Disclaimer: CSI NY isn't mine but it's PRETTY DARN GOOD. )

New York's Finest

(Narrator's POV)

"Stel, it'll be too weird," Lindsay groaned, forgetting for a few seconds that Stella was her boss and that she couldn't use that tone with her.

"Lindsay, what's wrong with you? It's just a concert! It's not even a concert with just the two of you… It's a concert that the entire team is going to! Tell me why that would be weird," Stella demanded, using her cop voice on Lindsay.

"Because!" Lindsay stamped her foot on the ground.

"I know for a fact that you guys are going to do something or other that will either leave me and Danny sitting next to each other, or that will leave us all alone when certain 'emergences' mysteriously happen to come up for all of you."

"Oh, no, no. Nothing like that," Stella had to stop herself from giggling.

"That's what you said last time, Stel," Lindsay said through gritted teeth.

"And you're telling me you didn't enjoy last time?" Stella raised a brow.

Lindsay bit her lip and decided not lie.

"I still don't want to go."

"Would it make a difference if I told you Mac bought these tickets and planned all of this?" Stella said, resorting to her last plan.

Lindsay's eyes seemed to widen a bit more.

"Thought so," Stella sang, handing a yellow ticket to Lindsay.

"It's at eight. Be sure to dress formally. No boots like last time," Stella said, giving her investigator a look.

Lindsay sighed and took the ticket.

"Yes'm. Black strapped high heels that will kill my feet this time," Lindsay said sarcastically.

Stella laughed. "Good girl."

The curly haired CSI turned around briskly and walked off down the corridor. Lindsay flicked the ticket with her finger and decided to obey her boss' wishes. How bad could this concert be?

-CSI NY-

"I don't know, man," Danny said, scratching the back of his head.

"Danny, I don't want you to call me 'sir,' but 'man' isn't appropriate either," Mac said, his face as serious as ever.

"Right, right. Sorry, boss."

Mac thrust the ticket in Danny's face for the fifth time already.

"Hurry up and decide, I don't have all day," he said impatiently.

"Mac, can you just please tell me now if you people are planning something? Last time, I had to totally improvise with Lindsay. Just give me a heads up if you guys are planning to ditch us both again, please?" Danny said, searching for the least bit of gibe in his boss' face.

"Nothing is going on," Mac said.

"Swear?" Danny said, his voice coated with a thick Staten Island accent. That only meant he was completely nervous.

"Scout's honor," Mac grinned.

"Egggh," Danny said irritated, grabbing the ticket from Mac's hand.

"I'm sure you know how to dress, Danny. There's a dinner party afterwards so stay sober, will you?"

Mac turned on his heels and briskly walked down the corridor.

"I'll try!" Danny called after Mac.

The Staten Island boy ran a hand threw his hair and looked at his ticket. Though Mac was famous throughout New York for keeping his promises, Danny still didn't trust him. He was going to be prepared if anything funny should go on. And he was happy that his co-workers were so nosy. Now, he could spend an entire night with Lindsay alone.

He grinned and tucked the ticket in his coat pocket. He was heading home to get ready.

-CSI NY-

Lindsay was turning more than just a few heads as she walked down the carpeted hallway to the theater and she suddenly felt highly conscious. She quickened her pace and arrived at the entrance to the theater in no time.

"Well hello Miss Monroe," a familiar voice perked up behind her.

Lindsay smiled to herself before turning around.

Danny was… in one word… gorgeous. He had one a khaki colored suit that accentuated his own tanned skin tone but was not dripping with formality. He had added his own "Danny style" to the look by rolling his white undershirt polo up to his elbows. His normally tousled hair was still splashed all over the place in a way that made him look totally hot but you could tell he had tried to comb it. And in his hand was a unique blue rose and Lindsay felt squeamish at the thought that it was for her.

"You look beautiful," Danny said, smooth and slick with no hint to an accent whatsoever. And it was true. The country had replaced her cowgirl boots with effeminate black strapped sandals and had thrown on an elegant dress which flowed down to her ankles. She had also done her hair up with curls and other fancy things.

Danny was going to have to do some hard work tonight keeping his hands off her.

"Hmmm, you don't look to shabby yourself, Messer," Lindsay answered, lying. In fact, she thought he was absolutely dashing tonight. Yay, temptation!

"Think they aren't going to show up again tonight?" Danny asked, teasing slightly.

"Oh I think they'll come. Just leave in the middle of it all," Lindsay answered, smiling.

"Well then, what's the use of us being here? What do you say we get outta here, Montana?" Danny smiled as well.

"Now, now. Don't be naughty, cowboy. We promised Mac and Stella we'd be here," Lindsay teased.

Danny gave a slight shrug, but was still grinning widely.

"Oh, this is for…"

"Danny! Lindsay!"

The two detectives turned to look. Mac, Stella and the rest of the team were coming briskly down the hallway, the familiar cop style strut to their meander.

There was greeting and hugging as everyone said their 'hello's' and 'you look great's.' Danny and Lindsay were still stealing glances at each other through it all.

"Aw, Danny. Who's the flower for?" Flack prompted, evoking a grin from everyone else.

"Eeeh," Danny scratched the back of his head. "It's for Mac. Thanks for inviting us, man… er, boss."

