A/N: I'm including Louie in this chapter. I don't know that the show has mentioned anything since the Run, Silent, Run Deep eppy but in this story he will be alive and well. Thanks again to all who read and review.
A Bullet for Danny: My Brother's Keeper
Danny? Her head instantly jerked up to find a set of tired and sick blue eyes staring back at her. At first she stared at the sight of his slack lips as he attempted to speak trying to form audible words. Lindsay squinted her eyes as she strained to hear and leaned forward, so that his lips were almost upon her ear.
"Don't be such a wuss Montana," he hissed softly letting the words flow out in a slow raspy sound. Danny blinked several more times trying to make sense out of the fuzzy fog that was swimming around him. He swallowed feeling the burn in his throat
and grimaced hoarsely "Lindsay?"
He watched Lindsay stand up right and blink in confusion.
"Danny, I'm sorry I can't understand you…" her voice started to trail forcing him to notice the large noticing the foreign object that was protruding from his throat. Lindsay couldn't understand him because he couldn't speak he processed feeling his heart began to race.
Judging from the look on his face, Lindsay sensed he was in both pain and shock. "Try to take it easy Danny" she cautioned as he attempted to lift his shoulders off the bed. "Danny don't your going to hurt yourself," she whispered in effort to calm the frightened CSI. But it was no use, despite her best efforts to hold him down Danny's body started to buck wildly with the rise of panic. His hands flew to the tracheal collar grabbing at the object that was lodged in his throat.
"Help! I need some help in here!" Lindsay cried fearing that Danny could possibly rip out tender stitches that had been laid carefully into place.
A female doctor and a male nurse appeared instantly trotting to Danny's bedside. The nurse placed his hands firmly on Danny's shoulders forcibly restraining him down on the bed.
"He's disoriented. He doesn't know what happened!" Lindsay told them stepping out the way as the doctor took a hold of Danny's forearm, aiding the nurse in the restraint.
Dr. Claire Brady spoke in calm authoritative voice. "Mr. Messer, you're in Queens Memorial Hospital. You were shot in the throat and are in pretty serious condition" the woman paused for moment watching her patient process the words. "What's his first name?" she asked turning to Lindsay for assistance.
"Danny"
"Danny", the doctor began quietly, "I know this is quite a shock but I need you to remain to calm. Do you think you can do that?"
Danny's eyes shifted back and forth landing on Lindsay using her as focal point to find comfort before he attempted a slight nod.
"Good" Dr. Brady smiled "You've been placed in tracheal collar which is making it difficult to speak. "So what I want you do is blink, two times for yes, once for no. Do you think you can do that?"
Danny blinked twice in response making Lindsay squeal softly.
"Good Job Danny" the doctor complimented. "Are you in pain right now?"
Again Danny blinked twice and rolled his sickly eyes toward Lindsay. The look on his face made her heart wanted to bleed. Of course he was in pain, who wouldn't be?
"All right," the doctor replied "I'm going to upstairs and get you something for the pain but until then. Miss-" the doctor paused looking over her shoulder.
"Monroe" Lindsay smiled hearing Danny's prominent accent go off in her head. The way he called her Miss Monroe always made her shiver
The doctor shifted her gaze back on her patient, "Miss Monroe is going to be here with you." Slowly the doctor nodded and the nurse released Danny of his impending grip, while she did the same, letting Lindsay slide back into the place next to the bed.
Keeping his eyes focused on her face, Danny lifted his hand pleading silently with her take it. He watched as a slow and easy grin crossed her face when they fingers laced ensuring him she wasn't going anywhere.
Drawing his hand to her lips, Lindsay kissed it gently her heart going out to him. Despite his tough Bronx style demeanor the look on his face was that of a scared little boy.
"You're going to be okay"
Danny closed his eyes and exhaled deeply to try to prevent his body from shaking. The horror of being gunned down in his own home was sitting right on the top of his brain.
