Part 13b/14 of What Danny Deserves, CSI:NY fic
Series: What Danny Deserves
Title: Hostage Situation
Rating: PG-13/R
Summary: as the title suggests, only worse.
Warnings: several, including child endangerment and suicidal threats and then Danny, oh Danny!
Word count: 3850 split in two parts
Disclaimer: Not my show, but even if it was I may not have included this storyline due to the angst.
part one: suspicion
part two: potential crime scene
part three: witness statements
part four: modus operandi
part five: interactions
part six a: failed interventions I
part six b: failed interventions I
part seven: failed interventions II
part eight a: emergency
part eight b: emergency
part nine a: hangovers and hang-ons
part nine b: hangovers and hang-ons
part nine c: hangovers and hang-ons
part ten: breakthrough, breaking point, broken
part eleven: victim protection
part twelve a: withdrawn and withdrawal
part twleve b: withdrawn and withdrawal
part thirteen a: hostage situation
Hostage Situation part two
“Danny, slow down, you’re gonna crash at this rate.” Mac shoulder slams painfully against the car door as Danny swerves into a corner.
“I know where she is Mac. I know where she’s taken Lucy. She wants us to be a family again. She’s gone back home.” Danny mutters, frantic and distracted, driving as quickly as he can get away with.
“I’ve got to call Stella.” Mac decides, reaching for his phone.
“No Mac!” Danny begs. “Lindsay wants me. If she sees someone else... I gotta do this Mac. I gotta do it alone.”
“No you don’t.” Mac tells him firmly. “When we find her, you’ve got to let me do the talking. Promise me.” The car skids to a halt and Danny rushes out, too impatient to wait for the elevator he races upstairs, leaving Mac behind. By the time he’s outside the door he almost passes out from the rush of chemicals and lack of energy, but he shakes it off, his vision still blurry but no longer black. The door is locked. He tries to barge it with his shoulder but it doesn’t budge. He tries to kick it down, only to feel pain in his knee so intense he has to cry out, falling to the floor and clutching his knee with both hands, he feels sick.
“Fuck, Danny.” Mac curses and rushes over to him.
“Don’t worry about me.” Danny manages to say through the pain. “Just get the door open.” Mac is able to get the door open with a few swift kicks, before going back to Danny, helping him up, half carrying his weight as Danny keeps nodding in and out of consciousness. Mac lies him down on the couch before moving over to the kitchen. The fridge is working but it’s full of rotten food. There’s ice in the freezer though and Mac wraps some in a kitchen towel before returning to Danny.
Even unconscious, Danny’s body is still shaking, twitching. Mac watches him, helplessly, before Danny’s eyes flutter open and Mac remembers the makeshift icepack melting in his hand.
“She’s not here?” Danny says, wincing in pain, half a question, half a statement. He’s not breathing as much as Mac would like him to.
“No, she’s not.” Mac agrees. “Put this on your knee.” Danny looks at him then passes out again, breathing evening out. Danny’s wearing black sweatpants so Mac rolls up the material and exposes Danny’s knee. It’s swollen to the size of a football. Mac gently presses the make-shift ice-pack to the swollen mass. Danny cries out in agony. “I’m sorry.”
“I’ve got to get Lucy.” Danny cries, tears leaking out and Mac can’t tell if it’s pain or sorrow, probably a combination of both. “I was sure she was gonna be here.” Danny says, in between little grunts of pain. “We need to keep going.” Danny insists, his face red and his knee still swelling up, despite the ice.
“We need to get you to a hospital.” Mac counters.
“No!” Danny cries out, before crying in pain. “She could be on the roof.” Danny pants. “I need to check.”
“You need to stay here and rest your knee. I’ll go.” Mac tells him.
“But Mac!” Danny screams before his eyes roll closed and he falls back on the couch. Mac’s tempted to call for an ambulance but he knows Danny would never forgive him. Instead, he just pours a glass of water and scours the cupboards for some painkillers, leaving them where Danny can find (making sure there aren’t too many painkillers) he reluctantly heads off to the check the roof.
*****
“Hey Flack,” Stella talks through her cellphone. “I just checked Danny’s old bachelor pad from before he moved in with Lindsay. No luck. Maybe we’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“You know something.” Stella almost smiles.
“I just asked Adam to locate Danny and Mac’s phones. I’m heading there now.”
“Wait, wait.” Stella asks. “You haven’t told me where they are yet.”
“Haven’t I?”
“No. You haven’t.” Stella replies in a lower tone.
“It’s the family home. The one that was supposed to be happily ever after. You know where that is?” Don asks.
“I’ll meet you there.” Stella says before hanging up and stepping on the gas pedal.
****
“Lindsay!” Mac calls out, making Lindsay turn around, clutching little Lucy so tight that Lucy’s crying, tears are also falling down Lindsay’s face. “You don’t want to do this.”
“Don’t tell me what I want to do!” Lindsay cries. “Where? Where’s Danny?”
“He’s not well.”
“He’ll be here though, right?” Lindsay asks frantically. “He’ll be here, won’t he?”
“Yeah, he’ll be here. He’s just a little unconscious right now.” Mac snarls.
“So we wait.” Lindsay decides, rocking Lucy back and forth in a bid to keep her quiet. Mac is seething.
“I guess so.”
****
A helicopter flies overhead, making Lindsay suspicious. She steps up onto the ledge again.
“What did you do?” Lindsay cries. “Mac, what have you done?”
“Nothing.” Mac replies. “Danny asked me not to.” He adds, so Lindsay knows he’s not lying.
“Give me your phone.” Lindsay orders. Mac isn’t afraid of heights but he’s very careful as he moves towards the edge, gently passing Lindsay the phone, watching as she drops it, the small phone disappearing as it falls, he can’t even hear it smash. “This is all your fault y’know. Everything was fine before you took him from me.”
