A/N: Okay, let me just get this straight New York... Nikki is one letter different to Rikki, and the last name of Harris, as in Nicole Harris from the Box? (Not to mention the draw on Commuted Sentences with the through and through and the pressure making an entrance wound look like an exit wound... See, something I remembered that was case related! Be proud, guys!)
Two (hidden?) shout-outs to two massive DL episodes? Coincidence? Perhaps. Laura is a little too obsessed? Probably. But hey ho. I thought it was pretty funny...
This one may be a little disjointed, I hope not, but I wrote half of it at 7am this morning and the rest after I finished in School today. So I do hope it's okay.
Post ep oneshot; season 6 episode 21; Unusual Suspects.
"Have you heard?" Lindsay asked as she sat down next to her husband in the AV lab.
"About the Harris' boys?" Danny sighed heavily. "Yeah... Yeah I did."
"Can you believe it?" Lindsay implored. "I mean Sam just, he's a little boy, and Nikki... They're so little that... It breaks my heart, you know?"
"I know." Danny sighed as he laid his hand over his wife's in a comforting gesture. "I know babe."
"The stress those two little boys were under..." She continued. "Robbing a bank to help their Mom." Just by her voice, Danny could tell that Lindsay wasn't far from shedding a tear or two. He knew, not far down inside of him that was the reason as to why she'd tracked him down within the lab, so that he could give her the bit of reassurance that she desperately needed.
"You've gotta wonder how two kids can pull somethin' like that off." Danny wondered. "Two smart kids, you know? I mean I'm a seasoned Crime Scene Investigator and I think I'd struggle in successfully gettin' my ass outta a bank."
Lindsay nodded contemplatively as she listened, but didn't really hear what Danny was saying. He let out a slow, laboured breath as he pushed back from his desk and took her hand. Looking up at him with puzzled eyes, he offered her a quick smile before giving her the confidence to trust him and simply let him take the lead. She linked her fingers with his as his strong hand wrapped itself around her petite one. As they moved out together in the hallway, she moulded herself to his back; one so that she could feel close to him and two, because she knew that she was a second from a tear slipping down her cheek, and didn't really want anyone to see that emotional connection to the case, other than Danny of course.
He pressed the button on the elevator and slowly guided her from behind him to in front of him and wrapped his arms around her as she buried her head into his chest. He knew that she needed that little bit of privacy to regain control of her emotions if they were going to potentially share an elevator with another one of the employees at the Crime Lab.
The elevator soon arrived and Danny tugged Lindsay on and pressed the button that closed the doors; stopping the opportunity for anyone else to get on. He knew it was plain rude to do so, but he knew that right now, Lindsay didn't need to share an elevator for thirty five floors with some on looking lab technician, ready to spread a little gossip.
He hit the button for the ground floor and settled into the back of the elevator's walls then, keeping her close with his arms locked securely around her. Within a few minutes, they'd finally reached the bottom floor and as the elevator's doors opened, he took her hand and led her from the building and out onto the street.
She was a little confused as to why she was being led from a public place, to an even more public place, but she simply went with Danny's lead. She knew that whatever he was doing, he was doing it because he genuinely thought it was the best for Lindsay.
After a few minutes of walking, Danny stopped suddenly and sat Lindsay down on a secluded bench, a little distance from the refreshments stand that stood outside the doors of the Crime Lab. The bench was far away for them to have a little privacy, but close enough to know that if something was to suddenly go down, they'd be there in an instant.
"Now," he whispered as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders as she moulded herself into his side. "Now you can cry."
Instantly, Lindsay burst into tears. As she wept, she buried her head into Danny's chest as he body trembled. He didn't ask questions; or even bat an eyelid. He just sat there and let her cry; knowing that right now, that was what she really needed.
Since they had, had their daughter Danny himself knew he was a little more sensitive to things... He knew that when Lindsay tugged on her sleeves, she was getting tired, and when she had claimed she wanted to grow her hair out, she was hiding from something. He'd realised a few months ago that every time something was bothering Lindsay in her life, she let her hair grow out; and used the longer length to hide behind. The curls from their early days had ceased to make a reappearance, but that was because she no longer had to hide from her past; and her slightly longer hair during the time in which he was in the wheelchair for had gone as soon as he had managed to find his feet again.
So when Lindsay came to him, asking him if he'd heard, she had really come to him and said, 'I need you right now.'
Sniffling, and bringing Danny from his reverie, "It breaks my heart."
"I know, baby..." he whispered. "Mine too..."
"I just... there aren't any words. The robbed a bank because they knew they had to look after their Mom... As a Mom it just... it breaks my heart because I'd never, ever want that burden on Lucy and any other of our kids."
"And I wouldn't want that either, and the only reason that burden would be there would be because of me not being here to provide for you guys anymore, and that breaks my heart."
"And they're just so little." Lindsay continued. "I mean, no twelve-year-old should be panicking about the rent not being made..."
"It happens though, doesn't it..." Danny sighed. "I mean, we were strugglin' a few months back."
