AN: This is another post-Snow Day oneshot that fits into my "Let's Play a Game" series. It's pretty much D/L fluff with some introspection thrown in. Hopefully it's enjoyable for you all.
Thanks as always to my betas, Kerry Blue and printandpolish. They are awesome, so any mistakes you spot are totally and completely my fault.
If you have never played Yahtzee, it can be a lot of fun. It's been awhile since I've played, but writing this fic has made me want to brush up on my Yahtzee skills the next time I get together with my family. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:NY or anything associated with it. I am grateful to TPTB that they have created such wonderful characters that inspire my imagination. I also do not own the game Yahtzee, I believe that honor currently resides with Hasbro.
"Yahtzee! Yes!" Stella happily wrote down the score she had just earned in the appropriate box.
"Oh, come on! Nobody is that lucky," Flack grumbled. He took a swig from his beer. "Why are we playing this game anyway?" he complained.
"Because you said that you didn't want to play a long board game and you wanted to do something other than the card games we play all the time," Stella reminded him.
"And Yahtzee was the only thing in my closet that fit that description," Lindsay told him as she came out of her kitchen bearing a refilled bowl of popcorn.
"But who actually plays Yahtzee besides country folk?" He grinned as Lindsay stuck out her tongue at him for his oblique dig at her background.
Stella raised an eyebrow at the dark-haired detective as play passed to Hawkes who was on her left. "I played it all the time when I was a kid. When you live in an orphanage you play whatever people donate. And Candy Land gets boring after awhile."
"We played it at almost every family gathering," Sheldon told the group. "I usually tried to get people to play Operation with me, but I played Yahtzee here and there."
"I used to play it with my grandma," Adam joined in. Everyone tried to not react at Adam offering a comment of his own volition. For as much as he tended to complain when he wasn't winning, Lindsay could have kissed Flack in that moment when he smoothly continued the conversation and tried to get Danny to back him up on his assertion that playing Yahtzee was just not normal.
Sitting back in her chair, Lindsay just casually watched the group of people in her living room as she awaited her next turn. She was glad they had managed to get together like this. They were a busy group at the best of times, but with recent events it had become even harder to get the team together just to hang out. But Lindsay had coordinated this with Stella, Flack and Hawkes because she figured Danny needed it. Not being able to work while awaiting both medical and psychological clearance was getting to him and she knew that he needed to feel connected to the group and the lab again.
Not that there was a lot of the lab left to be connected to at the moment. She couldn't quite believe that Mac had left for London with the lab smoldering behind him. But considering her own tendencies towards running away from her problems, she couldn't exactly blame him.
Adam wasn't usually a part of these group get-togethers. They all liked him well enough, but they weren't close friends with him and they spent just as much time with the other lab techs as they did with him. Flack probably wouldn't have been a part of these CSI team hang-outs either if he hadn't been best friends with Danny and thus become friends with the other CSIs since Don was only one of many homicide detectives that the CSIs worked with on a regular basis.
But Lindsay had been a little worried about Adam. Nobody had heard much from him since the incident at the warehouse, and from what little Lindsay had gleaned through Danny and the official reports, she knew that the lab tech had gone through his own hell. Not wanting him to retreat too far into his pain, the psychological more than the physical, she had made a point of inviting him over. Before his comment on playing Yahtzee as a child, he hadn't spoken unless asked a direct question, but Lindsay hoped that the game and the social interaction that went with it helped him in some way.
She knew it was helping Danny. She grinned when he winked at her as he carried on his banter with Don. God, she loved this man. It wasn't something they had articulated in words to each other yet, but she was as sure of it as she was that the sun would rise the next day. By unspoken agreement, they had just decided to put off making monumental statements and decisions about their relationship when they were still working through the aftermath of recent events. No matter the strength of the house, it was always better to build it on rock rather than sand. Considering Danny's current status and the chaos at the lab, their current state was definitely more shifting sands than sturdy rock.
She was content to wait it out and just enjoy what they had for the moment. She knew from experience that patience could pay off in the end. It was often that virtue that served her well in her job when she had to perform long, painstakingly meticulous work to catch a criminal. And it was years before the man who murdered her friends was brought to justice. She would be forever grateful to those in Montana who had had the patience to keep looking for the killer.
