A/N: Again, same disclosures apply as in previous chapters, please read and review, as reviews help me update faster! This chapter is a little longer than the others due to the fact that it maybe my last update before Christmas (life gets crazy around here this week!) Thanks to all my great readers who read this story and even more to those who review, you're the greatest!

Chapter 10

Lindsay woke up in the morning, with the sun shining on her face. She stretched and smiled as she remembered last night, it had been fun. She rolled over, and realized she was in bed. She wondered how she had got there, the last thing that she had remembered was watching the movie with Danny on the couch after putting up her Christmas decorations. She looked at the clock, it read 8:45am. Her phone rang.

"'ello?" answered Lindsay, still sounding sleepy.

"Lindsay Monroe?" replied the male voice.

"Speaking, who is this?" Lindsay asked, trying to sound more awake.

"This is Lieutenant Phillips and I'm the range officer with the NYPD range. I saw that you were scheduled to come in and do your qualification on Friday, but we had a cancellation and was wondering if you would like to come in today?" Lieutenant Phillips said to her.

"Um, let me check with my boss to make sure it's ok and to let him know what's going on. Can I get your number and call you back?" Lindsay asked with a pit in her stomach. She knew Mac would be fine with it, hell he would probably be ecstatic. She grabbed a notepad and pen that she kept by her bed.

"Sure," came Lieutenant Phillips reply, "The number here to the range office is 212-426-8900, and I'll look forward to seeing you this afternoon."

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Lindsay groaned loudly into her pillow. This was not what she wanted to do today. What was so wrong about wanting to go to work, do her job to the best of her ability, and help put bad people away without having to fire a gun! She smacked her mattress with her fist; damn it she thought, what a way to start what could have been a great day. She got up out of bed, grabbed her robe and padded to the bathroom. If she was going to have to do this today, she was going to at least have a hot shower first.

A couple of blocks away in his apartment, Danny was sitting on the couch, the Today Show was playing on the television. They were doing some holiday gift giving segment, but he wasn't really taking it in though, he was too preoccupied thinking about last night. How it had been fun to have someone to decorate with and how it had been wonderful to spend time with Lindsay outside of the lab. While he would never admit it to anyone, at least not easily, he was completely infatuated with Lindsay. He shut the television off and stood up. She ought to be up by now, Danny thought looking at his watch, I think I'll swing by and surprise her with breakfast. He grabbed his coat and walked out the door. While he was heading down in the elevator, he remembered that Lindsay said that she wasn't a breakfast person when he teased her about having a salad and soup. When the elevator door opened, he had a plan all laid out in his head. He started to whistle softly as he headed out the front door.

Lindsay got out of the shower and got dressed. She chose faded blue jeans, a white tee shirt with a burgundy v-neck sweatshirt. It wasn't something that she would normally have worn to work, but since this was turning out to be something other than a normal day, she thought she might as well be comfortable. She picked up the phone and called Mac.

"Mac Taylor" came his voice as he picked up.

"Hey Mac, it's Lindsay." She said into the receiver. "I got a call this morning from a Lieutenant Phillips. He would like me to come into today to do my qualification instead of on Friday since they had a cancellation. I told him that I had to check with you to make sure that you didn't need me in the lab, because if you do I'll keep my Friday appointment, it's ok. I'm sure they can find someone else to take the spot." Lindsay knew she was babbling, but she hoped that if she talked long enough Mac would just tell her to go on Friday.

"Go ahead Lindsay, we've got enough people to cover for today. Take as much time as you need, this is important." He stressed the last word to her, hoping that she would take it seriously. He couldn't have her being locked in the lab, when she was so good out in the field.

"Oh, are you sure? Because I can always keep the appointment on Friday, I really don't mind." Lindsay asked once more; hoping that he would change his mind.

"Lindsay, the lab will be fine for one day." Mac reiterated, "Go get it done and over with, you'll feel a lot better." His voice was caring and concerned.

"Thanks Mac." Lindsay hung up the phone and threw it into the cushions on the couch. She went and picked it back up and she dialed the range office's number.

"NYPD Range, how can I help you?" The voice on the end was way too perky.

"Hi, my name is Lindsay Monroe, is Lieutenant Phillips available?" Lindsay asked politely.

"Sure, can you hold please?" and without waiting for an answer, she placed Lindsay on hold. The hold music was Christmas-y instrumental pieces. After a few minutes Lieutenant Phillips picked up. They talked for a few minutes, confirmed that she would be at the range around 3 and hung up.

Lindsay threw the phone back onto the couch and flopped down beside it. She suddenly realized she was hungry, so she stood back up and went into the kitchen to look for something to eat. She had just started to weigh her options, leftover pizza from last night or leftover chicken from two nights ago, when she heard the buzzer. She shut the refrigerator door, smiled as she passed the beautiful roses Danny gave her last night, and walked over to the intercom.

"Who is it" she asked after pushing the talk button.

"Delivery" came the reply, and Lindsay recognized the voice. She smiled.

"Come on up." Lindsay pressed the button to unlock the front door and opened her door a crack, she couldn't believe that he would surprise her like this. Maybe the day was starting to get better. She listened at the door for his footsteps and when she heard them, she opened the door all the way.

"Good morning," she said, as she leaned into kiss him. "What brings you by so early? Shouldn't you be enjoying your day off or something?"

