Title: A little Rumor, A Big Problem
Rating: FRT
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Just the idea. Oh, I own the gossipers.
Spoilers: If you didn't already knew DL became Canon, then I guess 3.24 'Snow Day'
Summary: Oneshot. Her lip started to tremble, and her arms unconsciously went around her waist. Danny grabbed her just as her legs gave out. DL Angst.
Mac might be a slight bit OOC. And Lindsay may be a bit too weakly portrayed, but that was the way she turned out. I love kickbutt!Montana, and really wish they'd make her more aggressive, but in this fic, a weaker side came out. I'm sorry.
The dawning sun broke through his sleep induced haze; gold beams casting lengthy shadows against the tile floor. Shielding his eyes with an arm, he took a moment to regain his wits about his surroundings. In front of him, a coffee table, with glass exterior walls further down the way, to his right, a table with various magazines, most in the category of 'Scientific Frontier', and a similar table to his left, though this one with a cold coffee and half eaten muffin.
The break room, he surmised, taking off his askew glasses, and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Apparently he was more exhausted than he thought when he went for a break around 3 AM that morning. Checking his watch, he groaned in distain at the 7:43 laughing back at him. Not only had he had a putrid sleep on the break room couch, but he had also missed an evening with Lindsay.
These days it was a rare occurrence if he stayed late...only if he had to, as most nights he preferred to curl up on the couch, or do other things with his girlfriend of 11 months, 17 days, Lindsay 'Montana' Monroe.
Of course they had their hard times, but what couple didn't. Things were rocky from the beginning, but for the most part, being in a committed, serious relationship with the Country girl was the best part of his life.
A smile formed on his lips at the remembrance of time. It was a quarter to eight; she'd be here. Yeah, she might be a bit perturbed at his absence from her bed last night, but that's nothing a good morning locker room kiss couldn't fix.
Deep in Lindsayland, he hadn't even realized he wasn't alone until a very familiar name was spoken by a pair of gossipy receptionist behind him.
"Are you sure?" the one questioned, while the tinkering of glass against china told him they were around the coffee pot.
"Positive. Saw with my own eyes, the poor thing," the other insisted.
"They wouldn't!" the one he thought was maybe Maureen, or Doreen, or whatever her name was said.
"And why not? Have you even looked at Messer?" Hidden from view by the back of the couch, Danny's interest was piqued at the use of his name. He hated eavesdropping, but these ladies weren't exactly making it easy for him to nonchalantly exit the room. "Just looking at him makes a girl forget her name!"
Danny couldn't help but smirk. Apparently, he was a stud.
"I'm a married woman, thank you very much," the one he knew to be a brunette said indignantly, then followed up on her previous topic. "Are you sure, though?"
"As sure am I'm a natural blonde!"
"That doesn't say much," the one murmured, eliciting a scandalized gasp from her partner.
"What does that mean?"
"I'm just saying," the other pack peddled. "You were wrong about Tammy and that guy from Accounting. What's to say you're not wrong about Messer and Monroe?" Danny was sure that if he were an animal his ears would swivel to the sound. Messer and Monroe? Yeah, the whole city of New York knew they were dating, but what was so gossip worthy?
"That's different. Tammy was helping Brenda deal, Monroe was actually pacing!" Danny's heart rate sped up a little. Lindsay? Pacing? What was going on? Was a case getting to her? How could it? It was only 8 in the morning; she just started her shift an hour ago.
"So?" the other asked. "Maybe she was thinking about a case, and the test was someone else's?" Danny's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. Test? What test?
"Who goes to think in the bathroom?" the one Danny was starting to dislike accused. "I swear she was pacing at the counter, checking her watch, like, every two seconds! I'm telling you, she is!"
She is WHAT?!?! Danny gathered the evidence he had. Lindsay, his Lindsay, was pacing, quite frantically apparently, in the bathroom, woman's obviously, checking her watch frequently, about a test saying she was ...something.
Now, there aren't a lot of conclusions a man can jump to at this point, as one was quite obvious, but for some reason beyond him, nothing failed to register, except for the fact that Lindsay was upset.
