AN Okay I had no intention of making this chapter as long as it is, but I also couldn't find a good place to break it up so here it is…I hope it works for you guys. I know you want the previous chapter to become a 'reality' really it will…I swear…it's so close. So indulge me…and as always…review please :)
Assumption
As a play on words it is sometimes said that assumption makes an 'ass out of U and me'. This is more than likely the truth. To assume is to presume or take for granted that what you believe to be the truth is in fact so.
It can therefore be said that it is unwise to assume, for assumption will get one into a load of unwanted trouble.
Lindsay was almost finished getting ready for work when Jesse showed up. She looked over at him and regretted giving him her key, because she knew for certain that she was going to have to ask for it back. She accepted the coffee he handed her and yawned after taking a sip.
He clucked his tongue which grated on her nerves, "You spend too much time at the lab." He said.
She sighed and said "I love my job," as she took another sip. She wasn't about to tell him that it was an amazing dream that kept her up, not her work, although funnily enough that was directly related. She smiled into the paper cup; she shouldn't already be feeling relief.
"Is that all you love?" He asked with much disdain.
She rolled her eyes, "We need to talk…" she said staring intently at the cup in her hand.
Danny had a reputation. He was well aware of that. Some of it was warranted the rest of it was just gossip that got out of hand; most of the time he didn't even bother to correct people's assumptions because largely he didn't care what they thought either way. He was walking into the building thinking about the dream that had woken him up a number of times the night before. He was smiling to himself when he noticed Lindsay and Jesse O'Malley step out of a cab. He saw them hug for a few minutes then shook his head with a frown, why did he all of a sudden feel the urge to punch a building?
He forced himself to go through what they knew about the case so far. One of the stage lights had been loosened and dropped onto the victim's head. The impact had killed him instantly. The light had been found behind a dumpster in the alley, wiped clean but next to what appeared to be a pair of Shaheena's underwear. It was curious to say the least. Danny approached the trace lab and noticed Adam waving at him.
"You never cease to amaze me Messer." Adam commented as Danny sauntered into the room.
Danny looked over his shoulder then back at the lab tech with a smile, "What did I do now?"
"I heard about her," Adam said, "From Flack, what's the name this time? May or something? Are you trying to make your way through the months of the year?"
Danny bounced up on his feet and crossed his arms with a self satisfied smirk, "And Flack tells me he doesn't gossip." He should have dissuaded this kind of conversation he knew that, there really wasn't much to say about that girl except that they had met. He had actually completely forgotten about meeting her up until that moment, his mind quite occupied by someone else.
"So did you or didn't you meet a woman on the subway named after a month of the year?" Adam asked as he leaned on the table beside him.
"Sure did, she spells it with an 'e' though and I resent the implication that I'm going through the months of the year." He leaned back on the table and continued to smile. Yeah okay he shouldn't be encouraging this, but Adam always seemed to revere Danny when it came to women and he couldn't help it, he liked the attention.
"Well there was a June wasn't there? And an April…hell I think there was even a Summer in there." Adam was slightly in awe which just stood to feed Danny's ego more. He couldn't remember there ever being a woman with either of those names, but that didn't really matter at this point.
Danny chuckled, "Summer is not a month of the year." He didn't deny or confirm what Adam was saying, something he probably should have done but he was enjoying the treatment the tech was giving him.
"It's a season, close enough." Adam shook his head, "And what's with this new one?"
Lindsay slipped into the room quietly and raised her eyebrows, what were they talking about?
"A celebrity no less?" Adam continued not seeing her.
"Ah, she's just a horny teenager," Danny pushed away from the table and smacked the file he was carrying against the younger man's arm, "Can't get involved with that, too much to lose."
"Your dignity?" Adam asked.
Danny laughed, "Nah, my manhood, women get mighty pissed when you see more of them at once. I have enough on my plate right now." He turned to leave the room and stopped cold. "Lindsay. I was, uh, just gonna show you these DNA results." Unfortunately he had the distinct impression that if she overheard any of his conversation with Adam she would be less than pleased.
He wasn't wrong.
