A/N: Same disclosures apply as in previous 10 chapters, please read, enjoy, and review. Thanks to all of the wonderful people who have read this story!

"Lindsay, it's ok." Danny said soothingly, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. "You'll feel better once you get it out in the open. It's not good to keep things bottled up inside."

Lindsay looked at him, staring at his eyes. She wanted to trust him, she wanted to be able to tell him everything that had happened on that horrible day.

"I don't even know where to begin," Lindsay repeated. "It's been so long…" Her voice faded as she dropped her eyes from his, hanging her head like a child who had just been scolded.

Danny didn't know what else to do. He didn't want to force her to talk about it, and he didn't want to just leave her either. He didn't want her going to the range with all of this on her chest, she fail for sure.

"Lindsay, can I ask you a question?" Danny asked her after a few minutes of silence.

"Sure" was her quiet reply.

"Why did you come to New York? What was it that made you travel 2300 miles from the only home you've ever known to a city that is completely foreign and different in everyway?" Danny asked

"I don't know." Lindsay answered honestly. "I felt claustrophobic there, the pay was crappy, everyone knew me. I was sick of the small town atmosphere where everyone knew what happened and had made a decision about who the guilty party was before the evidence could be deciphered. I had applied at other labs for different positions you know. I had resumes in Miami, Las Vegas, Washington…New York was the first one that called and I was desperate to leave." Lindsay looked up at him again. "I'm glad I came to New York though, even though there are times that I don't feel like I belong here, because if I hadn't I would have never met you." She felt her cheeks grow warm but she didn't care.

Danny stared at her, they hadn't ever really talked about what they were the night before, just that they didn't want everyone to find out at once. Her eyes were still wet from tears and a little red and puffy, but she looked gorgeous. Danny didn't know why it had taken him so long to realize it, he was counting his stars it was him she was with and not someone else. Danny pulled her into a hug and told her that he was glad she had chosen New York too.

They stayed that way for several minutes. Content in the silence of only their breathing. It was Lindsay, however, who spoke first.

"I'm going to tell you what happened." She said determinedly, "But I have you not to interrupt, because once I get going it will probably be very hard for me to stop and start again. Deal?" She looked at her watch, it read ten o'clock, she wanted to make sure she had enough time to get this all in.

"Deal" answered Danny, willing to do whatever it took to get her to open up about her past.

"I haven't always lived in Montana. When I was young, my parents were young too. They had me when they were only about 20, so add a small child to that, along with debt, and hard times all around. Things were stressed and tight. My parents thought it would be best to send me to live with my grandmother, who was considerably more financially stable, in Chicago. There was a lot of gang related activity in my grandmother's neighborhood, however that she failed to disclose to them, since she felt that she would be able to keep a child of five or six years old safe and she didn't want them to worry more than they had to. I give her credit she did it for about 2 years, we would never go out of the house after dark, never left the doors unlock, had bullet proof glass installed in all of the windows – even in the car. She tried everything." Lindsay took a shaky breath, she was struggling to hold back the tears. "Have you ever told a child who wants nothing more than to go out and play on a bright sunshiny day that they can't because it could get them killed? I was 6 when I first heard it. I was from Montana, where being outside is like breathing for some people, I loved smelling flowers and running through fields. But I couldn't do that there. I remember one time, Gram tried to take me ice-skating because I had gotten really good grades in school, and it was my reward for working so hard. I had just gotten my skates on when Gram practically dragged me back to the car because there was a gang shoot out on the rink."

Danny uttered a low wow, almost not believing that this had been part of Lindsay's childhood. Happy go lucky Lindsay, his Lindsay.

"Yeah. I watched them from the car as we drove away. They were smiling. They were shooting these guns, hurting people, and all the time they were smiling. It was almost as if they liked it or enjoyed it." Lindsay stopped again, trying to quell the tears that were burning to be released from her eyes.

Danny pulled her into him, so her back was against his chest and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed the back of her head, he knew how hard this was for her.

"The day before I went back to Montana, my Gram wanted to take me shopping for some new clothes, it was winter and I had outgrown a lot of my old winter clothes. She wanted to make sure her "Linny" would stay warm in that cold Montana winter. She used to call me Linny, and I hated it. We had driven out to the mall, and everything was fine, but we got distracted, lost track of the time and ended up leaving later than we wanted. When we were walking to our car, we were approached by three teenagers, they wanted her purse, jewelry, you know the basics of robbery." Lindsay stopped again, trying to keep her composure. For some reason it was easier telling him all of this being in his arms, she felt so safe.

