Author's Note: I was able to get the next chapter ready a little earlier than I anticipated. Hope you enjoy. Hope nobody throws anything at me for how this chapter ends.

Disclaimer: Maybe if I wished hard enough, but nope, not mine.

Blown Apart
Chapter 6

Mac Taylor sat in a similar interrogation room just across the hall from Danny answering similar questions. Event though he had a cooler head than Danny, he was rapidly losing his ability to stay calm.

Detective Sawyers looked through a file, her hazel eyes narrowing just a little. "This isn't your first time to be investigated by IA. Nor is it Detective Messer's."

"When you've been officers as long as we have it is inevitable to be involved in shootings that are investigated. I don't know many who haven't been." Mac said thinly. He had expected his and Danny's old IA records to come into question. Interrogation 101 called for the interrogator to get the interrogated off kilter by bringing up any past investigations.

"True, but usually those are just formalities. Both you and Detective Messer have been investigated in questionable shootings. Some might say there's a pattern here." Detective Sawyers tucked a long strand of reddish brown hair behind her ear as if she were unconcerned but Mac knew she was trying to gauge his reaction. If she was looking for him to get upset, she would be disappointed.

"And IA decided against further proceedings in both incidents."

"In the case of Clay Dobson, you were upset that he'd been released on a technicality and had reprised his criminal behavior. You went off on your own there as well. Do you have a problem with working with others? Is that why you constantly fail to wait for back-up?"

Mac was not about to reargue old cases, nor was he going to allow her to draw parallels that weren't there. "This was not a case of me going off alone. I had a partner and I requested back-up. That back-up was delayed but I knew they would arrive shortly and we couldn't afford to let Grant get away. I regret having to discharge my weapon but we had no alternative when Grant opened fire. We clearly identified ourselves as NYPD before he fired a single shot. That wouldn't have changed if back-up had been there but it might have ended with more people getting hurt."

Detective Sawyers leaned back in her chair studying Mac intently. "You don't find emptying two clips into a single subject a bit excessive?"

"Not if the alternative was either myself or Detective Messer taking a bullet instead."

"Why take Detective Messer with you?"

"He was with me when I realized who was responsible for the explosion at the lab." Like Danny, Mac also knew how these interrogations worked and wasn't about to let Sawyers get the better of him.

"His wife was in the lab at the time of the explosion. She was seriously injured. That makes him pretty personally involved in the case. Did it not occur to you that as reckless as Detective Messer has proven to be, he had no business going after the suspect who injured his wife?"

Mac frowned. "Who said anything about Danny being reckless?"

"You did in your report after the Minhas shooting. You took him off the promotion grid because you believed he was reckless in the discharge of his gun in a public place."

"That was six years ago. He's not even the same person he was then."

Sawyers looked back in her notes. "Doesn't say anything about a personnel change in here. Are you saying I have the wrong file? That you have a second Daniel Messer working for you?"

She apparently knew exactly what buttons to push but he was determined not to let her win. "You know very well I don't mean physically. Emotionally he's not the same cop he was then; he's matured."

Now Sawyers frowned. "Did this maturity supposedly happen before or after he didn't report his badge stolen? A badge that then enabled a convicted felon escape from jail and target Detective Messer and his family. A felon that is also now dead."

Despite his earlier resolve to remain calm, Mac could feel himself losing it with that. The small family, Lindsay especially, was trying hard to put the whole Shane Casey incident out of their minds. They didn't need it dragged back out every time someone wasn't happy with their performance. "Shane Casey's death has nothing to do with his. He was shot in self-defense in the Messer's apartment while he was holding their daughter hostage. Not only did IA declare it a righteous shooting, but Detective Lindsay Messer received the Combat Cross for her heroism."

"That wasn't my investigation. If it had been, I would have looked a little more closely to see if she was coving for her husband."

Mac looked at her incredulously. "The evidence supported their stories."

"And as crime scene investigators, they would both be quite skilled in knowing how to make sure the evidence did just that, I'm quite sure."

His eyes narrowed into a glare. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Is this an IA investigation or a witch hunt? It's one thing to question the events that happened today but your statement doesn't just insult Lindsay and Danny but it also calls into question the integrity of my whole lab. I will not stand by for that." The idea that she would accuse anyone from his lab of tampering with evidence was more than he could take.

"Anything Detective Messer did today, he did under orders from me. If you think you have enough proof that we did anything wrong then take our badges and charge us. Otherwise I'm taking Detective Messer back to the hospital so he can check on his wife.." He stood and started to cross to the door.

Sawyers stood as well. "Sit back down, Detective Taylor. I'm not through yet."

Mac's hand rested on the doorknob. "Well, I am. This interview is over and so is the one your partner is having with Detective Messer."

"Protocol calls for both of you to be put on Administrative Leave until our investigation is complete."

"You can submit your findings to Jo Danville; she'll be in charge of the lab while I'm on leave. Goodbye, Detective Sawyers." Without another glance backward, Mac opened the interrogation room door and strode out of the room.

