After her little meltdown in the bar, Danny was certain that she'd finally open up to him some more. But she didn't. He'd come to accept that trying to get her to talk to him about her issues was counterproductive- she'd just retreat further into herself like a little hermit crab. So he'd stopped nagging her about it and had hope that one day she'd come to him. He loved her and didn't give a damn about her having more baggage than a Samsonite store. He just wished she'd let him help her. Not that he thought she couldn't handle things on her own- he loved her strength- it just might be less painful for her that way. And he wouldn't feel so damn helpless.
Fortunately, no one at work ever mentioned the dreaded 'M' word to Lindsay and Danny again. Flack being the gossip he is (despite earning the nickname 'Yente' from Lindsay, Danny decided that Don was more of a nosy old woman than he'd ever be) had told everybody to avoid the topic. The reason he gave was that Danny was apparently too chickenshit to propose because, to Flack, it seemed like a safe assumption based on his friend's history. Danny found himself the recipient of many rolled eyes, saddened glares, and 'tut-tuts' from people all over the crime lab including Stella and Mac, and he didn't mind one bit. He'd rather have folks think it was his shit that was holding them back and get all the disappointed looks than have people knowing Lindsay was the one with the problem. She had enough crap to deal with; she didn't need everyone wagging their tongues about her issues. If this is the only way she's willing to let me help her, then I'll gladly do it.
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They survived the hell that was Halloween, and almost before anyone knew it, it was Thanksgiving. Lindsay was looking forward to a holiday not spent in the lab- she hadn't had an opportunity to experience it since moving to New York (she'd considered it selfish to request the day off when all she had planned was sitting on her couch by herself watching the parade and eating leftover Chinese food). She also couldn't help but be relieved that there were no nerves associated with her and Danny's first Thanksgiving together- she'd already met and spent lots of time with everyone who was going to be at Ma Messer's. I shouldn't be glad that Danny doesn't speak to most of his family, but it is kinda nice to know I'll never have to be in a situation like he was this August with my family!
Danny stood in the doorway to their bedroom, jangling the keys to lab truck he'd borrowed for the night. "You ready to go, babe? I wanna get there early so I can find a parking spot." When Danny's mother had left the 'ancestral' Messer neighborhood, she'd gotten a small apartment in Brooklyn. Danny had joked that her new block was entirely populated by cute little old ladies and there must have been some truth in that statement, because on every holiday the amount of cars near his mother's building would quadruple- apparently all these cute little old ladies all had their children come home for holiday dinner.
"I'm all set now. I just wanted to change my pants to something with a bit of stretch in them- I forgot that your mother views everybody as walking pillowcases waiting to be stuffed and I'm betting it's worse on Thanksgiving. Am I right?"
Danny's nodded his head vigorously. "HELL yeah. Just you wait and see how much food she made- nobody would ever dream that she cooked so much for five people. The woman can't help but bake in bulk."
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If Lindsay had imagined this would be a calmer, quieter meal than any of the Monroe Thanksgivings due to the drastic difference in size, she couldn't have been more wrong. Yes, there were only four Messers as opposed to the 25+ her mother usually fed. But the four Messers were louder and more boisterous than a table-full of Lindsay's family (actually, Lindsay suspected that Danny and Tony alone could be louder than everyone in her entire extended family).
"Maureen, this food is amazing!" Lindsay was glad she'd opted for the stretchy pants- Danny's mother had cooked to feed an army and it was all so good that Lindsay was tempted to eat like elephant.
"Danny, your gal there sure knows how to pack it away! Man, that's hot. I hope you lay a dropcloth down when you take her out to restaurants." Tony joked.
Danny elbowed his cousin in the gut. "Shaddup, you. She's always hot. And I like the way she eats."
Lindsay waved her fork threateningly at Tony. "Yeah, watch it. Especially since you're eating like there's no tomorrow, too. As for that dropcloth comment…you could open up a soup kitchen with what you have on your shirt right now."
