The body of thirteen year old Alison Whitman was stiff and cold as the icy water brushed against her feet. She had been dead less then a day and already forgotten; her skin was white and stiff as her glossy eyes stared up to the sky, light was gone from her. She was gone, and the gaping wounds on stab marks on her stomach told a story that had an end, but now it needed a beginning.

Danny Messer and Mac Taylor stood over Alison's body with a mournful look in their eyes. They had seen bodies before, more then they could count, but this time it struck a match that neither had expected. Mac was the first to move from their stiffened position as he crouched down beside her cold body, and began taking photos of her.

"Wonder if her parents even know she's missin'." Danny said softly, praying he was wrong.

"I'm sure they do. Why don't you start with trace?" Mac asked in a way Danny knew he didn't have a choice.

"Yeah." Danny answered still staring at the young girl's lifeless eyes.

"Danny?" Mac said hoping to knock him back into reality. "You alright?"

"What? Yeah, no I'm fine." He denied walking away. Truth was he wasn't fine, working homicide cases was getting harder over the last couple of weeks. There was a drowning feeling in the back of his throat he couldn't quite understand, as if his own death was chasing after him. Lost in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed his coworker walk up behind him.

"Hey Dan." Sheldon said, seeing that he startled Danny, he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Whoa, sorry bud. You alright?" He asked, looking concerned.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" He said moving back to work.

"Alright, alright, my bad." Sheldon smiled uncomfortably, joining Mac with the body he quietly leaned closer to his boss. "Hey Mac, you notice anything off about him?" Nodding towards Danny.

"Lindsay's pregnant, it's difficult working a case with a dead kid, makes it harder knowing you have one on the way." Mac explained watching as Danny slowly worked.

"I'm not just talking about today, the last couple of weeks he's been in his own world. More tired then normal, and he's getting noticeably paler." Sheldon explained, pretending to be working as to not alarm Danny they were talking about him.

"You're right. It's probably just stress, Lindsay is due soon. I'll talk to him." Mac explained, putting his camera aside and working the body. "Come on, we have work to do." Getting to the task at hand.

By the time Danny had made it back to the lab he was beyond tired, the circles under his eyes were darker then normal and his feet were dragging, in fact they were tingling in his exhaustion. Opening his locker, he rested his forehead against the door and took in the cool temperature of the metal. Closing his eyes he pulled in a long breath, feeling his lungs retract, he opened his eyes to find he was no longer alone.

"Hey babe." Lindsay said rubbing his back with her small hand. "Tough case?"

"What are you doing here?" Danny asked turning to face her.

"I had some stuff from my locker I needed." She explained as Danny pulled her in and gave her a warm hug, Lindsay moved to pull away but Danny held on. "What's going on, Dan?" She asked, holding him back.

"Tough case, thirteen year old kid, she lived on the street." He explained, closing his eyes and resting his cheek on her head.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too." He said releasing her from his grasp. "I really needed that."

"It's what I'm for." She said with a smile.

"I have to get to the trace lab, meet me for lunch?" He asked, leaning forwards and giving her a soft kiss.

"Definitely, I feel like a burger, and ice cream... and pizza!" She said as Danny laughed.

"Alright, maybe I'll find you a buffet." He said kissing her forehead. "See you in a bit." He said closing his locker and leaving the room.

The hallway seemed longer as Danny slowly walked the short distance to the trace lab, finding Adam had already started, he found his place opposite the table of him.

"Adam, what have you got?" He asked,noticing how weak he sounded.

"I've started on substance Mac found under our vic's nose, I'm running it through GCMS." He explained, not looking up from his paper work.

"Right on, I'll grab the gum and see what I can do." Danny turned suddenly to retrieve the gum when a sudden wave of dizziness took him. "Whoa." He said, grabbing the table for support as his vision blurred.

"You OK, buddy?" Adam asked, putting his work down and immediately found himself at Danny's side.