- CSI: NY - CSI: NY - CSI: NY - CSI: NY -

The nurse had just left after administering Lindsay her pain medication when Adam opened his eyes and stretched a little. Rubbing his neck he smiled at her. "Hey, you're awake. How're ya feeling?"

Lindsay wrinkled her nose. "I'll let you know once the pain meds kick in. How about you? You've been sleeping pretty hard since I woke up."

Adam shrugged. "Thanks to the little pain pill they gave me in the ER, my headache has eased. I hope you don't mind me being here. After I was released, I came up here to check on you. Since you were alone I figured I'd sit with you until Danny returned. I didn't mean to fall asleep like that." He looked around. "Where is he?"

"Tracking down the guy who hurt us. You know Danny; he'd have worn a hole in the floor if they'd made him wait too long."

Adam laughed. Lindsay noticed it was his nervous laugh but didn't comment on it. She also noticed that her sometimes quirky friend wouldn't quite look directly at her and that he seemed a little uncomfortable. Finally Adam spoke. "He was pretty crazy with worry at the lab. I don't think I've ever seen him like that before. Not even after the shooting and he was in the wheelchair."

"Yeah, he can handle his own injuries much better than he can handle mine or Lucy's. Just about every time Lucy gets a little bump or bruise, Danny's ready to bring her to the emergency room."

"That must make your insurance company happy." He continued to look anywhere but directly at her. Lindsay narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Adam, I forgive you." Her statement seemed to come out of the blue and Adam looked surprised. "What? How?" Then softer, "You do?"

Lindsay sighed. "The question should have been 'for what.' Adam, come here." She patted the space on the bed beside her. The young man shook his head.

"No, I'll hurt you."

With a frown, she once more crooked her finger at him. "Get over here, Ross or so help me, I'll get out of this bed and hurt you. I'm reasonably sure that even injured I could take you but I probably don't have enough pain medication in me to do it without hurting. It'll be fine; it's not like you're going to be jumping up and down on the bed."

Reluctantly Adam stood and walked to the bed. He gingerly perched on the edge watching for any sign of pain. For her part, Lindsay schooled her features to avoid showing that yeah it did twinge her ribs a little but not much. She reached over and squeezed his hand.

"After my friends were killed I felt so guilty. Daniel Cadence had pulled the trigger but I still felt like it was my fault that I was alive and uninjured and they were dead. It didn't matter that everyone told me I had done nothing wrong, I was still plagued by the if only. Something tells me you are feeling a little bit the same way."

'Both Mac and Danny said it wasn't my fault; Mac was pretty adamant about it even. I know in my head that they are right but my heart keeps overriding my head saying I should have done something more. Pretty pathetic, huh?" Now he did meet her gaze, his eyes filling with tears.

"No, pretty human if you ask me. That's why I offer you forgiveness. Not because I think you did anything wrong but because its what you need to hear. None of my friends' parents ever said it to me; they thought that by telling me it wasn't my fault it would make me believe it. So if you need me to, I'll keep saying it until you realize its okay to forgive yourself."

Adam swiped at his tears and smiled self-depreciatively. He had to admit her admission of forgiveness made him feel better than Mac's assurance that he wasn't to blame. "How long did it take you to forgive yourself for what happened to your friends?"

"Some days I'm still working on it but I don't think it'll take you as long. In the meantime, no more of this being uncomfortable around me; it'll make me mad. I did mention that I could take you didn't I?"

Adam laughed and this time she was glad to hear it wasn't his nervous laugh. It was his first genuine laugh since before the explosion. "I change my mind; I think you scare me more than Danny does."

Lindsay smiled as well. "Then all is as it should be. Come here and give me a hug."

"But your shoulder, I'll hurt…" Catching her glare, he stopped himself. "Never mind."

He leaned forward and gently wrapped his left arm behind her right arm not willing to touch her left side. He let her determine the strength of the hug. About that time the door opened and Flack re-entered the room. "Whoa, what is this? I'm gone ten minutes and what happens? Wait 'til I tell Danny about this."

Despite his earlier admission that she scared him more than Danny, Adam quickly pulled away and scrambled back to his seat. "No, really it wasn't anything like that. I… uh…I…"

Lindsay held up her hand stopping Adam's protest. "That's right, Flack, you caught us. Adam and I have been carrying on a torrid love affair over our microscopes for years now. In fact I was so glad that Lucy looked like Danny when she was born; it saved me from having to perform a paternity test."

Adam looked at her in shock and then back to Flack in fear. "She's joking. We've never…"

Flack took pity on the poor lab tech. "Relax Adam; I've already established what a comedian Lindsay is. Glad to see you awake. I was having a hard time keeping Lindsay from finding a marker and using it to draw on your face." He looked at Lindsay. "Did Nurse Granny take care of the pain?"

Lindsay yawned deeply before answering. She could feel the drowsiness from the medicine creeping up on her. "It's getting there. She did ask for your number though; I hope it's okay that I gave it to her. Did you talk to Danny? Is he on his way?"

