Jilly pulled Kieran through the building. Her hand was tightly clasped around his as she raced down the hallway, their shoes lined neatly at the door of their classroom. Their socked feet pattered down the slick surface.
"Now!" Jilly shouted, and the two jumped and slid – Kieran in his socks, Jilly in her blue and white spotted tights. They slid a good twenty feet, along the slippery, just-polished hallway. They laughed hard as they finished, Kieran at Jilly's crazy, wonton curls, Jilly at the way Kieran had finished – one foot further than the other, his jacket pushed up above his belly button.
"Again?" she asked once they'd finished.
"OK," he agreed, standing up. They trudged back along the hallway, their covered feet grayish with the dirt on the floor.
"Do you think our mommies are here yet?" Jilly asked.
"My daddy's going to pick me up," Kieran said proudly.
"Oh," Jilly said, "My daddy takes me in the mornings and my mommy always picks me up. She's almost always on time, though," she mentioned, thinking it through. She glanced up at the clock. Lindsay was nearly thirty minutes late. Sooner or later, they'd have to sit with one of the teachers until they could be picked up instead of just being checked out at the front door.
They positioned themselves in a pre-sprinting position, ready to race down the hall, when they heard a voice behind them.
"Kieran, Jilly, c'mere, guys."
"Daddy?" Jilly asked inquisitively.
"Hey, baby," Danny said, opening his arms as he walked towards them. Jilly ran up and hugged him, only to be swept into a swift hug and a kiss. Danny placed her down, glancing at her dirty feet with a shake of his head, and helped her put on her shoes.
"I'm gonna take you guys with me, OK?" Danny said, getting on his knees to help Jilly slip on her snow boots.
"Where's my daddy?" Kieran asked, confused.
"He's with Jilly's mom. They're busy right now, so I'm gonna take you to 'em. Don't worry," he said as he forced himself to grin, and took their hands.
Despite Danny's cheerful façade, there was much to be worried about, specifically, the bomb sitting right in between Lindsay and Flack. The two were tied to the bomb, their duct-taped hands stuck to the assorted wires as Laura, a bomb squad technician, carefully worked them out of it.
"How long were you two held hostage here?" she asked, feebly trying to make conversation.
"Almost two hours," Lindsay sighed.
"Felt like years," Flack said, wincing as his expressive face interfered with the heavy bruise sitting right at his hairline.
"Got places to be?" Laura asked.
"Damn right," Flack said grumpily, "Paulina was gonna let me pick up Kieran today, did you know that, Lindsay?"
"You've only told me twelve million times," she grunted back.
"Oh, so sorry if I can't think of anything else to say while I'm wondering if this is my last day on earth," Flack reasoned sarcastically.
"Well, it won't be that," Laura reasoned. She was a middle aged woman with quick fingers and a heart-shaped birthmark on her left cheek, "If I do set the bomb off, it'll go on a timer first, and we'll have ample time to get you two out of here. 'Course, the building may not be so lucky …"
"Fuck the building," Lindsay said, "We have places to be." She wiggled her feet slightly, moving them from the cramped, bent position next to her stomach. She was incredibly pissed that this was, most likely, the last time she was going to be out in the field. Danny was going to go berserk. When she'd talked to him on the phone, he'd been patient and caring, telling her to be safe and asking if she'd been hurt at all. She hadn't been touched; Flack had made sure of that.
"Wow, Laura, would you listen to that mouth?" Flack whistled, "Country girl's got a regular sailor's mouth."
"A-a-and, you're good," Laura said, carefully easing each of their hands off of the bomb.
Flack and Lindsay wiggled away from the bomb, then un-taped themselves.
"Finally," Flack said, stretching.
"Thanks, Laura," Lindsay said, watching the woman carefully work on disabling the bomb.
"Doin' my job," Laura said calmly, "Now go – you've both got kids to see, am I right?"
"Yep," Flack said happily, and walked out of the building.
"Daddy," Kieran shouted excitedly, jogging down the steps of the crime lab.
Flack swept him up into a hug. "Man, am I glad to see you, buddy. Let's get out of here," he said. "You guys good?" he asked Danny, watching as Lindsay hugged Jilly tightly.
"I guess," Danny said through gritted teeth, walking calmly down the steps to where Lindsay and Jilly were excitedly chatting.
"She didn't know, man," Flack said quietly to Danny as he placed Kieran down on the ground, "It was a safe scene. And she's fine now. Don't do this again. You can't flip out every time something happens you can't control. We've been over this."
"So I can't be mad my wife almost got fucking blown up?" Danny responded dangerously, his voice low.
"Don't take it out on her," Flack suggested, "Be glad nothing happened."
Danny turned his head to Flack. "Nothing did, right? She wasn't just … sayin' that."
"They never touched her. Knocked me on the head to get control, took my gun, tied us up. She didn't try anything heroic for the baby. Nobody hurt her."
"You're sure?" Danny asked anxiously.
"I'm sure," Flack said, clapping Danny on the shoulder. "And I'm leaving. Kieran, let's go."
Kieran took Flack's hand and the two walked off to Flack's car, leaving Danny, Lindsay, and Jilly. As Danny placed his arm around Lindsay and lifted Jilly up, he thought deeply about what Flack said, focusing on it until his anger diminished and he was flooded with warm, relaxing relief. He turned and kissed Lindsay, on the streets, in front of Jilly – he didn't give a damn. He pulled her body towards him and let the soft, subtle movements of her tongue work all the tension from his mind, let the feel of her lips and her warm mouth ease him.
"Ew," Jilly laughed, burying her face in Danny's shirt to hide her eyes.
"Deal with it," Danny grunted to her. He smoothed Lindsay's hair out of her face as his heartbeat slowed to normal again.
