Second Chances
Hi everyone! I don't know how many of you are here reading CSI:NY fanfic but I hope a few of you are. I've watched the show for years but only just realised how much I hate that way season five ended and what they did to Flack and Angell so I thought I'd write how I think it should have gone.
I'd love it if you could take a second to read and let me know what you think, you can leave anonymous reviews so you don't need to make an account if you don't want to.
Happy reading!
Detective Don Flack briefly considered how much he hated hospitals, he chuckled at that though…did anyone actually like hospitals? As he looked around him he surveyed all the things that fuelled his dislike of medical facilities; the smell, the lighting and the noise…there really wasn't much to like.
For the fifth day in a row he found himself sat in the brightly lit room in the Major Trauma ICU at New York Presbyterian Hospital. In fact, he hadn't left the room at all for those five days; he had eaten there, showered in the adjoining bathroom and slept in the reclining chair next to the bed. It had been five days since the shooting that had left his partner and girlfriend Detective Jessica Angell sedated and ventilated after emergency life-saving surgery.
It had been an agonising eight hours from the moment he'd passed her off to waiting doctors to the moment the trauma surgeon had excited the operating room to tell them that she was going to be okay. She had been shot with a single 50 calibre bullet that had sliced through her side and caused severe damage to her right kidney and to a small part of her liver, the surgeon had explained that they'd stemmed the severe bleeding by removing her damaged kidney and take away the small piece of damaged liver. The bullet had been a ricochet, a fact that had meant it entered Jess's body more slowly than normal and caused significantly less damage that you'd expect from such a powerful weapon. Don had been relived when the surgeon had explained she would function entirely normally with one kidney and that the liver was the body's only organ that could regrow after it had bits removed, he'd promised that within a few months her live would be completely healed. Recovery would be long and slow but she'd recover nonetheless.
He'd been allowed to see her once she was settled into her room in the ICU. She'd lost a lot of blood so her skin was pale and ashen but the nurses assured him that once her blood transfusion was complete she would look much more like herself. He'd watched as the nurses checked the large surgical wounds; one running diagonally from her belly button and curving around her back and the other adjoining the first and tracking down towards her hip. The edges of the wound were painfully held together with surgical staples, fifty two to be exact. He thought a lot while he had sat there about the blood flowing back into her body, blood that had once belonged to other people and how grateful he was that they'd taken the time to give it up to a stranger.
"Alright, slow news day today I think. Front page of the New York Times this morning 'Machines that accept credit cards and big bills' and 'Whitney picks downtown site for expansion'. Good news is that it's Monday, easiest day for the crossword, we might actually finish it today." Don spoke out loud, completing his morning routine of reading the news to Jess as she remained in a peacefully sedated sleep.
"Good morning Detective, how are we this morning?" An older nurse with a strong Jamaican accent had entered the room, smiling at Don and looking over the large chart that rested against the desk at the end of the bed.
"Morning Grace, we're uh…we're okay." Don had replied tentatively, still not really sure where they stood. He'd got to know most of the nurses over the last five days, he had to admit that Grace's motherly persona and kind face made her one of his favourites.
"I'd say more than okay, Jess is doing great. She's taken all her own breaths for 24 hours now and her vitals look great. We're going to go ahead and try to wake her up this morning, look at getting rid of that tube." Grace beamed, this was one of her favourite parts of the job, seeing the relief and excitement on people's faces when their loved ones recovered.
"Yeah? That's great!" Don smiled, reaching for Jess's hand and wrapping his fingers tightly around hers.
Don let out a breath he didn't even know he had been holding. It had been a very traumatic few days and he was still struggling to make sense of it all. He was relieved that she was going to be okay, angry at the bastards that had done this and guilty that he hadn't been there to protect her.
"I've turned off her sedation, she should start becoming more alert pretty quick. The doctor will be in in about an hour to remove the tube." Grace placed a reassuring hand on Don's shoulder as she walked by and out of the door, leaving him alone with his thoughts again.
"Did you hear that Babe? One more hour." He whispered against the skin on the top of her hand, pressing a kiss to her forehead before sitting himself down again at her side.
One more hour.
