Disclaimer: I am not connected in any way with the creators of any of the CSI shows. (I wish I was though, so Danny and Lindsay would get together already.) These are just my mind's version of the show.

I'm glad you guys liked the first three chapters. This is a LONG chapter. I wasn't expecting it to be. :D Hawkes meets his girl in this one, and Danny hatches a plan to get Lindsay. Hope you guys like it. :D

It was not a good day for the CSIs of the NYPD Crime Lab.

It started off with Hawkes. Early in his shift, he helped himself to a cup of coffee in the break room while going through the files of an ongoing investigation. A few minutes later, his flow of thought was interrupted by a sharp beeping sound. Muttering case details to himself, he reached for his phone and flipped it open. The message came from an unknown number. We have your trace results. Hawkes assumed that the number belonged to the new lab tech.

He grabbed his steaming mug and his file folder. He had been at the lab long enough to walk to its different parts without looking where he was going. Because of this, he felt free to make his way to the trace lab while reading his file.

By the time he reached the trace lab, Hawkes was so deeply engrossed in the files he was reading that he didn't notice a small figure moving towards him at warp speed.

Boom!

The collision of two human bodies in a trace lab is never good. Given the fact that there were so many sensitive items that were scattered around, people were generally careful when moving around it. Fortunately, the only casualty of that morning's collision was the steaming mug of coffee clutched in Sheldon Hawkes' hand.

Scratch that. The only casualty was Hawkes himself, who yelped in pain when the hot liquid splashed itself on him. Focused only on the fact that he was drenched in the hot and sticky substance, Hawkes swore and swiped at himself. "Damn! Why don't people ever watch where they're going?"

Instead of being apologetic, the person he bumped into took offense at Hawkes' irritated tone and responded with a scathing remark of her own. "Well, if you watched where you were going instead of having your goddamned nose buried in a folder, you might notice when people are coming near you and you can move away?"

Hawkes looked up from his attempts to hold his coffee-soaked shirt to see where the voice was coming from. His eyes settled on a small woman, whose curls were held in a loose twist behind her head. Her brown eyes flashed in indignation and she had her hands on her hips, a sure sign that a woman was well and thoroughly pissed.

Normally, Sheldon Hawkes was a mild-mannered man. But something in this woman's tone and manner set him off in a way no one, man or woman had ever done. For the first time in his life, a temper flared inside Hawkes, causing him to respond more harshly that he would have under other circumstances. "Hey! I have been moving around this lab for months and I have never, never bumped into anybody…"

And that's where it started. Soon enough, voices were raised high enough to draw attention from the people who passed. Hawkes was gesticulating angrily with the folder in his hand and the woman was jabbing her index finger in his chest to emphasize her point. Phrases filtered through the glass of the trace lab onto the hallway as their voices started getting louder and louder.

"You should know better than to walk around a trace lab blinded by a folder," the woman raged.

"You do not yell at people when you spill steaming coffee onto them," Hawkes retorted furiously.

Soon, a crowd had gathered in the trace lab. Stella, Danny, and Lindsay watched at the ongoing argument with their mouths hanging open, identical expressions of disbelief on their faces. Never had they ever seen Hawkes like this. Among the members of the team, he was usually the cool, calm, level-headed one. He had never lost his cool like this and the Hawkes they knew would never take his temper out on a woman.

But based on the noise coming from the trace lab, the woman in question seemed to be holding her own against Hawkes. Despite the fact that she barely came up to Hawkes' shoulder, she was giving back as good as she got, meeting his fury with her own and more.

Suddenly, people became aware of the ominous sound of the footsteps of the king of the NYPD Crime Lab. Mac Taylor, drawn by the sound of the raised voices and the throng of people clustered around the Trace Lab, made his way to the front of the crowd.

"What's going on?" Mac demanded.

Stella sensed that Mac was irritated by the spectacle caused by what was going on in the Trace Lab, she tried to come up with an answer that would not drive Mac crazy. However, at the moment, she could not come up with a good explanation as to why Sheldon Hawkes was yelling at the tiny figure in the lab coat and why she was yelling back.

"Mac!" Stella exclaimed. "Um. See, here's the thing..." Stella stammered, searching for words to explain the scene unfolding in front of them. "Hawkes is… irritated?" she replied with a crooked shrug.

Sighing impatiently, Mac pushed the doors of the Trace Lab open.

