Title: Blindsided Rating: T Prompt: Gossip Pairing: Mac/Elissa (Schrodinger's Cat) Disclaimer: I own 2 characters, the rest belongs to TPTB. Slightly AU.Set one year after Schrodinger's Cat. Summary: Which team member gets featured in a blind item? 1 week ago Mac exits his apartment building and makes his way along the footpath. "Hey,Mac!" A voice yells. Mac turns around and sees that it is Elissa, who is being accompanied by a younger woman. "Mac,This is my daughter Alexis." She says to him. "I know you!" Mac says to Alexis. "How do you know her?" Elissa interjects. "I'll be her boss, come Monday." He says. "Lex.." Elissa says, looking at Alexis. "Nice surprise,eh?" Alexis laughs. (Cuts to Mac's office.) TBC.
Present Day-Mac's office Mac is on his cell, speaking to Elissa. "Do you want me to pick you up at 7, tonight?" "Yeah.That would be nice, thanks." "No problem, I'll see you then." "Will do." Jo walks in as Mac finishes his conversation with Elissa. "Do you remember this case?" She says, as she places a ziploc bag of photographs on Mac's desk. Mac looks at the photographs. "Yep. I certainly remember this case." He says. "New evidence came in from Henry's co-workers, suggesting that his behavior was suspicious, one even saw him take the Krypton out of the lab." "So we have closure on that." Jo nods,then pauses. "You seem distracted." Mac stares at the her, blankly. "Does this involve, a woman?" She asks. Mac blushes. "Oooo." She teases. "Don't." Mac says, shaking his head. Jo exits. Flack walks in. "And in breaking news, Jamie Sunderland's ass got dragged back to NYC." He says, mockingly. "New evidence came in.I was informed." Mac responds, with a slight chuckle. "Yes, and the State Attorney's office is pushin' for her to get at least 20." "That's good. Case closed." Elissa's Apartment- Night Mac knocks on Elissa's door. She answers the door, wearing a strapless black dress, with stilettos. "I'll just get my bag." She tells him, before turning and walking back in. Mac notices that she has a tattoo below her neck, which is the Greek flag. She comes out,just seconds later. "Are we ready?" She asks. "Yep, by the way, nice tattoo." He compliments. "I'm a proud Greek. My daughter also has one, too." "I saw her half-sleeve." Hours later, they come back from their date, and stop at her door. "That was nice." Elissa says. "Is another one in order?"Mac asks. "Yes." A man walks down the hall,and slowly passes by the pair, whom of which, are pressed against a door, engaging in a very passionate kiss. Monday morning- Crime Lab Mac walks into his office, clutching a copy of the Ledger. He browses the pages, but skips those of little interest to him. He comes across a section that piques his interest. "Blindsided.Hmm." Mac says to himself. He reads it.It says: 'This unconventionally beautiful Ex-Prosecutor who is currently, in a much higher-profile position, was engaging in a steamy, passionate kiss with a handsome NYPD Detective , at the weekend, truth is, these two have only known each other for a year.' "Dammit."Mac says, placing his head in his hands. "Mac,the ladies' man?" A voice teases. Mac looks up. "Adam!"He snarls, gritting his teeth. Alexis walks in, clutching her copy of the paper. "This is awkward." Mac says, shaking his head. Alexis takes a breath. "All I can say on this matter, is that it's your personal business, Mac. That is all." "So, you're not angry." "No, even though I don't know you, I will still respect you in relation to anything,especially in regards to your personal business." "Thank you,Alexis.I feel slightly reassured." Mac nods,still embarrassed. Alexis and Adam exit the office. Meanwhile, Flack enters the lab after being out in the field with Lindsay. They are both walking along the corridor, when Hawkes comes up beside them. "Did you guys see the blind item in The Ledger, this morning?" He asks. "You mean the section called Blindsided." Lindsay tells him. "Those pesky blind items.I usually don't read em' because Danny and I were part of one but, the writer didn't get his facts straight. "You and Danny?" Lindsay asks,shocked. "Don't worry ,Linds.This happened before you came along." Flack reassures her. "What have you people been told about discussing others' personal matters at work?" A voice yells, in a jocular tone. All three turn around to see that Jo is the one that yelled out. She is walking towards them, smiling. "I usually read blind items, I'm a sucker for those things." She tells them. "But...Since I figured that this involves one of our team, maybe this isn't the right time to talk about it,instead-" She almost continues, before being cut off by Flack who says "I just got a message from Mac.We're needed.A mummified corpse has been found in abandoned apartment on Lexington Avenue." TBC.
Lexington Avenue- Crime Scene Mac and the team arrive, and he walks away with Hawkes to examine the mummified corpse that is hanging from the ceiling. "So, do we have a betting pool yet?" Adam whispers to Lindsay. Jo overhears this and whispers "A betting pool for what , exactly?" Flack also enters the conversation ."The betting pool of whether how long Elissa and Mac date each other, before he pops the question!" He hisses. "Will you keep it down? He can hear you! " Alexis hisses. Mac turns to the other members of the team. "Excuse me, but we are supposed to working, not gossiping!" He shouts. "Sir,yes,sir!" Adam yells. Mac looks at Adam and clears his throat. "Sorry,boss!" "That's better." The team members go their separate ways to begin collecting evidence. Adam and Lindsay go into the bathroom. "So, hows Danny?" Adam asks. "Pretty good.He's adjusting to his new role of Sergeant." Lindsay informs him. "Hey, do you think that there's more to Alexis' story than we know?" She asks. "Yeah.I know there is, but she probably isn't aware either." TBC.
