Little dog, big bite
"You and me
We're in this together
None of them can stop us now
We will make it through somehow
You and me
If the world should break in two
Until the end of me
Until the end of you."
-We're in this Together, Nine Inch Nails
A/N 1: I want to extend my huge thanks to 'my Montana', Aphina, laplandgurl and Bluehaven 4220 for being there far beyond the realms of fiction. God bless all of you.
A/N 2: If you want to borrow anything, please, please just ask. I don't mind, but asking would be appreciated.
"This is your suspect." Adam said, handing Flack a computer print out on NYPD mug shot as the homicide detective stepped into the AV lab.
The man in question looked like many of the junkies Flack had arrested in his time. Dark circles and excessive bagging under his beady black eyes, stringy, dirty hair and sunken cheeks. Excessively blemished skin and a spaced out, where the fuck am I, what's my name? expression all over his face.
"His name is Thomas Strickland." Adam continued, leaning back in his chair and twirling a pen between his fingers. "He's forty two and spent six years in Rikers for sexual assault and domestic battery. According to her lap top, Danica O'Neil and him had a scheduled appointment for the same night as her estimated TOD. In one month alone, he saw her twenty times. Sometimes even twice a day. On top of all the other guys she was seeing."
"How many guys we looking at?" Flack asked, taking a seat on the edge of the work station.
"Final count is fifteen." Speed replied, stretching in his chair, his back cracking noisily.
"Busy girl." Flack said.
"And check this out." Adam sat forward and hit a key on the lap top open in front of him. "This is a list of her clients. After each name is the amount of money she received from them after their visits. I added it up. One week alone she made over eight grand."
"Explains the designer clothes and expensive electronics." Flack commented. "Was this Strickland guy the only one she saw the day of TOD?"
"The only one." Adam confirmed. "He was also seeking out her services at work."
"I also found instant messages between the two of them that Danica saved on her work computer." Speed spoke up. "Very explicit messages to be exact. Seems like the two of them were carrying on quite the relationship. Couple I love you's exchanged a few times even. Guess it was a love hate thing."
"Trust me I know what that's like." Flack said. "How much money did Strickland give her Adam?"
He consulted the schedule in front of him. "Thirty five hundred."
"Sam found a wad of cash in the vic's freezer." Flack told them. "She's down counting it and printing it right now. Didn't look like no three and a half g's to me."
"Maybe Danica spent some of it." Speed suggested.
"Or maybe the money in the freezer is from another time or person and this Strickland guy never gave her the three and a half grand." Adam spoke up. "Or he did and then took it back. 'Cause if she died the same night, she wouldn't have had time to spend any of it. And money always causes huge fights."
Speed and Flack both stared at the lab tech.
"What?" Adam asked self-consciously.
"Where'd that sudden burst of detective thinking come from?" Speed asked.
"I am a detective without the badge, Speedle." Adam replied. "And besides, someone needs to be the brains of this operation."
"Doesn't make any sense why we didn't find any trace of anyone else being with Danica when she died." Speed said.
"Luck, maybe." Flack said with a shrug. "Danny and Sam figured out the original coffee table had been swapped for a replacement. Danny found the original in the building's dumpster area and it's damaged and has blood on it."
"The vic's?" Speed asked.
"Still waiting on DNA." Flack told him.
"No signs of a struggle though." Speed said. "Why didn't she fight back?"
"Too doped up." Adam suggested. "So he took advantage of it."
"Quit that." Flack said.
Adam looked perplexed. "What?"
"Being smarter than us." Flack said.
"Well if you didn't make it so easy…."
Flack glared at his soon to be brother in law.
"I'll shut up now." Adam said and turned his attention elsewhere.
"Side note on Strickland." Speed told Flack. "I made some calls. He hasn't checked in with his PO in over two weeks. Direct violation of his parole conditions."
"Which is reason enough for me to bring him in while we wait for those test results to come in."
"Need some back up?" Speed asked.
"Wouldn't hurt."
Speed pushed his chair away from the desk and stood up. "I need some action. My ass is killing me from sitting for too long. Maybe Sam wants to tag along."
Flack smirked. "Very funny, Speedle."
"You need to knock off that overprotective daddy thing." Speed informed him.
"Mind your own business." Flack said as they headed for the door. "Thanks Adam. Great work."
The lab tech grinned proudly. "I aim to please." he said.
As rain hammered down and thunder rumbled outside, the skies sullen and dark, Flack and Danny found themselves sitting across the interrogation table from Thomas 'Tommy' Strickland, who was sweating profusely and shaking like a leaf, coming down off of some high while nursing a split lip with a handful of paper towels.
"You've been a bad boy, Tommy." Flack said, rolling the sleeves of his shirt up to the elbows. He'd long discarded his jacket. Despite the seasonable tempers outside, some dumb ass had decided to jack up the thermostat in the precinct, making it disgustingly hot and nearly unbearable. "You haven't been to see your parole officer in a while."
