It was a normal day back at the CSI Labs, evidence to process, a case to crack, jokes and mostly just chatting. Danny and Lindsay were working on the evidence, trying to find a way to put the culprit behind bars. After about half an hour of quiet working, Danny heard Lindsay make a wooping sound, and turned to her, seeing that she had found a reason for him to be in jail. He sent the results to Mac, who got Flack and headed out to the suspect`s house. When they arrived Flack kicked the door open and Mac got in first. The suspect threw the table to add just another obstacle and ran to the roof. Flack, being fastest of the two was already running after him but mentally groaned as he saw that he was already 2 roofs away. He started running and thankfully reached him, taking him down. He was aware of Mac`s footsteps behind him and didn`t see the fist before it connected solidly with his stomach and made pain shoot all across his abdomen. He recoiled for a second before swiftly kicking the murderer`s feet from underneath him. The man collapsed and Don took it as an opportunity to get up. He was on his knees when the man kicked him again and sent him flying on his back. The man climbed on top of Don, who was by now helpless as the man was three times bigger than him. Mac reached them that second and as surprised upon seeing the detective receiving punch after punch in his left side. He shot the other man`s shoulder and the other toppled off of Don, who didn`t make a move to get up, but just caught his breath. Mac moved and cuffed the murderer`s arms behind his back, before turning to Flack, who was slowly getting off the floor.

"You Ok?" he asked, concerned as he saw Don`s grimace and the little red on his white shirt.
"Yeah, going to be black and blue by tomorrow though," he added with a small frown as he made his way to the car.

When they arrived Don got out of the car and headed to the locker room. He took a shower and changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, as the heat was unbelievable that day. He felt slightly dizzy but brushed it off as he knew he had hit his head on the concrete about two or three times that day. He made his way to the lab to help Danny pack the evidence and put it away. He couldn`t help the relief that spread through him as he arrived. The air-conditioned room was cool and he felt slightly better. He eased himself on the stool next to Danny and immediately noticed that he was alone in the lab. Danny caught his questioning glance and told him that Lindsay was putting the evidence in another room. They joked for awhile and the evidence was almost done when Flack decided to go bring them a bottle of water. He slid off the stool and didn`t even have to move a step before the world went pitch black. He was aware of hitting his head on something and Danny yelling his name but nothing more, except that he was on something hard, probably the floor.

Danny watched as Don collapsed, his head hitting the side of the table before hitting the floor. He smiled and thought that he had just tripped; he was never going to let him live it down. After a few seconds Don still hadn`t moved and Danny was beginning to get worried. He slipped down from the stool and crouched next to Don, noticing that his head was to the side and his eyes were closed. His worry intensified a little but he kept his cool and gently but swiftly flipped him so he was laying on his back. A small groan escaped Don as Danny grabbed him by his side but otherwise he remained unconscious. A small gash was oozing blood on his head, and Danny pushed back the detective`s fringe, grabbing a cloth and gently probing the small wound until it stopped bleeding. Fortunately Lindsay came by and was not very shocked at the detective`s prone figure. Danny asked her to bring Sheldon, seeing he was a medical. He didn`t want to go bring him himself so he wouldn`t leave Don if he woke up. Sheldon came with his bag and worry immediately flooded his face as he saw Don. He kneeled down next to him and after checking if his pupils were dilated, which they weren`t, set on his other vitals. He got out a blood-pressure cuff and put it around Don`s arm, frowning when he saw the result. After what felt like an eternity to Danny, he saw Hawkes` frown and immediately panicked, seeing a doctor frown was never good.

"What`s wrong?" he asked.
"Huh?" The doctor asked as he was doing second-reading on his blood-pressure. "Nothing`s wrong,"
"Then why did he pass out?" Snapped Danny, one hand resting on Don`s forehead.
"Danny chill, I`m sure he`s fine," said Lindsay, rubbing his back.
"His Blood Pressure dropped, most likely because of the heat," explained Hawkes gently.
"Why hasn`t he woke up?" asked Lindsay.
"That, I don`t know, maybe because he hit his head. I`m going to try a smelling salt," Hawkes said.

He ripped open a packet and lifted Don`s head a little then shook it under his nose. The detective scrunched up his nose then coughed. Danny helped him up until the coughing subsided, then lay him back down. Don`s eyelids fluttered and his baby blue eyes blinked until the room came in more focus, then met Sheldon`s dark ones. He went to sit up but both Sheldon and Danny held him down.

