Emily (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
iluvroadrunner6) wrote2007-01-23 06:37 pm
iluvroadrunner6) wrote2007-01-23 06:37 pm
Stella - Coulda Woulda Shoulda (2/7)
wow...i haven't updated this in...ever. but as i sat down to start and write it again, i realized why i had stopped. this chapter hurt to write. it really did.
Fandom: CSI:NY
Title: Star Light, Star Bright
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
iluvroadrunner6
Rating: FRT
Pairing: none, gen.
Prompt: N/A
Content Warning: Character Death, AU
Summary: How would things be different if one thing was changed?
Author's Note: This chapter was hard to do. But hopefully I did it well, and you all won't hurt/yell at me...much. This one is What if Frankie didn't fumble with the gun? This is in no way related to the storyline of part one, and there is no character death in part 1 (if you hadn't read it), but it follows the same general concept.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of CSI:NY. They're owned by CBS. However any and all original characters are mine, so please do not use them without my permission.
Part 1: Chicago
CRACK!
The minute she heard the door connect with Frankie’s head she ran. She was running more on instinct and adrenaline than anything else at this point. Get to your gun. Gotta get to your gun. She fumbled through the material of her purse, grasping hold of the butt of the gun in her hand, and pulling it out into the air. She needed to get out of this apartment, and if the only way out was going to be a bullet, at this point, so be it. She looked up just in time to see Frankie as he vaulted himself over the railing into her.
He was a like a bear in mid leap, hitting her with a body that was nothing but skin and hard muscle. The air was forced from her lungs as she hit the floor, and she felt the grip of the gun slip from her grasp and scuttle across the floor. No! her mind screamed, her chest to busy gasping for oxygen and trying to regain a breathing patter to make her voice work. She felt his body move off top of her, going for the fallen weapon. She scrambled to try and get to her feet, her chest constricting and the pain in her ribs making it harder to move as fast as she wanted to, but by the time she got to her feet it was already too late. Frankie had the gun in his hand, and the grin of who she was sure was the devil himself across his face.
She watched in horror as the slide came back on the gun, and he released the safety before pointing it directly at her, now on her feet and defenseless.
“Hope you like your crime scene, Stella.”
BANG!
***
“Mac!”
It had not even been a minute after Flack had kicked down the door that he heard the man’s anguished cry coming from the direction of Stella’s living room. When Mac got there, he could feel his stomach lurch from what was there. The blood was pooling around her, and he could see the holes from their origin, wide and gaping in her chest, and he wanted to stop himself, but he couldn’t help letting them wander up to her face, where her eyes stared back at him. What used to be bright and sparkling with life was now dull and glassy, but her face was somehow contorted in a mask of fear, only causing Mac’s stomach to churn more.
“Oh, Jesus,” he heard Flack whisper from next to him, and watched as the man took a step forward, and Mac’s arm was immediately across his chest, preventing him from moving further. Flack turned to him in confusion, “Mac, we have to—”
“She’s gone, Flack,” Mac said quietly.
“What do you mean she’s fuckin’ gone?” Flack said, and Mac saw him start to get angry, “She can’t be—you haven’t even checked for a pulse or—”
“Look at her, Flack!” Mac growled back, “This isn’t your first DB, you know better than that.”
“Christ, Mac, this is Stella,” he said, his feet starting to move towards her again, “Stella.” Mac held him back again, and this time Mac actually had to fight him to keep him off the scene.
“Flack, you can’t go to her.”
“Mac—”
“This is a crime scene now,” Mac said, getting the man to look him in the eye and have him reach the same realization, “We have to handle it like a crime scene.”
Flack’s face paled, and he started backing away from Mac and towards the door, “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
Mac watched as the detectives long legs carried him quickly away from the body and out of the apartment. His eyes looked around the room, as his brain switched off from that of the grieving friend to that of the investigator. He instructed the uniforms to tape off the room, and then walked back down to the car to get his kit. He had work to do.
