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The streets were snowy, well that's an understatement, the whole of New York was buried under snow. It just kept accumulating. 5 inches here, 10 inches there, oh and wait another 8 inches here. It was insane, and for some reason the murder rate seemed to fall, that or no one was venturing out therefore couldn't find the dead bodies. Anyway, the world was white and Danny and Lindsay were headed off to his parent's home on Staten Island.

No matter how many times Danny assured Lindsay that his parents would love her she still felt uneasy. Here she was a complete stranger being brought to their house for Christmas dinner, and oh by the way your son knocked me up. Well okay, they had agreed that Lindsay was not knocked up. But still, surprise surprise. The thing was Lindsay was starting to show, and she really didn't want it to be that noticable the minute they walked in the door.

Lindsay had gone with Navy blue, a dress, or shirt, whatever they are that was fit ontop but fluttery on bottom. Thank god styles had changed to a place where empire waists were worn by everyone. She paired that simply with a pair of black leggings and flats, as heels, with the ice and snow New York was currently experiencing could only mean disaster for her and her baby. She even went and curled her hair, something she hadn't done in close to a year. But what the hay. Danny matched, although not intentionally with a dark blue shirt that made his eyes even deeper pools and black pants. It was strange. They were acting like a married couple. Getting ready around one another in her apartment. A brush of an arm here, a kiss there. Lindsay was gorgeous in Danny's eyes, and if his mother wouldn't kill him, he would blow her off just to spend the whole day alone with Lindsay.

But Ma had said 'You are coming to dinner Christmas Eve. No if's ands or buts.' Which was a saying he was quite used to, having grown up around it. But then he asked his mother if he could bring his girlfriend, and well, all bets were off. 'You bring that girl here, you hear me. I want to meet this woman who has captured your heart.'

'How do you know she has my heart ma?' Danny joked to his mother on the phine a few days prior.

'Daniel, would you offer to bring her home if she didn't?' she had asked back, she knew her youngest son too well. (He was a goodboy at heart, just hadn't found the matching one yet. That was until about 3 years ago when some co-worker came into the picture. He had called her oh what was it Montana? If she was the one he was bringing by, she could skip the Christmas prayer because her dreams would be answered. Did he finally find someone to settle down with? A mother could only hope.)

By the time they were able to leave the roads were slick with more falling snow, it ended up taking twice as long to get to the island. And was even slower going as the hit the small roads that led to Danny's parent's house. The streets hadn't been cleared and even a department issued SUV was having some trouble getting through some of the drifts. Lindsay had tried to stay awake, but after about 30 minutes was fighting to keep her eyes open. After 40 minutes she finally gave into Danny's advice to just nap, he'd wake her when they were a few minutes away.

And sure enough, he nudged her as he was stopped at a light, though he hated to do it. She looked so peaceful when she slept. She quickly checked her make-up and smoothed out her hair before glancing at Danny, who happened to be watching her with amusement.

'What?'

'Nothing, you're just cute when you're nervous.'

'Yea just don't add to it this time.' She smirked back. Remembering the beginning.

'And what do you mean by that?' he asked back his voice laced with humor.

'The tiger cage Messer, you and your need to embarrass me. Make sure you call him sir. If you pull that shit today I swear to god I will make the rest of this pregnancy a nightmare for you.' She playfully threatened. Danny snorted out the laughter he had been trying to contain. But silenced as best he could as she glared at him. 'You think I'm joking?'

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They pulled into the Messer's drive. It was a quiant two story yellow house on a tree lined street with a stone façade surrounding the first floor. There were the multicolored big bulbed 'old-timer' Christmas lights following the roof line and on the bushes in front of the picture window that made up most of the front of the house. In the picture window, the Messer Family Christmas tree glowing with more of the big bulbs, and was framed in the picture window with the smaller multicolored. (Well those were in all the windows.) The house was slightly dimmer than the houses on either side of it with their bright white icicle lights, but the Messer house: Now that had character.

They pulled up behind two other cars already in the drive. The first was the Messer Sedan followed by a blue pickup truck that was labeled Messer Awenings and Canopies, followed by a very large department issued NYPD SUV.

Danny stepped out into the cold then rushed around to help Lindsay out of the car. She took his offered hand to help her out of the SUV and onto the icy drive. He went to move around to grab the presents and things out of the back of the SUV, but Lindsay did not let go of his hand. Much like way back in the courtroom in Bozeman. Danny swung around to her, and looked in her eyes, she was nervous, and happy, and they both leaned in for a kiss: this time there weren't and journalists and photographers around to ruine the moment.

The kiss lingered for a moment before Danny pulled away, cupping the side of her face Danny's thumb stroked her cheek. 'It's okay babe, they will love you, probably more than they love me.'

She leaned into his hand, it was warm against the nip of the air. She smiled as a calm took over her. Danny had to be just as nervous. For as far as she knew, Danny never, never brought a woman home to meet his parents. None had lasted long enough to be introduced. Danny grabbed the big Macy's bag of gifts and handed Lindsay the bottle of wine before grabbing her spare hand in his and leading her up the steps to the front door.

They stood on the stoop for a second just looking at the wreathed front door. Danny glanced at Lindsay and rolled back onto his heels then to his toes and back again. 'You ready for this Linds?' he asked, still uncertain himself. This was unchartered waters for him, and well, the Messers could be a handful. She squeezed his hand and nodded with a smile, she was ready when he was. Danny quickly cleared his throat, and opened the door.

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A/N: I wrote this stuff before christmas, the family, I keep rewriting, but hopefully, something will stick and soon…Thanks for all the reviews…hope you enjoy… =)