"I know that people struggle Danny. I mean look at Hawkes, he was on the brink of collapse before Mac took him in, and he got it back... it's just... I can't... They lost their Dad to cancer, and now this?"
"Things come in threes, they lost their Dad, they robbed a bank and Ruben got shot, it's the end of their bad luck now."
"Nikki."
"What about him."
"His name is Nikki." Lindsay gently reminded her husband as she swiped at a tear. "You said Ruben,"
Danny sat back. The arm that had been wrapped around Lindsay's shoulders went a little limp as he realised what he said. "I... I don't know what I was thinking."
Wrapping her fingers around his free hand, she linked her fingers through each of his and placed their intertwined hand on her lap. "It was an honest mistake... a slip of the tongue. I know you didn't mean anything by it, Danny... It was something that really affected you, and I don't for one second, expect this case not to get to you." As she wiped her tears she let out a small chuckle of disbelief, "In fact, I'm surprised it's me that is crying over this."
"Nikki is the same age Ruben would have been..." Danny observed. "Twelve."
"He would have," Lindsay nodded. "It seems so long ago, but in the same sense, it seems like yesterday."
"I..." Danny sighed as he leant his head against Lindsay's. "I was tryin' really hard to keep my mind focussed. Like I was determined to just be a CSI, not be Danny; just for once, y'know?"
"I know." Lindsay whispered. "And I was trying to be Lindsay 'I don't take every single case to do with children and teens to heart' Messer, but it didn't work too well, did it?"
"Messer." Danny smiled as he pressed a kiss to her temple. "Even on a day like today, you sayin' that makes me smile."
"Well it's true." She returned the warm smile as she linked their finger together.
"We're such a pair," Danny sighed.
"The usual suspects." Lindsay mused. "If someone was to get attached to a case, it'd be me or you..."
"And Flack." Danny mused. "The ones that get emotionally involved at least."
"Well, if we're going off emotions, Stella would be at the top of that list." Lindsay pointed out.
"Yeah but we all know what Stell's like..." Danny teased. "She blew the crime lab up Linds, and no one even batted an eyelid."
"Danny, she was defending over a hundred million dollars of drugs from an Irish drug lord... What would you suggest she have done?"
"Blow up the crime lab?"
Lindsay rolled her eyes.
"My point is Linds that our emotionally involved, really is emotionally involved. Like, as much as it hurts me to see you cryin' like that," he said as he swiped a stray missed tear from his wife's cheek, "I'm glad that you have me to wipe away all the tears and you feel like you can come to me, sit down and tell me everything that's botherin' you... Cases like these make me realise how grateful I am that I've got you in my life... And as bigheaded as it sounds, how glad I am that I'm in your life, to give you that support you need."
Letting out a long, laboured sigh, Lindsay laid her head on Danny's shoulder and snuggled further into his side. "Have I ever told you how much I adore you?"
"Not recently." He smiled, with a tint of his trademark smirk. "But I love you too, Linds."
"Thank you..." she said, shyly almost. "For getting me out of the crime lab for a few minutes; I really needed that time to just cry and to be held by you... I just sometimes need that bit of time to remind myself that everything's going to be okay."
"I know, and that's why I knew to get you out of the lab... I didn't want everyone watchin' you, like they love to. How you feelin' now?"
"A lot better," she smiled.
"Ready to go back?"
"I guess,"
"Mac'll be sending out a search party soon." Danny smirked. "Unless he's with that Aubrey again..."
"What have you just been saying about gossip!" she attempted to scold him. "As long as he's happy, what business is it of yours?"
He simply winked at her in response, causing a bright smile to tug at her lips.
She took a deep breath before standing. With their fingers still linked together, Lindsay tugged her husband from the bench, and he dramatically stumbled forwards. He then wrapped his strong arms around her petite frame with a goofy smile plastered across his face, making her giggle a little as he enveloped her in a hug.
She let out a breath as she looked up to her husband as he broke away from their hug and guided her back towards the crime lab. She didn't know how or when it had happened, but she'd found herself married to someone that despite his initial concerns, was everything she needed in one package. Today, just like every other day, she found herself thankful for her husband and for all the qualities that he'd once questioned. When she was struggling in dealing with the worries that often cropped up in her less-than-normal-life, she found that every time he'd be there to pick up the pieces and catch her when she fell; no questions asked. And that was something that was invaluable to Lindsay. The way he was there to support her, was something that words couldn't really thank him for. She showed him how thankful she was with the way she looked at him, or the way she pressed her lips to his temple for that little bit longer, but nothing really told him, as such, how much she loved and appreciated him.
"You know I'm always here for you." He whispered as he kissed her temple, breaking her train of thoughts. "Through rain and shine."
"I know," she smiled. "Just like I'm here for you."
As she let out one last deep breath before she and Danny got back to work, she revelled in the knowledge that she'd be ever glad that she'd fallen for the unusual type of guy, because in him; she'd found her everything.