And, as ironic as it was, Danny had had incredible patience in the last year. Most people probably wouldn't have thought it possible that the native New Yorker possessed that particular quality. But she had experienced it firsthand and she thanked God every day for it. She was doing her best to live up to the faith Danny had put in her, but she was far from perfect. Standing outside of that warehouse had scared her like few things in her life had, and walking in to find him seriously injured had broken her heart even as she breathed a sigh of relief that at least he was alive. All of that combined to bring up many of her insecurities, especially since he had only been in the building because he was doing something nice for her.
But Danny was being patient with her insecurities just as she was trying to be patient with his constant complaining about the hospital, doctors, drugs, time away from the job, et cetera, et cetera…you name it, he complained about it. She knew it was because he hated not being in control of what was going on around him. Even in waiting for her to work through her issues, he had been making the decision for himself that she was worth waiting for. But now it was doctors and psychologists who would get to decide when or even if he was fit for duty.
"Montaaaana," Danny drawled, waving a hand in front of her face. She blushed as she realized that everyone was looking at her, obviously waiting for her to take her turn.
"Sorry," she mumbled, picking up the cup and rolling the dice. She quickly finished her turn and play passed to the left along with the conversation.
Danny leaned over to talk softly in her ear. "You okay?"
She smiled to reassure him. "Yeah, I'm good. I just zoned out there for a second, sorry." He didn't look convinced, but he didn't push, for which she was grateful. Lindsay turned her focus back on the game and her friends and tried not to blush again when she noticed Stella smirking in her direction. The fact that Danny and Lindsay were dating wasn't exactly a secret or anything, but Lindsay still felt a little self-conscious about getting the all-knowing looks from people like Stella. She could handle it when it came from Flack because a well placed whack to the back of his head was an easy way to combat any snark he threw their way.
"Read 'em and weep, Don. Large straight," Stella crowed as she successfully filled in her last box.
"Why bother counting the scores? We all know who won," Flack grumbled.
"It's the principle of the thing," Hawkes argued. "You just don't want to find out that you came in last."
"I had to have at least done better than Messer," Don protested.
"In your dreams, Flack. When was the last time you beat me at anything?" Danny shot back.
"The last time we played basketball. And pretty much every other time we've played basketball," Flack returned smugly.
"I was talking about games like this, not sports, but whatever man, you've got the height advantage in that game and it's the only reason you beat me consistently."
"Whatever excuse you have to use to sleep at night," Flack teased. Lindsay just rolled her eyes. Boys would be boys.
They sat around talking and snacking until Stella and Hawkes had to leave to start their shift. Don left soon after since he had come over after pulling a double and was in sore need of his bed. He offered Adam a ride home, so it wasn't long before only Danny and Lindsay were left.
Picking up the now empty popcorn bowl, Lindsay headed to the kitchen to do the dishes that Hawkes and Stella had graciously helped to put into the sink for her. Turning on the faucet, she longed for the dishwasher she had grown up with at her parents' house in Montana. Squirting some dish soap into the running water, she looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend who was leaning back against the wall watching her. "You planning on helping?"
Danny straightened and approached the sink but didn't reach for a towel. "What were you thinking about earlier that put you in such a funk?"
Lindsay looked down at the glass in her hands that she had picked up to wash. She should have known that he wouldn't let that drop so easily. "It was really nothing. I just started thinking about things and zoned out for a second."
Danny took the glass from her hands, put it back into the sink, repeated the action with the washcloth she was holding, shut off the faucet, picked her up and set her on top of the counter. Bracing his arms on either side of her body, he locked gazes with her. "It wasn't 'nothing,' Lindsay. Talk to me."
There wasn't much she could refuse him when he looked at her like that. "I was just lost in thought. I started thinking about everything that had happened lately and how I have a lot to be thankful for despite all that's occurred." She sighed. "Do you think it was a good idea to invite Adam over? I think Hawkes and Stella might have had to push him a little to come and I feel a little bad about that."
"He needed it, just like I did. Which I think you knew," he said, smiling at her. "I've been a whiny baby lately, haven't I?"
"Who, you?" Lindsay asked, returning his smile. She traced a finger down the side of his face. "You're entitled," she went on, still keeping the tone light. "But don't think I'm not expecting something in return for nursing you back to health." She didn't really expect anything and he knew that, which is why he caught the twinkle in her eyes and stepped closer to stand between her legs.
"And what, pray tell, would you be expecting in return?" he inquired, his mouth only a whisper away from hers by the end of the question.
"Oh, I don't know…maybe another game of Yahtzee?" Lindsay teased.
Danny growled playfully as he picked her up and stalked towards her bedroom. "I've got something else in mind, Montana, that I think you'll like much better." He smirked. "You ain't seen Yahtzee yet."