Woop I managed to write the next bit of the story, despite major writer's block. Please please please let me know if it's any good - i wasn't sure if it was too predictable or not.

Thanks to all my reviewers, i love you all. I want to say a special thanks to Laura, muse girl at BGS

Enjoy :)

She's already dead.

The words echoed through the already silent room, causing the team to gasp in utter disbelief. They'd come too late.

Not wanting to believe Derek, Hawkes stumbled forwards and rounded the crates stacked to one side. His breath left his body in another gasp. The blood, the vacant expression, the numerous cuts and injuries that covered her body.

Still not wanting to believe they were too late, Hawkes dropped to his knees, before hesitantly crawling to where Annabel lay. Just as Lindsay had minutes before, he felt for a pulse in her already damaged wrist.

Nothing.

Hawkes looked up to find the other team members staring silently at him, their message clear. He shook his head slightly.

She was gone.

Mac watched as Hawkes shook his head, before feeling his heart plummet once more. Mac had always been a master of hising his emotions, but even now, he was struggling to hide his fear. Derek had now killed 3 people, 3 women. And now he had his sights set on Lindsay.

Danny kept his eyes focused on Lindsay. He needed her strength. He could tell that she was terrified, that she was grieving, that she was physically hurt. But still she fought on, refusing to cry so that Derek wouldn't think she was a weak target.

Sensing that Danny was struggling, Flack jumped in.

"It's over Derek. You have nowhere to go. Let Detective Monroe go, and you might just save yourself some trouble later on."

Derek looked as if he was pondering over what Flack had said, but then his evil grin once again took residence on his face."No Detective, I don't think I will. While I have her, I hold all the cards. And as much as you might hate me, I don't think you're willing to risk the life of sweet Lindsay, do you?"

"What do you want?" Danny hissed, fighting very hard not to lose any of his already weakened self-control.

"What do I want? What I wanted was for Annabel to suffer. I wanted to watch her suffer, for all the years she made me suffer. I wanted to make her life hell. I wanted her dead. But seeing as she jumped in front of the bullet meant for Miss Monroe here, she kinda put her foot in my plans."

Hearing that Annabel sacrificed her life to save his girlfriend, Danny's knees almost gave out. Lindsay had been an inch from death. And it was only because of Annabel that Lindsay was still with him.

"So now," Derek continued, oblivious to Danny's reaction, "That leaves me in a slightly sticky situation. See, I had it all planned. I was going to kill Miss Monroe here, because I know Annabel would have felt so guilty about her death. Then I was going to kill Annabel, slowly and painfully, in revenge."

"Revenge for what?"

Derek spluttered, and tightened his hold around Lindsay's neck. "What do you mean, revenge for what? For making my life miserable, that's why. If she had given me another chance all those years ago, it wouldn't have come to this. She humiliated me. She rejected me."

"So you decided to stab her?"

"She had it coming. She spread all sorts of lies about me. Told people things that I'd told her in confidence. After we split, people began to avoid me. My friends wouldn't talk to me anymore. She just carried on with her life as if I'd never existed. Like I'd never meant anything to her. She wasn't going to get away with that."

"So why did you kill Paige and Tiffany? Just to get back at her?"

"Technically yes. But there were other reasons. Tiffany was a nice enough girl. She wasn't like Paige; she tried her best to support what me and Annabel had. But after the split, when I tried to make amends, she turned me away. Told me that it was better if I just walked away. That it would be better to pretend that there never was a relationship, just as Annabel was pretending. She wouldn't help me get Annabel back. And Paige, Paige hated me. She never supported mine and Annabel's relationship. She went out of her way to be nasty and she didn't even try to hide it. She kept Annabel away from me as much as possible, tried to make her split with me. She even told me that it wasn't right to use emotional blackmail. She of all people told me that? How dare she?"

"She saw straight through you. She knew you weren't any good for Annabel, and she tried to protect her friend. From where I stand, you're in the wrong." Stella spat out, moving to stand next to Don and Danny, silently offering her support, her strength, her faith.

"I'd be very careful Detectives" Derek hissed "After all, I'm the one who holds someone's life in their hands." With that, as if to make a point, he pushed the gun against Lindsay's temple.

"Wouldn't want me to pull the trigger now, would we?"

"Who says you won't kill her anyway?" Mac's voice cut through the silence.

Derek smirked once more. "Well, I don't make any promises I can't keep."

"But whats the point?" All eyes, Derek's included, turned to Danny, who stood there, frozen in fear, unable to take his eyes of his Montana.

