A/N: I just watched this episode and I had to write something because I really loved that ending, here's an extension of it. Oh, by the way, if anyone is reading my House fic, I am still working on that, but i HAD to fet this out of my system.
He had called her Lindsay. The whole incident surrounded her as they separated and that is what stuck in her head. She didn't know what to make of it. He had called her name and found her hunched in the corner; they had collided together, almost as a reflex. Danny was unbelievably relieved that she had survived, another minute and she might not have. Lindsay was in shock. She had clung on to him, feeling his protectiveness slow her heart a bit. She just wanted to be near him, Danny, nobody else. She had never come this close to being shot. He called her Lindsay.
"You alright?" Stella asked as Danny reluctantly let go of Lindsay, still keeping a hand on her arm.
"Uh, yeh," Lindsay responded half-heartedly.
Stella placed a hand reassuringly on Lindsay's arm and walked away to help process the scene, it was a crime scene after all.
"Come on Linds, I'll give you a ride home," Danny shook her out of her thoughts.
There it was again. 'Linds'. She couldn't tell herself why she was fixating on that, but it just struck her as odd. "Yeh, okay," she replied quietly.
He walked with her down the steps and to the street, an arm around her shoulder to keep her close. He didn't want to lose her.
"He kept asking me who I was. I didn't know what to tell him. I just didn't know, Danny," she admitted once they were inside the car.
"Hey," he looked over at her while they were stopped at a red light. "You did it, you're here and we got 'em."
"I almost died."
Danny didn't know how to respond to that. He was aware that she was almost shot; he had watched it on that small TV, wishing that he could be in there instead. He didn't know what he could have done differently, but it just seemed like it would have been easier if it had been him. He'd been through worse.
Lindsay was so innocent, so fragile. She came off as tough, and she was, but underneath all of that Danny saw how vulnerable she was at that moment. The moment the large guy had picked up the picture and held it up to compare her face. He wouldn't soon forget the look in her eyes at that exact moment. Fear, pure fear.
They stayed silent for the rest of the ride, each lost in their thoughts. Danny reached her apartment and parked his car. He got out to walk her to the door.
"Really Danny, I'm fine," she told him once she noticed the concerned look on his face when they reached the door.
Danny smiled. It didn't take her long to go back to her stubborn, self sufficient nature.
"I don't believe it," he told her.
"Fine, come in then, I'm not going to stand out here all day trying to convince you," she replied, half joking.
Danny shrugged and followed her in, Mac would understand if he didn't come back right away.
So he stayed, Mac didn't call him, not once in the 3 hours that he had been there. Time went so quickly. Danny glanced down at his watch. They had been talking in her living room for that long.
"What is it," Lindsay asked him.
"Nothing, it's just, it's almost 8. I think I should go so you can catch some sleep."
She laughed a little. "Not going to happen."
"Get some sleep Montana," Danny said, standing up. He carried his empty glass into the kitchen.
"Stay," she whispered, almost silently.
"What?" Danny asked. He had heard her clearly, he just didn't know what to say. For the second or third time that day she had left him speechless.
"Goodnight Danny."
He wasn't going to stay, Lindsay was sure of it. He cared about her, sure, he'd proven that earlier. But he shouldn't have to stay just because she was making him feel like he had to.
"'Night," Danny told her, he pulled her into a hug. He walked out to the parking lot.
He felt bad for leaving her. Danny rubbed the bridge of his nose and slowly turned out of the lot.
'I should have stayed. She wanted me to. Idiot.' He turned around and pulled over on the side of the street. Stay or leave, he didn't know what he should do. What would he be getting himself into if he stayed? Could he live with leaving her there alone? He glanced across the street to her apartment building and sighed.
Danny got out, locked the car and walked over slowly.
He knocked lightly on the door. The door clicked as Lindsay unlocked it.
"Danny. Did you forget something?" she asked, confused.
'Yeh,' he thought. "Got any good movies?" he asked, telling her that he was staying.
"I guess you'll have to be the judge of that," she told him. She shut and re-locked the door once he had stepped in.
They sat down on the couch and Lindsay flicked on the television set. "I was just about to watch this, actually. Lucky you came back in time."
He sensed that she was being sarcastic with him about something. He shrugged it off and relaxed on the couch.
'A chick flick,' he thought about halfway through the movie. He was trying to stay awake. The only thing that he figured would keep him awake was if the main character's head suddenly did a 360 on her neck.
Danny woke to a stiff neck and a slight headache. When he attempted to sit up he was stopped by Lindsay's head on his chest. Danny couldn't help the smile from forming on his face when he looked down to see that she had fallen asleep next to him, her head falling onto him.
"Montana," he said quietly. "Hey, wake up."
Lindsay muttered something and turned over on her side, still partially on top of Danny.
Danny smiled and let her sleep. It was worth a stiff neck just to watch her sleep.
A/N: Like it? Please review.