I bet you didn't expect to see an update, nor did I expect to write one. I noticed an obvious difference between the season 5 wedding band seen in Point of no return and the one that is so obvious in season 7. This was my mental "fix." Enjoy! (And forgive me for the errors. I did this in a break between grading papers and editing a test).

And A/N ... I put this under Their Story, then reread part of their relief, which I had forgotten that I'd written... lol. I almost rewrote myself. I dealt with the ring already in that, so I unpublished and republished separately. I'm sorry for the confusion. Not that it really matters. It's not my fault this isn't a consistent/explained issue ... until now. :p

His Ring

She'd passed her 30th birthday, given birth to a little girl, and worked in one of the nation's most prestigious crime labs, but without a lot of makeup, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, at first glance Lindsay Monroe Messer looked like a teenager stepping off the elevator.

Until you looked at her eyes. Those deep brown eyes looked lost, weary, haunted. There was age there, the beginning of lines around the edges. When you looked her in they eye, into the depths, you felt her age, and it seemed so much older.

Normally, she could—and would—block you out. She could stay upbeat, in most circumstances. In fact, she'd held onto hope and carried the weight of the grief for nearly everyone around her. She'd shown herself to be strong, and only strong, for Danny.

For his mother.

For the team.

Everyone, including Danny, who remained half drugged because of the procedures he'd undergone, waited for her to break. Even she knew it. She knew what they thought, and part of her ... part of her wished she could let go.

As she stepped off the elevator and onto the floor where they'd moved Danny, her focus was narrow. She barely saw the cops who had stopped in, or Danny's family that was holding vigil. The group had pared down over the last week, but rotated through. She nodded at them, gave them a thin smile, unaware that the fear and weariness was so stark in her eyes.

It was, to them, different than when she'd left.

And she walked on, shutting out the doctor's and the nurses. There was a knot in her throat. She headed straight to Danny's room and stepped inside. She told herself that she would feel better when she saw him. He was alive. She should be thankful that he was alive. And then ...

There he was. There was her husband, asleep, in the stark white room, tucked into white bed linens—

Except the pink blanket that was curled around his hand. He had it in bed with him, holding onto what he could of their daughter, their family...

Linds ... I can't feel my legs.

It all felt so surreal.

Her left hand closed tighter around the chain she wore around her neck.

She stepped forward and picked up the edge of the soft pink blanket with fragile fingers of her right hand. She'd left it last night when she'd headed home with Lucy. His mother had told her to go, to rest ... but now. No one was here, no one ...

She spun, only to spin into Mac.

"Lindsay," his voice was quiet, calm. She hadn't seen him, but at a glance she saw where he'd been sitting, the newspaper he must have been reading was now on the table beside a Styrofoam cup of coffee.

When she just looked up at him, so lost; when he saw the look in her eyes, he reached up and gently pried her fingers away from the chain.

"They can't fix it," it came out on a tremble, and something inside of her shook. As she started to sob, Mac drew her into his arms and held her close.

As she sobbed, and grieved.

And faced the chances that everything had changed.

.ny.

Mac handled her, she thought later as she sat next to Danny's bed, working a crossword puzzle with him. There was a baseball game on the tv. They were waiting on Danny's mother to arrive with Lucy. Waiting for the doctor to come by again. Waiting on people to drop by.

The smile was back on her face. The weariness had depleted after a long cry, short nap, and a couple of chocolate glazed donuts Adam had brought over. Her eyes danced a little as Danny gave her a word for the puzzle, then turned and snarled at the television.

There was nothing wrong with his brain, she thought, as she filled in the boxes. Everything, she thought, was going to be all right.

Her necklace was tucked beneath her shirt. She'd already shown Danny the pieces of his ornate wedding band. The hospital had been forced to cut it off when his fingers started to swell before they took him into surgery.

