A/N: I would like to thank hockeymom for pointing out an error I made regarding police policy for pregnant officers. The Police Policy Studies Council lists good information about it on their website.
/StaffViews/Czarnecki/pregnantofficer.htm
Rather than rewrite the story, I'm just going to start correctly from this chapter on. Thanks for the reviews. I'm enjoying the feed back.
Who owns CSI:NY? Well, not me...
Detectives were trained to handle crisis situations, they saw some of the worst crimes that could be committed and their effects on society. Somehow all that training never prepared you for when it was personal, when it was your wife, girlfriend, fiancee, sister, brother, or friend. Detective Don Flack had been blown up, he'd handled hostage situations, he'd chased more criminals than he could count and he'd been shot at, but none of that prepared him for getting the phone call from Danny. To hear that his girlfriend was the officer down, en route to the Mount Sinai Hospital with a gunshot wound and possibly in labor, 4 months too soon.
"Don? What's wrong?", asked Mac calm as ever, coming up next to the younger detective, who was staring at the scene in front of him, seemingly unaware of his surroundings.
"You know that officer down call we heard a few minutes ago?," said Flack, his voice choking on the words he needed to get out, "It's Lindsay. It's my Lindsay, Mac."
Mac looked sympathetically at Don, knowing exactly what he was feeling. Mac still vividly remembered the moment he found out the towers had gone down with Claire in them. He laid a hand on Flack's shoulder, "Where are they taking her?"
"Mount Sinai was the closest place."
Mac nodded and waved a rookie cop over, "Rodriguez, you're going to take Det. Flack to Mount Sinai Hospital as fast as possible and you aren't going to leave him until I tell you to. Understood?"
"Yes, Sir." , said Rodriguez, looking a little scared at being with two of the most well known officers in the NYPD. Every rookie cop knew that you did not ever do anything to get on the black list of Mac Taylor or Don Flack, it was a sure as signing your career's death warrant.
"Just go with Rodriguez and stay with Lindsay as long as you need to. I will take care of the case and everything else." said Mac firmly, "We'll be by as we can."
"Thanks Mac", said Flack, still tense and a little dazed. Flack wordlessly followed the rookie officer to his squad car and got in, the sound of the sirens the only noise heard in the car all the way to the hospital. Flack just hoped he wasn't going there to ID his girlfriend's body, he just couldn't do that.
After a 10 minute ride, that felt more like 30 minutes, even though Rodriguez took his orders seriously and broke more traffic laws than Flack ever thought possible, they arrived at Mount Sinai Hospital and Flack sprinted into the emergency room. He slammed his badge on the counter and with urgency and a slight sense of fear said, " I'm Det. Don Flack. I'm looking for Det. Lindsay Monroe, she was brought in by ambulance. I'm her boyfriend."
"I can't let you go back there sir, but if you wait here, I can go see what the prognosis is so far.", said the nurse kindly. She was a petite black haired young woman, who looked at Flack with sympathy, understanding the pain he was feeling. The nurse thought to herself, 'He's lucky his girlfriend thinks of these things.' Lindsay had been coherent enough to say that a Det. Flack would come in looking for her and that it was alright to disclose information to him.
A few minutes later, the nurse came back, "Det. Flack, Det. Monroe is stable right now. The GSW was a through and through. They're still working on getting her labor stopped. I won't have any information for you for a little bit. When you can see her, one of the other nurses should come get you."
"Thank you ma'am. I really appreciate it.", said Flack wearily. He turned and sat in a waiting room chair, Officer Rodriguez taking up residence to his left. Neither said anything as Flack wiped a few tears out of his eyes. There was an unspoken rule that cops looked the other way when a fellow cop loses control for a minute. Hawkes walked out into the waiting room and immediately recognized Flack's head of short black hair bent over staring a hole into the floor, in attempt to get his emotions under his normal sense of control.
"Flack, I've got some news for you." said Hawkes, gently sitting on his right.
"Is she going to be okay? Are the twins?", asked Flack, urgently. He desperately needed to know they were all going to be okay.
Hawkes nodded slightly. "It looks that way. She was shot in the arm. Relatively speaking, there wasn't too much damage. The bleeding has been stopped and the wound's all taken care of."
Hawkes let out a sight, "They're still working on getting Lindsay's contractions stopped. It's definitely too early for her to give birth. The chances of the twins living if born this early are slim, but the chances of her actually giving birth today are reduced. We'll know more in an hour or so."
Flack relaxed slightly. The news was good, better than he'd expected at least. "Can I see her Hawkes?"
"Yeah, just follow me. They were moving her to a room when I left.", said Hawkes standing up.
As Flack stood up Hawkes clapped a hand on his back, hoping that it could express what words could not. Rodriguez wordlessly followed the two detectives back to Lindsay's room, and stood outside the door while Flack and Hawkes went in. A minute later Hawkes came back out and spoke softly to Rodriguez, "I have to get back to the scene. Are you going to stay here?"
"Yes, sir."
"Don't let Det. Flack do anything stupid."
"Yes, sir."
Hawkes waited until he was out of Rodriguez's earshot to chuckle, Mac had definitely put the fear of God into him. He wondered what Mac had said exactly that made him so tense.
end chapter