They ended up in his old bedroom. Faded posters of 80's and 90's baseball stars were still hung on the cream walls, matching the small dark green bookshelf filled with baseball memorabilia and some pretty impressive trophies. The plain single bed was covered in a pale blue throw. A time warp for Daddy, standing awkwardly just inside the doorway.

Lindsay walked over to the bookcase and picked one of the trophies up. "Most Valuable Player, 1981." She looked up at Danny. "You were what? Six?"

"Yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Damn, I didn't even know she still had these here." He walked over to join her. One of the other figurines caught his eye. It was placed right at the front of the display, despite the somewhat lesser value. "Huh." He picked up another trophy, the figurine on top a batsman poised mid swing. It was small enough to fit comfortably into the palm of his hand.

"Most improved '83," he read aloud. "I was eight but they had me playin' in the under twelve's. The rest of them were all ten, eleven, towerin' over me. Would've been MVP, 'cept they thought it would knock a few noses out of joint." He sat down on the side of the bed, still holding the trophy in his hands. It was hardly the most important award he'd ever won- there were much larger ones in the collection. But this was the one his ma had put at the front.

"God, that was…" he blew out a breath. "A lifetime ago."

The bed shifted as Lindsay sat down beside him, a good bit of space separating them. "Danny," she said quietly, studying her hands in her lap. "I'm sorry, if you were... embarrassed or ashamed because I'm here. Seeing all of that. Maybe I should just…"

"No," he said before he'd even thought about it.

He looked at her. The soft light from the window at the foot of the bed was shining all around her. Danny had only a little poetry in his soul, but even he recognised that moment, and recognised that he lacked the words to describe it. Maybe one day he would be able to express just how… unreal she looked. And yet every moment of the time in this room was achingly real.

"I hate you had to see it, Montana," he said after a moment. "I hate it. But…" He couldn't find the words to say he wanted her here.

She her eyes were serious when she looked up at him. "Both of us have pasts we hate, Danny."

Her words hung in the air between them. Suddenly she had taken the line she had drawn in the ground at the beginning of this… whatever they were doing, and she had stepped right over it. Danny felt his breath catch in his throat.

He looked at her for a long moment, studying those serious brown eyes. "I got a criminal record."

She raised her eyebrows, surprise evident. He bet that was the last thing she was expecting him to say. "What?"

"Yeah, well," he said, attempting to laugh. Anything to release this tension, to go back, to go forward… Danny was way out of his comfort zone. He turned to put the trophy back on the bookcase and went back to staring at the open doorway in front of him. "I was fifteen when that… whole thing went down with Louie. Pretty much straightened me out. But before that…"

"When I was twelve I got pulled in for shopliftin'. Me, couple of buddies, decided it would be a good idea to go over to the mall, have a bit of fun. Idiots," he shook his head. "Security must've seen us coming a mile off. They were just waiting for us, right outside. I got busted with three chocolate bars and a cheap pearl necklace I thought my ma would like.

"Course, Louie was sixteen by then, and he and Sonny were already tight. So me bein' a Messer didn't do me any favours. I think maybe they were just after me, just waiting for me to mess up too, and all the others got busted for being with me. I got a caution, but they bought my ma down to the station to pick me up. She lay into me like… well I got the message. For a while."

He looked up to find her biting her lip to prevent a smile. It made him smile back. "Yeah, well…." He drifted off. She'd stop smiling soon. "When I was fourteen both Louie and dad were sent to jail the same year. Louie, he was eighteen by then, so they tried him as an adult and he got six months. Dad was gone most of that year.

"I got into trouble big time." He blew out a breath. "I got into a fight with another kid. He'd been disrespectin' my ma, tauntin' me 'bout my dad. Kid stuff, right? But somehow I walked away with a split lip and he ended up in the hospital. I got arrested again, spent some time in juvie. Met a guy in there, and after a while he started talkin' bout how when he got out he was gonna do something. Somethin' that would make a name for himself."

He stopped suddenly. Looking up at the hallway. "For about a month all three of us was in jail or juvie at the same time. God, I don't know how my ma coped that year. She really tried with me when I got out, but I was set. I wasn't goin' anywhere, anyway. School was borin' and what else did I have to do? So when that kid rocked up in a car with his older brother I tagged along.

"They knocked over a convenience store. The brother, he had a gun that we didn't know about. Scared the shit out of me, and I legged it. He put the guy at the counter in the ground, and he and his brother got put away again."

Normally when he was anxious or worried Danny found himself moving, jumping around, as if he needed to expel all of that nervous energy. But this time he stayed absolutely still. Waiting for her reaction. He expected her to move- probably away from him- but she stayed right where she was. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes as he continued.

"I waited for weeks, every moment thinkin' there was gonna be a policeman at the door or draggin' me out of school. I was on my best behaviour, started studyin', got good grades. That thing with Louie. He was out of jail, and when he asked if I wanted to go for a ride, I couldn't say no. I mean it's my brother, and I hadn't seen much of him around 'cause ma kicked him out sometime that year. I guess after that happened I was finished with the whole thing. I still wanted off the island, but I sure wasn't goin' to do it by going to Rikers.

"My science teacher, he did good by me. He gave me extra tutoring after school, and then, when I was eighteen he stood up for me in court to get my record expunged. Guess I thought I owed him, so I started a science degree at college. But it was the science that could tell you who committed a crime that really got my attention. So when I graduated I went to the academy.

"And here I am, a cop."

He turned to look at her fully and she responded in kind. "That's my past, Lindsay. If Louie hadn't stepped in- if Mr Harrison hadn't stood up for me, if my ma hadn't been there for me every step of the way, I would have been someone you would be arrestin'."

She was the first who knew the whole story. Flack knew bits and pieces, and Mac knew about his record. Lindsay was the only one who knew about that night at the convenience store. And it wasn't just that he was telling her his past to get her to open up to him. He wanted her to know everything. The way he wanted to know everything about her.

In the last few weeks of drinks after work, take out Chinese in the break room, and the occasional sight seeing tour, they had talked. He knew about her dating tragedies, the oddest cases she had found in those Montana mountains, her experiences of New York. He told her about his friendships with Flack and Aiden, his relationship with Louie, and how much they all meant to him. About meeting Mac and Stella- already a formidable team- for the first time. About his city.

There were still a million little things he hadn't told her. He wanted her to know it all. And the idea of that should have been scarier than it was.

He looked down when he felt her hand slip around his. "I don't think you give yourself enough credit, Danny," she said.

She squeezed his hand and he squeezed hers back. He nodded at her and smiled. She looked away.

"I guess, I need to tell you something."

He was shaking his head before she could finish. "You don't have too…"

"No, but I want to," she said, meeting his eyes. "I need to tell you, because it's important. And besides, I started this."

She turned to stare, like he was before, at the open doorway. He watched her as she spoke.

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I'm going on holiday next week, so I've had to move the posting schedule up. I'm pretty sure none of you will be complaining about that though. Expect a little romance on Valentines day.