Lindsay looked at him and cursed her heart for jumping. Although it mostly jumped because seeing him in person caused her dream to rocket to the forefront of her mind. She had forgotten that he had a bit of a reputation for flirting and serial dating. Apparently to be with Danny Messer, you had to be named after a month of the year, she thought bitterly. Hell it sounded like he'd even contemplate Shaheena and she was barely 19! Why did she even entertain the idea of this guy? She knew from the start that it wouldn't be a good one and she was obviously right. So why did it hurt like hell that he hadn't wanted her that day in the locker room?
She walked passed him trying to ignore him and looked at Adam, "Mac sent me to find out if you figured out the trace that was on the hands of his vic."
Adam nodded, "Yeah, yeah," He reached for a file on his table and handed it to her, "Amongst other things there were traces of linseed oil, spirits of turpentine, beeswax, and balsam of fir."
Lindsay looked at the results, "Hoof conditioner?"
"Yeah," Adam said, "How did…" He trailed off.
She smiled at him, still ignoring Danny who was watching her silently, "I'm from Montana, I can ride." She said simply.
Montana? Ride? Oh damn Danny's mind went instantly to his dream from the previous night. Oh this wasn't good; he cleared his throat in an effort to push the thought out of his head. He wanted to close his eyes but knew he'd have the wrong image of her so he decided against it.
At the sound she made brief eye contact with him and misinterpreted his expression completely, "Excuse me." She walked by him quickly and hurried down the hall. God it was hard enough being around him and nothing had actually happened between them! She could imagine it being much worse if something had; she all of a sudden had an overwhelming urge to be with Jesse, which was highly ironic. She stopped that thought, Danny or no Danny her decision that morning had been a smart one, albeit the loneliness was already starting to creep its way over her.
"Wait, Monroe!" Danny called. He didn't want her to think less of him which scared the shit out of him because he couldn't remember the last time he'd cared what a woman thought of him. Mostly cause the women he paid attention to were usually in awe of him from the start.
She stopped but didn't turn around. Her arms were crossed and her breathing was erratic. She was inwardly berating herself for even caring. She shouldn't damnit! It's not like her and Danny were together. That wouldn't be the smartest thing at this point anyway although smart thoughts were never what coursed through her mind when it came to Danny.
He walked around her so that he was facing her, "Don't think that…" He trailed off then tried again, "What you may have heard it's not…" He stopped again and ran a hand over his face finally ending with, "It's just talk."
She looked up at him, "It shouldn't make a difference to me anyway." It was a weird thing to say, but it's the exact words that were running through her mind.
"Well no," He conceded, "But does it?" He shouldn't want to know, but he really did. He saw her eyes shift and pretty much had his answer but wanted to hear her say it.
She couldn't admit it, even under the circumstances she sighed, "What's in the file?"
He audibly groaned then gave in cause he wasn't about to have the discussion that could ensue there at the lab. He opened the file, "The doc found lipstick in an interesting place on the vic."
Lindsay took the file and had to smile, "How much you wanna bet our starlet is to blame?"
"Well Flack has her in an interrogation room, how about we ask her?" He offered.
She nodded and started walking, "What the hell do guys see in a woman like that?" She muttered.
He got the meaning loud and clear and wisely chose, again, not to comment. What he wouldn't give for them to just go back to the time when they could have comfortable banter that didn't mean anything. This cloud of tension that hung over their heads; well it bred misunderstanding and assumption like a fervent rabbit. He decided to keep the conversation on the case, "What did you find out about the footprints on the speaker?"
"I got a full print. They were size eleven converse all stars." She had checked all the shoes of the people they had found at the scene, not one of them had ones that matched.
"Nobody that I saw there looked like the type to wear those," Danny mused, "And our vic had on your typical black dress shoes."
"Well standing on top of the speaker would have given the killer the leverage to loosen the stage light so it would fall on Mr. Wyllams." Lindsay said then smiled, "Maybe Shaheena can shed some light on the situation."
Danny chuckled at the pun and pushed open the door of the interrogation room allowing Lindsay to walk ahead of him. Shaheena was leaning forward on the table sneering at Flack who was leaning back in his chair eyeing her wearily. He glanced over at the two CSI's and almost looked relieved.
Shaheena took one look at Danny and clicked her tongue, "It is wrong how sexy you are."
He ignored her and opened the file he had been carrying, "It appears you had an intimate relationship with Mr. Wyllams Shaheena."
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." She said evasively.
Lindsay sat next to Flack and raised an eyebrow, "Your lipstick on his genitals says you did."
