DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, nothing at all. Borrowed. =)
A/N: Thank you all my readers in reviewers, it's because of you I've been so on top of spitting these out, you guys make me want to write. So on with the show:
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: : TRAPPED : :
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Danny got home from Cindy's late one night, it was an getting a little old, really, they had been fighting a lot recently, and he probably would have called it off ages ago, but she was so fucking clingy…it was almost impossible, well stage 5 clinger, we go to avoidance tactics. Danny entered the safe haven that was his apartment and let out a sigh of relief. It was quiet, all problems could disappear for just a little bit. He walked hit the button on his answering machine on his way to the fridge to grab a beer. Cindy had called making sure he was coming over that evening, a fight and make up sex later he was home afterwards on the pretense of an early morning. His mom had called confirming him for dinner on Sunday. And then…Louie. Danny pretty much spit out his beer when he heard his brothers voice. It had been two years!
"Hey Danny, it's Louie, your brother, I know it's been a while, but I'm in town and was wondering if you'd like to grab a beer. My cell is 555…"
Danny's mind started to drift off, Louie's back in town, Danny didn't even know that his brother had left town, just disappeared into the millions of other people in New York. This couldn't be good, with Louie, if he wanted to grab a beer he was either in trouble or needed a hand out, and after the last few times it happened Danny was just about done with it all. He finished his beer in a few chugs and grabbed another before turning on sports center. Damn it, he needed a girl that could just sit and watch a game. He hadn't had the privilege of just watching a game in ages. Cindy had to go and soon.
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"Hunter Hudson, billionaire recluse, the Howard Hughs of the computer world." Stella said examining the body of hers and Danny's case. The room was creepy, and that was putting it nicely, there were no windows just concrete and steel, a bed, and a murdered billionaire. Danny shrugged of the moment of creeped out chills and continued to take in the room. There was an army guy under the bed with a flash light, pillow and blanket. Strange, he knew Ruben would hide under his bed like that during a thunderstorm in the middle of the night, but he was eight, this man was 37. A grown man for crying out loud.
He moved to the bathroom and hit what he could only assume to be a light switch. There was a loud clanking of gears and metal. "That's not good." Stella called at him, but by the time he got to the entrance the door had locked itself shut. He banged twice, like that would really do anything. He was relieved to when a small video screen to the rest of the house bleeped on, but there was still no way out without a locksmith. He was stuck in a fallout shelter of a room with a decaying corpse. What a way to start the month. December was off to a great start!
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Stella had called Mac the moment the doors locked shut. And had been calling every half an hour to update him on the progress, little if any was being made. There was the slightest hole in the door, but it had yet to poke all the way through. After about three hours of checking with anyone who could possibly get Danny out of the cryptic room he figured he'd better try Danny again.
Danny flipped his phone open the second the he saw that it was Mac calling. "Hey Boss, sorry about all this." He didn't know why he felt the need to apologize, he just did.
"Danny, it's not your fault, it could happen to anybody."
"If ya say so." Danny said a little sarcastically, he always seemed to end up in these predicaments. "So, what's up?"
"Stella's been calling every half an hour with updates, I have a city engineer reviewing plans of the room to see if there are any other points of entry, so just stand by, I'll keep you posted."
"Like I'm going anywhere." Danny responded, a little humor leaking into his voice now.
"Alright, bye." Mac said hanging up and meeting Lindsay in AV, she looked a little nervous, fiddling with her necklace, and shifting her wake. She watched Mac before he hung up.
"Is he going to be all right?" She asked. Concern evident in her voice. She and Danny were friends, but not that close, but still friends. She didn't like any of her friends being in situations like this, never had, and never would.
"We have a locksmith cutting into the door."
"And how long is that going to take?"
"They estimate 13 hours." Lindsay let out a pained sigh, as she calculated in her head just how horrible it would be to be stuck in a room with a decaying body like that for that long.
"So what did you find?" He asked getting back to the case at hand.
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Danny was getting fed up and antsy. He had been locked in the room for at least 4 hours, he was tired, and hungry, the smell was getting worse and the temperature was going up. And all he could do was wait. His phone gave a sudden ring. It read Montana.
