Author: Merrianna

Story: Life Altering: 1 of ?

Series: Speed-Burn

Disclaimer: I don't in any way own the series CSI. Those are the sole property of Anthony E. Zuiker, Jerry Bruckheimer, CBS and Paramount Home Entertainment.

Note: I would like to thank my beta reader Samwise, also all those who have reviewed or made this story an alert. You are one of the reasons that I keep going.

Don Flack hadn't been the first on the seen, but when the call of 'officer down' had gone out, he was there almost immediately. One of the uniformed men had told him that he wouldn't want to see the crime scene. The man was pale and wouldn't look Don in the eye. "Besides, it's not a homicide," was all the older man would say.

The ambulance was there and, looking around the paramedics, he could make out the form of a woman, but what struck him was the mass of curly hair, which reminded him of Stella. As they put the woman on the stretcher, Don had an instant of recognition. It 'was' Stella; the blue-eyed man forced his way over to the medical team as they were set to put her into the emergency vehicle.

He was briefly thankful that he hadn't seen where the actual assault had happened because what he saw of his friend made him want to vomit. It was a reaction he hadn't felt since he had been a rookie. He forced the reaction away and propelled himself into the vehicle before it could take off. The medics had almost pushed him back out until he 'pulled rank'. He promised to stay out of the way. Don did as he told them he would, not once getting in their space; he just watched. The blue-eyed man had enough wit about him to send a text message to Mac. It was one of the few people he knew that the green-eyed Greek would want to be at the hospital when she woke up.

In Don's estimation the ride to the hospital took forever. Whoever had shot her either was a lousy aim or had thought to make her slowly bleed to death. Those wounds would have been horrible as it was, but through experience the detective could tell that was the least of her injuries. There was blood everywhere: across her face, down her shoulder and arm, over her chest, and down her torso; what sickened him the most was that what clothing she had left couldn't hide the fact that she had been sexually assaulted... brutally so.

Mac supposed this was how a first date went after not being on one for so long. It felt kind of unnatural or like going on your first recon and ending up in the middle of a minefield: one misstep and the whole thing would blow up in your face.

The dark-haired man wasn't sure if he was relieved or not when his cell phone had vibrated against his leg. Shifting, he took out his cell phone and looked at the message on the screen. What he read made his heart stop for a minute before it started again, pounding hard as if he'd been chasing a suspect.

"Excuse me. I've got to go," Mac stood up; in his rush to leave, he left a very confused Rose. He had enough thought to pay for the dinner before leaving the restaurant. Outside he quickly hailed the first taxi he could. The car had barely stopped when he slid into the back seat.

"Where to, Mister?" A heavy New York accent drifted back to its new occupant.

"Roosevelt Hospital," Mac snapped out, wanting the vehicle to get moving. His text message from Don Flack had been short and to the point: 'Stella shot; on way to Roosevelt Hospital. Will meet you there.’ The detective wasn't one to panic easily but even through the typed words his anxiety was evident. Mac was thankful that the young officer was already on his way to the hospital; hopefully he was with Stella.

A haggard looking brown-haired detective walked over to the two forensic investigators as they approached the yellow crime tape. "I'm, Detective Renee Grainer with the Violent Crimes Unit. The victim has already been taken to the hospital."

Danny held up the yellow tape for Aiden as they ventured onto the crime scene. "It came across as an officer down?"

"Yeah, the first beat cop on scene barely recognized the woman... as Detective Bonasera." Grainer's doe-eyes nervously took in the two detectives as she hesitated over the name. She didn't stop walking, letting them either stay with her or catch up.

Aiden stopped, looking after the petite detective, "Did you just say the victim was Detective Stella Bonasera?" The sultry-eyed woman waited to hear that her ears had been faulty rather than acknowledge that she had heard correctly.

Danny's face went through a myriad of different emotions before settling on pissed.

"You heard correct. Our victim is Detective Bonasera of the NYPD Crime Lab. She was discovered at Nine Forty-five by Jennifer Trenet and Miles Sumner from Old Orchard, Maine... they're here on vacation. She was taken, twenty minutes ago, to Roosevelt Hospital." The brown-eyed woman steered the conversation back onto business, trying to project professionalism so that the two others would take the case in as objectively as they possible could under the circumstances.

