When old meets new
"Well, I guess I was wrong, I just don't belong
but then, I've been there before
everything's all right, I'll just say goodnight
and I'll show myself to the door
Hey I didn't mean to cause a big scene
just give me an hour and then
well I'll be as high as that ivory tower
that you're living in."
-Friends in Low Place, Garth Brooks
A/N: Hands up. How many of you were surprised when I skipped a night of updating? LOL!! I am back!
The 'Orphans of Nine-Eleven' was an annual fundraiser paid for, and hosted by, Mayor David Bloomberg and his council. Each year there was a different theme to the event. Last year was a Victorian thing with rich brocade tablecloths and chair slip covers and flowers and candles as far as the eye could see, everything done up in gold and burgundy and the waiters and waitresses in period costume. The year before that had been a Midsummer Nights Dream thing with the entire ball room done up as if you were in a forest, with flowers in soft pinks and blues and yellows and soft white mini lights strung along the ceiling and covered in soft gossamer fabric.
Flack hadn't gone to either one. But Stella was rambling on about what a great time she'd had at the last two events as the team took the elevator up to the twentieth floor, where the grand ballroom was located in the old, famed, five star hotel. Stella was in to that sort of thing. Dolling herself up in an expensive dress and sipping expensive champagne and mingling with the higher class. She had that kind of confidence in herself. She could blend into any crowd and never feel uncomfortable and remarkably hold her own against those she had nothing in common with. She was all class, all the time. And never let anyone think, or treat her, otherwise. Flack, he was more comfortable at a pub sipping Guinness and shooting pool or just hanging out at home with some take out and beer and watching t.v. in a t-shirt and sweats. Not this formal bullshit, forcing yourself to drink champagne and eat caviar and other things that tasted like crap while listening to people go on and on about what they owned and how much they had invested and how big their trusts funds were. Being dragged along to charity events with Devon had made him realize just how much he preferred being just a regular guy with regular guy problems. And solidified his opinions that rich people were a bunch of ass holes and deserved to be brought down a peg or two.
The event this year had no particular theme other than paying homage to the NYPD and FDNY. The entire place was decorated in various shades of blue and accented with silver. The tables were covered in navy fabrics with silver and lighter blue runners, the chairs boasting silver slip covers. Sparkling crystal stemware and sterling silver cutlery and fine chin sat at each place setting. Massive gold and crystal chandeliers dangled from the ornately carved ceiling and three sets of french doors led out onto the roof top garden/patio that hosted even more tables and chairs underneath white party tents and had delicate white lights strung through the tress and bushes.
Inside there was a classical string quarter and a pianist providing music while the waiters and waitresses in black tie hurried through the large crowd, hands burdened with heavy trays of glasses of champagne and plates of hors' duerves. Along the far wall an appetizer table was set up, along with a display of items that had been donated by local businesses and athletes and celebrities and were to be bid on for a silent auction. All the party goes were garbed in ball gowns and black tie and sparkling jewels.
"Did you see the size of the rocks in that lady's ears?" Sam mumbled to Carmen as an elegantly coiffed woman in a designer dress breezed by them as they waited for Speed and Flack to hand in their invitations. "They could sink the Titanic."
"Are you getting the feeling we are so out of place?" Carmen asked her best friend, who, as far as Carmen was concerned, was hands down the prettiest, best dressed woman in the whole place, pregnant or not. And as she thought that and glanced down at her friend's stomach, she would have sworn she saw a slight baby bump. Has to be my imagination, she thought, but stole another glance.
"Don't even say it, Carmen." Sam sighed, noticing her friend's curious eyes on her stomach.
"That can't possibly be a..."
"Baby bump? The doctor says it's because of how small I am that you can see it all ready. It's actually just the uterus swelling. Not the baby."
"Shit girl, if you're showing now, what will you be like in a few months?"
"Incapacitated. Bed ridden. Unable to move."
"Maybe there's more than one in there and they didn't see it."
