DISCLAIMER: All people, places, and things that rightly belong to CBS, CSI New York, and Bruckheimer remain in their custody.

SPOILERS: Set after Episode 5:18: Point of No Return

A/N: Hmm. Looks like a series of post-eps might be in the offing.


Jerked Up Short

His back smashed against the wall, an arm pressed against his throat.

"Did you think I wouldn't find out?" Her voice rang out, brown eyes snapping with fury.

He could feel the frantic kick of the child in her belly against his lower body.

"Whoa there, Montana! What are we talking about here?" His arms were out flung, eyes rolling in his head as he struggled to breathe.

"Did you think no one would tell me? You were talking to me on the phone not two hours after being in a shoot-out with a stone cold killer. And you did not say a word, not one word…"

Her voice broke as she collapsed against him. Easing his arms around her, Danny cleared his throat and rubbed his hands down her back, murmuring quiet words of reassurance while silently vowing to kill Flack.

"It was nothing, Linds. I promise you…" he shuddered as the sound of the high powered ammo ripping through the steel cupboard he had hidden behind echoed in his memory.

She sat down heavily on the locker-room bench, her hands covering her face.

Danny slid down the wall to the floor in front of her. "Linds," he tried again. "First thing, I'm a cop…"

She lifted a pale face, eyes ravaged. "I know what you are, Danny. I know who you are. I've always known."

I know you, Danny. I'm not expecting anything…

He could feel his heartbeat thicken and slow at the flat tone, the trembling lips.

"You're a cop, Danny. I know that. You are going to get into situations. You are going to run towards things that other people are running away from. I get that. I do."

Her voice had warmed a little, but it snapped cold when she looked at him. "But the last time you lied to me, you ended us. You nearly destroyed it all. It took everything I had, everything in me, to trust you again."

She pushed herself up from the bench, one hand pressed to the small of her back, scorning his offer of help, and looked down at him, her face remote.

"You'll not step back just because you have a family. If I hadn't accepted that I would never have been with you. But if you ever lie to me again, try to 'protect' me again," her face twisted bitterly on the word, "I will walk away and you will never find me."

He reached out a hand, but she turned her back on him. "Lindsay. Please. You had your say…"

"You think there is anything you can say to me that will make this okay?" she snapped over her shoulder. The tears she had denied since reading the text from Flack started falling and she wrapped her arms around the visible reminder of the relationship already under a strain she thought might break it.

Danny shook his head wearily. "I couldn't tell you."

She stopped, but didn't turn around.

He stared at his hands, turning the ring she had put on his finger only days before around and around, still conscious of its weight on his hand.

"Lindsay, I told you I was tired of being afraid. And that was true. But I didn't know – how could I know? – that being with you, being married, meant that I would be scared all the time."

"What are you trying to say, Danny?" She turned, and braced one hand against the locker, the other still clasped tightly across her body.

"I'm afraid that I'll screw up. I'm afraid you'll get hurt. I'm afraid something will go wrong with the baby. I'm afraid I won't get lucky next time." His quiet voice faded to nothing, and he dropped his head into his hands, breathing deeply for a moment before adding, "I'm afraid I can't be a good cop if I'm afraid all the time…"

She couldn't make it to the floor, so she sat back on the bench in front of him, and wrapped her left hand around his chin, coaxing his head up until she could look into his eyes.

"I'm afraid too, Danny. I think it comes with the territory. But even if something bad happens, I need to know. I just… need to know." She ended a little helplessly, her eyes squeezing shut as her breath simply stopped.

"Lindsay?!" He grabbed at her hands, and shot to his feet. "What's the matter? Are you all right?"

She didn't answer him for long enough that he pulled out his phone and flipped it open to call for help. She grabbed his arm and smiled up at him, eyes alight with a wild joy. "You'd better get over being afraid. I think we're about to have our lives changed for good."

"Now? Here? Are you sure?" He stumbled over the words, wanting to pick her up and carry her to someone who would take care of her, take care of everything.

Then he knew that for the rest of their lives, he was going to be that person.

And as that realization took hold, he grinned at his wife and said, "So, Mrs Messer? Want to go have a baby?"