And now let's make it five fics in six days – I swear this will be the last one for at least a couple of days, I need a break!

This one is a post-ep for 9.12, so spoilers for that episode are ahoy. I was really struck by Lindsay in this episode (and Anna's performance), and how she interacted with the officer's son, going above and beyond what her job required of her. This is what came out of that, so I hope you'll like it.

Please enjoy.

Amazing

With one last glance at the Riley family, clinging to each other as Jason showed his mother and sister the badge once belonging to his dad that would one day soon grace his own NYPD uniform, Lindsay knew that they'd be OK and she took comfort in having played a small role in providing them with closure. Looking up at her husband, she nodded her head in the direction of the elevators and then took off for them, knowing Danny would be right behind her. Though Jason had been kind enough to invite them into his home to join the other mourners, Lindsay didn't want to intrude on their grief. She and Danny had come to pay their respects and for her to pass along the elder Riley's badge, nothing more. The family needed to be surrounded by people they know and love, and Lindsay had already faced enough funerals, visitations, and wakes to last her a lifetime.

Stepping onto the elevator car vacated by what appeared to be more mourners, Lindsay pressed the button for the ground floor and waited for the descent to begin. She could feel Danny's eyes boring into her and as she turned to ask him what was the matter, the intense love she saw in his gaze stopped any words from passing from her lips. She just stood there, pinned by his gaze until he suddenly looked away. Confused at first, she quickly caught on as the doors opened and revealed a young family waiting to board the elevator. As Lindsay moved to one side of the car to make room, she felt Danny move from her side to her back and though there was probably an inch or two between their bodies, she could feel his presence pouring over her in waves. She still wasn't sure what had prompted the sudden spark of electricity between them, but she wasn't going to waste any time right now in figuring it out. Right now, all she wanted was a tangible connection to her husband.

Just as Lindsay was about to reach back for one of his hands, she felt Danny gently but firmly place his hand on her hip, away from the prying eyes of the other occupants of the elevator. Seizing the opportunity, she placed her hand over his, pushing down until her fingers invaded the gaps between his. The position was a little awkward but Lindsay didn't mind as she felt Danny squeeze his fingers together to make it seem as though they were holding hands. They remained like that until the elevator reached the ground floor, where they let the family exit first. Danny came back to her side once they were alone, the hand that was on her hip now holding her other hand as he led the two of them off the elevator car and back out onto the street. He started to pull her down the sidewalk without a word and though a part of her wondered where he was taking her, she stayed silent and let him lead. When he started to take them down a narrow alleyway, she finally spoke up.

"Danny, where –"

The rest of her words were cut off by his lips crashing over hers and his tongue plunging into her mouth. Lindsay remained shocked into stillness for all of two seconds before she responded, gripping him tightly around the back before turning them and quickly pushing herself up against the nearest wall. She contacted a bit more harshly than she'd planned, but she wasn't sure how long she'd be able to stay standing if this kept going. With the solid bricks at her back and Danny all but glued to her front, she was going to stay on her feet and it also freed her hands to roam his back and shoulders and to run through his hair.

Just as they were on the precipice of crossing the line between PDA and indecent exposure, Danny ripped his mouth from hers and pulled his face back to look into her eyes, keeping the rest of his body still tightly pressed to hers. He opened his mouth to speak but stopped when he saw the twinge of sadness in her eyes. Giving her a tiny smirk, he leaned back in to kiss her once again. The frenzied urgency of the past few minutes was gone, somewhat to Lindsay's disappointment, but their passion for each other was just as plain as ever. This time, Danny let Lindsay be the one to break off the kiss and when she did, she tipped her forehead into his before speaking.

"What was that all about?" Watching as he processed the question, Lindsay saw a look of pure awe take hold on his face.

"You're amazing, babe, you know that?"

"Umm, thank you?" She honestly had no idea what had brought that out.

Seeing her clear confusion, he pulled back from her completely before shaking his head and then proceeding to clue her in. "Not only do you take the time to come pay your respects to the family of a cop you'd only talked to a few times, but then you take it upon yourself to go ahead and clear it so the son can use his father's badge once he graduates from the academy. Nobody else thought to do that – just you."

"It was nothing, Danny."

He shook his head at her. "You don't get to do that Linds, least of all with me. I watched that boy's face as you gave him his father's badge and explained what you'd done and then I watched as he told his mom and sister – it wasn't nothing and you and I both know it. Right in the midst of their grief, you gave that entire family a bit of hope, the knowledge that even though the world is cruel at times and people can be senseless, there are still good people in it, that kindness still abounds, even from people we don't even know."

As she let Danny's words wash over her, Lindsay still felt that he was being way too generous about her role in all this, so she decided to explain her point of view.

"I wasn't trying to do anything special, Danny. From the moment I met Jason in the hospital corridor I felt a connection to him, though at first I had no idea of why – I only knew his dad a little bit, much more by reputation than personally. It was only after he showed up at the morgue, insisting on seeing his dad and knowing how he died, that I figure it out: I saw pieces of myself in him – the same drive, that same desire to push past the hurt and the pain in order to get at the truth. When I got back to the lab later that day and sat down at my desk, I couldn't stop thinking about Jason and what he must've been going through. I started to put myself in his place and all the sudden the idea about the badge came to me and I decided to give it a try. I only did what I would've wanted someone to do for me if I was in Jason's shoes, plain and simple."