"Yeah?" Strickland snorted. "I've been busy."
"Apparently a little too busy." Danny said. "We pick you up a hundred yards from your ex's place? The same ex you were convicted of raping and beating until you put her in the ICU? Ever heard of an order of protection? She's got one against you that states you can't be within five hundred yards of her."
"That's nothing put a damn piece of paper." Strickland declared.
"It also happens to be another parole violation." Flack informed him. "No contact or attempt to contact your ex. You forget about that?"
"Wasn't gonna contact her." Strickland said.
"You were just gonna camp out by her place?" Flack asked. "Watch her come and go? There's a word for that."
"It's called stalking." Danny chimed in. "That's an offence too, you know."
Strickland smirked. "Really?" he leaned sideways and bent over and spit bloody saliva on the floor. "Ya coulda fooled me."
"Play nice, Tommy." Flack said. "We're playing nice with you. Well, now we are."
"How's the lip?" asked Danny.
Strickland nodded at Flack. "Pygmy bastard punched me."
"You tried to bite me, Tommy." Flack reminded him. "You think I was just gonna stand there and let it happen? We're on speaking terms again, aren't we? You forgive me, Tommy?"
"I should sue your sorry ass." Strickland snapped.
"Go ahead. Trust me, no financial windfall there. I'll gladly pass over my debt though. Besides, have you ever heard of resisting arrest? Don't push me, Tommy. Be nice."
"Seeing as your feeling so chatty," Danny said. "Maybe you can answer some questions."
"I got nothing to say to you two about my ex."
"That's fine." Flack said. "We don't want to talk about her anyway."
Danny opened up a case folder sitting in front of him and pulled out a glossy eight by ten photograph and sat it on the table, pushing it towards Strickland. "We want to talk to you about her." he said.
"Don't know her." Strickland said and pushed the photo back across the table.
"Take a better look." Danny said, once again sliding the photo along the table. "Go on. You remember her?"
"Nope."
"Really?" Flack asked. "You telling me you don't recognize the woman you supposedly love? Don't know about you, Tommy, but I'd know my wife by looking at her picture."
"I have no idea who she is." Strickland insisted.
"Don't play stupid with us." Danny said. "We found your name in Danica O'Neil's computer. All three of them to be exact. We know that you were involved in some sort of relationship with her. We came across your appointment schedule and your instant messages."
"We also have a running total of all the money you've paid her in the past six months alone." Flack added. "Over sixteen grand. Now you tell me where a guy working the docks gets cash like that."
"I'm an entrepreneur." Strickland said.
"You dabble in your own stash, Tommy?" Danny asked. "Or you just sell it? What is it anyway? Coke? Meth? Heroin?"
"I am making my money the good old fashioned way." Strickland replied. "Working hard."
"You were pimping out Danica O'Neil weren't you." Flack said. "You were her biggest customer and you figured, all the money you were spending on her, you may as well make some for yourself. Don't look at me like I'm clueless, Tommy. I called some of the guys in her computer. Couple of them are buddies of yours. And they were pretty forthcoming with the fact you arranged rendezvous' with Danica. How much of a cut were you taking? Fifty percent? Forty?"
"Why'd you kill her?" Danny asked.
"I don't know what either of you are talking about." Strickland remained indignant.
"We have you Tommy." Flack said, leaning across the table. "We know you were the last one to see her before she was killed. And in a few minutes, I'm gonna get a call that is going to confirm to me that we also have your fingerprints not only on the coffee table you smashed Danica's head off of, but the stack of money one of my investigators found in Danica's freezer. So why don't you start telling us what the hell happened that night?"
"Why don't you shut the fuck up." Strickland suggested.
"She was your cash cow." Danny said. "She was bringing you in some good dough. Why'd you kill her? She was tired of the lifestyle or wanted to be able to keep a bigger cut? Maybe she wanted to break away from you and you couldn't bear the thought of loosing all that business. We found an e-mail she sent to her mother last week that she was planning on getting herself turned around. Cleaning herself up and moving back home and going back to school to better herself."
"That must have really pissed you off." Flack said. "You guys get into a fight about her moving on? Tough girl like Danica woulda been able to fight you off normally, but considering all the meds she was on and mixing them with a cold medication, you would overpower her pretty easily."
"She woulda been pretty outta it." Danny added. "Not in fighting spirits to say the least. What happened? You grab her and smash her head into the table or did you push her and she fall?"
"What's wrong, Tommy?" Flack needled him. "You were so talkative before? All of a sudden you clam up?"
"Truth hurts, doesn't it." Danny said.
A knock came to the door. Strickland, tweaked on drugs, jumped as if a bomb had gone off in the room.
"You got thirty seconds to cough up the truth." Danny said as Flack got up to answer the door. "'Cause when Detective Flack gets the information on the other side of the door, you're gonna be wishing you were more co-operative."
"I got nothing to say." Strickland said.
