Danny stared down at the small amount of alcohol that dared him to finish it. The light of the bar winked at him through the whiskey's reflection. He sighed and took his glasses off. He hated himself so much right now.

Lindsey had thrown him out for the night. He'd earned it. Though they'd fought over something stupid, he couldn't be sure what, anymore, he'd said the wrong thing.

And sweet Montana's response was to show him the door. You know,the wooden thing with the knob? Rather than go to his crummy apartment and curl up in an empty bed, he chose to sit down in a bar and reflect on his actions instead. Or at least, forget about them first. So far, he'd downed two shots of whiskey, one shot of tequila and a beer. Needless to say, he was starting to feel a bit dizzy.

''Messer, do I need to cut you off?''

Danny glanced up at the bartender. He shrugged and nudged the nearly empty shot glass forward.

''Might be a good idea,''he muttered,''Gimme some ice water. I gotta walk home.''

The bartender smiled and took the glass away.

''Stupid Lindsey bein' fucking pregnant and her stupid mood swings...''he drunkenly slurred.

Yup. He definitely deserved to be tossed out tonight. Serves him right for not getting a pregnant woman her fish sticks and soft pretzels. Was she always that moody? No, just since the pregnancy, Danny's mind corrected.

''Ah, you pissed off your girl again, eh?''

''Well, Artie, it ain't hard to do when she's pregnant.''

Artie laughed. ''No, it's not.''

A freezing glass of water and jingling ice cubes slid into Danny's vision. He glanced at it, trying to remember why he had traded in his whiskey for water before he carefully brought it to his lips and started chugging.

It was cold, the cubes of ice tickled the tip of his nose as he drank, but he did feel his brain starting to clear up. He still needed those grey cells for work. Mac would kill him if he showed up to the lab with a hangover, but that would be more merciful than what Stella would do. She'd just rupture his ear drums with screaming and lecturing.

The glass slammed down against the wood of the bar as Danny fought for air,having chugged half of the refreshing liquid down. He shook his head, and his surroundings slowly became a bit clearer.

'Almost sober enough,'he thought.

''Don't drink that down too quick! You'll give yourself a headache,''Artie warned, scrubbing at a mug.

The New York Italian caught his breath finally and chugged down the rest of the ice water.

A sudden but unsurprising shriek escaped his lips as he gripped his head for a moment. Ah, the joys of brain freeze. His nose started running, he just used his sleeve to clean it up. Minutes ticked by slowly, and Danny became aware that the bartender was chuckling quietly.

''Feel better?'' Artie cracked a toothy grin at his frequent patron.

''Laugh it up,wise guy.'' But Danny had to admit his head was a lot clearer now. No hangover for this CSI in the morning, no siree. But he and his bottle of Tylenol were going to be close friends when he got home.

He sat up and looked at the clock. Was it really an hour after closing time? The blond looked around and saw he was the only patron left in the bar.

''You let me stay?''he asked Artie.

The bartender shrugged. ''My wife's in one of her moods. Figured I'd work late and let her cool off, then bring home a king size chocolate bar or something as an apology.''

''Chocolate isn't the answer to everything, ya know,''Danny remarked.

Artie set a clean glass down and picked up a wet one to dry it. ''Wanna bet? Woman's enjoying those few delightful days she gets once a month.''

''Oh. Well, I gotta get home. I don't get to bed soon, I'll be late for work in the morning. Boss will have my skin if I'm late.''

The Italian grabbed his glasses,got to his feet and was surprised at how steady he was. That cold water had cleared his head more than he'd realized. He waved at Artie, glanced at the clock once more, and walked out the door, letting its puny bell jingle in his ears without causing any pain.

The cool night air hit him pretty hard, but Danny managed to hold his ground against it and remain standing.

Maybe he should call Lindsey and have her get him... No, not a good idea. Montana was still pissed at him for sure. Besides,if he wanted to sober up the rest off the way, he needed to walk...unfortunately. So, Danny placed one foot forward as a test, to make sure the ground didn't decide to be up. He was steady,so the other foot came forward.

Still balanced. Good. He finally started walking. Slowly and calmly of course, he didn't want to move too fast.

After all, he still needed to work on an apology for Lindsey. Now he remembered what had gotten him booted out of the house. She had randomly started crying and rambling about how she looked fat with her baby bump in the mirror.

''You're not fat,''Danny tried to calm her down. He looked at her as she cried at her reflection.

'Okay, maybe a little,and the swollen ankles don't help,'his brain went.

At least, Danny had thought it was his brain that had said that. He didn't realize that those words had actually come out of his mouth until he noticed that Lindsey had stopped crying and was glaring at him with reddened cheeks.

''You think I'm fat?!''she screamed.

'Oops.' ''Well,you think so,but you're not!''he tried to cover,''Yer just-''

''-Bloated like a beluga whale?!''Lindsey shrieked.

''... ... ...No?''he tried.

That had been the short of it. And forgetting her fish sticks is what had started the whole thing.