bedlamsbard | CSI:NY fic: Bardverse AU: scenes from "The Man Who Wasn't There"

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CSI:NY fic: Bardverse AU: scenes from "The Man Who Wasn't There"

Takes up five years after an alternate Bloody Sunday where Danny took Val up on his offer, Aiden didn't die, and Lindsay didn't come to New York until after Danny quit the NYPD.

“We have a match,” Lindsay said, bending over the keyboard. She glanced back over her shoulder, grinning at Angell. “Facial reconstruction came back on our John Doe.”

Angell picked up the paper the printer spit out. “Our JD’s a federal agent,” she said, surprised.

“John Hudson,” Lindsay said. She straightened and went over to stand next Angell, reading over the other woman’s shoulder. “He worked Organized Crime thirty years ago – disappeared in New York right after he’d gotten a conviction for a major case.”

“Who?”

“Some Mafia bigwig – Luciano Constantine.” Lindsay grinned again. “Apparently they used to call him Lucky. Guess he wasn’t – he got forty years in prison with a possibility for parole after thirty.”

“Hmm,” Angell said. She waved the sheaf of papers. “I’ll go try and get a hold of the FBI, see if I can find the agents who originally worked the case – you told Detective Taylor yet?”

“No, should I?”

“If it’s gonna be cross-jurisdictional, yeah. Just drop him a line or something.”

“I didn’t think about that,” Lindsay admitted. “I did some digging – Lucky Constantine’s still in Sing Sing, but he’s got a son, Valentine – maybe he knows something about what happened with Agent Hudson. If Hudson put Lucky Constantine away, then disappeared immediately afterwards –”

“There’s a strong probability that Constantine might have had Hudson whacked from behind bars,” Angell nodded. “Let’s go talk to Valentine Constantine after I make a few phone calls.”

-
-

“You know, I always pictured – I don’t know, checkered table cloths and tortellini?” Lindsay said, frowning up at the neon sign over the bar. “This just seems out of character.”

“You’ve been watching too many gangster movies,” Angell told her, grinning, and pushed open the door.

Lindsay blinked at the sudden change in lighting. The bar was relatively well-lit, but it was eighty-five degrees and sunny outside. It took her a minute or so to make out the lone figure at the bar.

“Valentine Constantine?” Angell said, holding up her badge. “NYPD.”

“My uncle’s out of town,” the guy at the bar said, turning. “But anything for the NYPD.”

Lindsay’s first thought was typical mobster. But he wasn’t, not really. The guy was young, maybe a few years older than her – silk shirt, charcoal slacks, gold-rimmed glasses, wedding band on his left hand, chain around his neck. There was a leather jacket slung over the back of his barstool.

“Danny Messer,” he added, running his tongue over his front teeth.

“I’m Detective Angell. This is Detective Monroe from the Crime Lab,” Angell said.

Lindsay saw him stiffen slightly, then he relaxed abruptly. “Pleased to meet you, ladies. What can I do for the NYPD?”

“You carrying?” Angell asked abruptly.

“Yeah, of course,” Messer said matter-of-factly. “Don’t get your hopes up, Detective, it’s perfectly legal and licensed.”

“Put it on the bar. I want your license too.”

He’d had his gun holstered at the small of his back. .38 Beretta, black matte, and then he dug in his pocket and tossed over his concealed weapons license on the counter too.

“Anything else?” Angell asked.

There was a pause, like he was considering something, and then Messer shrugged and slid a pair of knives out of his sleeves and onto the bar.

“What is this, 1935?” Lindsay said.

“You want to strip-search me, Detective, or is that all?” Messer said, ignoring her.

“That’ll do,” Angell said. “Linds, would you mind checking his license?”

“Yeah,” Lindsay said, and went over to pick up the card. “It’s legit.”

“I told you,” Messer shrugged. “Now what else can I do for you, Detective Angell?”

“Does the name John Hudson mean anything to you?”

To give Messer some credit, he gave it serious thought, or at least faked it pretty well. “Can’t say it does. Why, what’s this about?”

“A body,” Lindsay said. “He was shot, twice in the head. A couple of kids found it out on Staten Island two days ago.”