She'd stopped at a artisans Jewelry store on the way in this morning... and their diagnosis had unlocked, or started to unlock, the outpouring of whatever that was that she'd unloaded on Mac.

It wasn't like her marriage was over. It wasn't like she didn't have him. She'd been able to pull him back, draw him in, get him to talk to her. He'd already unleashed his fears, his hand tightly clasped around hers, as night fell outside, and the hospital around them emptied.

"Hey," she glanced over and realized she'd slid back into that gloomy place again. Their eyes met, and she smiled.

"If you're getting bored on me, I have a stack of paper work at the office you can finish for me."

"You always have a stack of paper work to finish."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I didn't get desk ridden for a few months so I could catch up..."

And though he'd been referring to her maternity leave, the start reality hit him. If he went back to work, was able to go back to work, he would be desk bound, lab locked, for a long time.

She watched the darkness cloud his eyes, and it was her turn to reach out to him. She did so, taking his hand in hers and threading her fingers through his.

It brought him back, brought back the lightness to his eyes. She drew his hand and held it against her cheek. His fingers were strong, his hand warm as his long fingers brushed reverently against her check.

"We make a good team, you and I."

She grinned at him, and started to speak when his eyes shifted behind her, toward the open door.

Though she kept her hand in his, she lowered it to the bed and turned as Danny greeted Mac. He was wearing the jeans and t-shirt he'd had on when she'd arrived earlier, but it was something she'd gotten used to seeing over the last few days.

"I thought you were headed into the lab—" Danny said.

Mac shook his head as he walked over to the end of the bed. "I couldn't stay. I'm in need of a few more days, I think, that I've been telling everyone else to take. But I wanted to bring this by ..."

He reached in, pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Lindsay. The small circle of silver lay warm in her hand. She looked first at Mac, then at Danny—turning his hand over to place it in his hand.

"Mac," Danny managed—the look in his eyes told him he recognized the band.

And the truth dawned on Lindsay. She looked back at Mac. "It's yours. Yours and Claires."

Mac nodded. "It was ours, but it's been alone a long time. Danny I know you picked out your rings with a lot of hope for the future. And I know, this isn't the same thing, but maybe you'll wear it until you find something better. Its yours, if you want it."

When Danny didn't speak, Lindsay looked back at him, saw the emotion in his eyes. No, for Danny, there was nothing better. Mac wouldn't give the ring to anyone. Mac wasn't just giving the ring to anyone. He didn't exactly have a son of his own to pass it on to, and he didn't have the same connection with Reid.

She stood, and for the second time that day, leaned into Mac and into his arms. "Thank you," she told him and leaned back to look up her boss, her mentor, and her family. "I think you know. There is nothing better."

Mac nodded first at her, then toward Danny, and moments later excused himself, simply shaking Danny's hand. She sat back down, watched as Danny turned the ring, studied it in the stark hospital light.

"Montana," he murmured, and held the rung out to her.

She smiled and took it from him, holding his left hand when he turned it over.

And the vows she'd given, the same that she had taken, spilled out of her. It was different not, but still the same, the feelings beautiful, and somehow even more vibrant. She loved him, this man she knew so very well.

"For richer or poorer, in sickness and in health ... til death do us part," as she slid Mac's ring on his finger, she lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it.

"Kind of takes on a different meaning now, doesn't it," he murmured.

She shook her head slowly as he turned the ring, surprised that it fit, "No, not a different meaning. Just magnified. I already told you when I said yes at the court house, I knew you weren't going to take me down the easiest road. But I didn't want it. I wanted you. I wanted us."

"Me too," he murmured, his eyes on hers as he gently ran his the back of his hand over her cheek.

She closed her eyes, and let herself enjoy the comfort, the feel of that band on that hand, gentle and warm.

A/N: I know Mac originally had a wedding ring that at some point he took off. I don't know if it was silver/platinum or gold, and I couldn't find a picture, however, this was better than my other options of her buying one and of her dad sending his. This one seemed like the best option.