A/N: Same disclosures apply as in all previous chapters. Please enjoy reading and then please review…I love getting feedback…it's one of the highlights of my day! Enjoy!

Chapter 6

Danny started to stand, throwing his napkin on the table. He watched Pacey take a seat at the counter, he was only a few feet away. Just sitting there, like nothing was wrong.

"I'm going to kill him." he said, not bothering to contain his anger or his voice, "I'll be right back."

Lindsay whimpered and grabbed at his wrist, and then slid her hand down into his. She gently tried to pull him back into the booth.

"Danny," Mac said firmly, "Sit down."

Danny stopped moving, and looked at Mac, but he didn't sit down. Lindsay hadn't let go of his hand, he could feel her shaking slightly.

"Danny," Mac said again, this time a little more gently, "Sit down. Let's not make a scene here."

Danny sat down, but continued to hold Lindsay's hand under the table.

"Lindsay," Stella looked at her, "Do you want to go? We can find another place to eat, or we can go back to someone's apartment and order out."

"No." Lindsay said firmly, "He is not going to scare me from having a nice dinner with my friends, my family. I refuse to run into hiding because of him."

Danny squeezed her hand gently under the table. They looked at each other and smiled, there was a quiet understanding.

"That's good Lindsay," Mac said looking at her, "that's a great attitude to have. This isn't going to be easy, you know that don't you?"

"Yes Mac, I'm aware." Lindsay said, "Can we order now?" She wanted to turn the subject to something more pleasant, she wanted to forget that Pacey ever existed, let alone that she dated him.

Their waitress came up, took their orders and refilled their drinks. Danny was watching Pacey while they talked about random things. Mac had asked Lindsay if there was anyone that they could call, such as her mom or aunt. He vaguely heard Lindsay answer no, as Pacey got up and walked their way.

He passed by their table, and Danny felt Lindsay's hand tighten on his as he passed. He gently squeezed back, in a reassuring manner. Danny half hoped that Pacey would try something because it would give Danny a justified reason to use him as a punching bag, but the other half of him just wanted Pacey to leave as Lindsay had been through enough today.

The waitress had just dropped off their plates and they were all commenting on how everything smelled and looked when Pacey passed back through. He turned and looked at their table.

"Lindsay Monroe?" He had the balls to speak to them, "Is that you? I hardly recognize you." The sarcasm in his voice was thick and dripping, like acid. There was a smirk on his face, and his eyes were full of malice.

Lindsay looked up at him, her face steely. She didn't look away but again, she squeezed Danny's hand.

"What --" She started to ask him a question when a surprising voice cut her off.

"How dare you talk to her like you don't know what happened. Don't you think you've done enough today?" Stella practically shouted at him. She would have hit him too, but she was sitting on the inside of the booth, and that prevented her from reaching him.

"I really have no idea what you're talking about," He paused trying to fake a look of innocence, "Stella, right?"

Stella was about to fire back when there was a small movement to her left. Mac had stood up.

"I think you should leave." He said standing next to him. He had pulled his suit coat back to reveal his badge in a casual gesture. "I would hate to see you have an accident." His voice was calm and even, and without even the slightest hint of aggression.

Pacey said nothing, but stared at him, as if he was trying to determine what the best course of action should be.

Mac started to sit back down since Pacey seemed to be speechless, content with having said his peace, when Pacey put his hand on Mac's shoulder pushing him backwards slightly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Mac said, but did nothing to move the hand.

"What are you going to do?" Pacey said, "Unleash Messer on me? You'd better let him go back to the kitchen and get a cooking utensil." He pushed on Mac's shoulder again.

It was Danny who spoke up, this time, but he was slightly laughing.

"I really wouldn't do that if I were you."

Pacey narrowed his eyes, "Thank goodness you're not me because then I would be an egotistical ass."

In one swift movement, Mac had grabbed the hand that Pacey had put on his shoulder, spun him around so that his arm was twisted hard behind his back, and presently had him bent over the back of the booth. Pacey was breathing hard, and moaning slightly in pain. Other patrons and some of the staff had started to watch what was happening.

"Mac…" Stella said softly.

"Ow, Man." Pacey breathed into the booth cushion, "Lay off! Who the hell do you think you are?

"I'm a former member of the United States Marine Corp and a detective with the New York Police department, punk." Mac asked, ignoring his cries of pain, "Exactly how dumb are you? Did you think I was going to let you walk out of here, seeing as how I know that the fine members of our NYPD are looking for you in an assault related to one of my people? And now you go an assault me. I think we'll give them a call; save them the trouble of looking for you." He pulled up a little harder on Pacey's arm, then he turned to Danny and told him to call Officer Marshall.

