A/N: Hi guys, long time no see. Well, I'm all graduated now, and since then, I've been wrapped away in the world of Anastacia Steele and Christian Grey. Yes, I succumbed to the 50 shades trilogy and omfg... I fell in love. (I'm officially starting a rumour that Emma Roberts should play Ana. Pass it on :p) I finished the books in about two/three weeks and I'm definitely feeling a little bit of a withdrawal thing going on now. Therefore you all need to write me DL stories so I can come back to my original, trusty ship and sit tight until the 50 shades movies start being made.

Anyway, I know this story isn't one of the more popular stories I write, but Fred and I really enjoy writing it, so I hope you guys don't mind too much. Once it's out of his system, we should be onto the bigger and better things. He's also gearing up for September. So far we have been hearing exciting things for the new season... it's going to be gooooood!

So, with this being said, I will stop nattering on and using this A/N as a diary entry. Dear me. Quick thank you and hugs to those of you who read/reviewed last chapter. I appreciate you lurkers too! (although, I don't like the word lurker, it feels kind of mean; I'm going to think of another word to use haha) in the meantime - webdlfan, brendankai, GigglesforCSI and afrozenheart412 - you guys rock! thank you so much for the reviews.

Sighing heavily to herself, Lindsay fought the fatigue that was settling in. She'd been on the go for hours upon hours now, chasing leads, chasing Danny… she ached, she was sore and she was so, so ready for her bed. But bed would have to wait as she glanced down at the packet of items that had just been handed to her. With her free hand, she rubbed her eyes and yawned before signing her name against the evidence seal. She was in for a long, long night. With the amount of blood on Louie Messer's clothing, she could only guess the state he'd been in when he'd arrived at the hospital. It made sense now as to why Danny rushed off like he had in the precinct; she would have too if she had gotten a call like the one he must have received.

She glanced down at the array of items that she was holding. There was just so much blood. She swallowed and took a deep breath to calm herself as she offered a firm smile to the hospital staff before heading off to the lab on a mission to find something that cleared Danny and nailed whoever it was that did this to Danny's brother. It was the least she could do.

"So we haven't really had a chance to properly talk about what you think about Monroe."

Glancing up from where his eyes had been fixated on the floor, Danny turned with a raised brow to his friend. "What? What about Montana?"

"What do you think?"

"About what?" Danny snapped.

"You like her?" Flack implored.

"Who, Montana?" Danny asked, feeling anxiety rising in the pit of his already churned up stomach. He really didn't want his friend to know about him and Lindsay yet. He didn't know himself about what was going on between them… especially after today. He was pretty sure that Lindsay wouldn't want anything to do with the mess that was his life. "Yeah, I like her." He shrugged eventually. "She's pretty good; I mean, what can I say, she puts up with my shit more than the next person does."

"I'd say you more than like her," Flack smirked. "You've got it bad for her, Messer."

"Do you think this is an appropriate place to have this conversation, Flack?" Danny spat as he jerked his head in the direction of his brother. "Because I sure as hell don't."

"I'm just tryin' to take your mind off things. It was either Lindsay or the Rangers. Bad call on my part," Flack sighed. "I'm sorry I bothered. You want a drink or something?"

"No, I wanna be by myself though if you don't mind?"

"Uh-"

"I know, I know, Mac left you here to babysit. Trust me Flack, I'm not going anywhere. I'm in enough trouble as it is… to be perfectly honest, it seems to be finding me itself."

"I'll go make some phone calls. You'll be alright?"

"I'll be fine," Danny nodded. He watched his friend as he exited Louie's private room before standing and circling Louie's bed. "Louie, it's your brother… I called Dad, he's on his way with Mommy…"

Running her fingers through her curled hair, Lindsay sighed heavily as she fought her emotions and demons. She'd worked with blood before; so much so, her blood splatter analysis was one of the things that had sealed her job at the crime lab. She was drawn to it; not out of fascination but out of a sense of responsibility. A responsibility for justice, she figured. In a crime, with the blood, it was something she could work with. Something that sometimes was overlooked…

Except this… she'd only ever seen bloodstained clothes to this degree once before and that had been when… She shook her head and blinked before letting out a gasp of air that she hadn't even realised she'd been holding. Usually she was able to compartmentalise this kind of thing; but she knew Louie, she'd talked to him, she'd shared Christmas lunch with him and his family. This was something far passed what she was able to compartmentalise. This was Danny – and try as she might, she could feel the burden of what Danny was going through on her own shoulders. She wanted to fix everything for him, desperately. She just really didn't know how to do it.