Maureen stood up with her hands on her hips. "Children! No fighting, you hear? It's Thanksgiving. It's a time for family and counting your blessings and love and if you don't stop making those faces at your cousin this INSTANT Daniel Messer there'll be no pie for you!" Everyone laughed as Danny immediately adopted the sad little puppy look that had always gotten him out of trouble as a child.
Tony reached over and pinched his cheek. "Aww, widdle Danny wants some pie! Don't cry, widdle Danny-wanny…" Danny slapped his hand away, and before Jess or Lindsay could stop them, both their chairs had fallen backwards and they were wrestling on the floor. Danny reached up to the table, grabbed the bowl of mashed potatoes and dumped it over his cousin's head.
"DANNY!" Lindsay and Maureen yelled at the same time. But Jess had been watching her husband as the other two women were scolding Danny and saw him reach for the gravy boat.
"TONY MESSER. IF YOU DO WHAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT DOING YOU WILL BE CUT OFF. NO SEX FOR A WEEK, YOU HEAR ME?!?!" He scowled but did as he was told and Jess helped him wipe the potatoes off his head.
Meanwhile, Maureen was pulling Danny up from the floor by his ear. "I don't know WHY you and your cousin insist on making this a tradition. I work so hard each year on all this food and all you two buffoons want to do is throw it at each other! It's meant to go in Tony's stomach, Daniel, not on Tony's head. Honestly, sometimes I can't believe that you two act like responsible adults in the outside world. How come I never get to see Danny the CSI or Tony the attorney? Why do I only ever see Danny and Tony the stupid idiots? Ok, you know the deal. You started it this year Danny, that means you do the dishes."
"But Ma, I didn't start it! He was the one who was making the 'widdle Danny' jokes!"
"Yes, he did. But you were the first one to reach for the food. Rules are rules, Daniel. Don't try to weasel out of it- you know two years ago you provoked your cousin into throwing the first roll and he still had to wash the dishes. And don't try and get Lindsay to help you, either."
"Like that'd happen," she said with a snort.
Danny looked wounded. "I see how it is! You're all taking his side! My own mother! My own girlfriend! Et tu, Montana?" He pressed his hand dramatically to his head.
"Oh, quit with your bellyaching or I really won't let you have any pie."
"Yes, Ma."
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Lindsay sat watching the football game with Tony, Jess, and Maureen as Danny cleaned up. "So how long have you had a Thanksgiving food-fight, Maureen?"
Maureen rolled her eyes. "I don't even know. They did it all the time when they were little, of course. And now that I think about it, the first Thanksgiving where it was just the three of us Tony did smash a pie into Danny's face. I suppose Tony was trying to distract us or cheer us up- it worked. I was irate, Danny laughed so hard he got cherries up his nose." She smiled at the memory. "I'd hoped that it would all stop once Tony got married, but that year Jess here was the one who hit Tony with a drumstick. She's stayed out of it since then but the damage was done. It's tradition." She shrugged, as if to say 'what can you do?'
Lindsay laughed, then went to check on her boyfriend who was hard at work over the sink. "You know, you owe Jess a debt- you could have had second-degree gravy burns all over that pretty face of yours."
He turned around and she just had to smile- he was covered in suds and had on ridiculous yellow gloves that came up to his elbows. "Aww, you think I'm pretty, Montana? Pretty enough to risk a slightly moist hug?"
She thought for a minute, and then wrapped her arms around him. "Why didn't you warn me about your little tradition, Danny?"
He winked at her. "I was testin' ya- I wanted to see if you'd join in or not. You clearly aren't as much fun as I thought you were, Monroe."
She squeezed him slightly then stood on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear. "Danny, when you and I play with our food, we'll be in the privacy of our bedroom, not your mother's kitchen. And we'll be playing with chocolate syrup, not mashed potatoes." She leaned back so she could admire her handiwork- as she'd hoped, his face was bright red and his mouth was hanging open. "Enjoy the rest of your dishes, Messer," she called as she left the kitchen leaving a stunned Danny in her wake.
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"Goodnight! Thanks again for having me, and for all the food!" Lindsay said as she gave Maureen a big hug.
"Bah. No need to say thanks. You're family- where else would you go on Thanksgiving? And I'm sorry that there's no potatoes with your leftovers but you can bring that up with Danny."
