A/N:
Thank you so much for the great reviews I got for my first chapter, afrozenheart412 & MesserGirl. And thank you for putting me on your alert list or favouring this story; afrozenheart412, MesserGirl, Lindsay1234, chouchounette, Wonderful-Nonsense, lilnicki23 & jennybean22. You all really made my day!
I hope this last chapter will be to your liking too :D
Chapter 2 Family
Relieved to see Flack nod his consent, Mac exited the interrogation room, taking one last look at the occupants in there. But as he walked back to where the rest of the CSI's were currently trying to calm down an upset Lindsay, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was not quite okay with the detective. It had been something in the eyes of the young man, in the way he had paled when he was forced to get up...
Shaking his head, he quickly schooled his features in his usual emotionless facade as not to worry the rest of his team, especially Lindsay who felt guilty enough as it was for getting Flack into this, before he pushed open the door.
10 pairs of eyes turned his way, each brimming with the unspoken question if Flack was all right. The detective, though still young, had, without obvious effort, managed to earn the respect of many of the men in the precinct; the same way he became a valuable part of the close-knit CSI-team of Mac Taylor. Many detectives before him had failed, but Don soon won a warm place in their hearts and friendships were formed and Mac found he got along quite well with the laid-back man. The both had the same taste in humor; though many people felt he had too little of it and Don too much...
Realizing he was still standing in the doorway, he quickly answered Stella's question about what Dowler had wanted. He quickly fell back on his Marine-training, or his "M-mode" as Danny liked to call it whenever he thought Mac couldn't hear him; and gave his orders to the occupants of the room to start preparing for their entry. But he couldn't help but notice the questioning and worried glances Stella kept throwing in his direction. Somehow she always managed to see through his facade, to know his true feeling underneath the mask...
Not wanting to dwell on that now, he quickly focused his attention back to the situation inside the interrogation room...
The second the door of the interrogation room had closed behind Mac's retreating back, Fowler pushed the detective away from him and started pacing. Though relieved not to be feeling the sharp edge of the shard dangerously close to his jugular vein anymore, the unexpected push caused Flack to catch himself in order not to fall flat on his face. Pain seared through his arm as the wound on his wrist was pulled open again and the blood that had been only dripping now once again flowed freely. Holding in a frustrated growl, Don quickly clamped his hand down on the wound and held it up against his shoulder again. He leaned his head back against the cold white wall behind him and listened to the footsteps of Dowler, who was muttering to himself.
After sitting there for what must have been nearly 20 minutes, Flack felt himself getting drowsy. He blinked a few times and shifted his position. But the rhythm of the footsteps continued on and soon his eyes closed again, his mind slowly getting less focused…
What was that? His foggy brain tried to come up with an explanation for the loud noises that shocked him back into consciousness. He tried to open his eyes, but found that his eyelids had become a lot heavier since last time he had tried to move them. Voices sounded near him, but he couldn't get himself to try and figure out what they said. Slowly he let himself sink back into the darkness.
A little earlier
From behind the see-through window the CSI's, dressed in the same outfits as the intervention team that stood waiting near the entrance of the interrogation room; looked intently at the two men inside. As the minutes passed, they saw how Dowler's pacing brought him further away from where Flack was sitting, from who they could only see his long legs, as sight at the rest of him was blocked by the table in the room. As Dowler became more and more distracted by his one-sided conversation, he started to loose his attention to his surroundings. Not wanting to risk waiting to long and getting Dowler agitated again, they decided to take action now. Mac stepped out of the room to talk to the leader of the intervention team. Both quickly agreed and the teams moved out to take their positions.
Lindsey, still too shaken from the events to be included in the rescue, was their lookout. The moment Dowler neared the furthest point of his pacing, she gave the okay. The door to the interrogation room was kicked open and the team ran in. Dowler, who had spun around at the sound of the door slamming against the wall, realized with a start that he now was held at gunpoint by at least 8 weapons and gave up swiftly. He was quickly secured and pulled out of the room.
The CSI's quickly went to Don's side, their worry spiking, as he hadn't given a single reaction to all the commotion happening around him. They found him leaning against the wall, eyes closed and arms resting in his lap.
Stella was with him first, calling his name and shaking his right shoulder. As she pulled back her hand, she started at the sight of blood on it. Worry growing even more, she quickly checked him over. As she lifted his left arm, she noticed the blood trailing down his fingers to the ground. Unbuttoning his left sleeve, she found the source of it. Clamping her hands around the gash, she called for the paramedics, who had already been on stand-by, just in case. The CSI's who were gathered around their friend, were pushed aside and Flack was rushed to the hospital.
A couple of hours, a few stitches and two IV-bags of fluid later, Don found himself lying in a hospital bed. Instead of focusing on getting better he was blaming himself for everything that happened: he should have checked Dowler's pockets himself, his reaction should have been quicker, but most of all he felt a little embarrassed at how easy he had passed out from the loss of blood…
His thoughts were stopped short however when Lindsey appeared in the doorframe, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. Her eyes, roaming around the room, almost immediately went to the white bandages around his left wrist. She remembered the words of the doctor, about how lucky the detective had been. A little more to the left and the shard would have severed his artery instead of one of his veins and than he wouldn't have held out for so long.
She moved over to the bed, stumbling on her words to express her regret for the things that happened. " I'm so sorry, it's all my fault, I just…" Don interrupted her by raising his uninjured hand. " It wasn't your fault, I don't blame you for what happened Linds, nobody does" " But…?"
" No buts, shit happens, you know" He winked at her and she couldn't help but feeling a small smile breaking out at that, it growing swiftly as the full strength of Flack's contagious smile was directed towards her. She felt like a weight was lifted of her shoulders as he squeezed her hand gently. As behind her the other CSI's filed into the room, she finally felt part of the CSI-family...
The END.
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