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Snowed Inn

Mac and Catherine sat together in a small cave near the crime scene. Wolfy seemed to have buried himself in the rapidly falling snow. The dog had decided to stay with them, which was good because Wolfy would let them if anyone were coming long before they could see them in this weather.

"So, is that dog your team's mascot or something?" Catherine was trying to make conversation.

"Belongs to Danny's kid." Mac answered. "He's a good dog, but he'll tear your leg off if he thinks you're after Jack or Danny."

"Oh." The silence continued for a few minutes. "We're gonna be out here for a while." Catherine tried to get Taylor to talk. He seemed like nice guy, and she wouldn't mind getting to know him better. "Got anyone waiting for at home?" Catherine wondered.

"Not anymore." Mac said.

"You've lost someone." Catherine knew that look from personal experience.

"My wife died on 9/11." Mac said. There was an awkward silence as Mac wondered why he was telling this to a complete stranger.

Catherine handed him a thermos full of coffee from the hotel manger, who had also loaned them his rifle. "My ex-husband was shot and killed a few years ago." She told him. She decided not to go into detail.

They sat together in silence for a while, neither sure what to say. Catherine finally changed the subject. "Did you do anything interesting before you became a CSI?"

"I was a Marine." Mac shrugged. "What about you?"

Catherine decided to tell him. It would funny to see if it flustered the seemingly serious, straitlaced gentleman sitting beside would react. She looked Mac in the eye.

"I was a stripper."

"Wow." Whatever Mac expecting, that wasn't it. "Definitely interesting than my answer."

"You used to be a Marine. Thought it was something like that." Catherine wasn't nearly as surprised by Mac's answer.

Suddenly, Beowulf jumped to his feet and barked at two moving shadows.

"Shaddup, Wolfy! It's just me and Eric!" Danny's shout let Mac know their replacements had arrived.

"Hi, Danny." He secretly had hoped for a little more time alone with Catherine. Mac wished Danny had been a few minutes late, for once in his life.

"Hey, boss. Any sign of our killer?"

"Nope, but there are a few large raccoons running around for some reason." Catherine had fired a shot from her own gun to scare them off. Mac handed Danny the rifle.

"Great." Delko answered. He and Danny switched places with Mac and Catherine. "Guess we'll see you in a few hours."

"See ya later, Mac." Danny said bye to his boss.

"He annoys me," muttered Catherine on the back.

"Who?"

"Daniel Messer."

"Any reason in particular?" If Danny had been purposefully being a pain in the ass to Catherine, he wanted to know about.

"Just does."

"Danny can be a bit much if you're not used to working with him." Mac knew that Danny could be an irritant to people that didn't know him very well.

Back at the crime scene, Eric had only been out in the cold a few minutes, but he was already freezing. Danny was pacing around in the cave, and also driving him nuts.

"Could you possibly sit still for a few minute?"

"Sorry. Danny hadn't even realized what he was doing. He sat beside Eric. Danny immediately noticed that Delko was already shivering. "You okay?" Eric was not used to dealing with the cold. Danny, however, had anticipated this before he left.

"Just cold."

"This 'ill warm you up." Danny offered Eric a thermos of his own. "Just don't mention it to Mac. I have a bit of rep for being the department screw-up, despite the fact I haven't made any major mistakes for a while."

Delko laughed. "Everyone screws up once in a while." He opened the thermos and sniffed it. Eric looked at Danny. "You know we really shouldn't be drinking. H won't be happy if he finds out, either."

"All the more reason to drink the evidence."

A few hours later, Grissom and Flack came down to relieve them.

"Hi, Dan." Flack greeted his friend. He smelled hot coco with a hint of Cognac on Danny and Eric.

"Hi, Don."

"You guys are damn lucky nothing happened." Don was amused and annoyed at Messer at the same time.

"Please don't tell anyone. We were just trying to keep warm."

"Dan, you know me. I'm not gonna rat you out." Flack really didn't need Mac yelling at Danny all weekend anyway. "But I will if it ever happens again. I also won't lie if he decides to tell Mac." Flack indicated Grissom.

"Does this happen often?"

"Surprisingly no, despite his reputation, Danny is not a drunk. He's a good CSI who doesn't want to freeze his ass off out here."

"Then I don't plan on mentioning it either. I would, however, tear him a new on if he was one of mine." Grissom said mildly. They changed places and Danny and Eric quickly stumbled back to the hotel. Danny managed to avoid Mac but not Lindsay. She hadn't told the supervisor, but she did lecture him for a solid three hours.

"Don't think I've caught him doing that before." Flack shook his head. The howling wind suddenly brought down a heavy tree branch.

Don nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the crash.

"You okay?" His over-reaction startled Grissom.

"Yeah." Flack muttered, embarrassed. "Just don't like unexpected crashing sounds."

"From the bomb? I head about that on the news." Surviving something like that could make anyone a little jumpy.

Don nodded. He watched the crime scene as Grissom saw some fascinating insect in the cave.

The two of them talked on and off for the next few hours, just passing the time and waiting for Jack and Greg to take over.

When the two of them finally appeared, Grissom gave Greg the rifle as they switched places. Jack had Danny's gun with him. He hoped he didn't have to use it. Jack wasn't particularly fond of guns.

Both he and Greg were bit nervous. They chatted quietly for a while, and got know each other. They found they had a lot in common.

"You seem like a pretty smart kid." Greg noticed.

"That's what they tell me. The school made me skip a few grades," He shrugged. "The teachers all seem to like me, but kids my think it's weird that I actually like school."

"I know what you mean. I didn't have to many friends my own age when I was a kid. The other students were all older than me. They actually were pretty nice once they got to know me."

The two continued to talk and keep each other company as the night wore on. By the time Lindsay and Horatio showed up, they were acting like old friends.

They quickly changed places with the CSIs. Dawn wasn't far away now.

Lindsay and Horatio settled in quickly. The storm was finally dying down and it was almost comfortable. Flack's long coat was a little big on Horatio, but at least it was warm.

The two had been talking for a little while when Lindsay asked Horatio why he thought Danny called her Montana all time. As an outside observer, he may be able to help her figure it out.

H smiled at her. "I think he likes you. And he defiantly wants to be more than just a friend."

"The ME said the same thing."

"Well, it is kind of obvious from the way he looks at you." He noticed Lindsay had turned an intriguing shade of red. "And judging by your reaction, you have feelings for him as well."

"We have great relationship. I just don't want hurt that by taking it too far."

"You two really should tell each how you feel. Not being honest won't help your friendship, anyway."

The rest of the CSIs and Don them a few hours later. Nobody seemed to notice Delko and Danny were both slightly hung over.

"All right, people. We have a scene to process. Can someone find me a leaf blower and some spray paint?

A/N: Finally. That was a long chapter. It's mostly just filler, but I tried to make it somewhat amusing. Danny and Eric may be a little out of character, but I thought if anyone would try that, it would be them. By the way, Cocoa and Cognac is a good way to keep warm out in the woods. ;) Please read and review. Thanks to all of you. Your reviews really are helpful and I like the feedback.