This is yet another one shot written in response to a challenge over at Enjoy!
CHALLENGE: Why did Lindsay write MOO in her note to Danny?
She was gone. He couldn't comprehend it. Would she be back? She sure as hell better be. Did that help him? Nope. Danny Messer sat on a bench in Central Park contemplating the note she had left him. A note. She hadn't even said goodbye in person, what was that about? They weren't dating, but they were partners, coworkers. Friends- at least he had thought so. Although… a smirk worked his way from his eyes to his mouth as he read that last line of her note. Moo. That was something he supposed. God, he hoped it was something. If not she was the master of puppeteers stringing him along. He remembered that night so clearly it could have happened yesterday. They had been on their way back to the lab from questioning Monica Drake at the school
'So you really not hungry, ah? Cause I could really go for a slice Montana.' Danny said casting her a sidelong glance as he drove.
A ghost of a smile flitted over her lips before she answered him. "Take your next left."
"Left? Ain't no decent joints down that way-"
"Danny? Just take a left."
He acquiesced with a not of his head, his eyes leaving the road briefly to scan her face. She was still smiling a little. Lindsay continued to give him instructions until they pulled up in front of what he was pretty sure was her apartment building.
Lindsay looked at him expectantly, "You coming?"
After studying her for a bit he nodded and turned off the truck. "Yeah"
Up in her apartment Lindsay went to the kitchen, while Danny perused her living room, looking at pictures, keepsakes and memorabilia from her life in Montana. A life he knew nothing about.
"You like spicy, Messer?"
"In more ways than you could know, Monroe" he shot back, using her last name same as she had. It really irritated him when she called him that. He had a name, didn' t he?
Her only response was to roll her eyes and smirk at him before slipping back into the kitchen.
He turned back to her coffee table where a brightly colored book caught his eye. The couch groaned slightly as he sat down and started to page through what he now realized was a scrapbook of her family. A picture of her with who he could only assume was her father made him smile. On the page opposite the picture was a note her dad had written to her. His eyebrows raised at the signature.
"Moo?" he murmured. What was that about? Who signed a note moo? Country folk, you never knew what they'd do next.
Danny dropped the book back on the table and sauntered into the kitchen where Lindsay was warming some chili on the stovetop. Pleasantly surprised he leaned over her shoulder and sniffed at the fragrant steam. "Hungry after all, huh Montana?"
" Captain Obvious much, Danny?" She said, casting a grin over her shoulder.
"Touché." He replied, stepping back." So, what does moo mean?" he asked casually watching her for her reaction.
Her hands paused briefly as she stirred and her gaze was curious when she turned to look at him. "I'm assuming the answer you're looking for is different than ' it's the sound a cow makes'?"
"Bingo. I was perusing your scrapbook; your dad singed that note to you with moo. Now, maybe I'm just a sheltered city boy, but that seems a little odd to me."
A sad smile crossed her lips and she turned back to the chili before she answered him. "It was something between him and my mom. My dad always thought the words I love you were to common, overused, cheapened by a society that threw away love like it was yesterday's coffee grounds." She glanced at him to find his gaze fixed on her with an intensity that disconcerted her a bit" anyway they came up with this catchphrase instead. They never said I love you, they always said moo. My One and Only. It became a family thing."
It still warmed her heart to think of it. She had never told anyone outside of her family that story. Her
Friends had always asked her what it meant but she had always blown them off. But Danny, well she could see from the look on his face that he understood.
His response was what she called his 'Messer face'. The one he always made when he connected the dots on a case or had a light bulb moment.
He understood. That she had shared a family secret. That though she didn't realize it she was letting him into her life.
Moo. Danny shook his head and headed for his apartment. Sometimes, life fell into place.