Danny rolled into the bed, his eyes nearly shutting the second his head hit the pillow. Lindsay wiggled closer to him, pulling the blankets up over their heads.
"Say something," she whispered, her voice moist and warm under the heavy blankets. Danny could feel her warm body just inches from his. Part of her hair was next to his cheek, tickling him lightly.
"Something," he grumbled, refusing to open his eyes.
"You know what I mean," Lindsay whispered. Danny felt her slide closer. She carefully pressed one arm on the bed on his other side and pressed herself up, finally resting on top of him. The skin he could feel under her shirt exuded warmth, but her toes were freezing as they found his calves and kneaded into his warm skin. The contrast made him shiver.
"Talk about it," she commanded, resting her head on the pillow next to his head, watching the side of his head. She followed the muscles in his face as he swallowed, his eyes opening slowly and staring up at the blanket tented over his head.
"'Bout what?" he asked slowly as he slid his hands gently up her t-shirt, sliding them up to the waistband of her underpants.
She shook him off with a waggle of hips. "You haven't said anything," she whispered to his ear, her breath warm and ticklish. "You haven't talked at all about what happened today, and I know it's killing you."
"If you know so much, then why don't you tell me what I want to say," he suggested, returning his hands to her hips. He dragged his fingers up and down her skin, allowing himself a small smile when she shivered under his touch.
"Danny, please," she insisted, bringing her arms tighter into his body.
Danny gritted his teeth and remained silent.
"OK, then I'll tell you what I thought," Lindsay said softly. "When they hit Flack, I thought I was going to die. Not for a long time, just really quickly. Five seconds. And I thought that the baby was going to die." Danny's arms tightened instinctively around her waist, slipping his hands up further to her stomach.
"And I thought about Jilly," she said, sliding her head closer to his ear. "And you," she whispered, sucking lightly on his earlobe. "And I thought that dying would be pretty awful, in a word. But then I started thinking about what you would do. And I felt better. Because I know that if I ever did die –"
"Don't."
"Let me talk," she whispered, soothing him with a gentle kiss just below his ear, "If I ever did die, I know you'd take care of Jilly. Because she's our daughter and you know that neither of us could ever forgive ourselves if something happened to her."
"Stop," Danny pleaded, staring straight up at the sheets.
"You'll always think of her first. Promise me that."
"Lindsay, stop."
"Just do it for me, Danny," she pleaded.
"I promise." He turned on his side and kissed her hard, pouring what would have been his words into the kiss, hoping she wouldn't feel the burning desperation he felt, the deep fear he still couldn't rid himself of.
She moaned lightly as he bit her lip hard and adjusted herself on top of him, kissing him back fiercely.
He broke it suddenly, pressing his nose to her, his breathing harsh. "You won't go back in the field? Not 'til the baby's born?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"All I need to know," he breathed and pulled her mouth back to his.
"Jesus, another victim?" Flack said as he jogged down the narrow incline to the third body.
"I thought we were upping the patrols in the park?" Danny asked.
"We have," Mac grunted, "He seems to have outwitted them." Mac sighed as he glanced at the arm of the woman lying on the ground. "This is Meredith Stein, 36. Her husband is waiting to talk to us down at the station."
"What does she do for a living?" Sheldon asked, snapping a picture of the woman's broken nails.
"She's a private doctor." He stood and frowned, concentrating. "The first victim was a veterinarian, the second a nurse. Could he be looking at people in the medical profession?"
"Third victim, Veronica Rodriguez, was a model," Flack reminded him.
Mac shrugged. "Still, it can't be a coincidence that three of our victims are in the medical profession."
"Three very different facets of the medical profession," Sheldon added, "It's not like they all studied the same type of medicine, nor to the same degree."
Danny stood and glanced up and around them. "Only similarity is their looks, isn't it? Brunettes in their mid-thirties." He placed the evidence he'd collected in his kit and smacked the lid closed. "There are thousands of those in the city. Tens of thousands. No way we can use that."
"All the women were from different classes, two married, one engaged, one single," Mac remarked, thinking it through, "The only factor he's using is their looks. They could very well be completely random attacks."
"Spies a girl alone that fits the profile," Flack mused, "And he nabs her."
"Well," Danny said, "I gotta get these to the lab. Hawkes, you done?"
"No; I'll ride with Mac, though. Go ahead."
Danny packed up his stuff and walked to the car. Flack jogged up to catch up with him. "Hey, how's Lindsay?" Flack asked once they were even.
"She's good," Danny said, "Just relaxing. I thought Mac gave you time off, too? What's the matter, nothin' else to do?"
"Exactly," Flack groaned.
"You can't be serious," Danny snorted, "Go right now over to Paulina's house, kick out her husband, grab her, and –"
"Shut it," Flack grumbled. "Though I did pick her husband up yesterday. Public intoxication again."
"That ain't right, man," Danny commented, "Kieran shouldn't be in that kind of place. You know just as well as I do that where they're livin' ain't exactly safe either."
Flack sighed. "Paulina … well, she's hard to convince, Dan. She lives in the kind of world where everyone is nice if you give them something to eat."
"Isn't she a cook, or something?" Danny chuckled.
"Baker," Don corrected, "And occasional art teacher, when her lazy ass husband won't get a job."
"You're pathetic, man," Danny laughed, "You won't even admit –"
"So what do you think he's luring them with? Is it just a grab, or maybe they're meeting this guy at a certain place?"
They climbed into the car. "I dunno," Danny said, "It feels like they're all random. Plus, one girl was from out of state."
"Right, right," Don agreed. He sighed. "This guy's good."
"We're better," Danny shrugged.