Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of CSI:NY

All of the evidence from the rental house had been processed and gone over with a fine toothed comb. The credit card appeared to be the only thing of use that they could find. So they waited for Greene to slip up. Stella spent half of the day glancing down at her phone, hoping to get the call that would tell her he had used the card somewhere.

She was glancing again when Danny spoke up from the door. "My ma always said a watched pot never boils," he told her with a grin as he leaned against the doorframe.

Stella looked up and smiled briefly. "I know, but we need the guy to screw up; which means I need a phone call."

"He will screw up," Danny said confidently. Then his smile turned sly. "So you and Flack huh?"

"Lindsay told you?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Nah, Don did. Course I figured it out when I realized that both of you were so smiley this morning."

"Of course you did. I don't suppose I have to remind you to keep quiet?" she asked, with a hint of reproach in her voice.

"I said I talked to Flack didn't I? Don't worry; I'll keep my big mouth shut for now." He turned to leave but couldn't help tossing out another comment. "Way to go Stell."

She was still laughing when her phone rang; apparently Danny was right about the watched pot. "Bonasera."

"Stell, James Greene used the credit card at a cheap ass motel in the Bronx. Guy at the desk says he checked in early this morning then got squirrelly on him. He paid and left about an hour ago."

Stella was already up and reaching for her jacket. "I'll be downstairs in five."

Don't description of the motel as cheap ass had been a gross understatement. The place was beyond rundown and crawling with cockroaches. Both Stella and Flack came within an inch of throttling the greasy looking clerk that kept looking Stella up and down and licking his lips. When he offered her a law enforcement discount Flack got rough and they finally got into the room.

In the room they found very little other than bugs, at least initially. Stella was tossing the trash when she came up with a scrap of paper with an address and phone number written on it. Curiously she dialed and her blood ran cold when she heard Amelia Simmons grandmother on the other line. Very calmly she told her to check all of the windows and doors and take Amelia to a room away from any possible entrances. She hung up and felt the grip she'd had on her control slipping. "Flack!"

He popped out of the bathroom. "What's going on?"

"He's going for Amelia again. He's got the address and phone number." By then they were both sprinting towards the car. "We need more uniforms, more cars, anything to make sure he's not getting in." Flack was already on the phone. When they got to the car it was only seconds before they were in and he hit the lights and the gas.

Stella wasn't sure if she breathed the entire trip. When they pulled up at the end of the street she finally took a deep breath. There was no way James Greene was getting to Amelia with five marked cars and over ten officers dominating the street. Flack parked at the end of the block to avoid the chaos of the street and Stella released her seatbelt. "There's no way he can get to her." Relieved, she slid from the car and shut the door behind her.

For a few seconds Flack just sat in the car, taking a moment to think about the situation at hand. He dimly heard Stella curse as her cell phone clattered to the ground; then fear formed an icy ball in his stomach as her scream split the early evening air. He bolted from the car and rounded the front with his gun leveled. His fear mingled with rage when he saw James Greene with a hunting knife at Stella's neck. The knife was already slick with blood and he immediately saw the wound. Blood was quickly darkening the green of her shirt close to her heart, too close.

"Let the detective go James," Flack said, forcing his voice to stay hard.

James Greene's face was deceptively like his mothers, innocent and young. His lifeless eyes watched Flack as he shook his head. "No, I want my daughter."

Flack looked down briefly at Stella and was relieved to see that she was fully conscious. But she was deathly pale and her eyes were beginning to gloss with pain. Those eyes met his and she mouthed up at him 'use Amelia.'

"You know you can't have Amelia, James. She had a family, and you took it all away from her."

"I'm her family!" he screamed. He pulled Stella in tighter against the blade until Flack could see it begin to bite into her skin.

"You're not her family James. You never were."

"I was supposed to be," he said desperately.

Flack kept his gun steady as he spoke. "But you aren't. She's terrified of you."

He shook his head. "You're wrong, she just doesn't understand."

"You think she'll ever understand?" he questioned harshly. Alerted by Stella's scream, a few of the officers came to a halt behind him. Without taking his eyes off of Stella and Greene, Flack motioned them back.

