The following characters are not mine ... belong to JB and CBS, but I love them anyway.

Chapter 1:

Lindsay nodded toward the uniform as she pushed open the door to the apartment. She'd pulled a double shift more than once the last week and she was exhausted. The caffeine she'd hurriedly finished off before entering the building hadn't even touched her system.

Danny was already there, with Flack. Half a dozen people mingled around the room, all around the same age. College kids, Lindsay thought, looking over their layered dress. Not the upper crust.

Then what were they doing in this apartment.

Danny and Flack noticed her then. Lindsay walked over, set down her case, then dropped down to study the body as she pulled on a pair of latex gloves.

"Edmond Royal. Age 21. Goes to Columbia University."

"We're on the wrong side of town for Columbia."

"His roommate's family owns the building. They put up a lot of college kids. Friends and such."

"Scratches on the lock indicate a break in," Danny said, "but whoever did it, knew what they were doing. I've taken imprints of the lock, but it looks like whoever did this knew what they were doing. Montana."

Lindsay looked up, took the camera Danny offered her.

"Multiple stab wounds," Lindsay murmured, careful of her voice, knowing there were plenty of people around. "This wasn't an easy job."

She looked around, studied the blood spatter, aimed her camera.

"Looks like someone wasn't worried about the mess."

Lindsay looked over to where Danny had knelt down across from her. He caught her look and smiled at her, It was like a shot of adrenaline, and over way too quickly.

They returned their attention to the body, collecting and bagging evidence, recording the crime scene. They found a pair of ballet tickets and a wad of close to a thousand dollars.

Danny seemed more confounded by the ballet.

"In this place. A grand aint nothing."

Lindsay studied the tickets. "Neither are these tickets. Opening night, orchestra seating at the Met. Wow," she turned over the ticket. The date was for the next evening. "Guy had class. And money. He had to have money to get these seats."

"You sure they weren't giving them away?"

"Been to the ballet, Messer?"

"Why would I go to the ballet?"

Lindsay laughed--why indeed. Danny was a New Yorker, but no different really than the boys back home. Still, he placated her. Not that she had a need to see the ballet, necessarily, but that she liked to do things in New York that she couldn't do in Montana--and sometimes--couldn't do anywhere else.

And by the look on his face, he was avoiding further discussion for fear that she would want to go.

Shaking her head, she pulled out an evidence bag and slid the tickets inside. Too bad their vic--and his date--would miss their evening. She sighed a little as she looked over the tickets one more time. Too bad.

"Flack," Danny motioned to where Lindsay was bagging the evidence. "Doesn't look like a robbery."

"Two of the girl's are missing their jewellery boxes. Claim there wasn't much in there."

"High priced place, probably assumed there was more."

"Guy must have been spooked," Lindsay murmured as she looked over the room. "But his hands would have been full with the boxes. So he had to of killed here first."

"Then why not check the boxes?"

"I don't know."

"Feels like lunch time," Danny said later as they logged in their evidence.

Across the lab table, Lindsay looked up at him. "Does it?"

"What time did you finally get in last night?"

"About four this morning."

"Then how bout I have lunch, you have breakfast, but we go together?"

Lindsay shook her head and glanced down at her watch. "Okay … maybe we could stop by the roommate's workplace on the way home."

"What'cha got?"

She shrugged. "Just questions. Why not take the money, the tickets? You could get a good deal scalping them on the street. This ballet sold out over six months ago."

"Really?" Danny asked as he walked around the table to her side. "Maybe our killer didn't know much about the ballet."

"You're telling me you wouldn't have taken the tickets."

"Probably not. I certainly wouldn't have killed someone over them."

"Let's just talk to the friend."

Lindsay loved to watch Danny negotiate around the city. He rarely had to ask himself where he was or what he needed to do to get where he was going. On the rare occasion he needed to get his bearings, he looked around. Not to get the position of the sky for North or South, but with the native instinct of a New Yorker. He knew the skyline, knew the shadows.

He knew his city.

They walked hand in hand down the street, at somewhat of a leisurely pace. They were still on their lunch break, so it wasn't company time. Lindsay felt the warmth of his hand, listened to the people and atmosphere around her. New York fascinated her.

"You all right now?"

"Why?"

"You were a bit homesick yesterday."

"Maybe," she said. "More tired, I guess. And my mom called. She wanted to tell me all about my niece's birthday, and there was only so much time."

"Birthdays must be big in your family …"

"Family's big in my family. Of course, we don't get to see each other often, we're all so spread out." She said. "Me and my uncle in New York, others in Florida, Texas, Nebraska, California."

"Maybe Montana's not as great as you thought it was."

"Oh, Montana's always great," Lindsay reminded him.

He grinned at her.

They walked on down the street and just enjoyed the last few minutes in silence. Finally, Lindsay glanced at her watch.

"I guess we're back on the clock."

"Hey, I have seniority. I say when we're back on the clock."

Lindsay snorted. Rarely did Danny play the seniority card. He didn't usually have to, as they seemed to simply work in tandem together through a case.

"Danny—" Lindsay murmured, surprised when he bent down and caught her lips in a kiss, drawing her in, reminding her that she was his.

Branding, she thought.

Lindsay chucked as Danny leaned back. "You might fit in back in Montana better than you think, Messer."

Danny opened his mouth as if to retort, then shook his head. "I don't even want to know."

Lindsay laughed again as she followed him down into the subway. On the way to the roommate's place of employment, Danny phoned into the lab, checked in with Mac. Their conversation flowed back and forth.

Lindsay leaned her head against Danny's shoulder. His hand in hers seemed so natural, so she wasn't all too surprise when he woke her from a light doze.

"This is our stop, Montana," he said gently and tugged on her hand.

Lindsay groaned, but followed him off of the subway. She blinked back sleep, and by the time they reached street level she was as awake as she was going to be.

"Here we go," Danny opened the door to the building, letting Lindsay in first. She headed up the stairs, following the directions she'd already committed to memory.

"What type of business is this anyway?"

"Some type of research firm that has a few accounts with the university. Marketing analysis, trends, so forth."

Lindsay stopped when she reached the top of the stairs and reached for her gun when she felt the hairs on the back of her neck tickle.

"Danny." She nodded at the bloodied fingertips on the glass door.