A broad smile broke across Danny's face as he closed his eyes against the bright morning light now invading the stillness of his bedroom. The reason for the smile was that he had just woken up next to a beautiful woman. She had just turned over in her sleep and in the process had tickled Danny's face with her hair as she snuggled up into his chest and returned to a deep sleep. He remembered their exploits of the previous night (the smear of chocolate sauce on the bedpost an apt reminder) and thought of how he was truly the luckiest and happiest guy in the world. Danny shifted a bit to stretch himself awake and Lindsay tumbled off his chest so she was now lying on her front, the soft white bed sheets barely covering her ass. Every inch of her was perfect, Danny thought, as he lay there watching her pale skin glisten in the fresh morning light. He slowly and gently started to stroke a single finger down her spine, between her shoulder blades down to the curve of her ass. How he loved the shape the small of her back made. Perfectly placed kisses then also fell upon the line his finger had just travelled and she shivered, slowly opening her eyes.

"Mornin' gorgeous", he smiled, voice full of sincerity.

"Aren't we being nice'", she smiled as he placed a light kiss on her forehead. "Last night"', she pulled him in for a kiss and spoke the rest of her words into his mouth, "was amazing…" She was going to continue but he quickly deepened the kiss, and she was not about to stop him. Unfortunately though, somebody knocked on the door, again and again, and Danny eventually regained enough self control to go and answer the annoying noise. He quickly slung on some trackies and a vest while Lindsay remained laying on his bed, looking perfect.

"Whatza time anyways?" she asked dozily, obviously content just to be lying there.

"Only 7.30, this better be important…" he said as he almost drooled whilst watching a naked Lindsay stretch. He continued to grumble as he went across to answer the annoying noise still ringing in his ears…

His hand eventually found his phone that was making that annoying ringing noise and he looked at the caller ID…it was Flack. He couldn't believe Flack had woken him from such a nice dream, the same dream he had been reliving in his sleep for the last couple of months. In his dream he was always back there, the night before Reuben died, the last time he had truly felt close to Lindsay before Reuben had persistently knocked on his door to take him to the Blessing of the Bikes at the church. That was the last time he had truly felt close to Lindsay, or felt anything except for guilt and despair and numbness. That was until that phone call with Lindsay last night when his senses had suddenly come alive again. He had started to remember how good life had been before it all and he was determined to continue on his path out of this spiral of self pity and loathing. This started off with telling Lindsay about Rikki. He disgusted himself even now, wondering why the hell he had even considered sleeping with her. He was so determined to go and see Lindsay, that he ignored Flack's call. If he answered he would have to go into work and, he would wuss out for sure. He'd taken his nap now and looking at the clock knew he still had 3 hours until Lindsay was on shift. This was his chance. He ignored the call, and then stared unbelievingly at his phone when it came up that he had received no less than 10 missed calls from Flack and Mac, and 3 voicemails in the half hour he'd been asleep. All the same, he got into the shower, dressed and left his apartment to go to Lindsay's. He had to get his priorities straight. And his top priority now, and would always be, Lindsay Monroe.

He barely had to think where he was going as he traced the familiar route to Lindsay's, stopping as usual at the Pretzel vender just down the road from his apartment. He was just about to devour the last mouthful as he turned the corner and saw Lindsay's apartment block in front of him. Usually it was one of the prettier ones in the city he thought, red brick with a big old tree out front and flowers in some of the windows. Today however, the tree and the apartment building were surrounded by police tape and numerous squad cars and other department vehicles. Danny stood there utterly confused at the situation, so bewildered that he even dropped that last tempting mouthful of pretzel. He then sprung into action, and took a quick pace up to the police barrier, flashing his badge as he ducked under it, a horrible worry beginning to rise in his chest. He got his phone out and speed dialled Lindsay – turned off. Shit. He had to find out what was going on, make sure Lindsay was okay…

"Hey, what going on here, what's happened?" he said almost accusatorially to a rookie uniform, who looked too petrified to answer.

"Err…homicide I think, stabbing it looks like, up on the… 3rd floor maybe I'm err…" he eventually managed to mumble, but this was not good enough for Danny, Lindsay's apartment was on the third floor.

"What do you mean 'maybe the third floor'? What the hell.."

"Danny", came the authoritarian voice of Mac Taylor, "It's okay, Lindsay's not hurt". Danny spun round, totally ignoring the unformed officer now, all focus on the words Mac had just said. "How come it took so long for you to get here Danny? I tried to get you over an hour ago but no answer". He looked questioningly at his CSI, he had been worried about him recently.

"Yeah sorry Mac, I erm…had stuff to sort out…..but Lindsay's okay then? Where is she, is she processing? What's happened in there anyway".

"No she's not processing. It's a little more complicated than that."

"Come on Mac, just tell me", Danny persisted.

'Ok, here it is…the police were called at about 4.30 this morning. When they arrived, there was a male DOA stabbed in one of the third floor apartments." Fear was growing in the pit of Danny's stomach and it showed on his face, but Mac continued. "It was Lindsay's apartment Danny, she was found at the scene, covered in blood and knife in hand. She's been taken in for questioning."

AN: So there are the first 2 chapters as a little taster. R&R please? I've got the next part of the story planned out so if people like it I'll carry on writing! Thanks for reading this far!

(Just to make sure everyone got it - the first part of this chapter in italics is a dream)