"Sure you don't." Danny snorted.
"What you got for me, Carmen?" Flack asked as he slipped out of the room.
Carmen handed Flack the bag with the money in it. "Sam just confirmed that there were two sets of prints on the money. One set matches our vic, the other matches our perp. She also found some partials underneath those prints to suggest that the money originally came from a third party. But she couldn't get anything usable off of the partials. Her finding is that the third party handed the money to Danica and that Tommy Strickland touched the money sometime afterwards."
"Maybe when he was attempting to skim from it or steal it." Flack said.
"There's no real way of telling unfortunately. But all in all there was twelve hundred dollars. Whether or not there was more, we'll never know."
"What about the coffee table?"
"Blood matches Danica. We also retrieved Strickland's finger prints and his DNA off of a nearly missed saliva sample."
"No other donors?" Flack asked.
"Just him."
"Thanks, Carmen." Flack said and went back into the interrogation room while she joined Speed in the viewing room.
"You've been lying to me, Tommy." Flack said, dropping the bag of money onto the table . "You wanna tell me about the money? Or do you want me to tell you?"
"You know everything it sounds like. You tell me."
"Your prints are on that money, Tommy. So are Danica's and a third person we can't identify."
"So maybe he killed her."
"Cut the shit, Tommy. The unknown prints are on the bottom of your prints and Danica's. That means he or she was the first person to touch the money. Probably giving it to Danica as a form of payment. So let me tell you what happened here. Danica wanted out and you couldn't risk loosing your golden calf. She was all doped up from meds, you guys had a fight and when she wouldn't give you your cut, you went to the freezer to take it. She had just enough fight in her to try and stop you. Took the fight back into the living room and when she got really nasty with you, you killed her. Am I right? Is that what happened?"
"You're way off." Strickland said, his legs shaking frantically, wringing his hands together over and over again..
"So tell us what the real deal is." Danny suggested. "'Cause from our end of things, you're goin' back to Rikers. Only this time you won't be getting out."
"I ain't going back to prison." Strickland declared.
"Yes. You are." Flack said. "We just don't know how long for. Tell us what happened, Tommy."
"I did not kill her." the druggie said, shaking his head his head and rocking back and forth in his chair.
"What happened?" asked Danny. "Fill in the blanks for us."
"You guys don't understand." Strickland moaned, bringing his hands up to his head and yanking at his hair as continued to rock.
"No. We don't." Flack said. "So why don't you try telling us."
"You don't understand." Strickland repeated, rocking even more forcefully. "You think you do but you don't. I loved her. I really did. I loved her."
"Why'd you kill her, Tommy?" Danny asked calmly.
"I didn't…. I didn't kill her…..I loved her….."
"She died somehow." Flack said. "Why don't you tell us how?"
"What does it matter?" Strickland wailed. "She's dead. It don't matter how."
"It matters to us." Danny said. "And her mother. Give that to her mother. Closure. Least you can do."
"What have I done?" Strickland cried, turning his pained, grief stricken face up at Flack, who was staring down at him, palms on the table top.
"You killed someone, Tommy." Flack told him. "That's what you did. Now you tell me how you did it."
In the blink of an eye, Tommy Strickland went from grief stricken to enraged. Jumping to his feet, chair toppling over behind him, slamming his hands down on the table. Face blood red, entire body trembling, his eyes wild.
"I didn't kill Danica!" he screamed.
"Sit down!" Danny ordered, on his feet as well.
Strickland ignored the CSI. "I loved Danica you sonofabitch!" he yelled at Flack. "I didn't kill her!"
"Start telling me the goddamn truth Tommy!" Flack bellowed back. "DNA and fingerprints don't lie! And I've got both at the crime scene along with evidence that Danica died from hitting her head on her coffee table. A coffee table you then discarded and replaced with something you found in the garbage area of her building. We went back through the security tapes! We have you on camera switching the tables!"
"There's no cameras back there!" Strickland argued. "It's why I….." he stopped himself. Realizing the big dumb cop wasn't so dumb after all.
"I got you dead to rights, Tommy! You killed Danica and switched the tables afterwards not thinking the cops were smart enough to figure it out. That was a good of a confession as any!" Flack bellowed.
"I didn't kill her! It was an accident!"
"An accident? You smashed her head off that table didn't you! Didn't you!"
"No!"
"You got thirty seconds to tell me the truth Tommy before me and Detective Messer force you to sit down. So do yourself a favor and come clean. You didn't do it, say it was an accident, then you're looking at the difference between a few years and life. And when I say life I mean 'til the end of yours. 'Cause if you did this Tommy, you'll be up there in Rikers and you'll die there a very old, old man. So tell me what happened."
"It was an accident!" he insisted.
"Tell me what happened." Flack pressed. "I can't help you if you don't tell me."
"She fell. We were fighting and I pushed her and she fell." Strickland told the big detective, tears streaming down his face.