For a moment, neither of the two noticed that their boss was standing there watching them argue. Finally, Mac got fed up, pushed two fingers in his mouth and let out an ear-piercing whistle that cause Hawkes and the girl to stop arguing and stare at him in surprise. They looked around and realized that the clear glass doors showed the rest of the inhabitants of the crime lab and that they had been watched for some time.

Mac also realized at the same time that his crime lab was not running since practically all of his employees were staring goggle-eyed at the events that transpired in the Trace Lab. So he went outside and said, "Show's over, folks. I want all of you to go back to whatever it was you were doing."

With that, the crowd dissipated and headed to their respective work stations. There would be more than enough time to discuss what happened between Hawkes and the new girl.

Mac crossed his arms and said, "Alright, who wants to explain what happened here?"

At that, both Hawkes and the girl started to plead their case at the same time.

"Mac, she bumped into me and I spilled coffee on myself…"

"He was walking around and he bumped into me! He was walking around blind in the freaking Trace Lab!"

Mac held out his hands to stem the flow of words from each person. "Alright. Let's just get down to the important details. Cassie, was anything damaged in the Trace Lab?"

The girl expelled her breath in a whoosh and replied, "No, Mac. Everything's fine."

Mac then turned to Hawkes and asked, "Hawkes, what was it that you were supposed to be doing?"

Hawkes then closed his eyes and tried to remember, "I was getting my results."

Mac looked at both of them sternly, not much different from a father whose children had argued over a toy. "Now, whatever it is that happened here, I'm sure no one meant anything by it, right?" Hawkes and Cassie nodded. "May I ask you both to be reasonable adults who can work past this?" More nods. "Now, apologize to each other and let's get on with our day."

For some reason, two intelligent adults were acting like petulant children. Neither one wanted to be the first to apologize, so they chose another alternative: they glared at each other.

Mac let out another sigh. "Do you two even know each other's names?"

Neither answered. Both just kept up their glaring contest until Mac gave up and introduced them.

"Cassie Simmons, Trace Lab. Sheldon Hawkes, CSI. Now you both know each other and let me remind you that while you are both working in my lab, I expect both of you to behave like adults. This is a warning. We do important work here and I do not need my people bickering like six-year-olds. Now shake hands and get on with your day."

When neither Cassie nor Hawkes budged, Mac adopted his most threatening stance and said in his deep voice, "I said, shake!"

Hawkes and Cassie both jumped and stuck out their hands to shake.

Mac's face dissolved into a brief smile. "Good. Now remember what I said about acting like adults. Cassie, give Hawkes his results and Hawkes, don't forget to thank Cassie afterwards."

Both nodded sullenly and did as they were directed, but not without a final glare to the other. Mac shook his head and went back to his office.

Inside the Trace Lab, Cassie grabbed a folder and held it out to Hawkes with fire shooting out from her eyes. Hawkes responded with a glare of his own and took the folder with a muttered, "Thanks." Cassie bared her lips in a fake smile and said in a syrupy sweet voice that told Hawkes this wasn't over, "You're welcome, Detective."

Hawkes stared daggers at the young lady in front of him. Then he took a deep breath, turned on his heel and walked out of the Trace Lab.

At lunchtime, Stella and Lindsay caught up with Hawkes in the break room while he was finishing his sandwich. Both women sat at his table and looked at him expectantly. Hawkes, for his part, continued munching away at his sandwich, seemingly oblivious to the two women who were waiting for his explanation.

Stella was the first to become impatient and burst out. "Okay, out with it Hawkes."

Hawkes arched his eyebrow at her and continued chewing. "Out with what?" he asked after washing down his sandwich with juice.

"Argh. What happened with you and the new girl?" Lindsay demanded.

"What do you mean what happened?"

Stella let out a frustrated sigh and tried to explain. "Hawkes. We've worked with you for years and we have never seen you get mad about anything ever. But this morning, a girl bumps into you and spills her coffee and you blow up and yell at her??"

Hawkes was getting defensive. "Hey, she yelled at me first."

Lindsay chimed in, "Even so, did you have to yell back?"

Hawkes let out a frustrated sigh of his own. It was hell getting these two off your back when they were insisting that something was happening even though there really was nothing. "Guys, it's nothing. We both just lost our temper that's all. Now if you ladies would excuse me, I have a case waiting for me." With that, he gathered the debris left over from his lunch and made his way out of the break room.

