SquidgeWorld Archive

"Let's go. The reservations are for 7:30," Don nagged Mac and Danny as they both finished the tests they'd been working on and hung up their lab coats.

"We're ready," Mac assured him, smiling at him affectionately.

"Good. Come on. We've had to reschedule this three times." He turned to head for the elevator, turning around to make sure they were following him. The elevator doors had just opened when Stella interrupted.

"Danny! I need a minute of your time," she ordered, hurrying to catch them.

Danny shot Don an apologetic look. "I'll meet you there?"

Don started to object, but Mac interrupted. "It's only a block away. We'll get there before they give our table away and he'll join us as soon as he does with Stella."

Danny nodded. "I'll be there before the wine," He promised with a smile.

"Okay. We'll be waiting," Don reminded him just as the door closed.

"What do you need Stella?" Danny asked.

"Mac's birthday is next week."

"I know."

"I want to throw him a surprise party. Balloons, streamers, you and Don jumping out of a cake."

"Don and I what?" he asked before laughing loudly. "It sounds great other than that. He's going to hate it."

"I know!" she smirked.

"It sounds great. I have to meet them for dinner, but let's discuss this tomorrow?"

"Sure," she agreed.

"Stella!!" Lindsay shouted racing down the hall. "Danny! You're here! Thank God you're here!" she hugged him tightly.

"What's going on Lindsay?" Stella asked in concern.

"There was a shooting out front. Cops are down. We don't know how many yet."

"Out front," Danny echoed, paling.

"Danny!" Stella tried to grab his arm, but he'd already raced for the stairs, having decided the elevator would take too long.

"What- Mac and Don?" Lindsay asked, her eyes widening.

"Get Hawkes," Stella ordered, punching the button for the elevator.

****

Stella found chaos in the lobby as she tried to fight her way outside. She knew she couldn't be more than a couple of minutes behind Danny.

"No one is allowed out," a big officer informed her. She ignored him and darted around, fighting her way through the crowd.

"Who was hit?" she demanded. She was losing time.

"Don't know," several people told her before one finally said, "I think one of them was a CSI."

"Shit," she muttered, finally managing to make her way outside. An ambulance pealed away, but she could see more paramedics working on victims. The crowd was just as thick. She could see paramedics working over at least three bodies, but she couldn't see who they were.

"This can't be happening," she whispered just as she was jostled and turned by the crowd, causing her to catch sight of Danny.

"Danny!" she summoned loudly. He looked at her, eyes haunted. He was standing motionless next to the building and made no move toward her. It took her another minute before she was at his side. "You don't know it was them."

He shook his head. "It's them Stella. Both of them. Shots to the head. I saw them just as they were put into ambulances."

"They're going to Angel of Mercy. We'll call ahead. Come on," she ordered him.

"I lost them Stella," he shook his head. "It's too late."

"Let's go," she said, taking his arm and pulling him along the side of the building, behind the crowd, to where she could get a cab.

****

The found the Emergency Room in chaos when they finally arrived. Hawkes and Lindsay were on their way too and Hawkes was trying to get a hold of a friend of his who worked in the hospital. He had promised to call as soon as he heard back from him.

"We're looking for friends of ours. They were involved in the shooting outside precinct 12," Stella said, grabbing the arm of a nurse who passed by them.

"That's why everyone is here," she snapped and tried pulling her arm away.

"Please," Danny requested. She started to blow him off, but saw his haunted look.

"What are their names?" she asked.

"Mac Taylor and Don Flack," Stella supplied. She paled when she saw the nurse shake her head.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized sadly. "They were our first two arrivals. There... there was nothing we could do."

"I... there must be a mistake," Stella pleaded. She blinked furiously at the tears that threatened. This wasn't right! Thirty minutes ago she and Danny had been planning Mac's surprise party. Mac couldn't be gone. Not like this. Not both him and Don.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "If you want to see the bodies, I'll see what I can do once things slow down."

"Please." Danny requested. "Thank you." The nurse smiled at him sadly, nodded, and hurried away. There were still lives to try to save. "Come on Stella," Danny ordered her quietly, wrapping an arm around her waist. He led her to a set of chairs so they could wait for the other two.