The pop star shrugged but didn't even acknowledge that Lindsay had spoken, which irritated the Montana woman to no end. Shaheena kept smiling at Danny, "I have a gift."
Again ignoring her implication, but finding it hard not to smirk, Danny referred to another bit of evidence they had, "We also have a used condom that contains DNA from your guitarist Mike Jones, and thanks to you giving up a sample at the scene we've matched the female contribution to you."
Dragging her eyes slowly over Danny's body Shaheena smiled, "I still maintain you could have collected the sample in a more creative way."
"Shaheena," Lindsay said with a warning tone, "Did you or did you not have a sexual relationship with those two men."
Again the woman shrugged and didn't regard Lindsay, "I have relations with a lot of men."
"Classy," Flack muttered so that only Lindsay could hear him, she smiled, however strained. This little bitch was getting on her last nerve, if Shaheena kept ignoring her and looking at Danny like he was a night time snack, Lindsay just might completely snap.
Danny was going to say something when Shaheena spoke again, "That chain you're wearing, where does it go?" She eyed the metal that disappeared inside his shirt.
That was it.
Lindsay stood up and slammed her hands down on the table, which forced Shaheena to finally look at her. "Listen miss thing, if you keep this up I'm going to make sure the only sex you ever have is with a large woman named Gilda, so you're someone else's bitch for a change. I am well aware of this man's insane sex appeal so now that you have so blatantly stated it for everyone else in the room just answer the damn question!"
The room was quiet for almost a full minute as Shaheena just stared at Lindsay, astounded. Apparently no one had talked to her like that in a good long while. Danny was also staring at Lindsay, in fact he was open mouthed and gaping at her. Did she just say he had insane sex appeal? His mouth was dry and so were his eyes, he was afraid to blink. This was by far the strangest place to admit something like that.
Flack cleared his throat, "Shaheena," He prompted, "Answer."
As though she instantly sobered up Shaheena shook her head at Lindsay, "You have it bad," She said then looked at Danny, "Yeah I was with both of them, so?"
"So maybe Kristopher threatened to leak your, uh, escapades to the press so you found a way to get rid of him," Danny suggested.
Shaheena shook her head, "Nah he didn't care, and I was with Timmy at the time anyway."
"Timmy?" Flack raised his eyebrows.
"The drummer," Lindsay said quietly, acutely aware of what she had said earlier and highly embarrassed about it.
"Exactly," Shaheena said, "Listen it's all sad and shit that Kris is dead, but it makes no difference to me, now can I go?"
"One last thing," Danny said, "Do you have any idea why a pair of your underwear was found next to the murder weapon?"
The singer's eyes rose in shock, "That's weird; a few of my thongs have been taken from my dressing room this past week, maybe…" She trailed off suddenly frightened.
Flack stood and motioned for the officer in the room, "Thank you Shaheena, this officer is going to make sure you get back to your place safely." She left without another word, although she did glance up at Danny one more time. He gave her a small smile then stepped out of the way so she could pass.
Yup it was still there, Lindsay still wanted to smack the girl, even if they only thing she had gotten out of him was a smile. She shook her head, "I'm gonna go see if I can't run with that shoe lead." She said making a hasty exit, looking at neither of the men in the room.
Flack eyed Danny with a smirk, "Insane sex appeal?"
"Don't look at me," Danny held up his hands his eyes still on the door, "it's the first time I've heard anything about it." This was true; he was pretty sure he got some sort of rise out of her, if the locker room incident meant anything at all. However, to hear her say it, wow, he wondered why that affected him so strongly.
"Does this mean…" Flack trailed off.
Danny just shook his head, "I don't assume shit; man it always blows up in my face." He couldn't help but smile slightly though, so she thought he had sex appeal huh? It was amazing how much different it felt knowing she did, when he hadn't felt a thing but repulsion when Shaheena had implied it.
Assumption changes the way one looks at things. It also plants ideas in ones head that just won't leave. Assumption needs to be cleared up before it festers into an unwarranted opinion.
Assumption also breeds jealousy and that is the emotion that coursed through Jesse O'Malley. She had said it had nothing to do with Danny and everything to do with her being done with their relationship, but Jesse begged to differ. He assumed that Danny had been convincing Lindsay to leave him and he was going to prove it.
AN Tale a wild guess as to what the next chapter is gonna be called. ;)
