Title: Sure Shot
By: A.S. Kessler
Pairing: Danny/Don
Rating: NC-17
Dedication: To Top41, for her excellent as usual Beta
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Don't own it. Not making any money on it. Just for fun.
Summary: Shooting hoops in the park isn't supposed to be hazardous to your health.

***

"Foul!"

Danny Messer stopped mid-court and stared at Don Flack with the most incredulous expression on his handsome face that he could muster. "Foul? What? Where? What've you been smokin'? That wasn't a foul."

"Charging," the taller, dark-haired man told him. "That was a full-on block with your shoulder. Hell, Messer, that was damn near a body check. Gimme the ball."

"I'll give you a ball," Danny snipped at his friend and - at the moment - rival. "If you can take it from me," he added with a glint of mischief behind his crystal blue eyes.

Don Flack knew his friend well enough to know that he wasn't about to just take the basketball from Danny without difficulty. He shook his head and waved his hand at Danny dismissively, then headed for the bench. "Break first," he said. He was winded and by the way Danny's chest rose and fell, he was also. Both men had been playing for over an hour.

Danny couldn't argue with that suggestion. He tucked the basketball under his arm and walked over to join Don. He set the ball next to his gym bag and squatted down to fish through the blue canvas bag for his water bottle.

Don draped a gray towel around his sweaty neck and blotted his face with a corner. His pale blue t-shirt was nearly completely soaked through with sweat and his shorts clung to his legs. He glanced at Danny, who was also soaked with sweat. Danny's black wife-beater shirt clung to him like a second skin and sweat dripped down the sides of his neck, on his nose and chin and dripped along his hair.

Danny downed a third of the contents of his water bottle, then dumped another third over his head. "I don't know what you're whinin' about Flackie," Danny teased. "You're up eight points."

"I'm up ten points," Don reminded him. "You cheat."

"I don't cheat."

Don shook his head at his friend. "Okay, you don't cheat. You manipulate the results and body check in basketball. What are you like at hockey?"

Danny glanced up into Don's face and flashed him an almost angelic smile. "Did you know that, in the right hands, a hockey stick could be considered a lethal weapon?"

"Is there any sport you play that doesn't turn into a violent free-for-all?" Don asked him.

Danny batted his eyelashes at Don. "Does chess count?"

"No."

Danny ran over the list of sports he played, talking more to himself than to Don. "Baseball… basketball… handball... hockey… sex… volleyball… football…" He stood up slowly and faced Don. "No, that about covers it."

"Sex is a violent sport?" Don asked him incredulously.

Danny shrugged. "With you, it can be," he teased. "I always end up black and blue afterwards."

Don opened his mouth to argue with him and realized he couldn't find a flaw in Danny's logic.

The park where the two men played was only about eight blocks from Danny's apartment. It was a small playground and had a single basketball court off to the side. The area was surrounded by what Danny referred to as "low high rises". The park itself had six benches, swings, an old merry-go-round, climbing bars and two slides.

Don looked over as four hispanic guys walked toward them. One had a basketball tucked under his arm and all four were dressed to play. The four eyed Danny and Don for a minute. The one with the ball called over, "Hey... you two still playin'?"

Danny pointed behind him and nodded. "Half-court," he replied. "That half's open." He indicated the half of the court that he and Don weren't using and then reached for the ball. Don was faster and snagged it first.

"You cheat, Messer, remember? My ball out."

Danny rolled his eyes and put his water bottle down, then went to try to block Don's run for the basket. The four men on the other court started their game.

It wasn't long before Don and Danny were both winded again from exertion. Danny was still losing but he'd closed the gap by four. Danny stopped to catch his breath and rested the ball under one arm. A loud crack echoed off the buildings. Danny's blue eyes searched Don's face for answers as another crack and pop sounded. The ball under Danny's arm deflated quickly and his arm burned like it had been seared. On the other court, one of the four young men fell to his knees, a dark red stain spread across his jersey.

Don closed the distance between him and Danny in three long strides and tackled his friend. He heard another pop and felt something brush past him even as he caught Danny's shirt. They were sitting ducks there in the open. Don grabbed a fist full of Danny's tank top and yanked him toward the playground. "Move! Move!"

Danny's feet were moving even before they hit the ground again. He dropped what was left of the basketball and bolted for the playground, right behind Don. As the older men scattered, two more shots sounded. One ricocheted with a loud ping off the metal backboard. The second entered the leg of one of the other basketball players and he dropped with a yell.

By now, the few children that were in the playground area realized that something was up. Don pulled one little dark skinned girl off the merry-go-round and crouched behind it with her. She screamed.

"Down!" Don yelled to her and the others. "Get down! Get behind the slides and stay down!" When he turned back, Danny was no longer behind him.

Danny had seen the second young basketball player go down and had he knew he had to help. He immediately changed direction, reached the teen in a few running strides, grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him off the court. His own arm screamed in protest at the action but the pain went ignored. The one young man lay still on the court; the other two had scattered.

Don pulled Danny down as soon as he reached the merry-go-round. "Remind me to kill you later," he hissed at the CSI. Another shot pinged against an edge of the park apparatus, causing both men to drop face down in the sand. They were nestled into the ruts made by years of children getting on and off the ride. The little girl was almost totally covered by Don's body.

"I'll make a note of it, but if the shooter gets his aim adjusted, you may not get the chance," Danny retorted. "You got your gun with you?"

"Yeah," Don replied and nodded his head toward the bench. "It's in my bag, along with my badge and cell phone. You?"

"Same," Danny told him. "I could try..."

Don grabbed Danny's ankle with one hand before the CSI could move. "You make one move toward that court, Messer and I'll..." he was at a loss for what he'd actually do but Danny seemed to get the message anyway.

