Author's Note: I challenged myself to go ahead and follow the events of 'Love Run Cold' and see if I could weave in the back story effectively. So needless to say, this contains spoilers for 'Love Run Cold', however I tried not to repeat the episode because that would be boring. I just hit the highlights enough to keep the story coherent.
DISCLAIMERS: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful writers for CSI: NY. Any resemblance to scenes from the episodes is included for clarity and continuity and I do not claim any of those as my own work. However everything else is mine.
The Let Down
Lindsay was not relishing processing this crime scene. It wasn't because of the late hour but because more than likely Danny was going to be there. She had nothing to tell him. No way to possibly explain herself to him. She just couldn't bring up her to past to him. It was just too painful and she didn't want to drag him through all of that, particularly after all he had been through with Louie, Aiden and Flack. Maybe it was a good idea that this had been derailed before it had really had gotten started. She was going to have to come to terms with Laurel's death all over again and if the killer was still out there possibly in New York he could strike again. It hadn't been a one time thing with Laurel. No this killer had raped, tortured and murdered six young women in the Bozeman area over a period of 18 months. Then the murders had stopped suddenly after Laurel.
She was shaken out of her thoughts as she arrived at the crime scene. If Danny was coming, he hadn't arrived yet. She started photographing and Danny arrived a few minutes later apologizing to Mac for getting hung up. Mac began the rundown of what they knew so far and so began her day as a New York Crime Scene Investigator.
Twenty hours later she slumped back into her couch in her apartment. It had been a grueling case. In the end the young and beautiful woman on verge of her big career break had been murdered by her jilted boyfriend in a fit of rage. She saw all types of victims but the young girls and children always tormented her the most.
It had been quietly emotional with Danny. He had told her at the crime scene when they had a moment alone that it had been long time since he had been stood up. He was quiet and calm which isn't what she expected. She was grateful for the dim interior of the basement where they were searching for evidence when she had replied that something had come up and she was sorry. Of course he had called her on not calling him but all she could manage to say was how really sorry she was. Then he had asked if they were okay. And with a lump in her throat and she had said yeah, yeah. The whole time she hadn't looked at him and she could tell he was puzzled but she had nothing else to offer.
The rest of the day had passed in a blur. There were a couple of times when he had caught her eyes, questioningly raising his eyebrows at her but she had merely held his gaze for a moment then looked away. He had even tried to get her to go to lunch with him but she had put him off saying that Mac wanted them to wrap up the case.
But the worst had come at end of the day after he and Flack had nailed the suspect in the interrogation room. He had caught up with her in the hallway on the way to the locker room. Lindsay Monroe, I need to speak to you for a second he had said. He had wanted to know what was going on. What about the chemistry between them. Didn't she feel it too. And she wanted to acknowledge everything that he was saying but all she could come up was that she couldn't be in a relationship with him right now. It had been painful to see him backpedaling saying that he just wanted to spend some time together, some drinks, dinner, some laughs. She didn't know if he had said that because she had brought up the 'R' word and it scared him or if what she had said really hurt him. She had to give him something. So she had said how she liked him… a lot. And then she had used the oldest clichés in the book. I have to work some things on my own. It's not you it's me. I didn't mean for this to happen. We should just do our jobs. She had held together up to that point but as she had turned and walked away he had said that if she needed anything to let him know. In two more seconds she was around the corner and into the women's restroom where she bawled her eyes out in one of the stalls.
A half an hour later when she came out of the restroom, the hallway was clear and she had quickly gathered her stuff from her locker and headed home.
