Lab of the Dead
By Dimgwrthien
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: NY or affiliates.
Even the Crime Scene Lab in New York was prone to its days where it acted like a high school. People grouped together, whispering, passing notes on some days, while other were spent with the attraction-of-the-day that no one stopped talking about the passing on rumors about.
Danny was the center of attention on the thirty-first of October.
"I'm going to need you to take that off," Mac said as he entered the lab and put on a white coat. He only had one case that day, and there weren't many to pass around the lab. It was a relief. Halloween seemed to spark only mischief and pranks rather than murder.
"Only a joke." Danny touched his hat self-consciously for a moment. It was large and orange, in the exact shape and almost exact size of a real pumpkin. On it, in black fabric, was a wicked smile and the eyes. "It's Halloween, Mac. We're not busy. Lighten up."
Mac looked up from his microscope where he was preparing slides and glared at Danny.
"Alright, alright." Danny took off his hat and set it down on the opposite table. "Sorry, boss. At least I'm not wearing the wig from last year, though."
Mac looked back down at the microscope without another word. Danny sighed as he continued his examination of the victim's clothes.
"Whatcha doin' for Halloween?" he asked.
"Nothing," Mac answered without looking up.
Danny frowned. "C'mon, Mac. Everyone does something on Halloween, even if it's just watch horror movies or laugh at the kids' costumes."
"Nothing," Mac repeated.
"I'm watching a marathon of zombie movies." Danny's chest puffed out as though he was proud of this fact. "I bring the movies, Aiden brings the food, Flack brings the drinks. Works every Halloween, ever since I joined the lab."
Mac looked sideways at Danny. "Zombie movies?"
"Yup. You like them?"
"Hate them." Mac looked back down and adjusted the focus. "No movie maker since the fifties has realized that zombies are supposed to eat brains, not flesh."
Danny's nose wrinkled. "Brains? I know they always say 'brains', but I've only ever seen them eat flesh. It's scarier."
"It's incorrect."
"Only you would watch a movie with that in mind." Danny smiled. "Ever see a movie where the zombie eats brains?"
"Never."
"Exactly!" Danny dropped the fabric and turned his chair to face Mac. "You see, it's scarier to have the zombie pop out and chew out someone's throat. Otherwise they're pulling a Hannibal Lector and breaking up the skull, then fishing out the brain, then… it's boring."
Mac was spared an answer by the intercom into the room sounding. Both looked at the glass wall, seeing Hawkes hit the button to the speaker.
"You raaang?" Danny asked, deepening his voice to a comical level and grinning at Hawkes.
"Nice Lurch impression," Hawkes noted with a smile. "Hey, Mac, I need your help in the morgue. Flack's part of a case, and I need to show him the body, but he's… panicking." Hawkes let go of the button.
Danny smiled. "Oh, nice. Figured it would happen."
"What?"
"Just let me come." Danny folded the fabric neatly onto the table and hopped off his chair. "I think I know what he's doing."
Mac's curious look didn't fade, but Danny seemed determine not to notice it. "Alright," he answered, taking off his lab coat and hanging it up as they left. Danny followed suit, half-running to keep up with Mac. "Flack's never had a problem with the morgue," Mac muttered. "I know he doesn't like it, but he's alright to go in there once in a while."
"Hates it in there," Danny agreed.
They walked down the staircase quickly, Danny skipping a few steps, when they could see down the hallway to Flack, pressed against a wall, Danny grinned.
Flack looked at them and shut his eyes. "Damn, did he have to bring you two into this?"
"Into what?" Mac asked.
Hawkes stood in the doorway to the morgue, holding a file in his hand. "Law says this paper cannot go over this barrier, but Flack isn't coming into the morgue."
"Why?" Mac asked impatiently.
Flack looked over to him, looking as annoyed as Mac. "It's Halloween," he answered simply.
Danny grinned. "Yup. I was right."
Flack glanced over at him. "Shut up, Messer."
The group heard the sound of heels from down the hall and saw Aiden and Stella approaching them. Aiden had a wide grin on her face. Stella looked vaguely amused by the image in front of her.
"Happy Halloween, Flack," Aiden said as he came up to them. She held a folder loosely in one hand and tapped it against the other. "Having trouble with the Morgue Ghost again?"
"The - what?" Mac asked.
"You know Mister Tough Police Officer is terrified of ghosts, right?" Aiden asked. "Refuses to go near the morgue. Dead bodies - you know? Spooky ghosts, flesh-eating zombies -"
"Don't say that," Danny joked, motioning to Mac. "He's sensitive about zombies."
Mac closed his eye and counted silently in his head.
"He started that up again?" Stella asked. She grinned. "Proud of you, Mac. You're making a tradition." Elbowing Aiden, she asked, "Do all of the men in this lab have a problem with Halloween?"
"Think so."
"I don't have a problem with it," Hawkes said, still holding the file. Flack remained backed against the wall.
"You can be Miss Hawkes then." Stella smirked. "You're one of us now."
"I'll be Miss Hawkes once Flack takes the folder." Hawkes leaned against the doorway. "Can someone just convince him there aren't any ghosts in here?"
Flack frowned. "Hey -"
"It's childish, Don." Mac stepped forward into the morgue. Hawkes moved so that Mac could step in and out of the room, in and out, in and out. Flack watched him, his eyes wide. "No ghosts, Don. None at all. Have you seen any, Sheldon?"