The hour seemed to pass painfully slowly but finally the doctor arrived. He'd explained what would happen and, although her eyes were still closed, Jess had squeezed the doctor's hand signalling that she had understood. After a quick countdown and a lot of coughing and once the doctor was happy that Jess was doing well he disappeared from the room and swiftly as he entered.
"Don?" Jess's raspy voice spoke, opening her eyes but frowning against the harsh light of the room.
"Hey Babe, hey! I'm right here." He stood so she could see him and placed his hand on her cheek, she smiled as brightly as she could manage.
"What happened?" She asked, her mind still fuzzy from the trauma and the medicines.
"You were shot, hit by a stray bullet during an attack on the diner while escorting Dunbrook to court." Don reminded her gently, watching her nod as the memories began to drift back.
"Bad?" She whispered, afraid of what the answer would be and what that would mean.
"Yeah bad, took one to the side of your abdomen. They had to take out one of your kidneys and a little bit of your liver but you're going to be just fine. They've repaired all the damage, you're going to be fine." Don smoothed a thumb over her cheek as he spoke, relieved to be able to look into her deep brown eyes again.
"How long was I out?" She asked, trying hard to process all the information and figure out exactly what was happening.
"Five days, they kept you asleep to help manage the pain and let your body have some rest. You had no damage to any of your other organs, you were really lucky Jess." Don was trying to maintain his composure, now was not the time for breaking down and getting emotional.
"Hmm, luck would have been someone else getting babysitting duty. Why was that my job? Why wasn't there a Uni doing that?" Jess asked, making reference to the fact that babysitting a prisoner wasn't really a job for a detective and should have been done by a uniformed officer. As she was processing all the information she was becoming more and more angry that she'd been made to do that, that she had been put in this position.
"I don't know Babe but IA are looking into that. You shouldn't have been there, Officer Cannon and Officer Rodriquez were assigned to the job. Now isn't the time to talk about this, you need to keep calm." Don kissed her head again and brushed his nose against hers.
"It hurts like a bitch, right into my back." Jess moaned, trying to adjust herself in the bed to be more comfortable.
"It's gonna hurt, but you can have some extra meds. They had to open you up pretty far so you'll have a big scar. Grace said the staples will cause you a lot of pain while the wound heals." Don explained, sitting back down and taking her hand in his. Grace would surely be along any time to top up Jess's pain meds and to remove the remaining tubes she no longer needed.
"I'm really sorry we missed our plans. That black negligee you like…" Jess drifted off mid-sentence and watched as Don smiled widely.
"…Will still be there when you're better." He finished, bringing her hand up to his face and kissing it gently.
Much to Don's dislike, Jess has insisted that he go home for a few hours and rest. He'd been reluctant but he'd been reassured when Grace promised to call him if anything changed. His apartment hadn't been touched for five days and it showed. His lease would be up in six weeks and he hadn't been planning to stay in this apartment so there were boxes everywhere and piles of things to sort, the shooting had got in the way of his plans to move. The remnants of the morning of the shooting were everywhere; breakfast things in the sink, a pile of laundry ready to go to the laundry room and Jess's NYPD sweatshirt thrown over the back of the couch.
Don sat down on the couch, there was someone he needed to call.
"Hello?" The voice on the other end of the line answered.
"Cliff? It's Don." He said, relieved that Jess's father had answered.
"Hey Kid, how's our girl today?" Cliff asked, he and Don had grown close over the last five days, bonding over their shared love for Jess.
"She uh…she woke up today." Don said calmly, feeling the old man smile though the phone.
"That's great news, I'll let the boys know. Tell her I'll be along to see her tomorrow." Cliff spoke happily, the sense of relief evident in his voice.
Cliff Angell had been distraught when he'd heard his only daughter had been shot, the fear of losing her had been overwhelming for him. He'd lost his wife, Julia, when Jess was only seven years old and he'd promised her he'd take care of their children when she was gone. He hadn't been ready to let Jess go, as he'd flown into the hospital he had been greeted by Don and together they sat and waited for news. Jess's four older brothers; Max, Joel, Brody and Eric had all been waiting at the end of the phone for news. They'd all wanted to be there but life had taken them to all different places and in that moment the world had never felt so big. Max and his wife lived in Buffalo and were due to have a baby any time so couldn't travel, Joel had recently taken a job in South Carolina, Brody and his wife lived in Australia and Eric had gone to college in Boston and never returned.
