Chapter Eight

A/N: I've got three projects going right now. I've got this, Hostage and some minor little fics out on the sidelines that randomly pop into my head when I'm not paying attention. So I'm trying my best to sort them out. Try to update them in a fashionably order but I'm not so sure that's working real well. Didn't really reread it so I hope it's all good. Okay, enough of me talking. Enjoy!

She stared down at her cup, her eyes watching as the substance swirled around in little circles beneath the surface. It had been a rather long week and Lindsay was physically and emotionally exhausted. She briefly considered taking up another job that the rush and the feel of solving a case was more of a high for her.

Might as well suck it up.

Her and Danny had been talking but not enough to describe what had happened between the two. Just small "hey, seen Stella?" or "how's the case going?" seemed to be the topics of the week. Nothing of "why the hell did you do that?" or "you're an amazing kisser". But nope, none of that.

She heard the break room door open and she quickly glanced up to see Danny walking in, case file in hands.

"Hey." He greeted as he slapped the case file down on the table before heading over to one of the many vending machines.

She looked back at her coffee, suddenly becoming more interested in it. "Hi."

He inserts his quarters, grabs himself a bottle of water and joins her at the table, stretching his legs out underneath it.

The silence is deafening and Lindsay controlled herself, fingers tightly wrapped around the mug handle. She couldn't bring up the topic because this was work and well, what they did was…different.

She raised the cup to her lips and as she does so, he spoke.

"Have plans tonight?"
Lindsay's brows raised over her cup as she took the long sip before gently placing the mug back down. She considered his question, weighing it on both sides because she's not exactly sure where this question may be heading. It is a Thursday and perhaps he's thinking of some things that she's not.

Thursdays aren't bad.

"Depends." She replied, leaning back in her seat as she tries to hide a small smile that is slowly creeping up onto her lips.

He gave a small shrug of the shoulder, as if the little 'depends' line wasn't that much of a hard hit on him and he flips through his case file, humming gently while doing so. "Was thinkin' about dinner. Interested?"

"What kind of dinner?"

"Something in the middle I guess. Not too bad and not too good."

"Homemade?"

Another small shrug of the shoulder.

"Like I said, depends."

It was then that he looked up from his case file, giving her a serious yet jokingly face. "Are we playing fuckin' twenty questions here or are you gonna give me a straight up answer? Yes or no?"

She blinked a couple times as she stared at him, a little taken back because in the back of her head she believed that they were going at it with one of their little joke matters. But instead, this seemed a bit more serious and it made Lindsay smile.

"Fine, yes."

--

"What the hell is that?" Lindsay asked as she stared down at the plate in front of her as Danny gave her one of his trademark smiles.

"It's good, try it."

She eyed him suspiciously. "It's not bugs or any of those creepy crawlers is it?"

He laughed and shook his head, pulling a chair up besides her. "No, it's somethin' that my Grandma use to make for my brother and I. I know, I know, looks not so great on the outside but trust me, it's great."

Lindsay studied him for a moment, her lips curving into a small smile as she gave a small shrug of the shoulders, picked up her fork, and took a small bite of the horrendous looking food. "Close?" She asked, mouth halfway full as she chewed softly.

So much for manners, huh?

"My grandma and I?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, pretty close. When Pop was off doin' his own thing, my grandma usually came over and watched us." He reached over, grabbed a fork of his own, and too helped himself to the plate of the legendary food. "It was nice havin' her around. Tried to keep us outta trouble. Didn't really help." And he gave a small laugh.

"That's really cool, Danny."

She wasn't quite sure if it was the mood, the personalities or perhaps the food but Lindsay found herself growing more and more attached to the man seated besides her. For a woman like herself, Lindsay usually waited for small things such as dinner but Danny was different from the other men she had stumbled across.

Danny added the fuel to her fire and whether or not she should have been attracted to that, she was.

"So," Danny said, dragging the word out a little to fill the awkward silence that seemed to have present itself, "this wasn't so bad, was it?"

Lindsay laughed and shook her head. "Not bad at all."

"Makes up for, what did you call it? My sudden attack at your apartment?"

And at that moment, the humor seemed to slowly drain out of her and Lindsay stole a quick glance at him. Apartment. Oh, about that. Guess this would be a perfect time to talk about that. "Danny," she began as she placed her fork down, "that wasn't me. I'm not someone who just lets anyone take advantage of me like that. So don't assume that I'm that type of a girl. I'm not going to let anyone walk over me and I blame it on the fact that I was by myself while recovering from a sprained ankle."

"Or the fact that you haven't what? Got laid ever since then?"

She felt her cheeks burn at his comment. "What?" She asked, more in a hiss as Danny leaned back in his seat.

"I'm just kiddin'."

She let out the breath she had been holding in and turned away from him. Mood of the dinner? Yeah, totally out the window it went.

"Listen, I'm sorry about it. I wasn't thinkin'-"

"-With your head."

He sighed. "Yes, I wasn't thinkin' with my head and again, I'm sorry about it."

There was another small pause of silence before Lindsay spoke, her voice softer than before. "Unless someone asked to then I'd consider."

Danny stopped playing with his fork and looked over at her, a brow raised. "What?"

There seemed to be a small smile on her lips and Danny couldn't help but match it with his own. "I said, if someone were to ask me before hand, I'd probably accept it better."

"Like now?"

The smile widened. "Perhaps."

"You know, sometimes that ruins the mood."
"Oh come on. The mood went out the window ten minutes ago."

"So, you'll let me take you right here, right now?"

She looked up at him and smiled.

And he took that as a yes. He reached over and pressed his lips to hers, his hand snaking to the back of her neck as he pulled her body closer to his. His tongue parted their lips and in matter of seconds, it searched for hers, racing against one another in the fierce kiss.

She was pulled onto his lap, her hands placed on each side of his cheek as she moaned into the kiss, shivers running up and down her body. She felt his other hand sneak under her shirt, tickling her skin with his and she giggled slightly. Hey, the stomach was one of her ticklish spots.

"Bedroom." She mumbled into his lips as she gently nipped at his lower lip, teasing and playing. Lindsay then moved off from his lap, reached for his hand and helped him to his feet.

TBC.