Title: Maxwell

Author: Bluehaven4220

Summary: All the memories he has of her are the ones he holds closest now. FlackOC

Reviews: Very much appreciated

Disclaimer: Speak to TPTB, Anthony Zuiker, Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelshon, and Jerry Bruikheimer

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All of my memories

Keep you near

In silent moments

Imagine you'd be here

All of my memories

Keep you near

The silent whispers, silent tears

Memories- Within Temptation

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I drop to my knees at her headstone. It is the only thing I can do; I don't have the strength to pull myself up. I feel my shoulders shake as the tears and sorrow threaten to rip me limb from limb. My heart is threatening to explode with pain.

Why? Why was she taken from me like this?

No matter what I had done, it should have been me.

I remember the day I met her. She walked with quite a pronounced limp. Yet, still, her presence made all the difference. Her eyes hidden by dark sunglasses, she walked up to the reception desk and waited. I stood almost in awe as our Captain went to receive her into his office. If she was interviewing for a spot in the NYPD perhaps I'd get her as a partner.

Sure enough, I did. The next day I got called in at some unspeakable hour where the sun had yet to rise, on account that I was to meet her and perhaps train her.

Me, stuck with the rookie at this ungodly hour? If she was that good, then I'd grit my teeth and bear it.

When I went in, she sat, arms crossed over her chest, on my desk.

“You're late,” were the first words out of her mouth.

“Good morning to you too,” I answered.

“Uh huh,” she scoffed, jumped down from my desk and extended her hand. “Erica Maxwell.”

“Don Flack,” I shook her hand and looked away from her. “So... Maxwell...”

“Detective Maxwell,” she corrected me.

“Right,” I said. “Where you from?”

“That has absolutely no bearing on why we're both in here at three in the morning,” she rubbed her eyes.

“Little friendly chat never hurt anyone, did it?”

“I have no patience for it at three in the morning.”

I blinked, never having expected her to be this feisty.

She shook her hand. “Fine, I'm from Toronto.”

“What are you doing down here?”

“Fuck off,” she muttered under her breath.

“Whoo, somone's grouchy,” I made a face at her. “So, Captain wants us in the shooting range,” she glared at me, her eyes rimmed red. “But I'm sure you already know how to fire a standard.”

“Of course I know how to fire a gun,” she answered. “If you stop making mindless chit-chat right now, and I mean right at this very instant, coffee is on me, got it?”

Immediately I shut my mouth. We worked in silence until seven that morning, when the Captain came in and saw us both filling out the insurmountable amount of paperwork that was required of both of us.

I noticed that on her medical records, she had written “Ventriculo- Peritoneal (V-P) shunt (left side)” and then “mild cerebral palsy (right side)”, “partial paralyzation due to stroke (right side)”, “pronounced limp (right leg)” and then there was something about a casein intolerance listed as well.

Funny, I didn't even notice it all.

“I know what you're thinking here, Flack,” she snatched it from my hand and hid it in the other papers. “I don't look like I'm partially paralyzed, do I?”

My mouth moved, but no sound came.

“It's okay if you say no,” she answered. “Okay, no it is then.”

“How?” I managed.

“Never mind.” She got up, packed it up, and went out the door. “I'll see you later.”

I watched her retreating back, she was limping as she went down the stairs toward the street. I watched from the window as she hailed a cab and drove out of sight.

It was suddenly clear to me that there was a lot more to Erica Maxwell then I had originally thought.

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A/N: Okay, so you may be wondering how I know about V-P shunts and cerebral palsy... well, it is because I have both a V-P shunt (on the left side) and mild cerebral palsy (down the right side of my body), as a result of a stroke that I suffered as an infant. Yes, readers, Erica Maxwell is based on myself. All I can hope is that she is not a Mary-Sue. As this story is medically fuelled (meaning that a lot of medical terms and knowledge/research is going into this, reviews are very much appreciated.

Regards,

Bluehaven4220