Danny let go of Lindsay's hand with a little squeeze, stood up and started to walk out of the diner to get a good signal with his cell phone. As he passed by the immobilized Pacey, he smacked him on the back of the head.

"Peon." He said.

"Did you see that…did anyone see that police brutality!" Pacey started to shout, "Police brutality!"

"Shut up Pacey, just shut up." Lindsay said suddenly but softly, "No one wants to hear from someone who abuses women."

"Whores who des--" Pacey started, "Ow!"

"Shut it." Mac said after yanking up slightly on Pacey's arm.

Danny walked in, followed by Officer Marshall.

"Ms. Monroe, are you ok?" Officer Marshall asked her.

Lindsay nodded that she was as Danny sat back down. Lindsay immediately took his hand again without thinking.

"Pacey Thomas…we've been looking for you" Officer Marshall said, turning his attention to Pacey. "Wish they all made it this easy for us. Thanks Mac."

"Not a problem Ty. Just make sure you treat him with the same respect he showed our Lindsay." Mac said smiling and sitting back down. He exchanged coded smiles with Stella. "Now where were we?"

They ate their dinners without further issue, and said goodbye to each other about an hour later.

As they drove back to Lindsay's apartment, to allow her to grab some of her things, she rested her head on the headrest and stared out the window.

"You ok?" Danny asked, looking over at her for a second before returning his eyes to the road.

She looked over at him, smiled slightly,

"Yeah, just tired." She said.

"Well we won't stay long," Danny said, "and when we get back to my place you can take a nice long bath or shower if you want."

"That sounds so relaxing." Lindsay said, "Are you sure you're going to have enough hot water?" She laughed softly.

"Eh, you're little," Danny said, "you're not going to use that much. Are you? Cause I'd like to shower tonight too."

She laughed softly, reached over and swatted his arm lightly.

He pulled into a parking spot in her parking garage. He hopped out of the vehicle to help her out, and they made their way up to her apartment.

Danny turned on a couple of lights so that they could see their way around. He looked at the living room area which showed no signs that anything had happened their earlier. This day had been so long, he was looking forward to going to bed tonight, though he didn't know whether he'd be able to sleep with Lindsay just across the hall.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Danny asked as he watched her go in and out of rooms, carrying things to bags she had set on the couch.

"You can pick out some DVDs to take with us if you want. There's really not much else I need help with, unless you want to put that stuff in the bag for me, while I grab other stuff." She said, continually going from room to room.

"Ok, I'll pack then I'll pick out some DVDs if we have room. I have a small collection at my place too." Danny said as he started to pick up her neatly folded clothes.

He had put a few groups into one of the bags when suddenly he realized what one of the items were, a bra. It was white, and lacey, and Danny was suddenly very aware of where he was and what he was holding. Quickly he put into the bag, but the image wasn't erase quickly from his mind. He put the rest of the clothes in the bag without looking at them, in fact he was looking anywhere but what he was doing.

"Ow! Damn it!" Lindsay cried from another room.

Danny snapped out of his trance, and went to see what was wrong.

"Lindsay, you ok?" He called out to her, while he tried to determine where exactly she was.

"Yes," she said in a mildly irritated voice, "I'm fine, just this air cast doesn't really protect you from whacking your wrist on the doorframe.

He took the items from her arms, and carried them back out to the couch.

"I could have helped you, ya know." He said gently, "I don't mind."

"I know Danny, but I really don't want to be a problem." She said, "I really think that I'd be ok in my own apartment. Me being at your place is going to really crimp your social life. Heck, you'll probably be begging me to leave in two days."

Danny gently took her face in both hands, looking her deep in the eyes, those creamy chocolate brown eyes,

"You are not a problem, you're not going to crimp anything, and you are staying as long as it takes to get this whole thing taken care of, ok?" Danny continued to stare into her eyes. "I want to do this for you."

Lindsay stared back into his eyes, those deep pools of blue, and couldn't help but think how gorgeous he looked at that very moment. How warm and smooth his hands felt, even on her bruised face.

"Thanks Danny." She said softly, not breaking the connection they seemed to have. "It means a lot to me." She placed one of her hands on his, pressing it to her face. She kissed the palm of his hand as she removed it from her face. "I'm ready to go if you are."

Danny stared at her, still feeling her lips on the palm of his hand. His mind was spinning. He nodded, and picked up her bags. They left the apartment, and headed back down to his vehicle.