CSI:New York : Who Are You? (Don Flack/OFC fanfic)

Hearts...

Flack paid the vendor for the two cannolis with coffee. He handed one of each to Danny and the two men moved off down the sidewalk, eating as quickly as was humanly possible without gagging. Flack's shift had started an hour before that Thursday morning, seven-thirty to be exact, although technically it hadn't ended from the previous night, either way it hadn't ended or started well. His first call just after seven-fifteen had been a hit and run involving a teenage girl, who had done nothing other than wait at the same bus-stop she'd been waiting at every morning since getting into Penn Law School the semester before. Nineteen years old. The kids always caught Flack in the gut. So young, so much to live for.

Danny's shift was due to start in around six minutes. He'd been on his way in, had missed breakfast after sleeping late, and met Flack just off Broadway where he'd been looking into his hit-and-run. Flack hadn't eaten either, so they had decided to grab a bite while they headed to PD. Danny hiccuped and banged his fist against his chest, causing Flack to shoot him a look of amusement.

'You need to stop off at a drugstore, pick up some Pepto?'

'In this job indigestion goes with the territory.'

'Ain't that the truth,' Flack agreed taking a big bite out of the cannoli.

'How come you're in so early?' wondered Danny. 'Weren't you on swing last night?'

Flack nodded, licking cream from the corner of his mouth. 'Finished up at five and was on the subway when they called me back in. Got home, grabbed a quick shower and here I am.'

'So you're running' on empty.'

'More like crawlin'.'

'No hot date tonight then?'

Flack finished off the pastry, crumpled up the paper and shot it into the nearest trashcan. It had taken him less than twenty seconds. Indigestion and forgetting to eat altogether went hand-in-hand in this job. 'I'm keeping my options open,' he said.

Danny snickered. 'You got it bad, Flack,' he cautioned, a teasing lilt to his tone. 'I've seen the time you'd pull a double and sleep it off for twenty-four hours. Nothing and no one could shift you.'

'That was before I knew what I was missing,' Flack replied, taking a sip of coffee from the Styrofoam cup.

'And you were missing something?'

'Not anymore.'

'So it's getting serious.'

Flack glanced at his friend. 'Depends on your definition of serious.'

'You dating anyone else?'

'Nope.'

'It's serious,' Danny decided. He finished his cannoli. Thirty seconds. 'How'd this happen?'

'I let it.'

'She feel the same?'

Flack eyed him. 'What is this, twenty questions? Quit takin' an unhealthy interest in my love-life, Danno.'

Danny snickered. Olivia often said the exact same thing to him. 'You and your girlfriend should get matching tats. I'm just trying to help a guy out. Wouldn't wanna see you get in over your head, Donnie.'

'Like I'm gonna take dating advice from a guy who's idea of romance is flipping the mattress before a date comes over.'

'I resent that.'

'Face it, you and that well-worn mattress of yours are having a dry spell,' Flack all but grinned. 'Lindsay shoot you down yet today?'

Danny slid him the evil eye. 'Did my shift start?'