****

"Danny," Sheldon said quietly from the door. Danny sat between the two autopsy, not looking at either body, but staring at his hands.

"I don't want to leave. Not yet," he pleaded.

"You have to. Sid's going to have them sent to the funeral home now."

Danny was silent for over a minute before he nodded and stood. He silently walked past Sheldon. In the hallway he found Stella and Lindsay both waiting for him. They wrapped theirs arms around him, holding him tight. He let his head rest against Stella's, seeking support from her. Lindsay and Hawkes were friends, but Stella was his last remaining constant.

Hawkes joined him a minute later and, by unspoken agreement, they all ended up at Stella's apartment.

****

"We are here today to bury Detective Mac Taylor and Detective Donald Flack, Jr.," the minister said to the gathered crowd. Danny, Stella, Lindsay, and Hawkes sat in the front row of chairs, joined by Don's parents.

Danny stared straight ahead, ignoring the speakers and the rain that was starting to fall. He'd spent the last three days completing the funeral arrangements for Mac and Don. There had been a joint viewing and now this.

He stoically accepted Mac's flag and held Stella as she cried during the twenty-one gun salute. Beside them, he knew that Hawkes was doing the same for Lindsay. He lined up with his teammates and Don's parents to greet the rest of the mourners. He managed to say the right words at the right time, but they all understood how difficult it was to lose teammates.

He greeted Horatio and the rest of the Miami team and vaguely heard Stella inviting them to the private wake that they were holding for close friends after this. His undoing came when Mrs. Flack walked up to him, hugging him tight.

"I'm so sorry for your losses Danny," she said, sniffing back her tears. It was the first time she'd managed to speak to him, having dissolved into tears at all other attempts.

"I'm sorry about Don," Danny whispered.

"We are too," Don Sr. said, coughing slightly. "He was a great son, a great cop. He was proud to call you friend Danny."

"Thank you sir," Danny said softly, looking at his feet.

"We know that we haven't exactly supported the decision you made, but Donnie loved you. You and Mac both. We know that. We'd love to have you visit, anytime," Mrs. Flack told him. "And Donnie would want you to have this," she pushed Don's flag into Danny's hands.

"I- I can't," Danny tried to protest but both people shook their heads.

"He'd want you to have it Danny," Don's father insisted. "We want you to have it."

"Thank you," he managed and found himself enveloped in a hug by Mrs. Flack.

"Visit us anytime," she ordered him firmly.

"Please do," her husband agreed and they slowly walked away, holding on to each other.

"Stella," Danny pleaded harshly. He couldn't do this.

Stella didn't say a word, just hugged him fiercely.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the four of them were the only ones left.

"Time to go?" Lindsay asked hesitantly.

"I need a minute. Alone. Please," Danny asked.

The other three nodded. "We'll wait in the car," Stella said. She offered him an umbrella but he refused it.

He nodded and waited for them to leave before turning back to the two gravestones.

He fell to his knees, the rain falling harder and starting to soak through. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked quietly and then shouted. "What am I supposed to do!!" His head fell forward and he hunched over. "What am I supposed to do?" he whispered brokenly.

"Go on Danny."

His head shot up. "Mac?"

"You go on Danny."

"Don?" He didn't see anyone, but he swore he heard their voices. "I can't. How do I do that without you?"

"You'll find a way."

"I... I don't want to," he admitted.

"You have to," Mac ordered him, sounding just as commanding as usual.

"Please."

"Make us proud Danny," Don said.

"Don't leave me."

"We'll wait for you."

"We love you."

And they were gone.

Danny broke down, sobbing for the first time since this had happened. Mac and Don were gone. He was alone.

****

Danny spent the first few nights at Stella's before returning home, despite objections from his teammates.

"It's so soon Danny," Lindsay protested.

"I have to face the apartment some time. If I keep putting it off, it'll be worse," he pointed out.

"Just don't do anything stupid," Stella said.

He managed a half smirk for her, "You do care."

"Of course we do." She hugged him tightly. "We can't... Danny don't do anything stupid," she repeated, pleading slightly.