"You two cops?" the injured kid hissed out through his own agony.

"Detectives," Danny replied. He was in a better position to look at the kid's injury. He'd been shot through his upper thigh: a through and through which was bleeding profusely from both entry and exit wounds. Danny stripped off his tank top and wrapped it around the kid's leg as snug as he could.

"Where's your piece..." the kid started to say. When Danny sinched his shirt snug, the young man let out a yelp of pain.

"We usually don't shoot hoops with guns and badges on," Danny muttered. "Drags the shorts down."

Don shifted with the little girl, who he was still shielding with his body, so that he could keep one eye on Messer and one out for the shooter. The child in his arms had fortunately stopped screaming; now she just trembled. Don gave her a reassuring hug. "You're okay," he told her. "We're police officers." It was a simple term for a young child but one she'd likely understand. Sometimes 'detective' was too complex a concept. "I'm going to let you go," he added. "I want you to crawl on your belly under the merry-go-round and stay there. Okay?"

"Okay," she whispered.

Don let her loose and she scooted right under the edge of the round shield, fitting easily beneath it. Two more shots pinged off the merry-go-round. Don glanced over at Danny once more and saw blood all over his arms. For one moment, he thought it was transfer from the hispanic teen. Then he saw the mark on the inside of Danny's right arm. It looked almost like a burn except for the dark red blood that poured out. "Danny, you're hit," Don told him.

Danny glanced at the inside of his arm just as two more shots pinged off the top of the merry-go-round. Danny pressed flat with his face in the dirt and he could feel Don's body right next to him. "That son of a bitch SHOT me," Danny said incredulously.

"At this point, I don't think it's personal," Don replied. He felt something warm and sticky on his own shoulder and he had a hunch he'd been grazed with a 'bullet burn' of his own. He was surprised that there were no sounds of sirens yet. How long did it take to call in 'shots fired'? Last shots he'd heard this loud were that of a sniper from the Patterson building - that had shook his squad car windows. Sure enough, minutes later, he heard the first wail of the sirens. "Help's on the way," he added.

As soon as the first squad car pulled up, the sniper opened fire again. The very first shot blew out the windshield and sent both uniformed officers scattering. The second shot pinged off the steel merry-go-round and the third shot took out one of the squad's tires.

"This better end soon," Danny quipped. "I'm runnin' out of memory as to how many shots were fired and where they went." And he could see that the teen was bleeding out despite the makeshift bandage. His own arm had started to throb.

"I lost count," Don admitted. "Was that ten?"

"Twelve," Danny corrected. "Mac's not the only one who can count bullets as they're flying."

"Hey, man, this really hurts," the teen grumbled. "Those cops gonna come get us out?"

"That's the plan," Don told him. "What's your name?" It just occurred to him that he didn't know who the kid was.

"Carlos," the kid hissed as another spasm of pain shot through his body. "Carlos Vega."

"Hang on, Carlos," Don told him. He peeked under the playground apparatus where the young girl lay curled up. Tears streaked down her dirty face. "What's your name, honey?"

"Leticia," she whimpered back.

"Leticia, that's pretty," Don told her. He was trying to calm the child or at least get her trust enough so that when it came time to move, she'd listen to him. "Leticia, I'm Don and that's Danny. The police are here now and they're gonna help us get out of here. Okay?"

More squads arrived on the scene as the first officers called for assistance. As one scrambled for cover when more shots rang out, Danny caught a glimpse of a familiar face. "Don," he said over his shoulder. "Enrique's here." One of their fellow basketball players, Enrique Cardena worked out of the same precinct as Don. "Enrique!" Don yelled. "It's Flack!"

"Flack!" The young cop stuck his head out to see where Don was hidden but had to duck back quickly when more shots were fired near him. Pieces of brick splintered off the building near his head. "Flack?" he called out again. "What's the sitch?"

"Sniper," Don yelled back and was rewarded with another full volley of shots that pinged off the merry-go-round. "One dead on the court. I'm pinned down with Messer and two juvenile civilians. Neither of us have our gear in hand. Me, Messer and one of the civs have been hit."

Danny shifted onto his side to get a look at Don. "Wait, you were hit too?" he asked, more demanding than inquiring. "Where? How bad?"

"Bullet burn, Danny. Keep your head down." Don emphasized his point by putting his hand on Danny's forehead and pushing it back down into the sand. "We'll need at least one bus and one box," he called out to Enrique. "And ya might wanna notify CSI." 'Bus' was a generic term for an ambulance and 'box' was often used for the coroner.

"You guys tell where the shots are coming from?" Another cop called out to them.

Don called out 'no', Danny called out 'negative' and Carlos yelled 'hell no' all at the same time. Another full volley of shots rang out as more units rolled onto the scene. Two more windshields were shattered by bullets and more pieces came off the building. Five shots hit the merry-go-round and Danny felt something else brush across his side. He looked down and smiled to himself.

"Got a bullet!" he called out. Sure enough, one of the bullets ricoched off the steel and landed next to him in the sand. Danny gently fished it out between grains of sand. It was slightly damaged from the impact and still rather warm. Ballistics wasn't exactly Danny's speciality but he could wager a good guess. "At a guess, we're looking at an AR-15 or an M-16."

"Fantastic," Enrique called back, his voice thick with sarcasm. "Messer, you're a CSI... do some of that triangulation shit and tell us where the shooter is."

"Sure," Danny yelled, equally sarcastic. "Soon as you walk over a camera and a computer. And while you're at it, I'm thirsty."

"We'll get back to you on that," Enrique told him.