"I just want Amelia," James said quietly.

"You can't have her James. Now, you've got two murders on your hands, don't make it three. Let her go."

"I can't, not without my daughter." He shook his head and looked towards the house down the street. It was as if he didn't even see Flack and the others.

Flack looked back at Stella and he could see that she was hanging on by a thread. Slowly, she met his eyes and then looked to the other officers and nodded. When she was certain Greene was distracted she mouthed 'now.' In mere seconds it was over. Stella gathered all of her strength and reared back, head butting him. He staggered then hit the ground and the officers were on him immediately.

For a moment Stella managed to stay on her feet. Then she swayed on the spot and fell. Flack caught her and laid her on the ground gently. "Call 911 now!" he yelled. He turned back and found her slipping out of consciousness. "Stell, stay with me." As he stripped off his jacket he heard an officer behind him talking to dispatch. 'Officer down, Stella Bonasera.'

With his heart hammering against his chest he ripped her shirt down the middle to see the wound. There was too much blood, and he was no doctor. The best he could think to do was to rip the sleeve off of his jacket and apply pressure. His hands slick with blood, he prayed to hear sirens, and kept talking. "Come on Stell, stay with me."

Flack felt as if the world had spun off its axis. There was a flurry of sound and motion around him in the hospital; Mac stood stiff next to him as Danny and Lindsay rushed through the doors with Hawkes hot on their heels. Questions fired at him from all directions, but nothing penetrated the fog of stunned grief that surrounded him. Finally Mac called the others off and he was left to his own damning thoughts. This was the last place he thought he would end up that day, and looking back he couldn't help thinking that it was his fault.

He was finally shaken from his thoughts as Danny briefly laid his hand on his shoulder before sitting down next to him. "It shouldn't have gone down that way Danny."

Danny shook his head. "Things don't go the way we plan, not on this job."

"I know, but it shouldn't have been her. After Frankie…" He ran his hand over his face. "It was never supposed to be her again."

"You and I both know that there's nothing you could have done to change what happened today?"

Flack cursed creatively. "You think? I could have parked further down the street, but I didn't want to deal with the mess of cars already down there. I could have gotten out of the car like I always do, but I was taking a moment. There were dozens of little things I could have done Danny, but I didn't."

Danny knew that whatever he said, nothing could change the fact that Flack felt the weight of this. "Ya look like you need to punch something," he said.

"Yeah, that couldn't hurt."

"A really good friend would say go ahead and punch me. Guess I'm not a really good friend."

Despite himself he smiled. "Don't worry about it, I'll find a wall or something. Thanks Danny."

He nodded and stood. "Whenever you need me buddy. I'm gonna go check on Montana."

It seemed like weeks passed before they heard anything. Though they knew it had only been hours, it felt like eternity. Mac and Flack were discussing another case in an effort to keep busy when a doctor in scrubs approached them.

"You here for Stella Bonasera?" Both men nodded and he continued. "She lost a lot of blood. It's a good thing you got her here when you did; a few more minutes could have been too late. I'll spare you the technical jargon since it's been a long night for all of us. The general gist is that she'll be fine. She needs to stay here for a while and even then it'll be a few weeks before she'll be allowed to work, but she will be fine."

"Can we see her?" Mac asked.

"Visiting hours are technically over and she won't be up for a few hours, but considering the circumstances I'm willing to overlook the rules and let someone stay. But I'll only let one person in tonight."

Flack turned to Mac. "Go ahead."

Mac looked his friend over then shook his head. "You know Stella; first thing she'll want to talk about it the case. You stay; the rest of us will be back tomorrow."

He nodded and followed the doctor to Stella's room. Mac watched them go as Hawkes came to a stop at his side. "You think he actually buys that excuse?" he asked.

Mac shook his head. "I doubt it, but with everything that's happened, I think they both need him to be there when she wakes up."

"So she's going to be okay," Hawkes said.

"She's going to be okay."

