A/N: This is just something I cooked up in less than 20 minutes while in the backseat of a car, so it may be bad... No romance though.
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI:NY and any of the characters.
We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much. It is often that we befriend others by initiating small talk. We chatter away, share our dreams and nightmares, and then consider the person who reciprocates amiably a friend, a lover. Then again, sometimes silence is loud. It speaks for itself. It is powerful.
Lindsay never considered herself lucky. There was never a great childhood to enjoy, nor was there great promise in her future. She was quite content with her new job in New York; it was a refreshing break from rustic country sides. Montana would always be home, the place she had built over twenty years of memories. When tragedy struck and scarred her memories with a broken and aching heart, Lindsay ran. But those were buried deep in the past, and she did not plan to uncover them again. She found herself in New York, a place she had always wanted to see and experience, alone and weary.
She was excited about her job, it provided distractions and let her help others. She knew that they thought she was too 'chipper' about work, but the truth was, what else was she to do in a city where crime never slept? Lindsay found peace in solitude; nobody knew her and nobody judged her. Still, she wished she could find a friend to spend some of that stifling free time with.
She woke up before the alarm clock rang, as usual, and stretched. The clock was just a precaution, should she ever fail to wake up on time. Sighing and stretching, Lindsay got out of bed and started her normal routine. Wash up, change, pour a bowl of cereal, grab bag, lock up, leave, walk to the subway station. It was boring, and increasingly so, but the thought of putting puzzles together and avenging the innocent (albeit usually dead) psyched her up.
She felt Danny before seeing him enter the locker room.
"Montana." He greeted.
"Messer." She shut her locker door and clicked the combination lock, and pushing past him, moved towards the exit.
Danny stood in her way. She glared at him, "Excuse me, I have work to do."
"You're still mad at me"
"Why do you care?" Lindsay shot back. She wasn't really angry anymore, but he just annoyed her wholesomely. Yesterday, he had made her wade in a pool of decomposing human matter (as the rookie, she didn't have much of a choice) and while she bent down to scoop a piece of fiber up, called her name and flung a mass of sludge at her. Maybe he was aiming at her back, but because Danny had called her, she had foolishly turned around and got liquefied human parts all over her chest. Lindsay had been so incensed she didn't even scream or yell, just turned away, finished her task and left without a word.
"I want to apologize."
She eyed him wearily; he looked kind of sorry. Who cares? She had paperwork to complete anyway. Shrugging, Lindsay slid past him and strode off to retrieve the files she was working on. Damn him.
Danny worked quietly in the lab; he felt lonely. Pour cold ethanol, shake. Add 5 buffer solution, shake, dilute. 1X, 2X, 4X, 8X… There was nothing to distract him but he just couldn't focus. Centrifuge, remove, micropipette, electrophoresis tray, flick the switch on. Staring at the blue agar gel and listening to the burring of electric currents running through the equipment, Danny let his mind wander.
Yesterday, and eight-year-old had taken over his body, forced his hand into a pool of decomposition and controlled his muscles to fling whatever it was he had scooped up onto Lindsay's chest. Wait, now her name was Lindsay? Danny had never believed a silent woman could be more terrifying than an angry, raving one. Yesterday, that all changed. Lindsay's silence frightened him. Why? Why? Why? Since when was he ever afraid of hurting anyone?
He sighed and switched off the electrical supply, then prudently drained the excess electrolyte and removed the agar slab carefully. Danny printed and recorded the results, before slipping it into a folder and placing it in the tray for the DNA lab techs to analyze. Yawning, he removed his lab coat and headed for the break room where some awful coffee was calling his name. Danny had found it hard to sleep last night. He remembered musing at three a.m that it was ironic the silence was roaring in his ears, and disrupting his peace.
Glancing at the clock hanging on the wall, Danny stood up, shift was almost over. He made a decision to clear things up with Linds…no, Montana. Maybe then he'd be able to sleep tonight.
She was nearly done writing the report when Danny knocked on her office door and entered with a mug of coffee. Not that disgusting crap again. Lindsay half hoped he meant to keep the coffee for himself.
"Hey."
She looked up and smiled. She had never been one to bear a grudge for long.
He pushed the mug of coffee towards her. Accepting it graciously, Lindsay placed it on the table. Not too close to herself though, the smell was overbearing.
"How's the paperwork coming along?" Danny asked, trying to make small talk.
"Fine, I'm almost done." She picked up her pen again and continued writing.
Danny sat in the chair across her. There it was, that insanely painful awkward silence. He watched her write industriously, pen flying across the paper, drafting a pleasant yet scrawly manuscript. "I'm really sorry about yesterday, y'know?" He had to fill the silence up. It was going to strangle him.
Lindsay dotted the 'i's and crossed the 't' in the word she was writing. Asphyxiation. Poor victim, she sympathized. "I know."
He stared at her eyes, which refused to look at him, but were directed to the sheets of paper she was referring to. "I wanted to make sure you're not mad anymore."
"I'm not." She clicked her pen and rearranged the papers.
"Good…good." Danny licked his lips nervously. He noted with a sense of guilt that the coffee he had offered was cooling at the corner of her desk.
In the silence, a stapler crunched and bound the stack of papers together. Lindsay closed the file and leaned back into the chair, raising her eyes to meet his. The sheepish look on his face was almost cute, she thought, and smirked. The smirk only grew when Danny let out a small sigh of relief.
In desperation, Danny asked, "How does dinner sound?"
Lindsay raised an eyebrow, "Why? So you can throw soup at me?"
He reddened ever so slightly and she laughed, "Okay. Just let me get these to Mac."
Danny followed her out to Mac's office, pondering where he should take her. He was slightly trouble when he realized he didn't even know if she considered him a friend. She was walking just a foot in front of him and Danny found himself liking the way she walked with quiet confidence and poise. Stop it, he chided himself, get her approval first before even entertaining such (affectionate) thoughts.
They moved silently and deliberately in the locker room. Lindsay pulled her hair out of the back of her sweater and shut the locker door. Checking that she hadn't left anything behind, she crossed her arms and waited for Danny, who seemed to be moving awfully slow.
Dinner went well. He had taken her to a cozy Italian family restaurant which served amazing pasta. Maybe she was just hungry, or time seemed to fly. They chatted about work, and some superficial bits of their life. Neither were ready to share their insights and memories yet. The distance between them shrank and Lindsay felt comfortable for once In New York. She let him send her home. No, home was Montana, this was just her apartment.
Before he unlocked the car door, Danny made another decision to foster some kind of relationship with the brunette he had been mistreating.
"Lindsay?"
"Yeah?" She turned to look at him with a smile.
Lord, she had a sweet smile. "Are we friends?"
Lindsay tilted her head with a pensive look. "I'm open to suggestions." It would be nice to have a friend. Even though he was an ass, she did care for him. A lot, actually.
Flashing his best grin at her, Danny closed a deal, "We're friends."
"Okay." She grinned back, shaking his outstretched hand. Neither were in a hurry to loosen their grips on each other.
That night, Danny felt the best he ever had in a long time, and Lindsay found that she had something more to look forward to in the day other than work.
- Silence is golden, but my eyes still see. -
Read & Review. I'm still thinking if I should (and could) write a sequel...
XOXO