A/N: No spoilers. I was a bit hesitant about posting it but please do tell me what you think of it! All reviews will be greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: None of the characters used in this story is mine.

Those Three Words

The rhythmic beating of the rain against the window panes soothed the unrelenting turmoil inside her. An ongoing battle continued to rage within the constraints of her mind, debating whether she should tell him or not.

Despite her knowledge of the depth of his concern for her well-being, she wasn't sure whether he felt the same intimate feelings she did. The uncertainty that ceases to dissipate from her mind relays the unwanted message that maybe she shouldn't. On the other hand, the overwhelming need to release the paralyzing emotions that courses through her being everytime he was in close proximity to her: his skin making contact with hers or his lips brushing against hers, was too much for her to bear.

Blinking once, then twice, hoping to the higher powers that they enlighten her clouded mind, she withheld her breath and whispered in the darkness of the night to his sleeping form, "I love you, Danny".

She closed her eyes partly hoping that he was awake but was mostly relieved knowing that he was in a deep slumber. The release of the words from her mouth had finally settled the rebellious anxiety in the pit of her stomach and this time, she felt the rhythmic beating of the rain against the window lull her into a serene languor.

----

Her words had roused him to an alert state. Never had his heart pounded so loudly nor so rapidly. Was he prepared to bear the weight those words had now put on his shoulders? The answer to that question he was quite uncertain of. He shifted his weight to his side and faced her, gazing at the delicate contours and exquisite angles of the visage that faced him. He propped his head on his elbow, the mattress sinking under its weight. Taking his free hand, he let it float along the smoothness of her skin, causing the naked hairs in her arms to stand on end.

An unexpected twitching of her arm snagged him rashly back to reality, the weight of her words once more bringing him to a daze. He gently shifted himself to a sitting position, careful not to wake her. Immediately after taking a glance at the clock on her nightstand, he padded his way towards the bathroom and unwittingly stood in front of the mirror, deftly looking at the reflection that stared back at him.

"Is that the face of someone who's ready to take hold the responsibility of a serious commitment?", he whispered, eyes still bored at his reflection. After rashly running cold water over his face, Danny quietly made his way to the bedroom, gathered his clothes, left the apartment, leaving himself to wander through the darkness of the hallway in her apartment building towards the eerily silent streets of New York, except for the pounding of the rain down the streets, leaving him to his thoughts, trying to decide what course of action he should take next.

----

A frown creased Lindsay's face as she found his side of the bed empty and cold. She came to the only conclusion that had made sense in her head. Mac must have called him in. She knew that he had this day off, though he was on call, and both of them were looking forward to spending some time together. Making a mental note to check on him later, she disentangled herself from the sheets and headed to the bathroom for a cold shower.

Twenty minutes later, she found herself in the kitchen searching the immaculate counters for any obscure signs of him. Coffee grinds. Bread crumbs. Liquid spills. A note. There was nothing.

She glanced at the clock which said that it was already 2:47 in the afternoon. Releasing a frustrated sigh, she glanced at the phone noting any blinking messages. Her perplexity had started to mount finding none. She made her way to the bedroom the apprehensiveness she was feeling oblivious to the loud beating of her feet against the wooden floor. Upturning the room she found no signs of him, no leftover socks, nor a note.

Her last resort would be her cellphone. She practically dived for it once she had spotted it on the night stand opposite from where she now stood. Quickly flipping it open, she scanned for any messages that she might have gotten in the past couple of hours. And still she had found nothing.

With frustration turning to anger, she speed dialled his cellphone with his voice mail picking up. She tried it once more, then again, then again. On her fourth attempt, she let out an exasperated breath and threw herself against the mattress closing her eyes willing the boiling anger to reside. She assured herself that he was probably just really busy, considering this was New York, a city that never sleeps. On her fifth attempt, she left him a message virtually begging him to call her back as soon as he got her message. She flipped her phone closed but she could feel her once boiling temper quell into a worrying fit.

With trembling fingers, she quickly dialled Mac's number hoping her boss would have some answers to her current dilemma, like he always does.

A curt greeting was heard from his end of the phone and Lindsay unconsciously held her breath as she realized this may not have been a good time to call him either. She inwardly scolded herself for making such a brazen move; not even considering that everyone at the lab may be preoccupied with work.