"I'll be here," Danny shot back.

HOUR TWO

The minutes dragged into hours. Everytime the police tried moving toward the park, the sniper drove them back to cover. Now, an abandoned cruiser sat halfway between the roadway and the playground, shot so full of holes it was inoperable - evidence of a rescue attempt gone sour. A police helicopter was sent up in an effort to find where the sniper was shooting from and drew enough fire that it had to move off. The whole scene was eerily quiet as the hours dragged on. Occasionally, the sniper would remind everyone he was still watching by firing off a couple of shots toward the playground.

Mac and Lindsay had arrived within the first hour and were brought up to speed of the situation. They could do little more than watch and wait with the rest of the officers. The sun beat down on Danny, Flack and Carlos. Only little Leticia had any reprieve from the glare, but the temperature neared ninety and the steel merry-go-round was hot to the touch. If the sniper didn't get them, they'd bake to death.

Within the first hour, Carlos had grown very still. Danny, who had been laying up next to him, noticed that the teen's breathing was very shallow. He was bleeding out right before Danny's eyes and there wasn't a single damn thing he could do about it.

Flack had also gone still and quiet, but now he'd shifted his body so that he was half-laying across Danny's legs and abdomen. He figured, if nothing else, it would keep the restless CSI from doing anything rash. His head rested on Danny's stomach and the gentle rise and fall of Danny's chest had actually calmed his nerves. From his angle, he could watch Leticia, who was also growing restless. The little girl kept squirming in the tiny space she'd made for herself as she tried to avoid touching the upper metal.

"What's taking so long?" Leticia finally whispered. "I want to go home."

"Me too," Don whispered back. "They're trying to find the person who's shooting at us," he explained. All they could do was wait.

HOUR THREE

Danny shifted and tried to restore circulation back into his legs. His body had stiffened up and every little shift or adjustment proved to be some degree of painful. He fingered the bullet absently as he glanced at the officers conferring, watching or just simply waiting for instructions. His eyes fell on a very frustrated-looking Mac Taylor. "Hey Mac!" he called out as loud as he dared. Usually whenever they started talking to each other, the sniper would fire to try to disrupt the exchange.

Danny?" Mac's gaze fell on his CSI. By the time the stand-off was over, Danny, Flack and the other young man would be fairly sunburnt. Danny's skin was already starting to redden.

"Mac, I got an idea..." he said, "...of how to get this bullet to you."

"I'm listening."

"How good are you with a frisbee?" Danny flashed him a smile. If they taped a small baggie beneath a frisbee and could land it close enough to the merry-go-round that he could reach it, then he could insert the bullet into it and fire it back. Danny knew he was good enough with a frisbee that he could fire it from a prone position and land it close enough to the officers for someone to get to it.

"Not my strong suit," Mac admitted. "But I'll bet someone here is a fair shot. I'll get on it." He had to give the young man credit - Danny was headstrong, stubborn and often problematic, but he was also creative and resourceful. "Good thinking, Danny," he added.

"Yeah, well I got that kinda time on my hands, Mac," Danny grinned. Another volley of shots silenced him.

Mac Taylor opened his cell phone and placed a few quick calls. He arranged for a dozen frisbees to be purchased and brought to the check point. Traffic had long been diverted from the area and he called to make sure the outer check point let the delivery through. He then started checking with the officers and found two that admitted to being fairly accurate with a frisbee. Both played frisbee golf.

Stella and Sheldon arrived several minutes later. Sheldon Hawkes carried a box that contained a dozen multi-colored circular plastic disks. "Dare I ask?" he smiled grimly at Mac.

"Evidence transportation," Mac explained. He took the tape and small plastic baggies from Stella and began to tape one to the underside of each frisbee. He then handed them off to the two officers. "Okay, guys," he said. "You got twelve tries to land one of these in Danny's lap. Literally. He can't get up to retrieve it; it's got to be perfect."

It took the two officers several tries to find their aim. The fourth frisbee landed on top of the merry-go-round. Danny started to sit up to get it but Flack darted his hand out and pushed down on the center of Danny's chest. "Don't even think about it, Messer," he growled.

"Mother hen," Danny grumbled back.

The next frisbee thrown actually hit Danny in the ribs. "Nice shot," he called out. He carefully opened the plastic baggie, dropped the bullet into it and sealed it back up again. He adjusted his position and angled the disk so that it would glide right above the ground. He took a few practice flicks of his wrist before letting it fly.

Danny's shot fell just short of the officers. When one reached out for it, several more shots rang out and everyone had to duck back. Danny couldn't tell where it landed. "Is it short?" he called out.

"About two yards," Mac called back. "Don't worry about it, Danny... it was a good shot. We'll get a stick or something and haul it in. Hang tight."

"I'm not goin' nowhere," Danny muttered. After a few minutes, he called out again, "Mac?"

"Yeah Danny?"

"We're gonna need some water soon. Figure out how to frisbee some hydro over, will ya?"

"Hang in there, Danny," Mac called to him. "We'll see what we can do."

One of the officers brought a long pole over to the site and nudged the wayward frisbee into the covered area between the buildings. Mac picked it up and handed it over to Stella and Hawkes. "Run that through IBIS," he told them, "and cross your fingers. We need to find that sniper."

"Do they have any clue where the shots are coming from, Mac?" Stella asked him. Mac pointed to a few of the higher buildings that lined one side of the playground. "Somewhere from there," he gestured. "They've been going door to door but so far nothing."

Stella took the frisbee from Mac. "We're on it," she told him. "I'll call you from the lab as soon as we know something."

HOUR FOUR

Leticia shifted once more under her little spot and poked Don in the side with a finger. She brought up a new issue with her next statement. "I'm thirsty," she said. "And I have to go to the bathroom."

