A/N: Don't freak out. It's only me, finally updating this story. I apologize for the delay, but those of you who have been following my other stories will know I've been busy. But the muse has finally granted me an idea for this story, and I'm glad to finally be able to share it with you!

Thank you for all the lovely reviews - and the PM (you know who you are!). Once again, totally blown away by the continual showering of love and support for this story. I can't believe we're nearing 40 chapters (and 300 reviews to boot!) here with no end in sight. Keep the love coming, people and I'll keep this story going as long as I can!

A note on this chapter: While I was wallowing in self-pity for not being able to come up with a single idea for the next chapter of HSD, I decided I needed some distraction. Let's just say that you can blame S*&% My Dad Says and The Big Bang Theory for inspiring this next two-chapter arc, the second of which is already written and is awaiting release into the wilds of FanFicdom at a later date. It all depends on how evil I feel like being, and whether I feel like making you suffer. Mwa ha ha!

So, enough of my little power trip. Onward and upward with Chapter 36!

"I just want to make sure we're clear here, Messer," Flack grumbled as the two of them climbed the front steps to Danny and Lindsay's apartment building, "I let you win."

"Riiiight," Danny said, grinning at his friend as he held the front door open for him. "Sure you did. You keep telling yourself that pal."

"I will, thank you very much," Flack said as he and Danny walked toward the elevator that would lead them up to the fifth floor. "Because it's true."

It was a beautiful, crisp day and the two of them had decided to make the most of it and spend the day outside. It was a rare occasion that they both had a day off together, and while Lindsay was at work and Lucy was spending the day with her grandparents, Danny had suggested that they do something that they hadn't had a chance to do in a long time. So he and Flack had met up at the athletic centre a few blocks away for a game of basketball. A game in which Danny had thoroughly wiped the floor with Flack.

"You're just mad because I'm shorter than you, and I still managed to school your sorry ass on the court."

"Whatever. I felt sorry for you. Having to always crane your neck to look up at everyone. I thought I'd be a good friend and give you a bit of an ego boost, you know? Let you feel like the big man for a change."

"Oh, well, in that case, let me express my gratitude," Danny remarked as they approached his apartment door, promptly cuffing Flack up the side of the head.

"Ow!" Flack rubbed his head, giving Danny a wounded look. "Jeez. You little people sure have nasty tempers. I'm impressed though. You didn't even have to stand on a chair to reach me this time. You got your platform shoes on today or something?"

"Fuck you," Danny laughed as he entered the apartment, kicking off his sneakers and stowing the basketball away in the hall closet. "I am not that short. You've only got, what, four inches on me? I'm average height."

"Average for a midget, maybe," Flack quipped, grinning back at Danny's withering glare. "And four inches? Please. I'm 6'4". And there is no way in hell that you are six feet tall. Maybe if you were standing on a ladder or something…"

"You know what? I'm going to assume that this personal attack on my stature all boils down to you being a sore loser," Danny said loftily, "So I'm gonna take the high road and let it slide. This time."

He wandered into the kitchen to grab two bottles of water from the fridge, tossing one to Flack before he cracked the top on his own and downed it thirstily. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and tossed the empty bottle onto the kitchen counter, to be recycled later.

"Alright. I'm gonna jump in the shower," he said. "Got plans with Linds tonight, and I don't wanna be smelling like a dirty gym sock."

"Why not? Probably better than your usual odor," Flack remarked, giving Danny a look of wide-eyed innocence as he sipped at his water.

"What the hell is your problem today?" Danny asked, cocking his head to the side and giving his friend a quizzical look.

"Oh, come on, Danny, don't get all defensive. We used to do this all the time; I'd say something offensive about you, you'd throw something back at me that was even worse, we'd go back and forth…" Flack sighed, flopping down on the couch. "Don't you… don't you ever miss that?"

"Miss being verbally abused by you?" Danny asked, crossing his arms over his chest, albeit with a small smile on his face. "Not really. Can't say that I do."

