A/N: Same disclosures apply as in Chapters 1-6. Please Enjoy Reading and Review Afterwards!

Chapter 7

Lindsay decided that she had sat up on the roof long enough and that people were probably wondering where she was, not to mention she was getting cold. After all, she wasn't exactly sure what was or had been going on between her and Danny. And that, she thought to herself, was not something that she should be possibly risking her job over.

Lindsay came down off the room and went over into the Trace lab where she ran into Stella, who was going over a bed sheet stained with blood.

"Oh, hey," said Stella, noticing Lindsay walking into the room, "Danny was looking to you earlier. He seemed pretty anxious, like it was really important that he talk to you. Did he find you?"

"No, haven't seen him all day." Lindsay lied. "What are you working on? Need any help?" Lindsay walked over to the table.

"Rape case, I'm looking for traces of semen, doesn't look like I'm going to have any luck though. Perp probably wore a condom." Stella said. She really wanted to ask Lindsay what was going on with her and Danny, but she didn't feel it was her place and like Mac said when they want us to know they'll let us know. "Hey, can you hit the lights, Lindsay?"

Lindsay flicked the switch and the lights went out. Stella started running over the sheet with different colored lights until she found what she was looking for.

"Gotcha!" Stella cried.

Lindsay grabbed the camera and took a picture of the spot that Stella had marked. She then watched Stella cut the section out of the sheet to send to DNA. All in all they found 6 spots to send to DNA for testing. They work diligently for the better part of the day, going over evidence and scenarios of possibilities of what happened. During this time, Lindsay fought the urge to ask Stella if Danny had said what he wanted or where he had gone since she hadn't seen him since this morning in the break room. So far she had resisted, but as they closed on the end of the work day, it was getting harder.

"Hey Stella," Lindsay tried to sound nonchalant, "Did Danny say what he wanted or where I could find him?"

s"I know that Mac sent him out on a case, solo, so he's probably still there processing. I think something was mentioned about illegal drugs and possible murder." Stella shrugged her shoulders, "But he didn't say anything about why he needed to talk to you. Like I said before, he seemed anxious, like it was urgent."

"Oh," said Lindsay, fighting to keep the disappointment out of her voice, "Guess I should go see if Mac has anything for me before I head out."

"Ok, I'm going to keep working here a little longer. Thanks for all your help Lindsay, I really appreciated it" came Stella's reply though she didn't look up from what she was doing.

Lindsay walked to Mac's office and since the door was open, leaned on the door frame. Mac was on the phone, but motioned her to come in and sit down. She took the chair by the window in front of his desk, this way she could look out at the skyline while he finished up with his call. She heard the phone click on the receiver, and looked up at him.

"Hey, I just wanted to see if you had anything for me or if I was good to go home for the day." Lindsay finished her sentence and looked at him.

"Actually I was hoping to talk to you before you left. I have a couple of questions to ask you." Mac said as he took his seat. "How are you doing? Are you adjusting to the city life?" Mac was genuinely concerned about her, moving from a town of maybe three thousand to a city of probably more than five hundred thousand was a big move to make.

"Yeah Mac, I'm good. I've wanted to thank you for helping me find my apartment, it's absolutely gorgeous and I would have never known that I could afford something with such a view without your help." Lindsay answered honestly. "I was planning on, if there was no case for me to work on, to go home and put up my Christmas decorations."

"Good, sounds like a plan." Mac paused, "but before you go, there's something else I want to ask you about. I was just on the phone with your supervisor from Montana. I called her to see if I could get some insight on why you are fighting this new reg so much."

Lindsay's face immediately darkened, and her eyes closed off Mac's ability to read her expression. "What did she tell you?" she asked in a low, but calm voice.

"She told me to ask you, that it wasn't her place to disclose such personal information, so that's what I'm doing. I would really like to help you get through this Lindsay. Like I said earlier, you having to pass this qualification, it doesn't mean you have to carry a gun, or anything like that." Mac replied, still trying to read Lindsay's expression.

Lindsay sat there for several minutes, as if she was trying to decide what to say. She stood up and walked to the window, her arms wrapped around herself, looking out at the skyline.

"Did I ever tell you what made me become a CSI, Mac?" Lindsay started, but before Mac could answer, she continued. "It was because I was tired of seeing people, who were clearly guilty, getting away with crimes because there was a lack of evidence. It happened all the time in my hometown, people were killed and their murders would get off because the evidence got 'contaminated' or 'got lost' before the trial. All my life, growing up in the fear that anyone could be here and then gone without ever knowing that the person or people responsible, if they knew the right people, would never be held accountable." She turned to face Mac; the look on his face was a mixture of shock, and disbelief. Lindsay, however, pushed on with her reasoning; she'd get to answer his question in a minute. Now that she had begun, it was like the flood gates had opened and she didn't want to close them yet.

"It was hard. I attended so many funerals when I was little. More than any person should have to attend, let alone a little girl. The gangs literally ran our town, it was so scary. I remember shopping with my grandmother and when we were coming out of the store, a man walked up to us and demanded my grandmother's purse and jewelry. She told them no, to leave us alone, that she wasn't going to be bullied by a bunch of non-educated thugs who refused to work for what they wanted. I remember my grandmother starting to reach into her purse, and they shot her ten times. They emptied their clip into her. They shot her in for refusing them, for standing up, something no one else would do. Not even the city council, the mayor, or even the police chief. They shot her in front of me, not even caring that I was there. As she fell, she dropped her purse. Want to know what she was reaching for? She was reaching for the keys to the car. I let her down, I didn't do anything to make her killers pay. I just stood there and cried, like a child." Lindsay practically screamed the last two sentences, trying to hold in the tears. She sat back down and put her head in her hands.