"So do I," Danny piped up. He knew he'd have an easier time of it than the little girl would. He could roll to his side and urinate in the sand without too much difficulty. Either Leticia or the cops would get a show but the point of him caring what anyone thought had long since past. She'd have to wet her pants. "Just go if you have to," Danny told her. "Go in your pants."

"I'm six," she sounded scandalized at the suggestion. "I don't wet my pants. Babies do that."

"So do grown-ups who get trapped in the playground for four hours," Danny assured her. "Believe me, Leticia... nobody's gonna get mad at you or tease you because you had to go to the bathroom." He glanced at Carlos, who was hanging on by a thread. The teen might not live but he could serve a useful purpose right then. "Pst... Leticia... Carlos already wet his pants," Danny told her. "He's bigger'n you are. Go ahead and go."

Don glanced into Danny's eyes. Danny met his gaze and shrugged. He didn't know whether that was a lie or not that he'd just told the girl, but it made a point. Leticia settled down a few minutes later. "You'd better warn me before you do that," Don whispered to him. He was still laying across Danny's abdomen - more specifically, his bladder.

Danny actually chuckled at that. "I will," he laughed. He could hold it a little while longer. What was getting to him was his thirst. Both he and Don had played basketball from ten am until noon. They'd both had a couple of drinks of water but they had both been sweating when the first shots rang out. The hot summer sun had been beating down on them for the past four hours and Danny felt a bit light-headed.

About ten minutes later, he heard a mechanical whine, a sort of whirr sound that he couldn't place. Danny wondered if he was starting to hallucinate. He nudged Flack. "You hear that?"

"Hear wha...ow," Flack turned his head to see what had just hit him in the arm. A small remote controlled car had come to rest next to the two men. Tied to the top was a bottle of ice cold water. Danny found himself laughing out loud at the creativeness that could only have come from Mac Taylor.

Don untied the bottle and uncapped it. He quickly swallowed down a quarter of the contents, then wiped the cold bottle's condensation across his forehead. He handed it off to Danny, who also drank a quarter of it. "Carlos..." he nudged the kid. "Water."

When Carlos didn't budge, Danny handed the bottle back to Don, who in turn handed it off to Leticia. Danny reached over and checked Carlos's pulse in his wrist. Nothing. Danny's hand moved higher and he checked the young man's neck. Again, no familiar thud-thud was felt under his fingers. Seventeen year old Carlos Vega had died.

HOUR SIX

By later afternoon, darkness fell across the playground. The sun had vanished behind deep gray clouds. A rumble of thunder echoed off in the distance. It was hot and very humid. The air had grown still, thick and heavy.

Under the merry-go-round, Leticia had fallen asleep. Don was also dozing with his head still on Danny's abdomen. Danny had relieved his bladder somewhere in the fifth hour, then had returned to laying on his back, which was the most comfortable position for him considering the circumstances. He had been trying to doze also and had his eyes closed when he heard the thud of large doors closing. His eyes opened part-way and he glanced toward the alley. Paramedics were now standing just behind several uniformed officers and they looked like they were waiting for an okay to move in. He nudged Don awake.

Meanwhile, at command central, Mac walked back to the SWAT wagon with rolled up papers in one hand. Stella glanced over at her boss as soon as he'd walked around the police barricade. The SWAT wagon was empty except for the two men who were in charge of communications and coordination. "Well?" she asked as soon as he was within earshot.

"They're moving in," Mac said. "This should be over shortly." Another rumble of thunder echoed off the buildings.

"I thought that IBIS didn't give us anything?"

Mac nodded. Stella had returned with the information they'd obtained from the bullet that Danny had frisbee'd over three hours earlier. While no registered weapons came back, a list of residents of the nearby apartments sent up a red flag to Malcolm Weeds, a notorious vigilante with a deep-seated hatred for gangs and gang members. Malcolm had an apartment facing the playground in one of the buildings that were searched, but at the time of the first and second police sweeps, there had been no answer and no sign or sounds of activity.

The sound of a door being broken in came over the pick-ups in the SWAT wagon as the police swarmed Weed's apartment. Sounds of 'clear' started to filter in. A few minutes later, the co-ordinater looked over at Mac. "Detective Taylor, the apartment is empty."

Mac and Stella exchanged astonished glances. "How can that be?" Stella asked. "The casing came back to an AR-15, which eyewitnesses claim Weeds owns, and his apartment faces the playground. Nobody else has means or motive."

At the end of the alley, two officers started to move toward Don and Danny. They had no sooner broke cover when another volley of shots sounded. Both men scrambled back for the cover of the buildings.

Chatter sounded again over the SWAT communication system. The team could hear the shots but couldn't pinpoint their origin.

Mac unrolled the papers that were in his hand on the back of the SWAT wagon. Stella leaned over next to him and studied them also. They were the blueprints of the apartment building. Weeds' apartment was the original focus point. Now Mac Taylor was looking at other potential spots.

"Mac? What if..." Stella pointed to a small area. "Could he be in here?"

"If he is, then how is he shooting..." Mac's voice trailed off as he studied the apartment building. All this time, they had assumed the sniper was shooting from a window. Mac reached into the SWAT van and fished through their gear for a spare pair of binoculars, then scanned the apartment face.

Stella watched her boss and saw the thin line of a smile cross his features as his focus stopped in one particular spot. "Got him?" she asked.

Mac nodded. "Got him." He turned to the SWAT coordinator. "Tell your team that the suspect is here, most likely in the garbage chute. He's probably suspended on a cable or harness and is shooting through a hole drilled into the side of the building, between the sixth and seventh floors."