"Gram said no. Said that she wasn't going to just give everything that she have worked for to three bullying uneducated thugs who refused to work for anything in life. I remember her thinking that she was just being stupid, that we should have just given them what they wanted. After all, no one else stood up to them, why should she have? I also remember thinking that she was brave, telling them no, because it wasn't theirs to take, it was her, ours. The next thing I remember were the shots. There must have been 10 or 15 shots, I looked it up when I was older, they had shot her 10 times, emptied the clip. I remember looking into their faces while it happened, and they were smiling, it was like they wanted her to defy them, to fight. They were happy!" Lindsay started to yell and cry. "They killed her and I didn't do anything about it. I didn't try to grab the gun or defend her, I just let them shoot her. She was brave and I was a chicken! She fell to the ground and they ran, they didn't even take what they wanted."

Lindsay was sobbing so hard now she was shaking both herself and Danny. She felt Danny's arms tighten around her, whether it be to hold her or him still, she didn't know. She felt him kiss the back of her head and whisper soothing words into her ear.

"I remember her blood soaking into the snow. I remember the smell of gun powder in the air, it made me nauseous, I threw up on a car. But the rest is a blur, until I got back to Montana. I just remember being so angry because I knew that those thugs wouldn't be brought to justice." Lindsay said, "I remember asking my parents once about Gram, and all they would tell me was that she was in a better place and I was safe." She laughed slightly, "I knew I was safe. I think they were worried that I thought they would come after me. That wasn't my problem, I wanted justice for her." She sat up and turned to look at him.

"My problem with this regulation Danny is that there is way too much violence with guns. I don't want to contribute to it, I don't want to be a part of it again. I just want to do my job, and do it well. I'm supposed to do the work behind the scenes, I'm not a cop. I don't want to hold a gun, or shoot anything or anyone." Lindsay paused, "I'm afraid that if I shoot a gun I will like it and become like them." She said the last sentence so quietly it was almost inaudible. She sat back against Danny, and felt his arms encircle her again.

"So that's my big problem with this regulation Danny. I don't want to be forced to shoot a gun because I'm afraid that I will enjoy it and become like the people who got away with murdering my grandmother." Lindsay wiped the tears away with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

"Lindsay, you could never become like them." Danny told her. "You are one of the most level headed people I know, and that's saying something. You would never take advantage of your position just to cause harm to another person. Ever since I've met you, you've always been determined to solve cases to help people."

Lindsay tilted her head back to look at Danny, without having to leave her comfortable spot.

"You really think so? I was beginning to think that you wished I would have stayed in Montana when I first met you" Lindsay told him.

"Lindsay, when I first met you, I was irritated that you were replacing Aiden, but it had nothing to do with you. How could I have not noticed you though? You are gorgeous, you look like you could belong on a runway or a magazine cover, not in a crime lab." Danny kissed her forehead, and then looked at his watch. It read a little after one. Wow, he thought, they had been talking for a little over 3 hours. "Now, what time do you have to be at the range?"

"Around three, at least that's when Lieutenant Phillips said to be there." answered Lindsay, looking at her watch. "I planned on leaving her around two, two-fifteen."

"And you have directions on how to get there right?" asked Danny, smiling at her, and by the reaction on her face, he knew that she didn't have them.

"Um…" Lindsay started to answer.

"How about this, I had planned on doing some shooting practice today, why don't we just go together?" Danny smiled at her. Lindsay suspected that he was lying, but she was grateful for the offer.

"Didn't you already do your qualification?" She asked and felt him shrug, "It's ok Danny, I'll just take a taxi, if you just want to give me the address." answered Lindsay, she didn't want to make a pain of herself, she knew that he probably had other things to do today other than carting her directionally-challenged butt all over New York. She arched her back up to kiss him fully on the lips. Man, they felt good, she thought.

"Nah," said Danny, "I told you I was planning on going over there anyway." He tightened his grip around her again. "So is that why you became a CSI to help prevent people from getting away with crimes?"

Lindsay sat for a minute and thought, "Yes, I couldn't stand the thought of people getting away with breaking the law. I wanted to be a cop when I was little but then I learned you had to have weapons testing and I didn't want to do that. So when I was talking things over with my guidance counselor in high school, she suggested a more "behind the scenes" role and here I am."

"And, again, I'm glad you're here." Danny said again, and he spun her around to face him, so that her legs were straddling his hips but her butt was still on the couch, and was going to say something but Lindsay beat him to it.

"Are we dating Danny?"