"What were you fighting about?" Danny asked, calmly coming around the table, parking himself behind Strickland in case it went as violent and nasty as Danny was fearing it might. And expecting it to be. Couldn't trust the stone cold sober ones let alone the junkies.
"She wanted out. I couldn't afford to loose the cash."
"So you guys fought about, she asked you to leave and it got violent?" Flack asked.
Strickland saw Danny moved closer to him out of this corner of his eye. "What the hell is he doing?" he asked Flack.
"How'd it get violent, Tommy?" Flack ignored the question.
"Don't come any closer." Strickland warned Danny.
Danny held up his hands in self defence. "Just don't want you doing anything stupid, Tommy."
"What happened that got you to push her?" Flack asked.
"I grabbed her money like you said. I know she kept it in the freezer. I owe some guys some cash and I just wanted to borrow it from her 'til I got cash of own to pay her back."
"And she fought you off and got nasty back and you shoved her." Danny concluded. "She fell, hit her head."
Strickland nodded.
"Why didn't you call 911?" Flack asked.
"Didn't think you guys would believe my story. But I am telling you the truth. You gotta believe me."
"You left her there to die and then tried to cover it up." Flack said. "I don't have to believe a damn thing."
Strickland reached out and attempted to grab Flack by the front of the shirt, only to have Danny put his arm across his throat to restrain him. It threw Strickland into a rage. "You have to believe me!" he screamed at Flack, then brought an elbow into Danny's stomach. Hard enough to send Danny to his knees, winded, and giving the druggie enough time to make a break for the door.
Flack yanked the man away from the door by the back of his collar and shoved him in the direction of the interrogation table. Tommy Strickland was tall and scrawny but the drugs had given him the strength of ten men. Ten much bigger men.
"You have to believe me!" Strickland screamed, attempting to turn around and finding himself tossed down onto the floor, flat on his stomach.
"You okay?" Flack asked Danny, who had recuperated enough to come and land a hand.
"Yeah…..I'm okay……calm down, Tommy….don't make this harder than it has to be."
"I can't go back to jail! I can't!" Strickland bellowed. "I can't!"
"Calm down!" Flack ordered, pressing his knee into the small of the man's back and holding his head down by a hand twisted in Strickland's hair. He had a good sixty pounds up on the man, but was having a hell of a time restraining him.
"You okay, Flack?" Danny asked. "Need a uni in here?"
"I'm fine. I said calm down, Tommy!" he yelled and forced his knee harder into the man's back. "Hand me your cuffs, Danny."
Danny reached around, yanked his handcuffs off of his belt and held them out to Flack.
Flack let go of Strickland's hair to reach for the handcuffs, holding his balance by placing the palm of his other hand on the floor.
"Fucking pig!" Strickland screamed, turned his head to the side and sank his teeth into Flack's forearm.
"You son-of-a-fucking-bitch!" Flack roared, feeling the man's teeth did deep into his skin. His first reaction was to yank his arm away, but the grip the man had on his forearm was tight enough that a sudden movement would only make the injury worse. Instead he did the next best thing, grabbed the man by the hair with his other hand and smashed the side of his head into the concrete floor.
The impact split Strickland's head wide open and caused him to release the agonizing grip on Flack's arm. It didn't render the man unconscious. In fact, it only enraged him even more and he continued screaming obscenities and tossing insults at Flack, who, ignoring the blood trailing down his arm and the pain shooting through him, was still attempting to make the arrest.
The door burst open behind them and Speed and three uniform officers rushed in to help.
"You stupid bastard!" Danny yelled, leaning over the junkie and roughly yanking one of the man's arms behind his back, then the other.
Finally, with the entire weight of Flack's body resting on Strickland's back, Danny was able to secure both of the struggling man's wrists with the handcuffs.
"That's assaulting a police officer!" Danny roared, as he and Flack got to their feet, both breathless and sweating profusely. Leaving Strickland to the mercy of Speed and the uniforms. It was taking all three to escort the livid man from the room. Danny turned to his friend. "You okay, Flack?" he asked.
"I'm fine." he said. But his face told an entirely different story. He was caught somewhere between immense rage and profound worry. With a little bit of pain thrown in the mix. Left hand clamped firmly down on the inside of his right forearm, blood seeping through his fingers.
"How bad he get you?" Danny asked, knowing before he got the words out how stupid it must have sounded. "Let me take a look."
"I said I'm fine, Messer."
"And I said let me see." Danny grabbed Flack by the arm and forced him to remove his hand. The bite was deep and massive and damn nasty. Blood dripping onto the floor below.
"Get in the bathroom and clean it." Danny ordered, peeling off his long sleeve button down shirt, leaving him in just his t-shirt. He tied the shirt around Flack's arm. "Hold it under the water and dump as much of that anti-bacterial soap on it as you can. Gonna hurt like a bitch, though."
"I'm okay, Danny." Flack insisted.