"You just passed out dude, stay down for now," said Danny and Don nodded.
"What happened?" he asked, resting his head back on the floor.
"Your blood pressure, along with you, dropped to the floor," said Danny with a small grin.
"You hit your head on the table," explained Hawkes as he leaned to put a plaster on Don`s head.

Don nodded again, just as Lindsay said something to Sheldon. Danny noticed that Don`s eyelids were already shutting again and he slapped his face, bringing him to focus again. Danny and Sheldon balanced the lanky detective between them and took him to Mac`s office, where Lindsay had called to tell him about Don and he told them to bring him here.

"What happened?" asked Mac. "He was with me about an hour ago everything was fine," he continued, seeing Hawkes and Lindsay ease Don down on the sofa.
"His Blood pressure dropped, it`s still a little low, so I`m going to give him a shot, let him rest, then I`ll see," said Sheldon not aware of the way Flack`s face visible paled at the mention of a shot.
"No shots, please," said Don, moving away from Hawkes and shifting so he was looking at him.
"Don`t worry there aren`t any side effects," said Lindsay and Don visibly blushed.

He shook his head still and when Hawkes took a step towards him he scooted back a little more. His eyes were still on the syringe, his face pale and he didn`t even notice as Danny moved behind him. Danny noticed that the detective was agitated, his fingers were twitching and his breathing was ragged and harsh. Just then he wrapped his arms around his arms and stomach and Don immediately cried out, hunching forward and elbowing Danny in the process. Danny gasped but didn`t loosen his hold, choosing to restrain him by his chest instead. Mac moved forward and held the detective`s shoulder, which resulted to him becoming more agitated and trash around to escape. Mac knew that Don wasn`t going to calm down on his own, so putting on his best commanding voice, he looked Don straight in the eye and spoke.

"Donald Flack JR, stay still and Calm Down,"

The use of the whole name didn`t go unnoticed by anyone, and what was even more shocking was the way that Don instantly stopped trashing, but was very rigid. His eyes were still on the syringe, but his mind was elsewhere. Danny carefully released his hands and the detective didn`t as much as twitch a finger, still as stone. Hawkes moved cautiously forward and came to sit by Flack, whose face paled even more if that was possible. He gently wiped his arm, knowing that Flack was tracking his every move and then injected the syringe. Danny watched as Don went a little limp the second that Hawkes wiped his arm and immediately knew that the detective was going to pass out soon. True to his word, Sheldon hadn`t even injected half the syringe when Don passed out again, his face and muscles relaxing a little. Danny laid him back down on the sofa, putting a cushion underneath his head before he lay him down completely. Everybody stayed quiet for a while, only noticing now that Stella was in the office as well. She had entered when Don cried out, saying that his cream echoed all the way to the lab.

"Question is, why did he cry out? I didn`t hold him that hard," said Danny with a frown.
"He got beaten up by the suspect on the roof, son of a bitch punched him about 5 times in his abdomen," said Mac, his eyes going to the shirt that Don was wearing.
"Didn`t he defend himself?" asked Lindsay.
"He was pinned down, he couldn`t even move, That man was about three times larger than he is," said Mac, walking back to the couch and crouching next to Flack.

Lindsay moved to sit on one of the arms, her hand going into Don`s hair and scratching his scalp gently. Don leaned in to her touch, much to everybody`s surprised and Lindsay smiled slightly, continuing to mess up his hair in the process. Danny gently grabbed the hem of the t-shirt and brought it up till it rested on his ribcage. They all gasped and Sheldon immediately left to go bring two ice-packs. His left side was black and blue, and they got why he cried out. That`s when Danny remembered. Don had groaned when he touched his side, so he must have already been hurting and the strength which Danny had to use to keep him from hurting himself must have made the pain unbearable. Stella traced the bruises with her hand. She was barely touching him but a small groan escaped Don and he tensed up slightly, before relaxing again. Sheldon came back and put one ice-pack on his side while the other he put it in the cooler that was in the office as well. Don flinched as the cold packs were placed on his stomach but the pain lines that were on his face since Danny had held him slowly disappeared to be replaced by a somewhat calm expression.

