Fic: A Bad Taste In Your Mouth (One Blood, One Life) (CSI:NY AU, gen, FRM) 6/7

[kathierif_fic]

Title: A Bad Taste In Your Mouth (One Blood, One Life)
Author: Kathie (kathierif_fic)
Fandom: CSI:NY
Pairing: none. This is gen. OMG.
Rating: FRM

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5



6.

The actual execution of their plan was easier than he’d expected, Danny thought while resisting the urge to scratch his throat. The thought of someone else’s blood drying on his skin made his fingertips tingle with the desperate wish of washing it off, but he couldn’t.

This was their only chance of escaping their ordeal alive, or at least, it was Don’s last chance of escaping relatively unscathed. He simply couldn’t mess this up.

He almost jumped out of his skin when the vampire crouched down next to him, his eyes feverishly bright, and reached for Danny’s leg, to unwind his leg from the chain. If he smelled the fresh blood, he didn’t visibly react to it, as far as Danny could tell. He allowed Andersen to drag him to his feet and off, and if he dragged his feet and stumbled, it was not just because he was exhausted and weakened from the blood loss.

He allowed the vampire to pet a hand through Danny’s stringy hair and coo at him without doing more than scowl at him, and then, long, no longer fragile-looking fingers tilted his head back, and Danny felt his stomach do the by now familiar flip. He knew what was coming, and he had to fight against every instinct he possessed to not try and fight and break the vampire’s nose.

He needed to let him drink, he reminded himself firmly and pressed the tip of his tongue between his own teeth, to stop himself from jerking away. He needed to let Don’s blood, caked thick on his skin, get into Andersen’s mouth, into his digestive system – and he needed their trick to work, needed Andersen to double over with pain, at least, needed the vampire distracted so that Danny…

Teeth pierced his skin, and Danny’s thoughts came to an abrupt stop as he realized what exactly he had to do.

He exhaled softly and allowed his body to grow heavy, to lean against Andersen a little, pretending that all fight had left his body, that he was too weak to do more than stand here and take it, when his fingers, still nimble despite everything he’d gone through in the past weeks, slipped, unnoticed, into Andersen’s pocket and closed around the key to the padlock. Even if their plan didn’t work, they now still had a way of escaping, if he played his cards right.

Carefully, he pulled his hand back. He was not one second too early, because suddenly, Andersen yanked himself away from Danny. A broken, wet growl escaped his throat, and he reached out, to touch his fingertips to his blood-covered lips.

Danny grimaced at the sensation of more blood running down his chest, from the still open wounds in his throat, but those thoughts were quickly pushed to the back of his mind when Andersen made another choking sound and took a stumbling step toward Danny, his hand reaching out and his lips pulled back in a snarl.

“What did you do?” the vampire whispered accusingly. “What have you done?”

Anger welled up in Danny; red-hot anger that filled him and left no room for anything else. He took a step back, his back pressed into the rough wall behind him, and balled his hands to fists.

“How could you! You love me,” the vampire now growled. “You offered yourself to me, and now…” He coughed again, and his eyes bulged out as he struggled to understand what had happened.

“Guess what,” Danny growled. “I lied!”

His fist hit Andersen’s nose with a satisfying crunch, and the vampire crumbled to the ground without making a sound.

Danny stood over him and rubbed his fist while breathing heavily.

“That felt good,” he muttered before grimacing. He didn’t know how much time they had, but he knew what he had to do.

Freeing Don and dragging the still unconscious vampire back to where the chain was hanging off the wall was done within what Danny felt was a relatively short time.

“Not sure how long this is going to hold him,” Don said as he clicked the padlock shut with an air of grim satisfaction hanging around him. “But for now, it should do fine.”

“Great,” Danny said and rubbed his hand again. “Which way now?”

“No idea. Left,” Don replied and gave him a grin. “If we’re really in the sewers, we probably should take the next possible way up, see where we come out, get to where people are.”

Danny nodded, and together, they stumbled off, leaning against each other and against the walls for support.

It was their only chance of escaping, and the knowledge of that gave them the strength to carry on, even when they felt like giving up, their muscles trembling from the exertion after the long days of just sitting around and being forced into stillness.

~*+*~

“Taylor.” Mac coughed uncomfortably when he heard the croak of his own voice. He felt like hell, almost too weak to do much more than shuffle from his bedroom to the living room and back, sipping on too cold blood to keep himself barely functioning.

