Madison Bellows - How did you manage that? Are you alright??
Aphina - I'm well aware of work getting in the way, so don't you worry - I just hope it calms down for you! I've been enjoying writing Flack at the mo, because I've been able to go a bit dark with him - which was fun and different for me!
Bmangaka - you're right, on both accounts (:P) And, if it's alright with you - I will!
demolished-soul - No, you're right! Marty is back for good too!
sparkyCSI - I'm busy multi-tasking - posting this and betaing your chapters. I think I have some for you too - I just need to work out which I've already sent you
RK9 - It wasn't as evil as the previous ones have been though! Okay then - don't tell me! See if I care *sob* (:P)
ah-dorably key-ute - No, you're right. That is who she is!
AngelicStars - lol, I was wondering who would pick up on that reference!
Carrie Michelle - lol, I remember hearing the song as I was writing it, and it seemed to fit perfectly. Flack's in this one, but he's not going to be seeing Taylor just yet, I'm afraid!
Trizzy - They killed Charlie?? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo *takes gulp of needed air* ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
meadow567 - Yup, yup! But I can't remember why...! (:P)
ambercsiny - I hope I keep surprising you! And let's find out...
What The Eyes Can't See
Chapter 206: I hope that you see that there's a part of you that's left inside of me
I got troubled thoughts
And the self-esteem to match
What a catch, what a catch
You'll never catch us
So just let me be
Said I'll be fine
Till the hospital or American Embassy
Miss Flack said I still want you back
Yeah, Miss Flack said I still want you back
I got troubled thoughts
And the self-esteem to match
What a catch, what a catch
And all I can think of
Is the way I'm the one
Who charmed the one
Who gave up on you
Who gave up on you
What A Catch Donnie, Fall Out Boy
The next set of visitors Taylor had came the following day. Whilst her parents had returned in the morning, they had gone back by the afternoon so that they could watch Cordelia when she returned from school.
According to her mother, who was more than willing to tell Taylor (much to her surprise) Chris' parole officer had landed him a job as a mechanic with reasonable hours so that he could be at home long enough to spend some quality time with his daughter. Nicolette, who was positively thrilled at having a grandchild, had consequently questioned Taylor on how long she would have to wait before Taylor would give her some – not one, but several!
After her parent's had left, Taylor had begun the process of physical therapy. Whilst there had been no significant muscle or nerve damage, she had been in a coma for a very long time and the doctors had told her that it was something she would have to undergo for some time.
By the time the evening visiting hours had rolled around, Taylor was well rested and eager for some more company. So, at seven o'clock on the dot when Marty poked his head around the door, whilst she was happy to have some company, she was a little upset that it wasn't Flack, who still hadn't made an appearance.
'I have visitors,' Marty announced as he stepped in to allow Lindsay and Danny to enter the room.
'Hello again,' Taylor said to Lindsay.
'Again?' Lindsay questioned, walking over to the bed. 'I didn't know you were aware I was here.'
'That's what you said yesterday,' Taylor muttered, still frowning. 'When did you cut your hair?' she asked, indicating to the now shoulder-length cut.
Lindsay shrugged. 'Not that long ago.'
'And can I call you Lindsay now?'
Lindsay stared at her. 'What are you talking about?'
'Yesterday. You didn't want me to call you Lindsay. You said your name was Emma.'
Lindsay went white. 'What?' she asked with a gulp.
'You just told me,' Taylor responded.
'Um, Taylor, this is the first chance we've had to visit since you've woken up,' Danny told her gently.
Taylor looked from Lindsay to Danny and then to Marty, who was looking worried. 'All these pain meds are making me crazy,' she shrugged, wondering what was going on, but not willing to press it further. 'So, what crazy cases have you guys been working on?'
'We had an interesting one with cockroaches,' Danny answered, still frowning at her.
'Do I want to hear this?' Taylor frowned.
'Apparently they're the new trend,' Lindsay explained. 'You wear them like jewellery.'
'Why the hell would I want to wear a dead cockroach?' Taylor exclaimed. 'That's gross.'
'No, the cockroaches are alive,' Danny told her.
'Ew! Why the hell would anyone want to wear a living cockroach?' Taylor corrected herself, at a slightly higher pitch.