"Mac, it's Lindsay. I just wanted to know if you called Danny in today"

"Sorry, but I didn't call him in, Lindsay. Is everything alright?", he asked with concern, the terse note in his voice now barely noticeable.

"I can't contact him right now. I don't think anything happened to him really, it's just he left without notice. Thanks, though", Lindsay mumbled coherently to her phone. She sat up, a feeling of uneasiness in her stomach beginning to rise.

"Alright, if you're sure. Just ring me when you need anything else".

After bidding each other a quick farewell, Lindsay flipped her phone closed and stood up. This had not been how she was planning on spending her day off. She had planned on spending a lazy afternoon snuggled up close to Danny squatting in front of the TV.

She paced apprehensively in the smallness of her bedroom, doing a mental checklist of where Danny could be at this time of day.

He could be picking up lunch, or some groceries, or be running some errands, she thought. But somehow it doesn't explain why he would leave without giving her any indication of where he was going to be. He too, she knew, had been looking forward to spending some much needed "quality time" with her.

Maybe it was some sort of surprise lunch.

Then realization had hit her like a surging wave, causing her to take two abrupt steps back.

He may have been awake last night, the thought of it alone was too much for her to bear, much less the consequences. She smacked her forehead with considerable strength then covered her eyes with her hands, refusing to look at the door she was facing, too frightened to look or know what it held in its wake. She silently cursed herself as she sunk down in her carpeted bedroom grasping the edge of the bed with her tiny hands. The only plausible thought running in mockery across her mind was that he ran away and left.

Tears had stung the back of her eyes and she let them fall freely. It was not too long ago when she felt so serene and at peace, secure and happy to be the woman he was now holding in his arms and not letting go. Somehow in the depths of the darkness the night before she thought that deep inside her there was an air of certainty that he felt exactly the same way she did. But now she had violently shrugged the thought off of her brain and buried her head deep in her arms, clutching the bed covers tightly in her hands pulling at them out of anger and frustration. All directed at herself.

----

He stared at the gold plated numbers that gaped lifelessly back, as if mocking him. His arms felt like lead and his body was extremely overwrought from the errands he had run that day. He knew that once his knuckles make contact with the door, there would be no looking back. Not that he would ever want to. He finally knows how good he has it and he doesn't think he's ever going to be prepared to let her slip through his fingers without a fight. And if there were a more be fitting word to describe his character, it would be that he was a fighter.

The main cause of his hesitancy to knock on the door was the fear that she might have thought that he had ran away from her. Why would he when he felt the same way? He chided himself screaming in his head, She doesn't know that, you idiot!

With a determined mind, he set his bag down on the floor and knocked on her door bracing himself for whatever was to greet him on the other side.

Four knocks later, he felt his heart shatter into a million pieces at the sight of her. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, her mouth was set on a thin line and her nose had turned a bright shade of red, no doubt from blowing her nose.

She stood mutely staring at him, her expression unreadable. Danny struggled to string coherent thoughts in his brain, trying to find the words which would make everything okay, but all he could do at the moment was look dumbly back at her, his eyes never leaving hers. He wished he could express everything he was feeling through his eyes, telling her silent messages about everything he felt at that moment, but the emotional turmoil raging its way inside him forced his mouth shut, leaving him with shallow breaths.

"Lindsay -" he began in a heart-wrenching tone.

"What are you doing here, Danny?", she asked and he could tell that she was fighting back the tears that tried to force its way out of her eyes. The pain was still raw and fresh in her face and he wanted to squeeze the life out of him for being the one responsible for it.

"Can I come in? Please?" he pleaded lowering his eyes to the carpeted floor.

"Why?"

"Lindsay, please, let me in. We need to talk", he begged taking one step closer to her.

She hesitantly took one step back to let Danny in and closed the door behind him. She stood rigid to the spot her eyes never leaving his moving form. This was not the time to let her irrational judgment take over. She knew that he was entitled to do anything he pleases, she didn't own him, especially now that he had walked out on her; and she loves him too much she couldn't muster enough courage to hate him. She, however, hated herself for feeling the way she did about him, especially since he obviously didn't care about her the way she does; at least not in the way she hoped he did. As he turned around to face her, she looked away not wanting to see what was written across his eyes.