“Officer Monroe,” a young voice replied. Mac recognized her immediately – Lindsay Monroe, the young cop who was friends with Danny. He felt himself grow more alert just from hearing her voice. “I hope I didn’t wake you up…”

“Any news?” he asked, interrupting her, and forced himself to sit up straighter.

“Yes,” Lindsay said, and there was no way her voice sounded anything but triumphant. “We found them.”

“What?”

“Well, it’s more like they found us,” Lindsay admitted. “But they’re alive. In a horrible shape, but they are alive. They’re fine, Mac.”

“How horrible?” Mac asked and coughed as his voice threatened to break with emotion.

Lindsay inhaled quietly. “I’m not exactly sure,” she admitted. “But they’re both alive, and conscious. I think at least one of them is anxious to see you.”

“We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Mac managed before chuckling in embarrassment. “As soon as you tell me where I can find them.”

Lindsay laughed as well, a sound of relief, before doing so.

~*+*~

“Hell, Mac!”

Mac smiled and stepped further into the room. “It’s good to see you too, Don,” he replied dryly before stepping up to the bed and wrapping his hand tightly around Don’s wrist.

Don grimaced. “You have no idea,” he agreed quietly. “Even if you look like someone just dug you up!”

Mac’s fingertips brushed against the vein at the inside of Don’s wrist. “Those were the worst thirty days of my life,” he admitted. “And I think I’m not the only one who feels that way.”

“Yeah, Lindsay told us,” Don said. “How are you doing, Mac? Do you need…” He stopped himself and laughed embarrassedly. “That’s a stupid question, of course you need to feed.”

“Yes,” Mac admitted hoarsely. “But I think I’ll let Sheldon go first.” He gave Don a soft smile. “As soon as I’m sure that you’re fine.”

“I’m good,” Don immediately said. “A concussion. Scrapes and bruises.” He glanced down at his hands. “I was of no use for him, so he left me mostly alone.”

Mac nodded. “If you don’t mind,” he said hesitantly. “I’d send you Sheldon.” He smiled weakly. “I talked to your doctor, and he said you can probably go home tomorrow.”

“I’m looking forward to my own bed. And a shower,” Don admitted with a smile before growing serious again. “Hey, Mac?”

“Hmm?”

“It wasn’t Danny’s fault. That this one went crazy and…you know.” He shrugged and looked down at their hands. “And I really think you should talk to Danny. About things. And everything. And you know.”

Mac smiled slightly. “That just didn’t make any sense,” he pointed out. “But I know what you mean. I will.”

His thumb brushed over Don’s wrist again. “I’ll be back later,” he promised as he rose to his feet. “And you can tell me the details of what happened then, okay?”

Don nodded. “Okay.”

~*+*~

“Danny.”

Danny whirled around on his heel and protectively wrapped his arms around himself before he caught himself and straightened again. “Mac,” he replied, his voice hitching slightly.

Mac took a step forward. Up to now, when he’d talked to Danny, Don had always been there, but Don was resting now, after letting both Sheldon and him feed, and after telling him everything he remembered about the past four weeks. He was alone with the reluctant and stubborn Donor now, and he knew he had to pick his words carefully if he wanted to keep Danny in his life.

After hearing Don’s report, he was more certain than ever that he wanted to do exactly that. He wanted to keep him. He wanted to give Danny the chance to live up to his potential; a potential he’d only caught little glimpses of.

He wanted to see more.

He wanted to get to know Danny. He wanted to gain his trust and become a friend.

He wanted to learn who the Danny behind the hostile defensiveness was.

“How are you?” he asked hesitantly.

Danny shrugged. His hand instinctively went to his throat, where a bandage hid the fresh wounds. It made a hot flash of anger run through Mac’s insides; the thought that someone else had touched Danny almost unbearable.

“I’m fine,” Danny said quickly, as if he’d felt Mac’s mood shift.

“No,” Mac replied. “You’re not. Danny, what happened to you…” He took a step toward the other man and immediately froze when Danny flinched. “You’re not fine,” he said softly.

Danny shrugged. “I will be,” he said confidently. “I always am.”

Mac inhaled slowly. “I want…” he started before stopping himself. “I want to make you an offer,” he then said and sat down on the uncomfortable plastic chair next to the bed. “Are you willing to hear me out?”

