Chap Summary: In which Danny's down, Adam is inbetween and Don is on top.
A/N: I've learned a valuable lesson and thats if one storyline is resolved then I don't need to drag back the characters from that plotline into the next 'resolvement' it just crowds the story. So if for some reason in this and the following chapters you think characters are missing or should be more prominent there's my answer.
Anyway as always; constructive critcism welcome but most of all, enjoy!
Lindsay walked around the quiet lawn, it was lit by fairy lights with a few hundred tables all on a grass lawn with empty plates and a few serving staff making the final adjustments before all the guests came out to eat. Music was playing in the background inside the hotel where the policemans annual ball was taking place.
"Shitty music right?" said a voice behind her
She glanced up and saw Danny sat at one of the tables smoking, she smiled and nodded then tentatively came over to him.
She was wearing a rich green simple silk dress that hung perfectly on her figure, her hair was softly curled and he was dressed in a dark navy suit.
"You look nice" he said honestly
She smiled and sat down "You too. That suit brings out your eyes"
"Why aren't you inside dancing?" he asked her without looking at her
"I could ask you the same thing" she said
"Well. I guess I can't be fucked is my answer"
"Hmm. Good enough reason. I suppose"
"You 'suppose'?"
"You should be in there"
"Hmm. Nah"
"Well why did you come?"
"Ronnie"
"So why aren't you with her?"
"I guess I assumed she'd be here. We planned to go together"
He smirked at her and suddenly switched subjects "Nice redhead you came in with by the way"
She rolled her eyes "Oh. Thats...a friend of mine. I figured she could use a night out"
He held up his cigarette in a mock toast "Well here's to tonight"
Lindsay sighed "Danny go and find Veronica. You need to be with her"
He didn't say anything, he took a swig of wine from one the glasses on a nearby table and then bought his cigarette back to his lips.
"Listen I know what happened with Rueben-" began Lindsay
He cut her off "I'm going inside"
And with that he headed in the direction of the party.
Adam fiddled with his tie "I hate these formal events"
Ronnie put on a fake sympathetic smile "I know you do hon, especially since you have to bathe and wear clean clothes. Must be real rough for you"
"Ha ha ha" he muttered
He then picked up his drink from the open bar where he and Ronnie had been hovering for the majority of the night
"So we should go" she said with a sigh
"Why? Free booze!" he said
"Yeah but...Danny didn't show. I wanna get out of here" she said and bit her lower lip "Me and him...we're not doing so good"
Adam put his arm around her "You will be soon. You just have to hold out a little longer"
She looked away then gestured with a jerk of her head in a different direction
"That girl over there has been staring at you for like the past fifteen minutes"
He looked up and followed her line of sight to across the room where Daisy was stood in the corner looking uncomfortable.
"Daisy" he said startled
"Oh is that her name? I saw her come in with 'Montana' earlier" said Ronnie
"She's this girl I've been seeing, I sort of broke up with her. She only wanted sex, no strings attached-"
"Wow and what was your problem again?"
"Well I thought I'd be okay with it but turns out I really like her. She's funny and cute and really sexy, really smart too but I don't get to do anything with her but screw"
Ronnie looked at her friend thoughtfully "Well then go talk to her you big idiot. She's clearly here for a reason and lemme tell ya, I don't think its for Lindsay"
Adam smiled at Ronnie then his face fell "No I'm not gonna leave you alone to wallow pathetically"
She rolled her eyes "Puh-lease, I can wallow fine all by myself. Do me a favour and go get your girl. You should be happy babe"
He smiled again and gave her a kiss on the cheek "Love you"
She grinned "Love you too. Now go after her before she realises what a tool you are"
He beamed and then quickly worked his way across the floor, Ronnie watched as he and Daisy then disappeared into the garden outside with a small smile.
The attractive couple climbed into black car, both still in stiches of laughter at the nights events.
"Did you see your old man's face?" laughed Don as he started the engine
"I thought that little blood vessel on his head was going to explode. Oh lord this was about as bad as the time I told him I was pregnant" giggled George guiltily
"I don't think your mom appreciated and I quote; 'spending almost three grand on a twenty pound cake that no one gets to eat! Whose gonna eat it hmm Georgina? You tell me that?!' " he said mimicking her mother's tone
"And I was all; 'I dunno...homeless people? You maybe mom? You're looking a little thin' She could have cut me"
He snorted "That was I think the highlight of the evening. You and me came out with some pretty great stuff. We should do stand up."
"No I think the best part was my dad saying that he would disown me for my 'shenanigans' then my mom siding with me and chewing him out for being overdramatic"
"This isn't Broadway Jacob!" exclaimed Don in a theatrical tone
"Oh wow" laughed George, she wiped a tear from her eye
"I think they'll get over it soon enough, I have plenty of other sisters that are willing to waltz up the aisle" she said as the laughter died down
Don turned into the next street "Of course they'll get over it. They just wanted you to be happy" he dropped a quick kiss on her cheek
"You alright?"
"Yeah" she quickly scanned her watch "Come on, we're gonna be late for the sit down dinner at the ball and if we miss that, I swear I'm not cooking"
"Keep your hair on Georgina. We ain't missing nothing"
"Thanks Don"
"So, its my birthday soon. What are you getting me?" he asked her with a small smile
"That would be telling" she said with an impish smirk "And anyhow, its Ronnie's birthday first so we need to get her something. Tomorrow is your day off am I right?"