Danny placed both bags he was carrying on the floor and made his way towards her, feeling his heart beat a little faster with each distance he had closed between them. "Linds, I know that you're probably thinking that I had left you, scared out of my wits when I heard you say you love me".

"Then what are you doing here? You can have your freedom if you want, just turn the knob, Danny. You've already done it once before, haven't you? Second time shouldn't be as hard". Lindsay shut her eyes tightly regretting the second the words had left her mouth. She didn't mean for it to come out the way that it just had; so much for being understanding and rational. She knew that her words had stung him, as if stabbing each piece of his broken heart then thrusting them to floor with such force they break into more pieces.

"Please, Lindsay, just listen to me first", he said as his hand rubbed the back of his neck wearily, stalling for time, willing his judgment to stay clear. "In all honesty, the first minute I heard you say it, I panicked" he began closing his eyes. "I never liked the concept of love, it always left people broken. And I know you know that I'm not the kind of person who wants to be broken, you know ... vulnerable. Especially not in front of you, Montana."

Danny opened his eyes searching hers for any sign of acknowledgment to what he was trying to tell her. He knew he had broken through some of her resolve as he noticed her fidgeting with her fingers. Slowly taking a step closer to her, he reached out and softly grazed his hand in her cheek whispering so only she could hear, "I thought that being seriously committed to you would be the hardest thing in the world. But a walk through New York outside early this morning in the rain, had cleared my head" he continued with a light-hearted chuckle taking one step even closer to her, his breath fanning her eyes shut. "Lindsay, I realized that being with you is the easiest and most impeccable decision I would ever have to make in my life".

He felt his heart mend itself as she gently shrugged off his hands from her cheeks and tugged him closer to her, burying her tears in his chest. He enclosed her tiny frame in his arms kissing the top of her head, relief washing through his insides at the thought that they were going to be fine. In fact, better than fine. He murmured sweet assurances in her ear willing her to stop crying, "Shh... it's going to be alright. I'm right here, and don't you ever think that I'll run away from you ever again".

After the flow of her tears had stopped, she looked up at him and softly said, her voice hoarse from crying, "Danny, I'm sorr - ".

She was cut off as Danny put two fingers on her lips shaking his head, "Don't even, Linds. It's not your fault"

He leaned into her forehead giving it a sweet lingering kiss, then looked down at her eyes before saying, "Lindsay, I love you so much".

He brushed away the lone tear that trickled down her damp cheeks hoping all the while he had brushed her pain away with it.

"So what do you say we get me settled in?" he started holding her at arm's length.

A confused look crossed her eyes and creased the ethereal features of her face. "What are you talking about?"

Danny gestured towards the bags he had carried all the way from his apartment to hers. Lindsay followed his hand and stared in shock, noticing the bags that he had set on the floor awhile ago for the first time. "I already gave them my two weeks notice, Montana. So don't you even dare kick me out. If you do, you leave me no choice but to set camp right outside your door".

"Danny, isn't that a bit presumptuous of you?" she asked, a tone of disbelief evident in her voice.

"Well, you were the one who started it, confessing that you love me and all", he replied in mock indignation. "And since I love you too, I figured I should just get settled in." In a more serious note, he continued looking down at her eyes once again, "Besides, I hate having to go back to my apartment to get more change of clothes. It's not home anymore without you in it". He felt the corners of his lips being upturned into a smile as he saw how her eyes had lit up. "And you know being the gentleman that I am, I decided I'd just be the one who moves instead of having your cute little butt dragging your clothes around".

With a playful swat to his arm, Lindsay pulled his head down capturing his lips in hers, feeling the warm tingles come back to life in her body. She felt his hands run down her back stopping abruptly at her hips when she felt herself being hoisted up against him. With a bit of a stumble down the hall, Lindsay felt him make his way towards their bedroom.

Within the confines of their bed with their hips moving in a synchronized rhythm, were those three words being whispered, the meaning of which was amplified with every touch, ringing louder than the unremitting hustle and bustle of the streets of New York down below.