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

Stuck On You

Flack's shift was over and he was looking forward to blowing the foam off a few beers. He scooped up the paperwork he'd just completed and worked out a few kinks in his neck, as he dropped the pile of papers into his captain's inbox. Christmas was only five weeks away but the idea of peace on earth was in short supply. The lowlifes that made up an ever-increasing segment of the New York population had no concept of the whole 'goodwill towards all men'.

It was hard not to think about little Gracie Sheridan fighting for her life in St. Luke's. Most cases stayed a while, others were forgotten almost as soon as they were closed. Then there were the ones you could never forget. The ones that had a person waking up in the middle of the night, sweating. Remembering faces and smells.

The Sheridan case was one of those.

An hour earlier Flack and Mac had returned from Sing Sing after visiting with Tony Glanville, who had no idea how his DNA was at their crime scene. The only visitor he'd had in the past two years was his sixty year-old mother, who happened to be a non-smoker. It was looking like whoever planted the butt in the Sheridan's backyard had randomly picked it from one of the public ashtrays. Either way, Tony Glanville had nothing to do with their case. Flack wasn't sure how he felt about that. He wanted a connection. He wanted to wrap this one up and give Gracie and her family the justice they deserved. No one knew how much time the little girl had left.

'Ready to go, Flack?

Danny was standing in the doorway to the almost deserted room within homicide. 'You buying the first round?' Flack asked him. 'I gotta powerful thirst.'

'Pretty sure I bought the first and second round last two times we went out,' Danny said as Flack grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair. 'You're afraid of commitment.'

Flack shot Danny a questioning look. 'Is that right? Ok, so we really doing this? How's it going with you and Lindsay?'

Danny chuckled good-naturedly. 'Touché. But I meant your bankroll, you're afraid of committing some of what you've got to paying for beer.'

'Keep it up, Messer.' The two men left homicide heading down the long corridor towards the main entrance. 'If you didn't spend so much on hair products maybe you wouldn't be so short on cash.' They quickly reached the entrance and walked down the steps onto the street. 'I'm sure the ladies just love running their fingers through those gelled-up locks.'

'So I like to play around with my hair. You need me to remind you of those metrosexual sideburns you sported couple years back? And don't get me started on that tube of moisturiser I found in your bathroom last week.'

'I told you it was Olivia's.'

'In no rush to give it back, I see.'

'She knows where it's at if she needs it.'

'How's it going with you two anyhow?I wanted to ask you something about her,' said Danny as they rounded the corner onto the street where the Blind Tiger  was situated.

Flack gave only a non-committal jerk of his shoulders. But there was nothing careless about the way he was feeling. It had been three weeks since she'd called it off between them. He didn't want to shout it from the rooftops, which was why he hadn't mentioned anything to Danny. Talking about it made it real and because he was still holding out for her he wanted to hang onto that feeling - intangible as it was - so he could pretend that maybe it hadn't happened. Which was crazy. Because he still had the scars to prove it had.

'What's that mean?' asked Danny, mimicking the gesture. 'It isn't working out...? It is...?'

It took Flack a moment before he could answer. 'We called it off,' he said, as casually as he could muster.