The crew burst into a fit of laughter. Danny threw Lindsay an apologetic look.

"Aaaw, Dan! I didn't even get Mac anything!" Peyton teased, clinging on to Mac's arm.

Danny muttered under his breath as they entered the theater. Mac hung back and waited for Lindsay. He handed the blue rose to her.

"We all know it's for you," he said, smiling.

Lindsay took the flower and smiled back.

"Thanks, Mac."

-CSI NY-

Lindsay wanted badly to sit next to Danny though she tried not to make it too obvious. The boy was also clearly trying to sit last, to see where Lindsay would sit. They both didn't spend 3 hours getting ready to deny themselves and flirt time.

At last, everyone was seated except Danny and Lindsay. They were about to take the two chairs at the end of the row until everyone stopped them.

"No no no! We promised you two nothing funny would go on tonight," Stella said, immediately moving a seat to the left.

"Yeah, guys. Think of this as an apology for last time," Sheldon said, grinning hugely.

Lindsay bit her lip from saying something and took the seat to Stella's right. Danny took the one on her left. Great.

The entire show, Danny and Lindsay were waiting for cellphones to ring, crime scenes to appear, deaths of long lost relatives to pop out of nowhere, but none came. The crew was sincere about their promises tonight.

And Danny and Lindsay didn't even get to sit next to each other for the whole 3 hours. At the end of the performance, it was safe to say that they were both highly annoyed.

"That was beautiful," Peyton commented and the entire group agreed. Danny and Lindsay just grunted in response. They hadn't even listened to the concert so much.

"Off to the after party then!"

The crew bustled down the steps into the exit hallway and Danny hung back to catch a word with Lindsay. The mass of people heading out caused their arms to brush.

"That was entertaining, huh?" Danny said.

"Sure, if you want to fall asleep," Lindsay laughed.

Danny laughed as well. Slowly, Lindsay felt his fingers lacing with hers and she let him.

"Come on, Montana. Let's ditch the after dinner. Let's go off and do something fun!" Danny practically begged.

Lindsay was actually about to agree until Stella came bouncing up.

"What took you guys so long?" she asked joyfully.

Danny immediately let go of Lindsay's hand.

"Nothing. Got stuck in the crowd," Lindsay answered, blushing.

"Well, come on. Were all riding Mac's car. And I'll make sure you two don't get stuck sitting next to each other again."

Danny and Lindsay could've died.

-CSI NY-

Lindsay hated everything about this night. Stella was keenly making sure that she and Danny couldn't even hold each other's gazes for more than 5 seconds. To top it all off, these people she was meeting were the dullest people in the world and she couldn't even drink something to make her have a bit of fun. Mac forbade it. They were all on call tonight.

"So that's how I got my appendix removed," the man said. "Do you want to hear about the time I got a nail jabbed right through my toe?"

"Uh, actually, I need to get some fresh air. I'm not feeling so well," Lindsay excused herself. Anymore of that man's appendectomy and she would've thrown up.

Up on the balcony she leant against the railing, looking up at the stars. Below, waves were lapping up against the stony façade of the cliff which this house was on. Lindsay took a breath and watched a cold, white mist floating out from her mouth to sea.

She knew he was there even before he spoke.

"What brings you up here, Miss Monroe?" he asked, hands stuffed coolly in his pants pockets.

"A man was just about to tell me about how he got a nail jabbed through his toe. I couldn't bear the excitement. I just had to get out of there," she said, without turning back.

He laughed softly and joined her on the ledge.

There was silence but they both knew they were enjoying each other's mere presence. Danny constantly kept admiring how beautiful she was tonight.

Danny let out a sigh. "Lindsay…"

"Wow," Lindsay muttered.

"What?" Danny laughed.

"You called me Lindsay."

"Okay… Montana…"

Lindsay pursed her lips to the side of her face.

"I really thought that it would just be the two of us tonight."

Lindsay turned to face him.

"Me too," she said.

"I actually… really wanted to be just the two of us."

"Me too," she repeated, a new wave of shyness encompassing her.

They both smiled and Danny took her hand in his once more.

"It's been torture to keep my hands off you tonight, Miss Monroe."

Lindsay laughed and blushed slightly.

All of a sudden, slow music out of nowhere began to play. Danny shook his head and smiled.

"Do they think we don't know they planned this?" he asked her.

"They think they're pretty smart," Lindsay agreed, aware that Danny's face was coming closer and closer to hers.

"They think they can, um, get us to fall for each other," Lindsay said softly, sniffing Danny's scent because he was so close.

"Well then I think they're pretty clever after all, Montana," Danny smiled against her lips. "I think it's working."

"Dance with me," he said, holding out his hand.

She took it with a smile and they brought their arms around each other. They swayed to the music, and shared their first long, passionate, kiss, knowing all along that their friends were watching from down below.

"Told you this would work," Stella said, slapping Don on the shoulder.

Don simply swept her up and kissed her longingly.

"By darn, it actually worked," Sid commented, putting his glasses on to observe Danny and Lindsay like he would a corpse.

"Guys, we are New York's finest after all," Mac said, laughing on a rare occasion.

They were New York's finest indeed.