As the message was relayed, Mac and Stella both jogged over to the end of the alley where uniformed officers and paramedics waited to move in. It took another ten minutes before the word finally was shouted from the van: "All clear!"

SIX HOURS, TWENTY-EIGHT MINUTES

No sooner than the call had come in, Mac was at Danny and Don's side. Leticia's mother, who had been beside herself during the whole incident, pulled her daughter from under the merry-go-round to her chest and refused to let the little girl loose. Paramedics ended up taking both in on the same stretcher. Carlos Vega was pronounced dead on the scene, as was eighteen year old Jose Martinez.

Don Flack was lifted off of Danny by paramedics and led over to a stretcher. He and Danny both began to protest the need for medical attention.

Mac cut them both off. "I don't want to hear it from either of you," he told them. "You've both been shot, you're both dehydrated, you're both sunburnt and you're both going to the hospital. End of conversation!"

Danny and Don exchanged glances. "I think he means it," Don told his friend.

Danny sighed and thudded his head gently back into the ground. He knew there were times he could argue with Mac successfully; this wasn't one of them. Since he'd gone to work for the man, he'd learned to pick his fights carefully. He'd concede this one. However, he wouldn't go quietly. As paramedics maneuvered a stretcher next to him and lifted him onto it, Danny started to rattle off the information he'd been repeating to himself for the past six hours. "First volley was twelve shots. First shot hit the boy on the court. Second hit my arm and popped the basketball. Third hit Flack. Fourth..."

"Danny..." Mac interrupted. He felt that Danny should worry about his health first, but when he looked down at the man on the stretcher, something told Mac to let him continue. His young CSI had made a point to remember exactly where the shots had gone, and after past incidents of questionable recollection, it seemed to Mac that Danny had gone out of his way to remember every little detail. He held the paramedics up with a hand gesture and pulled out his notebook. "Okay Danny, start over."

As Danny repeated the information, Stella had gone to retrieve their gym bags. She placed Don's at the foot of his stretcher and gave the detective a comforting squeeze of his hand. "I'll be by the hospital to check on you both and get statements," she told Flack. "And I'll drive you home if you get released."

"Thanks Stella," Flack said. "I doubt they'll keep me."

Stella watched as they loaded Flack into an ambulance. His skin was sunburnt and despite seeming oriented to time and place, there was a little glaze over Flack's expression. He hadn't lost much blood from his wound but laying in the sun for six and a half hours after playing basketball had taken its toll.

Once the ambulance carrying Flack had left, Stella headed over to where Mac seemed to be taking Danny's statement. She placed Danny's gym bag on the stretcher at his feet where she had set Flack's earlier and gave him a quick visual once over. Like Flack, Danny was sunburnt - mostly his face, neck and upper body. Don had been laying across Danny's lower body for most of the afternoon so that had shielded the CSI from the sun. Danny's arm wound appeared more serious than Don's had. Whereas Don had just been grazed, Danny had an actual puncture wound. Dried blood caked around the site so she couldn't tell if it was one hole or two.

"I... lost count after that," Danny told Mac. "The unis had arrived and we started filling Cardenas in on the situation."

"That's okay, Danny," Mac told him. "We'll get it from there. Go and get the bullet out of your arm. I'll want it."

Danny frowned. "I don't think it's there, Mac. I think it's a through and through. Check the basketball." Mac nodded and motioned to the paramedics to take Danny.

Stella called after him, "I'll be by to check on you, Danny. And I'll take you home if they release you."

"Thanks Stel," Danny called back.

HOUR TEN

The hospital emergency room had finally put Don and Danny into adjoining rooms and pulled back the accordian divider so that they could see and talk to each other. Within the first hour, they had grown tired of relaying messages back and forth between the two detectives.

Don was sitting on the gurney, holding pressure on his IV site where the nurse had just removed the tube. The clean white bandage was in stark contrast to the reddish-brown skin on his back. He was listening to Danny try to tell a story using only one arm to animate it. That arm, bandaged from his elbow halfway up his bicep, weaved in and out of the air. His other arm was being held down by the frustrated nurse, who was trying to remove his IV in the middle of the story.

"... so he went this way and I went that way and the perp just vanished so next thing I hear on the radio is 'where'd he go' and this idiot calls back 'where'd who go'? Busted."

"Detective Messer?" The nurse looked into Danny's bright blue eyes.

"Yes?"

"Either you hold still while I take this out or I'm gonna stick this tube someplace else less... pleasant."

Danny froze. They had made a similar threat when they had put it in - either he stayed still or they'd use a lower vein in a more sensitive area of his body, namely his genitals. And Danny hadn't put it past them to do it, either. Finally, a few short minutes later, the tape and the IV tube were removed and a gauze bandage was placed over his hand. "Make yourself useful, Detective," the nurse told him. "Hold some pressure on that."

Danny held onto the gauze similar to how Don was. "...didn't want it in the first place," he muttered. His comment fell on deaf ears.

Don chuckled. "Yeah, I heard you gave 'em hell."

"Funny, I heard you both gave 'em hell," a female voice said from the doorway. Stella Bonasera stepped into Danny's half of the room with an amused smirk on her face. "When I asked at the desk what rooms you two were in, the nurse asked if I was here to claim you both. I told her yes and she said, and I'll quote her here, 'oh thank God'. What have you two been up to?"

"Pack of lies," Danny retorted. "We've been perfectly well behaved."

"That why the nurse just threatened to stick the IV tubing in your dick, Danny?" Don grinned at his friend.

"Shaddup," Danny shot back.

