Disclaimer: Yep. I own them. And if you believe that, well, PM me and I'll give you the name to my therapist. Ha-ha :P… Just to clarify, they're not mine lol!

A/N Big thanks to CaRiNeSs for the idea in this chapter! If anyone else has any ideas, I'd really appreciate them… I'm at a loss for what to do now…

P.S. This chapter contains what could be seen as spoilers for Child's Play. You have been warned :)

Mac had let them go home after the shots had been fired at the trial where Lindsay had supposed to have been testifying at.

The lab was dead and they had both had a rough couple of days, self inflicted albeit, but nevertheless Mac now understood what it felt like to be at a loss without a loved one, first Claire, and now Peyton, and they had all been close in losing Lindsay, the last thing that he wanted, or needed was Danny and his determination to get the shooter behind bars. As much as Mac loved his dedication, he was too connected and would most probably end up getting the conviction quashed for misconduct, or some crazy rash decision to beat the crap out of the perp…

Danny was thrashing around in the locker room. He desperately wanted justice, justice for the family, justice against the shooter. Justice, for what could have been Lindsay; he could have been the grieving boyfriend identifying her in the morgue…

He sat down with his head in his hands, thinking about the conversation, the argument, that nearly broke him and Lindsay up for good, pondering over his stupidity, trying to understand it, to make sense of it. It appeared that every rational bone in his body had been on vacation that day…

He could understand his bad mood. It had been 4 months to the day since Ruben had been murdered and, that day, what was the case he had to be the lead on? The one with the 10 year old that had been shot in the side. Normally to be lead on a case meant that Danny was getting close to where he'd been 4 years ago, before he messed everything up, and was taken off the promotion grid. Normally it gave him a sense of hope, the exhilarating feeling of being good at something he loved to do. But, not with this case, who could love a job where they had to find out why an innocent 10 year old little girl had been murdered. No reason, no reason in the world. It had ended up that the neighbour had been blowing off shots in his back yard, one had gone stray, went straight through the fence, killing the little girl next door that was playing with none other than her new bike. The case basically slapped him in the face. It had wrapped up relatively quickly though, meaning Danny could let go of it. Leave it at work. Until he saw her.

He'd been okay, until then. Staying at Lindsay's, they had basically moved in together, him just coming back to his apartment, to check the mail, check the voicemails, he had given his notice into the landlord and had been due to move out in 3 days. Lindsay had been pestering him to sort his stuff out, but he had all the time in the world, during the three days at least. He couldn't see the rush... He had also been working weird shifts, so that meant that even when he did come round to his place; it prevented him from seeing her since the day at the church. After hesitating to touch her on her shoulder, he decided to suck it up and he placed a delicate hand on her shoulder, letting her know that he was there. That's when she pushed his hand off, looked at him and walked away. It wasn't the look that hurt him, it wasn't even the fact that she'd brushed his hand off, it was the fact that she walked away. A real blow, although he didn't love Ruben as much as what she did, being his mother, he came in at a damn close second. He thought she knew that.

Soon after, he left the church, vowing that religion was obviously not for him. That day, he lost all faith. When Louie had been beaten up by Tanglewood, Danny could comprehend why, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth and all that… Louie had done his fair share of beatings; it was only fair he got some back. He didn't necessarily believe it, but it brought him a sense of understanding. However, what he could not understand was the fact that an innocent 10 year old boy was murdered and he died on his own, scared. If there was a God, he sure as hell needed firing.

But, slowly, with Lindsay's help, he'd been okay. He talked it through with her, let out the tears, the sorrow, the regret, the hatred he felt against the Lucy woman that shot him. He knew that with time, it would be easier, Lindsay witnessed her friends being killed and she had got through the other end. If Lindsay could do it, so could he.

Until that day, he hated to admit it, but he hadn't even thought about how Rikki must have been feeling. He was okay. He had Lindsay, his job, his life. Rikki lost her son, her livelihood, her whole world, everything.

She'd been out in the hall when he was walking down towards his apartment.

He'd smiled and said "hey" but she had none of it, screaming profanities at him… crying, blaming him for Ruben's death. He was irresponsible, useless and a pathetic excuse for a cop. He took it, nodded, and walked on.

10 minutes later, after he had finished punching the hell out of his punch bag he had finished crying and he heard knocking at the door. Obviously it had been Lindsay; she was the only person that knew the combination to get into his building. He knew it was bad timing. He knew deep down it wasn't her fault. But he couldn't deal with it anymore. He wanted everything to just go away, for everyone and everything to leave him alone.

He opened the door to her wide smile, beautiful brown eyes, and he simply broke her in two. He didn't know what he was saying until he heard it himself. No consideration for her feelings whatsoever. He didn't know what he was angrier with, the fact that he allowed himself to slam the door in her face, without even an explanation, or the fact that he shut her out, when he needed her most. Either way, it was, to date, the worst day in his life.

For the first day, he drank himself into oblivion. Not wanting to feel anything anymore, he went to her apartment, their apartment, packed up his stuff and left his key on her dinner table... The Second day, he cried, half because of the bass band playing in his screwed up head, and half because he had technically lost the most important thing in his life. His whole world. The third day, he woke up, exhausted from crying, with the realisation that he had been the most stupid person, in the whole world. He'd seen people from the lab, but their words seemed to go over his head. The only thing he absorbed was the fact Lindsay hadn't gone to work. He had hurt her. And he needed to fix it, one away or another. He didn't even realise he was going to her apartment until he was outside, knocking on her door.

He looked up from his train of thought to see her stood in the doorway, beautiful, as ever, just looking, wonder clear in her eyes as to what he could be thinking about.

"Come 'ere" he said straightening up from being sat on the floor, putting his hand in his pocket...

"Danny, girls aren't allowed in the boy's locker room"

"Jesus, you never broke that rule at school?"

"Not once"

"Well, seen as the principal's in his office now, how's about we break some rules?"

She chuckled…

"Danny, there's only so many times you can refer to Mac as the principal, as much as I think it's cute, I'm not sure Flack would find it as funny."

After the past few days, he wanted her forever, but he knew she deserved better than the work's locker room. He wanted the whole 9 yards for her; roses, and horse drawn carriage, it hidden in the chocolate cake or the champagne. But then it came to him. He took his hand out of his pocket. He knew exactly what to do. Finding the right time was the hard part.

All he knew was that this was it. Now and forever.

A/N: Okay, I'll keep you hanging on for one more chapter – Ha:

And…Well just big thanks to everyone that keeps reviewing and reading:)