The Moment

By Heather Hinam

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to CSI New York, just the thoughts in my head.

Rating: T, for vague innuendo.

Summary: Tête à tête def: a conversation between two friends (Danny and Mac find they have more in common than they realized)

Spoilers: None, though it takes place after the end of the second season

Author's Notes: Happy holidays everyone! Here's my little gift to the group. This chapter was a challenge. Getting two normally taciturn men to open up to each other was difficult. I think I succeeded though. It was definitely fun to write. I hope you enjoy reading it. Do let me know what you think.

Again, a big thanks as always to my dear friend Joy. Thank you for continuing to encourage my writing and for feeding me lines now and then. Thank you also to Kavi and Elainhe for giving me a nudge now and then and distracting me from my thesis.


Chapter 4

Tête A Tête

Danny felt the beginnings of a headache worm its fingers up his spine as he pondered the bit of fabric tightly pinched at the end of his forceps. Damn, but he couldn't concentrate. He just couldn't get her out of his head. Danny's heart thudded relentlessly in his chest as the remembered image of her chocolate eyes materialized in the place of the evidence he held. There was just something about Lindsay 'Montana' Monroe that he couldn't walk away from.

'Just because we had a moment doesn't mean we have a thing'

His words to Flack earlier this morning taunted him. He'd meant it, but Danny was beginning to wonder if that was really what he wanted. They'd been dancing around each other for months. Depending on his mood, Danny'd worked hard to convince himself alternately that Lindsay really wasn't his type or that she could never be interested in him. Then this morning had gone and turned all that hard work up on its head.

They'd been so close. His eyes slipping shut, Danny could remember the subtle scent of lavender and the way her eyes darkened to a deep mahogany as he'd leaned in a few more inches…

"You waitin' for the evidence to talk to you again, Danny?"

Mac's voice behind him was like a bucket of ice water over his head. Danny sucked in a breath before letting it out slowly and carefully, willing his heart rate to return to something resembling normal before he tried to come up with an answer for his boss. The last thing he needed was Mac riding his ass because he'd been caught daydreaming.

Danny was never entirely sure where he stood with Mac Taylor. In the last four years he'd worked for the man, Mac had somehow slipped into the places in Danny's life that should have been but never were occupied by his father. Mac Taylor didn't choose members of his team frivolously, so Danny'd worked hard to live up to the trust and confidence his boss had shown by hiring him. He hadn't always been entirely successful, but Mac had always stood by him and Danny would always have his back… he just didn't know how to talk to the man sometimes.

Clearing his throat, Danny fumbled for an answer. "Uh, no Mac. I was just trying to decide what to do next." It wasn't a total lie. Mac just didn't need to know just what situation he had been trying to resolve in his head.

Finally glancing up from his processing, Danny noticed that he wasn't the only one easily distracted this afternoon. Mac was staring off over Danny's shoulder through the glass wall into the adjacent lab. Turning, the younger CSI caught a glimpse of Stella's mop of curls just as they disappeared behind one of the central fume hoods. Glancing back at his boss, Danny could swear that Mac's cheeks had gone a little pink.

"What's the matta, Mac? You an' Stella have a moment or somethin' this morning?"

Danny nearly choked as the colour suddenly drained from his boss' face.

"Oh my God!" he all but crowed. "You two did have a moment!"

Mac fixed his subordinate with a pointed glare.

"Danny," he warned, but Danny was already off to the races, suddenly eager to have something in common with his mentor.

"Don't worry about it, Mac. I mean, just this mornin' Montana an' I had this moment and…" As the words tumbled out of his mouth, Danny's brain abruptly realized who he was talking to.

Mac's eyebrows shot up to his distant hairline, surprised by Danny's sudden candor. "You and Lindsay what?"

Danny sucked in a breath and sat tall in his chair, as though bracing himself for the berating he was almost certain would follow. Still, looking closely, he was almost certain that he could detect a faint twinkle in Mac's eyes. Could he already know? He and Flack were going to have to have little a talk. Still, his answer was nearly instinctive.

"Nothin's goin' on, Mac."

"But, you just said that you and Lindsay had a moment and…"

"I know what I said, Mac, but I swear… I swear on my mother, nothin's goin' on."

Mac eyed Danny carefully. The younger man sat ramrod straight and it pained Mac to realize that he was bracing for attack. While Mac knew, objectively, that in order to be an effective supervisor he needed to maintain a certain amount of authority with his subordinates, but it still hurt to realize that Danny's gut reaction to dealing with him was one of self-preservation. He supposed that some would say that he'd been hard on the young CSI, but that was only because Mac could see the potential. Danny Messer was a good man. He just needed a little nudge now and then. Lindsay would be good for him. In fact, they'd be good for each other. And if the faint hint of longing that Mac noticed hiding behind eyes that were trying really hard not to betray emotion was any indication, Danny realized this simple truth already. Smiling almost paternally, Mac asked.

"But you want something to be going on."

Danny blew out a heavy sigh, deflating. There was no point in lying. He knew his boss would only see right through him. So, biting the bullet, he answered.

"Yeah."

The expected lecture on lab integrity and propriety never came. Mac only smiled in return.

"I figured as much."

Suddenly emboldened by his boss' apparent acceptance, Danny pressed on, relieved to have someone who he could unload to.

"I'm tellin' y'a, Mac. It's like some gravitational pull or somethin'. All I want these days is to be near her. Y'know what I mean?"

Mac's eyes had wandered again, seeking out the mass of chestnut curls that were still visible in the adjacent lab. He answered distractedly, "Yeah, I do." Refocusing on Danny, he added. "You and Lindsay… you two could be good together."

Danny couldn't hide his shock. It took everything in his power not to ask 'Who are you and what have you done with Mac Taylor?' Instead, he asked.

"So, you're sayin' I should go for it? I mean we work together an' all. I thought you'd have a problem with somethin' like this."

A slow smile spread across Mac's face. "What I'm saying Danny, is that sometimes when you have the chance at something good, you should take it. If you two keep the moments out of the lab, like the responsible adults I know you are, I'm sure we won't have any problems."

Danny fought back a blush at Mac's pointed look. Silence stretched between the two men as they suddenly ran out of things to say to each other. Finally, Danny cleared his throat and returned his attention to the scrap of material he'd been examining earlier.

"Thanks, Mac," he mumbled.

Mac nodded in understanding before gathering up the files he had come in search of and heading to the door. "No problem, Danny." He then added good-naturedly, "Now, get back to work."

After a few seemingly endless seconds of internal debate, Danny swung around in his chair to catch his boss before he lost his nerve.

"Hey, Mac! Wait up a sec."

Mac turned, brows knotted in confusion.

"What is it?"

Danny stumbled momentarily before finally nodding his head toward the adjacent lab and blurting out. "You an' Stella… you two could be good too."

Mac blew out a breath and seemed to search for the right words before answering.

"Yeah, I know."

ooo