"You're not okay. You're shaking like a leaf and as white as a ghost. Human mouth is a haven for all sorts of nasty ass shit. Go in the bathroom and clean it and I'll be in in a minute. Gotta call Mac, tell him what happened. Maybe he can get Hawkes to come down here and look at that."
"I said….."
"I ain't playin', Flack. Get your ass in that bathroom."
Flack just nodded, realizing it was the best thing to do. He turned and headed for the exit, brushing past a startled Carmen standing in the doorway.
"You okay?" she asked in concern.
He didn't answer. He just stepped past her and kept going.
Carmen looked at Danny. Their eyes met. Not words had to be spoken. She just nodded and followed Flack.
Flack pushed his way into the staff washroom with enough force to send the door flying open and slamming into the wall, knocking several of the small cream colored tiles to the floor with a clatter. He ignored it, rushing to the sinks along the far wall, feeling the startled, concerned eyes of Rick Santucci fixed on him. Poor guy had just finished his business at the urinal and now he was being subjected to a furious Don Flack.
"What the hell happened?" Santucci asked.
Flack tuned his buddy out. He tore Danny Messer's shirt off of his arm and with his good hand, turned the water on. The hot water. Which could get damn near boiling on some days. And this was one of those days. He had to bite down hard on his lip to hold back the yelp of pain that struggled to break free the minute that water hit the wound.
Santucci stepped beside Flack. "Jesus….." he breathed when he saw the bite mark. "You all right, Flack?"
"No." he snapped. "I'm not. Looks like fucking Cujo just took a chunk out of me. And feels like it too."
"Anything I can do?"
"Yeah. I need you to dump as much of that soap there on it as possible. Whatever is in that bottle, just pour it on."
Flack lifted his arm from the water and Santucci tore open the plastic covering on the container holding the soap on the wall, grabbed the bottle and did as Flack asked.
"Motherfucker!" Flack bellowed, not expecting it to hurt as much as it did. His legs were shaking. He felt sick to his stomach. Sweat poured down his forehead and his neck, trickled down his back. The pain was surprisingly intense for a guy that had once had his stomach blown to shreds. He closed his eyes and fought to compose himself. He blindly scrubbed the soap into the wound and then put his arm back under the hot water.
He felt Santucci's hand on his shoulder. Comfortingly. Supportively. He appreciated it even if he didn't say it. A million thoughts were stampeding through his head. His first concern was that Tommy Strickland was carrying some sort of fucked up disease. The guy had been bleeding from that split lip. There was no way some of his blood didn't get into that wound. His second concern was that he could catch whatever crazy thing that damn junkie had and in the end he could pass it on to Sam and the baby. He wasn't worried about himself. His first thought was protecting his wife and kid.
Nothing else mattered.
The door swung open and Carmen hurried in, carrying a first aid kit. Not caring if there had have been any half naked men in the room. Her only concern was Flack.
"We put some of that anti-bacterial soap on it." Santucci told her. "Won't stop bleeding though."
Carmen sat the first aid kit on the sink ledge to Flack's left and snapped it open. Gloving up and grabbing a bottle of rubbing alcohol that was inside.
"Let me see." she said to Flack.
"I'm fine." he told her through gritted teeth. "Just leave me alone."
"Needs to be cleaned. Let me see it."
"Carmen, please…….just leave me alone."
"Goddammit, Flack!" she snapped. "Let me see!"
He turned off the water, yanked a handful of paper towels from the dispenser in front of him and dried his arm off before turning to Carmen. He held his arm out to her.
Her eyes widened at the horrific wound on the inside of his forearm. "This is going to hurt like a bastard Flack." she warned, twisting off the lid of the alcohol.
"Don't do it, Carmen. Don't do it." he said, like a child frightened of his mother administering what he knew was going to sting like hell.
"It's for the best, Flack. Trust me. Take a deep breath…."
"Fuck you, Devine. You are not…."
"Santucci, hold his arm still." Carmen ordered.
The frightened looking uniform, who'd she only just met that morning at the crime scence, swallowed noisily and did as she said.
"Take a deep breath, Flack." Carmen said once more. "And just know that this is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you."
"Sure it is." Flack said sarcastically. "I bet you're just doin' this for shits and giggles aren't you? You probably…."
Carmen unceremoniously dumped the entire bottle of alcohol on Flack's arm.
"You fucking bitch!" Flack screamed and felt his knees buckle. He thought he might faint.
"Shhh…..calm down…." she said. "I know it hurts, Don. Just try to take breaths and take it easy. It'll stop burning in a second."
"Fuck…fuck…fuck….fuck…." was all Flack could manage to say. Tears of agony stinging his eyes.
The door opened again, this time Mac and Danny came hurrying in.
"What the hell happened?" Mac asked. "Flack? You okay?"
He shook his head. "The dirty bastard bit me, Mac. Can you believe that? He actually bit me."