Aiden's face hardened as she once again moved forward. "Danny, why don't you take the alley; I'll go with Detective Grainer to interview the witnesses. Then I'll head to the hospital to process... Stella." There was no way Aiden was going to call Stella Bonasera a victim... even if that was what she was.

She couldn't say they were the best of friends, but Aiden did look up to the woman. Stella was a strong, forceful person who had held her own in a still largely male-dominated profession. She was respected and didn't back down from a fight whether with a suspect or their boss. It wasn't to say she wasn't compassionate; she had a heart that was as big as the city of New York.

Aiden's eyes briefly trailed after her blond partner; he was close to Stella. This was going to be tough on him, but she didn't want him to have to go through with processing at the hospital. She jerked her eyes away from him, not wanting to deal with the emotions that were just below the surface as she approached the couple huddled together.

Danny didn't argue with Aiden, though he wanted to know how Stella was. He knew that the best way to help her at the moment was to get something on the bastards.

Stella always treated him like a little brother, something that he missed with his own brother Louie; it had been years since they'd been on good terms. Stella was always there to lend an ear or shoulder depending on which he needed.

Taking out his flashlight he made to start processing the alleyway. As he began, he wondered if someone had notified Mac; in the relationship department, their boss and his partner were closer than any two individuals could be without being married. He was certain that Mac would want to know about this; Danny wasn't sure if he'd be able to tell him though.

Detective Grainer and Aiden stepped up to the couple; they were visibly shaken by the experience. There were dry tearstains on the woman's face, and the dark-haired man was talking to an officer that stood with them. "...Aren’t you done with us yet? Jenni's upset; I'd like to take her back to our hotel."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Sumner, but we need to ask you a few more questions. This is Detective Burn of the NYPD Crime Lab." Renee did her best to be firm but soothing to the couple.

"Could you tell us exactly what you saw?" Aiden set down her case opening it. She slid on a pair of latex gloves then reached for a batch of swabs.

"I didn't see anything really. What is she doing?" Miles demanded.

"Relax, Mr. Sumner, Detective Burn is just doing her job." It was obvious to Renee that the man wasn't into cop shows or watching COURTTV.

Aiden stood up and showed the couple the swabs "I noticed that Ms. Trenet has some blood on her clothes and hands. I just need to take a sample right now, but we'll need to take the garment as evidence."

"Aah... Sure. Of course; whatever you need to help that poor woman." Jennifer stood still as Aiden took several swabs from different areas of her clothes and hands.

Renee held back an impatient sigh, "Now did you see anything, Ms. Trenet?"

"Well I'm not sure." The blue-eyed woman bit her lower lip.

"Why don't you start with how you came to be walking down this street?" Aiden suggested, hoping to jar something from the woman and possibly from the man.

"Oh, I can do that." Jennifer brightened a little since she might be able to help in finding the people who had beaten the lady cop. "We had just had a lovely dinner, and I convinced Miles to walk some of the way back to the hotel..."

A blonde woman had her arm looped around her equally dark-haired companion. They'd had a fabulous meal; they decided to take a walk around New York at night. It wasn't long before they found themselves seriously lost. At seeing signs for a subway, they decided to take a subway train back to the location of their hotel. They were excited, having heard that subways had a way of stimulating sexual tension.

As they walked, they thought they heard shots, close but not so as to ruin their evening. When they turned a corner they were pushed aside by four young individuals.

They almost decided to turn back and get a cab, but the subway entrance was only a little ways ahead.

As the blonde woman passed on the inside, closest to the wall, a hand reached out and grabbed her leg. With a scream she tried to pull away, but she soon stopped as the ragged figure came into the light.

A woman with curly dark hair had blood and bruises covering her face. Her clothes were ripped off, leaving the woman almost naked. There was more blood on the rest of her.

The blonde woman shouted at her companion to call 911 as she bent down to help.