"What do you mean, Detective Messer?" Derek retorted sharply.

"What's the point in killing her? Annabel is dead. You can't make her suffer anymore. So killing Lindsay would be pointless."

"I'm sure it would serve a purpose, it not just to get my own back for her investigative skills."

"But why? Annabel is not here anymore. She isn't going to know whether to kill Lindsay or not. Think about it, the only point of killing Lindsay was to make Annabel suffer. Now that she's gone, Lindsay's death would have no purpose. And even if you wanted to kill her for solving the case against you, that would also be pointless. If it hadn't been Lindsay on the case, it would have been one of us, and we'd still have found and convicted you, because you're guilty. And you know it."

Derek stared at Danny, mouth gaping. The team could see the cogs turning in Derek's head as he tried to think of a justifiable reason to kill Lindsay.

"Just give it up. There's nothing left to fight for Derek. Annabel is dead, and she isn't coming back." Danny hoped that his words had done enough, that soon he'd have Lindsay safe in his arms, but his hope soon disappeared as a look of spite crossed Derek's face.

"Nice try Detective. Even if I don't have a reason to kill her yet doesn't mean I won't. At the moment, she's my bargaining tool. So don't try anything. Or I will kill her. Here and now."

Danny watched, helpless, as Lindsay's eyes widened even further in fear. She could no longer hide the look of terror that crossed her face, just as she couldn't hide the gash across her forehead. Closing her eyes to combat the wave of dizziness that briefly marred her vision, she felt as if she was about to pass out. She wanted to give in to the pain that she was so desperately trying to hide from Danny. Opening her eyes once more, she saw that Danny's eyes had widened in alarm. She tried to convey as much comfort as she could into her gaze, as well as trying to hide her fear. But she could tell that the team weren't convinced.

If she'd been able to, she would have wept with relief when she heard Flack's voice echo through the warehouse. But Derek had reacted quickly, placing his arm around his throat, applying enough pressure to make breathing difficult, and putting the barrel of the gun against her head. There was no way that she'd be able to get herself out of this situation - she'd have to rely on the others, and hope that Derek didn't lose his cool.

She'd felt her heart contract when she saw Danny, his eyes wild from fear. She could see that he was panicked, that he was close to losing his already weakened control. Could see the love in his eyes.

It was then she knew that she had to survive this. If she didn't, she didn't know what would happen to Danny. He'd lost too much already.

And she'd be damned if she'd give up something that, for the first time, had made her feel loved.

By now, the whole team was stood in a line, separated from Derek and Lindsay by about 10 feet. Behind them, the SWAT team stood, poised in position, waiting for orders or a chance to shoot down the enemy. Between them, they had managed to surround Derek and Lindsay, until the only escape route was the door behind Derek.

Derek, sensing that he was outnumbered, began to think through all of his options. Not that he had many. He could shoot Lindsay there, and be shot down by what seemed like the whole NYPD, or he could continue using her for leverage. He thought that the second option would be safer, but that was until he realised that the room behind him was a dead end. No windows, no doors.

Derek was well and truly trapped.

But as he stood there, he made his choice. He didn't want to be taken out by God knows how many bullets, and he didn't want to spend the rest of his life in jail. Nor was he planning on spending the rest of his life running. No, now, Derek only had one option.

Danny had had to lower his gun arm it was shaking so much. But now, even though he was still terrified, he felt his anger building. How dare a man do this to someone? How dare he wreck the lives around him, just because of misplaced anger? How dare he try and take away the best thing in Danny's life?

"It's over Derek. If you let her go now, we won't have to shoot you." His anger came through loud and clear in his voice, and it made Derek stand up straighter."You don't make the demands here Detective. I do. I'm the one who has the power to take away the love of your life. Don't test me, or I might be forced to."

"No you won't." Mac cut in. "If you do, you'll have nothing left to bargain with, and then we'll have no choice but to shoot you. Face it, it's over."

Derek knew when he was cornered. Narrowing his eyes, he pulled the gun away from Lindsay's temple, keeping his arm around her throat, and reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out a little black box.

Danny's mouth dried up as he realised what the man was holding. "Is that a…?"

Hearing the question, Derek locked eyes with Danny, terrified meeting psychotic. "Yes Messer. It is."

Stella too had frozen in place. "It's a bomb trigger."

Too predictable? Let me know what you think, I found this bit really hard to write and I'd love to know if it paid off as a chapter.

Please review :)