***
Danny found Lindsay crying in the locker room after they had gotten the news. Flack had been a mess on the phone, barely able to even say it without cutting himself off with swears of disbelief. He had never heard his friend this torn up over anything before, and he wasn’t surprised when he heard that Flack had removed himself from the case and Maka had taken his place. Danny knew that if—when rather—they caught the guy who did this, it was going to take a helluva lot for Flack not to kill him himself.
Captain Gerrard had stepped in to try and get Mac’s team off the case, but Mac was not going to let any other team but their own even think about touching Stella’s body. Even though the man seemed calm about the whole thing, and that he was holding it together, Danny had known him long enough to know that Mac looks out for his own.
Hawkes was handling this in his own way as well. Mac had offered him the chance to get out of the case, but he had agreed to stay on, believing that Stella would have done the same for him. Danny believed that it might not have quite hit him yet, and he was beginning to fear the same for himself.
“Montana?” he asked, and she looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. When she saw who it was, she quickly looked up and brushed the tears away.
“Was I gone that long?” she asked, and he shook his head.
“Nah.” He moved so that he was sitting down on the bench next to her, “I just wanted to see if you were alright.”
“Like hell, I’m alright, Danny,” she said, giving him a look, “Stella’s dead. Stella!”
“I know,” he nodded, tentatively reaching out and rubbing her back, “Believe me—I know.”
She ran a hand through her hair, brushing it away from her face along with the tears, “Mac’s gonna get this guy, right?”
Danny nodded, and Lindsay watched as his jaw set, as though the opposite of the idea repulsed him and venom filled his voice, “Mac’s not gonna let this asshole get away with this. Not while he’s still breathin’.”
Lindsay nodded, and Danny pulled away from her, getting to his feet again, “C’mon, we better go work on that case. Stella wouldn’t have wanted our guy to get away because o’ her.” Lindsay nodded again, before gesturing to the sink.
“Just gimme a minute to wash my face.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he replied, watching her as she walked away for a second, before turning and pulling his phone out of his pocket, and dialing a number he knew by heart. He listened to it ring, until the sound of her voicemail reached his ears. He had been getting her voicemail a lot more often, it seemed.
“Hey, you’ve reached Aiden. I’m not able to come to the phone right now, but if you’ll leave me a message, I’ll call you back.”
“Hey, Aide, it’s Danny. I—I got some bad news. It’s about Stella—”
***
Four faces reflected back at them as they peered into the interrogation room, watching the tall dark man as he sat in at the table. Mac was coming at him on all cylinders and he wasn’t even flinching. Just sitting there, almost as though he was just watching.
“Frankie Mala. That’s him?” Danny asked, suddenly breaking the silence.
“That’s him,” Hawkes replied slowly, the usual nonchalance they were accustomed to hearing gone from his voice.
“That bastard,” Danny growled. The weight of what happened had finally hit him, and he was starting to feel it more than he anticipated, “He—he was around here. Around us. Stella brought him in to help on one of our cases.”
Hawkes nodded slowly, before a slight smirk crossed his face, “He sent her flowers. He seemed normal.”
Danny shook his head slightly, “Something never felt right.”
Flack and Lindsay turned to him at this point, but Hawkes was the one to speak, “Danny, you couldn’t have known—”
“But I should have at least said something!” Danny growled.
“We all saw him, Danny,” Lindsay spoke up, “We all met him, we all talked to him, we all didn’t say anything. You can’t blame this on yourself.”
Danny’s jaw tensed, but he didn’t say anything. His lower lip started to quiver slightly as he continued to listen to the words and phrases bounce back and forth between Mac and the man sitting in front of him. Soon the look on his face turned to a grimace as he turned away from the scene in front of him, and then he stormed out of the holding area, slamming the door behind him as he went.
The three of them were silent for a moment, Flack slowly moving after his friend, not having said anything the entire time. Hawkes glanced down at the file in his hand, before muttering some excuse about organizing evidence, leaving Lindsay alone in the holding room, staring at the two people in the room in front of her, Mac’s voice booming from the speaker hidden somewhere in that wall.