After Hawkes' exit, Stella and Lindsay sat there in surprise. Just at that moment, the girl Hawkes had been yelling at stepped in the break room and poured herself a cup of coffee. She noticed the two CSIs sitting at the table and came over with a friendly grin to introduce herself.

"Hi, I'm Cassie Simmons. I work with Adam at the Trace Lab."

Lindsay took over the introductions with a warm smile. "Lindsay Monroe, and this is Stella Bonasera. We're CSIs."

Cassie replied, "Yeah, I heard. I wanted to get to know everyone, especially the CSIs, since I guess I'll be working a lot with your stuff."

The women made small talk for a while and they found out that Cassie was from the Boston Crime Lab. When asked why she decided to move to New York, she replied with a grin, "I guess I got bored there. Freaky reason, right?"

Lindsay and Stella chuckled at her remark. Stella then had a brilliant idea. "Well, if you're not doing anything later, the team is getting together for drinks after shift."

"Yeah, there's another new girl added to the team, a police officer from L.A. who used to be a roommate of mine. We're taking her out later as a welcome and it'd be great if you could join us."

Cassie answered excitedly, "Sure! That would be great." They gave Cassie directions to Sullivan's and she flashed them a last smile. "I'd better get back to work. It was nice meeting both of you." She waved at them and exited the break room.

Lindsay remarked, "She's nice."

"I think I know what's going on," Stella said with a satisfied smile.

Lindsay turned to her coworker and asked, "What?"

"With Hawkes, I mean."

"Okay… So what's going on, Stel? Enlighten me," Lindsay asked, propping her chin on her hands as she waited for Stella to explain.

"Well, here's the thing. Talking in guy speak, our new lab tech is hot!" Stella exclaimed excitedly.

Lindsay thought it over. "Yeah, I guess she is hot in that way guys like. Really cute and petite. But what does that have to do with Hawkes?"

Exasperated, Stella retorted, "Well, you should know this better than anyone, seeing as how you react to Danny!"

As Lindsay sputtered in response to Stella's remark, Stella went on explaining. "You do NOT react that violently to something without a good reason. Hawkes doesn't realize it yet, but he finds her attractive. That's why he couldn't do his Mr. Calm-and-Collected bit with her and he just reacted and exploded!"

With a start, Lindsay stopped sputtering and realized Stella was right. No matter how hard she might protest it, Stella's theory made perfect sense, especially since she did react to Danny like that because she cared about him so much.

A smile curved her face as she pondered the possibility of two unpredicted twists in the life of the team members. First Jordan, then now, Cassie. Boy, the next few weeks are going to be exciting.

Stella was looking at her expectantly, "You know what this means right?"

Lindsay answered with a sneaky smile, "Of course. Let's start with tonight's thing, okay?"

Glancing at her watch, Stella answered, "Yep. We'll see how it goes. I'm also psyched to meet this roommate of yours. The way I see it, we need more girls in the NYPD. Okay, I gotta go now, but I'll see you later."

Lindsay nodded. "Bye, Stel."

The day wasn't over.

That afternoon, Danny sat in the office he shared with Lindsay. He had just gotten back from chasing down a suspect with Flack and Jordan and was poring over the data they found about their other suspects, when suddenly, Lindsay barged into their office and yelled at him.

"You jumped off the fire exit of a building???" she slammed her hands down at his table and glowered at him.

Danny looked up, startled. Then he realized why she was yelling at him and tried to explain, "Montana, I'm all right. I just went after the guy because he took off before we could question him."

"All right?! Danny, you jumped off a building!" By now, her voice had lowered to a furious whisper. She could not get past the fact that he risked his life, again. He could have fallen and broken his leg or arm or worse, his neck. The thought made her hackles rise once again and she went around the desk to pummel him.

"Ow! Ow! OW! Montana!" Danny exclaimed, simultaneously dodging her blows and making sure she did not hurt herself in her attempt to maim him for his heroics.

"Don't! Call! Me! Montana!" Each word was punctuated with a punch on his arm and then suddenly, Lindsay just deflated and stared at him angrily.

Danny looked at her warily and tried to pick words that would not result in another attempt to flatten him.

"Look, I'm sorry if I made you mad."

Lindsay continued to glare at him.

Danny tried again. "I don't know why you're getting mad, Linds. I was just doing my job."

Lindsay answered angrily, "Two weeks ago, you told me that that wasn't part of our job, remember? When you didn't want me to go on that undercover thing."

