Sheldon appeared in the door bright and early, belying the late night he'd spent at the morgue.

"What's up doc?" Danny smiled from his bed.

Sheldon allowed the corners of his lips to curve up a little, but didn't return the smile entirely. "You're up early."

Danny nodded slowly, sensing that this was more than a social call. "Slept too much yesterday," he replied, "woke up 'bout an hour ago."

"How're you feeling?" the young doctor asked, taking a seat in the vacant chair beside the bed.

"I'll live," Danny told him, eyeing his visitor with a hint of suspicion. "But you aren't here to check up on me, are you?"

"Well, I am, but I do have an ulterior motive as well." Danny raised an eyebrow and Sheldon chose his words carefully, wanting to make his point but not lose a friend. "Maddie came to see me last night at the morgue."

Danny frowned. "I s'pose she told you 'bout what happened."

Sheldon nodded. "She did."

"So you wanted to come down here and get all tough-guy on me?" the detective smirked. "Tell me what you'll do to me if I hurt her?"

Sheldon shook his head. "No, Danny, I'm not going to threaten you," he said. "I just want to talk."

"Alright then, talk."

"How many times have students called Maddie for help since you've known her?"

Danny reached back into his mind, but couldn't come up with a number. "A fair number," was the best he could do.

"How many of them have been guilty?" Sheldon asked.

"Enough," Danny replied.

"How many of the guilty ones has she ever defended?"

Danny thought back again and frowned, knowing where Sheldon was going. "None. Either they own up to what they did, or they're on their own."

"Has it ever been easy for her to leave them?"

Danny looked down at his hands, his brow furrowing resentfully. "Of course not."

Sheldon asked one more question. "So why should this kid be any different?"

Danny was uncharacteristically silent

Sheldon continued. "Look, Danny, you've had a very turbulent twenty-four hours, and you have every right to be upset—I don't know anyone who wouldn't be. But if you're not careful, you're going to ruin the best thing that ever happened to you, and you'll never forgive yourself if you do."

Danny remained silent, and Sheldon decided he had made his point. He rose from the chair and left the room quietly, leaving Danny with his thoughts.

All that week, Eastside High was in a state of unrest. Danny's participation in the simulated crime scene lesson and his recurring visits made him an accepted and well-liked part of the school, and word had spread about his shooting. That one of their own was involved was more than some students could handle, and they made it a point to take out their displeasure on Luis's friends. Maddie again found herself caught between a rock and a hard place, refusing to take sides even when students pressured her to do so.

One day the animosity overflowed into the lesson.

"Miss Parrish, I heard some disturbing news," a girl said in class.

"What's that?"

"That you went to see Luis Romero in jail."

"I did," she told the class. "He asked me for help"

"But he shot the only cop that ever treated us like we're worth somethin'!" another student called hostilely.

"And as soon as I found out, I left his cell," Maddie replied.

"You just left him there?" one of Luis's friends asked.

Maddie frowned. "I had to. I was a witness to the crime he's being accused of." She hopped up on her desk and gazed out at her students. They looked ready to burst with emotion. "It's pretty obvious you guys need to talk about this, so let's talk. But," she said, raising a hand to stop the tirade of comments about to come her way, "we're going to discuss this like adults. Be polite and respectful to whoever is speaking, and make sure everyone gets to say their piece."

A boy near the back raised her hand and Maddie called on him.

"We don't really have any facts about what happened, Miss Parrish, just rumors."

"Yeah," a classmate seconded. "No one knows what really went on that night."

"Okay, so you want the real story then?" Maddie asked.

Heads nodded and students agreed.

"Well, here's what I know. Detective Messer was off duty, when he tried to stop a burglary at a jewelry store in midtown. He was shot in the shoulder and taken to the hospital. The surgeon stopped the bleeding and repaired most of the damage, and he's going to make a full recovery," she stressed the last phrase, trying to reassure her students. "Luis was arrested, confessed to his part in the crime."

"Were you there when it happened?" someone asked.

Maddie nodded. "I was with Detective Messer when he was shot."

"Were you hurt Miss Parrish?"

"No, only the detective."

"Did you see it happen?"

She nodded again. "Everything but the faces of the robbers."

"You saw Detective Messer get shot?" someone asked incredulously.

Maddie looked away from the eyes of her students, trying to keep the images of Danny lying on a carpet of broken glass with a bullet hole in his shoulder from flooding her mind. "Yes."

"And Luis did it?"

"He was part of it, yes."

The room was quiet while the class absorbed all Maddie had told them. Then someone spoke up from the corner of the room.

"How can you be so calm about it, Miss Parrish? If it were me I'd be torn apart…"

"I am," she replied softly. "You all know how much I care about you and how much it hurts me to see you make bad choices. And many of you know what it's like to sit beside the hospital bed of someone you care about—that's hard too. So I'm just doin' the best I can, Tina…just like you guys are."

The bell rang, and the students packed up their belongings and left with few words. Maddie closed a book she'd left open on a lab table and tucked it away on its shelf. When she turned around, she found Dantrell waiting for her.

"Hey Dantrell," she smiled. "How are you doing with all this? You're pretty close to Detective Messer and to Luis."

Dantrell nodded. "I'm okay. Goin' to see Luis after school today…"

"Good idea," Maddie told him. "He needs you right now."

"Yeah…" He let his voice trail off for a moment before he spoke again. "Do you think it might be okay if I went to visit Detective Messer in the hospital?"

Maddie smiled. "I think he'd like that a lot. He's pretty fond of you, ya know…very proud of you, too. He'd be happy to see you."

Dantrell smiled shyly. "You think so?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Now you better get going…don't want to be late for class…"

"One more thing…I wanted you to know that you're not alone, Miss Parrish. This whole caught-in-the-middle thing…I'm right here with you…"

Maddie felt a wave of pride wash over her. He'd grown up so much in the short time she'd known him. "Thanks kiddo, that means a lot to me," she told him.

He smiled shyly at her again then headed off to his next class.

Danny spent the remainder of the week in the hospital where doctors could keep an eye on the damaged artery in his shoulder. Friends, family, and co-workers came to visit him, bringing flowers and get-well wishes. Many of the students of Eastside High School also dropped by to check up on him, but one person was conspicuously absent. The other CSIs sometimes carried messages from her, and he sent messages back with them, but Maddie refused to return to the hospital. After the way he had treated her, though, he wasn't surprised.

The day he was released, Aiden picked him up from the hospital and took him home, fussing over him and trying to get him to sit down and rest.

"I've been cooped up in a hospital bed for a week, Aid," he told her. "I don't need anymore rest."

He paced restlessly around his apartment while she unpacked a week's worth of plants, balloons, and cards. He wandered into the kitchen and stared blankly at the calendar, suddenly realizing he had no idea what day it was.

"Aiden," he called to her. "What's today?"

"Today's Tuesday," she told him.

"Which Tuesday?"

Aiden walked into the kitchen and glanced at the calendar. "June seventh, why?"

His eyes found the little note he'd left himself in the square for June seventh: Eastside High, 7:00. He looked at the clock on the microwave. It read 5:32. He didn't know how angry she still was with him, or if she'd even speak to him, but Sheldon's words rang in his ears. You're going to ruin the best thing that ever happened to you, and you'll never forgive yourself if you do.

He knew he had a choice to make. He could stand by and do nothing, as he'd done all week, and wait to see if things would work out on their own. Or he could go get her back.

He decided he wasn't the waiting type.

"Hey Aid, how'd you like to take me to a graduation ceremony?"