A/N: My take on what happens when Lindsay returns. I feel like this story has a similar tone to my first one, but I can't seem to get enough of Danny/Lindsay smuffy goodness. I am planning to delve a little deeper into that though ;) but then move beyond that in the next chapters.

Nothing happens in this story related to the spoilers for episode 18, except for a very mild innuendo.

Feedback is always appreciated!

xxxxx

Lindsay was making her away around the lab tables as if she'd never left. Even though she'd only been gone for a month she was afraid things would be different. However, everything was back to normal, both at work and otherwise. Her trip to Montana had been painful but a weight had lifted off of her shoulders and she felt like herself again.

She was thankful that no one made a big hoopla about her return – no welcome back party or exaggerated conversations. It was just simple, yet sincere greetings - "welcome back" and "glad your back" - from everybody. She'd let Mac know that she was ready to jump into work and he'd assigned her to lab work on her first day back.

Danny was heading towards the elevator to drop off trace at the DNA lab when saw her. Lindsay Monroe. His heart skipped a beat…and then another. Mac had informed everybody that she would be back today, but he wasn't sure if she'd immediately start working cases. He stopped in his tracks and blatantly stared at her. He hadn't seen in her in a month and he wanted to make sure he wasn't imagining her there.

He debated if he should go up to her now or wait until they could be alone. Alone for him to say all the things he never got the chance to before she left. All the things he would have said if she had said good bye to him instead of leaving a card. That he was sorry for what she had been through, that he wished he could have made it better, that he wanted her in his life, and was totally fine if that meant just as a friend. He decided he couldn't wait another second to see her and made his way into the lab.

"Montana," he said as he walked right up to her at the table, talking a deep breath to get his erratic heartbeat under control. He couldn't help the crooked grin that formed on his lips. She looked good, she looked happy. He was greeted by the vanilla scent he always associated with her. Her pants hugged her slender frame. He'd always thought she had great legs. The warmth and sparkle in her eye that had been missing for the past few months was back. Montana was back.

Lindsay froze when she heard him. Those three syllables traveled through her body, heightening all her senses, making her stomach flutter and her palms sweat. She hadn't avoided him but was nervous about seeing him. His greeting wasn't said in jest like when they'd first met that day of the zoo case. And it was more than just a nickname. It was the most comforting word she'd ever heard - she knew then that he wasn't angry at her for just leaving the card. That things were good between them. There was so much she wanted to tell him – about why she left, what had happened with her ten years ago, why she left a card instead of saying goodbye in person.

She turned to look at him. Wow. His eyes could always pack a punch. Her breath caught and warmth spread across her body. He looked exactly the same, not that she expected him to look different. She hadn't realized how much she missed him and welcomed the familiarity of his button down shirt, his glasses, his smile. His sense of personal space also hadn't changed, she noted. He was right next to her, barely an inch separating them. She had missed that too.

"Hey," she greeted him with a smile.

It had been a long time since he'd seen her smile like that. He hoped that she'd exorcised whatever she needed to while she was gone because he missed his Montana. He knew that was selfish of him but he also knew that Lindsay needed that too – she needed to rid of herself whatever burden had weighed her down the past four months. Danny wondered if he should thank her for her card. Would it be weird to bring it up after all this time? He decided to keep things light. "So, the cows and wheat fields weren't enough to keep you from coming back to the big apple?"

Lindsay closed her eyes, relieved that things weren't awkward between them. She realized while she was away how much New York felt more like her home now than Montana. She had many reasons to be happy to be back – her job, her coworkers, her friends, city life…Danny. "I did find myself missing the pizza and nail salons every fifty feet, but you know what they say; you can take the girl out of the country but not the country out of the girl."

"Well, they don't know me and I'll make a full-fledged city girl out of you yet." He crossed his arms and leaned against the table. He just stared at her, still unable to get the grin off his face.

"What is so funny?" Lindsay asked, aware of his continued gaze and smirk.

"Nothing, nothing," he said as he leaned into her, eliminating even more of the barely there space between them. "It's just…good to see you." It was barely an accurate description of how he felt, how he had thought about her constantly – read her card daily, even looked up airline tickets to Bozeman once when he thought he'd go crazy if he didn't see her, but he needed to say something, and that would have to do for now.

Lindsay looked down, blushing. "I'm…I…I…it's good to see you too." That was so lame, she thought, but his nearness had flustered her. She wanted to say how much she missed him, thought of him while she'd been gone, but stopped herself. They needed to get back onto solid ground before they delved into that territory.

"Okay, well. I gotta get to DNA. Welcome back."

Lindsay watched him leave. For the first time in a long time she was filled with a sense of hope and optimism about the future and she knew Danny played a part in those feelings.