By: makristina

Rating: K

Pairing: D/L

A/N: In my mind, this took place post-Playing With Matches. Might not fit now that I'm actually writing it out. Also, it's not beta-ed, so all mistakes are mine. Also this may just stay a one shot, although, the plot bunnies seem to thing a sequel is in store. If it's worthy of one let me know!

Disclaimer: If I owned CSI:NY, there would be a lot more D/L scenes… but I don't sigh

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She was tired.

Scratch that, she was exhausted. She had been working a lot more than usual lately and a few years ago she probably could've taken it, but now, especially with all the recent emotional turmoil, she was just plain jet-legged. She had just come off of an eighteen-hour shift when Mac called her to the street-racing-space-man scene. Part of her hoped Danny was there, but another part of her didn't.

Things between the two of them had been, well, tense, the last few weeks. She didn't know what to say, how to act. She didn't want to make the wrong move. When he clearly pushed her away, she wanted to be mad. She wanted to fight. Wanted to be angry with him. Wanted to tell him she didn't deserve this. Wanted him to want to be around her. But something deep inside her stopped her from fighting it. Something a lot more powerful than all the hurt she felt. Instead, she did the only thing she could do.

She waited. For him. For them.

And today, as she walked towards the crime scene and he looked up at her and smiled, she knew she had made the right choice. Things were slowly becoming less awkward, and more like themselves. Still, she figured he wasn't ready for anything, by the fact that, after the case had been closed, he didn't ask her over, or to talk, or to have a drink. But she was willing to wait for him.

Grabbing a wine glass and her bottle of chilled white wine from the fridge, she poured herself a glass and sat down on the couch. Pulling her knees up and crossing her legs, she balanced the stem of the glass between two fingers. Taking a sip, she let the cool, dry liquid run along her tongue, savoring it before she swallowed. She remembered on her birthday, a few months back, when Danny had surprised her with her favorite bottle of wine and chocolate dipped strawberries.

As she lay on her back on the floor in her living room, head propped up by his lap; she opened her mouth and accepted the flavor of the chocolate covered strawberry he offered her. After she finished her bite, she quietly asked, "How did you know they're my favorite dessert?"

He shrugged and smiled down at her, "You mentioned it."

She smiled back at him, "You remembered?"

He locked eyes with her and whispered, "Everything thing you ever say is etched in my mind."

She knew she had fallen for him the moment he spoke those words.

A knock at her door startled her, mostly because it was soft and slow. Usually, the landlord practically hammered at her door when she forgot to pay the rent because she was at work for three days straight. She got up slowly, realizing she hadn't even changed from her work clothes, and she'd been home for almost an hour and a half.

When she opened the door, she was surprised, dumbfounded, to find Danny standing there, with a half-grin on his face.

"Hi," she said slowly, the smile on his face was slowly making one creep up hers.

"Hey," he said, matching her tone, lightly teasing her. She laughed quietly, god he'd missed that laugh. "You gonna invite me in…?"

She smiled up at him, "I don't know, that depends on what's in it for me." She teased.

He drew his hands out from behind his back to present her half a dozen long stemmed lilies, tied in the middle with a light blue ribbon, with a card attached. She looked back at him and he nodded, so she opened the little card. It read the simplest thing:

Montana,

I'm sorry.

Love, D

He knew she'd understand. He knew she'd understand those simple words. As she re-read the card one more time, it hit her. He's never signed anything with "Love" before. She looked back up at him, and he smiled sheepishly at him.

"Hope that's good enough, 'cause I didn't bring anythin' else."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him in. "Just you would have been enough."

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A/N: Okay, so the first fic I've written in months. What do you think? If you read the A/N at the top (which I know so many of you don't, it's okay, you're forgiven), you already know I may sequel this one. And my powers of bribery will come into play now: If you review, I will…give you a piece of cake… mmm…cake…no brownies…cookies??? Okay, so I might not be so good a bribing. It's better than me screaming off the rooftop of my apartment, "REVIEW MY FIC!!!" THAT would be embarrassing. So this is getting pretty long. It explains why no one reads my A/Ns. Oh, well.