Lindsay was roused by her phone ringing. She snuck out of her bedroom to answer it.
"Boxer."
"I talked to the family."
"Hey Jacobi. I really appreciate it. What'd they say?"
"Well, as far as I could figure out, they really hadn't had too much contact with him recently. It seems he was buried in a story that he told them would make or break his career. Apparently, his career-maker got him killed."
Lindsay blew out a breath. "Okay, thanks Jacobi. I don't think I'll be in again today, so I'll see you Sunday. I took tonight and tomorrow off."
"You, Lindsay Boxer, willingly took time off in the middle of a case? I must be dreaming."
"Right, old man. I'll talk to you later."
Lindsay hung up and made her way back to the bedroom. She was surprised to find an empty bed. She looked around and was comforted to see a light from underneath the bathroom door. Lindsay headed into the kitchen to grab a glass of water and toss Martha a biscuit. Martha trotted back to her dog bed to enjoy her yummy treat. Lindsay decided to bring Cindy a glass of water. As Lindsay crossed the threshold into her room, Cindy emerged from the bathroom. She took the glass from Lindsay with a watery smile. After downing about half of it, she asked, "what'd Jacobi want?"
"Did we wake you up? I'm sorry. I forgot to put it on vibrate. I really tried to be quiet."
"Nah, its fine. I was gonna get up anyways. I'm really sorry about all of this. I don't mean to be a burden. This is not how I envisioned us sharing a bed for the first time."
Lindsay managed to stifle her chuckle and shrugged, "things happen. You still wanna go on our date tonight?"
"Absolutely. I don't want to ruin what you have planned," Cindy responded without hesitation.
"Ok, I was just asking. I didn't wanna make you do anything you weren't up for. Let's see it's almost one o'clock now, so I was figuring we'd go to dinner around 7 or so and then I'll take you for my surprise."
Cindy grinned, color returning to her cheeks. She grasped Lindsay's hand and pulled her into a hug. "What did I do to deserve you?" she murmured more to herself than anything else. Lindsay just shook her head and pulled Cindy in tighter. After releasing, Lindsay regarded Cindy and decided that she looked better. "I need to finish up some paper work and check in with Jacobi. Do you want to stay here or do you want me to drop you home?"
Cindy thought for a moment before replying, "as much as I want to stay here and crash on your couch and wait for you to come home, I should probably go home so you can pick me up for our date later." Cindy smiled.
"Okay. I need to change back into something more work-like. I'll only be a minute." Lindsay grabbed her clothes out of her dresser and ducked into the bathroom. When Lindsay came out of the bathroom, she found Cindy snooping through her drawers.
"Something you needed?" Lindsay drawled.
Cindy jumped, having been caught red-handed. "Uh, not really," she stuttered. "I was just hoping to borrow a shirt," Cindy mumbled as she looked sheepishly at her shoes.
Lindsay grinned and picked up a shirt and tossed it at Cindy. It hit Cindy in the face causing a small squeak of surprise to tumble out. Cindy bent down and picked up the shirt and started giggling madly. The sound of Cindy's laughter relieved Lindsay so much she joined right in. After Cindy had changed into Lindsay's shirt, they headed to the car.
After dropping Cindy off, Lindsay headed in the direction of the Hall. She stopped in to see Jill briefly before heading to the bullpen.
"Hey Jill," Lindsay said after knocking.
"Hey Lindz. How's Cindy?"
"Better. She had a lot of her color back when I dropped her off at her house before coming here."
"You just dropped her off? I thought you took her home this morning."
"I did. I took her to my house. I didn't want to leave her alone. She looked really pale."
Jill fought a smirk and managed to suppress the thoughts that were threatening to spill out of her mouth. "How was that?" Jill said without any trace of what she wanted to say.
Lindsay rolled her eyes. "Jill, stop that. I know what's going on in that one-track mind of yours. I mean really, she saw a dead person that she knew."
"Alright, alright. So you know I have to ask this. When's the big first date?"
"It's tonight. Cindy said she wanted to go still. I thought it would be a good distraction for her."
"Good. You can tell me all the details tomorrow."
"No. You don't get any details at all."
"Fine, but I will get them out of Cindy. That girl is so easy."
Lindsay threw up her hands and sighed. "Please give that girl a little piece of mind. At least until Monday?"
"Okay, okay. I concede. Nothing until Monday."
"Alright, I've gotta check in with Jacobi before I head home. I'll see you Sunday. I have tonight and tomorrow off."
Jill's mouth dropped open in shock, "You're kidding, right? We're in the middle of a case! You never take time off, even when we're not in the middle of a case!"
"Jill! Let it go. I'm taking the weekend off. I have a date tonight." Lindsay smiled more to herself than anything else.