As she unravelled the shirt Louie had been wearing, she could see Mac from the corner of her eye. Perfect timing, she thought as she discovered something… please let it be what I hope it is, she sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening.

As she quickly explained what she had found to Mac, he just as quickly disappeared with the key piece of evidence. She sat back on the chair… she was looking for a way to fix everything for Danny? She crossed her gloved fingers and hoped and prayed that maybe, just maybe, she'd found exactly what she'd been looking for.

"And you'll call if anything changes?"

"Yeah Mom," Danny sighed, "I'll call."

"And you sure you're alright?"

"I've been better," Danny sighed heavily, "But I'll be okay. I'm sorry."

"Sorry? This isn't your fault, Danny. Louie made this mess… it was only a matter of time before his past caught up with him," Danny's father growled. "I always told him. Always told him. If he pulls through this, he's gonna wish he didn't."

"You don't mean that," Danny narrowed his eyes at his father, trying to judge the seriousness of his father's statement.

"No, I don't." he admitted. "But I want to mean it."

Nodding, Danny's eyes turned away from his parents and saw a nervous Lindsay, hovering outside the hospital room. He offered her a half hearted wave, which caused his parents to turn and see who he had been waving to. They instantly gestured her inside.

"Lindsay," Denise said softly as she greeted Lindsay. "Hello sweetheart, how are you?"

"I'm okay." She paused before frowning. "How are you? I'm really sorry about Louie. I've been doing everything I physically can to find out who did this."

"Oh I know who did this," Larry Messer interjected. "The same guy that's been doing everything to him for the past God only knows how long."

Not knowing what to say, Lindsay simply frowned before placing down the small, but thoughtful daisy in the cup of now stale water that sat on Louie's tray table. "It's not much but there's only so many florists open at-" she paused as she looked at her watch to find the time, "three am."

"You should be at home asleep," Denise scolded. "Not running after my sons."

"Somebody has to look after them," Lindsay offered Danny a small smile. "I'm sorry I interrupted you guys… Danny, I'll go wait outside."

"Don't be silly, we were leaving," Larry put his hand on Lindsay's arm. "You stay, we'll go." He turned his attention from Lindsay to Danny. "We'll see you later on, Son. Remember, call your mother if anything changes."

"I will Dad."

"So," a trace of a smile tugged at his lips as they settled in the chairs next to Louie's bed, "what was so urgent you had to come to talk to me at three in the morning, Montana? Could it not wait until normal people time?"

"No," she shook her head. "Not this."

Sensing the importance of her visit, Danny sat forward in his seat. "Okay, should I prepare myself?"

"Yes," she nodded. "But not in the way that you think. I wanted to show you this," she said as she revealed an MP3 player. "I thought that you would want to hear it."

"What is it?"

"Danny, when Louie was brought in, he was wearing a wire."

"Shit," Danny muttered as he buried his head into his hands. "He knew that bad shit was gonna go down,"

"Well, I know it's not something you're probably up to, but I really think you should listen to it." She said softly, offering the MP3 to him.

"Did Mac okay this?"

Mac's eyes raised from where he had been sat at his desk, to where she stood in front of him. "Lindsay, you know I can't do that."

"Mac, with all due respect, Danny's been dragged through hell backwards today. He's had his integrity questioned, he's been mocked, taunted and stripped of his badge and piece… and then to top all that off, his brother is beaten within an inch of his life. I think he deserves to hear what's on that tape. This is his life, Mac!"

"I understand that, Lindsay." Mac sighed. "But you have to realise that I can't let you take the tape and let Danny listen to it."

Realising that she was fighting a losing battle, she licked her lips as she tried a different approach. "Can't let me take the tape, or won't let me take the tape?"

"Lindsay, it really doesn't matter. It's against protocol. If I allowed you to take it-"

"What if you don't allow me," she suggested.

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Hypothetically speaking, if for example, it somehow ends up with me on my way to visit Danny in the hospital and he happens to come across it and listens to it, and it's then returned without you knowing, hypothetically of course…"

Mac sighed. "Does this really mean that much to you?"

She nodded, her eyes pleading with her superior for this little bit of discretion.

"You have an hour." Mac sighed as he turned. "Use your judgement, Lindsay."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Lindsay rounded Mac's desk and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you, Mac."

"Don't make me regret this," he warned her. She nodded before grabbing the MP3 from the desk and rushing from Mac's office. He turned in his chair as he watched her head down the elevator, realising that there wasn't a thing he wouldn't do for his newest employee.