Mac snatched the gauze and surgical tape from the first aid kit and motioned for Carmen to step back and let him take over. "Take it easy, Don." he said calmly, taking the younger man's arm in one hand and wrapping the gauze around it with the other. "Pain will go away in a second. Take it easy."
"Becoming old hat for you, huh Mac?" Flack said, grimacing. "First you stick your hands in my stomach, now this?"
"You're going to be okay." Mac told him.
"I'll kill the sonofabitch, Mac. I've got a wife and a kid on the way. What if he has something? HIV? And I pass that on to my wife and my kid?"
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Flack. No sense worrying about that right now. I'll have Adam come down and take some blood from the perp and run the tests upstairs. And HIV is not spread through saliva."
"He was bleeding." Flack said. "Some of his blood got mixed in with mine. Had to have gotten in the wound."
Mac secured the gauze with some surgical tape. "You're gonna go to the hospital and have that properly cleaned and have some blood drawn. Danny will take you. Okay?"
Flack nodded.
"Come on." Danny said, slinging his arm around his friend's shoulder and leading him from the room.
Mac and Carmen both sighed and looked at each other.
"I'll need an incident report on what you saw." Mac said.
Carmen nodded and snapped her gloves off and tossed them in the trash.
"First, I want you to tell Samantha before word trickles upstairs. I'd rather her hear it from one of us. She wants to go to the hospital, you take her."
"Things always have a way of screwing up, don't they Mac?"
He nodded. "Beyond belief." he said.
Danny and Flack were halfway to the front door of the precinct when Gerrard came storming towards them from his office. Flack's thoughts were a million miles away. Danny knew his best friend was running every possible negative scenario through his mind. His main concern being the chance of infecting his wife and unborn child with whatever, if any, nasty thing that was coursing through the junkie's body.
Flack didn't see his boss rapidly approaching. Danny did. And steeled himself against the tirade he was sure Gerrard had in store for his detective. Gerrard didn't give a rat's ass about any of his employees and made no bones about it. But in light of the circumstances of the last half hour, Danny felt his last nerve getting ready to snap. And he knew, that if Gerrard said one wrong thing, that old man was getting knocked on his ass.
"What the hell happened in there Flack?" Gerrard asked demandingly, stepping in his detective's path.
"Perp went nuts." Danny answered. "Nearly tore Flack's arm off with his teeth."
"It's not that bad." Flack said through gritted teeth, his arm across his chest, holding it there with his other hand.
"Bullshit." Danny snapped and attempted to slip past the Inspector, only to have the older man move with them and block the way.
"Where are you two going?" Gerrard asked. "Incident reports need to be filled out."
"Fuck you." Flack said and pushed his way past his boss.
"Excuse me?" Gerrard fumed, hands on his hips. "Who the hell you think you're talking to, Flack?"
"Look, just get out of the way." Danny told Gerrard. "I gotta take him to the hospital."
"For a bite?" the older man asked incredulously.
"Guy looks like a fucking wild animal took a chunk out of his arm." Danny snarled. "Needs to have it cleaned, get some blood work taken. Who knows what that dirty bastard might be crawling with. Now do me a favor and take a hike."
"You got a smart mouth, Messer!" Gerrard called after him as the two younger man hurried for the front entrance of the precinct. "Someday, someone will take care of that for you and knock you into the middle of next week!"
"I'll be waiting!" Danny yelled back and he and Flack disappeared out onto the street.
"What do you mean there's been an incident?" Sam asked, furrowing her brow, sitting in Mac's office with Carmen and Speed.
"Something happened in interrogation." Carmen replied, nervously bouncing her leg up and down.
"What kind of something?" Sam inquired, looking back and forth between her two friends. "What's going on?"
"Flack got into a little altercation with his suspect." Speed told her, calm and composed.
Sam narrowed her eyes. "A little altercation? What's that suppose to mean? Are one of you going to tell me what the hell is going on?"
"Danny had to take Flack to the hospital." Carmen said.
Sam's eyes widened and panic washed over her face. She immediately feared the worst. "Please tell me he's okay. That this guy didn't get his gun or something. That he's not dead or close to it. Please tell me that it wasn't something like that. Something horrific."
"Nothing like that." Speed assured her, in a gentle tone that surprised even Carmen. "It's nothing serious. He's going to be fine. Mac just wanted him to go to the ER to get looked at. Precautionary. And 'cause it's a work place injury and the proper forms need to be filled out."
Relief washed over her face. "So what did happen?" she asked. "He get into a fight with the guy or something?"
"The guy got a little violent with Danny and made for the door and Flack stopped him." Speed explained.
"Is Danny okay?" Sam asked.
"He's fine." Carmen assured her.
"Flack stopped the guy from making a run for it and managed to get the guy onto the ground." Speed continued. "Only when he was trying to make the arrest, the perp decided to get a little nasty with him."
"And?" Sam pressed.
"And the guy bit him." Speed finished.
"How bad?" asked Sam.