"Nope." Hawkes raised his eyebrows. "Been here all day, Don. Nothing's happened yet."
Flack froze, his eyes fixed on a point beyond Mac and Hawkes. Everyone leaned forward when they noticed his expression, trying to see what disturbed him so much.
With an odd, creaking sound, one of the drawers containing a dead body slid open. An arm fell from under the blanket, revealing its drying and rotting skin to the world. Flack walked briskly down the hall, running up the stairs and out of sight, without a word.
"Oh shit," Aiden breathed. "I think it is haunted."
Hawkes glanced at everyone, walking into the morgue. Mac followed him. The others remained in the doorway, staring in nervously, trying to understand why the drawer seemed to move so strangely.
As the two reached the drawer, Hawkes stuck out a hand to pick up the swinging arm. As he did so, Mac heard the sounds of wheels on a track and ducked in time to avoid being hit in the head by another opening cabinet.
Hawkes looked behind him, seeing an empty morgue. Most of the medical examiners were out at lunch. He couldn't understand where the others had gone. Glancing back at Mac, he raised an eyebrow.
"Anything wrong with the locks?" Mac asked.
"Not that I know of." Hawkes continued to fix the fallen arm, tucking it safely under the sheet over the first body. A third cabinet slowly slid open. The blanket was missing from the body, showing the face to both men. Mac took one look at the dead man's face, seeing what looked like the victim was hit in the face with something large and heavy, causing his face to be crashed in on itself.
"Anything else wrong with the drawers?" Mac asked, looking around with Hawkes for a spare sheet. Hawkes found one on an autopsy table and threw it over the body before closing the drawer.
"Not that I know of." He motioned to the hall. "Go find Flack. Maybe I can get him in one of the offices and give him the papers then."
Mac nodded. "Sure. Wouldn't be surprised if he never came back into the morgue, though. Ghosts…" Mac smiled and shook his head. "Ghosts. Who would have thought?" He smirked, then met the small group in the hallway. "Anyone have a guess where Flack went?"
"Bet he's in Jamaica," Stella answered. "That was creepy. What's wrong with the drawers?"
"No clue." Mac turned to Danny and Aiden. "Any clue with Flack?"
"I can get out the wig," Danny offered. "Flack can't resist it."
"He can't," Aiden agreed."
Mac closed his eyes and counted to ten in his head again. When he opened his eyes, he met Danny's amused gaze. "What wig, Danny?" Mac asked slowly, annoyance in every syllable.
"From last Halloween. Still in my locker." He grinned. "Should I get it?"
"Just - just find Flack," Mac sighed. "Don't even tell me how, just find him."
Danny nodded and left the hallway. Aiden smirked and followed him. Mac was left staring at Stella. Her eyes were focused into the morgue, where Hawkes was checking the locks on the drawers as he replaced them. "What do you think's going on?"
"Probably broken tracks, bad lock." Mac shrugged. "Not a morgue ghost, whatever it is."
"Weird that it's so many at once." Stella looked back at Mac. "Though, I always wondered what went on in the morgue when no one was there."
"It's never empty." Mac looked over his shoulder, seeing Hawkes close the last of the drawers. They stayed closed. "Besides, there are not ghosts in the morgue."
"Never know." Stella jerked her head in the direction of the upstairs labs. "Should we look for Flack?"
"Sure." Mac turned back to the morgue. "Hawkes?
"Yeah?"
"We'll be back down here with Flack."
Hawkes made a disbelieving sound, but let them go. "Have fun with that, you two."
Back in the hallway, Stella glanced around, taking a quick survey of the area. "Divide and conquer or stick together?"
"I wouldn't have to find a panicking Flack alone," Mac answered with a straight face. "He probably has his gun out and is aiming at anything that moves."
"Good point." Stella smiled. "Should we get out the vests?"
"No yet. Just hope Danny finds him first."
Stella glanced sideways at Mac. "Don't tell me you're annoyed by his Halloween hats."
"I can't understand why he wears them."
"It's because it's Danny," Stella answered evenly. "It was he does. Last Halloween was his orange wig, the one before that was his cat ears, the one before that -"
"An orange wig?" Mac grimaced. "That's what he's going to be wearing around the lab, then?"
"They're cute."
"They're not cute when someone comes in to identify a body or the District Attorney comes in." Mac opened the door to a darkened room, letting Stella in first. They couldn't see a sign of Flack, but Stella was already peering under the tables and in the closet.
Mac and Stella continued to search the room with a half-hearted effort when the door opened. They both looked up in time to see an orange-haired Danny and amused Aiden hold Flack by the arms.
"Took a while, but we got him," Danny said, pulling off his wig. "See? Everyone loves the hats. Except for you, Mac."
Mac stared at Danny until Danny looked down at the ground, mumbling an apology.
"Send him down to the morgue," Stella said. "Hawkes'll be in the office."
"I'm not -" Flack tried to say but Aiden and Danny pivoted him around and marched him to the morgue.
Stella smiled. "Glad that's over with."
Mac nodded. "I still wondering where he got the morgue ghost from."
"No clue," Stella answered, her grin still present. "Wanna head out? I'll rent some movies, and I promise they'll have brain-eating zombies."
"Not going to find one." Mac turned to face her with a small smile on his face. "I'll go for a ghost movie, though."
"Then I know just the one."