A/N: Thanks for the reviews! They make me keep going!
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI: NY. If I did Hawkes would be mine! Muahahahaha. Okay... moving on...
They arrived outside the hotel. They could hear the drone of the music, and the excited babble of the guests. They eyed the doorman, who was standing just outside the hotel, shifting from one foot to the other. Beside him there was a large sign that read: "invitations only."
As Danny and Flack approached the door, the doorman tensed up and gruffly asked, "you got an invite?"
Danny pulled out his police badge and flashed it to him. "NYPD, let us in."
He nodded and stood aside to let Danny through. He put a large hand out when Flack tried to pass.
"No way boozy. Get back or I will through you out!" he said fiercely. Flack pulled out his badge too.
"He's with me," Danny said, dragging Flack through the door. The doorman replied with a quizical look.
"Oh, he is always like that," Danny said, as-a-matter-of-factly.
The doorman nodded his balding head and turned back around, as Flack let a surpressed giggle escape from his mouth.
As soon as they got a safe distance away from the doorman's sharp ears Danny joked, "I'm never going out drinking with you again!"
The ambled into the massive hall. There was a few tables of various finger foods, a bar and a large dance floor. Out of the corner of Danny's eye he could see Flack heading towards the bar.
"Flack-"
"Yeah yeah no drinking, I know," he grumbled, muttering some words that sounded like "killjoy" and "no fun".
Danny scanned the room quickly. There must have been over a hundred people in the room, but he picked Lindsay out easily from the other women.
She looked stunning in a black dress, with matching black heels. He zoned out of the party completely, ignoring the music and the lights. To him, the only people in the room was him and Lindsay. That was, until Garry strode over to her and started talking to her.
He noticed Lindsay's body language. She had folded her arms around her middle, and only glanced up at him every few sentences. He'd seen this before, when interrigating suspects. It was submissive behaviour.
"Don, go and blend into the crowd a minute will ya? Make sure none of the team see you," he said, edging closer to Lindsay and Garry.
"Sure thing boss," joked Flack before making a beeline for the bar.
Danny sneeked closer, standing against the wall beside a table of food, listening into the conversation.
"Thery're my friends Garry, please try to be nice," Lindsay said quietly.
"I don't care, they don't like me, so I don't like them," he said.
"Well they're coming," she said firmly.
Garry grabbed her wrist suddenly. Lindsay winced and snatched her hand away from him, before scurrying off.
Anger erupted within Danny like an explosion. It completely engulfed him, taking over his better judgement. He grabbed the nearest thing to him, which was a small pie off the food table. He drew back him arm, and flung the pie as hard as he could at the back of Garry's head. It hit his head with a satisfying "SPLAT."
Garry's head wipped around so fast Danny was surprised he didn't get whiplash. He scanned the room, looking for who threw the pie.
Danny swiftly moved away, absolutely fuming. How dare he hurt his Lindsay! Garry was lucky Danny didn't punch him in the face, there and then.
He saw Lindsay fleeing the room, sniffling. There was an angry red mark on her wrist. He ran after her, and found her sobbing silently to herself in a small corridor leading to the hotel rooms. She was sitting on the floor, tears falling from her chestnut brown eyes, as she rubbed the mark on her wrist.
"Lindsay..." he said quietly so as not to scare her. She looked up at him, then down again. He slowly sat beside her. She let him take her sore wrist. "What is he doing to you?" he said, running his hand gently over the mark.
Her brown eyes met his blue ones, and hers began to water again. He carefully pulled her into a hug, as a harsh sob escaped from her lungs. She rested her head under the crook of his neck, and weeped into his shirt. When she was in Danny's arms, she'd never felt so safe. She wanted to tell him. Tell him that she missed him, wanted him, needed him, loved him. She cuddled into his chest, wishing he could hold her there forever, wishing he could save her from this living nightmare.