"Just dizzy." Danny said, trying to shake the feeling.

"Here sit down." He said, leading him to a chair not far from them. "You need something?" He asked, Danny looked up at him and saw the concern on his face.

"Adam, I just got a little dizzy, I'm good." He lied, as a sudden pain hit him from behind his eyes.

"Yeah..." He said, leaving Danny side and returning to his side of the table with a worried look on his face.

Danny took a second before he attempted to explain, closing his eyes he tried to push the pain out of his head, but it didn't seem to be working. Adam stared at him, fear of him collapsing in front of him, and not knowing what to do.

"I... I haven't slept yet, alright? I'm just a little over worked. I'm fine." He lied. "Just, don't say anything. Please?" He didn't need Lindsay stressing over him when she was seven months pregnant.

"I won't. If you need anything let me know, OK?"

Danny opened his eyes and looked up at Adam, giving him a nod he steadied himself as he continued to work on the gum.

"So..." Adam said, feeling awkward. "This girl was only thirteen?" He asked.

"Yeah." Danny said sadly.

"I don't even know what I'd do if that were my kid." He pondered out loud. Forgetting about Lindsay momentarily, Adam looked up at Danny regretfully. "Sorry, Danny."

"No, it's alright, I'm with you, I'd find the son-of-a-bitch and no one would find his body." Danny said as goose bumps ran up his arms.

"That's for damn sure." Adam laughed looking down at his work. Danny chuckled at Adam, looking down a drop of blood landed on the back of his gloved hand. Putting down the evidence, he wiped his nose to find more blood on his glove.

"Oh shit." Danny said, causing Adam to look up.

"Danny?" He asked, noticing the blood. "What the hell is going on?" He said removing his gloves and finding him some tissues to soak up the blood.

"I... I don't know." He was being honest, he really didn't know what was going on. With the constant exhaustion, head aches and dizziness, the bloody nose seemed to be the most interesting advancement in the last couple days.

"Maybe you should talk to Sheldon?" He said, as Sheldon happened to walk into the lab.

"Talk to Sheldon about what?" He stood in the doorway with his hand in his pockets.

"Nothing man, never mind." Danny said slowly standing up, needing his hands to steady himself but was too slow as Sheldon stood in front of him stopping him.

"Nosebleed? What's going on with you, man?" He said putting a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back into his chair.

"What?" Danny said, his voice muffled by the tissue holding to his nose.

"I've noticed you've been off, you should get checked out." Sheldon said, looking at Danny's eyes which were clearly tired.

"I'm good, it's just allergies."

"Allergies to what? It's December?" Sheldon was getting angry, Danny could see it.

"Mind your business." Danny said standing up and walking past him.

"You are my business Danny, whatever is going on with you, you need to deal with it." He said as Danny left the room, leaving Sheldon and Adam worrying.

Danny entered the bathroom, turning on the water he ran his hands under the cool water ridding his skin of the blood from his nose. Scooping the water in his palms he washed his face in the cool water, instantly relaxing. Looking up into the mirror his reflection sensed his lies, he didn't look relaxed and he didn't look fine. It was no wonder Sheldon wouldn't leave him alone. The circles under his eyes were darker then normal, and his cheeks were pale, and truth be told, he felt like shit.

Pulling some paper towels off the roll to dry his face a sharp pain stabbed his skull. Moaning in pain, he bent forward and holding his head with both hands. His vision blurred, as the pain worsened, as he fell to his knees, grabbing the sink, the water was still running, the soft sound of water falling beat into his skull as his nose began to bleed once again.

After what felt like forever, the pain subsided, leaving Danny a bloody mess. Resting his head against the sink, his body shook. Slowly, he regained his composure as he pulled himself into a standing position resting his hands again. Looking at himself in the mirror, he saw blood dripping off of his chin.

"What the..." He said, running water over himself once again. Pulling more paper towels off the roll he dried his face as the door opened behind him.