Lindsay continued to comb his hair through her fingers and needless to say, his hair was messed up. Danny couldn`t help but laugh as she pushed his hair on his forehead. He looked weird with his hair like that. She giggled and pushed his hair back again, but frowned as she looked at his face and the others soon noticed why. Don`s eyes were moving repeatedly under his lids and his breathing was getting more fast as his lips parted. Danny noticed his fingers twitch and knew that whatever he was dreaming was either scaring him or making him feel nervous as he had seen him twitch his fingers like that whenever in a situation that made him feel scared or nervous. His leg jolted a little and it was easy to say that he was getting agitated very fast. Whimpers of pain and moans were cascading from his mouth along pieces of sentences.

"Don`t hurt him, please don`t! No.., take me not him, please.."
"What the hell is he dreaming?" asked Mac, keeping Don`s arms secure before he hurt himself.
"No, don`t die on me, please don`t, no.."

Don whimpered and a few tears fell down from his close eyelids. It was clear that whoever "him" was had died. His hand twitched again and a small gasp of pain escaped his mouth, along with a few more tears and another moan. They noticed his hand move but Mac made no move to restrain him, wanting to see what he was going to do. He rested it on the right side of his abdomen, which wasn`t a much big movement considering he used his right arm. It was on his shirt, so they couldn`t see but Mac easily rolled up the shirt and was shocked to see a stab wound like scar there, where the hell did it come from?

12 year old Don stood tied to a pole watching his captors beat up his cousin. He was in a rough shape, but nothing that was life threatening so he was safe. Just then they cut the ropes and stalked away, leaving him with his cousin. Why would they do that? He thought. But then he remembered what his dad had told him it ever happened. They always have a reason. He kneeled down next to his cousin and saw the reason, his cousin was barely breathing, and it was clear he was going to die, if medics didn`t arrive soon, however he tried to stop the bleeding and did everything his father had told him to do in this situation. He pleaded with his cousin not to leave him, but in the end it was all for nothing, his cousin was dead. He cried over his body until one of the captors came and easily carried him to the pole. Cuffing one of his arms to the pole, he got out a knife and stabbed him. Don felt the knife enter his body and leave just as brutally. Pain like he never felt before flared through him and he couldn`t help the tears that escaped his eyes. Stay awake and put pressure on the wounds, his father had told him. So he tried to pick the lock with a piece of metal he found on the floor and after miraculously succeeding, put pressure on the stab wound. He couldn`t fight the darkness as more people flooded the room, and he fell unconscious, waking up in a hospital bed and being told he was lucky to be alive. He had decided that when he grew up, he wanted to save innocent lives like his dad did.

Mac, Stella, Danny, Lindsay and Hawkes watched as Don stopped moving, at first they thought he wasn`t breathing until a small sigh escaped his lips and they all calmed down. Stella brought a wash cloth and gently wiped the tear-tracks away. Don was scared, that much was obvious as his body was still a little rigid but he began to calm down, his face and body relaxing as his breathing evened out. Lindsay began combing his hair again and Sheldon checked his Blood Pressure, which was why they had been here in the first place. It was normal and for that the whole team relaxed, as the last time he checked it, which was before his nightmare, it was way too high and Danny had suggested they take him to a hospital before he started talking in his sleep and then calmed down. It had been about an hour and a half from when he first passed out in the lab and colour had returned to his face so it wasn`t deadly white anymore. His hand had stopped twitching and he looked to be calmly sleeping for the first time. They passed half an hour just talking, until Danny, whose mind was more on Don then whatever they were saying, saw a movement from underneath his eye. He saw Don`s eyelids flutter again and the whole team was suddenly at his side.

"Come on Don, sleeping time is over," said Danny, gently slapping him on the face.
"Yeah, you didn`t get the term sleeping beauty for nothing Flack, but you need to wake up," said Lindsay, her fingers still working through his hair.

Light blue eyes suddenly blinked open at them all, becoming more focused with ever blink. He looked down when he felt how cold his stomach seemed to be and looked at the ice-packs in confusion, before looking at Mac. He explained the bruises and Don nodded, gently removing the ice-pack, cringing when he saw the damage before putting his shirt back down. Danny noticed his fingers brushed the stab-scar and Don momentarily froze, closing his eyes before fixing his shirt properly and laying back down on the sofa. It was clear he was in pain, but whether it was emotionally or physically or both, they didn`t know, so they let him be for a while. Sheldon gently gave him a glass of water which he gladly drank before giving him back the glass.

