Part 15 of CSI:NY fic
"Flack, come out for drinks with us. Your birthday's tomorrow, let's ring it in well."
"I'd like to, but I have plans already."
"Have whoever join us there."
"Just let me call and see." Walking over to the payphone outside the training center, he called home, as he knew Danny would be stopping home for a shower after class.
"Hi...what? You have to work? Some of the other cadets wanted to take me out to ring in my birthday. OK, bye."
"So, what's the verdict, so to say?'
"Let's go, but I was warned no more than 2 drinks. I also should get going by 12:30; supposedly I'm to be reminded that Ma's gotten all the sibs together for a party tomorrow at noon."
Until he heard the front door close, Danny had been outlining the final paper for his Anthro class, taking off his reading glasses and putting aside the notepad. As Don entered the room, he found Danny naked, holding out a cupcake. Danny sang Happy Birthday quietly, stopping midway through, as it's quite difficult to sing when someone else's tongue is down one's throat. After they separated, Don flopped down next to Danny to eat his cupcake.
"Have a nice time?"
"It was OK. I wish you could have come, but a shift's a shift."
"Besides, I can't drink, and my being there would raise questions you don't want before you even get a badge."
"I'd still want you there. But it's moot now. I'm home, and we have to head to the house pretty early."
"You sure I should come? Your dad'll ask questions if I'm the only friend there."
"Dad always ends up inviting the Barrows, you know, Derek, Lita, and their three sibs. If it weren't for the fact I know Ma and Dad love each other, I'd swear he had something going on with Mrs. Barrows. They always end up at our family functions. Besides, with Derek and you around, Lita will have no choice but to leave me alone."
"That certainly explains how close you and Derek are. And if Lita gets near you, I'll...nah, I'll leave it to Derek and Ma, don't wanna be up on assault charges."
"Well, that's settled. Now can we get with the celebrating? I saved some of the frosting..."
They pulled up outside the Flack house in Don's old Regal, to see that everyone was already there. When they reached the backyard, Lita was draping herself over the fence, obviously waiting for Don. Before she could do anything, Derek noticed their arrival and dragged Lita off to sit with their mom.
"Happy birthday, Donny!" Ma shouted, pulling him into a hug. Turning to Danny she hugged him too, saying "Hello, Danny. How are summer session classes going?"
"Hi, Ma," Danny said, a little surprised, even after 10 months, he was still surprised at her enthusiasm. "Classes are technically over, I have an exam on Monday, and a paper due Wed at 5 to the teacher's mailbox. I'm starved, are those sausage drops I see?"
Laughing at the vagaries of boys' stomachs, she guided them to seats near Derek and Mr. Barrows, "The hot dogs will be done in a few minutes."
Once everyone was ensconced with their dinners, including Mr. Barrows leaving to sit with his wife, Lita came over and sat next to Don.
Leaning in to showcase her chest, she attempted to purr, "Hello, Don. My friend Grace is throwing a party tonight, wanna come with me?"
"Sorry, Lita. I know what Grace's parties are like, I can't be present at a party where there's drug use or underage drinking. I'd be thrown out of the academy."
"That's no excuse! Harry's going to be there, so why can't you."
Derek came to the rescue finally, as he was finished with his current plate, and therefore actually paid attention to his surroundings.
"That's 'cause Harry's a screw-up who sponges off his mom. It wouldn't make a difference in his life to get thrown out, he's one absence away from being booted anyway."
It was one week before Danny’s classes started again, and he’d taken care of all of his transfer of credit paperwork. The only things he had to worry about were whether the stipend got to the bursar, and tonight’s outing. The academy class Don was part of was going to get their progress reports today, so they’d planned a night out to either celebrate or drown their sorrows. Don was comfortably in the top few, so they, as a couple, felt there was little harm in Danny coming along, just no PDAs.
“Danny, over here!”
Once Danny sat down with a Coke, Don introduced him. They were spread over three or four tables, so the 6 people at theirs were chatting happily when one of the knuckle-draggers, one of the guys they weren’t sure how he’d made it in, yelled across the room.
“Flack! Any chance those rumors were right about you? You fairies shouldn’t be on the force. Your dad should have drowned you at birth.”
Danny’s nostrils flared, his temper rising. One of the women in Don’s class put her hand on his arm, keeping him in his seat.
“Getting angry’ll just make it worse. Let Don take care of himself.”
As this was happening, Don turned to the guy, calmly saying, “Miller, do the words slander and defamation mean anything to you? Shut up and sit down.”
Most of the people at the other table pulled Miller back into his seat and the night continued quietly.
As they were leaving, the nice woman sitting next to Danny introduced herself as Jess Angell, whispering, “I know you guys are together, Don told me in confidence when he turned me down for a date. I think it’s sweet.”
“Flack, this is your partner, Officer Moran. Gavin, keep an eye on this one.”
“Right, sir,” turning to Don, he said, “Now, the beat we have is in the middle of a turf war, not bloody yet, but it’s heading that way. Watch your back.”
“Thanks for the head’s up, sir. Any routines other than procedure I need to know about?”
“I like my coffee black with three sugars. Inevitably, you’ll need to know that.”
A few days later, Don arrived at the precinct to find that his hat had been filled with shaving cream.
“Thanks a lot, guys. Thankfully, it’s still pretty warm out, so a damp hat for an hour isn’t too much of a hazard.”