Messer shook his head. “Still doesn’t mean anything to me.”

“Special Agent John Hudson died thirty years ago,” Angell said, leaning forward. “He’s the one that put Luciano Constantine away in Sing Sing.”

“Good for him,” Messer said. “I wasn’t born yet when my granddad went away.”

“You didn’t like your grandfather?”

“Never met him. He got put away the year I was born.”

“What about your uncle?”

“I like Val fine,” Messer said. He inclined his head toward the bar. “You want something, Detective? While you’re here?”

“I don’t drink on the job,” Angell snapped.

Messer glanced over at Lindsay. “How about you, Monroe? On the house.”

“I want you to answer some questions,” Lindsay said.

Messer ran his tongue over his teeth again. “So ask me some.”

Angell leaned forward, one arm resting against the side of the bar. “What do you know about your grandfather?”

“Vindictive son of a bitch,” Messer said, matter-of-fact. “Dumb enough to get caught and think he could keep on being the boss after.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He put out a hit on my uncle Val from prison,” Messer said. “So if you’ve got something you can nail him for, you won’t be getting any interference from me or mine.”

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GLEE OH GLEE. I can't actually smile, cause of stitches, but I so totally want to. GLEE.

There was a pause, like he was considering something, and then Messer shrugged and slid a pair of knives out of his sleeves and onto the bar.

“What is this, 1935?” Lindsay said.

Haha, nice, Lindsay.

“So if you’ve got something you can nail him for, you won’t be getting any interference from me or mine.”

Yeah, Danny? Really dislikes Lucky, it seems, if he's willing to help the NYPD put him away.

Oh, man, I can't wait to see Lindsay and Angell when they realize just who Danny used to be. Poor Lindsay, she's already so disappointed by the stereotypes (or, rather, lack thereof), it'd probably shock her to learn that Danny used to be a cop.

Glee glee glee *twirls happily*

He's never met Lucky. Carmine's mentioned him a few times in that tone of voice, but Val never talks about him. But Danny's heard the rumors -- and Lucky's still in bloody jail, which means Lindsay and Angell's next visit is so totally going to be to Sing Sing.

I think "freakout" would be an accurate description here. Lindsay'll be absolutely horrified to find out Danny used to be a cop.

He seems to hate a guy quite a bit for never having met him. Is there something more, or is it just "Val and Carmine hate him, so I do too"?

Lindsay's too straight-laced (at least in canon). Like Mac, almost, except Mac has seen and experienced so much more. But Lindsay is a bit naive, very good-versus-evil, so I'd think it would fuck her world view to learn that Danny, heir to a Mafia family, used to be Mac Taylor's golden boy.

There is Stuff That Happened. Namely, the persistent rumor that Lucky really did put a hit out on Val from prison, and there were assassination attempts, both on Val and on Danny, but those have never been verified to have come from Lucky.

Lindsay = naive. And she thinks she's world-weary and street-smart, only she isn't. She's very, very black and white, and one of these days it's going to screw her over badly. I'm holding out for something with Danny. *crosses fingers*

I think "fuck her world view" is a little mild. More like "turn it completely upside down."

Man, I'd hate to see what happens when (if?) Lucky gets out of prison, because that's gonna be ugly.

Lindsay is... yeah, naive is the best word for it. She's seen a lot of evil, but she has yet to make the connection that bad things aren't always evil things, and that people can change their entire lifestyle but not change who they are deep inside, even though she has.

Oh, poor Lindsay. And no one in the CSU is going to help her work through her realization when she learns about Danny's past, because they all have their own demons to fight in this particular area (especially Flack and Mac).

What's Aiden up to at this time, if she's still alive?

Yeah, ugly is one way to put it. Open war is another one.

Well, there's Angell. And various techs. But the main gang? No, they've got their own problems. Some of which involve keeping Mac from bodily throwing Danny out of the lab. And keeping Flack from punching Mac in the face. A lot.

She's still a CSI -- usually she works with Flack, because he gets slightly less twitchy when she's there.

Would it really be a "war"? I mean, all of Val's men are loyal to him, not Lucky, and the Commission's accepted Val into their ranks. I suppose Lucky's got people on his own side, but it seems suicidal to go against Val and the rest of Constantine.