"Well I got to thinking, that since I have some things to do, I would like to share breakfast with you before you have to go to work." Danny said smiling. "And what was with buzzing me in without asking who it was?" Danny walked over to the table and set the bag on it.

"I knew it was you." Lindsay said, following him over to the table. "So what did you bring me for breakfast?" She kissed him again.

Danny started taking out the items that he had brought. He set several small styrofoam containers on the table, until the bag was empty. She stood there and watched him as he went to gather two plates, two bowls and both spoons and forks.

"Wanna help me here?" He asked smiling. She loved how his accent seemed to get thicker when he was trying to be cute. She grabbed some of the dishes from him.

"See I figured since you have to be at work at 1 that I would come and bring you a healthy, nutritious brunch, since I know you said you're not a real breakfast type person, who, and I quote, prefers food that doesn't come out of an animals' butt." He smiled at her, as a light tint of red crossed her checks. "I would bring you a nice meal that would stick to your ribs."

"Well…" Lindsay started.

"I brought you creamy chicken soup, lots of fresh fruit salad, some homemade mashed potatoes, and mixed veggies with cheese." Danny smiled at her, proud of himself. "And for desert homemade cherry jubilee custard."

"Danny you are so sweet and thoughtful, why aren't you like this at work." Lindsay smiled and kissed him.

When they had broken apart, Danny had a playfully hurt look on his face.

"What do you mean I'm not this way at work? I'm always kind, sweet, and thoughtful at work…maybe you just haven't been around to see it." He teased her and was rewarded with a swat on the arm. "Hey now"

"Well I have a surprise for you too." Lindsay said as she helped herself to some of the chicken soup. "I don't have to go into work until later."

"Why?" asked Danny curiously, "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, I just have to go to the range around 3 to do that stupid qualification thing since the city thinks we're all incompetent and would walk into a situation where we would be defenseless." Lindsay finished and started to help herself to the veggies, "Besides, who in their right mind would just go into a possibly dangerous situation without backup?"

"Yeah…well…" Danny shifted uncomfortably, "Situations happen Linds, you can't always predict or prepare for the situations you're put into on the job." His mind jumped back to the situation in the subway that took him off the promotion grid. His face tightened.

"Speaking from experience Danny?" Lindsay had noticed that his face had changed, like all emotion had just been wiped away. "Look, I'm not saying that you can, I just don't want to be forced to do it, I believe it should be our choice to learn to fire a weapon. Unfortunately, no one else seems to share my opinion. I feel like I'm the only one that doesn't carry a gun out into the field." She took another bite of soup.

"Hawkes doesn't." Danny said without thinking. He was still thinking back to that subway.

"Hawkes could sell ice to the Eskimos." Lindsay replied, "The soup is really good, where's it from?"

"I got it from the corner deli by my building." Danny answered, "They do pretty much anything you ask. I'd bet they would make a 15 course meal if you asked."

"Danny, you ok?" Lindsay noticed he had shut down. There seemed to be no emotion of any kind flowing from him. "Did I say something wrong?" She started to worry she had upset him.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Danny answered quietly, "Let's just finish brunch ok?" He flashed her a weak smile.

"Ok" said Lindsay. Great, she thought to herself, I've screwed it up after just a day and maybe a half.

When they were full, Lindsay started to clear things away from the table, and was shocked when Danny grabbed her hand and led her to the couch. They sat down, Danny turned so that he could look at her.

"Did I ever tell you about the case in the subway, where an undercover cop was shot?" Danny asked, when Lindsay shook her head no, he continued, "The cop was shot by me."

Lindsay mouth formed a small O, and her eyes went wide with shock, but Danny pressed on. He needed her to understand why this new regulation was so important.

"I was processing a scene where someone had been shot. I had been going around checking the place for weapons and trace. Someone jumped at me from the closet and ran. I left the scene, and chased after him. It turned into a 3 way shoot-out. Myself, the undercover cop, who I thought was the suspect, and the real suspect all fired. There were bullets going everywhere and when it was all said and done, he was done, I was hit, and the suspect was gone. It was stupid on my part, but my adrenaline was pumping and I fired wildly."

"Was anyone hurt?" Lindsay asked, fearing the answer slightly.

"The undercover was shot and killed by the actual suspect. My bullet was never found. Mac took me off the promotion grid." Danny rubbed his forehead, "I knew better. But if I hadn't had my gun, I could have been killed, or the suspect could have gotten away. Or worse, I could have been killed."

"But an innocent person was killed Danny." Lindsay stressed. She couldn't believe he was trying to justify the regulation.

"Lindsay, I understand what you're saying, and the example I'm using is bad. But what would you do if you were in that situation, you didn't know who had caught you off guard at a crime scene by jumping out of a closet at you?" Danny asked, almost pleading with her to understand. "Tell me what you have against this regulation."

"It's not that I have anything against it…well not technically, anyway. I think it's a good sound idea for those who want to participate. I just don't want anything to do with guns, is that ok?" Lindsay stopped. She knew she was going to get defensive and she was trying to not take out her personal demons on Danny. "I just have issues with guns and I don't want to have to deal with them, guns I mean, not my demons."

"Lindsay, what happened? I saw you in the hall with Mac a week or so ago, and I know yesterday you were pretty po'd coming out of his office. Tell me what's bothering you so much about this regulation. Please." Asked Danny, taking her hand and looking into her eyes.

"I haven't talked about it in years. I don't even know where to begin…" started Lindsay, the tears already forming in her eyes.