"So I'll see you for movie night on Saturday?" Danny asked. He sat on a stool in the lab, ignoring the magnifier in front of him while he talked on his cell phone.

Maddie smiled on the other end. "Yeah, and I am going to make you watch Miracle."

He rolled his eyes, even though she couldn't see him. "We'll see about that," he told her. "I just got the whole Friday the Thirteenth series on DVD."

She laughed. "Don't get me started," she warned. "I have all twelve parts of From the Earth to the Moon…"

Danny heard a bell ring on Maddie's end of the line. "You better go get something to eat before your next class," he said. "And no eating at your desk…take a break."

"Yes mother," she grinned. "I'll talk to you later."

"Bye."

He pocketed the phone and went back to the magnifier, a small smile still on his lips. He was thinking that he might let her have her way with the movie selection that weekend—he liked hockey and Miracle did look pretty good—when Mac walked into the room a few minutes later. The older detective, however, stopped short of the table Danny was working at. Stella came in behind Mac, and the two stood together speaking in low voices.

Danny continued his work, thinking nothing of it until Aiden came in and was signaled to join Mac and Stella. Aiden mostly listened, but kept glancing over at Danny with a worried expression.

"I kinda get the feeling I'm being watched," Danny said in the direction of the little group.

Stella and Aiden both looked at Mac, who nodded and took a few steps toward Danny. "Danny, a call just came in…"

He looked up from the table. "Okay, where'm I goin'?"

"You're not," Mac replied. "At least not officially."

Danny rose from his seat and raised an eyebrow at his boss. "Mac, what are you talkin' about?"

Mac pressed his lips together and chose his words carefully. "There's been an incident at Eastside High School…"

Danny's blood ran cold. "What happened?"

"A student pulled a knife on a teacher," Mac told him slowly. "He's taken hostages and he's holding them in a classroom."

"Maddie…it's Maddie, isn't it?" He made a mad dash toward the door only to be caught by Aiden and Stella. He fought them, trying to get free. "Let me go! I need to go to her!"

Aiden tried to calm him down. "Danny, Danny, Danny…we'll go together, okay? You're not driving like this…"

The expression on his face was one of confusion mixed with a desperate need to get to Eastside High. The look in his eyes, though, was one Aiden had never seen there before. Danny was terrified.

Stella found her keys and helped Aiden get Danny into the car and over to Eastside. There were squad cars everywhere, a hostage negotiator in place, and armed officers in body armor ready to go in at a moment's notice. Danny stumbled out of the vehicle and started toward the door, unholstering his gun as he moved.

"Where is she?" he called to no one in particular.

Don, who had been first on the scene, stopped him. "Woah, Danny, you can't go in there," he told his friend, grabbing him by the shoulders. "You're not trained for this."

"Flack, that's Maddie in there," Danny said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, I know," Don told him. "And we're going to get her out."

"How can you be so calm?" Danny fumed at him. "How would you feel if that was Aiden in there with a knife to her throat?"

Don knew that he'd be doing exactly what Danny was doing if Aiden was in danger, but he tried to keep his cool. "Listen to me Danny. We're going to get her out," he repeated, "and when we do, she's going to need you to be here waiting for her, in one piece."

Danny tried to calm down, knowing Don was right. He covered his face with his hands and shook his head. "I just talked to her, Don," he said. "We made plans for Saturday…I told her not to eat lunch at her desk today, to take a break from work…"

Don placed a hand on Danny's shoulder. "We're going to get her out," he said firmly.

Danny nodded slowly, pushing up his glasses and rubbing his eyes. Stella came and put an arm around him, leading him over to a part of the parking lot where they would be out of the way. Aiden stood with Don and Mac, wishing there was something she could do.

Then Mac's cell phone rang. It was central dispatch with a new call. Mac got the information and looked at his team, wondering who to send. Danny was leaning against a squad car with Stella's arm still around him, and Mac knew before he even looked over that he was in no shape to go anywhere. Stella was calm, at least outwardly, soothing Danny and trying to keep him composed. Aiden stood still, her face pale but resolute, prepared for whatever was to come.

Mac made his decision. Aiden was Danny's closest friend at the lab, and if something were to happen to Maddie it would be Aiden that he would need most. "Aiden," he said quietly. "Why don't you go sit with Danny for a while. I need to talk to Stella."

Aiden nodded and walked over to the squad car, her arm replacing Stella's as the older CSI joined her partner.

"What's up Mac?"

He filled her in on the call. "I'm taking it myself, but I'm going to need some help. I thought I'd leave Aiden here with Danny…"

Stella nodded. "Good idea. He needs her support." She forced a small smile. "So I guess that makes me the help."

Mac nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay, let's go."

They spoke to Don one more time before departing, leaving him clear instructions to call either of them the second Maddie's situation changed.