Stella's grin widened. "Oh yeah. Very well behaved." She flipped out her notebook and headed over by Don. "Mac got Danny's statement; I'm here to take yours. Then as soon as you two are signed out, I'll take you both home."

The two men exchanged glances and an unspoken message passed between them. The look didn't escape Stella's acute observation but she let it pass for the moment. A nurse came in to start signing Danny out while Stella took Flack's account of what happened. As soon as Stella was done, the nurse brought in Don's paperwork.

"Stella, did you ever find the bullet that got me?" Danny asked her.

She nodded. "Yes, actually. Mac found it inside the basketball. It went through your arm first?"

Danny lifted his bandaged arm gingerly. It went in here and out here..." he spaced his fingers about an inch apart on the underside of his arm. "Another couple inches and it would have shattered the bone, but it just caught the side of the flesh. Nothing major; I should be back in a couple days."

"Both of you, plenty of fluids," the nurse reminded them.

Minutes later, the three walked out of the emergency room toward one of the CSI vehicles. "Okay, who am I taking home first?" Stella asked. Again, the two men exchanged glances. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that both men had discussed something before she had arrived. "Okay, what don't you want to ask me?"

Danny spoke up first. "Can you swing by Don's place first for a few minutes, then drop us both at my apartment?"

Stella's eyebrow went up but somehow she wasn't surprised at the request. "Sure," she told them. Don looked a little uncomfortable, almost sheepish. She flashed him a smile. "You know, it's probably a good idea if you two stayed together for a few days anyway... what with the pain medication and all. Pick up what you need from your apartment and I'll take you both to Danny's." Once they were inside and driving, Stella couldn't resist asking. "What made you two decide on Danny's?"

"Bed," Danny replied without thinking. "Don's got a better DVD collection and I've got a better bed. So we figured we'd be better off moving a few disks than a mattress."

"Sounds logical," she admitted. "But do you have anything to drink at your place?"

"I have fast food on speed dial," Danny quipped. "Does that count?"

Stella groaned. "Make me a list and give me some money," she muttered. There were days that Danny Messer needed to be smacked upside the head. Today was one of them.

An hour later, Stella left Danny's apartment after having dropped off two gallon jugs of iced tea, a gallon of ruby red grapefruit juice, two cartons of passion fruit juice and two very bedraggled detectives. Both men had said, in unison, that they looked forward to a shower most of all. The plastic grocery bags would double-duty as bandage protection in the shower.

"You wanna go first?" Danny asked as he finished taping a plastic bag over Don's bandage.

Don reached out and caught Danny's chin with one hand. "You're comin' in with me, Dan," he replied. "We're both gonna need help."

"True," Danny conceded. "Who'd have thought that you could get so stiff from laying in one position for so long?"

"I've gotta admit that's the longest I've ever seen you stay in one place while you were still conscious," Don teased him. He taped another plastic bag around Danny's bandaged arm.

Danny shook his head in amused frustration and reached in to turn the shower on. "Hot?"

Don nodded. "Hot," he agreed. They were both very stiff and the hot water would be relaxing, even despite their sunburns. Both men had been given muscle relaxers while at the hospital but neither of them were really feeling the relief. He helped Danny into the shower first, then stepped in behind him and pulled the curtain closed. Danny immediately faced the far wall and sighed as the water beat down on his aching back.

As the steam began to fill the small room, Don reached behind Danny and picked up the soap from the rack that hung over the shower head. "It's gonna feel good to be clean," he said quietly. Don lathered his hands up well but instead of washing himself, he placed his hands gently on Danny's shoulders and ran them over his firm, muscular back. Danny let out a groan of sheer pleasure.

"Feel good, Danny?" Don leaned over and whispered in his ear. He pressed up close to Danny's body for two very selfish reasons: he could be under the hot spray and he could be close to Danny. He reached around and washed Danny's abs, toying lightly with the thin hair that trailed from his chest to his genitals.

Danny nodded and mumbled a quiet 'uh-huh'. He could stay right where he was for another eight hours... or as long as the hot water held out.

"What were you thinking, Danny?" Don was trying to get the incident out of his head so he could focus on recovery and the man in the shower with him. His heart had sank all the way to his ankles when he'd seen Danny run back for Carlos. "Running back for Carlos. You coulda been shot, ya know."

"I was shot, Don," Danny reminded him. "And I'm still a cop. If you'd have seen him fall, you'd have done the same thing."

"True." There were times that Don hated when Danny was right. This was one of them. "You're lucky Mac didn't see you; he'd have gone on about you being a one-man army."

"Yeah, well Mac didn't see it, nor is Mac gonna find out about it," Danny grumbled. "You're just sore because I'm faster than you are. You forget I'm used to being chased."

Don took Danny's shoulders and turned him around so that Danny's back was pressed against the wall. He leaned over and claimed Danny's mouth with his own - partially to shut the man up and partially to prove him wrong. He reached down and took Danny's cock in one hand and gave him a gentle squeeze. "You're not fast at everything, Dan," Don whispered into the man's mouth. "I caught you."

"Momentary lapse of..." Danny's whispered reply was cut off by Don's mouth over his again. Don pushed his tongue into Danny's mouth, exploring the man. He loved the way Danny's tongue danced with his own. Don's heart pounded in his chest when he heard Danny's quiet cross of a whimper and a moan. Danny's cock stiffened in his hand.

Danny half-heartedly tried to push Don back. He was rapidly getting turned on and he wasn't sure that the rest of his body would comply when his hormones took over. The last thing he wanted was to end up hard, aching and unsatisfied. "Don... Don... Don..." Danny finally managed to get the word out loud enough for the dark-haired man to meet his gaze. "You sure you're... we're... up to this?"

