A/N: Thanks to those of you the read and reviewed. I appreciate it so much that you take time to do so. This installment is largely in Lindsay's POV.

A/N2: I still don't own any of it. The muse and plot bunnies are slowly recovering now that this is halfway finished!

SPOILERS: Through and including Sleigh out of Hand


WIND

Smoke. It filled the room with an acrid stench, clogging her nostrils, blinding her eyes and filling her mouth. The flash grenade had been detonated and in the aftermath all she could hear was the pounding of her own blood thrumming through her veins.

She vaguely saw the outline of the last "Holly" girl cowering in the corner just a few feet away desperately trying to catch her breath as well. Tape still covered her eyes and held her hands behind her back.

Carefully she tried to get to her feet, not knowing where Mosoi and his friend were in the room. Her second attempt to get to her feet met with better success and while crouching, she quickly made her way to the feet of the victim.

In that instant, with her hands still covering her ears, the smoke shifted and charged toward her as if attacking. She thought she heard vague shouts from the direction of the apartment door but she wasn't sure and turning to look in that direction only met with more gray, puffy smoke.

"LINDsay," she barely heard the word, in fact she wasn't entirely sure it wasn't the resonation of ringing in her ears that created the garbled echo.

"LINDSAY," there, that was unmistakable. She rose carefully to her feet and turned to see him. In a second it was as if the smoke cleared simply for her viewing purposes. She could clearly see the look of concern on his face that drew his brows together, the lines of worry that bracketed his mouth, the tension in his arms and shoulders as he carefully stepped through the room in her direction but unable to find her immediately.

"DANNY," she shouted in return only to have him spot her and rush to her side. Their eyes met, only for a moment, but a moment that would never be forgotten. His ocean blue eyes met her chocolate brown and in those orbs they could both see the longing, the hope, and the tension. In seconds she was encased in those same arms that had been tension-filled but were now so soft and comforting. He pulled away from her; his own hand carefully covering one of her ears as she gripped his forearm.

Her mouth was hanging open slightly in an attempt to pull cleaner, fresher air into her lungs, her chest was heaving with the effort. Wetness continued to roll down her face as her eyes watered trying to expunge the gritty powder used in the grenade; and he thought she'd never looked more beautiful.

He pulled her to him again; she burying her face in his chest, he tilting his head and eyes heavenward in silent thanks. He led her through the apartment, down the stairs and outside to the waiting ambulance, never leaving her side.

He had tried to talk her out of going in there in the first place, she appreciated his concern but she couldn't allow someone else to go through the horror of losing another friend the way she had lost four. She told him she'd be fine and marched in there determined to do right by Beth and her friends, determined to help them in a way that she had been unable to help her own all those years ago.

As she sat there on the witness stand, tears once again rolling down her face, she thought back to her undercover day. She had been afraid. Afraid of what would happen in that room, afraid of what she may have to face, but mostly afraid that unlike last time, she wouldn't walk away.

The situations were similar and yet so different. For a split second she had hesitated in dropping that bag. That moment persuaded Mosoi to yell yet again "Who are you!?". That was when she knew what she had to do. The last thing she thought about before dropping that bag to the floor was the look on Danny's face as he tried to talk her out of going in there. So many people, places, and things to think about when facing your own demise and yet all she could see was Danny.

That very thought had prompted her to accept a dinner invitation for the next evening. Little did she know she would receive a summons from Montana that would bring her past rushing full speed into her future. She had stood Danny up, fool that she was, then gave him the "it's not you, it's me" speech, too afraid of what he would think of her mess.

The prosecutor cleared his throat bringing her attention back to the present just as the courtroom door opened and a breath of air moved forward and gently whispered over her brow. Her attention diverted to the door and suddenly there he was.

It was like standing in that smoke filled room all over again. Their eyes met and held; there was the tension, longing and hope, just like before. She took a ragged breath, sat up straighter in her seat and felt his arms tighten around her from across the room as he took a seat.

She finished her testimony and awaited the verdict with him by her side. They'd held hands, sighed in relief at the outcome, hugged each other and leaned in a hairsbreadth away from a kiss before being interrupted by photographers.

He smirked at her and took her hand leading her out a side door. It was there that she pushed him against the courthouse wall, thanking him without words for standing by her side and waiting. It was there that she pressed her lips against his and stole the air from his lungs only to return it ten-fold by giving him her own.