"No. Not that," Flack mumbled, his fingers tearing absently at the label of his water bottle. "Just… this. You and me, just hanging out." He looked up at Danny. "How long's it been, man?"

"Don, you're over here all the time."

"Yeah, I know. But that's different."

"How's it different?"

"Look, you know what?" Flack said, shaking his head and pushing himself to his feet. "Never mind. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No. Wait," Danny replied, pushing Flack back down on the couch and sitting down on the edge of the coffee table. "How's it different?"

Flack shrugged his shoulders, refusing to look up and meet Danny's gaze.

"Come on, Don. Talk to me," Danny pleaded. "What's going on? Is it because… you don't like hanging around with me and Linds? Is that it?"

"No! It's not that, it's…" he sighed, looking up at Danny and finding his blue eyes flashing with something very close to anger. "Lindsay is awesome. You two together are awesome, alright. It's not that. I love hanging around with you guys. It's just... Look, I know you've got a whole new set of priorities in your life now that you got a family. I appreciate that, I really do. I'm really proud of you for stepping up and becoming that guy who puts his family before everything else."

"But…" Danny prompted.

"But… I've been your best friend for almost ten years, Dan. Can you even remember the last time we went out for a beer together? Just you and me?"

"Honestly? No. I can't." Danny sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry, Don. I didn't realize…"

"Hey, man. Not your fault," Flack assured him. "It's just something that happens, you know? You're still my best friend, Danny. And like I said, I love hanging out with you and Linds. And you know I'd do anything for Lucy. But I would like it if we could do stuff together more often. Just like old times."

"Alright. Just like old times," Danny reaffirmed. He reached over and clapped Flack's shoulder before giving him a sly grin. "You know, for someone who was giving me such a hard time earlier, thinking you're such a big man and all… you really are just a whiny little girl, aren't you?"

"I may be a little girl," Flack grinned. "But I'm still taller than you, shorty."

Smiling, Danny stood and made as if to head to the bathroom for his shower, but then he stopped. "Shit! Flack, what time is it?" he asked.

"Uh… quarter to five. Why?"

"Crap. I promised Linds I'd pick up the dry-cleaning, and the place closes at five. Shit!"

"Alright, Susie Homemaker. Calm down," Flack said. "You still got 15 minutes to go get your stuff. I'll hold down the fort here until you get back."

"You sure?" Danny asked, and Flack nodded his head.

"No problem," he replied, pushing himself up off the couch while Danny shoved his feet back into his recently discarded sneakers and grabbed his wallet and keys from the table beside the door. "You mind if I use your shower? I'm kind of tired of smelling like a gym sock myself."

"Nah, help yourself," Danny said as he stepped out into the hall. "I'll be back in about half an hour."

"Alright. Oh, hey, Danno!" Flack called out just as Danny began to pull the door closed behind himself. He poked his head back into the apartment, giving Flack and expectant look. "While you're out, you mind bringing back some pizza? I'm fucking starving."

Danny rolled his eyes at his friend. "Anything else I can bring back for you, your majesty?"

Flack looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head. "Nah. Pizza's good. Thanks."

"Fucking mooch," he heard Danny mutter as he closed the door behind himself. Flack smiled to himself, then grabbed his department-issued gym bag from where he had left it by the front door and made his way to the bathroom to get cleaned up.

Lindsay could feel the nervous excitement beginning to build in the pit of her stomach. Tonight was going to be the night. The night she and Danny really began trying for another baby. She'd stopped taking her birth control the day she and Danny had decided that this was something that they both wanted. Her doctor had advised them that the medication could still linger in her system for up to two weeks after her last dose, and that although it wouldn't hurt them to try, they really shouldn't get their hopes up until they had passed the two week threshold.