'It was covered in precious stones,' Lindsay shrugged. 'But you wouldn't catch me wearing one.'
'No, you and Danny just eat them,' Taylor muttered, earning grins from the two. 'Any other exciting cases? Or news?' Taylor shuddered, anxious to get the topic of conversation away from creepy bugs.
'The department got a postcard from Maka. She's now married and pregnant,' Danny told her.
Taylor smiled. 'Seattle must suit her then.' She looked at the three of them. 'Come on, something exciting must have happened.'
Danny shook his head. 'Nope. It seems like the world has been waiting for you to wake up.'
'Nothing? What about in the news in general? I have two months of tabloids to catch up on.'
'And you can read that when me and Danny have gone,' Marty told her with a grimace.
'Uh huh,' Taylor arched her eyebrows. 'Because you never read my Enquirer when we lived together.'
Danny burst out laughing. 'Busted.'
'Oh you can talk, Messer. Every time you have a break, you're reading some tabloid rag,' Lindsay announced, causing Danny to go red as it was Marty's turn to laugh at him.
'And on that note, we've brought board games,' said Danny as he pulled out Scrabble.
Taylor fingered the corner of her sheets. 'Out of curiosity,' she asked, trying to keep her voice light. 'Does Don know I'm awake?'
The three shared a look.
'Don't tell me none of you mentioned it to him.'
'Well,' Lindsay sighed. 'He hasn't been around as much lately. He's been busy arresting the majority of the Brooklyn Bullets.'
Taylor frowned. 'But surely you must have called him or something. I mean, even Sid came by. I barely know Sid, and Don's my fiancé.' She stared at Lindsay, who turned away. Turning her attention to Danny she shrugged. 'A text message?'
Danny scratched uncomfortably at the back of his head. 'Flack's… well, he's not been himself recently. He's only really talking to us if our paths cross in work. And that hasn't happened that much – he tends to be spending more time with the Dangerous Organizations. They're still bodies short so they're not exactly turning the manpower away.'
Taylor glanced away, shifting her eyes to the windows – the other side to her friends – in an attempt to hide the hurt and tears.
'You know, I have to go,' Marty announced, abruptly getting to his feet. 'I promised Sid I'd help him with something,' he muttered vaguely.
---
Flack stared at the amber liquid sitting in the glass tumbler in front of him. A familiar end to the day – the alcohol warming his throat as it went down seemed to be the only thing he could feel these days. That and the satisfaction of arresting the members of the Brooklyn Bullets, one by one. Although it was an empty satisfaction. Over the last two months, he had been working diligently, following any and every lead he had in an attempt to bring the gang crashing to its feet. And it had worked.
Truth be told, the drink could be classed as a celebratory drink. Today he had finally found, arrested, and shot, the last remaining member of the Bullets: Felix Bohr. But it was still an empty victory. And that was before anyone could take into consideration exactly what had happened. And the only other two people who knew were dead.
---
Flack strapped the Kevlar vest on to his torso as tight as it would go. There was one person left and today was going to be the day he got his revenge.
'Shouldn't we wait for backup?'
Flack ignored his partner. Chin Yip was a fresh faced rookie detective, just transferred in from a precinct in Queens to the still low staffed Dangerous Organizations Squad. In all honesty, Flack wasn't sure if he was good at his job or not. He was certain that Gerrard had only assigned him as his partner to keep an eye on him, and he was probably reporting back to him on his every move, but Flack just ignored him. Hell, he'd been strung up four times in the last week alone for leaving his partner behind.
And now, he was about to do the same. He had one objective and one objective only: find Felix Bohr. 'I'm going in. You can wait here if you want,' he told him, checking his gun was ready.
'We're supposed to stick together,' Yip told him.
'Then stick with me,' Flack shot at him. 'Because I'm not waiting for backup.' He hardly waited for Yip as he headed to the house his source had told him Bohr was in. 'I'll take the back.' Yip shook his head and he moved towards the front of the house.
