Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: NY.
Series: 'Kindred Spirits' – a list of the order of stories is on my profile.
Spoilers: Open and Shut.
Open and Shut
"I hate models." Don announced, dropping into his desk chair.
Jess glanced up. "Really? You're a guy."
Don rolled his eyes. "Cute. Normally, you'd be right. But in my career, I've met enough models to realise that they're like the gardens in Central Park."
"Yeah?" Jess asked. "How's that?"
Don grinned at her. "They're nice to look at, but I wouldn't wanna maintain them."
Jess shook her head. "Typical male. I take it from that revelation that the model was the killer?"
"No, it was the make-up artist." Don corrected. "But I just spent half an hour listening to some model complaining that she shouldn't have been a suspect because she told us she didn't do it."
Jess laughed. "I love interrogating people like that."
"Then you can do it next time." Don grumbled, but with a grin. "Now I gotta wait for her lawyer to call the captain."
"Why'd you arrest her?" Jess asked.
"Found her fingerprints on the victim's fingernail; she admitted taking a camera from her hand." Don explained.
"After she died?" Jess checked; he nodded. "No lawyer would touch that. And even if they do, Gerard's too focused on getting that promotion to DI to worry about it." She signed the last form. "Done."
"Me too." Don tossed his own paperwork into his out-tray and grabbed his jacket. "You took the shooting near mine, right?"
"Yeah." Jess frowned. "Turns out, the wife did it."
"You're kidding." Don shook his head. "What was her excuse?"
"'We didn't have to live with him'." Jess quoted as they left the precinct. "I just feel sorry for the poor guy who got shot; she probably told him she'd help him get his job back. He brought her flowers."
"I'm gonna take a leap here and say that she pissed you off." Don commented.
"Oh yeah." Jess sighed. "I hate cases like that." She hesitated. "Stella handled it worse than I did. Am I missing something?" Immediately, she knew she had, by the way his face darkened.
"Something big." He confirmed, his voice almost tangible with suppressed rage and she would have felt quite scared, if it weren't for the fact that she knew it wasn't directed at her.
"Well, it's really none of my business." Jess shrugged. "If Stel wants to tell me, she will." A smirk slowly crossed her face. "Don't look now, Detective, but we've got company of the 'Central Park garden' variety."
"Oh God …" Don groaned, following her gaze to see Mandi Foster sauntering towards them.
"Toughen up, Detective." Jess whispered as she neared. "Use some of that charm you're so famous for."
"Easy for you to say." Don muttered, before smiling. "Something I can help you with, Miss Foster?"
"I'm sure there is, Detective." Mandi responded, with a smile that warned both detectives that this had nothing to do with a murder or what had happened that day.
"Okay, well, is this gonna take long?" Don asked, slipping an arm almost absently around Jess's waist. "We kinda have plans. Right, sweetheart?"
"I'm surprised you remembered." Jess teased, playing along. "He's got a memory like a sieve for things like that." She confided to the other woman, who didn't look surprised, just irritated.
"I just wanted to thank you for clearing me." Mandi smiled falsely.
"Wasn't me." Don shrugged. "It was the evidence. Have a good time in Milan."
"I will." Mandi nodded, sweeping past them.
Don still didn't release her, guiding her down the street until they were out of sight and earshot.
"Bitch." Jess muttered.
"Whoa, remind me not to piss you off." Don teased. "I didn't think she did anything that bad."
"Yeah, because you're a guy." Jess rolled her eyes. "She didn't look surprised that we were together, but she was flirting with you anyway."
"Jess, we're not together." Don pointed out as they reached his car.
"I know that." Jess sighed wearily. "It's the principle of the thing."
"I thought you enjoyed dealing with people like her." Don commented.
"I didn't say that." Jess shook her head. "I said I loved interrogating people who seem to think we owe them something. But I hate dealing with models as much as you do."
"I get the feeling that's a slightly more personal reason for you though …" Don trailed off, not letting on whether it was a question.
"My cousin's a model." Jess pulled a face. "Mom's side of the family. We don't speak. I spent senior year at high school working, she spent hers worrying about how skinny she was."
Don shook his head. "I'll never understand why women do that. My mom does that; we walk into one shop, she's a size two; we walk into another and she's a size six. But they're the same size!"
Jess sniggered. "I know. I couldn't care less, but Cassie … I told her once she was being silly and she said, "I don't expect you to understand; like any modelling agency would ever hire you.""
"How was her eyesight?" Don asked.
Jess frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Was she blind?" Don elaborated. "Or is she, I suppose; you don't exactly stop being blind."
"No, she's not." Jess answered. "Why?"
"Because any modelling agency would jump to hire you." Don stated simply. "You're stunning."
Jess was startled. "You think?"
"Well, yeah." Don confirmed, in a tone that suggested she'd asked a stupid question. "I'd have thought you knew that."
Jess knew she was attractive – it was hard not to, working with some of the men she did – but she had always assumed that Cassie was right. If it was anyone else, she might be inclined to disbelieve them, but something in Don's voice told her that he was being nothing less that completely honest with her. As he unlocked his car and opened the door, she put a hand on his arm to stop him and reached up to kiss his cheek softly.
"Thank you."
AN: Thanks to afrozenheart412 for suggesting that I bring the model in. I've made a decision that I'm going to post the rest of them in order – let's see if I can stick to that. On another note, who else screamed at the end of that finale? How is it that it took them a whole season to get back on track? But I digress.
Review please!