It didn't. For hours the assailant sat in a dark classroom, holding Maddie at knifepoint. There had been a small group of students in the room when he took it, and they had been let go. But Maddie was his blue chip hostage, and she wasn't going anywhere. Outside in the parking lot, Danny alternately paced back and forth or sat on the curb in the back corner. Sometimes Aiden would sit with him and sometimes he would send her away, needing some time alone with his thoughts.

Finally the hostage negotiator gave the signal. The assailant was getting tired, sloppy, and the team of armored officers was going in. Danny rose from his place on the curb and joined Aiden and Don in the front of the parking lot. On his way across the lot, he did something he hadn't done in a very long time—he prayed.

The team of officers went in and Danny crossed himself, gripping Aiden's arm tightly. They stood, each holding their breath without realizing it, waiting for something to happen. There was nothing but silence for a few minutes, then came the echo of gunfire.

There were shouts from inside the school, but each one was delivered by a male voice. Danny strained to hear, hoping for the sound of Maddie's voice, but it didn't come. Chaos reigned as police ran in and out of the building, frantically waiving paramedics in behind them. Don rushed in along with the paramedics, and Danny squeezed his eyes shut and hung his head. Someone had been seriously hurt, but still no one knew what had happened.

Finally, a pair of armored officers appeared in the doorway on either side of a young woman with masses of brown hair pinned up on the back of her head. Danny still had his eyes closed, but heard Aiden's breath catch in her throat and opened them.

She was holding a towel to her neck that was turning red with blood, but she was alive and walking out of the building under her own power. Before anyone could stop him, he ran up to the building, calling Maddie's name.

When she looked up and saw Danny coming toward her she left her escorts and met him halfway, throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly against him, feeling her shaking violently as adrenaline coursed through her system. He wished desperately that he could have protected her from this, but was so thankful that she had made it out.

He didn't ever want to let her go, but when he felt something warm soak through his shirt he pulled back a little, remembering the towel on her neck.

"Maddie, you're bleeding…" he said in a voice that tried to be calm.

She looked down at his shoulder and touched the sticky spot on his jacket. "Oh, Danny, I'm so sorry…"

"There's nothing to be sorry for," he told her softly. "Let's just get you over to the paramedics." He held the towel gently against her neck and led her to where an ambulance was waiting.

Officers rushed out with the suspect on a stretcher and loaded him into a second ambulance. Flack emerged from the school, flipping his notebook closed as he spoke to another detective. Aiden opened her cell phone to call Stella and Mac, and to ask permission to begin processing the scene.

Danny, however, saw none of it. He was focused on Maddie, his arm draped around her as an EMT traded her blood-soaked towel for a clean one and tried to stem the bleeding.

"She's going to need stitches, Detective," the medic told Danny. "We'll have to take her to the hospital."

"Okay, I'll meet you there," he replied, knowing they wouldn't let him ride along.

Maddie, in shock and still shaking intensely, smiled a little as the EMT helped her into the ambulance. "I'll be alright," she promised.

Later, Maddie sat alone in an exam room in the ER with fresh sutures stitched neatly in a row along her throat. The cut hadn't been hadn't been deep—the knife had only injured her as the assailant fell away from her after being shot—but could have easily been fatal if it had.

This was the thought running through Danny's mind as he knocked on the door. "Hey there," he tried to smile.

"Hey slugger," she replied, trying to smile back.

He sat down beside her on the gurney. "Doctor says you're going to be fine."

She nodded. "I am. What about the kid with the knife?"

He shook his head. "He's in critical condition. He was shot in the shoulder and the bullet tore an artery. He lost a lot of blood, and they're not sure if he'll make it."

Maddie bowed her head. "I got him suspended," she said quietly. "The vice principal told him that if he got written up one more time, he was out for ten days, and I caught him cutting class…"

He slid his arm around her and pulled her to him. "This is not your fault," he told her. "He's the one that pulled a knife on you. Whatever happens to him he brought on himself."

She laid her head down against his shoulder and sighed. "I was scared, Danny. Even after he let the other kids go I was afraid I wasn't going to make it out of there." She took a deep breath and continued, "I thought I'd never see my students again, my family, you…Danny, there's something I want to tell you…"

She sat up, her blue eyes searching his. What she saw there made her hesitate. He was relieved beyond belief that she was okay, and cared about her so much, but what she was looking for wasn't there. "I…I wanted you to know…that you're my best friend. I never want any of my kids to get into trouble, but I'm so thankful that Dantrell did, because that's where I met you."

She rested her head back on his shoulder and he tightened his arm around her.

"That was a lucky day for me, too," he told her, grinning. "I finally found someone who likes the same movies I do."

She laughed and patted his knee. "So what do you say we head back to my place and watch a little Forrest Gump?"

He helped her down off the gurney and chuckled. "I love that Lieutenant Dan…"