"I promise," he told her, hugging her back. "They told me to go on... so I am."

"Good," she managed a teary smile. "If you need anything to night, just call us, okay?"

"I Promise."

****

The years passed slowly. The four remaining members of the team pulled together, determined to honor Mac and Don's memories. Stella took over the lab with Danny assisting her.

It was a year before they added a new member to the team and then they only did it because Hawkes had decided to return to the M.E.'s office so that he and Lindsay could formally be together.

A year later Stella and Danny were witnesses at an impromptu wedding ceremony in Vegas when feuding parents made Lindsay and Hawkes decide it was more important to have only the family they had chosen as witnesses.

Both spoiled their first honorary nephew less than a year later.

"He's beautiful," Stella said told Lindsay and Sheldon, cooing at the little boy she held in her arms.

"What's his name?" Danny asked.

Lindsay and Sheldon exchanged a look before, by mutual decision, Sheldon spoke. "We thought Donald Mac," he said hesitantly.

Both Stella and Danny looked at the baby and smiled softly. "It's a great name," Stella said, blinking back tears. She cleared her throat and looked over at Danny who was staring at the ground. She nudged him and he looked up, giving her a watery smile.

Danny took the baby from Stella, holding him carefully. "Donald Mac. That's quite a name to live up to little guy," he said quietly. He looked over at Lindsay and Sheldon who were both waiting for his reaction. "They'd be honored," he assured them. Their answering smiles were immediate.

"You think so?" Lindsay asked and he nodded.

"Welcome to the world, little guy," Danny said softly, welcoming the first of what would be many honorary nieces and nephews.

Danny watched Stella finally fall in love, standing up for her in the wedding because she insisted. After all, he was her best friend now, just as she was his.

He was the favorite uncle to a new brood of nieces and nephews and took over the lab when Stella left a few years later to devote her attention to her children. Not that she ever stayed away for too long.

There was one time, when he thought he was going to finally be reunited with Mac and Don, but they both insisted it wasn't time yet and he woke to find Stella, Lindsay, and Hawkes sitting around him. After yelling at him for scaring them, they doted on him until he was up and around, reminding him that he still had family.

One day during lunch, Lindsay finally worked up the nerve to ask what she'd been wondering about for years.

"You never moved on," Lindsay said, out of the blue one day as they were eating lunch.

"I didn't," he confirmed, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"Why?"

He poked at his salad before answering. "Because I've never been able to." He was silent again for a minute. Stella never asked because she seemed to understand. But she was Stella and had been Mac's best friend. She knew more about the relationship they had, had than Lindsay did. "They ... we ... it sounds cheesy to say it, but we completed each other. We balanced each other out to an extent that I didn't realize until they were gone. I know, it doesn't make much sense, but...." he trailed off and shrugged.

She reached out and took his hand, her eyes shining with tears. "I understand. That's how Sheldon and I are."

He managed a small smile of his own. "Good. Everyone deserves to find love like that."

"You know that they'd want you to be happy. Even if it was moving on."

He shook his head. "They're waiting for me. So I'm waiting for them." He informed her. He leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Thanks Lindsay. You've been a good friend." He saw her blush faintly and added. "Back to work now," before he hurried away.

It was many years after that before he finally found Mac and Don again. He and Lindsay, who was now leading the lab with him were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time when the scene they were working hadn't been cleared.

He never knew what hit him. One second he was dusting for prints, the next he was on the ground and Lindsay was leaning over him.

"Don't go Danny," she pleaded, tears falling.

But it was the men behind her that caught his attention.

"Please?" he asked softly. He was so tired of being alone.

"It's time Danny," Mac said, smiling softly.

"We waited for you," Don added, holding out a hand.

Danny's gaze flicked to Lindsay for a second. "Don't cry Montana," he ordered, weakly raising a hand. She smiled at the age-old nickname. "They waited for me."

"They waited?" she asked questioningly and then realization struck her. "Danny...."

"They waited," he repeated as his eyes slowly closed.

And then he was wrapped in two pairs of arms. For the first time in too many years he felt complete as his lover embraced him. Finally, he was no longer alone. They were together. Just as it should be.