He crept around the house, peaking in the windows as he went. From his route, he couldn't see anyone. This better hadn't be a bust, he grumbled in his thoughts as he tried the back door. It was unlocked. He took a breath and pushed it open, sneaking into the dirty kitchen. He was just about to walk into the hallway when he heard the shots. The stealth disappeared as he burst into the room they had originated from.
In front of him, with his back to him, was Felix. His gun still pointed at Yip, who was lying in a pool of his own blood, eyes wide open and staring blankly in front of him. 'I've been waiting for this for a while,' Flack told Bohr, his partner's lifeless body barely registering.
Bohr slowly dropped the gun on the floor before turning around, his hands slowly rising above his head. 'I was wondering how long it would be before you found me.'
'It doesn't matter how long it took,' Flack told him. 'I was going to find you. And now that I've done that, I'm going to kill you.'
Bohr narrowed his eyes. 'I'm unarmed. You won't kill me.'
'Really,' Flack asked, his eyebrows reaching his hair as they shot up in mock surprise. 'What makes you think that? I mean, you're the reason my fiancé is in a coma. You took her away from me, and I have nothing left to lose.'
Bohr looked visibly worried. 'I'm unarmed. You won't shoot an unarmed person.'
'You shot my partner. Then you turned to shoot me. It was self defense,' Flack shrugged, his face emotionless.
'You wouldn't kill me,' Bohr told him. 'I'm not going to move until your ba-'
Flack squeezed the trigger, unblinking.
Bohr sank to his knees, mouth open as he looked down at the blood trickling from his chest. He looked up in disbelief.
Flack smiled as he pulled the trigger seven more times, unloading the clip into his chest. Slowly he lowered his gun. 'That was for Taylor,' he told the body, calmly. Then, he pulled his phone out, dialing dispatch. 'I have an officer down…!' he yelled into his phone, faking concern at the dead officer.
---
Lost in his thoughts, Flack was only vaguely aware of the other patrons of the quiet bar. Until the stool next to him was pulled out and someone sat down, facing him rather than the bar.
'Oh look at that: drowning your sorrows.'
'Piss of, Pino,' he muttered, taking a mouthful of the JD. He'd had another day from hell and the last thing he wanted to do was listen to the ME preach at him.
'Hey, I've got another twelve hours before visiting hours at Mercy to sit here,' Marty told him.
Flack's fist tightened around the glass, but he didn't say anything.
'Of course, I could probably stay the night and no one would mind. Especially not Taylor.'
The glass went flying as it was side swept as Flack got to his feet, his fist connecting with Marty's face. 'You stay away from Taylor!' he roared.
Marty swung back, his punch sending Flack reeling backwards, blood pouring from his nose. And then Flack was on his feet, tackling Marty into an unfortunately placed table.
Lindsay and Danny walked into the bar to find several officers trying to break up a brawl between two of their friends. 'Can't say I didn't see this one coming,' Danny muttered to Lindsay as they both hurried across the bar to help split the two fighting men up.
Finally, there was space between them. In an exasperated huff, Marty yanked his hands free from the grip they were in. 'You know what, Flack? You're not worth this,' he spat at him, gingerly touching his eye where Flack had managed to clock him. 'And I hope that Taylor works that one out soon, because you are breaking her.' Straightening his jacket, he turned and stormed out of the bar.
'Jerk,' Flack muttered, wiping at the blood at his mouth.
'Oh, you're just as big a jerk,' Lindsay fumed, punching his arm hard.
'What the hell was that for?' Flack snapped, glaring down at the shorter woman.
'Oh, grow up, Flack, for God's sake,' Lindsay snapped back. 'What the hell happened to you?'
'Pino punched me,' he growled at her.
'Yeah, and you know what? You damn well deserved it,' she retorted angrily, pushing him to the back corner of the bar and sitting him down, waving Danny off as she did so. 'Now sit down there and wait until I come back,' she ordered. She disappeared back to the bar and returned a few minutes later, slamming a drink in front of the detective, and placing an ice pack, a little harder than was necessary, against his cheek.
'That had better be Irish,' Flack muttered, eyeing the coffee in front of him as he snatched the icepack from Lindsay and held it against his face.