Crime Scene (CONT.) Jo notices that a syringe is lying on the floor. "Do you smell that?" She asks, after picking it up and walking over to Mac. "Formaldehyde." Mac tells her, after smelling it. "Hmm.Why would that be present at our crime scene?" "Perhaps our killer tried to embalm our vic, and if I can remeber correctly, that same fluid was present ,during one of the previous investigations, that our team was conducting." "How so?" "A funeral director was selling clothes as worn by dead people, with that exact same substance on them." "Yuck!" Jo says,grimacing. "It was shocking." Mac then turns to Hawkes. "Did you find any needle marks on our vic,Hawkes?" He asks. "As a matter of fact, I did." "We'll have to determine if these needle marks were pre or post mortem." "Hey Mac!" Flack calls out. "Yes?" Mac answers. "I found a cut-out of the Blindsided section, from this morning's Ledger." Mac pauses. "Do you think that our killer may have used this, to give us a clue?" Flack asks. "I'm thinking so." TBC.
Morgue Jo enters. "So, what do we have here?" She asks. "T.O.D was 2.30am and C.O.D was Formaldehyde poisoning." Sid tells her. "Pre mortem,then." "Yes." "How much Formaldehyde does it take to kill someone?" "Not much.Especially if it was injected." "We also found that the vic had a rope around their neck." "That indicates the fact that the killer may have been covering up." "Thanks ,Doc."
"There was no blood at our crime scene." "That's because our victim died from formaldehyde poisoning. Jo interjects,whilst entering. "What do you mean?" Mac inquires. "We got called to another apartment where a woman's body was found." She responds. "Adam found a puddle of blood at the crime scene, as well as a hammer and matched the blood on the hammer to the puddle of blood." She adds. "We'll have to match the area of penetration, to the weapon." Says Mac. "I have the weapon."Lindsay calls out, as she makes her way into the morgue. "Well, bring it on over." Jo tells him. The holes in the victim's skull, are a match to the weapon. "So, we have two different weapons,two bodies and a newspaper clipping which was found with our first victim." "That same clipping was found at our primary crime scene." "Clipping becomes the calling card- and the connection to both cases." Flack tells them.
"Detective Taylor,your presence is required at another crime scene.Apartment 207,Lexington Avenue." "Alright,Thank you." Third Crime Scene. Mac arrives at the door of Apartment 207 , where a man was found dead. "Who called it in?" He asks. "The Victim's wife." The officer tells him. "I'd like you to ask her if she could wait here until Detective Flack arrives." Mac instructs. The officer walks away and gives the woman the instruction, to which she complies. Flack and Jo arrive. Flack walks towards the wife of the victim. "I'm sorry for your loss, but I need to ask you a few questions, if it's okay." Flack assures her. She nods. TBC.
Third Crime scene- CONT. Mac is already inside the apartment. He finds that the victim was dismembered , but the body parts were placed in their correct positions.He also finds that the same news paper clipping , as was present at the two other crime scenes was place in the victim's pant pocket. On the victim's torso, there was also a note attached, saying "You've been blindsided for the final time , DETECTIVE TAYLOR." Flack enters the scene and tells Mac that the victim's wife gave him the address of where he worked. "Aha! He worked at The Ledger." Mac responds. "We've established a possible connection to all of our victims." Jo interjects. "And our killer." Flack finishes. TBC
Morgue "Our victim had two small needle marks on his right arm." Sid tells Flack. "So, what does it tell you?" "There was formaldehyde at the last scene, wasn't there?" "Is that what you found?" "No, I found it." Jo answers Flack, whilst walking through the door. "We also retrieved fingerprints from the paper attached to the victim, turns out that those fingerprints, along with the others recovered from the first two crime scenes belong to a Marcus Paul." She adds. "Wasn't he the guy that put his dead father in a wheelchair and tried to get on plane with him?" Flack inquires. "That was him." Jo nods. Interrogation "Marcus Paul.We meet again." Says Mac. "That is my name, Detective Taylor." Marcus snidely remarks. Mac leans in, placing both of his hands on the table. "WHAT CAUSED YOU TO KILL ALL OF THESE PEOPLE, YOU SONOFABITCH!" Mac bellows. "Ha! You can't prove that." Marcus tells him. "Here are the needles, bearing your fingerprints, The paper found on the last victim, next to a snippet of the 'Blindsided' section from The Ledger, where YOU were employed-" "Fine! I killed them! Goddammit, I was told that I was going to be fired, if my gossip wasn't juicy enough." Marcus confesses. "So, three people were killed because you were going to be fired, how exactly does that work?" "You don't understand." "Of course I do! It's you who doesn't understand!" Mac shouted. "You don't understand that you're supposed to bow out gracefully, when this stuff happens, NOT KILL PEOPLE!." "Oh well." Marcus responds. "Oh well, you're getting 20+ years in prison." Mac tells him, angrily. Marcus is led out of the room. Three hours later Mac passes Elissa in the hallway of their apartment block. They glance at each other before they stop. Mac walks over to her. "Look, Elissa, I'm so sorry for what happened." He apologises. "I'm afraid that this isn't going to work, Mac." She says, teary-eyed. "It is, but we need to give it more time." He assures her,before reaching out to rub her shoulder. Mac then pulls Elissa closer to him, before kissing the top of her head. FIN.