Sam looked horrified. "Bite your tongue, Carmen! One baby at a time is enough!"
"Hey, those things have been known to be wrong before. So don't be getting too surprised when you're popping out instead of one."
"Devine." Flack said sternly as he and Speed joined their dates. "Don't even be joking about something like that."
"Come on, Flack," she ribbed him. "Two or three at once and you get all the kids you want at one time. Hey, there's Danny and Erica with Hawkes and Adam."
She waved to the smiling and waving quartet at a table near the back of the room.
Flack had told Samantha earlier about his incident with Danny, although he had left out the disparaging remarks Danny had made about her. And now, as they headed through the crowded ball room, his hand on the small of her back, protectively and lovingly steering the way, he felt a tension creep up in his body at the idea of even being remotely near Danny. Something he'd never experienced in all the years they had been friends.
Samantha sensed that tension, saw it in his face when she glanced over her shoulder to say something. She frowned and stopped walking abruptly. "Are you two going to behave or will I have to separate you?"
"Don't defend him." Flack said. "This is all his fault. He acted like a spoiled rotten little shit. There was no reason for him to react like he did when I told him about the baby."
"I'm not defending him." Sam assured him. "Like I said earlier, he was probably just really surprised and maybe a little jealous that you don't have as much time as you used to for him and he knows you have a lot ahead of you. Maybe he's not used to change so it pisses him off a bit that you're getting a life."
Flack grinned. "You have been spending way too much time at Gus' office. You're starting to sound like a therapist."
"Only stands to reason that he feels left out. You've been around him more than some spouses are around each other. Maybe he feels like a third wheel. You guys are pretty close."
"You are totally making this sound like a gay thing." Flack complained.
"No. I am making this into a best friend thing."
"I just don't get his issue. It's not like he's alone. He's with Erica."
"Maybe he's not sure where that's heading." Sam reasoned. "Or maybe he wants to go the same direction you are and he's afraid to do it. Or he thinks she isn't feeling the same way. Could be a number of things."
"Should I be paying you for this session?" he asked. "You take cash? Credit? Cheque?"
"I'll take favors as a form of payment." she replied.
He grinned. "What kind of favors?"
"The kind that requires us to be alone in that fancy hotel suite you splurged on. Where are you getting all this money from anyway?"
"You can afford anything if you have credit." he told her. "Now can we go and get this night started? 'Cause the sooner it starts, the sooner it's over and we can get up to that fancy hotel suite with the massive bed."
"Say no more." she said and grabbed his hand and practically dragged him to the table.
Erica, looking stunning in a figure hugging, royal blue chiffon gown that made her eyes pop even more than they already did and her blond tresses flowing free and curly, hugged her cousin tightly and kissed her cheek and softly patted her stomach.
"Congratulations, kiddo." she said. "I cried when Don called and told me. I am so happy for you two. And you," she turned to Flack and hugged him as well. "Congratulations again, daddy."
"Thanks." he said and kissed her cheek in gratitude. And saw Danny rolling his eyes and taking a huge swig from a glass of rye.
"You two will be great parents." Erica gushed. "Now let's get this pregnant woman off of her feet!" she exclaimed and grabbed her cousin's wrist and pulled her to an empty chair.
"Doctor Hawkes." Samantha said with an approving nod, checking him out in his tux as she sat down beside him. "You are looking mighty handsome this evening."
"And you," he said, leaning in to give her a sweet, gentlemanly kiss on the cheek. "Look stunning."
"Not you, too." Flack said, unbuttoning his jacket and sitting down between Sam and Erica. "I can't go three feet without someone telling her how great she looks."
"Because she does." Hawkes reasoned. "And you should be grateful she's with you and not one of them."
"Thank you, Doctor Hawkes." Sam said. "He needs to be reminded every once in a while."
"Don't they all?" Erica asked, sipping white wine. "They don't seem to realize just how important we are to them. I mean, who else is going to cook their meals and do their laundry and put out every night."