Angell will probably be shocked, too, though less so than Lindsay. And I'd pay to see Flack punch Mac in the face. Really.

I honestly thought Aiden and Danny would still chat, though I suppose he severed all ties to the CSU when he went to live with Val. But it surprises me a bit that they don't stay in contact, even if they're no longer really friends.

Yes. Lucky's got connections outside the Family -- he's got a couple Commission connections, a couple Jersey and Philly ones -- he could probably scavenge up a handful of Boston ones too; people vying for the lead position that kicked off when Danny married Frankie West and Val endorsed dell'Ferrare. And there are enough people in the Commission that hate or distrust Val that they'd go for Lucky, especially if it meant getting Constantine out of the Commission. And Constantine is a pretty small Family, all things considered.

I can have Flack punch Mac in the face! Again, I mean, there's a pretty high possibility that he made a pretty good try at it when he realized Danny really had left. And that time he was being held for murder and Mac came to get him out and seriously, Flack really does not like Mac at this point in time. Man, I need to write him punching Mac and Danny just sitting there grinning lazily and twirling a cigarette between his fingers.

Oh, I think they do, a little bit -- at least at the beginning, not so much now. Aiden can't understand Danny anymore; they've drifted apart. She makes a point to call him every once in a while and they go out for drinks or coffee, but there's nothing they can talk about.

Huh. So, yeah, I suppose it would be war. Fuck, that won't be pretty, and like Danny needs more people trying to kill him. What about the connections Danny has? Val was telling Mac and Stella about Danny's bloodline in "Omerta", and said he has a lot of connections he could call on if he wanted to, but he never did. Would they help out against Lucky?

Danny would find the whole thing totally entertaining, and perhaps even justifiable, because I'm sure he wouldn't mind punching Mac, too, and watching Flack do it would be almost as good.

I think that may be the saddest of all, because Danny and Aiden are totally inseparable in my mind... they're like lovers, without the romance, best friends, right up until Aiden dies *sob*

*tries very hard to remember Family politics* Okay, the thing is that most of Danny's connections are through the Constantine line -- they're marriage connections, so while he can call on them, so can Val and Lucky. And saying "a lot of connections" is a little bit of exaggeration. It really depends on if those Families think they're doing better with Val, or if they'd be better off with Lucky. But yeah, it'd be a very, very messy war -- and a civil war, which is the worst of the worst.

Hey, if you write post-Race Sean and Winston confront Papa Salazar, I'll write Flack punching Mac.

Danny would find it hilarious.

It's kind of hard to consider Aiden sometimes, because it's been so long. *throws things at television*

Hey, if you write post-Race Sean and Winston confront Papa Salazar, I'll write Flack punching Mac.

Holy crap, deal. Angst for angst, only your will likely be more violent. Hm, I wonder if Salazar Sr would actually throw a punch at Winston, and Sean would be ready to defend his brother if need be, though of course he wouldn't step in immediately because he would know that Winston can defend himself and that it would piss Winston off to interfere.

Oh, Winston trained him so well...

I can see Danny, feet propped up on the table, watching it like it's pay-per-view fight night, tossing the occasional comment in to piss them off more. It'd be a game to him, almost. Though he'd hide his wince when Mac said something particularly cruel to Flack, because even five years later he still has some shred of feeling in there.

Dear CBS, do a flashback episode with Aiden and I will love you forever. Also, a crossover with Criminal Minds, but we'll discuss that another time. Love, Me.

Papa Salazar would totally throw a punch at Winston -- well, it depends what Winston says or what Papa Salazar assumes. I mean, if you decide to go the Salazar-cest route, then he's definitely going to go for Winston, because the automatic assumption is that Winston has corrupted his poor innocent son. On the other hand, if you don't decide to go that route, then there's probably not enough reason to react with physical violence (although you can probably think of something). If Papa Salazar does throw a punch, then I think Sean's going to get in the way just to prove a point. (On the other hand, this is coming from me, for whom everyone's doing something to make a point and piss someone else off.)

