Title: Scent
Rating: T just to be safe
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: NY or its characters. I only own the story.
Spoilers: None really. This takes place immediately after the fade to black at the end of episode 3.02 Not What It Looks Like.
Category: Lindsay; interpreted angst
Summary: Danny has a unique scent.
Author's Note: Thanks for checking out this story! I know this is a little short and belated, but what can I say? When the muse strikes, I listen. Please forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes. I don't have a beta, so any mistakes are mine alone. Also, reviews are greatly appreciated, but no flames please.
Lindsay has always thought that Danny has a unique scent. As their friendship grew, it almost became a secret obsession; the CSI in her needed to determine what exactly it was. She knew that he didn't wear cologne because it's standard procedure for an NYPD CSI not to wear any kind of artificial fragrance, while on duty. Besides that, there is something so familiar and yet so foreign about it, she knows it can't possibly be bottled.
She finally determines that its equal parts metallic city, warm summer nights, sweet honesty, fresh rain, and raw muscle, with a rough and tumble streak, a splash of jaded, and a hint of peppermint. Still, for the life of her, she can't find just one word to describe it all.
Then it happens.
She risks her life to save a hostage, things go wrong, and in order to save the victim and herself, she detonates a bomb. The powerful blast leaves her completely dazed and disoriented, her eyes burning and watering, blurring her vision. Her ears are ringing and she struggles to find something solid she can hold onto.
From a distance, she hears someone frantically calling her name. She wants to call back, to shout that she's okay, but the shock of it all has rendered her mute. Then, out of nowhere, he scoops her into his arms. And she wraps her arms around him, anchoring herself to his solid frame. He holds her so tightly that she can feel his heart pounding ferociously through his chest, in the same rhythm as her own.
And everything changes.
Because it's then, when she takes in a cautious breath, inhaling the scent that is so uniquely him, that she finally puts her finger on it. It's simultaneously everything she wants, and needs, and fears.
He smells like safety.