Trying not to write myself into a corner here….
Messin' With Montana
Chapter 10: Extremes
Flack had been her last hope. Now, she was out of ideas. She had nothing. She couldn't even go back to her office, she felt like she'd rage on him if she so much as saw him.
Thankfully a friendly face popped up before she had to face the man of the hour. "Sheldon! Go to lunch with me?" She asked, so grateful for the ME's presence that she nearly cried. Her reaction wasn't lost on him.
"Sure, meet you at the elevators in 5." He replied, heading to his office. She glanced towards her office. She could make out the outline of Danny through the window. He had the blinds partially closed. Good, I don't want him to see me. She reached down to get her glasses out of her purse, only to discover she'd left her purse in the locker room. She quickly darted into the locker room to find her purse, only to discover it wasn't there.
"Lookin' for this?" A telltale accent questioned. She slowly turned and found herself face to face with Mr. 'I Don't Need This Baggage Right Now.' He was grinning like an idiot and dangling her purse in his hands.
She rolled her eyes and snatched her purse out from between his fingers, not even granting him actual words, just an annoyed 'pfft'. On cue, Hawkes came back from his office.
"Ready?" She asked, turning on her megawatt smile at the man who was rescuing her.
"Yep. Danny do you want to-" Hawkes started, getting ready to invite Danny to lunch with them.
"No. He's busy. Paperwork. Just us. Let's go." Lindsay said, practically dragging Sheldon to the stairwell.
"That sure is a popular method of transportation today." Flack said, coming up behind Danny and clapping him on the back. He took note of Danny's semi shocked/confused look.
"What's up with her? Why can't I go to lunch with them?" Danny asked Flack, obviously unhappy with the retraction of the invitation.
"Didn't you hear her? You have paperwork." Flack said, shooting him a smart ass smile as he walked away.
Danny hated when Flack acted like he knew more than he did. Unless, this time he actually does…! "Hey Flack, wait up!" Danny said, turning on his heels to follow the detective.
Flack slowed down and allowed Danny to catch up. "What is it Messer?" Flack asked as he made his way to his office.
"What do you know?" Danny demanded, following the man into his office.
Flack took his time. He sat down in his chair, settled himself and propped his feet up on his desk before he even really considered the question.
"I'm not at liberty to say." Flack said, his smile easy, his eyes returning Danny's challenging stare.
"It's about Lindsay. You know something. Tell me." Danny told him, sitting down across from him.
"Why? Why do you care? You don't want the baggage, remember?" Flack asked, folding his hands behind his head and leaning back a little.
Danny groaned inwardly. Flack had the upper hand and he knew it. There was only so much he could say at this point without giving himself up.
"She was fine when we got here. Now she's making angry noises at me and brushing me off like I'm some sort of fly…" Danny muttered, still in a little bit of shock.
"Well, I wasn't going to say anything, but now that you mention it, you're glasses sort of do make you look like a fly." Flack joked. The look from Danny silenced the laughter in his throat.
Flack sat forward, knowing he had to level with Danny. "I can't tell you what I know. That's a breach of privacy and I'm not going to do it. But you need to realize that she's not like the other girls you keep company with. She knows you and she knows your history. Keep that in mind." Flack explained.
"Yeah, I know. I know I don't come with the greatest reputation. But that doesn't explain why she's so mad at me. What did I do?" Danny demanded of the dark haired detective.
"Like I said, that's a breach of privacy. She needs to tell you that, not me." Flack told him, shrugging at the Italian man.
He sat back in the chair and thought for several moments. Then he remembered she'd been a little out of sorts that morning and hadn't put anything in the locker room. But she was so accustomed to her stuff being there, that she'd have gone looking anyways. And she'd have gone looking right around lunch time, when he and Flack were in there….
"She heard me in the locker room." He said flatly. Flack had no response, and that was answer enough. Danny got to his feet and went back to his office, debating the best way to handle this.
