Disclaimer: I don't own CSI: NY. I do own Sam.
Series: 'Kindred Spirits'.
Spoilers: Boo.
I apologise for the lack of Flangell in this oneshot, but my muse wasn't behaving itself – in fact, there was very little NO Flangell, so be grateful there's at least a phone call – I'm putting it down to the fact that this episode makes me cry.
Boo
Jess was glad she didn't have to work on Halloween, but she was also very, very bored.
The only reason she was glad was because the city tended to go even crazier on Halloween and she was glad she didn't need to deal with it.
So when the phone rang and she saw Lindsay's number, she groaned out loud, realising that this was probably a call-in.
"Angell."
"Hey, Jess; I need you to do me a favour."
"Sure." Jess agreed. "What's up?"
"Danny and I got called out to Amityville; family had been murdered. Sheriff thought that Glen Duncan killed his wife, Amy, and their sons, Charlie and Tony, and then killed himself. The daughter, Rose, was missing. Danny and I found her in a secret passage in the wall; one of the shots had gone through the wall into her stomach."
Jess gasped. "Oh my God …"
"She's alive." Lindsay continued, her voice flat, as though she had detached herself from the situation; Jess knew the feeling. "She's told us that a monster hurt her family. But CPS can't get here yet – apparently Halloween's a big night – and Danny and I need to get back to the house; this was no murder-suicide. Can you come to the hospital and sit with her until they get here? I don't want to leave her alone?"
"Which hospital?" Jess asked immediately.
As soon as she had the information, she hung up, grabbing her badge from her kitchen table and clipping it to her belt.
If she lived anywhere else, she might have been worried about coming home to find her door egged, but there was only one kid in the building and Sam had already been by 'trick or treating', dressed in a very interesting knight costume that seemed to have been constructed from cardboard and aluminium foil.
So, safe in the knowledge that apartment wasn't likely to get attacked by pirates and ninjas and fairy princess – even if just because she had a knight living across the hall – she set off for the hospital.
When she found the room little Rose Duncan was in, Jess stopped in her tracks. Rose couldn't have been more than eight, dry-eyed, but with a look of bewilderment on her face, as though she was looking for someone to explain what the hell had just happened to her.
Posting a sympathetic smile on her face, Jess pushed the door open. "Hi, Rose. My name's Detective Angell; you can call me Jess."
"Hi." Rose whispered.
Jess took the seat by the side of her bed. "I'm not going to make you talk about this, Rose; if you want to, I'm here. I'm here so you don't need to be on your own."
"Want Mommy." Rose mumbled.
Jess felt her heart break. "Oh sweetheart …" She sighed, trying to figure out the best way to explain this. "Do you remember the monster that hurt your family?"
Rose nodded.
"Well, because they were so badly hurt, they can't come back." Jess told her gently.
Rose's bottom lip began to quiver and tears formed in her eyes.
With a lump formed in her throat, Jess wished she could give the little girl a hug, but she knew that moving the child now would cause more harm than good. Instead, she reached out and brushed the hair from Rose's forehead, humming a lullaby under her breath, knowing there was nothing she could say that could take her pain away.
Even if there was, Jess wasn't the person for that job. Someone far more qualified than she would be along soon and they'd take care of her.
All Jess had to do was try to keep the nightmares away until they got there.
It was two hours later that Jess arrived back at her apartment building. CPS had informed her that they'd found Rose's grandparents, so at least the little girl wasn't going to strangers.
"Sorry, Don." Jess stopped halfway up the stairwell. "What did you just say?"
"I said, we have a dead body who died two days before he was killed and may have dug his way out of a grave." Don repeated. "Can you come in?"
Jess hesitated. "Do you really, honest-to-God, swear-on-your-own-mother-if-I-asked-you need my help?"
"No." Don admitted. "But I think I'm about to go crazy."
"Then you're gonna have to go crazy." Jess told him unapologetically. "If the two of us are the only sane ones left, and we are, and I go crazy with you, then we're all screwed. I think that's why we're not both on-call tonight. Ask me anything else."
"Tell my parents I love them." Don stated bluntly. "I have another twenty zombies to interview and I'm not entirely sure they're all fake."
Jess chuckled. "Just remember that the women all die first in those movies and there's always a hot guy left at the end who saves the day. That could be you."
"Just remember you're including yourself in that first group." Don reminded her. "Don't think I'm gonna come running to save you, since you've abandoned me to my fate."