"Hey." He answered in his offhand sort of way.
"You know Messer, you would go and get yourself locked in a panic room to get off work." Lindsay poked fun at him.
"Oh, you're going to start now Monroe." He snapped slightly.
"Nah, Mac is held up, just asked me to check in on ya." Lindsay replied not wanting to upset him anymore than she just had. He had to be on edge, it could not be fun in there. "So no other way in yet?"
"Nope, this day is just dandy." Danny said icely. He really wasn't having a good day.
"Apparently, so how are ya doing." She asked sincerely.
"Hot, hungry, bored, and it stinks something awful in here."
"Aw, poor Danny." Lindsay mocked noticing his change in tone, he seemed to be turning a little.
"Aw, give me a break Monroe, help me get my mind off being stuck here, what's your case?"
"Ok, um, we have a stripper found dead, fried on top of a spotlight behind the Raunch and Roll."
"Yea, Mac had me fishing through it looking for evidence."
"Oh, now that's something I'd pay to see."
"Yea, keep dreaming Messer."
"Sounds familiar."
"Huh?"
"Nothing, just sounds like something Aiden said to me once."
"Oh, okay.' Another Aiden story just what she needed. 'Any way, just finished with lunch here, some pizza from Ray's you like that place right?"
"Not Funny Monroe." In the background he heard a beep.
"Sorry, Dan, I have to go results just came in. as for the boredom, ransack some drawers, panty raid."
"You're a real riot."
"Eh, I work with what I got. Talk to ya later." Danny hung up the phone then moved to the bathroom, wash his face down, that sorta thing. It was getting freaking hot.
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Lindsay's case finished up mid-day. Danny was still stuck in the panic room, but apparently, they were making way, or so Flack said when she bumped into him on his way into one of the labs to check on Stella and her progress. They had a hole in the door at least. Knowing Messer he probably wanted food stuffed through it.
She packed up her bag and headed home. It honestly felt like she hadn't been there in days. Sure, she pulled some crazy hours but between work, and Kevin's (he had been getting pretty clingy) well it had been a while. Upon arriving she found her mailbox stuffed full, and a few things of Connie's had been shoved into her mailbox as well. Lindsay pocketed her mail and figured a stop at Connie's first wouldn't hurt anything.
She knocked but was surprised to find a man a few years older than her answer. He was tall, with salt and pepper hair, and brown eyes that matched Connie's. "Can I help you?" the man asked in a deep voice that held a southern twang.
"Oh, yea sorry, some of Connie's mail ended up in my mailbox by mistake." She said handing the mail over.
"Hank, who is it?" Lindsay heard Connie shout from a room over and getting closer. "Oh, Hey Lindsay dear. "
"I'm sure, oh honey I'm sorry, this is my son Hank." She said off handedly waving to the man that now stood next to and slightly behind her. "Hank, hun, this in Lindsay, she's my neighbor, and a Detective with the NYPD. See no more worries."
"Ma, I still would feel better if you came to stay in Charleston. Yes, you have a cop next door but what about the ice and snow?"
"What about it, I live in the city, they take care of that for me. And if you say she's a small woman, you should see her cop friends. Woo, I mean if I were 40 years younger those burly men would need protection."
"Connie, if I introduce you to them, they'd still need protection"'
"Too true, oh Lindsay I just remembered, my friend Olli, told me about this NYC tour of haunted buildings, feel like joining me, should be right up your alley. Jenna may like it too"
"Yea sure, that sounds great. Just get me the details and we can arrange it." Lindsay said waving good bye. She really did need to flop into bed.
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"Hey, what do you say we get outta here?' Stella suggested. Danny nodded along, sounded like a pretty damn good idea to him. He was ready to get out of that room in the odd chance that the door closed again, it was just, no, not bad. Bad bad day but it did shed some light on one area of his life he had been trying to ignore. His brother
"You got a phone I can use real quick?" he asked, his had died during the days events.
"Yep." She slipped it off and handed it to him.
"I'll catch up with you okay?"
"Yea." She patted his arm as Danny started to dial the number that had been flashing in front of him all day. Louie's.
