A/N: This fic is coming to an end, and this is most probably the second last chapter. :) I hope it's a good one, and I also hope it's not painful to read. Without further ado...

Found

It was time to go home. While I was tired, I had been a little disappointed that I hadn't seen Danny the whole day. The little conversation with Sid Hammerback in the morning was evidence, I found. In my gut I always knew Danny was something else – no one had ever evoked such strong emotions – and it was my conscious effort to suppress all those feelings that had made me doubt myself. I played with the reclining chair for a while and sat up with a start when the office door opened.

"Danny."

He smiled at me – a half-hearted, weary smile, and I cringed. "Hi."

He sat at his desk and looked at me for a while, before looking down and picking on the case folder before him.

"Um, can I say…urgh! Danny, I'm sorry about last night." I was fumbling for the right words and was suddenly aware of our glass enclosure.

He didn't look up, but slouched a little in response. I panicked - how was I going to do this?

"I, um, can we go to the roof?"

There was a little head bob, and Danny stood up, staring at the air beside me, "I guess."

"Good."

She was stuttering and it was cute; in my head I just kept hearing Stella's voice. Faint heart never won fair lady. It struck me there and then, what the hell was I going to say? 'I love you' had already failed once and I was not going to test the theory that third time's the charm. Lindsay was obviously trying to tell me something, and if I wasn't wrong, the lack of privacy, despite it being our own damned office, was upsetting her. She suggested going to the roof. I agreed.

On the roof we could scream or cry and no one would hear; no one would care. It was a brief thought but it crossed my mind, was it freedom? Or pathetic loneliness?

I followed behind her up the stairwell, and out into the sunlight. The sun setting in the summer was gorgeous, and the NYC view never fails to amaze me.

"Danny," she took a half step closer to me, and looked up, "are you alright?" Despite the gorgeous skyline, Lindsay grabbed my attention, I suppose she always will. She was almost on her toes and I wanted to kiss her. Unfortunately, I did not want to risk getting slapped.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Listen," I let out a huge sigh and mustered all the courage in me, "you may not feel the same way, but it doesn't mean that anything I said last night wasn't true. I just wish we hadn't hit that rough patch and I'm really sorry about…"

"Shush," two fingers touched my lips deftly and Lindsay moved closer, her eyes softening and glowing like whiskey in the light, "No more apologies. Yesterday I was unsure about myself, not about you. I wasn't sure if I really, truly love you and I was afraid that I would make a mistake. It wasn't really about you hurting me, and I'm not gonna lie, I was very hurt."

I chewed on my lip, unable to predict what she was going to say next.

"I said I forgive you, and I meant it. You know me well enough, Danny, I don't usually say things I don't mean."

I nodded, "You don't have to, Lindsay, and that's one of the things I like most about you."

She blushed slightly and a particularly strong gust of wind swept her hair into her face.

I pushed the hair out of my eyes and sighed, "Well, today, Sid spoke to me and made me realize that I've been making myself miserable." I smiled at the surprise in his eyes, I had yet to tell him about what Sid said to me a few months back. "I may not be the most eloquent and cogent person you know, but please believe me when I say I love you too."

That was it; the heaviest stone in my heart vaporized into light perfume and fluttering doves. All I had to do next was wait for his response.

Stunned silence, a giantess looming over my head, was all that met me and I decided that there was a need to say more just to fill the gap. "Danny, I don't know what to say, I'm really bad at these things and…"

It surprised me for a moment and I stared at her, wide eyed. Did Lindsay just say she loves me? A little burst of euphoria exploded in me and I heard her start to talk again. No, there was no need for words. In my mind's eye I saw Stella's smirk and I reached over, looped an arm around Lindsay's waist and kissed her.

She jumped, but leaned in and I tasted the cream from her coffee. The air grew colder around us but it didn't matter. This was the roof, not the lab, and the roof was a place for spontaneous events with no care for procedures and logic.

In that kiss, spontaneous as it may have been, I found comfort and love and a queer sensation, akin to the feel of soft feathers from a sparrow's tail, in my chest. As her arms wrapped tightly around me, I looked into her eyes and found a promise of something beautiful and sacred – trust, faith and hope.

I sighed and buried my head in the crook of his neck, breathing in the scent of his soap. Maybe the right thing to do had nothing to do with the right words to say. Everything I wanted at that moment I found in his kiss and in his touch. The summer air was heavy and sweet, and the sunset couldn't be more beautiful.

"Lindsay." He murmured into my ear.

I stopped him, "Montana. I missed that."

Danny smiled, the tiny bashful one he only showed on special occasions, the one which brought out the rose in his cheeks and the little boy in him. "Montana, we're good?"

"Uh-huh."

His features clouded with curiosity, "Stella said she knew something, but she wouldn't tell me what. What did you tell her last week?"

"That I thought I loved you." Fireworks, a full spectrum of colors, a couple of floating ribbons, soft petals crimson against satin sheets; in that brief second my mind wandered into a churning vortex and I sighed, contentedly.

"What did Hammerback say?" He asked next, and I had to smile.

She pecked my cheek before saying, "That's a story for another time, cowboy." Grabbing hold on my hand, she tugged me towards the stairwell.

"Anymore interesting revelations to tell me?" I nudged her gently once we reached the locker room. I was intrigued; what kind of secrets did this woman hold?

Lindsay grinned mirthfully. "Take me out and come home with me and I'll tell you."

I hugged her, and realized how much I had missed holding her close to me. She sighed and sagged against me, "I missed you."

"Me too, Montana." The words just left my mouth when Hawkes and Flack decided to storm into the room.

"Yo! Danny, there's a ball game going on later. Wanna come?" Flack hollered and then did a double take when he saw Lindsay. Hawkes roared with laughter at the shock on Flack's face. "When did this happen?"

Lacing her fingers with mine, Lindsay chuckled, "I don't know."

"It happened when we found each other dear." I said softly, mainly for her to hear. Then the rest of the world faded when she reached up and kissed me tenderly, and all I could hear was Flack's gagging, and Hawkes' laughter, and my mind reeling with soft romantic tunes I haven't thought of in years.

A/N: Do read and review..