“You were hurting him.” Mac answers. “That’s not fine.”
“He was fine with it.” Lindsay argues. “I never wanted to marry him but he’s just so damn persistent! I didn’t want this.”
“This is your choice Lindsay.”
“That’s a lie!” Lindsay shouts. “This is the way it has to be.”
“No one is making you do this.”
“You took my Danny away.” Lindsay sobs. “You turned everybody against me. You were gonna fire me! I’ve got nothing left Mac! You took everything from me. *This* is all I have left!” She holds Lucy tight.
“You’re gonna kill her? An innocent child? Just to spite me? Just to hurt Danny?”
“She’s the only thing I have that’s mine! This way she’ll be mine forever.” Lindsay explains. Don walks out, gasping for breath, hands itchily reaching for his gun.
“You don’t want to do that Lindsay!” Don tells her, his voice trembling slightly. Lindsay shuffles on the ledge, ready to jump, but she realises.
“Where is Danny?” Lindsay asks, her voice hoarse.
“Where is Danny?” Don repeats, thinking Danny would be here with Mac.
“He busted his knee pretty bad.” Mac blinks, refusing to wince. “I left him unconscious downstairs, I’m not even sure he can walk.”
“Well get him here!” Lindsay demands. “He needs to be here.”
“Stella’s on her way,” Don tells Mac, not Lindsay. “I could tell her to get him on her way up.”
“Too late, I’m already here.” Stella voices. Lindsay laughs hysterically.
“This roof is getting crowded. Anybody else you want to bring up here? My mother maybe?”
“Would that help?” Stella asks.
“You’re not taking this seriously!” Lindsay accuses.
“I am.” Stella assures her.
“You’re not here to help me; you’re here to help Danny. Everybody is here for Danny!”
“That’s not true, you’re my friend.” Stella says. Lindsay laughs and shakes her head.
“You’re a liar. The world is full of liars and I’m sick of it. I’m doing Lucy a favour, getting her out of this hellhole.” She smiles. “Does nobody have any last words to say, because I think this has gone on long enough.”
“I thought you wanted Danny here.” Mac interrupts, hastily.
“He’s always late is Danny,” Lindsay smiles, almost fondly. It creeps Don out. “And I’m sick of waiting for him-“
“You won’t have to any longer.” Danny says, limping.
Mac rushes to him. e’s folded his sw Danny’s folded the leg of his sweatpants so it doesn’t press against his swollen knee, Don winces at the injury, Stella feels sick. Lindsay smiles. “I’m so sorry Lindsay, I should have never left you.”
Danny limps past Mac and towards Lindsay. “Please, can you forgive me one more time. I don’t deserve it but I love you. I’ll do anything to make you happy. Just take me back, baby. Please take me back. I promise I’ll be good. I love you Lindsay. Love you so much.” Danny kisses her, slowly and deeply. She melts into the kiss. She never even notices as Danny takes Lucy, making sure she doesn’t get smothered as Danny and Lindsay press together. He spins her round, still kissing, one hand stroking her cheek.
“I’m so sorry.” Danny whispers. He holds her close before letting her go. “I’m so sorry.” Lindsay realises what’s going on, she pushes Danny so hard he almost stumbles over the edge of the roof. Don drags her off him, reading her her rights and putting her in handcuffs.
“Stella, can you take Lucy and go with Don?” Danny asks softly. “Please?” Stella doesn’t ask why, but she can’t say no to him, so she does as he asks. With Don, Stella and Lucy inside the building, Danny steps up on the ledge.
“Danny, don’t!” Mac pleads.
“I should have asked you to go in with Lucy.” Danny realises with a regretful smile.
“No. My place is with you. Don’t do this.”
“I’m cursed Mac. I don’t deserve to live.”
“You’re not cursed Danny.” Mac tells him, his throat tight.
“I have got nothing to live for.”
“You have Lucy. You love Lucy.”
“I’m doing this for her Mac. She’s better off without me. You’ll take good care of her, won’t you?” Danny asks softly and Mac wants to lie, if it’ll keep Danny here, he almost thinks he’d do anything for that. But he can’t lie.
“Of course I will.” Mac replies, even softer. Danny smiles, gratefully.
“I guess that’s it then.” He takes a deep breath, steeling himself to jump. He’s heard that jumpers usually take off their glasses, because they don’t want to see their own death. Danny keeps his on, and can picture himself on the ground, a bloody mess. This isn’t the cleanest way to commit suicide, and he feels guilty for that. The guilt is another reason to jump.
“Danny, look at me, please.” Mac begs. “Turn around.” Danny does so, never stepping down from the ledge. Mac has a brief flashback to Dobson, throwing himself of the roof, but he ignores that to focus on Danny. “You don’t want to do this.”
“I do Mac. So much.” Danny confesses. “The only reason I can come up with to *not* do this is that I don’t think I deserve that kind of peace.”
“You can’t do this to me Danny!” Mac shouts, startling Danny. “I lost Aiden, I lost Angell. I lost Claire!!! I can’t go through that again. I have lost too many people and I CAN’T lose you too.”
“You’re strong, you’ll get over it, even come to realise how much I was weighing you down.”
“Look at me.” Mac begs. “Do you think this is strong? I can’t do this without you. I need you Danny!”
“Are you... crying?” Danny asks in confusion. Mac laughs hysterically, as the tears fall.
“Yeah.” Mac nods. “I am.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m scared.” Danny limps over to Mac, pulling him into a hug, an effort to comfort Mac.
“It’ll be okay.”
“Yeah, it will.” Mac clings to Danny. “Because you stepped down. Because I’ve got you.”
TBC