Author's Note: This chapter took a while to get into. It wasn't so much that I didn't know where I was going but it was hard to pull back to Danny and Lindsay pre-dating time after working on Wrong Place, Wrong Time. I hope you enjoy the chapter. I'd love to hear your speculations on what you think might be going on.

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Gassed
Chapter 12

Freddy ran the entire way to the hyperbaric center, bypassing the elevator because the stairs would be faster. By the time he neared his destination, he was out of breath. Despite his doctors orders to exercise more after his heart attack, he still has horribly out of shape. However, he wasn't going to let that keep him from getting to Lindsay in time to save her if need be. His alarm grew when he didn't see the officer that had been stationed outside the center when he left. Bursting through the double doors, he was further alarmed to see no sign of Jill. His weakened heart was pounding uncontrollably as he went into the cylindrical chamber.

Lindsay was lying still on the gurney, her eyes clothes and her breathing regular. He took a breath of relief as he assured himself that she looked fine. He hated to wake her but he needed to hear her say the words herself before she would fully relax. He gave her hand a squeeze. "Hey, Doodlebug. Open up those brown eyes for a moment. I gotta talk to ya."

She didn't wake up, didn't even react to the squeezing of his hand. His fear returned and he gave her shoulder a forcible shake. "Wake up, Lindsay. Please, baby girl. Wake up, damn it."

He glanced at the monitors but didn't know enough about what they were saying to know if the readings should reassure or worry him. "Jill, Dr. Touger. Someone, please, I need help in here. Where the hell is everybody? Lindsay, darling, please don't do this to me."

Jill came running into the chamber, alarmed by his yelling. "Mr. Coleman. What's wrong?"

"I can't wake her up. Someone's done something to her. Please, you gotta do something right away."

Jill checked the monitors and then gave his hand a tug to lead him out of the chamber but he refused to budge. "Mr. Coleman, Lindsay is fine. Her condition is getting better not worse. What has you so frightened?"

"Someone just tried to kill her partner. He sent me down here to check on her. I get in here and there's no one around and I can't wake her up. Please, Jill, don't let her die. Please do something."

"Is Danny okay?" Lindsay's quiet voice floated over from the gurney, sounding sleepy and slurred. Freddy whirled, relieved to see that she was awake but still concerned about her.

"Thank God, Doodlebug. What did he do to you? Stay awake. Jill, damn it, why are you just standing there?"

"Mr. Coleman, no one has been in here since you left. Lindsay was trying to nap but her headache was making it difficult. Just a side affect of the carbon monoxide and the slight head wound. I gave her something for pain to help her sleep. That's why she didn't wake up immediately. Really she's fine. What's this about a murder attempt?"

Lindsay struggled to rise, her brain sluggish from the drugs and the after effects of the poisoning but understanding that he was saying that someone tried to hurt Danny. "Damn it, Uncle Freddy. What about Danny?"

Freddy crushed her against him in a tight hug, understanding that he had panicked and that she was really okay. "He's okay, Doodlebug. He's okay. Someone tried to inject air in his IV line. I came out of the bathroom and stopped him before he could succeed. The guy ran off and Danny was afraid he might come here next. He's coming down in a few minutes as well." He glanced back at Jill accusingly. "Where were you? Why weren't you watching her? He could have gotten in here and you'd never even known."

"I was in the office. My shift is about to end and I had to get all Lindsay's results into the computer before I could give report to the next shift. There's a camera in here that feeds to a monitor in the office. I could see everything that was going on." Jill explained. She didn't sound upset by his accusation; she could understand that he was upset about all that happened. "Didn't the guard on the door tell you that no one had been in here?"

"The guard was gone. I don't know where he went." Freddy collapsed wearily onto the gurney beside Lindsay, his heart rate finally starting to slow. "I'm sorry, Jill. I know you wouldn't let anything happen to Lindsay. I was just so scared." He looked down into Lindsay's face. It was obvious she was struggling to stay awake in light of the news she'd been given but was having difficulty with the drugs she'd been given. "Go on back to sleep, Doodlebug. I'll keep you safe until your fellow gets here."

Lindsay stubbornly shook her head. "I don't understand; why would someone try to kill Danny? Are you sure he's okay? We should call Mac.."

"Already done, Montana. Mac's on his way with Flack." Danny assured her, entering the chamber on shaky legs. "I'm fine thanks to your uncle. You okay?"

"Detective Messer, you shouldn't be off your oxygen. I understand you wanting to come check on Lindsay after what happened but if the nurses on your floor were going to let you do that, they should have sent you down with the portable oxygen tank again."

Danny handed her the end of the oxygen line he'd reluctantly agreed to bring with him. "Here, hook me up if you want to. My nurse wasn't too thrilled with my desire to leave so she wasn't in any hurry to do me any favors. I don't know why someone is targeting us but until we have more information, I think it's safer if we stick together. I thought there was suppose to be a guard out there. Where is he?"