He brushed the wet strands of hair from her eyes, and murmured, "It's okay, Montana. You're safe. I'll protect you."
She nodded, and her sobs slowly stopped as he held her close to him.
Suddenly, large thundering footsteps came uo the corridor. He felt Lindsay tense in his arms.
"Danny, it's him," she wimpered, as Danny stood up, to see Garry and the doorman racing up the corridor, Flack in close pursuit.
"Danny! I came to warn you!" Flack panted. He seemed more sober now, the cop side of him was returning again. They both knew there was going to be a fight. Lindsay stood back, terrified of what might happen next.
"You two. Get out of here, you weren't invited to this party," growled the doorman. Danny ignored him and turned to face Garry.
"What did you do to her hand?" Danny demanded lividly, his hands balling into fists.
"Nothing Messer. Stay away from Lindsay, or you're in trouble..." he threatened in a dangerous voice.
"Or what hotshot? You gonna take down two cops?" jeered Flack.
"Easily!" he shouted, before jumping at Danny, brandishing his fists. As he ran at him, Danny threw a clean punch to his gut. Garry moaned in pain, and the doorman then turned his attention to Danny. He grabbed Danny from behind, along with Garry helping him. They pushed a struggling Danny to the wall hard, and his jaw hit the wall with a sickening crunch. He saw blood spatter the wall.
"Don! Help him!" shouted Lindsay.
Flack pulled the doorman off Danny, and pushed him to the ground struggling.
Just as Danny turned back around, Garry drew back his fist, and threw a hard punch at him, which he ducked. CRUNCH! Garry's fist hit the wall, and he yelped in pain. He then forced him to the ground, his hands pressed to his back.
"Looks like we win..." Danny said, blood dripping from his mouth.
He heard an angry voice shouting, "WHATS GOING ON HERE?"
It was Mac. He looked over to Danny, who had an open cut on his jaw, His mouth was also bleeding. Flack had a cut above his eyebrow, but apart from that was fine.
Flack and Danny both stood and let them up.
"You. Get out. NOW." he yelled, roughly picking up Garry, and pushing him back. He left, looking back at Lindsay like he was sorry.
The doorman scurried off back to the entrance, and Lindsay ran up to the pair.
"Oh my God. I'm so sorry!" she cried, looking at the livid bruise forming on Danny's neck and jaw.
"I'm fine, please don't cry Montana," he said, wiping the blood from his cheek.
Hawkes came running around the corner, an ice pack in hand.
"Mac you called-" he stopped, looking at the scene before him.
Ten minutes later, Hawkes had finished checking over Danny. "You'll be fine, it's only a small cut on your jaw. You just accidently bit the inside of your mouth when you were pushed against the wall, thats where most of the blood came from."
"Thanks Sheldon," he said, holding the wet cloth to his face.
The most of the guests had left after the fight, but Lindsay had stayed to make sure Danny wasn't hurt too bad. She'd then left for her and Garry's apartment, close to crying again.
Lindsay turned her key in the door and it opened with a click. She slowly pushed it open, to see Garry lying on the couch, rubbing the bruise on his stomach that Danny had given him. He looked around to see her standing in the doorway.
"Hi Linds. I'm sorry for fighting, really I am. I know I ruined our night, but i'll make it up to you, I promise," he said trying to sound remorseful.
She sighed. She'd heard this before; it was just another empty promise.
He waited for her to speak, but instead she sat on the armchair. He continued when he realised she wasn't going to speak.
"Fine then. The wedding is in three days, so if I were you I'd get to sleep," he said, before turning off the TV and going into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.
Not even a "goodnight."
She felt a jolt and a tightness in her chest everytime the wedding was mentioned. She felt so trapped, but wasn't brave enough to tell him it was over, because she was terrified of Garry when he was angry. Why had she gotten into this horrible nightmare? She rubbed her forehead, thinking of what to do.
Three more days. Three. Then you'll be trapped forever.