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bedlamsbardI have no explanation for this. At all. Ever. Please don't throw things. It could happen!
"Well, it's about time," Stella said impatiently. She would have stood up, except for the part where she was handcuffed to a chair. "Mac, get me out of here. Tell the nice officers who I am."
Mac stared at her for a moment, his jaw working silently. "Get out," he said abruptly to Maka.
"Mac, I don't think -"
"Detective Maka, I gave you an order."
Maka scowled, but didn't answer, just bulled her way out of the interrogation room. Mac turned back to Stella. "Just who the hell are you?" he demanded.
Stella stared at him. "Excuse me? You know who I am. Detective Stella Bonasera, CSI, your partner for the last, oh, seven years?"
Mac slaemmd his fist down in front of Stella. "I know who you say you are and who your DNA says you are, but Detective Stella Bonasera is not now and never has been part of CSU, and moreover, she is dead. I buried her myself."
"What?" Stella's head was spinning. "My God - is this some kind of seriously fucked up joke?"
"If it was, I'd know what to do with you," Mac said. HE sat down across from her, frowning. "Your DNA checks you out as Stella Bonasera, but unless the body I buried was a fake, you're dead."
Stella swallowed. "Okay," she said. "Okay, this is weird, but I read about this in Scientific American. Alternate realities, right? They're supposed to be purely theoretical, but if I accidentally stumbled on a - a gateway between my reality and yours - what do you mean your Stella was never a CSI? I love my job. Most of the time."
"Stella was an SVU detective," Mac said shortly. "She couldn't join CSU; it was against regulations. You could be right." He stood up abruptly.
"Where are you going?" Stella demanded.
"To make a phone call," Mac said, glancing back at her. "To someone who might be able to explain what's going on."
She scowled. "Well, if you're leaving me alone, at least take the cuffs off. It's not like I'm going anywhere."
*
Mac came back half an hour later with a familiar face in tow.
"Danny!" Stella said. "Oh, thank God, I -"
Danny blinked at her. "Is that - no - yes - Mac, is this -"
"This is Dr. Daniel Messer, ah, Stella," Mac said. "He's a professor of astrophysics at Columbia University; his secondary doctorate is in quantum physics. Danny, this is the - person - I told you about earlier."
Stella stared at Danny. He did look different. Paler. Slightly longer hair that appeared to be its natural color. Different glasses. A little more wild-eyed. "Okay," she said. "This stopped being bizarre and just went to surreal. You're a professor of astrophysics?"
Danny blinked again. "What," he said, "did I go for the pro baseball career in your reality? 'Cause I can see the shock there, because athlete, Ph.D., don't really go together."
"In my uh, reality, you're a crime scene detective with the NYPD and a Mafia connection that's nearly gotten you arrested," Stella said. "Not an astrophysicist. Or a pro athlete."
"That's fascinating," Danny said. "I wonder what the turning point was? Tell me, in your universe did I still go to MIT?"
"Last time I checked, Danny Messer graduated from John Jay," Stella said dryly. "Danny - my Danny - missed two years of high school; I don't think that really qualifies for MIT entrance unless you're busy reinventing the wheel."
"Danny," Mac said patiently. "Do you think she's telling the truth? Is this possible?"
Stella looked straight at him. "Your real name is Maclarin Jefferson Taylor. Your parents are Justice Hamilton Taylor and Evelyn Maclarin, of Taylor Steel and Maclarin Enterprises. You were in the Marine Corps for twenty years as a sniper. Your wife's name was Claire Reynolds. She died on 9/11 -"
"So you still had September 11 in your world?" Danny asked eagerly. "So there aren't major differences between your world and ours -"
"Claire didn't die when the towers fell," Mac said shortly. "Danny, why don't you take Detective Bonasera out to get something to eat? I have work to do."
*
"What did happen to Claire?" Stella asked, glancing up and down the street. CSU was still at the old lab, the one on Mulberry Street; Danny had looked completely blank when she asked about the Time Square lab.
Danny blinked. "Well, that was before I met Mac, but as far as I know he and Claire haven been divorced for almost seven years now. She was in Hawaii on her honeymoon on 9/11." He paused a moment. "His wife did die in the towers, though."
"Mac remarried?" Stella said, startled. That was a surprise. "To who?"
"I take you and your Mac aren't married in you world," Danny said.
Stella stared at him. "No," she said. "No, we definitely are not. Married?"
*
"This is fascinating," Danny said for about the sixth time. "It sounds like you stumbled across some kind of - of interdimensional gateway. I did my thesis - well, my second thesis - on the multi-worlds interpretation; you have no idea what this means to me. If I can get my hands on that gateway - it could verify a lot of things theoretical physicists have been working on for decades now -"
"As long as you send me home first, it's all yours," Stella said fervently.
"Send you -" Danny blinked. "Oh. Uh, well, there's no way to tell if it's a two-way,uh, gate, but - I wonder if it's an artificial wormhole. Some of my colleagues have theorized that -"
"Trust me," Stella said, "I don't give a fuck what your colleagues think as long as I can get home."