He hated the idea of Lindsay being upset with him. He hated that it upset him that she was upset. It all boiled down to her being deeper under his skin than he wanted to admit.
He glanced at the clock. He'd been brooding for 15 minutes now. She was due back from lunch anytime now. He wanted to talk to her, needed to talk to her. And it wasn't going to wait, not with the way it was festering within him.
He stood up, strode to her desk and scribbled a note. Thankfully he was able to use their current case as an excuse to lure her away.
Montana-
Meet me in Interrogation room 2. I have some questions.
Danny
He headed off to Interrogation room 2 to wait.
Lindsay's lunch with Hawkes was going well.
He'd listened to her situation. "I think he's a little confused. You're not one of the neighborhood girls Lindsay. Far from it. And that's what he's used to, so naturally, his defenses are up with you. He knows you're a cut above the rest, above what he's used to. That freaks him out a little." Hawkes told her.
She'd considered his words for a minute as she stabbed at a lettuce leaf in her salad. "Even so, it doesn't excuse his words. We kissed, a few times. I thought he liked me. Then he calls me baggage and says he's not going to pursue it. That's just rude and misleading." She pointed out him.
Hawkes took a sip of his water before responding. If I tell her, this is it, this is going to be a turning point."True but it's a defense mechanism. See, to Danny, there are two kinds of women. They kind you sleep with and the kind you marry. You're the marrying kind. And you're the first of that kind he's ever come across, so naturally, he freaks out and doesn't know what to do with you or how to act, or anything like that." Hawkes explained, knowing he'd just spilled one of Danny's biggest secrets.
FLASHBACK TO 6 MONTHS BEFORE
"It's not nice to stare." Hawkes said, nudging Danny, who'd been intently watching his partner, Lindsay, work their current scene.
"Hard not to." Danny replied, pursing his lips as he allowed himself to gaze only a moment longer.
Hawkes couldn't argue with that, Lindsay was definitely easy on the eyes. "Never met a girl like her before. Where I come from, there's two types of women. The kind you sleep with and the kind you marry." Danny explained, turning to face Hawkes.
Hawkes raised an eyebrow at him. "In my neighborhood, in my life, I've never run across the kind you marry. Until now. Lindsay, she's the kind of girl who ten times too good for you, and she knows it, but you still pray to god that she'll marry you anyways." Danny explained.
"So are you just going to be a spectator or are you planning on joining the game?" Hawkes asked after several moments.
"Dunno man. A girl like that is always an extreme… As in she'll either make you the happiest man alive or she'll destroy you forever." Danny replied softly.
END FLASHBACK
They finished up lunch in relative silence, Hawkes allowing her to process what she'd been told.
"We'd better get going." He suggested. She agreed and they headed back up to the office. They parted at her office door.
"Just… Hear him out. See what he has to say. What's the worst that could happen?" Hawkes questioned as he headed down the hall.
She nodded and strode to her desk. She dropped her purse and picked up his note. She scanned it and grabbed her copy of the file, and made her way to interrogation.
She entered room 2, it was empty. Not unusual, the suspect might be in holding with Flack or with Danny on the way over. She sat down at the table, facing away from the door.
"Flack, I'm locking it. Don't let us out until I call you." Danny had told his best friend moments before she had entered the room. Flack agreed and headed off. Danny entered the room, and opened the door all the way, and stood behind it, waiting.
Lindsay flipped open the file to review her information. Just then, the door slammed shut and locked. She very nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned and breathed a sigh of relief. It was only Danny.
"What'd you do that for? And why did you lock it? You scared the crap out of me." She told him.
He just smiled as he crossed his arms. "Good. We need to talk, and I don't need you running off." He informed her and he made his way to the other side of the table and sat down.
"But the door's locked." She repeated slowly, gulping in air and inhaling his cologne.
"I know that. Don't worry about it. I have that covered. Now, about what you heard in the locker room…."
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