"Exactly!" Sam agreed. "And pick up their dirty socks and remind them over and over again to put the seat down."
"I only did it once." Flack pointed out. "Once. And I apologized and you still make me pay for it every single day since."
"Small price to pay for making her suffer for the next six months and for God knows how many hours of labor in the end." Erica told him.
"You are so outnumbered." Sam teased Flack and kissed his cheek.
"When I did my L and D rotation, I saw women who screamed like wild banshees through the entire thing, others who barely made a sound, some who only had to go through a couple hours of pushing, and a lot who went through sixteen or more hours." Erica told them.
"That'll be you." Flack said to Sam. "Twenty hours."
"No goddamn way!" she exclaimed. "This kid isn't out in less than eight, I am going for the c-section."
"Don't punk out, Sam." Carmen said. "Come on, you're a brave girl."
Sam laughed. "With an epidural I may be able to handle it. But when the doctor told me today, no epidural, I nearly shit."
"No drugs?" Carmen's eyes widened. "Why?"
"The tattoo on her back." Flack explained. "Right where they give the needle. 'Cause of the dye in the tattoo, the epidural is out of the question."
"Sarge told ya one day you'd regret getting that." Adam piped up from across the table.
"Just for that, Adam," Sam said. "You're coming in the delivery room and you can hold my hand during the worst parts. And I will yell and scream and crush your hand and call you every name in the book. Same way I'm going to be doing all that to Don."
"No way." Adam shook his head vigorously. "I am so not being there when you have that baby. Uh-uh. I am not seeing something like that when it comes to be sister. No way, no how."
"Suck it up, Adam!" Speed said. "Be a man."
"Would you want to watch your sister give birth?" the lab tech asked.
"I don't have a sister." Speed replied.
"Not the point. She's my sister. I don't want to see her... you realize where babies come out of? I don't want to see that!"
"Neither do I." Flack admitted. "But I don't have a choice."
"No" Sam agreed. "You don't. Ya help make it, ya park your ass next to the bed and put up with it. Carmen's coming in, too. You won't be alone through it all."
"Carmen will need to keep Flack calm." Stella laughed. "You know, Flack, I can see you fainting."
"What? Get outta town. I ain't going to faint. Puke maybe. But not faint."
"Let's start a pool." Speed says. "How long it takes Flack to pass out. We each pick a time and put some money down."
Almost in unison, members of the team began standing up and taking out their wallets and dropping money onto the table and announcing their predictions.
"You guys are bastards." Flack declared.
The team spent some time chatting and sharing stories from their long, tiring day. Danny and Flack spent the entire time going out of their way to ignore each other. Sam even tried to get Danny into a conversation but he only gave one word answers or nods and shakes of his head and she eventually gave up all together and took off with Carmen to go have a peek at the auction items and put down bids of their own. Mac and Stella made the obligatory visit to the Brass table, while Adam, Hawkes, Speed and Flack took off for the bar.
Danny, in a dour mood, stayed behind at the table with Erica, who had wanted to enjoy herself that night but found it nearly impossible with his behaviour. The way he was treating his best friend and her cousin was down right uncomfortable and inexcusable.
And she called him on it.
"What the hell is your issue, Danny?" she asked, not making an attempt to hide the anger and disappointment in her voice.
"What issue?" he retorted.
"Treating Sam and Don like that. It's disgusting. He's your best friend and she's his future wife and she's carrying his child. Not to mention she's my cousin and I love her."
"I just think that they're jumping into things too quick." Danny said. "He's known her for what? Five months? And he's all ready marrying her and he's knocked her up.?"
"First off," Erica said angrily. "There is no set time on when people fall in love. It happens when it happens. Second of all, Samantha and Don are disgustingly happy and everything is coming together for them. And they deserve that. He's been your friend for years, Danny. And you should be happy for him. Can't you see how happy he is? How much he loves her? And how much she loves him?"
