Title: Heard It Through The Grapevine

Author: Hawkeye/Katy

Beta: Alex/Odysseus and Onigami/Lorne

Fandom: CSI:NY

Rating: FRT

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even the socks I'm wearing. I stole those from my sister.

Sheldon stared at the computer screen in front of him, knowing it contained data relevant to the case, but not seeing any of it. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, picking up his glasses from where he'd let them fall into his lap and putting them back on. He looked at the screen again, before ultimately deciding to take the results to Stella and let her either tell him he was an idiot for bringing her nothing or a genius for breaking the case.

He spotted the Greek woman talking to Mac. Barely concealing a wince at the square bandage on his boss' neck, Sheldon caught Stella's attention, waved the folder at her and made a show of dropping it on her desk. Stella nodded, before turning her attention back to the conversation. Sheldon walked off, eyes down, not noticing the eyes of both Stella and Mac on his back as he left.

Mac's hand came up to finger the bandage, "Hawkes doesn't look so good, Stella."

Stella nodded, green eyes clouding in sympathy, "I know, he's taking Flack's injury really hard… yours too," she added as Mac raised an eyebrow, "But it almost seems like he's taking Flack's personally, like he's blaming himself."

Mac shook his head, "He wasn't even there. There was nothing anyone could've done."

Stella nodded, raising an eyebrow knowingly, "I know, but you still blame yourself, right?"

Mac looked away, "Do me a favor, will you? Just… talk to Hawkes, make sure he's ok?"

Stella smiled, before turning to follow Sheldon back the way he'd come, "Sure, Mac… keep me informed, you know, about Don, the case, everything?"

Mac gave her a small, crooked smile in return, "Of course…"

Stella retraced Sheldon's footsteps, checking the AV sector, where he'd been, the DNA lab, where he should have been headed and all the labs in between. The Greek woman had just hung up her cell after phoning Sid to see if he was down in the morgue. She frowned. Where could he be? Then the answer hit her. Locker rooms. With purpose in her stride, Stella headed for the locker rooms, pushing open the door. Only to find them empty.

Stella scowled, and was about to head back out when she heard soft music coming from the shower room. Frown still marring her face, she moved back into the locker rooms, heading for the showers. She paused at the door, not hearing running water, just the music. A radio. A radio which was being shifted from station to station at an alarming rate.

'Can you be the one?
Can you see the sun
With me?'

Stella heard a low-throated noise of frustration that made her eyes widen. Was that Sheldon? She didn't have much time to ponder on that before the station shifted again in a burst of static.

'You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee to go,'

Stella eased her way around the door, glancing into the shower room. What she saw stunned her. Dr Sheldon Hawkes, calm, cool, collected Shel, sitting cross-legged in a shower stall growling at a water-proof bath radio? She took a few more hesitant steps towards him, but stopped as another burst of static erupted from the radio.

'I am a dreamer and when I wake,
You can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take.
And as you move on, remember me,'

With a cry of frustration Sheldon slammed the radio down on the floor next to him. He brought one knee up to his chest and rested his head on it, large dark eyes peering over his kneecap. Stella stared at him. This was not a side of Sheldon she knew. She took another slow step towards him, starting as he spoke.

"I haven't gone mad, Stella. Trust me…"

The Greek woman's eyes were compassionate as she stood over him and held out a hand to help him up, "Well, honestly, Hawkes, you coulda fooled me…"

Sheldon allowed himself to be helped to his feet and lead over to the locker room benches. He sat in silence for a moment, his head bowed, unwilling to face Stella's scrutinizing gaze. A gentle touch on his shoulder, reminded him that even though she was willing to help him, Stella was still waiting for him to speak. He sighed and opened his mouth, but Stella beat him to the punch.

"What's going on, Sheldon?"

Stella almost recoiled at the hopeless desperation in Sheldon's eyes as he said, "I don't know anymore, Stella, I really don't…"

She squeezed his shoulder and said, "Why don't you start by explaining the deal with the radio?" she gestured to where the bath radio sat at Sheldon's feet.

Sheldon smirked mirthlessly, "Ask the tough ones, Stella…" at her raised eyebrow, he sighed, "Okay, okay… I've always been… odd… around music. My mom used to tell people I'd grow up to be a concert pianist one day, the way I'd sit and listen to her records for hours on end."

Stella looked a little confused, but smiled encouragingly, "What changed your mind?"

Sheldon's face split into the wide smile everyone knew and loved, "I couldn't play a note. I mean, I went beyond bad."

As Stella snorted with laughter, Sheldon continued, "But my mom still couldn't understand why I would sit there and listen so intently to the music for hours and hours when I couldn't play a note, and chances were, I was tone deaf anyway," his voice lowered and he looked away from Stella, eyes fixing on a spot just to the left of the Greek woman's shoes, "Thing was… I wasn't listening to the music… not really…"

This time Stella looked more than a little confused, "I don't understand, Shel…"

Sheldon sighed again, and eyed off the clock radio at his feet. Maybe it was because he was focusing on finding out things about Don. Maybe if he turned his focus somewhere else it might work. Reluctantly, he reached down and scooped up the bath radio again, holding it in his hands for a moment. Stella watched him, still confused. She watched as Sheldon flipped the dial on the edge of the radio and stared, transfixed at it.

'I love all of you
Hurt by the cold,
So hard and lonely too
When you don't know yourself,'

Stella still looked at Sheldon in confusion, starting to get more than a little worried about her friend. This just was not like him at all. Sheldon seemed to pull himself out of his reverie, radio still playing softly, a triumphant smile on his face. He turned to Stella and spoke, as though he were repeating something heard from a distance.

'I dunno, Lindsay…'

'Come on, Stella, it's an innocent question…'

Sheldon gave a sigh and resumed what was obviously Stella's half of the conversation, 'Fine… if I had to answer one way or the other… I'd say… Hawkes…'

'Hawkes?'

'Yeah, he's a sweetie…' Sheldon's face broke into a grin as Stella stared open-mouthed at him.

"Want me to continue? There's still two minutes of song-time left…"

Stella blinked at him, "But, you… you were on a different scene… you were with Danny that day… in Manhattan… me and Lindsay were… in Brooklyn…"

Sheldon nodded, and Stella still blinked at him, "So… how… there's no way Lindsay coulda repeated an entire conversation back to you like that, you even got the inflections right…"

Sheldon shook his head, still looking at the Greek CSI, smiling hesitantly when Stella's eyes widened in understanding, "The music," she whispered, "You can hear it in the music…"