Title: Parallel
By: boho-beata
Rating: FRT
Fandom: CSI: NY
Pairing: Danny/Flack
Summary: They had tried before, but it never worked... Don was set on making them last when Danny had given up, but with these circumstances, the roles are reversed.
Disclaimer: You're funny...
A/N: Set in November, sort of a little Thanksgiving fic... sort of, very very sort of.

Danny and Flack had tried to do the 'couple' thing before... several times actually. It never seemed to worked, though, and it was always for the same reason: Danny needed attention and Don didn't give it.

The first time they tried, it was the first time Don had been with a guy. Danny just figured that Don was shy, so he let it go. They broke up within a month.

The second time, Don was the one who (re-)initiated their 'relationship'. For about a week, everything was good... then work became more important than Danny and Don didn't even notice Danny had left him until a week after it happened.

It was an ongoing cycle for them for almost a year. Danny was ready to give up, he knew that there was always something that would break them up; Don, on the other hand, wasn't so quick to throw in the towel. He asked Danny for one more chance. If he screwed that up, they were over and things would go back to how they were when they were just friends (sexually frustrated and 'pining' for each other).

This time, Don felt, could be it. It was two months into the relationship and things were going smoothly... until Danny (not Don) started working double shifts... daily. Don understood that both their schedules were hectic but at least Don tried to make time for Danny. At that point, they hadn't seen each other for more than two minutes for almost a week, and that was starting to irk Don.

Don wanted to talk to Danny about this, he really did... but Danny came home after Don fell asleep and left before he woke up; or maybe he just didn't come home at all. Don didn't know; Danny was like a stranger lately. Anytime he confronted Danny, there was always an excuse ready to make sure they couldn't talk for more than a minute.


Maybe Don was a tad bit more bothered than just irked...

With all the free time on his hands, Don didn't have much to do but think... and thinking never leads to anything good.

He'd sit there and just mull over what had happened to bring this odd change in Danny and each time, he'd come to the same conclusion: Nothing.

He had done.. nothing... nothing wrong at all. Hell, he was basically the perfect boyfriend, if he could say so himself.

Then, of course, that would lead him to think of what else could possibly be making Danny so unlike the Danny he was in love with.

Another guy... or girl.

That was the only conclusion that made sense to Don, not to mention, it popped up a hell of a lot more times than just once or twice; that, of course, made it right.

In his mind, Don had been formulating a way to get to talk to Danny, because, hey, if he was getting cheated on, he had a right to know, y'know?

He'd thought about it for a couple of days and he had a general idea of what to say, how to say it, stuff like that... he was just lacking the guts to do it.... but he was set on doing it... soon... not now... like it was happening... right now...

Danny wasn't supposed to be home yet was the first thought in Don's mind when he was interrupted from his previous thoughts of Danny when, speak of the devil, Danny walked in through the front door, rubbing his hands to warm them up from the cold autumn air.

"Don? What're ya still doing up?"

Don looked at him oddly, he tilted his head slightly and opened his mouth to speak, but shook his head and shrugged. "I.. don't know. What time is it?"

"It's past midnight, Donnie, are you all right?" Danny came over and checked Don's forehead, which angered Don... Danny was acting like nothing was wrong, like he hadn't been avoiding Don for over a week, like he actually cared.

Before he knew what he was doing, Don was standing and had a vice-like grip on Danny's wrist, caught in mid-air from moving to check Don's forehead.

"Uh, Don? That sorta hurts.." Danny said cautiously, looking around nervously. "Did I miss something?"

"How about two weeks of this," He gestured between himself and Danny, "Relationship?"


Danny smiled nervously at looked down. "Oh, that... uh yeah, I was gunna explain that.."

"Well, we have time now," Don let go and sat down on the couch, looking up at Danny expectingly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh, come on, I haven't thought of an excuse yet," Danny joked, trying to lighten the mood of the room, but only earning a glare from Don. "Ooookay, not up for joking tonight."

Danny started pacing back and forth in front of the couch, wrenching his hat nervously. Don watched him with patient, but sharp, eyes.

"Well, uh, Don, y'know, this is like the 20 millionth time we've went out.."

"It's the third, Danny, the third."

"Same difference..." Danny shrugged with a small smile, which made Don smile just a little bit.

"But uh, yeah, back on topic..." Danny sighed, "Well.. uh... I don't know where I'm going with this..." He chuckled and shook his head, falling down onto the couch.

"Let's start with, 'Don, I'm sorry, but I'm leaving you for insert name here'."

"Whaaaaaat?" Danny looked at his partner with the most confused expression he could muster. "You think I'm cheating on you...?"