"Thanks," he said, and his accent was much more pronounced in his half-asleep voice.
"How?" Mac asked and it was clear what he meant, even when Don gave him a look that clearly said 'none of you business.'
"Flack, you`ve cried for five minutes straight before you touched your scar, what happened?" asked Stella softly as Lindsay continued to comb his hair and Sheldon started checking his vitals again.
"It`s nothing Stella, I got kidnapped, I got stabbed, I was found," he said before breaking into a coughing fit.
"Whose him? And how old were you?" Danny asked softly, rubbing his back as Don twisted on his good side until the coughing subsided.
"12," he said, but made no move into telling them who "Him" was.
"Don.." Mac dragged the syllable and Flack`s face visibly paled a little at Mac`s voice.
"My cousin," he then said quietly.
"Stop it Sheldon," muttered Don, swatting his hands away when the doctor went to probe his stomach.
"Would you prefer me or the hospital?" asked Sheldon, giving him a look.
"A Hospital? I`m-" Sheldon cut him off when he put gentle pressure on the bruise. Don`s eyes went wide and he bit his lip, most likely stuffing a scream.
"You`re what?" asked Sheldon, giving him an innocent look.
"You put pressure on it, what the hell did you except?" asked Don, sitting up.
"Not to cut your lip while biting it to suppress a scream or whimper," retorted Sheldon just as easily.
"What do want me to do then Sheldon?" he asked and it was easy to say that the detective wasn`t in the mood for fighting, or going anywhere except for a bed.
"I didn`t say I wanted you to do anything, I just didn`t want you to say your fine," said Sheldon with a barely concealed grin.
"Ok then, I`m good! " said Don, returning the grin. "There, I didn`t say I`m fine!" he added when Sheldon shot him a death glare. He chuckled, but grimaced as Sheldon threw him a cushion that him straight in the face.

The rest of the little group watched in the two friends banter, each trying to sass each other to silence. Eventually Flack won, having had more experience in that type of bantering and Sheldon actually stuck out his tongue at him, causing one of the cushions to fly straight in his face. Don almost fell off the couch from laughing so hard, but grimaced as he instinctively wrapped his arm around his stomach and put pressure on the bruise. Sheldon was by him in a second but Don waved him off, telling him he was fine. Don passed his hand in his hair, only realizing that it was a mess. He glanced at Lindsay, who was the only one sitting behind his head and she gave him an innocent look. He narrowed his eyes and she threw her hands up in surrender, as a small laugh escaped Danny.

"What? It`s soft," said Lindsay, ruffling his hair again. He shook his head, laughing under his breath, before fixing it a little with his hand. Lindsay pouted, claiming he ruined her master piece. They spent the few hours before they went home laughing with each other but eventually Sheldon signalled to the sofa. Stella was laying back, her head on the head rest, and Don was laying on the sofa again, his head on Stella`s lap as her hand went into his hair. They were both fast-asleep and it was clear that they were tired, well, all of them were tired by this point. Danny smirked and went over to Don, clearly intending to wake him up. Mac put a hand on his shoulder, as if to ask him what was he about to do, and Danny said that it won`t be painful for any of them. He put his hand on Stella`s shoulder, which caused her to jolt awake and Don literally went flying to the floor. He landed on his bad side and immediately rolled on his back, holding his side. His eyes were shut tight and his breathing was a little ragged as he tried to breathe through the pain. He stayed like that for a few seconds before he opened his eyes and immediately sent a death glare to Danny, knowing that it was him. Danny protested, throwing his hand up in surrender and Don raised his eye brows, as if daring him to lie. Danny gave up and admitted.

"You`re death meat Messer," said Don.
"Yeah right- OWW!" he groaned as Lindsay hit him in the groin, before sending him flying to the floor.
"I didn`t say I`d be the one to do it," Don said with a smirk.
"I didn`t mean for Stella to throw you on the floor!" Danny said, now in a sitting position.
"Yeah sure, whatever you say Messer," said Don standing up.
"Every go home, get some rest, I want you all refreshed for tomorrow!" said Mac, walking out behind them and closing his office with a small smile.

They were a big happy family, and nobody could deny that.

This is my first CSI: NY story, so I hope you enjoy it :) Leave reviews please!