"Bad enough. It's deep and nasty and bled pretty good." replied Carmen. "I cleaned it for him and Mac wrapped it up and told Danny to take him to the ER. They're on their way to St. Vinnie's as we speak. Probably already there even."
"But he's going to be okay?" Sam needed some reassurance.
"He's fine." Speed told her. "They'll clean the wound and dress it and no doubt take some blood to make sure the perp didn't pass something along and start him on some heavy duty antibiotics. Main worry is infection."
"If you want to go and see he's fine for yourself, I can take you." Carmen offered.
Sam nodded. "I want to go." she said, getting to her feet.
"I don't blame you." Carmen told her, standing as well and draping a comforting arm across her friend's slender shoulders. "I'd feel the same way if something happened to Tim."
"Yeah right." Speed teased. "You'd leave me there hours and make me eat crappy hospital food. If it makes you feel better about the whole thing, Sam, I've been bitten before and everything turned out okay. And it'll turn out okay for Flack, too."
"I hope so." she said sceptically as Carmen led her from the room.
Speed sighed and stood up.
He sure as hell hoped so too. For all three parties involved.
St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Centre was the closest to the crime lab. It was located between the corners of Seventh and Greenwich Avenues, on the border of Greenwich and Chelsea. A major teaching hospital, it consisted of two main treatment buildings and several outpatient facilities and was the primary admitting hospital for those injured on September 11th at the World Trade Centre. Accidents in the lab were few and far between. Most injuries occurred out in the field and saw you being shipped to whatever place was closest. Ironically enough, despite it's close proximity to the lab, St. Vinnie's as New Yorkers called it, was the least used hospital by the NYPD.
The emergency department was relatively silent and empty at a quarter after two in the afternoon. Two patients waiting in chairs and another being assessed by the triage nurse. No sign of either Flack or Danny. So either they decided to head for another hospital or they were already waiting to be seen by a doctor.
Carmen and Sam headed for the reception desk. The nurse -slightly overweight with shoulder length blond hair and stylish glasses and wearing a bright pink scrub set- glanced up from the computer screen in front of her at the two young women in front of her.
"May I help you?" she asked.
"We're looking for Detective Don Flack." Carmen replied. "He would have been brought in about half an hour, forty five minutes ago."
"The name doesn't sound familiar." the nurse said and went back to her typing.
"He must be back there somewhere." Carmen argued. "He was just brought in. Bite mark to the right forearm? Police officer? Ring a bell?"
"I'm sorry. I don't recognize the name."
"Well if you don't recognize it, how about taking your mind off of playing solitaire on your PC and concentrate on looking his name up and finding out where he is."
The nurse sighed and looked down at a clipboard in front of her, eyes scanning the names highlighted on the list. "He's back in the treatment area waiting to be seen by a physician."
"Was that so hard?" Carmen asked, grabbing Sam by the hand and pulling her towards the door that would lead into the back treatment areas.
"Only one person is allowed back there." the nurse informed them, stopping them from going any further.
"Give me a break." Carmen snorted.
"One person." the nurse insisted. "And his one person is back there with him. So you two young ladies take a seat and when the doctor is finished, your colleague will be released and you can see him then."
"He's not just a colleague." Carmen snapped. "He's a close friend and he happens to her husband. And she's four months pregnant and borderline pre-eclampsia and you're crap is just causing her stress that she does not need. So either let us in so she can see him or have her miscarriage on your conscience. What'll it be?"
The nurse saw the cold hard truth in Carmen's eyes and pressed a button on the wall next to her that opened the automatic door. "Exam room 12." she told them.
"Thanks." Carmen said snottily as she and Sam headed through.
"What a bitch." Sam declared.
"Some people are paid to be bitches I guess." Carmen said with a sigh. "Which way is exam room 12?" she wondered aloud.
"Looking for the two cops?" a passing orderly asked. He jerked his finger over his shoulder. "Second from the end, left hand side."
"Thank you." Carmen said. "At least someone is cooperative."
"Don't take it personally." he chuckled. "Dragon lady is always like that."
Both Carmen and Sam laughed and headed down the hallway. Danny was in the chair by the door, legs stretched out, head resting back against the wall, looking over to his left where Flack was sitting next to him, his legs shaking frantically. A mix of intense anger and pain. They couldn't see her, but Sam and Carmen could hear Stella talking. And the sound of a camera clicking as she took pictures.
"Hey guys." Carmen greeted from the doorway.
"What are you two doing here?" Danny asked.
"Mac told me to bring Sam over after Speed and I talked to her about what happened." Carmen replied.
The look on Flack's face let Carmen know that was one of the stupidest things she ever could have done as far as he was concerned. The last thing he'd wanted was Sam worrying herself over what had gone down and causing herself even more stress.
"I was sent over to take the pictures." Stella explained, packing her camera away in her kit and re-covering Flack's arm. "So we can file assault on an officer charges."
Danny stood up and motioned for Sam to take his seat. Laying a gentlemanly hand on her back, helping her slip down into the chair.