And Lindsay's, you know, just crammed into a corner staring, because she's never seen Flack and Mac like this -- well, Flack, but not Mac, not like this (although the occasional outbursts he's prone to? Not so occasional anymore. Trust issues up the wazoo, here). And Aiden and Stella are trying to drag them apart and Danny's laughing like a lunatic and Angell's over with Lindsay, trying to figure out who to help -- Aiden or Stella.

Dear CBS, YES PLEASE AND NUMB3RS TOO. And oh my God, other shows if only they were on the same station. Like Bones! Or Stargate Atlantis! Or Supernatural! Or DRIVE!

...I'm sorry, my brain just reached a new level of awesomeness. Kisses, me!

Okay, hopefully this will make sense, since I'm watching CSI: Miami at the same time that I type, and I can't multi-task.

Papa Salazar might be too uptight and elite to punch Winston, though. I don't know, I need a better feel for the character, which is tough considering he's never been shown. There might be enough reason to react even if there's not the Salazarcest thing, if he realizes how badly Winston "corrupted" Sean, and if he pushes Papa Salazar enough.

Lindsay's going to have so many issues when all of this is over, because damn. Her entire universe is going to be tilted, and she's just going to be so shocked by everything that happens.

CBS needs to cross all of their shows over, especially the ones that are easy to cross, like Law and Order (is that CBS? I think so, but Canadian channels are weird), CSI: NY, and Criminal Minds, which all take place in the New England/New York area. Fox could cross their shows, too, Bones, and House, and Drive :D. NUMB3RS would cross with CSI: Vegas! Hee, Charlie and Grissom having an intellectual conversation, and Nick and Don are like "... um, wanna go get a burger and play a game of baseball?"

There needs to be more crossover fic out there.

Mmm, I don't know. I get the feeling Papa Salazar is kind of a rags to riches type; especially with a background of Winston's family, there's probably a pretty good chance that he had to fight his way to the top tooth and nail. He'd probably revert back to that, especially if it's Winston pushing him.

And Winston is, like, so totally going to push him to the breaking point just because he can.

*nods fervently* Uh, yeah. Especially once Danny gets shot and Flack almost throws a guy off a building. Oh, wait, that's par for the course.

Law and Order is NBC.

I have this great idea for a SPN/Drive crossover where Dean gets into The Race because Sam's been kidnapped -- and then they let him go, because they've got something that'll get both of them to race.

I sorta figured Winston's mother was just a woman that he knocked up, supported for a while, then dumped when she was no longer convenient to him. I wish we knew more about Papa Salazar, though :(

Winston's an ass like that, which is awesome, but it's gonna come back to bite him in the ass one day. But he'll take Sean coming over to "his side" as a personal victory, one that he'll rum right into their father's face.

Ah, it's on CTV in Canada, so I have no idea what it's regularly on, since CSI is on CTV, too. Darn, that would be a great crossover :D.

SPN and Drive are both very easy to cross, because of the roadtrip aspect, and how being in a car is central to both of them (not to mention the Winchester-Salazar similarities).

Hmm...yeah, God, I wish we knew. *waves fist* Curse you, Fox!

Why do I have the feeling that he'll shove that into Papa Salazar's face and Sean is going to be right there and really pissed off about thinking he's being used as a chip, not a person -- even those he's totally not, but that's the way Winston's putting it.

Dude, seriously, I think whoever was coming up with ideas for Drive watched a little bit too much Supernatural. Cross-country road trip, brothers in an Impala, getting hit by a Big Damn Truck -- seriously, I really want to write that Drive/SPN crossover.

Wouldn't Sean realize by the time they confront their father that Winston's treating of him like a pawn is just the way he is, and isn't really indicative of the way Winston really feels?

Or, meh, who knows. I'm going to have to hammer at this fic, throw ideas around, until I manage to get it to fit together the way I like.

I've seen a few SPN/Drive xovers written, but nothing longer than a few hundred words, which is tragic. There's a lot of potential there.

I think I'd pay someone to write me a Criminal Minds/ CSI: NY crossover, though. *wistful sigh*

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CSI:NY fic: Bardverse AU: scenes from "The Man Who Wasn't There"

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