'You have had enough to drink,' Lindsay told him shortly. 'It's about time you sobered up and faced reality. Surely you can't expect to spend your suspension drunk? Yeah, I know about that,' she told him, catching the suspicious look he was shooting her. 'The whole damn precinct knows you've been suspended, Flack. But what I don't understand is why you didn't wait for backup? It's not like you,' she frowned. 'Or should I say, it's not like the old Flack I used to know.'
'Oh, piss off, Lindsay,' he murmured. It earned him a slap around the un-bruised side of his face.
'I'm not stupid, Flack,' Lindsay told him, ignoring the glare he was shooting at her. 'I know exactly what you're doing.'
'You don't know crap,' Flack shot at her.
Lindsay's eyes narrowed as she leant in. 'Don't I?' she asked him. 'I know a damn sight more than you do. Do you think that your friends haven't noticed this crusade you're on? How the Brooklyn Bullets are now none existent thanks to you not sleeping and making it a personal mission to get them all behind bars?'
'And how is that a bad thing?' Flack asked her.
'Oh, I don't know,' Lindsay shrugged. 'Could it be that you're now on suspension for going against protocol and entering a building without backup – that your partner is dead? That the rules that you once stuck so rigorously to have gone aside so you can deal with your own guilt?'
'You don't know crap,' Flack snapped.
'That's just it, Flack,' Lindsay cried in exasperation. 'I do. You think you gave up on Taylor and that you have to redeem yourself. And that the only way you think you can do that is by going after those who put you in that situation. You're displacing your guilt on them, and guess what? It's not working?'
'You don't kno-'
'Know crap?' Lindsay finished. 'Alright; the Brooklyn Bullets are no more, Felix Bohr is dead, and Taylor is awake. If you're feeling better, why the hell are you drowning your sorrows in a bottle of Jack and not spending time with your fiancé?'
Flack blinked. 'Taylor's awake?' He wasn't drinking because he cared that the cop was dead. No, as far as Flack was concerned, Yip was an unfortunate means to an end – he'd been told to wait for backup and it was his own fault he was now on that cold morgue table. He was drinking because, ever since he'd walked out of Taylor's room, all he had felt was numb. And alcohol was nothing more than him giving himself a justifiable reason for feeling nothing. But to hear that Taylor was awake? Even the whiskey couldn't mask the stabbing pain he was beginning to experience.
'Yes, Don. She's awake,' Lindsay snapped at him.
'Why the hell didn't anyone tell me?' he asked, glaring at her.
'Flack, have you even bothered looking at your phone? We've left dozens of voicemails, sent countless texts… or did you just delete everything from us?'
Flack just glared at her. Although he wasn't going to admit it, she had hit the nail on the head. The messages in the beginning had been asking if he was alright, whether or not he needed to talk… all kinds of crap he got tired of very quickly. All too soon it was becoming automatic to hit the delete button.
Lindsay shook her head in disbelief. She didn't need him to admit to it – she could see it in his face. 'Well that's your own fault then, isn't it? We have been trying to get a hold of you for days.' Her hands moved to her hips. 'Well? What are you still doing here? Or are you ignoring Taylor too?'
'You don't kno-'
'Then ENLIGHTEN ME!' Lindsay bellowed. 'Why are you still here?'
'Because she can do better than someone who gave up on her, alright?'
'That's a load of bull,' Lindsay yelled at him. 'Your friends don't give a crap whether you gave up or not, Taylor doesn't give a crap, and I think the only thing Taylor is gonna do when she finds out why you haven't been there, is support you, because she loves you. So stop being a selfish jerk and get your ass down to that hospital, Donald Flack.'
Flack stood up. 'I don't deserve her support,' he muttered, before walking away.
'Acting like this? No you don't!' Lindsay yelled after him. She turned to Danny who had walked over to join her. 'God, I wanna slap him,' she muttered.
'You did,' Danny sighed.
Lindsay sat down heavily in the booth. 'I hope I got through to him.'
Danny stared at the door. 'I think you started to,' he muttered. 'I just hope he can figure it out himself. Before he does something he regrets.'
Okay, so i'm not one for putting lyrics at the start of my fics, as you've noticed, but I was persuaded to put up songs lyrics that might sum up the chapter - thanks Mel - and I heard this and thought it was perfect!