Fic: Little Tiff, Chapter 2 (CSI NY, Don Flack / Sheldon Hawkes)
Title: Little tiff, Chapter 2
Fandom: CSI NY
Pairing: Don Flack / Sheldon Hawkes
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
Chapter 1
CSI NY Main List
When Hawkes arrived to the lab in the morning Danny was waiting for him in
the reception.
“How did it go last night?”
“It didn’t go, he cancelled.”
“You wanna tell me about it?”
“No.”
“Good, I already heard about it from Don.”
“You met him?”
“Yeah, we went for couple beers last night.”
“He said he had to work late.”
“So, take a hint. You screwed up.”
“I didn’t say anything that bad! It was a little argument!”
“Keep your voice down, that girl in the reception is even bigger gossip than that
old crow that used to handle achieves.” Danny grabbed Hawkes by the arm and
lead him to the direction of the break room.
“What did Mac say to you yesterday?” Danny asked as soon as the door was
closed.
“How did you know….?”
“Don said he had talked to him, and that girl told you yesterday that Mac
wanted to see you urgently. It wasn’t really that hard to figure out.”
“He said that I have to settle this thing because me and Don will end up
working together sooner or later.”
“Why couldn’t you just tell him the truth? Couldn’t you just say it’s
a lovers spat?”
“He’s Don friend. I can’t say `I’m dating your buddy and I just said something
that really upset him`. And I don’t even know if this whole thing is a `lovers
spat`.”
“Then what is it?”
“I don’t know. I mean I know what I said, but I have no idea why he would get
so worked up about it. I say stuff like that all the time.”
“Yeah, and Don’s got a long fuse. But if you really get him angry, it’ll take
a lot of time before he forgives.”
“Do you think he will?”
“Normally yeah, but in this case I’m not sure.”
“I have no idea how this thing got so out of hand. I just wanted to make sure
he handles the perimeters the right way.”
“That’s the whole point.” Danny tilted his eyebrows. “He’s been doing this for
years, he knows what he’s doing, and you talked to him like he’s some rookie.
And to top it all off, you did that in front of his men. No wonder he got angry.”
“Every one of us does the same thing!”
“No. Not Mac, and not Stella and not me. Just you. Everyone else knows he
handles his job, and we handle ours. He’s good at his job and we’re good
at our job.”
“Of course he’s good, that’s not the point.”
“It is. I already heard some rumours.”
“What rumours?”
“I got couple buddies from the precinct. You’re not exactly their favourite
CSI right now.”
“You mean they know about…. everything?”
“Not about the big picture, but enough to make people talk. If you don’t get
this sorted out, your job can get pretty difficult.”
-----------------------------------------
Hawkes spotted Don as soon as he walked into the diner. Don was in his usual
booth, munching his usual turkey sandwich. Hawkes approached him carefully.
“Lunch?”
Don looked at him and swallowed the bite he was chewing. “I’m eating a sandwich
in my regular joint at twelve thirty. How did you guess I was having lunch? I know…
It was one of those brilliant deductions of CSI Hawkes. The ones he can never keep
to himself.”
“Okay, I can see you’re still angry. I came to apologise.”
“For what?”
“For talking to you like that. I should have let you do your job. I know you can do
it with me telling how to do it.”
Don looked at him for a long time. Finally Hawkes had to break the silence.
“So?”
“So what?”
“Am I forgiven?”
“This sudden change of attitude… does it have something to do with Mac?”
“What do you mean?”
“He told you to fix things. Are you here like a good little employee because your
boss told you to?”
“That has nothing to do with this!” Hawkes paused. “Well… little bit. But this is
not just about work. This would be a lot easier if you were just a co-worker.”
Don fixed his eyes on his coffee cup. “Then why is it so difficult?”
“You can’t be serious….. Because you cancelled on me last night. I spend the
night thinking how this whole mess will end.”
“Did you reach any conclusions?”
“Just the one I already knew.”
“What?”
“I want his to go away, I want things to be like they were. You can’t just dump
me because I can’t control my mouth sometimes.”
Don didn’t say anything, he just emptied his mug. Hawkes`s eyes went wide.
“Are you really thinking about that?”
“About what?” Don asked, but his tone made it clear he knew what Hawkes
was talking about.
“Are you really going to dump me?”
Don got up and left some noted next to his mug. “I don’t know.”
“But we’re…” Hawkes`s voice cracked. “We’re still together, aren’t we?”
This time Don didn’t answer. He simply walked out of the diner.
TBC