“—and you were the one that killed her—”
***
Hawkes rapped lightly on Mac’s door as he came in, holding a manila folder in his hand. “I finished logging all the evidence on Stella’s case.” He stepped forward, extending the file to him, and Mac took it from him with a small smile.
“Thank you, Hawkes.”
“Just doing my job,” Hawkes shrugged.
“I mean for working the case with me,” Mac replied, looking seriously at him, “I don’t think I quite would have been able to handle it on my own.”
Hawkes nodded slowly, just standing there. He started to walk towards the door to leave, before turning to face Mac again, “Did you know that Stella was my first body?”
Mac looked up at him in confusion, “I’m sorry?”
Hawkes paused slightly, before shaking his head, “Sorry—I mean, she was the CSI assigned to my first body. First day on the job, and even though I knew the ‘patients’ were technically already dead—I was nervous as hell.”
Mac smirked slightly, but didn’t say anything waiting for the man to continue.
“She came down to the morgue, and introduced herself, like she probably would have to anyone,” Hawkes said, a faint smile starting to form on his lips, “And she just had this smile and it just lit up the morgue. I know that ‘Stella’ technically means ‘star’—but there were times when I always thought our Stella was a star in her own right.”
Mac nodded slowly, “She was more than that, Hawkes. So much more than that.” His eyes drifted down to the file in front of him, and Hawkes continued on his way out the door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Mac.”
The older man looked up briefly and nodded, before picking up the file in front of him, and flipping it open, reading over the evidence reports and looking at the crime scene photos until his eyes started to blur, and he tossed the folder back down onto the table in front of him, a hand coming up over his eyes.
“God, Stella—”
Part 3: Tanglewood
Fandom: CSI:NY
Title: Star Light, Star Bright
Author:
iluvroadrunner6Rating: FRT
Pairing: none, gen.
Prompt: N/A
Content Warning: Character Death, AU
Summary: How would things be different if one thing was changed?
Author's Note: This chapter was hard to do. But hopefully I did it well, and you all won't hurt/yell at me...much. This one is What if Frankie didn't fumble with the gun? This is in no way related to the storyline of part one, and there is no character death in part 1 (if you hadn't read it), but it follows the same general concept.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of CSI:NY. They're owned by CBS. However any and all original characters are mine, so please do not use them without my permission.
Part 1: Chicago
CRACK!
The minute she heard the door connect with Frankie’s head she ran. She was running more on instinct and adrenaline than anything else at this point. Get to your gun. Gotta get to your gun. She fumbled through the material of her purse, grasping hold of the butt of the gun in her hand, and pulling it out into the air. She needed to get out of this apartment, and if the only way out was going to be a bullet, at this point, so be it. She looked up just in time to see Frankie as he vaulted himself over the railing into her.
He was a like a bear in mid leap, hitting her with a body that was nothing but skin and hard muscle. The air was forced from her lungs as she hit the floor, and she felt the grip of the gun slip from her grasp and scuttle across the floor. No! her mind screamed, her chest to busy gasping for oxygen and trying to regain a breathing patter to make her voice work. She felt his body move off top of her, going for the fallen weapon. She scrambled to try and get to her feet, her chest constricting and the pain in her ribs making it harder to move as fast as she wanted to, but by the time she got to her feet it was already too late. Frankie had the gun in his hand, and the grin of who she was sure was the devil himself across his face.
She watched in horror as the slide came back on the gun, and he released the safety before pointing it directly at her, now on her feet and defenseless.
“Hope you like your crime scene, Stella.”
BANG!
***
“Mac!”
It had not even been a minute after Flack had kicked down the door that he heard the man’s anguished cry coming from the direction of Stella’s living room. When Mac got there, he could feel his stomach lurch from what was there. The blood was pooling around her, and he could see the holes from their origin, wide and gaping in her chest, and he wanted to stop himself, but he couldn’t help letting them wander up to her face, where her eyes stared back at him. What used to be bright and sparkling with life was now dull and glassy, but her face was somehow contorted in a mask of fear, only causing Mac’s stomach to churn more.