"Hypothetically speaking, no." Lindsay blushed. "But it's okay, we have about… forty minutes before I need to be back."

"I don't even want to know," Danny sighed heavily as he turned his eyes down to the little piece of technology. "And it's all on there?" his eyes searched Lindsay for some indication of what he could expect to hear.

She nodded. "Everything I think you need to know."

"Have you listened to it?"

She hesitated, "Mac and I are the only ones to hear it. After you've heard it, it's being stored in evidence. No-one else will hear it."

"Good," Danny nodded. "I'm glad you've heard it," he paused. "at what point should I stop listening?"

"I'll turn it off." She promised. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." He swallowed as she pressed play.

Danny stared at the MP3 player in Lindsay's hand after listening to the same piece of audio for the third time. Everything made sense now. He knew why Louie had done what he did. Everything… Louie didn't want him caught up in the shit that he was caught up in, so that brush off, that had been Louie's way of protecting him. He'd just been too bigheaded and hurt to see Louie's true intentions. Things could have been so much different; Danny grimaced as he went through all the wasted years with his brother.

He turned to Lindsay and licked his lips, he knew this was going to hurt her, but he had to do it.

"I think I need to be by myself, Linds."

Nodding, she exhaled softly as she sat back in the hospital chair she had been sitting in and folded her arms. "Okay."

"Alone."

"Let's be alone together."

Despite the severity of his situation, his feelings and what he had just listened to, he couldn't help but smile at her stubbornness.

He fell into a silence, one that he'd already adopted a while ago as he mulled over what he'd just listened to. Like she promised, she stopped the tape right before Louie had received his beating from Sonny Sasoone, and for that, Danny was thankful. What his brother had done had taken some true courage. He'd stood up to someone who he'd once considered a friend, for his family. He'd done it for Danny. All along he'd been doing it for him; Danny just hadn't known.

Feeling tears prick at his eyes, Danny sighed heavily as emotions began to overcome him. "There's so much I want to say to him." He whispered. "So much I never said but should have. I was just too proud and too hurt to say what I should have."

"L'esprit de l'escalier." Lindsay said softly. Danny furrowed his brow, was she speaking… French?

"Excuse me?"

"It's French." She said, by way of explanation. "It's a phrase they use to describe the feeling of leaving a conversation and thinking of the things you should have said.!

"L'esprit de l'escalier in that case," he mimicked her accent.

"You could still tell him." She said softly.

"He's in a coma."

"So?" She said softly. "Coma patients can hear their surroundings, Danny. They say for you to talk to them. It may be a perfect opportunity to tell him everything you need to."

He nodded contemplatively.

"Listen, I should be going. I told Mac that I'd be an hour… hypothetically at least. Are you going to be okay?"

Danny took a prolonged moment to look at Louie before turning to look at Lindsay as she perched herself on the edge of her chair. "I'll be okay." He said.

"You promise?" she nudged him.

"I promise," he smiled. He watched her hidden frown try and tug at her lips. He licked his lips thoughtfully as he watched her.

"What?" she asked; amusement on her face as she stood from her seat and stowed the MP3 player.

"You," Danny said simply. "You've jumped through rings today for me. You believed in me when nobody else did. You've always been on my side, even though you didn't know for sure. I really appreciate that, Linds. I appreciate you."

Blushing at his compliment, Lindsay laid her hand over his. "I know you'd do the same for me… it's nothing."

Pursing his lips together, Danny raised his eyebrows. "Nothing? How much did Mac shout at you when he realised you were the one that gave me the results?"

"My ears are still ringing," Lindsay admitted.

"Montana," Danny scolded. "You shouldn't have done that. What you gettin' yourself into trouble for?"

"You're worth it," she said softly as she stood and pressed a kiss to his scruffy cheek. "Listen, if you want me to take you home, call me and I'll come get you. Try get some sleep, okay?"

He nodded. "You go home and sleep now, okay?" he said. "No paperwork, no finishing off the case…. Just go home, okay?"

"Okay," she yawned heavily. She placed her handbag on her shoulder and stretched the muscles in her back as she headed for the door. She opened it slightly before turning to look at Danny over her shoulder. His eyes were staring down at his comatose brother and she smiled as she prepared for one last interruption. "Danny..." she said as a means of getting his attention. Once he looked up, she fought the smile that tugged at her lips. "He's going to be okay, you know? You both are."

And just like that, she was gone.

Thanks for reading guys, hope you enjoyed this latest addition. Thoughts would be hugely appreciated, as ever. Sending M&M cupcakes in advance ;)