Danny was instantly reminded of how scared he was the entire time Lindsay was unprotected inside that building and he responded with a jibe of his own, "When was that time? Oh, that was the time you didn't listen to me!"

At his angry tone, Lindsay let go of her anger and just looked at him. Seeing as how he was standing in front of her, alive and in one piece, soothed her fears, although she could not forget the terror she felt when she found out that Danny risked his life again. She took a steadying breath and her eyes closed wearily.

Danny's voice softened, "Did I scare you, Linds?"

She nodded.

Fighting the urge to jump around with joy at the thought that Lindsay worried about him, Danny kept his voice gentle and asked, "Why?"

Air expelled from Lindsay's body in a shudder. The moment she heard about Danny's latest stunt, she knew that she had to explain to him. She couldn't bear it if something happened to him and she wasn't even able to explain why she wasn't brave enough to risk being with him. So she promised herself to tell him the reason why she left Montana. After she tore a strip from his hide.

So here she was, trying to explain.

"People die, Danny," she said quietly, keeping her eyes closed. Danny sensed that this was a serious moment and merely nodded, waiting for her to continue with her explanation.

"Two years ago, I was in my apartment with my best friend, Lia. We were hanging out that night, watching chick flicks. Then someone knocked on my door. It was the father of a man I had sent to prison. I worked a case and proved that his son was guilty of raping and murdering a 19-year-old co-ed at the university. While he was locked up, he got involved in a fight in jail and he died. The father pointed a gun at me and said, 'Just so you know how it feels to lose someone you love.' Then suddenly his hand moved and he shot Lia." At this point, Lindsay was crying, slow tears that tore at Danny's heart. He approached her and took her into his arms, and she didn't resist. She rested her head on his chest and continued her story. "I couldn't stand being in Montana anymore after that. He was caught but the memories never seemed to leave me. He's in jail now and he's never coming out. But Lia's dead and it's my fault."

She looked at Danny with tear-brightened eyes. "Don't you get it, Danny? I can't take if it people get hurt because of me and what I do. I can't lose anymore people, I just can't."

Danny's arms closed tightly around her and rocked her like as a child as he waited for her tears to subside.

A few minutes later, he tipped up her chin with his hand and his blue eyes looked steadily at her brown ones. "Is that why you can't be with me?"

For a moment, Lindsay thought of avoiding the question. But telling Danny about what happened in Montana seemed to lift the burden in her heart a little and she felt brave enough to at least admit the truth. She nodded.

Danny stroked her hair thoughtfully and said, "I can understand that. The work that you do is dangerous. But in case you haven't noticed, Linds, we happen to have the same job. We face the same dangers every day and yes, I won't lie to you, I can get hurt or get killed because of your job. But it goes both ways. The thought of you being injured or hurt because of our job, because of me, scares me like nothing else ever has. But that's our job. That's part of what we do and I can deal with that. The most we can do for each other is try and stay safe for the other person, right? In this line of work, we both know how short and how sudden life can be. Why waste your time and your life fighting what you know is true?"

Lindsay saw the sense in his words and she wanted very much to lay down her last barriers and give up to the things she felt. But her fears had been with her for so long that she found it difficult to do so.

"I'm sorry, Danny. I can't. Not yet, at least." She turned away and quietly left their office.

After Lindsay's exit, Danny collapsed in his chair, lost in his thoughts. At least it made sense now, why Lindsay couldn't bring herself to start anything with him. He thought back to the conversation and despair washed over him. Lindsay had confided in him, but she still didn't want to be with him.

Danny sighed and rubbed the heels of his hands over his eyes. Then it hit him.

She said, 'not yet.'

A glimmer of hope shot through him and he analyzed the conversation from all angles. She doesn't want to be with me because she's scared to lose me. That means she cares about me. At that moment, Danny remembered something he read once about horses. The ones who got spooked were the hardest to win over because they had innate distrust already. Lindsay was the same way. She needed to be gentled, to be accustomed to the way she felt about him, to the way he felt about her and to the fact that he was not going away and that this might be the best thing that could happen to either one of them.

Given all these things, Danny managed to come up with a plan to convince Lindsay of a plain and simple truth: they needed to be together.

Sorry this is a bit long. What did you guys think? Thanks for all the reviews on the first three chapters. Let me know what you think of this one. The next chapter will show the team on their night out after shift. Danny will also start his plan to win Lindsay over. Stay tuned:D