Danny sighed and sipped his drink.
"The way you're acting is horrible." Erica continued. "You're acting like some immature, whiny little kid whose jealous of his friend 'cause a girl is taking said friend away from him. Flack's growing up. He's making a life for himself. He can't always be there to hang out and bail you out of trouble. He's getting married. He's having a child. And that's what he wants. You have no right to deny him that. You should be supporting him and Samantha and being there for him for a change. And for you to say the things you did, it's no wonder he didn't knock you out."
"I just wanted him to see that maybe he was making a mistake." Danny said.
"It's not for you to tell him that. It's for him to find out if that's what happens in the grand scheme of things. It's his life, Danny. He's an adult and and he's making adult decisions. And you need to accept that and grow up."
Danny sighed heavily.
The truth hurt.
Hawkes had seen someone he worked with in the MEs office and ran off to catch up on lost time. Adam had decided he'd already had enough for a little while and retired to his room to hang out and play some video games. Events like this weren't his thing and one look at him told you how uncomfortable and out of place he felt being there. And that he was way out of his element sipping champagne and wearing a tuxedo. With Danny sulking at the table and drowning himself in booze and the Mac and Stella off talking to brass and the girls off doing whatever it was girls did when they went to the bathroom together, it left Speed and Flack at the bar to take their own edges off from being in the last place on earth they wanted to be.
Speed ordered a JD and coke from the harried bartender. Flack asked for a double JD on the rocks.
"Drinking the hard stuff straight up tonight, huh?" Speed commented, as the bartender brought their drinks and Flack tossed some bills on the top of the bar to cover the cost and a generous tip.
"I'm making up for what Sam can't drink." Flack reasoned.
"You must be pretty excited. Wedding and a baby on the way."
Flack nodded and sipped his drink. "Excited and terrified. Hence my need for booze. So what about you? When are you planning on asking Carmen to marry you?"
"When I get up the nerve. And it's not going to be in the bathroom."
"Hey, it just happened that way. Spur of the moment."
"I still need you to come with me though. Seeing as you now have first hand knowledge of engagement rings."
"Hey, I needed Carmen to help me out. You should be asking Sam to go with you. She's good at that type of thing."
"Maybe I will. Didn't want ya freaking on me if I did."
"Why would I do that? You gonna make a move on my fiancee? My pregnant fiancee?"
"Of course not." Speed assured him.
"Then I'd have no reason to freak."
"How'd your double in Queens go today?" Speed asked.
"Still open. No solid leads, barely any evidence. Unreliable or unwilling witnesses. You know, same shit, different day. How'd your Hudson floater turn out?"
"Turned out he died of natural causes. Hammerbeck opened him and found he'd had a massive heart attack. I traced some biologicals back to a woman in CODIS. For prostitution. Turns out, my guy was in the midst of having sex with her and he keeled over. The hooker panicked, called her pimp and the two of them dumped the body. No homicide."
"At least the guy went happy." Flack said. "Personally, I'd like to go just like that or while I'm sleeping."
Speed was just about to say something else, when out of the corner of his eye, he was a tall, slender red head in a figure hugging shimmering silver dress that was way too short and tight to be considered legal. She was striding towards the bar determinedly. A woman on a mission. And before he could even form a single word, said woman was wrapping her arms around the homicide detective from behind.
What the fuck... Speed thought. Then realized Flack thought it was Sam when he smiled and rubbed the woman's arms.
"Miss me?" she asked in Flack's ear.
Speed had never seen a guy move that quick to get away from a woman. Flack grabbed a hold of the woman's wrists and turned around and pushed her away none to gently.
"Don... you haven't been returning my calls."
"I wasn't planning to. I thought you'd take the hint."
"I thought you were just playing hard to get." she moved closer to him and lay her hands on his chest before slipping them down onto his stomach.
"Well I wasn't." he said angrily and grabbed her hands and removed them.
"He isn't interested." Speed said. "Take a hike."