Jess's father had moved from their family home in Queens and into a charming home in an affluent small town in New Jersey, just across the George Washington Bridge. Though Don and Jess had been firmly in a relationship for the last nine months, he'd only met former NYPD Captain Cliff Angell on a few occasions and he'd not yet had the pleasure of meeting any of her brothers. Neither found this strange though, outside of their group of their core group of friends very few people knew they were anything more than work partners.
Picking up the phone again, Don had one last call to make.
"Messer." The voice answered.
"Danny, its Don. How you feeling?" Don asked.
"I'm good Buddy, I'm good. How's Jess?" Danny asked hopefully, desperate for news after so many days of nothing.
"Amazing man, she woke up today. She's short a kidney and a few ounces of liver but she's amazing" Don felt a wave of emotion sweep over him and he took a deep breath, trying his best to keep himself in check.
"Wow, that's great news brother, I'm so happy for you. Lindsay will be stoked." Danny replied cheerily, relieved that everything was moving in a positive direction.
Don's nap lasted a refreshing two hours and when he returned to the hospital he was pleased to see Jess looking brighter and without most of the tubes she had been attached to, all that was left was the IV for pain relief.
"Hey Babe." He greeted, taking her cheeks in his hands and kissing her lips lovingly. "You're sitting up." He observed.
"Yeah, they the pain meds so that's better. I'm really desperate for a shower, they said I can do that if I'm careful. Will you help?" Jess asked hopefully. She'd asked Grace earlier and had been surprised when she had said yes, she had been expecting them to say she needed to stay in bed after only just waking up but Grace had assured her it was better to get moving as soon as possible.
"Are you sure? Isn't that a bit soon? Can you even get those staples wet?" Don asked concerned, not wanting to do anything that would reverse her amazing progress.
"Grace said it was fine, they don't have bandages on any more and half the staples will come out in a few days. They'll leave the other half until next week just to be sure." Jess reassured, smiling and proud of her progress.
"Alright, but you sit down the whole time." Don instructed, watching Jess as she nodded and slowly began to get out of bed. The positive to being sedated for such a short time, Jess had mused, was that her muscles were still good and strong. She would need no physical therapy to aid her recovery, just good pain relief. She remembered how sick Flack had been following the bombing, she'd not been in the job long but they'd become friends immediately and she'd been really worried when he's been injured. The damage the bomb had caused had been extensive and he'd been in hospital for eleven weeks on the account of the infection that had been caused by his injuries. She had visited him in hospital every day, without fail, and had been with him through one of the hardest times in his life. They'd been best friends since that time but it had taken them a full two years after the bombing to finally step into a relationship.
Don helped Jess walk towards the bathroom, sat her down on the shower bench and helped her out of the scratchy hospital gown.
"Help me stand up, I want to look at the wounds properly." Jess said, reaching out for his hand to help her up. She leant heavily against Don as she stood in front of the full length mirror wearing only a comfortable pair of yoga shorts. She traced the line of staples that started at her belly button and ran across her abdomen and around her back, moving to do the same over the second wound and feeling every staple with her fingertip. Don hadn't been kidding when he'd said the scars would be big, both wounds were at least 12 inches long.
"There was some damage to the blood vessel that supplied the kidney, they had to cut down lower to get to a health part to be able to fix it…that's why you got that second incision." Don explained, brushing his fingers along the same path that hers had taken moments earlier.
"Well…I guess we're matching now." Jess smile at Don in the mirror as she leant back against his chest, referencing the four scars he had across his abdomen from the two surgeries they'd had to perform to save his life after the bombing. Don chuckled; Jess had never been self-conscious of anything and it didn't seem like she was going to be starting now.
The hot water felt amazing against her skin and she felt so much better to have clean skin and clean hair. The nurses had done their best to clean her up but her skin had still been stained with dried blood that she was happy to see gone.
Just as Jess had settled herself down on the best there was a knock at the door.
"Can I come in? I heard you were awake?" Lindsay peeked around the door cautiously, smiling widely at the friend she never thought she would see again.
"Always." Jess smiled, reaching out her hand for Lindsay.
"I can't believe how good you look" Lindsay commented, perching on the end of the bed.