Lindsay smiled to herself as she walked up the front steps to her apartment building. The doctor's word of advice hadn't stopped them from, as Danny called it, practicing – vigorously and frequently – over the past two weeks. But something felt special about tonight. It wasn't just the thought of sex which had her feeling all giddy and excited. With Lucy, they had been caught unawares. They hadn't made a plan. They hadn't even sat down and talked about whether children was something that they both really wanted. And when Lindsay had found out she was pregnant, she had been terrified of Danny's reaction. Would he leave her? Would he blame her? She realized now that she had been blatantly unfair to him at that time, but she put it down to a combination of stress and hormones. She now knew, especially after Danny's confession a few weeks ago atop the Empire State Building, that he had felt more deeply for her back then than she had ever known.

She glanced at her watch. 4:45. Having wrapped up the case she and Hawkes had been working on, Mac had smiled at the pair of them, then told them to take the rest of the day to make up for the hours of overtime they'd each put in over the past few days while working to bring their killer to justice. She knew Danny wasn't expecting her home for several hours, but she thought she might surprise him and get an early start to the evening's activities.

She contemplated taking the stairs, but decided against it, wanting to save all of her energy for Danny. A small smile played on her lips while she waited for the elevator to come. When it arrived, she stepped inside, pressing the button for her floor. As the doors slid closed, she heard the sound of someone thumping loudly down the stairs, obviously in a hurry.

The elevator ride was quick, and soon she was standing in the hallway outside their apartment. Opening her front door, she stepped inside.

"Baby? I'm home!"

Getting no response, she toed off her shoes and threw her jacket onto her hook by the door. Moving deeper inside, a wide smile broke out on her face when she heard the distinctive sound of the water running in the shower. Images flashed through her mind of her husband, his hard body glistening as he lathered himself up. Not needing any further encouragement, Lindsay pulled her top off, tossing it to the floor in the living room. The rest of her clothing was similarly discarded as she made her way to the bathroom. She quietly opened the door, her senses immediately bombarded with the delicious aroma of Danny's shower gel and shampoo mingled with the steamy wetness from the shower.

She tiptoed across the bathroom, being careful not to trip over Danny's NYPD gym bag that was lying in the middle of the floor. She smiled seductively, reaching out her hand and snapping back the shower curtain.

"Hey, cowboy. Were you a dirty boy today…"

"Ahhh! Lindsay! What the…"

"Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod," Lindsay panicked, realizing that the man standing in front of her was not her husband. She and Flack stared back at one another for a moment, both of them frozen in place, startled by the unexpected presence of the other. "Ohmygod, Don. I'm so sorry. I didn't… I thought… you're not Danny."

"No, I'm not!" Flack shouted, reaching for something – anything – to cover himself. His hand fell upon a fluffy pink shower pouf, and he held it in front of his nether regions, blushing furiously.

Lindsay was horrified. Her husband's best friend – hell, one of her best friends – was standing buck naked in front of her. She averted her eyes, casting her gaze down to the floor. It was then that the full impact of the situation hit her. He wasn't the only naked person in the room.

"Shit!" She grabbed a towel from the rack on the wall, wrapping it tightly around herself before turning and running from the bathroom and down the hall, slamming her bedroom door behind her.

Danny fumbled with the front door, balancing Flack's pizza in one hand, while the hanger holding their dry cleaning was secured between his teeth. Finally, the door swung open and he stumbled inside, kicking it closed behind him. He dropped his keys and wallet on the table and set the pizza down on the kitchen counter. He removed the hanger from his mouth and was about to head down the hall to hang it up when he noticed a very familiar article of clothing hanging off the back of the armchair. He picked it up, a wide smile on his face as he recognized it as the shirt Lindsay had worn to work that morning. She was home. He looked down, his smile widening as he followed the trail of clothes, each item becoming more and more intimate and his general state of arousal increasing exponentially when he saw her panties lying in the middle of the hall.

The bedroom door was closed, and his heart rate increased as he thought of what possible surprise his wife had for him behind that door. Reaching out, he twisted the knob and pushed, stepping into the dimly lit room. What he saw was not exactly what he'd had in mind.