Danny nodded, but he didn’t move closer. Instead he stayed as far away from Mac as he could.

It wasn’t unexpected, Mac told himself firmly. Danny didn’t know him the way Don knew him. Danny didn’t know yet that he was safe with Mac.

Those were all things Mac wanted Danny to learn.

“I did a little digging,” he said and held up the file he’d brought with him. “Found out some things about you.”

Danny frowned. “Why?” he asked, suspicious but at the same time, still curious about where this was going.

Mac shrugged and smiled a little. “Let’s just say I was curious,” he said. “And I had quite some time on my hands.” He grew serious again. “A little too much time, if you ask me,” he admitted and shifted slightly in his chair. “Here’s the thing, Danny: I would like to have you as my Donor. Very much.”

Danny opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, Mac held up a hand. “I know you want to be a cop, and I talked to Sheldon about this. There is nothing that prevents you from staying a cop, Danny, although we would very much appreciate it if you would consider transferring to the Crime Lab.”

Danny’s eyes widened, and his mouth opened again, but no sound escaped. Mac knew that Danny had put in a request to transfer to the crime lab, and that he’d been rejected based on his volatile temper and his alleged connections to the Tanglewood gang.

“You don’t have to decide now,” Mac said quietly. “But…I hope you think about it and make a good decision for yourself.”

Danny nodded mutely, and Mac gave him another small smile that tugged on his skin and rose. He intended on leaving Danny enough space and time to make a decision without being influenced in any way.

He was almost at the door when Danny finally spoke.

“How’s Don?”

Mac stopped. “He’s fine,” he said, not turning around. “A hot shower, a few days of rest, some good meals, and he’ll be okay. He can go home tomorrow morning. Sheldon is with him.”

“He was worried more about you than about his own life,” Danny said quietly. “All the time we were caught down there, he was only worried about you and me and never really about himself.”

“He’s a good guy,” Mac said, trying to keep his voice neutral. “I’m very honored that he’s my friend.”

Danny fell quiet again, and Mac reached for the doorknob when a soft cough made him stop again.

“Do you…you know.” Danny swallowed nervously. “Do you need blood?”

Mac slowly turned around and gave Danny a thoughtful look. Danny was still standing on the other side of the room, his arms still crossed across his chest, and he was licking his lips nervously and bouncing on the balls of his bare feet.

“Yes,” he said honestly. “I do.” He had planned on giving Don a day or two before approaching him, if he was honest, and he knew that he hadn’t expected Danny to broach this topic on his own.

“Do you want some?” Danny asked hesitantly, surprising Mac again.

He chuckled. “Yes,” he said. “Of course I do. But you need rest, Danny. You already gave too much in the past thirty days, your doctor said you’re borderline anemic.”

Danny’s shoulders slumped – Mac didn’t know if it was from disappointment or relief.

“Okay, then,” he murmured, and Mac gave him a soft smile.

“When you’re healthy,” he said. “Let’s talk about it then, okay?”

“Okay,” Danny said again, and Mac finally left the room, a happy smile on his face and his heart clenching in his chest with love and relief.

~*+*~

“Thought I might find you here.”

Danny looked up and squinted at the lanky figure before making room on the sun-warmed bench.

“You found me,” he said with a small smile. “I thought they’d let you go?”

“They did.” Don sat down and nudged him slightly. “I wanted to check up on you.”

“I’m fine.” The words left his lips easily, and Danny even managed a small smile in Don’s direction. “Enjoying the sunlight.”

“Yeah,” Don said and stretched out his legs. “They found Andersen. What was left of him.”

Danny flinched slightly. “He’s dead?” he asked. “And there’s no doubt it’s him?”

“The ashes contained his DNA. Yeah, it was him.” Don nodded.

Danny didn’t reply, and they sat in silence for a long moment, until Danny shifted.

“What’s gonna happen now?” he asked hesitantly.

Don turned toward him. “Now you get better,” he said. “And then…I hear Mac offered you a position in the lab.”

“He did,” Danny admitted. “But I haven’t made a decision yet.”

“Haven’t you?” Don asked quietly, and Danny, again, didn’t reply.

Finally, Don sighed. “It’s all up to you, man,” he said. “But you gotta make a decision. You, and nobody else can do it for you.”

“I know,” Danny said and took a deep breath.

If he was honest with himself, he already had made that decision. He just…had to acknowledge it.

TBC