"You alright?" Sheldon said, standing by the door watching Danny. Doing his best to not shake, he replied.

"I'm good." He said, pressing the towel over his face.

"You're lying." Sheldon said crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

"Please don't press this." Danny begged, turning to face his friend.

"Press what?" Hoping he'd fess up.

"I'm fine, I'm just over tired. I don't need Lindsay stressed over me." He said, looking at his feet.

"If something is going on with you, you owe it to her to tell her."

"Nothing is go-" He stopped and pressed a hand to his temple.

"Yeah, I can see that." He said moving closer, Danny squeezed his eyes shut.

"Ok it's not nothing." He said taking a breath and finally looking his friend in the eye. "The last couple of weeks I haven't been doing so well." He admitted.

"What do you mean?" He asked, his tone wore a formal doctors tone.

"Headaches, dizziness... I've been so tired I can barely function. I thought I was just stressed, then this happened. I didn't want to say anything, because of Lindsay. She has enough to worry about." He said, motioning to his nosebleed.

"You need help, Dan." Danny looked at his feet once again. "Go home, I'll tell Mac you came down with something. I'm going to call a friend of mine at the hospital and see if he can book you in for an MRI." He put a supportive hand on his shoulder. Danny realized he could no longer hide from this, looking up at his friend he gave him a nod of agreement. "You're going to be fine, it's probably nothing, but just in case its something, we need to know."

"We?" Danny said with a smile.

"Yeah, 'we'." Sheldon smiled, patting him on the back.

"Thanks, Shel." He said defeated.

"Go home, I'll call you in a bit." Sheldon said as he turned and left the bathroom, leaving Danny alone with his thoughts. He hated hospitals, he hated being weak and most of all, he hated when people worried about him. With a dull ache in his head, he realized he wouldn't be getting any work done today anyways.

Walking through his apartment door he noticed a change, the smells were different, the light was different, he wondered if he was even at the right place.

"Linds?" He called.

"Danny? What are you doing home? I was going to come meet you." She said coming out of the kitchen.

"Oh, right." He said as she got closer.

"What are you doing here?" She was confused.

"I um, I thought I'd pick you up, I was heading this way anyways." He lied.

"Right." She wasn't buying what he was selling. "What's wrong? You haven't been yourself lately?" She led him towards the couch and sat him down.

"I'm just tired." He said, resting his head against the back of the couch. "Mac sent me home early." He continued.

"That's rare... what's really going on?" Lindsay layed down resting her head on his shoulder.

"Nothing." He said finishing with a yawn as his eyes closed. Lindsay stared at his face, noticing for the first time how exhausted he truly was. Slowly and carefully she pulled herself off of the couch, and pulled a blanket over an already sleeping Danny.

Once she was in the kitchen, she found her cell phone and went into the bedroom and closed the door behind her. Dialling Mac's number, she opened the door to make sure Danny was still asleep on the couch.

"Taylor." He answered in a non-chalant manor.

"Mac, Hey it's Lindsay." She sat down on the bed, to releave her feet.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, no, I'm fine. Actually, I'm a little worried about Danny. Why'd you send him home?" She asked causiously.

"I didn't, Sheldon did." Mac said in a cool tone, almost too cool.

"What do you mean?"

"He said he was sick and seeing as how he hasn't been himself lately, I wasn't in disagreence. Is he there now?" He asked.

"Yeah, he came home and practically passed out on the couch." She was worried, something was wrong and no one was telling her what.

"Take care of him, Linds." Mac said, in a tone that told her he had to go.

"I will. Thanks, Mac." Her voice was low.

"Any time." He said as Lindsay ended her call. Sitting on the bed she felt a pit in her stomach, something she didn't like. Slowly moving across the room she opened the door to find Danny asleep on the couch, he looked peaceful. Watching him she felt their baby move inside of her belly, resting a hand on the bump she whispered to herself, 'It's going to be fine, everything is going to be fine.' Hoping she was right.