"Well, it sorta seems like it, Dan, yer never home, ya never wanna talk to me, not to mention, I haven't been laid in almost 2 weeks!"

Danny had to snicker at the last part, "Well, ya got Lefty and Righty," He waved his hands, respectively, and smirked.

"Danny," Don glared at him.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry.."

"Mind explaining to me why you've taken on enough overtime for the rest of the team to take a whole month off?"

"It's not that much.."

"Explain anyway."

Danny sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "..I can't.."

"Why not?"

"If I tell ya that, I might as well tell ya why too," Danny muttered.

Don sighed and decided he wasn't going to get any straight answers out of Danny. "There's no one else?" He asked softly, looking over at Danny with big blue eyes, filled with insecurity and sadness.

"No," Danny shook his head and leaned over to kiss him. "Y'know I'd never do that to ya."

"Yeah," Don sighed and stood up, "Good night."

Danny watched him retreat to the bedroom, then pulled his cell phone out as soon as the door was closed.

"Mac..? Yeah, sorry, but.. I know it's late, Mac, listen, please? Uh, you know how I'm working overtime to get some days off... uh well, no, I'm not taking that back, let me finish..." Danny looked back to see if Don had come out or anything. "No, I was just gunna ask, if I could just finish the extra hours after the little break I wanna take. I know that's not the deal... but this is important... okay, okay, we'll talk tomorrow. Bye."

Danny took off his coat and left it on the couch before standing up and heading to the bedroom.

Hopefully, Don would forgive him when he found out just what he had planned.

For the rest of the week, Danny continued to work overtime -- Mac had cut him a deal:  Finish the rest of the week like he planned, go back to working regular times, then... I can't tell you that or it will ruin the story.

Anywho, as Danny worked his long hours, he tried his best to at least have lunch with Don, but as the days progressed, Don grew more and more reluctant to even have lunch with Danny.

By the end of the week, all lunch with Don was a trip to the vending machine and a quick kiss on the cheek.

How romantic.

It was Saturday now and Danny had both today and Sunday off... Don didn't.  He was supposed to, Danny knew this, but it was 10 in the morning and Danny was freezing in bed because there was no warm body to wake up next to.

There was something wrong with this picture.

'Two wrongs don't make a right, Donnie-boy,' Danny thought as he pulled himself out of bed and to his closet.  "But three lefts do."

With that, he dressed himself and called Mac:  he was coming in today.

If Don wanted to get away from him, he wasn't going to make it this easy. 

When he arrived at the lab, he noticed Don in the breakroom, laughing it up like all was right in the world... and with who else but Adam.

Why did Adam always cause these rifts in their relationship?

Sure, it was okay when Danny and Adam hung out, because, yeah, they were friends, and ex-boyfriends... but still, the friend part mattered.

But for Don to hang out with Adam and to laugh like that... oh, Danny was jealous.

His ex-boyfriend/current best friend was making his current boyfriend/other best friend laugh like he was having the time of his life... right in their own workplace!  (How's that for Jerry Springer?)

However, Danny knew better than to cause a scene, so he just held his head high indignantly and went to his desk.

Don had finally noticed that Danny had come into work a couple of hours later... only because it just so happened that Danny was the CSI on his case... by himself... and no one else... what a hoot.

"So, ya ready to go the scene?" Don asked, awkwardly standing next to Danny, who was just peering up at him from his seat.

Without a word, Danny stood up and put his coat on.  "Two can play this game, Flack," Danny muttered and started walking away.

"What game?  If we're playing a game, I sure as hell didn't start it, you did," Don walked after him, trying to keep his voice down.

"Hey, I said sorry, didn't I?  Then you started avoiding me.  And what is this, working on Saturday?  You never work on Saturday."  They were in the elevator now, luckily, by themselves.

"I wasn't avoiding you; I had work to do, y'know, the stuff I get paid to do?" Flack retorted, clearly avoiding the working on Saturday issue.

"Then what about today, huh?" Danny asked, stepping out of the elevator when it stopped.

Flack followed him and tried to think of an excuse.  "I.. Well, I..."

"Yeah, you're avoiding me, moron.  And what's this flirting with Adam, huh?" Danny asked, stopping so Flack could lead the way to his car.

"What?" Flack was taken back by that; as if Adam was his type, pfffft. 

Danny stayed quiet, his arms crossed and his eyebrows furrowed as he followed Don to his car.

"Danny, ya gotta believe me.  Adam was just being dumb.  He was tryin' ta make me feel better," Don explained, looking at Danny out of the corner of his eyes.

"Right," Danny muttered, completely missing the part about how Flack apparently wasn't feeling too good.

"Besides, y'know that Adam's shackin' up with Doc," Flack smirked, knowing Danny didn't know.

