Disclaimer: We own nothin

A/N: Sorry if it is a little confusing to read, But I tried cleaning it up a little. Enjoy

He help's her stand back up, double checking that she is all right. Sure he's a cop and he should make sure everybody was okay, but his first priority was his Montana. "You sure?" he waited til she nodded her head in agreement.

"No, not really, but technically you're still on the clock, and you're needed. Go on- it's fine. I can calm everyone down in here anyway. Go."

"Okay you stay here til I check outside, make sure everything is clear." He knew she would argue, saying she could take care of herself. "No arguing, I couldn't bare it if something happened to you, Montana."

She listened to him telling her how to do her job. She knew damn well what to do, but she putherannoyances with himto the back of her head. She couldn't let her personal life interfere with her professional life... No matter how much Danny Messer pissed her off sometimes, he was only putting her first, and she appreciated that.

"Okay, I will, I'll try to preserve anything that we might have in here that's relevant, but even so, I could still come and help you, I got my badge you know" She grimaced, waiting for a answer

He pulled her to him, "I love you, okay?" he said before pulling his weapon from his holster, "Call it for me?" he asked, before he stuck his head out the front door.

"Yeah, sure, I'll call Mac, let him know, get him to send the team. Go quick, come on Danny, and get a move on. I love you too, but be careful out there yeah? You don't know what's happened"

The scene outside was almost like chaos, people screaming, noticing a main area people were crowding around, he ran over holstering his gun. He grabbed his badge off his side, informing everyone he was a cop.

She looked around the restaurant for a few seconds.

"NYPD," She said holding her badge up "everyone stay calm, and stay here. You're all witnesses. I'm gonna be right back"

She knew Danny had told her to stay inside, but she was needed. She ran through the crowds, moving towards Danny, like him flashing her badge. She walked over to him and crouched down beside him. "What've we got?"

Danny walked to the victim on the ground, assisting the pedestrians trying to stop the man's bleeding, Danny took a closer look at the guy, and he looked familiar, very familiar. Holy shit, was that Ollie Barnes, the eye tattoo guy, the guy who robbed the bodega where Reuben was killed? He was losing blood fast; he removed his over shirt and pressed it against the wound. "Come on Ollie, stay with me buddy," Danny prompted. Ollie gurgled out something, signaling he was still alive.

"Let him die Danny," he heard a voice call over his shoulder, stunned he peered behind him to see Rikki standing over him with a gun in her hand. The crowd had backed away, as any crowd would with a gun toting woman in there midst. He could her sirens coming from how far away, he couldn't tell.

"I'm sorry Rikki but you're going to have to shoot me, because I can't let him die," he said.

But then he heard the voice that he woke up to every morning, the voice he made scream ever night, the voice that told him everything was gonna be okay.

Lindsay glanced round, taking in her surroundings, she'd seen that guy before, and she'd seen him on Danny's laptop. It was the guy that had robbed the bodega, and judging by the look on Danny's face, he'd figured it out, just a little after she had.

She saw him take his shirt off and pressed it on the wound. She knew it had to be taking a lot for him to do this. He was the reason why Ruben wasn't around now, he could have quite easily let him die, but she knew him, and Danny wouldn't let him get away without justice for Ruben.

Lindsay was startled from her thoughts when she heard Rikki tell Danny to let Ollie die. She could hear Mac and the others approaching, but they had to be at least 6 blocks away. She had to act fast.

She heard Danny tell her that she had to shoot him in order to let Ollie die, which in effect killed Lindsay too. She was at work though; she knew she could break down in his arms later. Right now, she needed to be professional.

Bending down, she felt him relax for a second with her presence there.

After addressing him professionally, she murmured in a voice, only he could hear and understand

"I'll take her, deal with Barnes,"

Turning her attention away from Danny, she turned and walked towards Rikki with her hands up

"Rikki, look, you don't wanna do this"

"Oh, believe me, I do."

"No, you don't"

"Yes, I do Lindsay; look you need to back off. He took everything from me, I'm getting justice"

"Not like this Rikki. Not like this,"

"Ruben was 10, Lindsay, 10… And he took everything away from me"

"I know Rikki, I know. But this won't solve anything. Give me the gun Rikki, nobody else needs to get hurt."

Rikki finally took her eyes off Ollie Barnes and shifted them onto Lindsay, making Lindsay's spine tingle. What had she gotten herself into?

Feeling the touch that he knew so well, he relaxed when Lindsay touched his back lightly, reassuring him that she was there. Then she offered to help with Rikki, and he knew she could do it.

She had helped himcope withthe grief he felt and still felt, but Rikki had no one. She had tried to connect with him on a more physical level after Reuben death, but Danny couldn't. His heart wouldn't let him, his mind wouldn't let him and his body wouldn't let him.

He looked upat her, "Be careful," he said to her softly.

Then he felt her step between his back and Rikki, and listened to the exchange between the two of them, well still pressing the shirt to the still bleeding wound.Ollie was still alive, which was good.

Danny didn't blame him anymore for Reuben's death, but obviously Rikki did still. If anything Danny blamed himself, he was the one who was the boys charge for those few short hours, and he couldn't even get him to a bike blessing and back home safe. What kind of father would he be? Why would anybody want him to be the father of their child after that? Why would anybody want him? At least those where the questions he asked himself months ago, but Lindsay made him realize that he was worthy of all that and more.

Then the talking stopped and he heard a trigger cock, a trigger being pulled and the crack of the bullet leaving the chamber. He turned around to pull Lindsay out of the line of fire...