Flack shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "He's tied up with paperwork. He'll get here as soon as he can."

"Danny willingly doing paperwork when there's some place he'd rather be? Why do I think you are keeping something from me?"

"What is it with you two?" Flack protested, hoping to deflect her questioning. "Danny just accused me of the same thing."

Lindsay crossed her right arm across her chest but it wasn't as effective with her left arm immobilized. "Well, were you?"

"Was I what?" Flack hoped playing dumb would work for him.

"Keeping something form Danny?" Her voice was one she usually reserved for questioning difficult suspects. Flack knew he'd pushed his luck about as far as he could but wasn't ready to tell her everything just yet.

With a sigh, Flack admitted, "Just that you seemed to be in a lot of pain. Why don't you close those pretty brown eyes and let the pain meds do their job. I bet by the time you wake up, Danny will be here."

"So what are you hiding from me? You may as well tell me, otherwise I'm reaching for that phone on the night stand and calling anyone and everyone I can think of until I get a truthful answer."

Flack held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. Relax. Danny didn't want you to worry. There was a shootout when Danny and Mac confronted the suspect. Neither Mac or Danny had so much as a scratch but the suspect was shot multiple times. Danny had to go to the station to answer IA's questions."

"Call the doctor." Lindsay's voice was quiet and void of emotion.

Flack's heart skipped a beat. Maybe he should have lied. "Why, what's wrong? Are you hurting?"

"What's wrong is my husband is in trouble and I need to be there for him. That's not going to happen until the doctor gets here to discharge me. Now call him or I'll push this little nurse's button and get 'Nurse Granny' as you called her to do it for me."

Adam looked from Lindsay to Flack like he would watch a tennis match. The idea that Mac and Danny were under investigation worried him and he could understand Lindsay's desire to be there to support her husband. However, it didn't take a genius to realize that Lindsay had no business being out of bed let alone released from the hospital. He knew both could be quite stubborn about getting their way. How would Flack handle it?

"No." The one word answer was simple but brooked no argument. Lindsay however was prepared to do just that. Before she could even say a word, Flack crossed the room and took the nurse's button from her. "Danny is fine. Amazingly enough he is holding himself together and he's going to get through this investigation. The big reason for that is despite how worried he is about you, he knows you are here being taken care of. If you check out and go to the station, Danny's going to go ballistic and he doesn't need that."

His phone rang before Lindsay could reply. He answered it with his usual, "Flack." He listened for a moment before answering. "Thanks. Keep me posted." He hung up the phone. "Grant, our suspect, is out of surgery and seems to be holding his own. That'll help Mac and Danny more than anything. Now will you promise to stay put?"

Reluctantly Lindsay nodded although she looked far from happy about it. Satisfied, Flack returned her button to her and then looked at Adam. He had another idea of something that could help Mac and Danny as well. "Mac said you saw the person who dropped off the bomb. You up to Iding our suspect?"

Adam nodded. "Anything that helps."

"Let's take an elevator ride and a walk then." He looked at Lindsay. "Will you be okay if we leave you alone? You won't pull something stupid and go AWOL on us as soon as we're down the hall?"

"I'll behave." She still felt like she should go to Danny but recognized the logic behind Flack's argument. She gave him a pitiful look." "You sure Danny was okay? He's only good at interrogations if he's leading them."

Flack smiled as he realized he had convinced her even if it was grudgingly. "Yeah, surprised me too. Somebody must have rubbed off on him or something." He leaned down and kissed her cheek. "Take my earlier suggestion and take that nap. Maybe he'll be here by the time you wake up."

"I'm going to hold you to that. If he's not, you are going to go down to the station and drag him back with or without IA's permission."

Flack chuckled. "It's a promise."

As the two men started to leave the room, Flack glanced back at Lindsay and was pleased to see she was already asleep. He smiled and mentally promised to thank Nurse Granny for her pain meds. A less drugged Lindsay might have been harder to deter.

Adam waited until they were in the elevator to speak. "Honestly, how much trouble are Danny and Mac in?"

Flack shrugged. "Hard to tell. The lead IA officer seemed pretty determined to make things difficult for them. I know what they were thinking; I just wish they'd have let someone not personally involved handle it. That way even if the shooting was inevitable, the motivation behind it wouldn't have been called in to question."

"They're good cops. They wouldn't have gone gunning for him on purpose."

"You and I know that but that doesn't help much when IA is thinking personally involved officers crossed the lines. Do I think the shooting was justified? Yes, I just hope IA comes to the same conclusion."

Stepping out of the elevator, Flack led Adam down the corridor to ICU. Outside the glass walls off the cubicle, Flack pointed to the man in the bed. "That's our suspect."

Adam looked at the suspect and swallowed hard. He looked back at Flack; opened his mouth before closing it again. He tried once again but still no sound would come out. He shook his head pointing at the suspect. "That ain't the guy who brought in the evidence."