Pairing: Danny/Aiden (current obsession, haha).
Disclaimer: CBS, Anthony Zuiker, Jerry Bruckheimer, and several other creators/producers of CSI own the characters and setting of CSI: NY. I thank them everyday for creating Danny and Aiden, as well as casting Carmine and Vanessa to those parts, because their chemistry makes my job easy. I thank NYC as well, for being a wonderful city and a willing backdrop for my story.
A/N: I've decided that even if the chapters are not related, they do follow a chronological order. So it is a good idea to read the chapters in order, just so you can feel the progression of D/A's relationship.
Danny sat on the bench of the locker room at the end of shift and tied his shoes. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw his partner Aiden came in and leaned herself against the door frame. He noticed that she was already wearing her jacket and had picked up her purse from her locker, all ready to go.
She grinned at him and pulled out a train ticket, waving it in the air and nudging her head in the direction behind her, signaling him to get a move on. Earlier today, the pair had agreed to take the train home together.
Danny smiled back at her and finished what he was doing. He took out his coat and put it on, standing in front of his locker trying to remember what he needed to bring home.
After about thirty seconds, he heard Aiden tapping her boot impatiently. Not taking his gaze off his locker, he raised a finger at her, signaling her to hold on. Without even looking at her, he knew that she'd give him her famous pout and would start pointing her watch incessantly at him … which was exactly what she did.
Suppressing a chuckle, Danny deliberately took his time, patting his coat pockets to make sure he'd gotten his keys, wallet, and train ticket. He finally remembered to take his case folder from the top shelf of his locker. Certain that he'd taken everything, Danny shouldered his bag and slammed his locker door shut.
Aiden rolled her eyes at him, turned around with both hands in her jacket pockets, and walked out, making him jog up to her.
It was a short walk to the subway station, which turned out to be quite crowded by virtue of it being a Friday afternoon. As they boarded the train, Danny placed a hand on the small of her back, making sure he wouldn't lose her in the crowd.
Inside, they couldn't get a seat, but had at least those overhead bars to hold on to. They didn't say anything to each other because the crowded atmosphere of the train would drown their voices anyway.
So they stood facing each other, silently observing the people around them, their CSI eyes picking up things others wouldn't have. A tall blonde woman to Aiden's left was trying, very discretely, but unsuccessfully to – for lack of better word – 'unpick' a wedgie. She kept bringing one shopping-bag-laden hand near her buttocks area in attempt to, uh, 'get the job done', but, by the frustrated look on her face, it was obvious that she kept failing. In front of the woman sat an acne-ridden man, who, having just sneezed, was wiping his hand on the bottom of his seat and then going back to his sandwich without a care in the world. The old lady next to him pretended not to notice, but scooted an inch away from him.
Danny and Aiden met each other's eyes and suppressed a chuckle. People could be really gross sometimes.
A lot more people came in by the next stop, pushing Danny and Aiden into the nook of an unused door. By now, the compartment was full to bursting point, forcing the pair to stand that much closer to each other. Not wanting to lean on the door behind her and having nothing else to hang on to, Aiden grabbed hold of the fronts of Danny's coat.
The sudden movement of the train caused Danny to lose his balance, pretty much pinning Aiden against the door with his body. She winced as her back and head bumped against the door. He smiled apologetically at her and steadied himself by placing one hand on the glass partition beside him.
As the train made another fast, sharp turn, Danny felt Aiden tightening her grip on his coat, consequently pulling him towards her. She groaned as her fingers were crushed underneath Danny's body and her head made contact with the door once more.
Danny gave her a concerned look and instinctively brought his free hand to the back of her head, lightly caressing the contact point. He then brought that hand down to the small of her back, clearly intending to support her from crashing to the door again with the next turn. Without realizing it, his action had pulled her body even closer to his.
Not eager to get her hands crushed again, Aiden instinctively sneaked her hands inside his coat and grabbed hold of his shirt, holding on to him by the sides of his body. She knew that Danny wasn't ticklish.
They were practically hugging now, the fronts of their bodies completely melded to each other. But, realizing that this was perhaps the safest position to keep them from losing their balance, neither said anything to each other.