"We got the shooter. So you can rest safe," Lindsay informed him watching the CSI relax slightly. "I know this doesn't look like a normal hospital room" Lindsay started to babble but Mac thought it would be better if we kept you in protective custody"
Protective custody? Danny flicked his gaze up her questionably, not that he really cared at the moment thanks to the immeasurable pain that was starting to radiate from the top of his chest.
"It was a hit." Lindsay stated, "We're still trying to figure out who ordered it" She would let out the little detail of Mac having Danny declared dead for the moment. Danny had enough stress to deal with for the moment.
Hearing the sound of footsteps the youngest member of team New York looked over her shoulder to find Danny's doctor entering the small cramped room with a loaded syringe in her hand.
Wordlessly both she and Danny watched as the woman injected a clear solution into the I.V that was hanging over the bed.
"This should take effect pretty fast," Dr. Brady told them handing Danny a little remote with a wire attached to it. "Just press this button when you feel need and it will dispense the proper amount of pain medication"
"Thank you" Lindsay smiled saying the words that Danny couldn't.
Several hours passed as Lindsay continued to watch Danny drift in and out from a fitful sleep. The medication he'd been given had taken the edge off the pain, leaving him restless and a bit edgy.
Water, he needed water he reasoned feeling an unforgiving dryness in the back of this throat. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out.
"What is it?" Lindsay asked leaning closer as if studying his facial expressions would allow her to read his mind.
Frustrated, Danny pointed to the plastic pitcher of water sitting on the utility cart.
"You want some water?" Lindsay reached over her shoulder and grabbed the pitcher along with a small Styrofoam cup. Skillfully she filled the cup watching as Danny flicked out his tongue running over his slack lips in anticipation.
"Go slow," she cautioned easing the cup towards his rugged looking mouth. Danny grimaced swallowing the cool liquid gingerly before letting his head relax against the pillow.
Feeling a vibration down at her belt, Lindsay looked down to see she had a missed call from Mac. Instantly she knew she needed to check in and see how things were going at the lab. She hadn't been scheduled work but with one man short things would be busy.
"I'll be back in a little while," she said letting the back of her hand fall over his cheek. Danny nodded mechanically closing his eyes against the wave of pain that was threatening to take him under.
Confident he was in good hands she stepped outside into the main room of the morgue and whipped out her cell, dialing as fast as her nimble fingers would allow.
"Taylor" Mac answered, his voice echoing in her ear.
"Mac" Lindsay pressed her hand to her right ear to allow for more clarity through the basement like structure. "It's Lindsay, I'm at the hospital with Danny and he's-"
"Get off the line," Mac ordered brusquely.
"What?" Lindsay's brow furrowed at Mac's sense of urgency.
"End the call and get out of there now!" Mac's voice remained tight and authoritative.
What? She couldn't leave Danny, not now.
Lindsay's eyes scanned the room instinctively. It was then she realized that her presence could blow Danny's protective cover. He was supposed to be dead. Snapping the cell shut she looked longingly towards the room where Danny was hold up.
A few minutes later, Mac met Lindsay at Washington square. His facial expression was tight and grim.
"You can't be at the hospital," he reprimanded keeping his voice indifferent. It wasn't safe. Not until they'd found the man who'd ordered the hit on Danny's life.
Lindsay hung her head. She would never do anything to willingly endanger Danny ever "Mac I'm sorry" she started to apologize, "I just-"
"You just could have gotten Danny killed" Mac finished jamming his hands into the pockets of his tan overcoat. At the moment Danny Messer was dead to the world, and if they wanted to protect him, he needed to stay that way.
"Mac he's still in critical condition," Lindsay protested softly; feeling quite small under Mac's stern gaze. "Shouldn't somebody be with him?" The fact that Danny's family was an absent factor in his life bothered her greatly.
"We've got under cover agents for that," Detective Jennifer Angell to be exact. "Right now we've got a funeral to attend." Danny's funeral he swallowed silently.
The following morning, storm clouds formed over the New York skyline setting the perfect pace for gloom Lindsay thought as she looked out the passenger window of the department's black Denali.
The ride to the cemetery was quite as each member of Zoo New York pondered his or her own thoughts of attending Danny Messer's funeral. Personally it made Lindsay sick. Pretending that Danny was actually dead hit too close to home.