"You are," Don teased him and gave Danny's cock a gentle tug. The CSI was by no means fully erect, but he was well on his way. He took one of Danny's hands and brought it to his erection. All it took was a few moans from Danny and Don was stiff. "Think I am?"

Danny nodded and looked into Don's bright blue eyes. He could get lost in those eyes. "That's not exactly what I meant," he whispered.

"Are we up for hot sex?" Don leaned in and whispered in Danny's ear. He smiled when he felt the smaller man's involuntary shudder of excitement. "Probably not. But you can bet I'm gonna get you off and if you want, you can return the favor." He first licked, then sucked on Danny's earlobe, then worked his way down the side of Danny's neck, tasting and teasing the man.

Danny's head tipped to give Don better access. His eyes fell closed and he let out a quiet groan as Don latched onto his neck right below his jaw and sucked on his skin hard enough that Danny knew he'd not only have a mark there, but he wouldn't be able to hide it. "Flack..." Danny groaned again. "People'll see."

"Don't care," Don mumbled as he continued to darken the mark on Danny's neck. He kept his body pressed to Danny's so the smaller man couldn't squirm and one hand gently stroked the man's cock.

Danny's hands found their way first to Don's back, then to his firm backside. His fingers dug into Don's ass almost rhythmically. He could feel Don's erection pressing against his hip. Unable to push Don away and lacking the desire to even attempt it, Danny slid down the shower wall until his mouth was even with Don's hip. He took Don's semi-erect cock in his hand, then guided it to his mouth.

There wasn't much that could prepare Don for Danny's mouth. Danny's tongue was every bit as talented as his wit. Don ran the fingers of one hand into Danny's wet hair and braced himself against the shower wall with the other. Danny's tongue had darted around the head of Don's cock and was now teasing the cleft on the underside of the head. The sensations were enough to make Don's cock twitch into a full erection.

Danny's mouth was hot and wet and he was intentionally putting considerable suction around Don's head. Don shifted his hips and thrust deeper down Danny's throat. He rocked back and forth, gently pushing further into Danny's mouth, and Danny relaxed enough to take him in a considerable way.

Danny reached up between Don's legs and fondled his balls, rolling the two orbs between his fingers. Don's groan echoed loudly off the bathroom walls. The steam was so heavy in the shower that Danny reached over blindly and cooled the water off just a tad. Not like either man noticed any change in temperature.

"Danny?" Don managed to get his friend's name out.

"Hmm?" Danny still didn't break his suction and the vibrations sent another shudder through Don's throbbing member.

"You got condoms in the bathroom?"

"Mmmhmm."

Don turned Danny's hair loose and cupped his jaw, feeling the scruff of hair on the man's chin. He managed to extract himself from Danny's mouth and nudged Danny's cheek with the swollen head. "I think I'm up to it." His blue eyes met Danny's. A sly smirk crossed Danny's features. The little fangs that peeked out when Danny smiled or smirked was one of the many features that Don loved. Don pulled him to a standing position and captured his mouth again in another kiss.

Both men shifted under the spray and had to break for air before they drowned. Don stepped out of the shower long enough to rifle through Danny's bathroom cabinet for condoms and lubricant.

"Should I shut off the water?" Danny asked.

Don rolled the condom on his erection faster than he ever had managed before and stepped back into the shower. "You better not, Messer," he growled playfully. "I'm taking you right here." He turned Danny around so that he was facing the shower spray and pressed up behind him. He reached around Danny's slender frame and ran one hand up his abs and chest and the other found Danny's erection. Danny had no choice but to lean back into Don or end up with his face in the shower spray. When Danny pressed back against Don's chest, Don lowered his mouth to Danny's neck and worked on making a new mark.

"Vampire," Danny groaned. Between Don sucking his neck, rubbing his chest and fondling his aching cock, Danny's head was swimming. He could feel Don's erection behind him and it always amazed him how huge the man was. Not that Danny had anything to worry about in a locker room, but it was still a sight to behold. And Danny also knew that he had something to do with Don's current size and condition, but that was also beside the point.

Don gave Danny a little nudge. "Bend over," he instructed. "Grab the wall. Assume the position."

"Oh fuck you, Don," Danny growled playfully.

"No, no, fuck you, Dan," Don teased. "Get it right." He kept his one hand on Danny's abs and used the other to push between Danny's shoulders, which forced the man's head through the shower spray to the other side. Danny reached down and held onto both side corners of the tub.

"You are not going to take me... ahhhhhGod," Danny started to protest when Don coated a finger full of lubricant and slid it into Danny's exposed hole. He worked it in and out slowly at first, then a bit faster until he felt that Danny was stretched enough to add a second finger.

After a few minutes, Don removed his fingers and pressed his aching cock against Danny's relaxed ass. "Bear down," he said quietly.

Danny tensed as Don pushed into him but his body accepted the intrusion willingly. Danny groaned low in his throat as Don filled his body excrutiatingly slow. He could feel his skin give around Don's erection and he felt every inch as it slid in further and further, until Don was seated inside him. "So full," Danny whimpered.

Don eased out just as slow, until just the head was inside of Danny. The smaller man was very hot and tight. The fit was snug and Don worked in and out slowly until Danny's body adjusted. Danny's original whimpers of initial discomfort quickly dissolved into moans of pleasure. Don gripped Danny's hips for leverage and control, and he began to thrust. He moved slowly at first but eventually built his speed and increased his depth as his own body worked its way to a climax. Within a few short minutes, Don was pounding into Danny and the smaller man was grunting his name with each thrust.