“Oh, Jesus,” he heard Flack whisper from next to him, and watched as the man took a step forward, and Mac’s arm was immediately across his chest, preventing him from moving further. Flack turned to him in confusion, “Mac, we have to—”
“She’s gone, Flack,” Mac said quietly.
“What do you mean she’s fuckin’ gone?” Flack said, and Mac saw him start to get angry, “She can’t be—you haven’t even checked for a pulse or—”
“Look at her, Flack!” Mac growled back, “This isn’t your first DB, you know better than that.”
“Christ, Mac, this is Stella,” he said, his feet starting to move towards her again, “Stella.” Mac held him back again, and this time Mac actually had to fight him to keep him off the scene.
“Flack, you can’t go to her.”
“Mac—”
“This is a crime scene now,” Mac said, getting the man to look him in the eye and have him reach the same realization, “We have to handle it like a crime scene.”
Flack’s face paled, and he started backing away from Mac and towards the door, “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
Mac watched as the detectives long legs carried him quickly away from the body and out of the apartment. His eyes looked around the room, as his brain switched off from that of the grieving friend to that of the investigator. He instructed the uniforms to tape off the room, and then walked back down to the car to get his kit. He had work to do.
***
Danny found Lindsay crying in the locker room after they had gotten the news. Flack had been a mess on the phone, barely able to even say it without cutting himself off with swears of disbelief. He had never heard his friend this torn up over anything before, and he wasn’t surprised when he heard that Flack had removed himself from the case and Maka had taken his place. Danny knew that if—when rather—they caught the guy who did this, it was going to take a helluva lot for Flack not to kill him himself.
Captain Gerrard had stepped in to try and get Mac’s team off the case, but Mac was not going to let any other team but their own even think about touching Stella’s body. Even though the man seemed calm about the whole thing, and that he was holding it together, Danny had known him long enough to know that Mac looks out for his own.
Hawkes was handling this in his own way as well. Mac had offered him the chance to get out of the case, but he had agreed to stay on, believing that Stella would have done the same for him. Danny believed that it might not have quite hit him yet, and he was beginning to fear the same for himself.
“Montana?” he asked, and she looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. When she saw who it was, she quickly looked up and brushed the tears away.
“Was I gone that long?” she asked, and he shook his head.
“Nah.” He moved so that he was sitting down on the bench next to her, “I just wanted to see if you were alright.”
“Like hell, I’m alright, Danny,” she said, giving him a look, “Stella’s dead. Stella!”
“I know,” he nodded, tentatively reaching out and rubbing her back, “Believe me—I know.”
She ran a hand through her hair, brushing it away from her face along with the tears, “Mac’s gonna get this guy, right?”
Danny nodded, and Lindsay watched as his jaw set, as though the opposite of the idea repulsed him and venom filled his voice, “Mac’s not gonna let this asshole get away with this. Not while he’s still breathin’.”
Lindsay nodded, and Danny pulled away from her, getting to his feet again, “C’mon, we better go work on that case. Stella wouldn’t have wanted our guy to get away because o’ her.” Lindsay nodded again, before gesturing to the sink.
“Just gimme a minute to wash my face.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he replied, watching her as she walked away for a second, before turning and pulling his phone out of his pocket, and dialing a number he knew by heart. He listened to it ring, until the sound of her voicemail reached his ears. He had been getting her voicemail a lot more often, it seemed.
“Hey, you’ve reached Aiden. I’m not able to come to the phone right now, but if you’ll leave me a message, I’ll call you back.”
“Hey, Aide, it’s Danny. I—I got some bad news. It’s about Stella—”
***
Four faces reflected back at them as they peered into the interrogation room, watching the tall dark man as he sat in at the table. Mac was coming at him on all cylinders and he wasn’t even flinching. Just sitting there, almost as though he was just watching.