"Oh believe me, I will." She said playfully as she smacked him on the arm. "Depriving a girl of mashed potatoes with her turkey, Messer? That's a serious offense!"
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Danny and Lindsay were back in their apartment, their refrigerator now stuffed with food. They were lying in their favorite position on the couch as they watched a movie- Danny on his back, and Lindsay on his stomach. When they both decided that the movie wasn't worth finishing and turned it off, neither of them moved. After a minute, Danny gently kissed Lindsay's forehead.
"Hey, Montana? You know what I'm thankful for?... It's you. The thing is you made me into a better guy. I'm a better friend, a better son, a better CSI, and certainly a better boyfriend since you came along. I don't know how much gossip you listened to when you first got here but I imagine people didn't have much good to say about me. I was definitely one of those guys who thought monogamy was for suckers. I wasn't Hugh Hefner or anything but I had my share of women. I wasn't really a bad guy…I guess you could call me neglectful. They just were never my number one priority- my friends and family always came before whatever girl I happened to be seeing at the time. I generally tried to make sure to go with girls who knew exactly what I was looking for but I know that I broke some hearts along the way and at the time, I'm not sure how much I cared. I honestly hadn't grown up- I was acting like I was eighteen when I was 28. Pretty pathetic, actually."
He stopped and kissed her forehead again. "Then you came along and it was like I grew up overnight. I went from thinking monogamy was stupid to wanting to spend each and every night with just you. You kept me from becoming that creepy old guy who hangs around bars all the time hitting on girls way too young for him and you did all that before we even started dating! That's a frickin' miracle, Montana. I thought that was my fate for the longest time. And you didn't just fall down at my feet. You were a check to my ego and you made me learn how to be patient…Anyway, I just never thought I'd be at the point in my life where I could be described as 'mature' or 'devoted boyfriend' but you managed to turn me into both those things and I love it. So thanks, babe. I love you. Hope you don't mind that I got all mushy there for a minute."
Lindsay silenced him by kissing him sweetly. "Danny, you never need to apologize for being 'mushy'! I love it when you say sweet stuff like that. And that's basically the sweetest thing that anyone has ever said to me, ever." She kissed him again. "And I should say thank you, too. Because I'm so incredibly thankful for you, Danny. Did you ever read 'Great Expectations' when you were in high school?" He nodded. "Because for years I felt like I was destined to end up like Miss Havisham - the one who spent the rest of her life in her wedding dress mourning her dead fiancée. I hid my grief a little better than her but I was still just as stuck in the past. Then there were days where I thought I'd just go completely numb and shut everyone out…. My options weren't good- total nutjob or ice princess…But you saved me from both those things. I moved to New York for a fresh start but I didn't really have a chance at that until you forced me to deal with everything. So now I really do have my fresh start and it's wonderful and I'm so happy."
Danny grinned at her and gave her a big kiss. "We're each other's superhero, then- that's good. I didn't want you gettin' all cocky knowin' you saved me from my pathetic existence as a future sleazebag."
She laughed. As always, Danny knew just how to lighten the mood. But she had one more thing to tell him first. "You're more than my superhero, Danny…I've been thinking about it a lot and I've realized something: you're the love of my life. Tom was my first love and obviously very special to me and there'll always be an important place for him in my heart. But you're the one I was meant to love."
Danny's grin widened even more and for a second Lindsay thought she saw a glimmer in his eyes. Did I just make Danny Messer cry? But before she had time to process this information, Danny was crushing her to him in a tight embrace.
"Oh god, Montana, I think that's the best thing I've ever heard in my ENTIRE life! I love you so much, baby…So so so much…"
Neither of them spoke much for the rest of the night, but hours later as she lay there in his arms Lindsay was surprised to realize she was a teensy bit disappointed that Danny hadn't said something else. Or more specifically, hadn't asked something. WHOA. If that's not food for thought I don't know what is…
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A/N: My holidays are a little off, but anyway holidays are a time for somewhat cheesy sentiment. Forgive me. I have something (hopefully) funny coming next...will be up soon!