Because Aiden was only slightly shorter than Danny, her head came right next to his, resting just over his left shoulder. She trained her gaze to the scene in front her, and behind Danny, refusing to let her mind wonder. Her usually good concentration was interrupted, however, by the very pleasant scent wafting through her nostrils.
Danny.
He smelled REALLY GOOD. Like a mixture of fresh rain, mint, and soap. Not overly strong, but enough to make him feel 'clean'. It was so like him to have a shower before finishing up at work. It was not rare, after all, that he went straight to a hot date afterwards. Aiden wondered whether Danny had such a date tonight. He told her earlier that he was just going to get a pizza and relax in front of the tube… but why would he need to shower then?
Realizing that her mind had wondered off to 'unnecessary' territories, Aiden suddenly felt very hot. She wanted to curse Danny for the warmth his body was emitting, but was at the same time grateful that she didn't have to look at him with what she was sure to be her very flushed face.
So she stared at the Canadian emblem on the backpack of the man standing behind Danny, trying not to think of what she'd like to do with a bottle of maple syrup right now.
Danny, meanwhile, was not completely zippity-doo-dah carefree about his predicament. Seemingly on the same wavelength as Aiden, he too tried to fix his gaze at the door behind her.
Unfortunately he was also very much aware of Aiden's hair brushing up against his left jaw. It was much softer than he ever thought possible and Aiden didn't look like the type that would spend money on expensive hair products. He supposed she might just have nice hair.
Funny how he just noticed that.
Actually, now that he thought about it, he was sure that her hair looked so much nicer today. And she looked much nicer too. He wondered if she had a hot date tonight. She'd told him today, with much bitching and moaning, that she had to clean her apartment tonight… but why would she need to look real good then?
And her scent! She must be wearing a new perfume or something, because Danny never recalled Aiden smelling this good. Her hair smelled like that nice scent you got from fresh laundries. Without thinking, he moved his head closer to smell her hair.
Aiden was startled when she felt Danny… sniffing her hair? Instinctively she turned her head to look at him. Startled by her sudden movement, Danny also turned his head to look at her.
The pair ended up face-to-face with barely a space between them. To the average on-looker they might look like one of those annoying couples who would make-out on public transports to kill time. But neither Danny nor Aiden was aware of such on-looker because their gazes were still very much fixed on each other.
Feeling like their surroundings had suddenly gone quiet, they looked at each other's eyes. Aiden's cheeks had this slight tinge of pink, which Danny never saw. Without a word, their gazes lowered to each other's lips. Unconsciously, Danny slid his hand up her back and Aiden tightened her grip on the sides of his body, their breathing becoming in tune with each other.
Their faces grew closer…
One eternity…
Two eternity…
Three…
The train abruptly stopped, literally jerking the pair out of their reverie. The overhead speaker announced their stop.
Danny and Aiden looked up at each other, the sounds of people exiting behind them suddenly becoming audible again. They stayed in their rather 'intimate' position for a moment before drawing apart, both releasing their holds on each other. Then with a smirk, Danny turned around and walked towards the door, but not before he grabbed Aiden's hand to make sure they wouldn't get separated in the crowd. Aiden couldn't suppress a smile at this.
Outside, on the sidewalk, they put somewhat of a distance between them as they strolled in the crisp New York afternoon.
They never noticed that, as they walked, they fell in step with each other.
A/N: First of all, congratulations and thank you for reading until the end, y'know, considering this was a longer, dialogue-free chapter. Second of all, thank you again for your kind reviews. They really do motivate me to write quickly. I'm glad that you enjoyed my sweeter take on Aiden and my dialogue-free concept. I figure that, hopefully, I can write tones of these tiny moments because they're so tiny. And they'd have to be tiny because it's unlikely that two people would do everything without talking to each other. But, yeah, the excellent chemistry between Danny and Aiden just practically writes itself, really.
A/N2: I was thinking of changing the title to 'Silent Connection' or 'Silence' or something like that. What do you all think?
A/N3: I was actually almost finished with this chapter two days ago, but I'd been caught up with the TalkCSI forum. You see I've just been made a moderator in their new shipper forum. They have a Danny/Aiden section there, which oddly isn't getting much traffic. Huh, that's really confusing, considering D/A has by far the most numerous fics. Anyway (shamelessplug) why don't you check it out or say 'hi'. We're real friendly ;-)
