I would definitely not be considered a romantic by any stretch of the imagination. I don't believe in love at first sight. I don't buy into the whole frou-frou cupids and lace and twenty-dollar boxes of chocolates crap. You can't fall in love with somebody you've never met and you don' t know what love is at the age of fourteen. I promise. It's not to say that I don't believe in love, because I do. I just choose not to conform to society's obsession with diamond rings and dozens and dozens of red roses. If a guy asked me to marry him on Valentine's Day, I'd tell him to wait until tomorrow if he wants an answer. I never thought that this would change about me, but I guess even I can be wrong sometimes.
It all started with a rose. A rose that was sitting on my desk, bright and early the morning of February 14.
"Danny," I groaned under my breath. I'd told him not to make a big deal out of Valentine's Day. I picked up the card that was attached to the vase the rose sat in.
Montana-
Don't freak out. Although, I'm sure you already have (haha, right?). I know you told me no, but I couldn't resist buying something beautiful for my beautiful girl.
Love,
DI sighed, rolling my eyes slightly at his corniness. Danny wasn't working today, so I wondered how he'd pulled this off. Inside connections? Flack, Stella, maybe even Mac.
I didn't have time to dwell on it, as my pager began to beep. Journeying out into the hall, I found Mac.
"Did you get the rose?" Mac asked.
"Mac, if you paged me to ask about the stupid rose, I might have to kill you." I said through clenched teeth.
Mac chuckled. "Relax, Lindsay. I do have actual work for you to do, believe it or not. "
"Somebody decided to kill on the day of love?" I asked sarcastically.
"Maybe it was someone like you," Mac teased.
"Ha ha," I said without humor. "Where is it?"
I snapped pictures of what was about to be our latest addition to the morgue. Daniel Canton, a man around my own age had been stabbed through the heart with the arrow of a cupid statue. A single red rose was clutched in his left hand. Daniel. Why was this name always haunting me? As if it weren't enough, he bore a resemblance to my Danny, messy blonde hair, glasses, a very fit body. If his eyes had been blue I think I would have passed out.
"You ok?" Hawkes asked.
"What? Oh, yeah." I answered distractedly. "This is, um, a little bit too much for me," I admitted sheepishly.
Hawkes gave me a questioning look.
"His name is Daniel," I told him, holding up the New York driver's license I'd found in his wallet.
"He does kinda look like Danny," Hawkes said.
"The rose," I murmured.
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"Danny sent me a red rose this morning," I told him. "A lot of coincidences, don't you think?" I tried to play it off like I was getting a kick out of it, but secretly the whole thing was bothering me quite a bit.
"You want off the case?" Hawkes asked. "I'm sure Mac would understand."
I shook my head. "No, no, I'll be fine." With that, I went back to taking pictures of the crime scene.
"I'm very sorry for your loss," I told the trembling woman sitting across from me. "I know it doesn't bring him back, but we have the man responsible for this in custody."
Lydia Canton sniffed and attempted to wipe away the tears that were making their way down her cheeks. "It was Stephen, wasn't it?" She asked in a shaky voice.
"Yes, it was," I told her as soothingly as I could.
"I figured," she said. "He never really got over it when I broke up with him. But that was three years ago and I married Daniel and…" she trailed off, not able to speak through her tears.
"It's going to be ok." I was struggling to keep myself together as it were, so maybe it was more to reassure myself than her. I tried to never tell anybody this, because sometimes it didn't end up ok and I didn't want to be blamed for any false hope.
Lydia left after collecting her husband's belongings. My shift had ended, so I headed towards the locker room, fighting back tears. This case had really gotten to me, more so that almost any other case that I'd ever worked. Watching Lydia crumple from successful businesswomen to grieving wife in a matter of seconds had really given me an insight on my own life. What if something were to happen Danny? I was certain that if it did, my reaction would be very similar to Lydia's. The idea of Danny not being there terrified me and caused the tears welling up in my eyes to spill over my eyelids.
As soon as I had my locker open, I pulled my cell phone out and speed dialed Danny's cell. He answered after one ring. "Hey, gorgeous."
"Hey, Danny." I sniffled and tried to hide the fact that I was crying.
No such luck. "Montana, baby, what's wrong?"
"Um, nothing," I said. "Hard case. I just needed to hear your voice."
"Sweetheart, are you sure you're ok? Do you want me to come over there?"
"I'm fine, Danny. Thanks though. I'll be home in a little while, alright?"
"Ok. I love you, Montana."
"Love you, too."
I gathered my things and quickly headed out of the office, stopping only briefly to pluck my rose off of my desk. The subway trip home seemed to take much longer than usual. I eventually arrived at my stop and somehow in my distracted state I made it home.
Danny enveloped me in his arms the moment I walked through the door. "What happened?" he asked gently, kissing me hello.
"I don't really want to talk about it," I said.
"Alright," He kissed me again and then held me close without saying anything for a few minutes. "So, listen, I know you're not a big fan of Valentine's Day, so I didn't cook you a big fancy dinner or anything, even though I really wanted to."
"Thank you," I said, smiling for the first time since early that morning.
"But, I did order Chinese and pick out some movies we can watch together. Don't worry, no chick flicks, strictly action/adventure and horror stuff."
"I love you," I said, kissing him gently on the lips.
"Before it's movie time, I gotta do something," he said, leading me over to the couch and sitting down beside me. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. He handed it to me. Hesitantly, I opened it to find it empty. I looked up at him, arching an eyebrow. "Ok, so I know you always said that if a guy proposed on Valentine's Day you'd tell him ta wait until tomorrow, but I always told myself that when I found The One, I'd pop the question on Valentine's Day, so I guess this is kinda a compromise. It's not an official proposal, but I do have a ring and I do wanna marry you and I'm gonna ask you tomorrow." Danny said all of this in one breath, his words running together slightly.
Tears brimmed my eyes again, but they were happy tears this time. "Ask me now," I whispered.
Danny wiped away the tear that fell down my cheek with his thumb. "What?"
"Ask me to marry you right now."
Danny smiled. "Even though it's Valentine's Day?" I nodded. "Montana, will you marry me?" His question was barely above a whisper, but I heard it loud and clear.
"Yes," I said very calmly, much to my surprise. I began to laugh and cry all at the same time. "Yes, Danny, I will marry you!"
Danny gathered me in his arms and kissed me senseless.
I guess you could say that this was the moment that I started believing in Valentine's Day.
A/N Kinda weird. Strange ending. Sorry. Review?
xoxo
Lia