"Yes..." he said slowly, not liking where the conversation was going
"Good, we'll go shopping and pick something up for her. While we're there we might as well get Adrian some new clothes and you a new suit for work, that blue one is looking a little rough"
"You know for someone who isn't a wife you nag a lot like one" he muttered
She playfully cuffed him upside the head and he responded by quickly dropping another kiss on her cheek before refocusing on the road and they fell into a comfortable silence each deep in their own thoughts ironically about each other.
Then Don was pulling up outside the grand estate in the heart of the city where the ball was being held, he hopped out of the car and went to open the door for George but she was already getting out.
He held his hand to help her steady herself in her heels and smirked as he took a better look at the floor length deep purple gown she was wearing, it was cut on the bias, flowing fluidly over her curves and a halter neck, giving him an eyeful of one of his favourite parts of her body.
Recognising the look in his eye she smirked a little too "Later"
He lowered his head to her ear and murmured something that caused a flush to sweep her cheeks.
"Don, I'm serious"
"So am I" he said, his breath still tickling her ear
She lightly pulled away, taking his other hand and gazing up at him "Don?" she said carefully to make sure he was listening
He smiled, his attention nowhere else "Hmm?"
"Thank you"
He didn't need to ask to know what she meant, he shrugged lightly then yanked her in towards his chest.
"You can thank me later" he said flashing her a smile
"Of course"
"Promise"
She gave him a long, lingering dizzying kiss then winked "I'm a woman of my word"
"Hey Ronnie"
Ronnie glanced up from her drink, she was still at the bar and the last person she expected to come up to her was Lindsay.
"Oh. Hi" she muttered disinterestedly and gazed back at her drink
"Have you seen Danny?"
"No. Why?"
"Its just...he was looking for you"
"Oh. Well he can't have been looking hard. I've been here all night"
"I think he might have gone to take a walk"
Ronnie sighed "Great. Thanks for the message. Bye"
Lindsay frowned "I'm sorry. About the way I've acted. To you and to Danny"
"Heard that before"
"I mean it now. I behaved in a way I'm not proud of, because I was unhappy with myself and I was jealous"
Ronnie scoffed in disbelief "Of who, me?"
"Of course you! You have it all, you, you're loved by everyone. You're beautiful, smart, funny and you have someone that worships you and the ground you walk on" said Lindsay she lapsed into an awkward silence at her outburst
Ronnie stared at her in surprise then she smiled wryly "I was kind of jealous of you to tell ya the truth. I thought you were miss perfect. Intelligent, pretty, wise and you got to work with Danny. You have this innate...wisdom about you. You're an awesome lady"
"What really?"
They shared a small smile then Lindsay's face became serious again.
"I've learned a lot of truths about myself, some I that were painful but I realise now that all I could ever want is to be friends with someone like you and someone like Danny. I'm honoured to be able to work with you both and I totally respect you. I'm sorry for the way I treated you, you didn't deserve it"
Ronnie shrugged "Forget about it"
"Truce?" said Lindsay sticking out her hand
"Truce"
Ronnie managed another smile "Thank you"
Lindsay nodded "Thank you too. I think I'm going to get to bed now but have a good night"
Ronnie's thoughts once again returned to Danny and she frowned.
"I'll try"
"...and so she convinced me that I should come down here and see you but I feel like an ass. A real horse's ass" said Daisy as she finished explaining her sudden reappearabnce to Adam
They were walking through a massive garden that stretched out from where the dinner was currently taking place.
"I was kind of nervous seeing you here. I'm a total mess inside" she said softly
"Well" he said after a beat "You don't look it"
She smiled and he was amused to see that she looked shy "I'm glad you came" he said quietly
"Really?" she grinned and ruffled her bright red hair
He came to a stop "Listen Dais-I'm not asking for your hand in marriage or for five kids and a volvo-"
"Cool coz my licence expired" she said quickly
He smirked and continued on "I'm just asking to be with you. Fully. Not just sex. You're crazy hot, you're smart, you're funny and you almost love classic eighties rock as much as I do and I wanna find out more, I wanna see what other surprises you have. Thats all"
Daisy furrowed her brow and grew uncharacteristically somber "I cheated on someone once, because I was too afraid to admit that I wasn't in love with him anymore. So instead of breaking up with him and doing the right thing...I made a huge mess and so after that I decided to keep things simple. And it has been fun but..." she looked up at him "I'd hate to ever make you as hurt as I made him"
Adam wrapped his arm around her "Baby steps okay? You don't have to worry about a thing. We'll take it slow"
She started to smile again "How slow? Are we talking British slow or Mormon slow?"
He laughed then put on a mock serious expression "Mormon"
Daisy giggled clearly in agreement with the plan when she curled her hand around his waist "Lets go eat, I'm starving"
"No thanks ma'am, I'm British" he said putting on a mangled Cockney accent
Daisy's frown returned and she arched an eyebrow at him a smirk twitching at the corners of her mouth "Fail"
He nodded ruefully but still kept the accent "I know ma'am, I know"
A/N: Hope you're enjoying it all so far! Btw; I read some spoilers (I'm UK based) about CSI:NY which told me that Danny and potatoeface will be having babies together and getting married. Not that I want Danny for myself (though he is hot) but this totally devastated me. My Ronnie is infinitely far better suited to him and his personality.
I hate Lindsay with a vengence and it was all I could do to not give her a fiery death in this story! But of course...loose plot threads and all.
Pathetic teenage-like rant over. : p