A/N Everything I have written thus far has been post-Snow Day, but there are a few "missing" scenes from Season 3 that have been bugging me. One I inspired myself to write (LOL) with a line I put in Blessed Assurance, where Flack said that Danny had told him about going to Montana. Here's how I think that conversation played out …

Disclaimer I own nothing related to CSI:NY

Danny walked into Sullivan's and quickly spotted Don sitting in a booth near the back of the bar nursing a pint. Messer headed over, stopping just long enough to order himself a beer, then took a seat across from his best friend. "Hey. Sorry, I'm late. I was waitin' on a run through CODIS that never panned out."

"Not a problem. I haven't been here long." Flack brought his glass up to his lips and took a swig of the Guinness, studying Danny. "Long day?"

"Crazy few days," he sighed, running a hand over his tired face. "But I heard you guys collared Luke Blade."

"Yeah. Talk about crazy." Flack shook his head.

The waitress brought over Danny's beer, and the two men each proceeded to order burgers and fries, before both relaxed into the booth.

"I called a couple times yesterday to see if you wanted to come over and watch the Islanders game, but kept gettin' the machine. You head out to the Island?"

Danny hesitated. "Uh, no."

"What's goin' on, Dan? You haven't been yourself for days. You've been working yourself into the ground, then you disappear … I'm starting to worry here a little, man."

"Ah, I'm fine. You know how it is." He raised his bottle of beer to his lips and let some of the cool liquid slide down his throat. He set the bottle down then and started fidgeting with one of the paper napkins that had been set down with it.

Don just nodded, taking another sip of his own ale, silent in his contemplation. Finally, he decided to just ask: "You heard from Linds at all?"

Danny slowly glanced up from the napkin that was in the process of being shredded by his restless hands. "You rarely ask a question you don't already know the answer to. Why don't you tell me?"

Flack smirked. "How's she doing?"

Messer chuckled softly at his friend's intuition. "She, uh – She's okay. The bastard who killed her friends was found guilty yesterday on all counts."

"That's great news. Finally. She must be relieved."

"I'm not sure that describes what she's feeling. Those articles from the Bozeman paper all those years ago did not even begin to capture what happened in that diner, man. I mean – When I was listening to her testify, it was –"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What? Listening to her testify? What the hell, Messer?"

Realizing he would not be able to backtrack, Danny sighed. "I was there. I flew to Montana Wednesday night and spent yesterday at the courthouse with her. I walked in in the middle of her testimony."

Don shook his head in amazement. He thought there might have been a text message or two between them, maybe a phone call, perhaps an email. But for Danny to fly all the way to Montana when things had been so weird between them in recent months? He was floored.

"I just couldn't take it anymore. I mean, I was literally seeing her in the hallway at the lab, man. I was losin' my mind. And you know, there was this part of me that was pissed she hadn't confided in me before she left, right? I mean, if nothing else, we were supposed to be friends. But I gotta tell ya, after hearing what she's been carrying for the last fourteen years … "

Flack furrowed his brow. "She okay?"

"I think so. It was like this weight was lifted off her shoulders when the verdict came down." He remembered vividly the look of relief that washed over her, the feel of her head on his shoulder, the sensation of her body against his as he hugged her tightly for a brief moment. And he could not hold back the wistful smile that played on his lips as he recalled her tugging on his hand to pull him back to her, the lustful expression on her face as she leaned up to kiss him. "I think she can find some peace now."

"If you were back at work for nine, it didn't give you guys much time to celebrate."

Danny smirked, knowing his friend was digging. "No. No it didn't."

"But if you'd had more time …"

"I don't know. I'm not sure even Lindsay knows where her head's at right now."

"So, where's that leave things?"

Messer shrugged, sitting back in his seat. "A few weeks ago, I would've said there was no chance in hell that anything would ever happen for us. But now … I don't know. Maybe I'm an idiot, ya know? Maybe I'm just bangin' my head against a wall that's just never gonna crumble. But … She's not like all the chicks around here. She doesn't give a rat's ass about all that superficial crap that most of the girls in this town are about. And I know she's not the kind of girl you ever thought I'd be into, but … C'mon, she's beautiful. She's too freakin' brave for her own good …"

"Hey, you're not telling me anything I didn't already know, man."

"Yeah, well, hands off. Somethin' tells me if I can just hold on a little big longer, the payoff will be worth it. And she makes me want to hold on."

Don looked at him seriously. "Then do it. Look, I know you felt for a while like maybe she was just yankin' your chain, but now all the cards are on the table, right? Look, we see the worst this world has to offer every day on the job. But we walk into the aftermath. Linds was a teenager who saw four of her friends massacred. That's gotta leave you with some serious issues."

"His name was Daniel."

"What?"

"The son-of-a-bitch who killed those girls, his name was Daniel."

"You kidding me?"

"No. She found out when she got the call from the Bozeman D.A. back in October."

"Well, that explains a lot."

"Yeah. Right around the same time she started pulling away. So, I guess the question is, will she be able to get past this, look at me and not see him?" He took another swig of beer. "Damn, man. How did I ever let a chick get me all twisted up like this?"

Don laughed in amusement. "I'll tell ya something, buddy. There's a few guys back at the house who'd love to be in your shoes."

"Well, tell 'em to find a hobby."

Don finished his pint of Guinness, giving his best friend a few moments with his thoughts. "When's she comin' back?" Flack finally asked.

"The sentencing hearing will be sometime next week. She's hanging around for that, then she'll be on the first flight back. She's scheduled for day shift a week Sunday."

"It'll be good to have her back on the job," the homicide detective observed.

"Yeah. It hasn't been the same 'round here since she's been gone."

"It's funny, ya know. When she arrived at the zoo that day, I gave her, what, maybe two weeks. Who knew she'd turn out to be one of the best CSI's the NYPD's ever had? Don't screw this up, Messer."

"Gee, thanks for the credit."

Don smirked in response.

Their dinner arrived then, and both men ravenously dug into their meals. Discussion turned light, from the Islanders' poor performance the night before to predictions for how crazy their shift on St Patrick's Day would be this year. Don could see a difference in his friend from the past few weeks. It seemed not only Lindsay had had a weight lifted. He hoped this was a sign that better days laid ahead for both of his friends.