Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of CSI:NY. They belong to Anthony E. Zuiker and CBS.

Author's Note: After a serious bout with writer's block, I think I'm back. Have to give a huge shout out to everyone who voted for my stories in the CSI:NY FF Awards. I'm so proud of my second places, so thanks very much.

This story is going to be a little different from things I've written before. I find Adam a fun and complex character that has a lot of potential. This story will deal with the aftereffects of "Snow Day" (so SPOILERS for 'Snow Day') as well as events from the shoplifter episode (spacing on the ep title), where we learn Adam's dad was a bully. Plus, I love Adam and Danny friendship stories. The two of them went through a tough situation together, so I imagine it could bring them closer- the streetwise detective and the sheltered lab geek.

CHAPTER ONE

Daddy was yelling again.

He buried his face in his knees and closed his eyes, listening. Bad words that Mommy wouldn't ever let him say, not in a million years. Mommy was crying. Daddy's voice was making his ears hurt. He heard breaking glass. Now Mommy was yelling bad words at Daddy.

Mommy's voice echoed in his ears. Just go sit in the closet, baby. Turn on your music. It'll all go away in a while. And it would. Daddy yelled a lot and he yelled for a long time, but then he was quiet and he went away again.

Turn on your music. It'll all go away in a while.

So he did. He pushed Play on his music player and closed his eyes. Mommy would come get him when Daddy went away again...

It was a little while later when his music stopped playing by itself. He opened his eyes. It was dark now.

It was quiet.

Cautiously, he pulled the headphones from his ears. He crawled forward and tried to push the closet door open to come out. But something was wrong. The door was stuck. He pushed as hard as his five year old body would let him. But the door wouldn't move.

"M-Mommy?" he called out softly. He pushed on the door. "Mommy? Mommy, the door is stuck."

He waited for Mommy to come.

"Mommy?"

But she never did.

"Our vic is Mary Lewis," Don Flack explained to Danny Messer as Danny and Adam Ross stepped into the room. "The house is empty. Still jewelry in her drawers, money in her purse."

"Not a robbery, then," Adam stated the obvious. Flack glanced over at him. The look Flack was giving him made Adam cringe. Okay, maybe I overstated the obvious. He turned to the body, started snapping photos. The woman was young, maybe a little older than Adam himself. She had been pretty in life, big blue eyes, brown hair, full lips. Her facial features now, however, were marred by cuts, scrapes, black and blue marks and blood. Adam knelt down next to the body, and could feel himself turning green. He wasn't used to dealing with the bodies just yet. Just everything they left behind.

Flack watched the lab tech, then looked at Danny. "Kid's on field duty now?" Flack asked him.

Danny nodded. "Only his first or second scene since...well, you know."

Flack knew. Still, he felt like he was watching a rookie beat cop on his first tour. He ran a hand through his hair. "There's family photos with a guy in them. Super identified the guy as Jack Lewis, the husband. We're tryin' to track him down."

Adam heard the two detectives talking about him. He could feel his face turning from a sickly green to an embarrassed red. Was he that obvious? Looked like a rookie that bad? Flack seemed to have him pegged.

Flack wasn't in there, Adam, he reminded himself. And it's not his fault your first solo scene turned into a hostage situation. He remembered what Danny said that day. I know you're scared. Hell, that'd been the understatement of the damn year. But he also remembered afterward. Seeing Danny in the lab. "Good job, kid," Danny had said. "You saved our asses in there." And Flack, too. "Good job," he said simply. He didn't know Adam's name. But it was okay.

He returned his gaze to Mary Lewis. I'll show them, he decided. I'll go over this place five times. I won't miss anything. I-

The hair on the back of his neck stood up. The same feeling he'd gotten that day in the warehouse. Someone was watching him. "D-Danny," Adam said, cursing inwardly for letting his voice sound so shaky. He tried again. "Danny."

Danny came to stand beside him. "What'd you find, Adam?" he asked. To Adam's state of mind, Danny sounded a little condescending. But Adam ignored the feeling. "We need to move the body away from the closet. I can't see anything on her right side."

"No problem," Danny said. He bent down near Mary's head. Adam positioned himself near her waist. Danny caught Adam's eye. "Hey. You gotta relax, Adam. You're too young for an ulcer or somethin'. It's just an apartment. No Irish mobsters here," he said with a quiet but knowing smile.

It felt good to have someone who knew how he felt...sort of. Adam nodded. "No, I'm okay," he lied. They shifted Mary's body away from the closet. It was then that Adam saw it. A shoelace, just peeking out from under the closet door. And as he watched, it drew itself back into the depths of the closet.

"Danny," he said.

"I saw it," Danny replied. He slid Mary's body farther away. Adam reached over and pulled open the closet doors. "Jesus," Danny said.

The boy in the closet shrunk back and covered his face as he tried to crawl away from them. He looked like he hadn't eaten or bathed in a long time. He was wearing a pair of jeans, dirty white socks and a plain blue t-shirt. And he looked scared to death. "Danny, how long..."

"Nobody reported anything for a couple days. Guess shoutin' matches were the norm for the Lewis's," Danny said. "Super thought the kid was with Dad."

"God, Danny, he's been in here...and she was..." Adam looked at the boy again. He couldn't fathom what it must have been like for the kid.

Actually, I can...a little...

"Flack!" Danny yelled, standing. "Hey, we need EMS up here." He took off for the door.

Adam looked down at the boy. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was having a serious episode of déjà vu. He blinked and crouched down. "Hey, kid..." he took a breath. What the hell do I say? "Uh, it's gonna be okay," he said. "The good guys...they're, ah, they're here. We're gonna have a doctor come check you out, and make sure that-that, uh, you're not hurt and stuff." He noticed the headphones connected to an iPod shuffle. "You, ah, like music?" he asked. He retrieved his own mp3 player from his pocket. "Me too." He offered the black mp3 player out to the boy to see. The boy peeked up from his knees and looked at it. "I like a lot of music. Sometimes...sometimes I listen to it and it, it makes me feel better."

It startled Adam when the boy jerked and looked up, directly into Adam's eyes. The boy had green eyes not unlike Adam's. Whatever Adam had said had struck a connection. "Tell you what. How about you put your headphones on, and you listen to music and we'll get you out of there."

The boy looked at Adam. Then his eyes drifted over to Mary Lewis's body. His eyes went wide, and before Adam could stop him, he crawled over to her and started shaking her, making small noises. Tears started falling as he shook her harder and harder. Adam finally had to step in. "Hey, hey," he said, picking the kid up and pulling him away. The boy struggled against him before finally falling limp in Adam's arms. Adam looked at the battery light. The unit was on, but the light was dark. The boy was out of battery power. The iPod player was...dead.

Adam reached over and grabbed his music player. He tucked the headphones in the boy's ears and pressed play. He wasn't sure what the boy was listening to, but it did seem to calm him down.

Music as an escape. Adam had used it once, too.

Reviews are appreciated, and constructive criticism is usually warranted. Please let me know what you think.