"But how? They're both CSI's, and they deal with bodily functions all the time. Wouldn't they know better?"
"Have you not been listening to a word I said?" her counterpart sighed. "Danny Messer. Crime lab Casanova. Gods gift to woman everywhere. Who has time to think about protection!?"
Danny almost chocked on his own air. Protection?
Were they talking about what he prayed to God they weren't talking about?
"Ya, but I..."
"Why do you find it so hard to believe that she might be?"
"I don't. I just don't see it. She seems too smart for that, and he, well, he's Danny."
"True," the other conceded. "But I know what I saw. She was completely out of it. She just kept looking at her watch, and didn't even notice me when I asked if she was ok."
Danny just wished they'd take the conversation elsewhere. He'd heard enough and desperately wanted to find Lindsay, to confirm or deny the overheard bit of news. Being too busy formulating his own knowledge of the fact, he didn't even begin to venture his opinion.
How would he feel if she was? How would she feel? Was he ready? Was she? Were they? All these questions, none struck him. All he wanted to do was see Lindsay.
"Poor girl. Must be terrified."
"Yeah. You think Messer would ditch her?" Danny almost sprung up from his hiding place. Yup, he really didn't like this girl.
"Hey! He's not a bad guy. Yeah, he's had some trouble in the past, but he seems to really love her." Danny mentally jotted down a note to send Doreen, (or was it Noreen?), some flowers later on. Anonymously, of course.
"Ya, he might. Hey, I gotta go. We still on for lunch with Vicki?" The rest faded out as the woman left the room and headed down the hall. Springing from the sofa, Danny too exited the room.
He had to find Lindsay.
The stick felt heavy in her hand. It was maybe four or five inches long, but the thing weighed a ton. So much happiness and despair on one little plastic stick. How could it take the pressure?
She stared at it. Neither happy with what it had to say, or devastated at what it didn't say. She just stared.
She was pretty sure someone else was in the dimly lit four stall bathroom, but she honestly, didn't care. To her, it was only herself and a pee covered stick.
She vaguely remembered the commercials about the product on TV. 'The most sophisticated piece of technology you would ever pee on.' If it was so sophisticated then why couldn't it tell what to feel or how to deal with the conflicting emotions of its user?
Was she elated or devastated?
The whirlpool flush of a toilet and the creaking of a door forced her to turn around and hide the four inch long disaster behind her back.
"Linds?" Stella said, using the sink to her left. "You okay?"
"Oh, um, yeah," her own voice sounding hoarse, and thick. She cleared her throat. "Just fine," knowing her smile could be spotted as a fake a mile away.
"You sure?" Stella asked, but not before the door flung open.
"Stella," Danny said, locking eyes with Lindsay (who he clearly saw cringe at his arrival), and not giving a damn if he was in the Ladies Room. "Could you give us a minute alone, please?"
"What's going…" the Greek looked between the two younger CSIs.
"Stella, I mean no disrespect and I am prepared to be chewed out for eternity, but I ask again, please leave."
Stella looked between the pair again, before making her way to the door. "Alright. I'll expect an explanation later. If either of you want to talk, you know where my office is." The door latched, and all was silent.
Lindsay was the first to break eye contact as she held the stick tighter behind her back and bit her lip, looking at the bubbles playing in the sink beside her. She could feel Danny's eyes on her and wished he'd look somewhere else.
Her prayers weren't answered when his eyes never left her, and he spoke.
"Are you going to tell me, or do I have to tell you want I know, and you fill in the gaps?"
Lindsay cringed at the tone of his voice. He didn't seem mad or angry with her, but he did sound harsh and unyielding. Whether she wanted to have this conversation or not, she had no say in the matter. He had found out, how she didn't know, and there was no room for discussion. She had seen him this way with countless suspects, and she had to admit, it was a turn on, except when it was directed at her and pertained to something as monstrous as this.
"How did you…" she mentally kicked herself for the childlike tempo of her voice. She had seen him at his most dangerous almost lethal times, so why was she so afraid now?
"It doesn't matter how I know," he interrupted. "Were you going to tell me or was I supposed to figure it out for myself?" he said caustically.