"You know," Danny said thoughtfully, "Some physicists - myself included - speculate that if time travel is possible, then so is faster than light travel. Now, that's not the same as interdimensional travel, but it's possible that they're very closely related. This could completely revamp the field of physics! I mean, I had friends at MIT working on stuff like this, but that was years in the future, even at MIT."
"I'm still having problems with the concept that any Danny Messer could go to MIT," Stella said, stirring her mocha. This was the Mulberry Street Starbucks, and the las ttime she'd seen it they'd been busy repairing the bullet holes from when what's-her-face had shot up the place. "Is Val Constantine still a Mafia don here?"
Danny glanced up at her, suddenly wary. "Constantine's not one of the Five Families," he said.
"Well, at least some things don't change between worlds," Stella said. "I guess Val Constantine being a stubborn jackass is one of them."
"That's one way to put it," Danny said dryly.
Suddenly curious, Stella asked, "Do you know the name Astra Pagliuca?"
"Pagliuca's one of the Five Families, but Nicky doesn't have a daughter," Danny said, still wary. "I think Mac's sister-in-law is named Astra, but her name's Bonasera, not Pagliuca. She takes care of Mac's daughter when he's at work."
"Well, there's another difference on a stack of differences," Stella said. Then the second part of what Danny had said struck her. "Wait - daughter?"
"Yeah, Callie. I think she's the only thign that kept Mac sane after Stella - you - our Stella - died." He sighed.
"Mac has a kid?" Stella said faintly.
"He doesn't in your reality? That's - Mac without Callie, that's a weird thought."
"Not as weird as the thought of Mac with a kid," Stella said stubbornly. "I would have thought Claire would have custody, not Mac."
Danny looked surprised. "Why would Claire have custody? Callie's not her kid."
"Then whose - are you trying to tell me I had Mac's kid?"
By the way,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stellaluna_, I think this might be my Danny/Mac universe.
"Well, it's about time," Stella said impatiently. She would have stood up, except for the part where she was handcuffed to a chair. "Mac, get me out of here. Tell the nice officers who I am."
Mac stared at her for a moment, his jaw working silently. "Get out," he said abruptly to Maka.
"Mac, I don't think -"
"Detective Maka, I gave you an order."
Maka scowled, but didn't answer, just bulled her way out of the interrogation room. Mac turned back to Stella. "Just who the hell are you?" he demanded.
Stella stared at him. "Excuse me? You know who I am. Detective Stella Bonasera, CSI, your partner for the last, oh, seven years?"
Mac slaemmd his fist down in front of Stella. "I know who you say you are and who your DNA says you are, but Detective Stella Bonasera is not now and never has been part of CSU, and moreover, she is dead. I buried her myself."
"What?" Stella's head was spinning. "My God - is this some kind of seriously fucked up joke?"
"If it was, I'd know what to do with you," Mac said. HE sat down across from her, frowning. "Your DNA checks you out as Stella Bonasera, but unless the body I buried was a fake, you're dead."
Stella swallowed. "Okay," she said. "Okay, this is weird, but I read about this in Scientific American. Alternate realities, right? They're supposed to be purely theoretical, but if I accidentally stumbled on a - a gateway between my reality and yours - what do you mean your Stella was never a CSI? I love my job. Most of the time."
"Stella was an SVU detective," Mac said shortly. "She couldn't join CSU; it was against regulations. You could be right." He stood up abruptly.
"Where are you going?" Stella demanded.
"To make a phone call," Mac said, glancing back at her. "To someone who might be able to explain what's going on."
She scowled. "Well, if you're leaving me alone, at least take the cuffs off. It's not like I'm going anywhere."
*
Mac came back half an hour later with a familiar face in tow.
"Danny!" Stella said. "Oh, thank God, I -"
Danny blinked at her. "Is that - no - yes - Mac, is this -"
"This is Dr. Daniel Messer, ah, Stella," Mac said. "He's a professor of astrophysics at Columbia University; his secondary doctorate is in quantum physics. Danny, this is the - person - I told you about earlier."
Stella stared at Danny. He did look different. Paler. Slightly longer hair that appeared to be its natural color. Different glasses. A little more wild-eyed. "Okay," she said. "This stopped being bizarre and just went to surreal. You're a professor of astrophysics?"
Danny blinked again. "What," he said, "did I go for the pro baseball career in your reality? 'Cause I can see the shock there, because athlete, Ph.D., don't really go together."
"In my uh, reality, you're a crime scene detective with the NYPD and a Mafia connection that's nearly gotten you arrested," Stella said. "Not an astrophysicist. Or a pro athlete."
"That's fascinating," Danny said. "I wonder what the turning point was? Tell me, in your universe did I still go to MIT?"
"Last time I checked, Danny Messer graduated from John Jay," Stella said dryly. "Danny - my Danny - missed two years of high school; I don't think that really qualifies for MIT entrance unless you're busy reinventing the wheel."