“Frankie Mala. That’s him?” Danny asked, suddenly breaking the silence.
“That’s him,” Hawkes replied slowly, the usual nonchalance they were accustomed to hearing gone from his voice.
“That bastard,” Danny growled. The weight of what happened had finally hit him, and he was starting to feel it more than he anticipated, “He—he was around here. Around us. Stella brought him in to help on one of our cases.”
Hawkes nodded slowly, before a slight smirk crossed his face, “He sent her flowers. He seemed normal.”
Danny shook his head slightly, “Something never felt right.”
Flack and Lindsay turned to him at this point, but Hawkes was the one to speak, “Danny, you couldn’t have known—”
“But I should have at least said something!” Danny growled.
“We all saw him, Danny,” Lindsay spoke up, “We all met him, we all talked to him, we all didn’t say anything. You can’t blame this on yourself.”
Danny’s jaw tensed, but he didn’t say anything. His lower lip started to quiver slightly as he continued to listen to the words and phrases bounce back and forth between Mac and the man sitting in front of him. Soon the look on his face turned to a grimace as he turned away from the scene in front of him, and then he stormed out of the holding area, slamming the door behind him as he went.
The three of them were silent for a moment, Flack slowly moving after his friend, not having said anything the entire time. Hawkes glanced down at the file in his hand, before muttering some excuse about organizing evidence, leaving Lindsay alone in the holding room, staring at the two people in the room in front of her, Mac’s voice booming from the speaker hidden somewhere in that wall.
“—and you were the one that killed her—”
***
Hawkes rapped lightly on Mac’s door as he came in, holding a manila folder in his hand. “I finished logging all the evidence on Stella’s case.” He stepped forward, extending the file to him, and Mac took it from him with a small smile.
“Thank you, Hawkes.”
“Just doing my job,” Hawkes shrugged.
“I mean for working the case with me,” Mac replied, looking seriously at him, “I don’t think I quite would have been able to handle it on my own.”
Hawkes nodded slowly, just standing there. He started to walk towards the door to leave, before turning to face Mac again, “Did you know that Stella was my first body?”
Mac looked up at him in confusion, “I’m sorry?”
Hawkes paused slightly, before shaking his head, “Sorry—I mean, she was the CSI assigned to my first body. First day on the job, and even though I knew the ‘patients’ were technically already dead—I was nervous as hell.”
Mac smirked slightly, but didn’t say anything waiting for the man to continue.
“She came down to the morgue, and introduced herself, like she probably would have to anyone,” Hawkes said, a faint smile starting to form on his lips, “And she just had this smile and it just lit up the morgue. I know that ‘Stella’ technically means ‘star’—but there were times when I always thought our Stella was a star in her own right.”
Mac nodded slowly, “She was more than that, Hawkes. So much more than that.” His eyes drifted down to the file in front of him, and Hawkes continued on his way out the door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Mac.”
The older man looked up briefly and nodded, before picking up the file in front of him, and flipping it open, reading over the evidence reports and looking at the crime scene photos until his eyes started to blur, and he tossed the folder back down onto the table in front of him, a hand coming up over his eyes.
“God, Stella—”
Part 3: Tanglewood
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i'm glad you liked it.
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i was thinking about it, but i'm not so sure anymore. i was thinking of running him through the ringer more emotionally on this one.no subject
I thought it was good the way you kept it very close to the episode. Danny and Lindsay working the other case, Mac and Hawkes working Stella's case and I can definitely see Flack having to turn it over to someone else. He wouldn't want to but ...
And Hawkes telling Mac about meeting Stella for the first time, Danny calling Aiden, oh dear god, they are all going to be wrecks when they lose Aiden as well. And the very last bit ... oh, Mac. That just killed me.
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unfortunately, this isn't the end of the hurting. the next chapter--*cringes*--i'm not looking forward to writing it. unfortunately it has to get darker before it gets lighter.
i'm glad you liked it.