"Don't go breaking my heart!" Danny was sharing the stage with Lindsay during Cozy's weekly Thursday karaoke night, shouting the lyrics of the Elton John and Kiki Dee duet so loudly that the microphone he was holding was completely unnecessary. Mac, Stella, Hawkes and Flack were in the crowd cheering them on.

Everyone had decided to go to Cozy's after finishing a tough case to unwind and relax. Danny's seventh beer had brought with it the brilliant idea of participating in the karaoke competition and he'd managed to talk Lindsay into it as well. She'd adamantly refused at first. He'd tried guilt - he would never, ever get to karaoke a duet and it would be all because of her. He switched to whispering promises of what he'd do for her and to her back at home if she did it. She still wasn't budging and he resorted to plain out begging. It was only after he accused her of only being able to karaoke cheesy country songs in hick bars back in Montana - and getting her another glass of wine – that Lindsay finally relented.

"I couldn't if I tried," Lindsay sang, equaling Danny's volume. She had chosen the song, as it was one of the few duets she actually knew. She was never one for karaoke but the extra two glasses of wine she shouldn't have had dulled her usual reservations about public singing demonstrations.

"Honey if I get restless!" Danny was emphasizing each word with a dramatic swing of his body, bringing him perilously close to the edge of the stage

"Baby you're not that kind!" Though she knew the words by heart, she had a hard time getting them out over her laughter at Danny's familiarity with the lyrics. He was belting them out without even looking at the monitor.

Together, they bellowed the chorus, oblivious to the fact that their timing was off and that Lindsay finished a full line behind Danny. She had laughed through the entire song, though at that point anything and everything brought on a fit of giggles.

They ended the song to a big round of applause, with Flack doing an Arsenio Hall holler and fist roll. What they lacked in actual talent, they made up for in alcohol-induced enthusiasm and the crowd seemed to appreciate their effort.

Danny wrapped his arm around Lindsay's shoulder as they made their way to back to their table.

"Great job guys," Stella complimented.

"Yeah, if by great, you mean totally off key and off tempo," Flack joked.

Mac came to his CSIs' defense. "Flack, you should only criticize if you're willing to go up there yourself. It's not easy getting up on that stage."

"That's right," Danny said. "Let's see what you got."

Flack threw his hands up in surrender, "There's no way I'm getting up there. You win. You have more balls than I do. But if I ever did, I would never pick such an awful song."

"Hey!" Lindsay shouted defensively. "That's, like, the best song ever."

"Yeah," Danny joined in. "And you know what? It's true. I would never go breaking this girl's heart," Danny pulled Lindsay close to kiss the top of her head. "I love this girl."

That caused another bout of giggles from Lindsay. She'd heard the words but the enormity of them were not sinking into her chardonnay-clouded mind. It also caused several looks of surprise from everyone at the table. Did Danny just say the "L" word? Mac had predicted this day would come for Danny, but even he was surprised at the admission.

Recognizing that maybe everyone had one too many drinks Mac said, "Why don't we call it a night guys."

xxxx

Lindsay and Danny had decided to walk to his apartment since it was closest and were finally stumbling into his bedroom. Danny flopped onto the bed without even removing his shoes. Lindsay was hopping on one foot, struggling with the zipper on her boots. When she finally succeeded in changing into one of Danny's t-shirts she fell into bed, curling up next to him.

"Kiss me goodnight," Danny murmured.

She reached up to place a light peck his lips, but it turned into an intense kiss that left her trembling. "I want to make love to you," he said, rubbing his hand along her side.

Lindsay thought that was an excellent idea and crawled to the top of the bed to throw off the pillows and push back the covers. It took her a while, as she was having problems with her equilibrium, and when she finally made her way back to Danny, she was greeted by his soft snore. He was fast asleep. Oh well, Lindsay thought and removed Danny's shoes for him and pulled the covers over him.

"I love you too, Danny Messer," she whispered before she quickly joined him in drunken sleep.

xxxxx

At lunch the next day Lindsay and Danny were still both nursing hangovers.

"I'm never drinking ever again," Lindsay stated as she walked into the break room where Danny was already sitting. There was no way she could stomach any kind of food but she'd come for another bottle of water and some more Tylenol.

"Famous last words," Danny said, not lifting his head from resting comfortably on the table.

"What were we thinking? I mean 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart'?" Lindsay remembered walking to Danny's apartment at the end of the night – her feet were still killing her from making that walk in heels - but other than that her memory of the previous night had a lot of gaps. Stella, however, had mortifyingly filled her in on her and Danny's duet.

"You picked it." Danny finally lifted his head. His memory was also fuzzy and he'd gotten his recap from Flack. Danny tended to run his mouth when he drank too much and he'd asked Flack if he'd said anything he shouldn't have, especially considering Mac was there. Flack had given him a funny look but had said no. Thank god, he'd thought, karaoke was embarrassing enough.

"Well you apparently owned it. The second coming of Elton John according to Stella."

"Let's agree that the next time we're anywhere near karaoke, one of has to stay sober, make sure we don't have a repeat of last night."

"Deal." Lindsay took a seat next to Danny and gulped her water.

"I don't think we were as bad as people are saying anyway. From what I heard, we had a lot of crowd support. We make a good team, Montana, but if we ever do find ourselves doing karaoke, I'm picking the song. I gotta get back to work." Danny stood up and pinched Lindsay on her side, making her jump. That was a ticklish spot for her and he enjoyed getting that jolt out of her.

"Yeah, yeah." Lindsay said. They did make a good team. She wasn't sure how well that translated onto a karaoke stage but she knew it was working everywhere else and she couldn't be happier.