"So the only reason you're not in some closet with Ad-- did you say Adam's sleepin' with Hawkes?" Danny stopped walking, a look of amusement gracing his features.

"Yeah," Don grinned and slipped his fingers through Danny's belt loops, "Besides, ya know you're the only one for me," He smiled cheesily and leaned down to kiss him.  Danny's hands found their way to Don's hair (a girly aspect of him Don would never let him live down) and he started to move backwards, his back making contact with Don's car...

...and then the car alarm went off and scared Danny out of his wits, which caused him to jump and bump heads with Don.

They pulled apart and Danny glared at Don for not turning the alarm off while Don just gave him a sheepish look.

The funny part?  They both had busted lips from when Danny jumped.

That should be fun to explain...

The first person to see Danny and Don after their little kissing 'incident' was Adam… and let's just say he didn't let either of them live it down for the rest of week, which, in a way, was a good thing, because that week just happened a week in which Don and Danny were both overloaded with work and had to stay late everyday; this time, though, neither of them were planning it that way. Ironic, isn't it?

Whenever Adam would make a comment about how Danny and Don didn't know how to aim or how they really must have liked it rough, both Don and Danny would just smile a little and look down, blushing slightly.

Though, that was the only time that work didn't swarm their minds.

By the time Friday night rolled around, they both had forgotten about any tension from preceding weeks.

They were sprawled out on the couch, exhausted and ready to just sleep the weekend away. Don was all ready dozing off, ready to make the couch his bed for the night because he was just too tired to move anymore.

He was just about to really fall asleep when he felt Danny jump up suddenly, which resulted in Don spazzing out for a second because he had been startled, not scared.

"I forgot something," Danny muttered and stood up, walking away to the bedroom.

Don glared at his retreating back. There was no reason that Danny had to go move all suddenly and sc-- startle Don like that. No reason. Quietly moving away and gently moving Don's feet off his lap would have been just fine.


But, no, Danny had to be dramatic about it and jump up like a scared little cat, which made Don jump up like a scar-- startled little cat.


And, wow, Don really did complain a lot inside his head.

So much that he didn't realize Danny had come back into the room until he heard a quiet chuckle come from him.

"Are you whining in yer head again?" Danny teased, smirking.

"No," Don rolled his eyes and sat up. "Wha'd ya forget that ya hadda go jump up like that?"

"Why? D'I scare ya?" Danny grinned, knowing that Don would deny it.

"No, just disrupted my peace."

"Right."

"Shut up."

"Then I guess you don't wanna know my surprise…"

"Surprise?" Don seem mildly intrigued.

"Yeah, surprise. The one that I hadda work my ass for."

"All right, spill."

"Well, how do you feel about Vermont?"

Don looked at Danny as if he had grown a third head. "Vermont? The country?"

"That's Vietnam," Danny resisted the urge to smack his palm to his face. "Vermont, the state."

"Oh… oh yeah, the one's that real pretty during fall, right?"

"Yeah," Danny's cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so much.

"Well, uh, I dunno… I've never been there. Why?"

"What if I told you I got both of us the week off, talked to both our parents and got out of Thanksgiving dinner, and got us a nice little cabin to stay in during our week off… in Vermont?"

"I'd say you're nuts," Don looked at Danny with astonishment.

"Then say I'm nuts, but I did," Danny grinned, holding out a brochure with a picture of Vermont in the fall on the front.

"We got the whole week off and we get to spend it together… in a different state. No family, no work, no nothing, just us."

"Well, aren't you a little romantic fool?" Don teased, taking a hold of Danny's wrist and pulling him down onto his lap.

"Well, aren't you a sucker for romance?" Danny quipped back, smirking and dropping the brochure on the couch.

"Well, yeah," Don grinned. "So this is why you were working all that overtime, to make enough money?"

"Well, yeah, and because I ran outta sick days," Danny chuckled, "So I got Mac to make a deal with me." He moved so he was straddling Don. "All for you, big guy."

"Interesting," Don nodded, all ready fingering the waistline of Danny's jeans. "So, when do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning," Danny answered, already busy with unbuttoning Don's dress shirt.

"And when do we come back?"

"A week later."

"I like that."

"I knew you would."

"I love you."

"I -- wait, wha?" Danny stopped focusing on the last stubborn button on the dress shirt and looked up at Don. "You what?"

"I… love you," Don said again, his eyes locking with Danny's.

"I, uh, well, I love you, too," Danny smiled and blushed, looking down at his hands. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"I, uh… well, uh… what happens now?" Danny asked, not sure what to do since he had never really reached this level of intimacy with anyone before.

"You get yer damn pants off and we make it official."

"I like that."

"I knew you would."