In the hospital room Flack settled in one of the most uncomfortable chairs he'd ever sat in. He didn't particularly care. Stella was in the bed in front of him still out, hooked up to monitors and looking frighteningly pale. When she'd gone through everything with Frankie, Flack had made himself an unconscious promise that he'd never see her like this again; and he'd failed to keep that promise. Even with the weight of fear and worry lifted, guilt still weighed heavy on his shoulders. He knew there was no going back to change what had happened, so thinking that way was useless. What mattered was that she was safe and she'd recover. Even as he thought it the guilt persisted.

With a sigh he leaned back in the too small hospital chair and prepared himself for an uneasy night. He didn't expect to get any sleep, but it wasn't long before exhaustion overtook him and he'd fallen into a fitful sleep.

As Stella came awake her first hazy thoughts concerned her whereabouts. Then everything came back to her, and the pain followed close behind. Then she turned and saw Flack and her next coherent thought was that he'd been dealt some rather uncomfortable sleeping arrangements in the past few days. His head was leaning on his hand and his elbow was rather precariously perched on the arm of the tiny chair he sat in. His long legs were stretched out and it looked as if he might slip forward and on to his ass at any moment. She couldn't fight back the laugh but gasped when pain sliced through her chest.

Flack heard her and woke immediately. He looked over to see her hands clutching at the bed sheets as she tried to ride it out. "Stell, I'll go get a nurse." She nodded and took a deep breath. He was back in mere moments with a nurse who administered pain medication and instructed her to just lie back and wait for it to take effect. She left them alone with instructions to call her if she was needed. "Better?" he asked.

She nodded. "Better." Settling in against the pillows she watched as he pulled the chair up next to the bed. "What's the prognosis?" she asked with a smile.

"You lost a lot of blood, but you'll be fine. Gave us all a scare though," he told her.

Stella could see he was shaken up and she reached over to take his hand. "I'm going to be okay Don."

He shook his head. "I know… God Stell I'm sorry."

"What would you have to be sorry for?" she asked, though she thought she already knew what he was thinking.

"Damn it, I could have kept this from happening. If I had parked further down the street or gotten out of the car earlier. I should have known he would try something."

She let out an exasperated breath and fought back a wince at the twinge of pain. Clearly she hadn't given the pain meds enough time to work into her system. She pushed on. "We thought he was going for Amelia. Neither of us could have known that he would come after me."

Flack frowned. "I still don't know why he did."

"You haven't talked to him?" she asked incredulously.

Now he smiled, for the first time in hours. "We were all a little concerned about the possibility of you dying."

She returned the smile. "There was that. You should be questioning him."

"It can wait until morning."

"It almost is morning," she said. "You should go home and get some sleep."

He shook his head. "I'm not leaving you alone, not here. I'll be fine in the chair."

"Don, I'll be fine, you don't have to worry about me."

"I always worry about you Stell. You're a strong woman, but just this once let someone take care of you."

Her head tilted to the side. "I don't really have much choice but to let someone take care of me in this situation do I?" she asked, watching as Don smiled.

"No, you don't really. Let me put it this way; let me watch out for you, even if it's just this once."

She looked up, green eyes locked with blue, and she took a leap. "I'll be disappointed if it's only this once."

Flack smiled as he reached out with his free hand to brush a curl from her face. "That's good, because I was considering just holding you down and making you see it my way if you argued."

"I hardly think that will be necessary."

His smile had turned to a grin when he leaned down to kiss her. Their lips had barely met when she leaned forward and pain lanced through her. Hearing her breath hitch he pulled back. "I think we both forgot what kind of condition you're in for a minute there."

"Evidently."

"Try to get some sleep; I'll try not to wake you up when I leave." He settled back in the chair, but kept it close to the bed. "Night Stell."

"Night."

Mac came in early that morning for two reasons, to make sure Stella was doing okay and to make sure Flack was doing okay. When he entered the room he decided almost immediately that both were doing just fine. Both were fast asleep, fingers still laced together. With a smile, he backed out. Deciding that waking Flack could wait a few minutes he went in search of some decent coffee, not able to resist a glance back over his shoulder. It appeared that two more of his team members had found each other. He felt it was about time.

Note From The Author: Okay, so the last line of the last chapter was cheezy. I realize that, I regret that. I apologize. Hopefully this one was better.