Lindsay closed her eyes and shrunk further into the wall. "Danny, please don't be mad at me."
Danny's heart broke at the mousy sound of her voice. When he left to find her, the last thing he wanted to do was argue with her, but apparently his vocal chords had other plans and began lashing out at her. He knew he wasn't angry, hell, he wasn't sure what he was, but he knew harsh words weren't what she needed right now, when a supporting boyfriend was all it took.
"God, baby," he breathed out, making his way to her and pulled her against him as best he could with her tensing at the contact. Whether she was afraid of how he would react, or what he would say, he wasn't sure. She was afraid. Of him.
Jesus, he felt lower than dirt.
"I'm not mad," he said with a hand on her hip, the other in her hair, her head cradled against his neck. "I just wish you had of said something."
"I was afraid," she mumbled against his collar bone. "We haven't been together long enough to even think about it, let alone talk about it. I didn't want to you to…" she trailed of, burrowing further into his chest.
"You didn't want me to what? Leave? You didn't think I could be responsible enough, so you decided to do it yourself?" he accused, pulling away from her, hurt and still confused about whether this fight was necessary or not. "Is that what you really think of me? Am I that big of a prick?"
"Oh, God no, Danny that's not what I meant," Lindsay assured, putting a hand on his bicep while the other miraculously still held on to the test behind her back, although hiding it wasn't necessary anymore. "We never once even breached the subject, how was I supposed to know. And I didn't even know if I was or not."
Danny just leaned into the counter, vaguely aware that the men's room wasn't nearly this clean.
"It doesn't matter, Lindsay. I think I have a right to know if my girlfriend even thinks she might be pre…"
"I'm not."
Danny stopped mid-sentence. "What?"
"I'm not pregnant," she said, pulling the test from behind her back, and handing it to Danny, who saw one pink line in the viewer window, associated with a diagram showing two pink lines if pregnant.
Danny swallowed. Was this what he wanted? Was this what she wanted? Was this what they wanted? When he heard the receptionists' in the break room, he hadn't even put any thought into the ramifications, all he wanted to do was see Lindsay to make sure she was alright, but now, if she had of been expecting, he would have been a father, would have had a little man, or baby girl, would have had someone to teach to swing a bat, or blow bubbles in a glass of milk with, he would have been called Daddy, while Lindsay, would be Mommy.
God, it was things like this that made the world unfair.
Looking up from the test to Lindsay, he saw a mirror image of emotion course through her. Her lip started to tremble, eyes began getting glassy with tears, and her arms unconsciously went around her waist. Danny grabbed her just as her legs gave out, and both fell to a heap on the floor; one body quietly sobbing, the other trying to hold it back.
3 days later…
'…and the suspect ran away with the spoon.'
Mac's lips quirked up in a small smile as he read the report of one Danny Messer. As professional as Danny was, he often, like Don Flack, liked to spice up reports with colourfully worded phrases or random analogies to pop culture or historical events. This one reminisced 'Hey Diddle Diddle's: …and the dish ran away with the spoon.', as the suspect truly did run away with the weapon, in this case, a spoon.
Looking at his desk, he regarded the pile of reports he had signed off on; 53 files and all before his date with a bass guitar at Cozy's. He inwardly patted himself on the back. This was why I get the big bucks, he thought.
Turning the page, he went to examine the scene photos, when what sounded like a soap opera passed by his office. The open door allowing snippets of conversation to waft from the three Accountants.
"They were crying in the bathroom. I swear she's pregnant!" said one.
"Mac'll kill them!" said another.
Now Mac didn't really care what topics of conversation flitted through his lab, but when his name is mentioned, and him killing them, which them probably referring to his CSIs, he tended to listen.
"Who'd have thought? Monroe knocked up, by Messer no less."
Mac halted mid-turn.
Monroe? Knocked up? Messer?
What?
Just as wheels started turning and phone calls were ready to be made, the pair causing all the consternation, came into vision headed toward the elevator after another shift.
Without a thought of what to say, just knowing he had to, he bellowed,
"Messer! Monroe! My office, now!"
