she asked feeling very amused. "I thought you didn't care."

"Why would you think of me like that? Of course I cared," he admitted. "I was going crazy wondering why you quit or where you had gone to. I thought you're lying dead in some stinky alley until Mac told me you left for Miami."

"Ah," she mused. "So Mac told you."

"He sure did. So what did you find in my box?"

Don had decided not to take it home the night when Stella, Danny, Lindsay and he came to Isabelle's apartment for dinner. He was sneezing so bad that he could barely take three steps forward without sneezing, all because of the white Persian cat. Stella, on the other hand, took hers home.

She grinned at him. "There's this one hideous looking tie. I seriously can't picture you wearing it; it's too hideous if you know what I mean. Oh, I didn't know you were a Michael Bublè's fan."

"It's in the box? I've been meaning to return it back to Clara."

"It's in the box," she assured him. "There's a basketball, a baseball with Danny's name on it—"

Don laughed at that. "I stole it from him. I wanted to know how long it'll take him to realize that it's missing."

She shook her head and muttered, "Immature. How come it's all with Aiden?"

"They're taking refuge in her apartment. And that hideous tie was a gift from Clara."

"She has such bad taste in choosing a tie for you," Isabelle commented.

"Are you saying you'll buy me a nice and a better one than Clara had bought for me?"

"No, I would definitely get you a nice and a better looking tie if I was Clara," she corrected. "But I wouldn't want to be her. I mean look at her. She's just too scrawny it's disturbing. Is she still living in the same apartment?"

"Not sure," he replied. "Are you sure that I should know the other reason without you telling me?"

She sighed. "Yes, I'm sure; positive."

"Well, can you give me a hint?"

She nodded before she stood up. "Yeah – you're involved." With that, she walked back into the house.

X

demolished-soul – XD! The pillow barrier! Glad you like it!

sarramaks - Glad to know that and thank you for reviewing. : )