Christmas Fun
"Remind me why we're here again," Lindsay says, pulling her thick, warm gloves off and replacing them with latex ones.
"Because someone killed this guy on Christmas Eve so we have to find out who killed him in the next few hours, or we'll spend the holiday in the lab," Danny grumbles, snapping some pictures of footprints in the snow.
"Why us? We just finished the other case an hour ago. He could have put Stella and Hawkes on it."
"If he had, Stella would be here tomorrow. And since they spend Christmas together every year, he'll also be in the lab. Christmas has to be the one day of the year that Mac is not at work."
"It's only been a few minutes, and I already can't feel my finger," she complains, rubbing her hands together.
"We'll stop for some hot chocolate on the way back. That is if we don't get stuck here with all this snow." There is almost a foot of snow on the ground already, and it is still coming down. The temperature is falling as well, just below zero degrees now.
After forty-five minutes of processing, the body is being taken back to the morgue, and the couple is packing up. With all the snow, they hadn't gotten very much from the scene.
Danny turns around to take Lindsay's kit from her and put it in the trunk of his car. She isn't behind him. "Lindsay," he calls, scanning the path from the scene to see if she fell. Suddenly he is hit on the back of the head with a snowball.
When he turns back around to face the car, she is still nowhere to be found. He bends down, keeping his head up, and gathers some snow in his gloved hands. Slowly, trying not to make any noise, he walks to the side of the car, forming the snow into a ball.
After circling the car once, he begins to get annoyed. "It isn't funny anymore, Montana. Show yourself so we can get out of here."
Another snowball hits the back of his head, this one accompanied by a laugh. Lindsay sneaks up behind his back and puts a handful of snow down his coat.
"You'd better watch it, Montana," he throws the snowball at her running figure. Then he makes another ball to throw, determined to get her this time.
She turns around when it hits her. "Didn't your father ever tell you how to behave properly in front of a woman?"
"You started it," he yells, now jogging after her.
"So?" she continues to try to run through the snow. Her hat falls off, and she must stop to pick it back up, giving him time to catch up.
As he approaches her, he loses his balance and falls into the snow. "Can you give me a little help, Montana?"
She walks over to him and offers him a hand. He pulls her down next to him. "Hey," she protests, trying to get up, but he won't let her.
"Look up at the sky," he points. "Doesn't it look cool to have the snow flying at you?"
"If we lay here too long, we'll be buried by the snow."
"Imagine that. After all that has happened to both of us, we die because we get buried by the snow. And it would be a complete accident too."
"That would be awful to find out that someone you care about died at this time of the year."
"Speaking of which," Danny stands and helps her up, "we need to help the family of our victim by finding out what happened to him."
"Before we do that, I need something to warm up." They slowly make their way back to the car. "Danny, you left the trunk open! Now the car's full of snow."
"Whoops," he shuts the trunk. "At least it wasn't your car."
She scowls, "It's going to be freezing in there."
"We'll turn the heat up."
"Then the snow will melt, and your car will be all wet inside."
"The water will go away at some point," he argues.
She just rolls her eyes, "Just drive so we can get back to the lab and finish the case before tomorrow."
"Are we stopping for hot chocolate or not?" he starts up the engine and eases the car forward to the park exit.
"I'm pretty sure there isn't any at the lab, and you promised me some, Danny Messer."
"I'll take that as a yes," he mumbles to himself.
Merry Christmas
"What are you two doing in here? I'd think you'd want to finish your case and not have to come in tomorrow," Sheldon enters the break room, avoiding the mistletoe near the doorway.
"We're just warming up a little before starting."
"You know, Hawkes," Danny begins, "it would go faster if we had a little help."
"No, Mac assigned you two to the case."
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you helped us out a little."
"Sorry, but I'm not getting stuck here on Christmas; I've got plans."
"And we don't?"
Sheldon shrugs, "If you have a problem, take it up with Mac." He grabs a snack before heading out of the room.
Moments later, Mac and Stella enter, arguing. "You can't have Christmas without a tree, Mac. I'll cook, and you can come to my place," she insists.
"It's a tree; it's not important. Trees shouldn't be in houses anyway."
"Yes, it is. Where is Santa going to put the presents?"
Mac sighs, "Santa isn't real, Stella."
"You just ruined it for Danny, Mac," she teases.
"Christmas is already ruined; I have to come to the lab. There's no one here to analyze evidence, and you can't question anyone on Christmas. Why bother working?" Danny argues.
Mac thinks for a moment. "If you two work hard for the next…" he checks his watch, "five hours, I won't make you come in tomorrow. And no more goofing around; the officer at the scene told me about your snowball fight. Don't do that on the clock again."
The couple looks down at their laps, embarrassed. "Sorry," they both mutter.
Stella elbows her partner in the side. "You're just jealous because you can't be that happy."
He gives her a look, telling her to keep her mouth shut. "What are you two waiting for?"
They quickly stand and throw their cups away before heading to the door. See you guys later," Danny calls.
"Wait," Stella says. When they stop in the doorway, she points up. "You two have to kiss."