Jill just shook her head and waved Lindsay out the door with a shout down the hall, "Have fun!"
After getting filled in by Jacobi in more detail about his visit to the family, Lindsay headed back home to get ready for her date with Cindy. She was about to walk out the door to pick up Cindy when she realized she'd forgotten one important object that was bound to cheer Cindy up. She walked back to her closet and grabbed her favorite leather jacket. She pulled up to Cindy's apartment about 10 minutes later. She was able to slip in the door as someone else was leaving. She walked up to Cindy's apartment and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
"SFPD. Open up!"
"Lindsay?"
"Nope! It's your escort for the evening."
At this point, Cindy had opened the door and was grinning at Lindsay's silly antics.
"Hey. Come on in."
Lindsay stopped dead before moving into the apartment. Cindy looked absolutely fantastic. Black slacks with a low cut dark green top. Lindsay subconsciously licked her lips. "You look amazing," Lindsay managed to husk out.
Cindy blushed and made her way into the apartment. "I just have to grab my bag and then we can go," Cindy called over her shoulder.
As soon as Cindy reemerged, Lindsay held out her hand and Cindy slipped hers into it and they walked to Lindsay's Jeep. Lindsay opened the door for Cindy and then slid into the driver's seat. Lindsay turned the car in the right direction and they were off for their first date. Cindy knew better than to ask where they were going. She knew Lindsay would tell her in good time. 10 minutes later, Lindsay pulled into a parking space near a Greek restaurant called Helas. Cindy looked over at Lindsay and smiled. "How did you know?"
"How did I know what?" Lindsay replied.
"That Greek is my favorite," Cindy responded.
"Oh, I dunno. Lucky guess?" Lindsay said.
"Uh huh. Right," Cindy looked at her skeptically.
"Can we go in now? I'm hungry," Lindsay shot back.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's go eat."
They walked in and were seated almost immediately, thanks to the reservations Lindsay made. The inside of the restaurant was fairly typical: dim lighting, tablecloths on the tables, waiters who spoke heavily-accented English with the occasional Greek word. Lindsay and Cindy enjoyed their respective meals with light chatter and joking. After paying, Lindsay led Cindy back to the car for the next part of the date. By this point, Cindy was pestering Lindsay to no end about where they were going. Lindsay managed to dodge the incessant stream of question and drove on. By the time they reached their destination, Lindsay had blindfolded Cindy and told her to stop talking. Lindsay helped a still-blindfolded Cindy out of the car and led her in the correct direction. When Lindsay finally took off the blindfold, Cindy gasped.
"Oh my god, Lindsay. It's beautiful!"
Lindsay smiled sheepishly and turned away to hide her blush.
Lindsay had taken Cindy to a local observatory with a huge telescope. Lindsay focused the telescope on the moon and moved aside so Cindy could see.
"Wow. This telescope is amazing! You can actually see the craters!"
The next thing Lindsay focused on was Mars, smiling at Cindy's enthusiasm.
"Lindz! It really is red!"
"Yes, just like your hair, Lois Lane."
Lindsay continued to show Cindy various planets, galaxies and other celestial objects. Cindy was a great student. She soaked up all the information like a sponge. Lindsay even taught her how to focus the telescope. The last thing Lindsay did before taking Cindy home was to take her onto the roof of the observatory and point out constellations. Because it was colder outside, Lindsay gave Cindy her leather jacket. Cindy gave her the brightest smile Lindsay had ever seen. Lindsay lay down and pulled Cindy down on top of her so Cindy's back was to her front. Lindsay showed Cindy Ursa Major (the Big Dipper), Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper), Scorpio, Casseopeia, and a few others.
Once both Lindsay and Cindy were too cold to stay outside anymore, Lindsay took Cindy home. Lindsay walked Cindy to her front door and kissed her goodnight. Cindy desperately wanted Lindsay to stay, but she knew Lindsay would say no. So, she settled for another kiss and turned and entered her house. Cindy was almost inside when she felt a tug on her arm. She turned and saw Lindsay standing there looking a little nervous.
"Lindz?"
"Well, I had a really good time tonight and I still have tomorrow off, so I was kinda wondering if maybe you wanted to do something tomorrow. I mean, if you already have plans or are sick of me already, I understand. I just thought I'd –" Lindsay rambled until Cindy cut her off with another kiss.
"Lindsay, I'd love to spend tomorrow with you. Why don't you come here and we can have a really low-key day with movies and cuddling, okay?"
Lindsay nodded and pulled Cindy to her in a warm hug, kissed the top of her head.
"Goodnight, Red."
"Night, Lindz. See you tomorrow." With that, Cindy disappeared inside and Lindsay headed to her car. All in all, it was a successful night on all counts.