Lindsay was sitting on their bed in a pair of sweatpants and what he recognized as his Yankees sweatshirt. She was flipping agitatedly through a magazine, giving each page only a cursory glance before snapping the page and moving onto the next.

"Baby?" he asked, moving further into the room. He had obviously startled her, because her head shot up and she let out a gasp, her hand clutching at her chest. "Sorry, honey. I didn't mean to scare you." He hung the dry cleaning up in the closet then crossed the room to sit on the bed beside her. "You okay? What are you doing home from work?"

"I got off early," she said, then her eyes went wide. "I mean, I didn't get off, I just… Hawkes and I were finished with our case, and Mac sent us home. Why? Is there a problem with that?"

"No. No problem," Danny replied, slightly perplexed by her bizarre response and clipped tone. "I'm just surprised to see you, that's all. Surprised, but happy." He leaned toward her, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek. "I missed you today."

Her expression softened and she seemed to relax, allowing him to pull her closer as he sat back against the headboard.

"I missed you too," she said, resting her head against his shoulder.

"Did Flack leave?" he asked, realizing that he no longer heard his friend in the shower, and he'd seen no sign of him out in the living area of the apartment. He felt Lindsay tense slightly at the mention of their friend's name.

"Oh. Was he here? I didn't see him."

"No? That's weird," Danny mused. "When I left he was just gonna have a shower. He sounded like he planned to stick around for a while. Asked me to pick up a pizza."

"Well, I don't know," Lindsay snapped. "He's not here now, so I guess that means he left. Why are you asking me? And what was he doing in our shower? Doesn't he have a bathroom at his place? Why does he always have to be over here?"

"Whoa," Danny said, sitting up straighter and looking down at his wife who was adamantly refusing to meet his gaze. "What happened? Did you two have a fight or something?" She shook her head, but remained silent, still refusing to look at him. "Lindsay, tell me what happened."

"Nothing happened," she said, pushing herself up from the bed. "I told you I didn't see him."

He watched her go, sighing as she walked out into the living room. He got up and followed her, finding her gathering her discarded clothes from the floor. She jumped when he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He rested his head on her shoulder, squeezing her gently in his arms while he waited for her to say something. He felt her finally relax, leaning back against him and resting her hands over his.

"I'm sorry, Danny," she said. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I just… I got home early and I wanted to surprise you…"

"And finding Flack here kind of killed the mood?" he guessed. She sighed and nodded her head. "Well… he's gone now, unless you've got him hidden under our bed. So let's not let it ruin the rest of our night, okay?" He began to trail a series of soft kisses down her neck, his hands searching for her body beneath the mountainous folds of her oversized sweatshirt. "We're still on for tonight, right? You still want to do this?"

She nodded her head once more, guiding his hands beneath her clothing and sighing as his fingers came into contact with the skin of her stomach. She tilted her head, granting his lips greater access to her neck.

"Mmm… God, you feel so good, baby," he murmured in her ear. "I love you so much." He took her earlobe into his mouth and sucked lightly. "I'm feeling a little dirty here, though baby. I didn't get a chance to have a shower yet, didn't figure you'd be home for a while. You wanna join me? I could use a little help washing my back."

She stiffened in his arms. "Um… no, I'm fine. I don't need a shower."

"I know you don't need one, Linds," Danny pressed. "It's not a matter of needing. It's a matter of wanting. And I want you. Naked. In the shower. Let's go." He began to gently tug her in the direction of the bathroom, frowning when she dug in her heels, putting up resistance. "What? What's the matter?"

"I said I don't want to have a shower with you," Lindsay reaffirmed, pulling out of his grasp and picking up the pile of clothes she'd dropped on the couch when he'd begun his amorous advances. "I just don't feel like it."

He stared back at her for a moment, his expression one of wounded confusion. Finally he couldn't hold it in any longer.

"What the hell is your problem?" he asked, not bothering to hide his annoyance at being brushed off after the rollercoaster of responses he had gotten from her. "Jesus. Sorry for trying to do something spontaneous with you. The next time you don't want me, just do me a fucking favour and tell me to my face, alright. Don't play these stupid little games with me. Fuck." With that, he stomped off to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him, leaving Lindsay standing alone in the living room feeling both incredibly guilty and incredibly confused all at the same time.