"But that's still what makes you you, babe, that's what makes you amazing: you don't just do your work and go home for the night, you take it a step further. If something goes wrong, whether it was something you'd done or something about a case that doesn't sit right or feels unfinished, you do something about it. I remember that case we worked together during your first year here, with the young girl from Montana who we pulled out of the East River in a mermaid costume. You were really invested in that case, understandably, but once we caught the guy you weren't satisfied, even though the evidence against him was more than enough to convict. I wasn't surprised when you told me a couple of days later that you took a trip out to Rikers to find out why this guy killed her – I can still clearly see your face, frustrated as all hell that he didn't talk to you.

"And then there was the case back when you were pregnant with Lucy, the one with the dismembered high school basketball coach, the guy who was wrongly believed to be a pedophile. We were supposed to be heading back to my place for the night when you pulled a bouquet of flowers out of your locker and asked if we could make a stop on the way. We drove to that high school and you had me wait in the car while you went in with the flowers. You came back out a few minutes later without them and it took me the rest of the night to get you to tell me that you bought them for his widow to pay your respects and to apologize from coming down so hard on her about the pedophile accusations when she was still in shock over his brutal death. Most of us would've said nothing more to her, knowing that we have to take those kinds of accusations seriously and that sometimes means pushing really hard and thinking that the wife is in the dark about her husband's real nature.

"Your compassion for people is so strong, in spite of what we see people do to each other day in and day out. I think part of it is because of what happened to your friends – your personal history with loss informs how you deal with the victims' families and friends – but it's also just who you are as a person. You have a warm and kind heart, and I have the immense pleasure of being loved by and loving that heart each and every day. You're one of a kind, Lindsay, and I love you."

Tears were beginning to fall down Lindsay's cheeks but she made no moves to wipe them away, too caught up in Danny's words and the way he was looking at her. When she felt his hands come up to frame her face as his thumbs brushed away the tears, she finally had the strength to give him her reply.

"Thank you Dan, it means everything to me to hear you say those things about me, even if I don't really agree. And don't sell yourself short either, you've got a gentle heart as well, even if you try to hide behind that 'don't screw with me, tough New Yorker' attitude. I remember how you were with Rose, the little girl from the Amityville Horror house – she was scared and didn't know who to trust and you were patient and really sweet with her. And even if it was before my time in New York, I remember your story about the gypsy cabbie case and you going to apologize to his son for your behaviour with him. Even though you and your dad were beaten up and robbed by a gypsy cabbie, you knew that you were wrong to judge the victim by his profession when in the end, he was killed for trying to do the right thing. You may not show that side of yourself to everybody, but I see it. I saw it long before we even got together. I know how lucky I am to see that side of you each day with me and Lucy, and I never want to take that privilege for granted, especially not after what just happened to the Riley family."

For a moment, the two of them locked eyes with each other and they both knew that they were thinking about the same thing: their run-in with Eric Blaylock as they tried to arrest him. Both knew that they'd done everything right that night, but it had nonetheless gotten a little too close for comfort as Blaylock became determined to kill Lindsay and Lovato, and Danny had looked for any reason to down the bastard. They hadn't really talked about what had happened, outside of Danny checking that Lindsay was OK after he'd handed Blaylock off to Lovato to be loaded into a cruiser. He was starting to wonder whether they needed to talk about it when Lindsay shook her head at him, already a couple of steps ahead of him.

"We're good Danny."

He regarded her for a few moments until he was sure that she was telling him the truth and then he nodded his head. He was about to ask her whether she was ready to get out of the alley when Lindsay leaned forward to re-capture his lips in a passionate kiss. When she pulled back moments later, he was gasping for air, his eyes wide in both surprise and amusement.

"What's that…about?"

Lindsay gave him an incredulous look. "Do I really need a reason to kiss the man that I love?"

"No, but…" He was cut off by Lindsay's lips yet again, though this kiss was very quick.

"I just love you, Danny, that's all."

"I know. Right back at you babe." This time, Danny was the one to initiate the kiss. Before too long, he felt himself start to let go, giving in the feeling of her lips on his and her body under his roaming hands. Once again, just as they were on the brink of indecent exposure, they broke apart as Lindsay ripped her mouth from his and shoved him away from her with a hand on his chest.

"Danny, we can't. We're in an alley…"

"Yeah, sorry. You're right. C'mon, let's grab a cab and continue this at home." He reached for her hand but she dodged him.

"What about Lucy?"

Shit.

"Are you sure we don't have time?"

Lindsay's mouth opened up into a perfect 'o' before she recovered enough to say something. "Danny! We are not showing up late to pick up our five year old from her first sleepover with a friend so we can have a quickie!"

"I was kidding –" mostly, he added in his head. "Alright, let's go. We wouldn't want to be late, now would we?"

Lindsay smacked him rather hard for that comment and as he turned his best wounded look on her, she decided to get him another way. "You behave for the rest of the day and I may just let you pick this up where you left off once Lucy's asleep." She made sure she had his full rapt attention before adding, "And if you're extra good, you might get to see just how amazing I can be."

Giving him a saucy wink, she left him standing there with his mouth gaping open. It took several moments for his brain to reboot, but he eventually caught up to her on the sidewalk and took her hand as they walked to the subway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X

Danny was good for the rest of the day, and Lindsay once again proved how amazing she is…all night long.

C'mon everyone – I know that the first thing you think of when you see an alleyway is 'wow, that would be a perfect place to have a heartfelt conversation'. Wait, it's not?! Well, I'm shocked! */sarcasm*

Yeah, originally that conversation was supposed to be on a park bench, but as I was writing it, D/L got a little more heated than I was ever planning on and since the park bench is a little too public of a place to be groping your spouse in broad daylight, the alleyway it was! *face palm*

Anyways, I'm going to go take a break from writing now – my fingers hurt! Thank you for reading!

Until next we meet,

unlikelyRLshipper :)