Both glanced at each other, unsettlement and confusion on both their faces.
"You hollered?" said Danny, Mac noticing the hand that rested on the small of Lindsay's back.
"Sit down," Mac indicated; pointing to the two chairs parallel to his desk. Both sat, 'what did we do?' running through their heads.
"Do you have something to tell me?"
The pair shook their heads simultaneously. "No, should there be?"
"I'm not sure of all the details, but this is what I know so far." Mac said, not willing to jump to any conclusions if the rumor mill was wrong, and in the back of his mind, slightly hurt that they didn't tell him. "Rumors are spreading around that two of my CSIs were seen quite upset in the bathroom recently. Have you heard this one?"
Lindsay paled a little, while Danny's eyes darted towards her, then back at their boss, picking up the clues. Mac had somehow heard of the incident on Monday, and needed a confirmation or denial of facts. How, he wasn't sure, but upon further thought, Danny remembered glaring at a woman he knew to be in Accounting, when she entered the occupied bathroom. The woman made a quick retreat, but had managed to see the test in Lindsay's shaking hands. Facts were fabricated then.
"Oh," Danny said, "We can explain."
"I was hoping you could. You know, I don't take too much stock in the rumor mill, but when it says that one of my CSI's is pregnant…"
"I'm not," Lindsay jumped in, a mixture of sadness and relief on her and Danny's face.
"Pardon?"
"I'm not pregnant," Lindsay repeated. Both her and Danny were dealing with the aftermath, and even had discussed the possibility in the future. Details were vague, but both confirmed that they did in fact want to have children at some point, with each other was yet to be said, but both knew it.
Danny reached over and lightly gripped her hand before Lindsay continued in saying, "The test came back negative, and I got my cycle this morning," feeling slightly awkward at discussing her monthly menstrual with her boss and boyfriend. "I guess I just panicked when I was late, and decided to make sure."
Mac nodded as he took in the information and mood of the young pair in front of him. Both seemed to be dealing in putting the scare behind them, and looked to require no personal leave. They both seemed a little disappointed at the news, and Mac had to admit, so was he. A little Messer-Montana running around the lab was something he was almost looking forward to. He knew they both had it in them to be great parents, and together, they would be wonderful. He also knew that hiring Lindsay was the best move of his career, and mentally shook his own hand. Good move. Not only was she a skilled worker, but she also brought a better disposition from Danny.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Mac said, smiling slightly at the shocked expressions of the pair, but both smiled weakly. "I know you probably don't need it, but I'm offering one…" he forced, "…personal day, if you wish to take it."
"Thanks, but that's not necessary," Lindsay replied. "We've come to terms with it, and think that it's the best, for now." Danny nodded and grinned at the addition of 'for now'. Watching her sleep the night they found out, he decided that he definitely wanted a 'later'.
"I'm glad, and I'm also happy to see that for the most part, you haven't let any of this affect your jobs," Mac said. If he hadn't of heard the rumor (which he was sure to squelch the next day), then he would never have known. "But next time…" receiving a raised eyebrow from both Detectives, "…even if it's a false alarm…" he added, "I'd like to hear it from you first instead of around the lab."
"Completely understandable," Lindsay nodded, "I'm sorry for the way everything got construed."
"It's alright," he replied, opening up the case file beside him, "Now, if I recall correctly, you two were on your way out."
"I know when I'm not wanted," Danny playfully scoffed, rising from his chair and heading to the door, Lindsay following with a smile.
"Thanks, Mac."
"No problem. Now, get out. Have a good night."
"You too," the door closing behind them.
Mac watched them leave, and wasn't disappointed when he saw Danny reach out and take hold of Lindsay's hand as the elevator door closed.
Yes, definitely a good move.
Author's Note: I have never been pregnant, or even thought I was. I have no knowledge of how one feels after a negative test, or what one should feel if they were. Hope I did an ok job, nonetheless.
Oh, and the pregnancy test Lindsay uses is the 'First Response At Home' model. A single line appears if negative, a double if positive. The "sophisticated" line is taken straight from its TV commercial.