"Good question." Freddy agreed. "He wasn't at his spot when I got down here. Maybe he heard the radio call from the officer outside your room and went to assist him."

Jill eyed the disposable glove in Danny's hand after hooking him back into the chamber's oxygen tank. "What is in there?"

Danny looked down. "It's the syringe that almost killed me. You got a baggie I can put it in til our boss gets here?"

Jill nodded and left the room. Danny set the glove on one of the seats and crossed to Lindsay's gurney, giving her hand a squeeze. He looked over at Freddy. "She okay? She looks a little spaced out."

Freddy released his hold on Lindsay so that the two partners could talk. He ruffled her hair a little. "She's a couple of different dwarfs right now. A cross between Dopey and Sleepy. They gave her something for a headache earlier."

Lindsay frowned, not happy that they were talking about her as if she wasn't there. "I'm about to channel a third dwarf if you two don't stop talking around me."

Danny winced. "All right, Montana, leave Grumpy out of this. I've seen your impression of him when somebody empties the coffee pot at the lab without starting a new pot brewing. I'm not a fan."

Jill returned carrying a re-sealable bag used for sending blood samples to the lab. "Will this work?"

"Perfectly." Danny placed the glove inside the bag and sealed it shut. Jill once more checked the monitors.

"Okay then, I'm going to finish my paperwork but I'll still be monitoring what's going on in here if you need me. Lindsay, I know you are concerned about what's going on but please, lay back down and let the medicine help you. You are going to be groggy until the painkiller works out of your system and sleeping rather than fighting it will help that happen quicker."

Danny leaned down and gave her a chaste kiss on the top of her head. "That sounds like an excellent idea. Sleep now so that when Mac gets here all the dwarfs are gone. You'd make a cuter Snow White anyway."

- CSI: NY - CSI: NY - CSI: NY -

"Do you have any idea what these vials contain?" Stella asked as Adam transferred the last of the contents of the secret compartment to the airtight cooler.

Adam surveyed the different colored vials of liquid seriously before shaking his head. "No idea. Although honestly, I'm a little scared to even imagine. Maybe the cure for cancer, some sort of new germ warfare, maybe the secret ingredient for my grandmother's world famous chili? I don't know but someone went to a hell of a lot of trouble to keep them hidden."

Stella looked at him in amusement. She was learning a lot about the quirky young lab tech today, and she had to admit, she liked him even more than before. "Your grandmother's secret ingredient? Really, Adam?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't put it past her to have some sort of set up like this. I promise you the woman won't allow anyone to even be in the house with her when she starts to cook her chili. For years now, My mom has begged Grams to let her know the secret ingredient but Grams wouldn't dream of it. Rumor has it that she has it in her will that only one person in the family would be left the full recipe upon her death but will only get it if they swear that it will remain a closely guarded secret. She's so careful about it that she wouldn't let me take any leftovers home after our family reunion a couple of months ago." Stella gave him a quizzical look and he explained. "One of my cousins joke at lunch that since I'm this big time scientific expert - his words not mine - that I could take a sample of the chili back to the lab with me and have it analyzed to discover the secret ingredient. Not that I would ever use lab equipment for personal use like that, but Grams apparently was afraid I would do it and wouldn't let me take so much a chili stained napkin home with me."

Flack came running into the townhouse and the two investigators looked at him surprised. Stella frowned. "I thought you were keeping the crime scene at the Klondike Club secure until we could get there."

"I would have if there'd been anything there to secure. It was a bogus call, not even a sign that a fight had taken place, let alone a murder. Stella, you gotta come with me right now."

Stella frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Mac called while I was at the Klondike Club. He's leaving the hospital to go to Jacobi and we have to meet him there."

"What happened? Did Lindsay take a turn for the worse?" Stella questioned. If Mac was going back on his promise to stay at the hospital in order to go to Jacobi, it had to mean something serious had happened.

"As far as I know, Lindsay's okay but someone tried to kill Danny. He's fine according to Mac; it was Danny who called him to report what happened. Mac didn't know all the details; I guess he figured that it was better to get there before he pressed for details. Danny has possible evidence from the would be killer." Flack ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "You know I could buy that Monroe and Danny were just accidental victims to some larger plan and that Mac was hurt because he chased after the guy he saw in the lab. But this? Someone going to the hospital with the intention of killing Danny? It was personal before but now they've seriously pissed me off. I want the ones responsible for this in the worst way."

Stella looked at the cooler, a look of deep concentration on her face. "I know we need to get there but we have evidence that we need to get to the lab first. It may be our best chance for discovering who is responsible for this."

Adam shook his head. "You go on with Flack. Take your kit with you so you can process the evidence Danny has. I'll take the cooler back with me in the Avalanche. I'll secure the evidence in the cold storage. I won't even begin to process the vials until you get back. I'll work on the fragments we collected from the front part of the refrigerator in the meantime."

