Title: New York State of Mind
Author: amejisuto
Fandom: CSI: NY/CSI: Miami
Pairing: Danny Messer/ Speed
Rating: R for language
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be. No harm, no foul, no money made.
Warnings/Squicks: Mild Spoilers for CSI Miami's Lost Son. This takes place after the CSI Miami episode MIA/NYC Nonstop but before CSI New York's first episode, Blink.
Summary: Danny's new lover comes to New York for a visit on vacation.
Word Count: 2,202
Beta'd by the wonderful suki_blue. Thank you love! I'll totally corrupt you to crime shows yet!
Notes: Just a short little bunny that popped in my head and drove me nutso until I wrote it. Enjoy!

There were times in the past when Danny Messer had been convinced that not only were there past lives, but he'd totally fucked up in his last one thanks to all the terrible luck he'd had. His family all but spit on the ground he walked on, even his mother when Daddy Dearest was around. The Messer name and Tanglewood followed him like a bad stink, first to college and once his wrist was busted, to the police academy. There were still cops who treated him like shit and if it wasn't for Mac Taylor's trust and protection, Danny was pretty sure he would have been left alone at more than one crime scene.

Okay, he did have two of the best friends in the world, Don Flack Jr. and Aiden Burn. And Donnie would probably kick the ass of any patrol cop that left him high and dry. Not to mention what Aiden would do -- that woman was scary. But more than once he'd heard whispers behind him when he left the room and after a while it made it hard to keep getting up every morning.

Not to mention his love life. Danny had to really trust someone to let them in. Something that most men and women didn't get. Yeah, being bi did double the chances to make a connection, but he had to keep the guys on the down low for the most part and the fact that while he might have sex on the second or third date, it still took a while for Danny to get to know and relax around a partner. Which meant they got pissed when he didn't cuddle for a long time after sex, or sleep over a lot.

Surprisingly enough, the guys got just as huffy about that, if not more so, than girls did. Go figure.

Finally though, Danny thought he might have hit the jackpot.

He figured that being friends first just might have made the difference. A lot of late night talks, complaining about their day and just getting to know each other making it so when they finally decided to take the final step to sex, it had not only been hot and heavy and intense as hell but Danny had been able to curl up with his new lover and sleep.

Now it was early morning, so early that the sun wasn't bright and annoying yet. Normally he'd be asleep since this was his day off, but he'd woken up, unused to being held in someone's arms and was just taking a moment to enjoy.

The pale arm around his middle was covered in darkish hair and Danny gave into temptation and let his fingers run up and down it. It was odd, none of the other guys had been quite as ... hairy as his new lover, but instead of turning him off, Danny was obsessed with it. It was soft and if he was a sappier kind of guy, he would have said it felt like velvet. Then again most guys didn't like being compared to shit like velvet and since his new lover could be a sarcastic bastard, it was probably a good thing that Danny would never say something like that out loud.

Still, it was nice to just lay there and enjoy the beginning of the day, a warm body against his back that Danny could relax into and just let himself be. It had taken them a while to get this far, and it wouldn't be easy for them to make time together considering their work situation, but Danny felt like he had finally found his place.

A half hour later, a cell phone rang, breaking Danny out of his blissful drifting. Danny leaned out of bed, trying to find his lover's pants since he sure as hell didn't have a ring tone that damn annoying.

His lover groaned and pulled one of the pillows over his head. Danny finally dug his phone out and poked him with it. "They ain't going away, you might as well answer it."

A hand snatched the phone from him and disappeared under the pillows. A muffled "What!" made Danny grin. He loved the fact that his lover could be a bastard.

A few moments later his lover sat up with a scowl on his face. "Run that by me again?"

Danny remained quiet so he could hear the voice on the other end of the phone. "I said ... we have a kidnapped six-year-old boy and three million dollars in diamonds that was going to be used for ransom missing. I know it's your vacation, but I'm going to need everyone to come in for this one, Speed."

Speed scowled and Danny knew it was because the man hated to disappoint his best friend. "Small problem there, H, I took a flight last night after shift. I'm kind of in New York right now. I don't even know when the next flight out is, much less if I can get a seat on it, and even then it would take three hours to get there, not including security checkpoints and flight delays."

There was a pause before Caine came back on the line, and even from a distance, Danny could hear the smirk. "I hadn't realized you were that eager to go on vacation."

Speed blushed and Danny found himself scrambling for his glasses on the bedside table so he could see better. An embarrassed Speed was not a sight to be missed. "Yeah, well it's not like I was gonna drive my bike up here, that would take most of my vacation."

"Enjoy your vacation, Speed. Thankfully I was able to catch Eric and if we need another CSI, I guess I can call night shift back in. Have fun in New York. Don't do anything I wouldn't do and say hello to Messer for me."

Speed smirked. "Yeah, well according to Artie, there isn't much you don't do, H. Be extra careful, people who snatch kids are some of the lowest of the lowlifes and despite your fantasy life, that suit of yours is not bulletproof. Take some extra patrol officers or something with you, they'll at least watch your back."

"Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs, Timothy." There was a small beep and Speed made a face at the phone.

"I swear to God that man thinks he's immortal. Either that or he's the Lone Ranger with the way he gets in his hummer and chases after the bad guys. For his next birthday I'm thinking about buying him silver bullets."

Danny laughed and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Either that or a sword." At Speed's blank look, he found himself smirking. "Never watched Highlander, eh?"

Speed snorted. "Nope. I've always been more interested in books."

Danny took his glasses back off and set them carefully on the table. He wouldn't need them for was he was planning next. "Yeah, well, I'm sure there are books based on the series. I'll find some and mail 'em to ya." He leaned over and gave his new lover a kiss, savoring the moment before breaking it off, but not moving away. "Good mornin'."

Speed gave a full body stretch that just happened to cause their groins to brush together. "A very good morning."

A few hours later, after the good morning got even better, they were getting dressed and getting ready to go out for the day. Speed was futzing with his cell phone trying to change the ringer while Danny was trying to find the spare helmet for his bike.

"Remind me to smack Eric when I get back to Miami."

Danny dug the helmet of of the back of his closet in triumph. Now Speed could ride on the back of his Harley. "I dunno, the Speed Racer song does fit you pretty well. Besides, if you go slapping him around he might take it the wrong way and then I'll have come down to Miami in a fit of jealousy."

Speed finally got the phone fixed and tossed it down before pulling Danny down to sit beside him on the bed. "Eric is so straight, he doesn't even like dating girls with short hair. But feel free to come to Miami to carry me off and have your wicked way with me anytime you want."

Danny gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Don't tempt me. I'm sure Caine wouldn't like it I drove onto his crime scene on my bike and throw you on the back of it and drive off into the sunset."

"At a crime scene, hell no. H would have a stroke. Anywhere else? He'd laugh his ass off." Speed's stomach grumbled and he stood up, pulling Danny with him. "Come on, you promised to feed me."

"You pull my arm out of my socket tugging me around and you expect food. I see how it goes. Keep it up and I'll take you to Micky D's rather than the Clinton Street Bakery."

"A bakery for breakfast, Dan?"

They grabbed their helmets and left the apartment, Danny keeping up a constant stream of breakfast choices. Thinking about food would keep him from pouncing Speed again. At least until they were both fed and had the energy for pouncing. "Yeah, it opened up a couple of years ago. They got some of the best muffins and brownies and stuff but they have a restaurant too and serve breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. Their famous for their blueberry pancakes, and they got a killer omelet with ham, peppers, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms ... the works. They got a good breakfast sandwich too if you wanna take it to go or something."

"Sitting down and having blueberry pancakes together sounds real good." They came out of Danny's apartment and stopped on the street. The neighborhood was busy, as usual and if you stood in just the right spot, you could the Manhattan skyline in the distance in between the other buildings. Danny slowed down to match his lover's pace and watched as Speed took a deep breath. "There isn't any air quite like New York air."

"Yeah, well, don't breath too deep. That shit can't be good for ya."

Speed snorted. "How else do you think I got all this hair on my chest?"

Danny chucked and moved to get on his bike, but before he could Speed stopped him with a hand on his arm. He had a serious look on his face that might have made Danny worried if he was a less confident type of guy. "Yeah?"

"I ... I haven't been back to New York in years, Danny. Not for my family or reunions or anything. Too many memories that hurt too damn bad. But since we started talking back in May, well let's just say more than once I've had to pull my attention back to what I was doing instead of wondering where you were and what you were doing. It's one of the reasons H gave me this week off even though Eric requested the same week. So I could come and see you and see if we clicked." A smile spread over Speed's face and something inside Danny's chest loosened. "And damn, did we click."

Danny gave his new lover a playful leer. "If we weren't in the middle of the street, I'd be tempted to click you right here." He stopped leering though and took a step closer. "And I gotta tell you, I'm damn glad you're here. I've been thinking of the beaches of Miami myself, and wondering if we could make out in the sand without anyone noticing." The Miami-Dade PD had a much more tolerant view of gays on the force than the NYPD did.

He took a step back before he did something stupid like kiss Speed senseless. "Now, what say we go make some new memories that'll keep us until I get some time off and it's my turn to hop on a plane."

Speed laughed and it was a genuine laugh, not one of his sarcastic chuckles when he was poking fun at someone. It was a damn good sound and Danny hoped to hear it often.

Boy, did he have it bad.

"Sounds like a damn good idea. But I have got to warn you, making out on the beaches is less than perfect. Sand gets everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. I do not want to have to go to Alexx and explain that rash." He held up Danny's spare helmet and nodded to the bike. "Now, let's get going. Someone promised me blueberry pancakes."

A few minutes later they were pulling away from Danny's apartment building, Speed keeping his balance on the back of his bike and behind his helmet Danny found himself grinning. He couldn't help but feel like something important was changing, something for the better. And while he hoped Caine and Speed's friends down in Miami found that kidnapped little boy, he was damn glad Speed flew to New York for vacation.


~Fini~