"Danny," Mac said patiently. "Do you think she's telling the truth? Is this possible?"
Stella looked straight at him. "Your real name is Maclarin Jefferson Taylor. Your parents are Justice Hamilton Taylor and Evelyn Maclarin, of Taylor Steel and Maclarin Enterprises. You were in the Marine Corps for twenty years as a sniper. Your wife's name was Claire Reynolds. She died on 9/11 -"
"So you still had September 11 in your world?" Danny asked eagerly. "So there aren't major differences between your world and ours -"
"Claire didn't die when the towers fell," Mac said shortly. "Danny, why don't you take Detective Bonasera out to get something to eat? I have work to do."
*
"What did happen to Claire?" Stella asked, glancing up and down the street. CSU was still at the old lab, the one on Mulberry Street; Danny had looked completely blank when she asked about the Time Square lab.
Danny blinked. "Well, that was before I met Mac, but as far as I know he and Claire haven been divorced for almost seven years now. She was in Hawaii on her honeymoon on 9/11." He paused a moment. "His wife did die in the towers, though."
"Mac remarried?" Stella said, startled. That was a surprise. "To who?"
"I take you and your Mac aren't married in you world," Danny said.
Stella stared at him. "No," she said. "No, we definitely are not. Married?"
*
"This is fascinating," Danny said for about the sixth time. "It sounds like you stumbled across some kind of - of interdimensional gateway. I did my thesis - well, my second thesis - on the multi-worlds interpretation; you have no idea what this means to me. If I can get my hands on that gateway - it could verify a lot of things theoretical physicists have been working on for decades now -"
"As long as you send me home first, it's all yours," Stella said fervently.
"Send you -" Danny blinked. "Oh. Uh, well, there's no way to tell if it's a two-way,uh, gate, but - I wonder if it's an artificial wormhole. Some of my colleagues have theorized that -"
"Trust me," Stella said, "I don't give a fuck what your colleagues think as long as I can get home."
"You know," Danny said thoughtfully, "Some physicists - myself included - speculate that if time travel is possible, then so is faster than light travel. Now, that's not the same as interdimensional travel, but it's possible that they're very closely related. This could completely revamp the field of physics! I mean, I had friends at MIT working on stuff like this, but that was years in the future, even at MIT."
"I'm still having problems with the concept that any Danny Messer could go to MIT," Stella said, stirring her mocha. This was the Mulberry Street Starbucks, and the las ttime she'd seen it they'd been busy repairing the bullet holes from when what's-her-face had shot up the place. "Is Val Constantine still a Mafia don here?"
Danny glanced up at her, suddenly wary. "Constantine's not one of the Five Families," he said.
"Well, at least some things don't change between worlds," Stella said. "I guess Val Constantine being a stubborn jackass is one of them."
"That's one way to put it," Danny said dryly.
Suddenly curious, Stella asked, "Do you know the name Astra Pagliuca?"
"Pagliuca's one of the Five Families, but Nicky doesn't have a daughter," Danny said, still wary. "I think Mac's sister-in-law is named Astra, but her name's Bonasera, not Pagliuca. She takes care of Mac's daughter when he's at work."
"Well, there's another difference on a stack of differences," Stella said. Then the second part of what Danny had said struck her. "Wait - daughter?"
"Yeah, Callie. I think she's the only thign that kept Mac sane after Stella - you - our Stella - died." He sighed.
"Mac has a kid?" Stella said faintly.
"He doesn't in your reality? That's - Mac without Callie, that's a weird thought."
"Not as weird as the thought of Mac with a kid," Stella said stubbornly. "I would have thought Claire would have custody, not Mac."
Danny looked surprised. "Why would Claire have custody? Callie's not her kid."
"Then whose - are you trying to tell me I had Mac's kid?"
By the way,
stellaluna_, I think this might be my Danny/Mac universe.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-03 12:59 am (UTC)If I were Stella here, I think I'd be wanting to curl into a ball in a nice, quiet corner somewhere and wait for my head to stop spinning. I mean, yanked out of your own universe, and *then* finding out that in this world you were married to your partner and had his kid, and now you're *dead*? Yeek. What a mindfuck. And Danny as mad scientist just suits, somehow. Without the influence of Tanglewood, it seems he had a chance to fully indulge in his smartness and geekdom.
Callie's so cute, though. You can't help but like Callie. And this Astra amuses me, too, because she doesn't have the Mob background the Bardverse-Astra does. Stella is handling this all very calmly.
Danny as mad scientist is awesome. I'm not sure exactly what went differently, but no Tanglewood and he just took his gifts and sailed ahead.
Oh dear. That's fascinating. There's some interesting backstory, for sure. (Not to mention it probably makes for some awkward, or amusing, moments when they get into the "So, how did you meet?" conversations.) Plus Stella on the couch and Danny & Mac in bedroom? Hee, oh, speaking of *awkward*...
Oh, yeah. One of those moments. (If I was mean I'd ask to dump my Danny into the Starverse, but I'm not that mean. I love my characters!)