Jess rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic." She chided. "And you would: you don't know what you'd do without me, remember?"
"Oh yeah." Don paused. "You know I would come running, right?"
"I know you would." Jess assured him with a fond smile. "I'll see you later."
"See you tomorrow, Jess. Happy Halloween."
Jess hung up, hooking her phone back on her belt as she continued up the stairs.
The building was quiet, unlike the streets outside, which were still full of teenagers running around in Halloween costumes. Jess was ready to bet most of them weren't in it for the candy.
She was proven right when three boys had approached her when she got out her car, only to catch sight of her badge and disappear into the night.
Now, Jess was the first to admit that she didn't pay much attention to the décor in her hallway, but she was fairly certain that there wasn't a nine-year-old asleep outside her door when she left.
"Sam." She whispered, touching his shoulder.
The boy-turned-knight didn't wake up.
Jess crossed the hall and knocked at his door. There was no answer, which was strange, because Jess knew that Sam's mother didn't work late or nights.
Jess sighed. She knew that Sam's grandmother was old and lived alone and there was a possibility that his mother had been called there, either by her mother or one of the nurses who went to help her.
If that was true, the best thing to do would be to carry Sam inside and let him sleep on her couch.
If not, getting into the apartment could be the difference between life and death.
Crouching beside the boy again, Jess shook him. "Sam!"
This time, Sam started away. "Oh. Hey, Detective."
"Jess." She corrected him for the tenth time that week. "Where's your mom?"
"Nurse Amy called." Sam told her sadly. "Grandma's real bad tonight. I thought you said you didn't have to work tonight so Mom asked me to ask you if I could stay with you."
"Of course." Jess unlocked her door and let them both in, turning the lights on. "You'll have to sleep on the couch though."
"That's okay." Sam shrugged. "I'm small." He held up a bag. "I got pyjamas and a toothbrush as well."
Jess had missed the bag when she saw him. Probably because it was hidden under his shield.
"Where were you?" Sam asked curiously.
"I was visiting a little girl in hospital." Jess told him, giving him the censored version. "A bad man hurt her family."
"That stinks." Sam stated frankly.
Jess couldn't help chuckling. "Yeah. Yeah, it does." She checked her watch. "How about some hot cocoa before we go to bed, huh?"
Sam brightened up at that. "Yes, please!"
"Go and change into your pyjamas." Jess told him with a smile, turning the bathroom light on. "And I'll make some."
Within ten minutes, they were both curled up on the couch, mugs of hot cocoa in their hands.
"Did you ever go trick or treating?" Sam asked.
Jess nodded. "My mom used to take me and my brothers every Halloween. She always got very annoyed with me."
"Why?" Sam prompted.
Jess smiled. "Because she wanted me to dress up as a fairy or a princess or something like that. The girliest costume she ever got me into was a witch."
"You'd make a good princess." Sam commented.
"Why's that?" Jess asked.
"Because princesses are supposed to be pretty." Sam answered as though it were obvious. "And you're pretty."
Jess smiled. "Thank you."
"Why did the bad man hurt that girl's family?" Sam asked suddenly, after a few minutes' quiet.
Jess took a sip of cocoa to give herself time to think. "I don't know." She admitted eventually.
"Do you arrest lots of bad people who hurt people?" Sam asked.
"Yes." Jess answered. "Lots of them."
Sam frowned. "And why do they do it?"
"Well …" Jess hesitated. "Sometimes because they're really, really angry. Or because they really didn't like the person. Or because they had a lot of money. Or because they loved the person."
"Well that's stupid." Sam said bluntly. "Everyone knows you don't hurt people you love."
Jess smiled, not bothering to explain crimes of passion. "They are stupid." She agreed.
Sometimes she thought that children had more logic and common sense than most adults.
AN: Woo! I'm filling in the blanks! The next one in the series is 'Commuted Sentences', which was posted several months ago, if you're only just joining us (if you are, welcome aboard the Flangell Denial Express!), so the next instalment will be – there's a pause while I search through episode names – Buzzkill. Oh, hell, what am I gonna do with that one?
Suggestions on a postcard please – or in your review – and I do take requests, which may be edited to fit my outline, but they're listened to all the same.
So my next update should be … Impossible. Hopefully followed by a follow-up oneshot, assuming my muse can get its act together again.
Anyway, review please!