Chapter Four

New York

Danny stood there, speechless as he stared at the back of Erin Lindsay's head. This was the face behind those instant messages. He started to open his mouth before he shut it again. He knew he was going to say something stupid so he turned to walk out of the office, but not before Mac yelled at him to stay.

"Um hi, I'm Detective Danny Messer." He extended his hand towards Erin who stood there just as shocked as Danny was.

"I'm Detective Erin Lindsay. It's nice to meet you." She shook his hand, a fake smile plastered on her face as she tried to not run from this again.

"It's good that you're here, Detective Lindsay, because we'll need to arrange a sit-down with your boss in Intelligence," Mac said, interrupting the brief introductions between Danny and Erin.

"Yes, well, Hank has to take care of some family things before he can get here, but he should be here tomorrow at the latest," Erin told the C.S.I. detective.

Mac nodded in response and pulled the case file out. "So this is what we have so far if you want to go over it."

Erin took the case file in her hand and gave a weak smile. "Of course; I'll go over it tonight."

"When your boss gets to town, have him stop by here first," Mac told Erin.

She nodded in acknowledgement. "I will. Have a nice day, Detective Taylor." Erin then turned and left the head of the C.S.I. unit's office, heading down the hall.

Danny stood there, watching Erin walk off. He was pretty sure he was in some kind of daydream, that this wasn't happening at all. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he dialed the number that he had for Abby and listened to it ring two times before she answered, "Hello?"

"Hey, Abby, it's me. Is it okay if I come over for dinner tonight?"

"Of course you can, Danny. You're welcome anytime," Abby replied.

"Awesome. Is Lucy going to be there?" Danny ducked out of his office, making his way down the stairs as he spoke.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Abby questioned, worried he wouldn't come over because his daughter.

"No reason. I just wanted her to be there." He hung up, walking out of the building, going to find lunch.

Abby glanced at her phone after Danny had ended the call; a little perplexed by his odd request but didn't think about it as she turned her attention to the baby monitor when it crackled from the kitchen counter top. Ellie had been her room giggling, awake from her nap. Abby walked up to the toddler's room, a bright smile on her face. "Hey, baby girl. You awake?" She picked Ellie up out of the crib only to step on a toy. "God..." Abby let her voice trail off before she could complete what she was going to say, remember she was holding a child.

"Mommy, you 'most say bad word," Ellie said, giving her mother a stern look.

"I did, but I stopped myself, baby girl," Abby said, reaching up to tweak Ellie's nose in a gentle manner.

Danny had made his way back from lunch and Flack had wandered to the lab, once again with Kate Beckett, close on his tail. Flack gave the other detective a small glare as Danny laughed at the scene.

"Hmm, should I tell Jess you have a new girlfriend?" Danny stuck his tongue out at Flack who punched Danny in the arm.

"Shut the hell up, Messer." Flack gave a smile to Kate, who was in the process of walking away from the two men who thought they were children. "What about you, D? Should I be worried about you and a certain brunette that came to see Mac earlier?"

"Nah, it's nothin'," Danny replied.

Flack shook his head, knowing that Danny was lying because he had been just as freaked out the first time he and Lindsay met. Mac stuck his head out of his office and looked at the two. "Hey, Flack. You want an update?"

"Yeah, what have you got?" Flack asked as he and Kate walked into Mac's office.

"Just got this fax from the Chicago P.D. 21st District," Mac replied as he held out a fax to the female detective.

Kate looked over the fax, before handing it back. "Okay, yeah." She wasn't quite sure how to respond to it, because frankly, she was kind of mad that they were able to have a witness who gave them a sketch and they didn't. "If you don't mind, can you make a copy of that so I tack it up on my white board?"

"Take that one. We got another copy, we just had to get them to send one for your district," Mac said, handing it back to her.

"Thanks." Kate said, taking the fax from Mac.

Flack looked up from where he had been sitting and shook his head. "So, you have anything important to tell me or can I go back to harassing Danny?"

"Leave him alone, Don. Would you want him doing the same to you if it involved you and Jess? No. So leave him be," Mac said, giving the younger detective a stern look.

