Awaken

The steady beep, beep, beep of the monitors above Danny's head and his steady, even breathing were the only sounds in the small room where he lay still and pale on the bed. The grey morning sky was slowly lightening in the east, with pale pink and purple hues bathing downtown New York City in a palette of soft colour.

Lindsey sat in a chair pulled close to Danny's bedside, where she had kept constant watch all night long after Mac, Stella and the others left. Exhausted, she'd finally laid her head on the bedrail and fallen into a restless half-sleep. Now, she slowly opened her eyes sat up painfully, wincing as her stiff joints protested the movement. Her head hurt where it had rested against the unforgiving metal for so long, and her shoulder and neck ached from the crazy angle she was sitting in. Sitting upright, she pulled her windbreaker around her body and turned her head to look again at Danny. His face was relaxed in sleep, and a lock of hair fell over one eyebrow, giving him a boyish, playful appearance even in his state of unconsciousness. An IV line ran from a clear plastic bag on a pole beside the bed into his left forearm, and a large white bandage covered his chest where the surgeon had removed the .38 slug that had very nearly killed him. After surgery, Mac had taken the slug straight to the crime lab, where Stella would carefully examine the striations and hopefully make a match to a gun and suspect. Lindsey reached over and carefully brushed the hair away from Danny's eyes, wondering if he even knew she was there. Letting her fingers linger against his hair, she laid her other arm over the rail and propped her chin on top of it.

"Hey," she whispered conversationally, hoping maybe he could hear her,

"You can't sleep all day long, you know." She watched him sleep, listening to his every breath, and willing him to wake up.

Danny didn't move; didn't give any indication that he'd heard her at all. Lindsey was frustrated to realize that she was about to start crying again. Dammit, she'd cried so much the past twelve or so hours, she felt like she never would get ahold of herself. She knew a lot of it was exhaustion and stress, but most of it was fear that Danny wouldn't recover. When was she going to admit that her affection for him was turning into a lot more than a school-girl crush? They'd had some really fun dates together, and Lindsey wasn't ready for it to end; especially not this way.

"You know you've got to get well and get out of here," She began, trying to think of anything to say to Danny; anything he might hear at all.

Besides, she had to keep her mind off the idea that he still might not survive.

"We can't let those Giants tickets go to waste, and you still owe me that hot dog." Lindsey swallowed back the sob that was working its way up her throat.

She looked again at Danny, so still and quiet, and remembered the last thing he'd said to her the day before.

"Promise me you won't forget."

Lindsey frowned. What on earth had Danny meant by that? Was he telling her to remember their friendship? The few dates they had; what? Closing her eyes, Lindsey began talking again.

"Tell me what you meant yesterday," she asked, not expecting a response.

"I have to know what I'm promising not to forget," she added, and let her mind drift, her eyes still closed.

"How about Montana? Do you know you're the only one that will ever get away with calling me that?" Tears squeezed between her lashes and trailed down her cheek.

"Or, how about the Coleman stove and cocoa," Lindsey had been pleasantly surprised the night Danny had shown up at her apartment with hot chocolate mix and the camp stove.

"It's not a fireplace but it's better than nothing," he'd explained when she asked what he was thinking that night.

Unable to keep from crying again, and not wanting the morning nurse to see, Lindsey crossed her forearms on the bedrail and buried her face as she tried to get a hold of herself.

"Don't you leave me," she whispered, repeating his words from the day before.

Lindsey didn't notice Danny beginning to stir beside her. He could hear someone talking; their voice bringing him out of his heavy sleep. The sound of a monitor was sharp and annoying in his ears and his body hurt like hell. Slowly, almost experimentally, he opened his eyes. It took a moment for his surroundings to come into focus but when they did, he saw Lindsey sitting beside him, seemingly asleep against the bed. Danny grinned. Trust Montana to be there when he woke up. He remembered the shooting; remembered fearing he would die alone, and begging Lindsey not to leave him.

"You still sticking around, Montana?" he asked, his tongue dry as cotton fluff, and his voice weak.

Lindsey's head jerked up, and she looked at him in disbelief.

"Danny," she whispered, and he smiled a small smile.

"What time is it?" He asked, reaching up to rub his eyes with his right hand.

"Just barely six in the morning," she replied, and Danny frowned.

"How long you been here?" His throat was sore, and even swallowing was painful, but he was too curious not to ask.

"Since five last night," she replied, and sat up, stretching her back muscles and rubbing at her eyes.

"You been crying?" he asked, noticing Lindsey's tear-bright eyes.

At his query, her chin trembled, and she looked away, not wanting him to know. Danny frowned and grabbed hold of her hand that was dangling over the bed rail. Lindsey jumped, and turned to look at him.

"Its okay if you were," Danny stated matter of factly.

"You're not supposed to know," Lindsey whispered, and Danny grinned.

"Know what? That you kinda want me to stick around because we have fun together?" He asked, and Lindsey shrugged, embarrassed.

Even though he hurt like hell, and really wanted to go back to sleep, Danny released the lock on the bedrail, causing it to collapse, and Lindsey to look at him in confusion.

"You can't get up right now," she cautioned, and he shook his head.

"I'm not," he said, and held his arm up, ignoring the sore muscles in his shoulder and chest.

"I want you to come here," he said and motioned for her to lay her head against his chest.

Lindsey did as he bid, leaning again over the side of the bed to rest her head carefully above the top of the bandage. She could hear Danny's heart thumping steadily in her ear, and breathed a silent prayer of thanks that he was still alive. His arm was familiar and comfortable around her shoulders and she sighed heavily in relief that Danny was showing signs of recovering. He heard her sigh, and carefully brushed his hand over her hair.

"I'm glad you didn't leave me," he whispered, playing with the ends of her hair.

Lindsey grinned, feeling a hell of a lot better than she had a few moments earlier. Raising her head, she looked into Danny's warm brown eyes.

"Are you kidding?" She said playfully,

"You still owe me a hot dog."

Danny gave her a skeptical look before returning her smile.

"Get outta here," he said, snuggling her head back down against his chest.

In a few weeks, he'd be back on duty, and he couldn't wait to go to that Giant's game and share a hot dog with the nice girl from Montana.