Lindsay could see Rikki move the gun upwards and towards her, increasing her heart rate. Sure, she'd had guns pointed at her before, but none of the people holding them was a grieving mother, that was willing to destroy anyone who stood in her path to get justice for her little boy… Lindsay just happened to be that anyone.

Her eyes glazed over, and her mind was filled with memories of her and Danny. In the park, Rockefeller centre at Christmas ice-skating, her first day, their first night on that pool table, and today. Tears filled her eyes. This was it, her life was flashing before her eyes. She knew it was cliché but there was nothing she could do to stop it.

She thought back to her first day on the job as a CSI, and how everything in Montana had been a lot slower than the hustle and bustle that was New York, knowing there was a chance she'd die in this line of work, but never expecting it.

She could still feel Danny behind her, from where she had stood up, blocking him from Rikki, she had used herself to not only protect Danny, but also Ollie, desperately, she was wanting to call out, to get Danny to save her, but with his back to her, and her voice failing, it was no use.

She saw Rikki cock the gun and load it; Lindsay could see the bullet coming towards her in slow motion, willing her body to duck, to get out of the way, to get Danny out of the way, she couldn't move. She was frozen in place, until she felt his strong arms grab her, and pull her to the floor.

Lying on top of her, she waited, waited for a second shot. But all she could hear was "drop it Rikki" She knew it was Flack.

She kissed Danny on the forehead and whispered "Thank you"

She prodded Danny in the side, and quietly said "You okay cowboy?"

She smiled, waiting for his response, but slowly, her heart was sinking, breaking. He hadn't answered her…

"Danny, Danny, are you okay? Answer me"

He couldn't let her get hurt. To many people he loved and cared about got hurt, and died,around him. And she was quite simply, the love of his life, the woman he was gonna spend the rest of his life trying to make happy. He wanted towatch her bellygrow big withhis children. He wanted to chase her around the nursing home with his walker in 50 years. He wanted to teach her how to ride her own bike so they could by a matching set. He wanted to buy a big house in the suburbs with a minivan full of their kid's baseball team. He wanted to grow old with her, and love her forever.

He wrapped his arms around her just in time to feel the bullet, bury itself inhis side. His lung burned from the pain, he could barely breath. He felt like he was choking, drowning in his own blood.

He heard Flack scream for Rikki to drop the weapon. He couldn't really move but he could still hear and feel. He could feel his Montana kiss his forehead. Heard her calling him Cowboy, his nickname she gave him. He knew his body was sprawled across his Montana's but he didn't care because he knew he saved her. He did his job. He kept her safe. He heard her say his name, pleading for him to answer her.

He mustered all the energy he still had in him, to open his eyes, he could barely see her she had removed his glasses. He looked down into her terrified eyes, and then grinned. "Saved ya," he grunted out, before everything went black.

"Danny, Danny, wake up. Open your eyes. Dammit cowboy, freakin' open them"

She prodded him in his side again, and for some reason, she felt something on her hands, glancing down she saw the crimson color. Blood. She wasn't good with blood anyway, but Danny's blood just made her freak out even more than what she had been. She didn't want to move him, but she knew that in order to help him, she needed to be anywhere other than pinned under him… She needed to stay calm, stay professional. But as soon as she opened her mouth to get help, she realized she was far past calm, screaming hysterically and incoherent babble at Flack, he had caught on to what had happened, and practically threw Rikki into the squad car, and ran to his two best friends.

"Where's Hawkes Flack.; get him over here now. Call a bus"

"I'm already on it Linds. Keep talking to him, get him to stay conscience."

He took off running, leaving Lindsay with terrified bystanders. Which she noticed that none had rushed over to help, and give assistance. Sure, they'd help a guy on bail for robbing a bodega, and subsequently, killing a kid, but they freakin watch a cop die; Nice to know how society worked.

"Danny, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand. Danny, god, you can't die on me, literally. Saved me? … Danny, come on, you promised to keep me up all night tonight. You ain't going back on your word are you, Casanova."

Her heart was breaking, the love of her life, Danny, was slowly fading away in her arms. He had taken a bullet for her, and she needed to now, save him; she couldn't just lie here and do nothing. Tears were running down her face

"Danny, don't leave me. You can't leave me. Not now"

She moved her cheek so that it was positioned against his slightly open mouth. She felt his warm, breath, slowly hitting her face.

He was still alive.

He felt Flack and Lindsay roll him onto his back. He could her Lindsay talking to him, he grunted when he could to let her know he was still alive, still there with her. He felt her hand take a hold of his, her begging him not to leave her.

Sheldon ran onto the scene with the first aid kit from the lab SUV.

Danny could barely breathe; he was suffocating on his own blood. He coughed up what his weak body would allow.

"He's choking on his blood," Sheldon said. "Danny, I'm gonna have to do some emergency work on you okay?" Danny nodded his head in agreement. He was quickly loosening consciences, and then everything faded to black.

"Lindsay I need you to run to the pizza place and get me a straw," Sheldon instructed.

Sheldon pulled a knife from his kite and rolled Danny onto his side. He made the hole bigger and dug out the bullet. Then he inserted the straw, which Lindsay had just brought back, into the hole and watched as the blood drained from his lung.

The paramedics finally arrived on the scene, trying to push their way throw the gawkers.

Flack saw them trying to get through and aided them, "Get the hell out of the way people! I need uniforms over here!" He shouted, in the direction of any officer that would move when he barked. "Get these people the hell back!"

The paramedics loaded him onto the gurney and hurried him to the ambulance, Lindsay hot on there heels.