Danny and Lindsay face each other, wanting to get it over with so they can get back to work. He gives her a simple, quick kiss on the lips. "Come on, Montana; we have work to do."
Mac turns to Stella. "Did you put that there? I told you last year not to put mistletoe up anymore."
"I swear it wasn't me. Don probably did it; he's always trying to get the two of us under it each year."
"Us? I always thought they were trying to get Danny and Lindsay to go under it."
"That lost its fun since they're dating now."
Merry Christmas
"Merry Christmas, Montana," Danny hands her a sloppily wrapped box.
She opens it, revealing a beautiful diamond necklace. "It's wonderful, Danny. Thank you."
He takes it out of the box and fastens it around her neck. "It's perfect on you." She blushes before he kisses her. "There's one more thing."
She takes the card from him, finding a certificate inside. "'You're entitled to one free ice skating lesson from Danny Messer'," she reads. "I think you're the one who will need the lesson."
"Me? I bet you've never been ice skating before."
"I have too. Just because I'm from Montana doesn't mean I'm that different. It's probably been ten or fifteen years since I've done it though."
"Then we can make fools of ourselves together," Danny smiles.
Her eyes light up, "We should go now."
"Now? What about dinner?"
"That can wait. We'll build up an appetite in the cold air."
"I don't think the skate rental place is open on Christmas."
"Don't be a wimp, Danny. It'll be fun."
Finally he gives in to her pleading. "Okay, but you can't laugh at me."
"Why would I laugh at you?"
"Because I haven't ice skated since before I was ten. My brother and his friends teased me about it so I stopped."
"I would never tease you, Danny," she puts her arm around him.
"Then what are we waiting for?"
Merry Christmas
The skating rink is fairly empty, most people celebrating at home with their families. They get their skates and find a bench to sit on while they put the heavy boots on their feet. "My first winter as a CSI I had a case that involved ice skating," Danny informs her. "Kind of nasty one too. The rink was packed, and one little boy fell. Next thing they knew, the ice was almost all red. Someone had accidentally gone over his neck with their skate."
"I only had one or two cases with ice skating back in Montana. Not that bad though," Lindsay laces one of the skates.
He stands and walks to the ice, "Last one there's a rotten egg."
"Hey, that's not fair," she hurriedly finishes putting them on before standing. As she steps onto the ice, she grips the wall tightly. "Where'd you go, Danny?"
Not too far away he is seated on the ice. "That's going to leave a bruise."
"How did you fall already?" she eases over to him and offers him a hand. When he tries to stand, he slips again, taking her with him. "Great, now you gave me a bruise."
"Wonder what Mac'll say if one of us goes to work tomorrow with a broken arm," Danny says, standing up slowly.
"He'll wish he made us come in and work on the case," she stands as well. "I'm going to stick to the edge for now."
After a couple laps of warming up and remembering how to skate around the perimeter of the rink, the couple becomes a little more daring. "I'll race you to the other end," Danny challenges, preparing to take off.
"You're on," she agrees, increasing her speed to match his. Seconds later they crash into the wall surrounding the rink, Danny winning but not by much.
Joining hands, they take a slow steady lap before another competition. "First one to complete three laps wins," he takes off.
She takes a few seconds to process his words before chasing after him. Half way through the second lap she catches up to him, only to be passed in the last fourth of the final lap. "I think you're cheating, Danny."
"You're just jealous because I'm better," he smiles. "Maybe you aren't a speed skater; you're probably good at jumps and spins."
"Let's see how good you are," she starts with a simple spin.
"Piece of cake," he easily reciprocates the move.
Next she adds a jump, spinning twice in the air and landing perfectly. "That better?"
"It's gotta be harder than that for me to fall." His mouth, however, is bigger than his skill, and he misses the landing completely. He lays on the ice, clutching his shoulder.
Worried, Lindsay skates over to him. "Are you okay?" she helps him sit up and feels his shoulder.
He winces, "Ouch."
"You need to see a doctor, Danny. It doesn't feel too good." Another skater, concerned when he didn't stand up, approaches them and helps him off the ice.
Merry Christmas
Danny plops down on the couch, his left arm now in a sling. "What a day."
"Mac's going to kill you."
"It's your fault."
"How's it my fault? You're the one who decided we should go ice skating and fight over who is better."
"And we both know that I am," he smirks.
"You? Danny, you fell twice and fractured your collar bone. I fell once trying to help you up."
"I'm just joking, Montana."
"Please, my name is Lindsay," she says, frustrated.
"Whoa, calm down," he puts his good hand on her arm to soothe her. "I know today wasn't supposed to turn out like this, and I'm sorry we spent part of it in the hospital. It was supposed to be fun, and I ruined it by being a jerk."
"I did have fun. Well, maybe not at the hospital."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It was a good Christmas," Lindsay smiles.
"It's still not over," he smiles back and kisses her. "Merry Christmas, Montana."
A/N: Only my second DL story. Written for CSI Santa. Hope you guys enjoy it.