AN My apologies to all the D/L shippers out there…this chapter is not going to be your favorite. This is your warning so stop with the yelling! LOL Like I said at the beginning – save the lynchings until after I finish!
:oP Nevermind

I lost track of how many beers I'd had. Nothing was making me feel better. Lindsey had tried to talk about what had happened, but I wouldn't let her. I wouldn't let her talk about work, either. Instead, she was telling me stories about growing up in Montana. I was only half-listening, but I think she knew that. She seemed to be talking without really saying anything, just talking for the sake of talking.

We were sitting in the very back of a very dark pub on a dark red couch surrounded mostly by flaked-out bourgeois-wannabees. Not one of my usual haunts, but I didn't want to be anywhere where anyone would know who I was.

My head hurt from forcing myself to not think about everything. I decided I needed a distraction, so I finally turned my attention to Lindsey. She had crammed herself into the corner of the couch, her legs pulled up under her. She really was pretty. Not hot – more cute than anything. Great lips. I liked when she left her hair a little kinky instead of straightening it.

She was getting to a serious part of her story. I hadn't been paying attention, so I had no idea what she was talking about, but she did shift and uncurl her legs from under her. I took them and put them over my lap, edging closer to her. She didn't resist, so I took her hand and starting playing with her fingers, nodding at what I hoped were the right spots in her story.

She hesitated, looking at me uncertainly before continuing. I just stared at her face, watching her lips and convincing myself I was drunk enough and hurt enough to do what I was gonna do. It didn't take much convincing, I'm sad to say. I started playing with her hair and the next thing I knew, I'd leaned in and had started kissing her.

She was a little startled at first, but it wasn't long till she was right into it. I knew she would be. She had been flirting with me all week. My radar's been off before, but I was sure of this.

Part of me did feel kinda bad. I was overstepping my bounds and taking advantage of a coworker. And not just any coworker; someone who had become a friend. I'm such a jerk.

But I was too drunk and too upset to care enough to stop.

Fortunately for me, Lindsey pulled away before I got myself into real trouble.

"I can't…" she said, putting a hand to her mouth. "I want to…but I can't. It wouldn't be right."

"Why not? What's a little sex between friends?" I asked. Well, I guess it was more slurring than anything else.

"Because I saw you in the interrogation room with Maria. You're in love with her."

"No, I'm not," I tried to protest.

"Yes, you are, Danny," she said firmly.

I shook my head in denial, but promptly let my chin drop to my chest in defeat. "She betrayed me," was all I could think to say.

Lindsey furrowed her brow and shook her head. "You know, I don't buy it. I've seen the way she looks at you. I just can't believe she would do that."

"But she did."

"But she never actually said that she did. You assumed it."

It was my turn to furrow my brow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, she never actually said she was in love with Sonny. And she never actually admitted that the incident with Carlos had changed her mind."

"She didn't have to say it." She didn't. I knew, just by the way she looked at me.

"Exactly, because she knew exactly the kinds of conclusions you'd come to."

What was Lindsey talking about? I thought I was the drunk one in this relationship. "I don't understand."

"She didn't want you to know the real story. She had hoped that what she'd given Mac initially would be enough to convict Sonny, but it wasn't. Come to think of it, I saw her walk into the lab on her own today. No one brought her in."

What? "But Mac..?"

"She must have talked to Mac before you got there."

"Why would she lie to me?"

"Because, Danny," Lindsey smiled at me, "She's in love with you too."

I sat there trying to get my drunken brain to absorb everything. Maria in love with me? If she was in love with me, why wouldn't she want me to know the real story?

"Ten bucks says she told Mac and Stella the real story after you left," Lindsey said.

I suddenly felt like I needed to chug a whole pot of coffee. "Ten bucks? What kind of a bet is that, Munroe?"

She just grinned. "Go find Adam. He can help you get at the tape."

I looked at her for a long time. She must really like me to be this nice to me. I felt bad for all the times I'd picked on her. "Thanks," I said sincerely.

She shrugged. "Don't mention it."

"I'm sorry about…" I gestured vaguely between us. "I don't normally date girls I work with."

She laughed. "Who said anything about dating?"

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "I did not know this about you, Munroe."

"Oh, there's lots you don't know about me, Messer," she grinned.

I heaved myself off the couch. "Maybe you'll have to tell me about that sometime."

"Maybe. Now get out of here," she shooed me.

I smiled and started walking away, but then I remembered something. "Lindsey, can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure," she said, eyeing me quizzically.

"Did you ever pose for Playboy?"

"No," she said, but she had a wicked look in her eye and a coy grin crossed her lips. "But that wasn't for lack of trying."

This time both my eyebrows rose. She stood up and shoved me lightly in the direction of the door. "Get out of here, Messer."