Chapter 10 – December 10, 2006

Lindsay was fidgeting with her hands and driving Danny completely nuts. She'd straightened their desks, gone through the reports, and he was sure analyzed absolutely everything in the lab. He was ready to just tie her down to a chair and the only thing he could chalk it up to was nerves.

"For God sakes, Montana, will you stop?" He'd reached his limit of exasperation with her. "What is going on?"

"Nothing, Danny, really."

He grabbed both of her hands, deftly removing the pen from her right. "Come on, spill. You're never like this."

She sighed. "Have you heard of the NYPD gift drive?"

"Of course I have, every officer donates."

She intertwined her fingers in his to make sure she stopped fidgeting. "They're looking for volunteers to help wrap them all. I… I was thinking of lending a hand."

"So why are you so nervous?"

She looked down at her hands. When he put it so straight forward, she wasn't exactly sure where her nerves were coming from. "I don't…. I don't want to go by myself."

"So ask Stel to go."

"I…I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me."

"Me, Montana?" The surprise was palpable in his voice.

She sighed, standing and removing her hands from his. "You know what? Don't worry about it. I figured it wouldn't be your thing. I'll go ask Stella, I'm sure she'd love to help."

"Woah, woah, woah, Lindsay, what's with this?"

"I… Never mind."

"Lindsay…" he said, grasping her hand.

She shrugged. "I just wanted to see if you wanted to come with, that's all."

"When were you planning on doing this?"

"After shift. I figured it would be nice to give back to the community, like with the kids at Stella's orphanage."

His thumb drifted back and forth over the back of her hand. "I'm off two hours after you."

"Yeah, I know. I'll talk to Stella, its okay." She moved to tug her hand out of his but he held fast.

"Hey, hey, hey… I'd love to do it, but… Why me?"

It was the question Lindsay had been dreading. She'd gone over time and time again why she'd turned him down, had walked over the conversation and every moment since she'd met him at the zoo. Every time she did, she found it was harder and harder to remember why she'd turned him down in the first place. This was especially true when she remembered how helpless she'd been when she and Flack watched him in Louie's hospital room, when she thought back to the broken look on his face when he turned over his badge and gun because of the cigarette butt she'd analyzed, when she thought about his reaction to Aiden's death, the way he reacted to the bombing and the way he'd held her, squeezing the breath out of her when he found her alive after going undercover.

She'd puzzled until her head pounded and still couldn't remember with enough clarity what her reasons had been to tell him no. All she could think about was how she'd wanted to be there for him through his horrible year. She couldn't fault him for wanting to be there for her, no matter what she wanted to work through.

"I… You…" She took a deep breath, trying to organize her thoughts. This was where her nerves came from. She focused intently on their hands. "I remember wanting to be there for you with everything that happened last year and wishing that you'd share what you were going through with someone that cared. I just… I realized that maybe I wanted someone there when I have to work through my stuff."

He lifted her chin with his free hand. "I'll meet you in here when I'm done?"

She almost breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't push her for anything. "Yeah. I'll grab dinner, anything in particular?"

He shot her a cocky grin, reluctantly letting go of her hand. "Surprise me."

Her grin was comfortable. "Always do."

She was kicked back in his chair, Chinese in her lap when he walked into the office, looking exhausted. He simply raised an eyebrow.

"My desk made me want to work," she said in explanation. "And why do you get a comfier chair?"

He chuckled, plopping down in hers. "You bring any for me?"

Lindsay waved at the bag on his desk. "Take your pick, but leave me some of the chicken balls."

He picked up one of the boxes. "Okay, Montana. Explain the night to me."

"The wrapping is every night down at the community centre and I figured, since we don't have shift tonight, it would be a nice thing to do for Christmas."

He raised a playful eyebrow and she rolled her eyes.

"What do you want me to say? I made it up so I can spend time with you?"

His eyes were playful. "Did you?"

She laughed, all of the earlier nervousness long-since dissipated. "No. You've seen kids open presents, Danny. For them it's the best part."

"That it is. My nieces and nephews are mental on Christmas morning. They give new reason to the phrase 'kid on Christmas morning'."

"My Christmas dinner was the night of Christmas day and that was when all the kids got to open the presents. My parent's den was an absolute mess by the time they were done."

"And let me guess, little Lindsay got the short straw."

"Every year," Lindsay agreed with a smile. "Mom and Dad were too worried about getting the kids in the bath and in their pyjamas and, of course, their parents had to help with the kids. It wasn't that bad."

"No worse than dumpster diving, huh?"

"Wrapping and bows doesn't have the distinctive odour," she agreed. "I've done worse."

The lapsed into silence, though Danny had moved from inhaling the food to moving it around in the box. She watched him out of the corner of her eye. "Danny?"

"Do you send gifts back?" He hadn't wanted to push and that's why he'd all but shut down. He didn't know what questions were fair game and which ones probed too deep.

Lindsay shrugged. "I send a card to each family. One of my brothers sends me some of the pictures his kids draw so I send them gifts, but…" She shrugged in conclusion.

He pulled open her drawer, where he knew she kept the Kisses he'd gotten her and tossed one over their desks. She caught it with a smile.

"Alright, Montana. Let's go wrap gifts."

Sheldon Hawkes stepped into the community centre after grabbing dinner at a nearby diner and glanced around. Two heads caught his eye. Lindsay and Danny were at one of the tables in the corner, heads bent together, Lindsay slapping at his hands and taking the ribbon from him. Hawkes watched in amusement as Lindsay scolded Danny while she expertly tied a bow in the ribbon.

What really surprised him was the tender kiss Danny pressed to Lindsay's temple and the embarrassed blush that drifted across her cheeks. He was equally as surprised when Lindsay didn't pull away, slap him or react violently in anyway.

Hawkes smiled, happy for whatever development they'd made in their relationship and moved to a table away from them. He'd afford them this little bit of privacy, for now.