"Hey Louie, it's your brother."
"Danny, thought I'd never here from ya."
"You wanta grab that beer?"
"Yea sure, can yea grab me, I'm staying with ma and pop at the moment." Danny let out a little laugh
"Yea, yea I grab yea in an hour." He said as he hung up the phone, that would give him enough time to swing by the lab, shower, and grab a car for the night. He did just that Stella electing that they put the paper work off until the next day. He had been through enough already. Danny stepped into jeans and a Yankees t-shirt before swinging over by his parents house, it was later so they were already asleep, but Louie came out with a bag of food.
"Here, Mommy says you're still too skinny to be a Messer." Louie said Throwing a basket of food into the back seat.
"Yea, yea, if she had it her way I'd be too big to get up off the couch and be stuck in their living room for the rest of my life. I'm safest there ya know." Danny mocked "So what brings you back into town?"
"Oh, uh, I got a job out here, better paying then the one I had in Boston, ya know."
"Gotcha there. I'm waitig to be put back on that promotion grid."
"Thought ma said you were already on it."
"Yea I was, but I got into some rough times last year."
"That sucks. Bro where ya going?" Louie asked as they bypassed the bar the use to frequent.
"Sorry Lou, too many gangs in there, had a case with them about 2 years ago actually, Sonny went down for a total of I think 5 days before his old man got him out."
"You two cross paths there Dan?" Louie asked concern evident in his voice. Louie somehow managed his way out of the group respectively, it was probably the move, but being back, it could get ugly, or he might get roped back into it. but that was a risk he was willing to take. He needed a change of scenery. Not that he was going to let anyone other than his mother know that.
"Nah, my boss kept me off of the case, I stuck hard to the one I was working. He did ask me some questions though, mostly about the tat."
"Yea, I tend to keep that covered around here. Brings bad news."
"So I'm guessing you're staying away from that crap now?"
"Like the plague buddy." They both stepped out of the car they were at a sports bar down the street from Billy Bat's the kids don't frequent it as much, it's more older business men, most of which made themselves legit. It was cleaner granted there were peanut shells on the ground, though honestly when weren't their shells in a sports bar. They each got a beer and sat down at the counter, as multiple basket ball games were on in the background.
"So Louie, what was with all the calls?" Danny asked cautiously
"I don't know man, I wanted to get through to you make good. You're my brother."
"That's all?"
"You expect me to have an ulterior motive or something Dan?" Louie joked knowing he usually did, and didn't half blame his brother for thinking that. "So what's new with you Dan, Mommy says you haven't been around too much lately."
"Yea, I know, been busy, work's been busy."
"Since September, Dan, it's January."
"Yea yea, I know, but when Aiden got fired we all had to pick up slack, and now even with Montana, it feels as if it never slows down."
"Wow, Aiden, as in the hottie that I met before I left? Man I was hoping to stop by and brake out my moves."
"Yea, too bad, she's dating a beat cop anyway."
"Ouch, okay, now secondly, who in the hell names their kid Montana?" Danny simply smirked.
"No one. It's just a nickname." He laughed and popped a peanut into his mouth.
"Montana, Dan, were' that come from?"
"That's where she's from. Country girl threw in threw."
"She good looking?" that comment had Danny to choking on his beer.
"What man?"
"I said is she good looking, as in attractive as in I'd tap that."
"Never really thought about it, guess she's cute, more of a bring home to mom type girl. Nice ass though." He sad taking a swig of his second beer. Why was he revealing this, well it's what brothers do. Granted he wouldn't dare talk to Flack about Monroe like this.
"They can be trouble."
"How would you know." Danny said laughing at his brother, if Louie ever dated a woman like Lindsay he'd shit himself. He'd only ever seen his brother with tramps. Granted he tended to date the toned down models himself.
"You'd be surprised." Louie
"I don't see it, sorry Lou." Danny laughed.
"Yea, didn't expect you too." Louie said finishing off his beer. His brother wouldn't understand, he had killed that relationship ages ago, but it was for Danny's own good. And that was something Louie could actually live with.
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