"Don... Don... ohhhhhhh God, Don... Don, I... I..." Danny cried out as his own body crested into an orgasmic release. He didn't dare let go of the tub for fear of falling over headfirst, even though part of him knew that he wasn't going anywhere as long as Don had him by the hips. Semen shot out into the tub, hitting the bathtub faucet and the shower lever.

Don wasn't far behind him. He felt Danny's body tense immediately before his orgasm and the man nearly went limp a minute later. He was pounding into Danny so hard now that his hips slapped hard against Danny's tight ass with each thrust. His fingers dug into Danny's hips as that tingle burst from the base of his spine, through his testicles and burst out of his cock into the condom, buried deep inside his best friend and lover. His head spun from the exertion but his whole body seemed to be rejuvenated.

Don slid out, still holding Danny by his hips. Danny was breathing so hard, Don could see his shoulders riding. His own panting was returning to a more normal state. "You okay, Dan?" he asked. "Can you stand up?"

Danny worked his way up the shower wall to a semi-standing position. If Don hadn't had him by the hips, he'd have fallen over several minutes ago. His knees were still shaky and his head was spinning in a post-orgasmic whirl. He shifted his position so that his back rested against the back side of the shower wall, opposite the curtain. His feet were firmly anchored on the opposite side of the tub. As long as his knees held up, he wouldn't go over.

Don rolled the condom off and dropped it on the floor of the tub. He'd pick it up later. Right now, his thoughts consisted of Danny and getting his own head on straight. He picked up the bar of soap and worked it into a lather, then eased his hand between Danny's legs, under his testicles and across his anus. Danny stiffened more out of reflex than pain. "Easy, Danno... just tightening you back up a little and making sure you're clean. Does it hurt? You sore?"

Danny was actually a bit surprised that he wasn't sore in the slightest. "No," he said hesitantly as if he were still checking the fact out for himself.

"You sure?"

Danny nodded confidently. "Yeah, I'm good. I'm not sore. Not there, anyway." His back ached and his arm was throbbing but other than that, he was doing okay for someone who'd been shot ten hours earlier. He turned enough to rinse the soap from his genitals as Don washed himself up quickly. "Don?"

The way Danny said his name was almost precautionary and Don braced himself for anything. "Yeah Dan?"

"What are we doing?"

Don looked over into Danny's dark blue eyes. He swore that Danny's eyes were always a deeper blue after they had sex. He wore the expression of someone deep in wonder. "We're taking a shower, Danny." That should have been obvious. Don knew that Danny was after something; he just wasn't sure what yet and he wasn't about to commit to answering something when he didn't have all the evidence. Evidence... been hanging around him WAY too much, and yet, not enough, he thought.

"No, I mean us. We, us." Danny gestured into the air between them. "What are we doing?"

Don had a hunch he knew where Danny was going with his questions. "Um... burning off steam; excess energy?"

Danny flashed him another of his famous smirks. "Is that what we're calling it this week?"

Don smiled back and his good shoulder casually against the shower wall. "Would you rather we didn't? Would you rather we stop?"

"No..." Danny said slowly.

"You sure you're okay with us?" Don asked him.

Danny's eyes darted down to the bottom of the tub almost shyly. "Well, yeah," he said. "It's not like we're picking out curtains or dishes together or anything."

Don laughed. Danny could be such a child sometimes. Most times it was annoying; sometimes, like now, it was cute. "Actually, I was thinking you could use something darker in your room... something in a maroon or dark purple." He was teasing now and he could tell that Danny knew it also. He reached over and took Danny's chin in his hand and made Danny look him in the eyes. "Danny, you're my best friend," he said. "I'd move heaven and earth for you. The two of us together, it feels really, really good."

Danny smiled again and nodded. Don could make him feel alive when he swore there was nothing left inside of him to be felt. "Yeah," he admitted. "It does."

"Danny, you know that you're the only guy in my life, right?" At Danny's little nod, Don added, "And I'm pretty sure that I'm the only guy in your life. And you don't care that I date and I don't get jealous when you date. It's all good. Quit worrying so much. Quit thinking so much. You're such a CSI. Just shut your brain off for a little while, okay?"

Danny nodded a third time. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I just gotta check from time to time." He splashed the shower stream at Don. The water had turned considerably cooler from when they had gone in. "I think we've used our allotment of hot water," he said.

"Then I think we should get out, get something to drink, put in a movie and fall asleep halfway through it."

Danny reached over and turned off the water. Don reached out and snagged the two towels from the bar and handed one back to Danny.

"What're we gonna watch?" Danny asked.

"What're you in the mood for?" Don countered. "And porn is out."

"Killjoy," Danny grumbled. "I don't care," he said a bit louder. "Nothing with guns. I don't want anything that'll remind me of work."

"That eliminates about ninety percent of what I brought," Don informed him.

"What's the other ten percent?"

Don actually had to think. "Um... Beetlejuice and Twister."

"Put in Beetlejuice. That's pretty brainless."

Not fifteen minutes later, both men were sound asleep. They'd moved Danny's television into his bedroom so that they could watch movies while they enjoyed the comfort of the memory foam mattress on Danny's bed. Danny had decided when he'd first moved into his apartment that he spent precious little time sleeping as it was, so he was going to make the most of the time he got and sleep in comfort and style. A small fan on his dresser circulated the air around them and the hum had lulled them out almost immediately.

They slept as close as they dared without one laying on the other's wound. Friends, partners, lovers, each knew exactly where the other was positioned, even in sleep. Don rested on his good side, with Danny's head rested in the crook of his arm.

...And the criminals of New York would just have to behave for a couple of days until they could return to duty.

FIN

Frisbee Golf: Game played using frisbees thrown over distance toward metal poles with baskets attached. Google "frisbee golf" for more information.

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