Devon looked at him. Smiling when she liked what she saw. "Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm not interested either." Speed replied.
"Devon, this is Detective Tim Speedle." Flack introduced. "He's a CSI. Speed, this is Devon."
The crazy one, he mouthed over Devon's head.
"A pleasure." Devon purred to Speed as she shook his politely outstretched hand. She turned back to Flack. "I missed you, Don." she said. "Really, really, really missed you." she wet her top lip with the tip of her tongue.
"Good for you." he said downing his drink, signalling to the bartender for another one and setting the glass down on the top of the bar. "Now get lost."
"Didn't you miss me?" she pouted. "You must have missed me."
"Actually," he said. "No. I didn't. Not one bit. Now leave me alone."
"And make it quick." Speed added. "'Cause here come Sam and Carmen. And Carmen looks ready to rumble."
"Devon," Flack spoke more intently. "Seriously, you better go."
"Tell you what." she said. "I have a suite just below here. 1902. Why don't you meet me there in half an hour and we get reacquainted?"
"Tell you what," Flack retorted. "Go and find some other poor blue collar guy to get fucked by and leave me alone."
"Come on, Don," she persisted. "You know you'll never have it that good again."
Speed snorted. "That's funny. He told me it was like fucking a corpse."
Devon frowned and shot daggers at Flack. "You actually..."
Carmen interrupted the socialite's sentence by jabbing her finger into the woman's shoulder.
Devon spun around. Gave Carmen a none to friendly once over. "Can I help you?" she asked snottily.
"Yeah." Carmen said. "You can start by telling me who the hell you are."
Speed stepped over to Carmen's side and laid a hand on her shoulder. He knew full well the lengths she would go to to protect Samantha. With those two women, their friendship and loyalty knew no bounds.
"Take it easy, Red." he said calmly.
Sam stepped closer to Devon. "So you're the bitch that's been calling me a hundred times a day!"
Flack moved to Sam's side and put his hand on the small of her back. Last thing he needed or wanted was stress with someone like Devon causing Sam any problems with her pregnancy. There was no way in hell anyone or anything was putting her or his baby at risk.
"Calm down, okay?" he rubbed Sam's back softly. "I don't want you getting upset. She was just leaving."
"She better leave." Carmen warned, looking right at Devon.
"What are you going to do if I don't?" Devon challenged. "Arrest me?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of kicking your ass!" Carmen replied.
"Easy..." Speed played peacemaker. "Easy..."
"Devon, just go." Flack all but ordered her.
The tall red head stared Sam down, expecting to instill a little fear and intimidation into the tiny brunette. "So you're the fiancee?"
"And your the rich skank?" Sam retaliated.
Devon snorted and looked at Flack. "You would turn down someone like me to be with someone like her? A cop of all things? A cop as opposed to this?" she gestured to her body. "How could you choose that over this?"
"Listen you fucking bitch..." Sam began and got right into Devon's face.
Flack stepped in between the two women. Facing Devon. "This woman," he began, struggling to remain calm. "is the love of my life and she's more beautiful and intelligent and classy than you could ever hope to be. You we're a fuck. That's it. Something to take my mind off of how shitty my life was. Only now my life isn't shitty anymore. I'm getting married, I'm having a kid..."
"A kid?" Devon asked. "Thought you didn't want kids? That's what you told me."
"I meant I didn't want kids with someone like you." Flack corrected her. "So do me a favor and find some other poor cop bastard to sink your claws into and brag about it afterwards to all your little friends like you did with me. I ain't your goddamn fuck buddy or your trophy to parade around. And there's lots of New York's finest for you to bang."
"You don't mean all this, Don." Devon seemed genuinely hurt.
"Yeah, I do. Leave me alone. Stop calling me at home, stop calling me at work and stop calling my cell. If I get any more calls from you or you keep calling my fiancee, I'll slap a restraining order on your ass. And daddy wouldn't be too happy seeing an order of protection against his princess, would he?"