Stepping out of the car, she held her stomach as she entered the small chapel on the cemetery grounds. Outside, Police Officers covered one side of the sanctuary while members of the Italian Mafia covered the other. It was just eerie.
Slowly she started up the aisle intent of taking a seat next to Stella when she spotted an older looking middle-aged couple. Danny's parents she presumed. The woman was crying and the man was visibly distraught. Beside them stood Danny's older brother, Louie. He looked good Lindsay thought. Gone were the wounds he'd suffered last year at the hands of the Tanglewood boys.
"Why don't you take a seat?" Stella motioned giving Lindsay's hand a gentle tug. Nodding mechanically, Lindsay slid into the cushioned pew and instantly started to feel her eyes well up.
It all seemed so cruel not to tell Danny's family that he was alive and healing from his injuries, better yet it seemed too real Lindsay surmised flicking her gaze to a large 16x20 of Danny that hung at the front of the chapel.
The picture had been taken on the day of Danny's graduation from the police academy. He was dressed in full uniform and grinning like the cat that'd had just swallowed the canary. She'd always wondered what he looked like in uniform she smiled feeling a little guilty for knowing that he was alive and waiting for her return.
Time past slowly twisting a knife through Lindsay's heart: Two days had gone by and still no one had come to make a money drop at the locker that Mayer had pointed out.
She desperately wanted to see Danny, she needed to see Danny but she didn't dare, not until unsub was caught. God what Danny must think of her for just leaving and not bothering to call? A small part of her hoped that Jessica would relay that they were all under Mac's strict orders to stay away. But for Danny's safety she knew that wouldn't be the case. Mac wanted him kept in the dark for his own good.
Why hadn't there been a drop? She wondered. It didn't make sense; Mayer had cut a deal with the District Attorney for a lighter sentence if the man who hired him to take out Danny was caught. He had nothing to gain by lying.
"Maybe the guy got stiffed," Hawkes grunted crossing his arms over the green military issue style jacket that covered his torso. He and Flack had been staking out New York Central Bus Depot for almost forty-eight hours.
Flack was sitting next to him donning a Yankee's cap, jeans and a down filled flannel shirt. "Would you stiff a notorious hit man?"
"No" Hawkes snorted "but then again, I would never hire one either". Whoever had hired the hit on Danny would be smart enough to know that you couldn't cross your hit man without serious consequences. It wasn't good business.
Flack reached into the backpack that rested at his side and pulled out a deck of cards. "You up for a game of spades?"
Hawkes was about to reply when he saw a familiar figure walking into the terminal, "I don't believe it. Is that-" he said under his breath, jabbing Flack in the arm.
Flack's head snapped up, his bright eyes blazing,"Louie Messer" he finished fishing out his revolver from his belt.
Louie did the same and Flack felt a pit rise up from the bottom of his stomach as another man with a black duffle bag entered the terminal. "Don't do it Louie!" Flack shouted hurtling over a row of stationary chairs as Louie took aim.
"Julian Sassone!" the older Messer shouted firing as the man with the bag turned around. Four bullets struck Julian precisely in the chest.
Plain-clothes policemen appeared from nowhere tackling Louie instantly. A hush fell over the scene as Hawkes and Flack fell to the fallen man's side. Hawkes checked for a pulse confirming that Louie Messer's bullet had indeed met his target with exact precision.
"Who's Julian Sassone?" the good doctor asked bewildered flicking his gaze towards the gang of men who were struggling to restrain Louie.
"The younger brother of Sonny Sassone" Flack answered calmly rolling the dead man's arm over to expose the infamous Tanglewood tattoo. Just six-months earlier the team had gathered enough evidence to convict the Tanglewood leader of murder.
Hawkes clicked his cheek pondering, "A younger brother going after a younger brother?" Vengeance he assumed. "Why not just take out Danny himself?"
"I don't know," Hawkes returned feeling the pit in his stomach continue to grow as Louie was hauled away in handcuffs to an awaiting patrol car. In just a matter of hours Louie Messer would be on his way to prison.