It was a plan that made the most sense but still Stella worried about the loss of the previous evidence and whether this evidence would meet the same fate. Adam must have recognized her concern. "Go, it'll be okay. There's nothing else of extreme importance in the cold storage unit right now so after I log this in, I'll engage the lock under the command that it can only be open with Mac's access code. It'll be fine."

Stella finally relented. "Okay, Flack, let's go."

- CSI: NY - CSI: NY - CSI: NY -

Danny wished he had his gun with him. He would feel much better about his chances of protecting everyone if he had his service revolver in hand. But for safety, Flack had collected both his and Lindsay's guns before the ambulance had taken them to the hospital earlier in the day. It was standard procedure when an officer had to be transported to the hospital so that the medical personnel didn't have to be responsible for the weapon. So instead he had to settle for pacing back and forth for as much as the oxygen line would allow him.

Lindsay, who despite their protests had not gone back to sleep, watched him tiredly, almost as if constant pacing was hypnotizing her. After about his twentieth pass, she sighed. "Why?"

He stopped and looked at her. "Why what?"

"Why try to kill you? Did you see something at the crime scene that worried someone? Coming in to a hospital and trying to kill a police officer was a pretty nervy thing to do. Someone would have a lot more to gain than lose by even making the attempt."

Danny shrugged. "I don't know. I have a feeling both of us have been kept out of the loop on a lot of what's been going on today because we were hurt. Mac must have suspected something because we had guards on our doors. Hopefully he'll clue us in when he gets here." He glanced at his watch. "How long does it take to get here? I figured he would be here by now."

"I'll tell you what I can." Mac promised as he entered the chamber. They could see the bruises and tell by the gingerly way he carried himself that he was injured.

"Damn, Mac. What happened to you?" Danny gave a low whistle.

Lindsay stared at the wound on his head in sympathy. "Mac, your head looks even more painful than mine feels and that's pretty bad. Are you sure you shouldn't be in a hospital bed of your own?"

"Don't you start; I'm sure I'm going to get an earful when Stella gets here." Mac gave Lindsay a warm hug, glad to see that she was looking much better. He eased down on one of the seats and filled them in on what had happened after Danny and Lindsay had been taken to the hospital. He ended by saying, "So we have no idea who or what is going on but they are obviously playing for keeps. I talked to the two guards Flack had gotten to watch the two of you. The one outside Danny's room gave chase but quickly lost the suspect. He called in the guard from here to help and they searched the entire hospital without success. Both of them are outside the hyperbaric center now and are under strict orders to not let anyone in here without ID. Even then, one of the officers will accompany even hospital staff into the room. Under normal circumstances I would say that there was no way anyone would get a second chance at getting to any of us but these aren't exactly normal circumstances. I'll feel more comfortable once Flack gets here with our weapons."

Having heard the whole conversation, Lindsay frowned and turned to Freddy. "Go home."

"Not happening. Don't even ask." Freddy warned sternly.

"I'm not asking, Uncle Freddy. I'm telling you. Don't start with the "I'm older than you and you have to respect your elders' argument. This is serious. I'm glad that you were with Danny and kept him from being hurt but I don't want you to take any more chances. If something were to happen to you because you were here trying to take care of me, I'd never forgive myself. Please do this for me. I'll be able to sleep better tonight if I know that you are home and safe. Mac, Danny, and Flack will make sure I'm safe here."

Freddy lowered his head, knowing he was defeated but not wanting to give up completely. He looked at Mac and Danny. "You promise you'll take care of her?"

"Like she was my own." Mac promised. Freddy gave him an appraising look as if trying to decide if he could trust him with the most important person in his life. Danny, knowing how much this meant to Lindsay, gave Freddy's back a pat.

"She'll be fine. Anybody who tries to hurt her will have to go through me. I promise you that." The steady look in Danny's eyes convinced Freddy who finally nodded.

The older man leaned down and gave Lindsay a hug. Before releasing her, he whispered in her ear. "Okay, Doodlebug. You win this one but I will be back first thing in the morning and you won't be able to keep me away. You take care of yourself because if you let anything happen to yourself, I'll never forgive you."

- CSI: NY - CSI: NY - CSI: NY -

"I understand you failed." Jordan Dillon glared at her partner when he returned.

He shrugged. "I wasn't expecting the old man to be there. He should have been with the girl. Doesn't matter that I didn't kill him; it still served the purpose of drawing everyone away from here."

"Not soon enough." Jordan informed him. "The two investigators came back and they found the secret compartment. They have all our hard work sealed up in a little cooler. The man is taking it back to the lab while the woman is on her way to the hospital to check out your handiwork."

The man smiled. "If he's taking it to the lab, I'll get it back. Don't worry. They won't have a chance to do anything with it before I safely return it. You get the rest of our people to clean out any trace of our existence from the house. I'll be back within the hour."

Jordan frowned. "They planned on using a security code that only Mac Taylor's access code will open. It won't be easy to retrieve it. They'll be expecting us this time."

He smiled. "Good, I love it when they think they've outsmarted me. It makes my success even greater. I'll be back within the hour and I will have our property back."