"Nurse came and took his vitals and put a clean bandage on it." Danny said. "Took a few vials of blood. Stella's taking 'em back to the lab to do the testing there. Still waiting on the doctor though to come and clean it. Could be a while. You know what it's like waiting for anything in any ER."
"Like leaving the porch light on for Jimmy Hoffa." Sam declared.
Everyone laughed. Even Flack despite the throbbing pain coursing through his arm.
"Ya got a way with words, Brooklyn." Danny said, tousling her hair. "I'm gonna go and grab a coffee. Anyone want anything?"
"I have to head back." Stella said. "Get these photos developed. I'll walk with you."
"So will I." Carmen decided. "Give these two a chance to talk without an audience."
"You guys want anything?" Danny asked Sam and Flack.
They both shook their heads.
"Extra large black, two sugars and a decaf tea, lots of milk." Danny said, not taking their answers seriously and then slipping out of the exam room flanked by Stella and Carmen.
Sam looked at Flack. He was bouncing his legs up and down nervously. His eyes were riveted on the ceiling and his head was resting back against the wall behind them. She leaned sideways in her chair and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.
"I'm just glad you're okay." she said. "That it wasn't something a lot worse."
"Tell that to my arm." he scoffed dryly.
Sam frowned.
"I'm sorry." Flack said with a sigh, noticing the somewhat hurt expression on her face. "I didn't mean to sound like such a prick. It's just the pain. I didn't think it would hurt this much."
"They didn't give you anything?"
"Some antibiotics and a couple Tylenol Three. Nothing that makes a dent."
"Maybe they'll give you something stronger if you ask. Write you another 'script for Percocet. You're other bottle only has three pills left if in it."
He shot her a warning look out of the corner of his eye. "Don't start, Samantha. Please. Okay? Don't start."
"I'm not starting anything." she argued defensively. "Look, I know you're pissed that I'm here….."
"I am not pissed off." he fought back. "I just didn't want you running over here all worried and stressed out. You don't need that. Neither does the baby."
"Don, you're practically my husband. I'm going to worry and get stressed over you. Just like you do with me. Only I'm not so damn over bearing about it."
"I don't mean to be. You know that. This is all new for me, Samantha. Getting married, having a kid."
"I know. But a little breathing room, Don. I need a little breathing room."
"Okay. Fine. I'll try not and give a shit about either of you."
"Please don't turn this into a fight." she begged. "You're twisting everything I say. I only meant that I need you to be my husband. Not an overprotective father. I already have one of those, remember?"
Flack managed a smile. "How can I forget that? He still wants to castrate me me with a spoon."
"A spoon is not his first tool of choice, trust me." Sam laughed lightly and kissed his cheek again. She held his good had and rested her head against his shoulder. "What did the nurse say?" she asked.
"Just that the doctor will clean it, bandage it and send me home with instructions on how to take care of it. Prescriptions for antibiotics and a note to keep me off of work for four days. In case I get side effects from all the drugs."
"And the blood work? What did she say about that?"
"They'll do it over at our lab so we should get results in forty-eight to seventy-two hours. Hepatitis, HIV. All the good stuff. And even if I pop negative on the HIV test there's still that three month window. I'll just have to have the test done all over again in ninety days."
"Do you know if this perp is sick or anything?"
"Stella said Mac has a call into the guy's family doctor to see if he's got anything I need to worry about. Hopefully he's negative."
"It's still beter to be safe than sorry." Sam reasoned. "Even if he tested negative recently, it could be just because nothing showed in his system yet."
"I don't need you to be a scientist, Samantha." Flack said. "I need you to be here as my wife."
She smiled and hugged his arm to her. "You're right. Force of habit. We're going to need to be really careful you know." she said.
"About?"
"Intimacy wise."
"You kidding? For the next three months, me and you are sleeping in different rooms." Flack declaread. Only half joking.
"They're called condoms, Don. You'll have to suck it up and be a man and use one."
"Condoms arean't a hundred percent safe. Can't take the risk of anything happening to you or the baby."
"You know what I think?" Sam asked, stroking his injured arm softly. "I think we need to just wait and see what the doctor says and try not get too ahead of ourselves."
"Sounds good." Flack said, nodding in agreement.
"You know I'm here for you, right Don?" she asked, looking at him with those golden eyes so loving and warm. And so trusting.
"I know." he said and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"No matter what." she promised. "I'll always be here."
He smiled and closed his eyes. Holding her to that promise.
Thanks to everyone that is reading and reviewing. I really appreciate the support and it is what keeps me going. I love each and every one of you. Even those who are lurking. Although I do wish you'd send some love my way.
PLUGS
Aphina: Devine Intervention and Finding Kate (over on the Miami side of things)
Mauveine: Someday
Laplandgurl: A Magnet for Trouble
EvaFlack001: For Kate's Sake
Forest Angel: Coming Home
Hope4sall: Behind the Scenes