"Fine, fine," Flack said with a shake of his head. He was so glad that he had Jess in his life. She gave him so many reasons to come home to her smiling face or her cooking, which she admonished him about eating before it was actually ready.

Kate shook her head at the antics of the other detective, suppressing a laugh as she did, as it made her think of Castle, Ryan, and Esposito and their daily antics. Especially, now that she and Castle were engaged, he was subject to a lot of teasing.

Speaking of Castle. Kate got out her phone when she heard it chirp and chuckled to herself when she saw the photo text message her fiancée had just sent her.

In Chicago
Officer Sean Roman walked into the one bar he was sure that no one would find him at, his eyes going wide in shock when he saw the young woman from earlier at the police station with a beautiful woman. They seemed to be in heavy conversation, but Roman went to sit down at the bar to give them privacy.

Roman kept eying the pair as they talked. Hoping he wasn't noticed at all. He needed a break, one from the case, from work, from everything. So he sat there, drinking his beer, eying the two women at the table. "Hey, buddy," he heard the bartender say. "Take a picture. It lasts longer."

"Sorry, man," Roman was quick to apologize. "Who are they?"

"The beautiful woman is my younger sister and the girl she's talkin' to is my niece," the bartender told him then held out a hand. "Ryan Callaghan, nice to meet ya."

"Sean Roman. Nice to meet you too," Sean said, shaking the other guy's hand.

Ryan smiled at Sean, and shook his hand. "So, can I get you another beer or what?"

"Yeah, that would be nice. Sorry if I'm eavesdropping," Sean said with nod of his head over to the mother and daughter still conversing.

"It's cool, Roman. That's Jenna and her daughter Caitlin."

He nodded in acknowledgment to their names, not wanting to tell Ryan about seeing the younger woman at the police station earlier. "So...How are you today?" Roman asked Ryan, trying to make small talk.

"Things would be better if Cait hadn't witnessed a murder," the woman said with a scowl as she moved up to the bar, standing next to Sean. "Why is a cop here, Ryan? Tellin' secrets?"

"Jen, that's not fair," Ryan replied, trying to keep his jaw from locking in anger.

"No, what's not fair is you getting all chummy with Reno 9-1-1!" his sister yelled.

Ryan looked at his sister and back at Roman who had a kind of panicked look on his face. "Jen, you need to stop, please. You are taking this too far again." His voice was filled with anger and stress as his sister stormed away. He looked at the officer in front of him and sighed. "I'm sorry 'bout her. She overreacts a lot."

Roman shrugged and nodded. "It's okay. I'm used to it."

"I've tried to tell her time and time again that we're all good people, but somehow, she doesn't believe me," Ryan said.

"Good people?" Sean asked.

"Yeah, good people. I used to be a volunteer firefighter and Jen hated it. She's convinced everyone who works for the public good is corrupted. Not totally sure about that," Ryan said, sighing at his sister's thoughts on law enforcement and rescue workers.

"Why didn't you purse being a firefighter? I've got some friends I could talk to for you," Sean suggested.

"Nah, that's alright. I tried it, and it wasn't for me," Ryan replied.

Sean nodded his head before taking another drink of his beer. "So, you like being a bartender?" He asked, as another couple came walking in.

"Give me one second." Ryan walked off to meet the couple at where they had sat at the bar.

Just as he was getting ready to serve them, bullets started flying and Sean hustled the couple to the floor as Ryan dropped down to his stomach on the other side of the bar.

Looking over his shoulder towards Ryan's sister and niece, he saw the young girl crying and saw the older woman bleeding out. Crawling over towards the pair, he looked around to make sure everyone else was okay. "Momma, don't leave me, please," Caitlin sobbed as she gripped her mother's hand.

"Caitlin," Sean said to get her attention. She looked up at him. "Can you do something for me?" She nodded. "Keep pressure on your mother's wound, okay?"

"Okay," she said with tears streaking down her cheeks and took the cloth from his hands to push it against her mother's side.

"Hey everyone okay over there, Ryan?" He yelled as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Yeah, we're all good. Everyone okay over there?" Ryan yelled back, but got his answer as Sean recited his badge number to a dispatcher.

Author's Note: So, there's the beginning of some drama. I hope that you enjoyed it and come back for the next chapter!