Chapter 11: Blood dries up. I pray. I pray.

Danny sighed passing by Lindsay's room heading back past Flack. He recalled the Doctor's warning that the first 24 hours of Lindsay's recovery would be telling. But he knew he couldn't back down from his father's subtle summons. He had issued the requirement for the conversation, but his father would only have it on his terms. Danny rationalized to himself that Lindsay would only be sleeping and he could serve her better by keeping his father at bay.

"Dan, you going to get coffee? I can use some." Flack said falling in step with him.

"Nah." Danny said quickly glancing at Flack realizing he would now have to lie to his friend.

"I gotta take care of some things. Maybe pick up some clothes for Lindsay. I should be back in a couple of hours."

"Really?" Flack said pointedly. "Doctors say Lindsay's out of the woods? You Ok just to leave her like this?" Flack was amplifying Danny's inner guilt.

"Not in so many words. But I think I can do her more good this way." Danny said.

"Let me drive you. I'll put the lights on, save you some time."

"Its Ok man. I can manage."

"No seriously Dan." Flack said giving him a steely glance. "I'm not gonna take no for an answer here."

"Fuck." Danny muttered under his breath. "Fine. But do me a favor, and don't put the lights on."

Adam came to the hospital after his shift and was surprised to see the seat at Lindsay's bedside unoccupied. He placed himself in it. He recalled the day Lindsay entered his lab looking for results only to find him backlogged and overwhelmed. When he snapped at her and told her she would have to wait, she replied gently that she was stuck without his results. She silently donned gloves and began prepping experiments for him. That alone awed him as no other CSI had ever offered him help that way. What always stuck with him was that she started with the top of his pile, not her own case.

"Danny." She said weakly, emerging from a fog.

"He's not here Lindsay. Its me, Adam." He said cautiously taking her hand.

She opened her eyes and closed them again immediately. It may have been the light or the lack of oxygen, but she couldn't keep her eyes open without sharp pain as if they would crack and break.

"Adam." She choked out. "I need to talk to Danny. Can you find him?"

"Sure. Let me call him." He said taking out his cell phone and hitting one of his speed dials.

Danny saw Adam's number come up on his caller ID, and tapped the "Ignore" option on his screen.

"We're going to see your old man?" Flack said from the driver's seat.

"Yeah." Danny clipped, staring out the window.

"You want to remind me why, when Lindsay is lying in a hospital bed, and these could quite possibly be her last hours?"

"Jesus Flack!" Danny screamed as he turned to his friend. "You want to make me feel any worse about this?"

Flack swallowed his anger and remembered his interrogation training, opting instead to take a calmer path with Danny.

"Probably not. I just want you to let me help you. And Lindsay." He glanced quickly at his friend as they entered the Verranzano Narrows bridge towards Staten Island. "I need you to be straight with me to do that."

"Ok. You be straight with me." Danny said angrily staring at Flack, knowing his friend didn't fully see him. "What did the EMT say when I walked away?"

Flack didn't look at him, instinct told him his reaction needed to be instantaneous for Danny to trust and open up to him.

"That Lindsay told her you 'weren't safe' and she didn't know if that meant you were in trouble or that you were trouble."

"Who didn't know, Lindsay or the EMT."

Flack's brow furrowed trying to unweave the third-hand conversations.

"The EMT. She said that's all Linds kept saying over and over 'Danny Messer, he's not safe.'"

Danny felt his stomach clench and twist. Even he didn't know if Lindsay thought he was a threat.

Adam lifted his eyes to see Lindsay's closed again. He squeezed her hand.

"Lindsay, he didn't answer his cell phone."

She made no reply and he wondered if she was unconscious again. He subtly slipped his hand from hers to feel for her pulse.

"Use mine." She said weakly only barely opening her eyes. "It should be in the pocket of my pants. He'll answer." She instructed.

A/N: Sorry I've been MIA. We moved and my silly husband thinks I should actually unpack vs. being on-line.