Mac came around his desk and sat down next to Lindsay, he put his hand on her arm. He didn't know what to say, he hadn't known that growing up was that rough for her because she never let on about it.

"I didn't know that Montana was that rough," Mac began, only to be cut off again.

"Oh – yeah that's the kicker. I wasn't living with my parents at the time. They had sent me to live with my grandmother for awhile because they were struggling and they didn't want it to affect me, growing up. They had actually sent me to live with her because they thought it would be better for me. That I would be safer with her than with them, just because they were struggling…ironic huh?" Lindsay did something like a half snort, half laugh, Mac thought it was out of disgust or irritation, he wasn't sure which.

"So that's why you don't even want to know how to defend yourself with a gun if it comes to it?" Mac asked, "Lindsay, I'm not saying that your reasoning isn't valid. You watched something happen that was wrong and unjust, but that doesn't mean if you fire a gun that you're going to become like them." Mac said the words before he could stop himself.

"Ugh! I'm not afraid of becoming a killer, I'm not afraid of doing what they did! Men! Why is it you just expect people to get over their issues!" Lindsay stood up so suddenly, she knocked her chair over backwards. "I see that I've been signed up for my qualification on Friday, I'll make sure that I complete it to the highest standards, sir." Her emphasis on the last word was laced with anger, irritation and frustration. She knew she shouldn't have pushed it, since she knew that calling Mac sir would probably piss him off, but he asked, he wanted to know and now he was judging her. She stormed out of Mac's office and walked right into Danny, who apparently was coming back from his scene.

"Lindsay, I was just--" Danny started to say but she cut him off.

"Go to hell, Messer!" Lindsay shouted at him, the tears flowing freely now. She shoved him out of the way and ran to the locker rooms.

Danny had seen her crying and his heart fell to his feet. He deserved her anger. Had she been talking to Mac about what happened, he thought to himself. He silently hoped that the answer was no, as he wanted to approach Mac himself when the time was right, however he had hoped that he could figure out what was going on with him and Lindsay before that happened. He needed to talk to her, he decided; they needed to sort this thing out and he hated seeing her upset. He had already put his evidence and things in the correct labs, so he headed to the locker room. Knocking on the door, he heard sobbing from the other side.

"Lindsay?" he said as he tentatively started to open the door. He didn't want to open himself up too quickly, incase she threw something at him. "Lindsay, can we talk?"

When nothing came flying at the door, he stepped inside and let it close behind him. There she was, sitting on the bench, with her head in her hands. Seeing her like that made him want to wrap her up in his arms and promise her it was going to be ok. Here he was, trying to protect her from this big bad city and he was the one hurting her the most. I must be the city's biggest slimeball, he thought to himself.

Lindsay looked up at him, half grateful that he followed her here, half irritated because he didn't know when leave well enough alone.

"What do you want Danny?" Lindsay asked as Danny sat down next to her. She could feel the heat radiating off of him. She wanted to be in his arms, she wanted to the comfort that she knew he could provide, even though she had never felt it before. She looked at him, tears still wet on her face, her face blotchy from crying.

"I…Are you ok?" Danny asked, not sure what else to say. Maybe this had been a bad idea. "I mean you seem upset, I was worried about you." Brilliant you dork, he thought, why not just state the complete obvious.

"Yeah, perfectly happy, can't you tell?" She flashed him a weak smile. He always made her smile, no matter what the situation. She felt him shift a little on the bench.

"Saw you came from Mac's office, everything ok?" He asked sincerely, granted he wanted to know how much Mac knew, but still he wanted to help her.

"Yeah, we were just talking about the new reg and how much I don't like it. That's all. Why?" She was curious now, what did he think that she was talking to Mac about. "I should go; I have a list of things to do at home. Plus I think I may have maxed on overtime this month, don't want to cause trouble." Not that the city minds causing trouble for me, she added silently to herself.

"Oh." Danny said the disappointment clear in his voice. He wanted to talk to her more, he wanted to define them.

Lindsay heard the disappointment in his voice, and while she was still very angry with him about this morning, she didn't really want to be alone. This would give them some time to talk in private without the rest of the lab listening, and he might open up more she reasoned to herself, plus it would be a bonus to see if Danny outside of the lab with no pretenses.

"Well I could always use some help hanging my Christmas decorations if you wanted to come over, if you're not too busy." Lindsay said, unsure of his reaction. She gave him a small, hopeful smile, looking right into his eyes.

"Well…oh…ummm…That would be nice." Danny stuttered, "I would love to. I do have some small things to finish up here and then I'll be over, is that ok?" Danny hoped she wouldn't retract her offer; he really did have something to do here to settle his case into the lab.

"Yeah, that's ok. Here's my address." She wrote it down and gave it to him, then put on her coat. "See you in a bit." Lindsay said as she turned to walk out the door.

Danny couldn't resist, he spun her back around to face him, just as he did in the parking garage, and kissed her. Only this time it wasn't a kiss on the cheek. He pressed his lips to hers and pulled her body to his by wrapping his arms around her waist, under her coat. The kiss was full of heat, passion, and desire. Danny felt her arms snake around his neck. Undesirably, they pulled away from the kiss, but remained close together.

"Wow." Lindsay uttered, breathlessly. She pulled back alittle more from Danny, who let her go against his better judgment.

"We need to talk about this Lindsay." Danny said, he so wanted to kiss her again, screw the talking.

"I know and we will tonight, I still have a bone to pick with you--" Lindsay began but stopped herself, "We'll talk about a lot of things tonight ok? But the sooner I leave the sooner you'll get to my place." She placed another small kiss on his lips and said goodbye before walking out the door.