The dark-haired woman opened dull green eyes, gazing at the other woman. She talked through bruised lips, telling them that she was a cop. She relayed to them everything about her assault: how she had fought them, biting one and scratching another, that at least three may have raped her; she didn't know how many exactly. She had lost consciousness until the first bullet had hit her. The green-eyed woman's voice started to fade as if what fight she had left was draining away. In a raspy voice she pleaded with the woman to promise that they would do a full kit on her. After extracting the promise, she sagged back into the tourist's arms.

The visiting woman had thought that the bleeding woman had passed out, when she heard the curly-haired lady whisper in a pleading voice to deliver a message to a Mac Taylor of the NYPD Crime Lab.

"Tell him he's not alone. Everyone at the lab is family, even Don. Tell... tell him to get Connor..."

When Ms. Trenet was done, tears where once again flowing freely down her cheeks; her boyfriend put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

Aiden swallowed a lump in her throat as she tried to force out a question. Instead of her own voice, she heard Detective Grainer ask the couple if there was anything about the suspects that stood out.

"Two were lighter skinned, one was kind of sallow looking, and the fourth was very dark but I wouldn't go as far as to call him black. One of the lighter skinned was really thin, lanky like a teenager, the others, I'm not too sure." The blonde woman gave a half shrug.

"Thank you for the information; we have the address of your hotel and that of your home just in case this isn't resolved before the end of your stay in New York. Here's my card just in case you remember anything else."

Aiden walked back to the alley where Danny was processing. As soon as he caught a glimpse of her face, he stopped walking over to her. "What is it, Aiden?"

Aiden realized at that moment that her cheeks were wet and that was why Danny was looking at her with such a worried expression. She just shook her head, not wanting to go into it with him just yet. "What have you found so far?"

Danny for once didn't push, "With just at a quick glance I found: footprints, blood, a pool of a white sticky substance, and drag marks out to the street. That's just a cursory look around."

"Okay, Danny, call in whatever help you might need here. I'm heading off to the hospital with Detective Grainer." She knew that she was taking control over the investigation but with Danny's recent drop from the promotion grid, she was in a way equal, if not a little higher in the ranking. The brown-eyed woman turned striding back to where the other woman was waiting.

Danny called after Aiden's retreating back, "Hey Aiden." The brunette investigator turned, looking back at him. "When you find out how Stella's doing... you know... call me."

Aiden gave him a strained smile and nodded before walking away.

The emergency doors to Roosevelt Hospital slid open and a nurse and orderlies were there to take in information as Stella Bonasera's life changed hands. Don followed, catching the first nurse that was going into the emergency room with Stella, "The police will need her clothes and anything else, a full kit..."

Don paced the waiting room, his hands in his pockets. He wanted to be in with Stella. The medics had gotten her stable; he knew that when they arrived at the hospital. He had known that Stella would want herself processed, so he made sure to tell the hospital staff to try not to ruin anything. That if they could, they needed the tatters of Stella's clothing and scrapings, photos, the works.

Mac marched through the sliding glass doors of Roosevelt hospital. People seemed to naturally move out of his way. Reaching the receptionist's desk, he held out his badge, "I'm here for Detective Stella Bonasera," He stated it such a way that the young woman behind the counter was looking up the information immediately.

"She was just checked in twenty-five minutes ago. I think she's still in the emergency room. If you could wait one moment, I'll call an see..."

Not waiting for anything else, the ex-marine strode away towards the emergency waiting room. When he got there he spotted Don Flack immediately; the tall New Yorker stood out from the rest of the people who were sitting patiently, waiting to hear about a loved one. The blue-eyed detective was pacing in such a manner that Mac thought fleetingly that he would wear a hole in the floor.

"How is she, Don?" Mac's face was set in an impassive expression, but his eyes gave him away. The emotion that showed there was anger and worry.

"I'm not sure. The paramedics had her stable when we got here." Don couldn't find it in him to tell Mac the extent of her injuries. He was miraculously saved from that when a doctor came out of the emergency room.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Mark Dawnsen. Which one of you is Detective Bonasera's relative?"

Mac stepped forward, "Mac Taylor; I'm not related, but I have her power of attorney."