"Lindsay, can we please talk?" Danny's voice was a mixture of sadness and wariness.
"No, Danny," Lindsay breezed past him. "I'm not ready to talk to you yet." She threw over her shoulder.
"Well when are you gonna be ready?" Danny said to an empty hallway. He sighed. Danny's guilt about sleeping with Rikki had sunk in by the time he and Lindsay had their little heart to heart and her declaration of love only made him feel worse. He'd told her about it immediately. If her heart had been broken before he'd told her, it was shattered afterwards. Every conversation they'd had since then – if you could call them conversations at all, as they only lasted about thirty seconds tops – had been work related. No flirting, no teasing or playful banter. He missed the sparkle that used to be in Lindsay's eyes and his arms ached to hold her again.
"Just be patient with her," Stella kept telling him. "She'll come around eventually. She's in love with you, Danny."
It had been nearly a month and Danny wasn't sure how much longer he could take it.
Lindsay answered a knock on her door later that evening after returning home form work. Her encounter with Danny, short as it had been, still left her shaken and the feeling hadn't quite worn off yet. "I swear if that's Danny I'm going to shoot him," she muttered as she padded across the hardwood to the door. Danny had shown up to her apartment four times in the first two weeks after he told her about Rikki. Each time she'd promptly slammed the door in his face.
Lindsay swung open the door. A look of pure shock washed over her features. "What are you doing here, Rikki?" Her tone wasn't really rude, more surprised and confused.
"Please don't slam the door, Lindsay," Rikki begged. The two had only met each other officially once and it had been very brief. Rikki had seen Lindsay around, of course, due to the fact that before Ruben died, Lindsay spent a couple of nights a week at Danny's apartment. "I need to talk to you."
For reasons Lindsay didn't understand, she found herself stepping aside to let Rikki into her apartment. She led her unexpected guest to the living room where they both perched awkwardly on Lindsay's sofa.
"Look, I wanted to apologize for what happened with Danny. It was all my fault and I feel awful."
"It takes two to tango, Rikki. He's just as much at fault as you are."
"No, he's not," Rikki insisted. "I knew that he was only doing it for comfort… I should have stopped him. I knew that it wouldn't make the hurt go away for either of us, but I just let him go ahead anyway. I hadn't seen you in a couple of weeks… I thought you'd broken up. If I knew that you two were still together I never would have done that, I swear. I'm so, so sorry."
All the hate that Lindsay had built up for this women in the last few weeks evaporated instantly. "I accept your apology, Rikki. Thank you for coming over here. I really appreciate it. "
Rikki took this as a dismissal and stood up to leave. Ever the courteous hostess she was, Lindsay accompanied Rikki to the door. Rikki stepped out into the hallway, but didn't leave. She looked Lindsay straight in the eye. "He really misses you, you know. He's been moping around the building since that night he and I had. I haven't seen him smile once and I know it's because you're not there anymore. I can tell how sorry he is… he even came and apologized to me. I think it's about time you forgave him and put him out of his misery."
Lindsay managed a half smile. "Thanks, Rikki. I'll really think about it."
With a sad smile, Rikki left.
Lindsay flopped back down on the couch once she'd left. "Tomorrow," she told herself. "I'll talk to him tomorrow."
The insistent beeping of Lindsay's cell phone woke her the next morning. "Monroe," she answered sleepily.
"Lindsay?" Stella's voice sounded harsh and urgent. "Lindsay, you need to get down here, now!"
Lindsay bolted upright in her bed. She knew that voice. "Why? What's going on?" She swung her legs over the edge of her bed and proceeded to her closet to dress, the phone cradled in-between her ear and shoulder.
"A bomb went off at the scene that Danny, Flack and I were working."
Lindsay gasped. "Is everybody ok?"
Stella paused. "Danny wasn't with Flack and I when the explosion went of… we can't find him."
Lindsay dropped the phone. Her breathing grew sporadic and she thought she was going to either pass out or throw up. She took a few deep breaths and picked the phone back up. "Sorry, Stel… I just… I'll be there as soon as I can!"
"Alright. Hurry, Lindsay!"
Lindsay hit the 'end' button on her phone and finished getting dressed. On her way out the door she grabbed her keys, badge and gun while simultaneously running a comb through her bed head.
She raced down the hallway and into the parking garage where she located her SUV quickly and hopped in. Stella had text messaged Lindsay the address, so she quickly punched it into her GPS and sped off.
The ride took about fifteen minutes and Lindsay spent the whole time praying. Her thoughts alternated between Danny being alive and kicking and the image of him lying dead on the ground. "He can't be dead," she kept telling herself.
Lindsay parked illegally when she reached the scene. It wasn't dissimilar to the building where the bomb that had injured Flack had been housed. From what Lindsay could tell, the cases seemed a lot alike. The entire street was ripped apart, debris and dust everywhere. She hardly noticed the scenery, however, as from the moment her foot his the ground her eyes were peeled for Danny.
She couldn't find anybody she knew. A uniform tried to keep her away, but she flashed her badge impatiently and he let her behind the yellow tape. "Danny!" she called. She searched everywhere, asking every cop, bomb squad member and fireman that she could see, but either they didn't know who he was or if they did, they hadn't seen him.
"Lindsay." Finally the voice she'd been longing to hear came from somewhere behind her. She whirled around, tears streaming down her face, and spotted Danny standing a few yards away from her. His arms, neck and face were covered in scratches and cuts and there was a large gash on his forehead that was covered in gauze. He was filthy; a layer of dust coated every inch of his body. But that didn't stop Lindsay from running to him and flinging herself into his arms.
Her lips immediately sought out his and latched on for dear life. It was a mind-blowing kiss, one that almost made up for their weeks of separation and cold looks in the hallways.
"Stella called," Lindsay sobbed, "she said they couldn't find you and I thought you were dead. Oh, Danny, I almost lost you! I've been so stupid!"
Danny wouldn't let her say another word. Instead, he held her close and whispered comforting words in her ear. "You weren't being stupid, my love, I was the stupid one. I was so blind that I couldn't see that all I needed was right in front of me. You're all I need, sweetheart. I love you."
Lindsay lifted her head off of his chest to look into his cobalt blue eyes. "Do you mean it?" She asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"With all my heart." Danny cradled her cheeks in his palms and kissed her gently. "I love you, Montana." He said again.
"I love you, too, Danny." She kissed him again. They had a lot of time to make up for. "Rikki came to see me," she said some time later.
Danny's eyebrows shot up. "Really?" He sounded kind of alarmed. "What did she say?"
"Relax, Danny, it was nothing bad. She came to apologize, actually. Plus, she thought that somebody has done too much moping around for one lifetime." She teased.
Danny blushed slightly. "I really missed you, baby."
"I missed you, too. But I couldn't make up with you yet… not when I was so jealous of Rikki. Every time that I talked to you or even thought about you I thought about her too, and I didn't want our relationship to be like that."
"You have no reason to be jealous of Rikki, love. You're the only one I want."
Lindsay smiled. "That's good, Messer," she teased, "because I'm the only one you're gonna get."
A/N Had to have a happy ending. Too much angsty stuff these days… stupid Danny. I wasn't gonna bring Rikki in, because I kinda don't like her, but I thought I should give her benefit of the doubt, y'know?
xoxo
Lia