Stella stepped up beside Flack. "Get lost, Devon. You heard him. He doesn't want you bothering him."
Devon was fuming. And defeated knowing she was outnumbered. "You'll regret this, Don." she hissed at him. "You'll wake up one morning and regret this!"
"No." he said. "I won't"
"You loose, Devon." Stella told the younger woman. "Plain and simple. Now do us all a favor and take your hideous dress and your gold card with daddy's name on it and get the hell out of here."
Devon gave Flack an icy glare as she pushed past him. "Bitch." she said in passing to Samantha.
"Who the hell are you calling a bitch, slut?" Carmen stepped in Devon's path. "I've kicked bigger ass than you're so bring it, bitch."
Speed grabbed her arm. "Okay...let it go...just let it go..."
"I will not let it go!" she exclaimed and started after Devon. Speed followed behind in case he needed to play referee.
"Boy!" Stella clapped her hands together and turned to Sam and Flack. "That felt so good. I've wanted to do that for so long. Since the day I first met that little whore. I'm sorry, Flack, but how does a guy like you, end up with a woman like that? You have horrible taste in women. Present company excluded of course."
"It was stupidity, Stell." Flack replied. "Sheer stupidity."
"I need a drink." Stella declared. "Time to have some fun. Sam? Drink?"
Flack cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows.
Stella slapped her forehead. "Shit! Of course! Sorry! Takes some time getting used to! Sparkling water for mommy and for daddy, a JD and coke. A triple, right?"
"Double." Flack corrected her.
"Hell, make it a triple!" Stella laughed. "You deserve it!" she headed for the bar where Mac was with Hawkes and Danny and Erica.
"Well?" Flack asked Sam as he took her hand and followed Stella. "Did I say enough? Too little? Too much?"
"What you said was perfect." she replied. "Thank you. You really are my hero tonight."
"Just tonight?" he asked playfully.
"All the time." she assured him.
"What can I say? I have a weakness for damsels in distress. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I was madly in love with you the moment I met you."
"Lust you mean." Sam laughed. "You were in lust with me."
"Okay. At first it was lust." Flack admitted. "But that first time I kissed you, and I mean really kissed you, I was gone."
She smiled up at him.
He stopped walking and bent down to kiss her. Long and soft. "We've come a long way in a short time." he said as they joined the others at the bar.
"Well," Speed said, sliding in between Flack and Hawkes. "I managed to stop Carmen from going all Mike Tyson on Devon in the lobby."
Sam sipped a wine glass of cider passed her way. "I prefer Oscar Dela Hoya. He's much cuter." she said.
Danny squeezed his way between Flack and Speed. Flack looked a little surprised. Expecting another confrontation and not in the mood for it.
"You like the big tough guys, Brooklyn?" Danny asked. "Why you with Flack then?"
"Fuck you, Messer." Flack chuckled. "Whose the one that ran into that warehouse to save your scrawny ass?"
"You kicked some serious Irish cartel ass that day." Danny said "You're my boy. You know that." he planted a kiss on Flack's cheek.
"Messer, do that again and I will take you outside and lay a beating on you far worse than the one you got that day." Flack warned lightheartedly.
"You know I love you, Flack." Danny continued, rubbing the back of the detective's head playfully. "I'd be miserable without you."
"Of course you would. Who'd be around to bail your ass out with Mac?"
"You know I'd miss your smart mouth and your lovely blue eyes." Danny said,
"Messer, I swear, I will knock you right out." Flack declared, laughing.
Danny suddenly turned serious. He laid a hand on Flack's shoulder. "You're my boy, Don." he said.
"You're my boy, too, Danny." Flack said sincerely in return.
Nothing more needed to be said.
Okay. I hope the reviews have slowed down only because it's exam week and all! Thanks to all of you still reading and enjoying. And reviewing. Hopefully my comp. probs will be solved in a matter of days!
Ciao.