She hadn't meant to push him away like that. She just didn't know what to do or how to react after her earlier encounter with Flack, and she had been unprepared for his questions when he'd surprised her in the bedroom. Reacting instinctively, she'd instantly become defensive, and in doing so, she knew she had hurt him. She felt hot tears beginning to sting behind her eyes as she heard her own words in her head.

I don't want to have a shower with you… I just don't feel like it.

She hadn't meant it like that. She just needed a little time to wrap her head around the situation and figure out what she was going to do. She wanted to tell him, but she didn't know whether that was the best thing. It had been completely innocent, what had happened between her and Flack. Neither of them had intended for it to happen, but she still felt awkward.

It had been a long time since she'd seen a man other than Danny naked, and she was mad at herself for the tiny spark of arousal she'd felt in the pit of her stomach. She knew it had more to do with the anticipation she'd been feeling at the prospect of getting Danny in the shower than it did with seeing Flack, but it bothered her nonetheless.

Not only that, but he had seen her naked, and she felt extremely exposed. She was comfortable showing Danny her body, but the thought of anyone else seeing her made her cringe. What had he thought? Had he been repulsed? Had he liked what he'd seen? She had no idea. Deep down, she knew she shouldn't care, and that the only man whose opinion should matter was Danny's.

"So, now what?" she pondered aloud. Should she tell him? She knew what the answer was without even thinking about it. She should have told him the moment he came into the bedroom, but she'd been too embarrassed. She had worried that she would upset him further; he was very protective of her, after all. But she figured it was better to have him upset at her for the right reasons, rather than mistakenly thinking that she didn't want him.

Besides, if she didn't tell him, and Flack did… she didn't even want to think about that possibility. They had made a promise to be honest with one another about everything, and she wasn't about to break that promise now.

No longer hearing the water running in the bathroom, Lindsay let out a sigh. She knew that she couldn't put it off any longer. Steeling herself, she got up from where she had been sitting on the arm of the couch and crossed the living room, knocking softly on the bathroom door.

"Baby? Can I come in?"

"Shit, shit, shit," Flack berated himself as he paced back and forth in his living room.

He didn't know what to do. Should he call? Should he go over there? He didn't know if Lindsay had told him yet. He assumed since he hadn't gotten an irate phone call from Danny that either she had told him and he'd taken it remarkably well, or she hadn't yet summoned up the courage to tell him.

He shouldn't have taken off like that. He should have stayed to make sure Lindsay was okay; that they were okay. He should have stayed and helped her explain things to Danny instead of leaving her to fend for herself. And he definitely shouldn't have stared at her quite so long as she stood naked in front of him.

Shit.

It had been a while since he'd seen a woman naked like that. Not that he was a monk or anything, far from it. It was just that since Angell… well, he hadn't really met anyone promising, and he'd kept his activities with the fairer sex fairly limited. So when he'd seen her, it had been only natural to have some kind of… reaction. He was a man after all, and Lindsay was an attractive woman. But like he'd told everyone at Susie's farewell dinner, he'd known she was Danny's from the very beginning. And therein lay the problem. She was Danny's girl, and intentionally or not, he'd felt himself becoming slightly aroused at the sight of her.

With a sigh, he picked up the phone. If Lindsay had told Danny already, which he assumed was the case, he needed to reassure his friend that it was purely innocent. It had been an accident. Danny was a reasonable guy. He would understand and maybe a few months from now, they could all look back on this and laugh. Not yet, of course. Right now it was too soon, but eventually.

Maybe.

If Danny didn't kill him.

With trembling hands, he began to dial.

So there you go. Part one of this two-part arc.

I hope you enjoyed yourself, and that you're looking forward to what's coming next. I'd love to hear from you so don't be shy and let me know what you thought. :)