"They've got me on the good stuff for the pain. Doctor said I can probably go home once all the staples are out, he figured about eleven more days." Jess felt content as she spoke, although she was still needing strong medicine for the pain she was happy to be here with the friends that had become her family.
"That soon? Are you sure?" Lindsay asked, amazed that after being so close to death Jess could be home in two short weeks.
"Doctor said I was lucky, I'd turned to the side so the bullet hit me side on, clipped my liver and lodged near my kidney. Missed everything else. Three inches over and I'd be dead." The warning from the doctor had hit Jess hard, never again would she decide not to wear a vest in a situation like that.
"What made you turn around?" Lindsay asked, curious as to why Jess had moved away from the shooter instead of standing square to fire her weapon.
Jess shrugged gently, trying not to move too much to avoid pulling on the painful staples.
"We'll probably never know. Everyone involved in the shooting is dead and Dunbrook swears he can't remember how it all went down." Don commented, sitting back in the reclining chair and rubbing a hand over his tired face.
"They're dead?" Jess asked, relieved that there was no possibility the shooters would ever come back to haunt them.
"All killed during a shootout when we tracked them down. Listen, I need to tell you about something else that happened the night after the suspects were killed." Lindsay said, fidgeting nervously on the edge of the bed. "We knew you were going to be okay and the case was closed, we went out to a bar for drinks. There was another shooting, completely unrelated. Everyone's okay but…Danny was injured, he's lost the feeling in his legs but it's only temporary. The bullet lodged in some muscle, nothing serious but it caused some inflammation, they're really optimistic that he'll make a full recovery." Jess started blankly at Lindsay, trying to process what she'd just heard.
"Did you know about this?" She asked, turning towards Don and looking right into his eyes.
"Yeah Babe, I knew. I was planning to go and meet everyone there but I couldn't leave you here on your own. Stella called me after it happened and I met Danny and Lindsay down in the ER." Don replied quietly, taking her hand in his and hoping that she wasn't too upset.
"Why didn't you tell me when I first woke up?" Jess asked, not angry but frustrated that she was the last to know something so huge about such a close friend.
"You'd just woken up from five days of sedation and major surgery Jess, I wasn't going to spring this on you right away." Don replied with a firm tone as he sensed Jess's frustration.
"Where is Danny now? Is he here?" Jess asked, needing to know all of the details.
"He's at home with Lucy, they let him go the next morning after he'd had all the scans and seen a neurologist. He's having daily physical therapy" Lindsay replied, placing a hand on Jess's leg over the covers.
"Wow…you take a nap for 5 days and miss everything." Jess chuckled, desperate to lighten the mood.
"Haven't lost your sense of humor I see." Lindsay joked, smiling. Jess always did have a smooth sense of humor and a habit of hiding behind it during stressful times. She and Don definitely had that in common.
Five hours later night had fallen over the city and Jess found herself staring at the sparkling lights of the Brooklyn Bridge from the large window of her room. The city was always spectacular at night, a fact she realized she'd always taken for granted before.
"Shouldn't you be at work?" Jess asked as Don emerged from the bathroom, freshly showered and cleanly shaven.
"Captain gave me leave of absence until I'm ready to go back. Haven't been in to the precinct since the day of the shooting." Don replied, grabbing the remote for the TV and loading the DVD he'd picked out for them to watch.
"So I guess everyone knows now huh?" Jess asked with a chuckle, smiling widely at him as she did.
"If people thought they knew before, they definitely know now." Don replied, taking Jess's face in his hands and lovingly pressing his lips to hers.
Jess smiled into the kiss, pulling away to brush her nose gently against his before leaning back in and reconnecting their lips to kiss him again.
"So I get you all to myself? Lucky me." Jess whispered against his lips, leaning her forehead against his.
"Lucks all mine, I really thought you were going to die Jess. When I picked you up off the floor of that diner, blood all over everything, I thought that was it." Don brushed a strand of hair from Jess's eyes as he spoke.
"I'm not going anywhere, takes more than a bullet to the side to take me down." Jess smiled again, brushing her nose against his once more.
She was going to be okay, against all the odds she would make a full recovery and for that she'd never take another minute for granted again.
I really hope you enjoyed this first chapter. Be on the lookout for more!