A/N: Same disclaimers apply. Enjoy!

Water

Lindsay loved weapons. She didn't have violent intentions, nor did she aspire to slay anyone who got in her way, but she just liked trying them out. It was inexplicable – the thrill she got from testing them. Some people go for runs or take it out on punching bags when they were upset, Lindsay much preferred breaking wooden pencils and shredding paper. However, in the lab, she had hardly any spare pencils and couldn't possibly rip her reports apart. The firing range was the first place she found herself after getting back from an extremely quick lunch. Thankful that everyone was still at lunch when she got back, Lindsay pulled on the necessary protective gear and picked up a pistol. Aiming for the bull eye, she squeezed the trigger. As the metal pellet punctured the board, Lindsay let out a huge breath. She returned the gun to its original position, took off the gears and left. She didn't feel much better, but it was something. Entering an empty lab after retrieving her case file, Lindsay shook her head once to clear her thoughts and chewed on a pen, wondering how the victim was killed.

An hour passed and she was in the process of diluting a chemical for a mass spectrometry reading when Danny knocked on the glass door. Nodding curtly to acknowledge his presence, she continued working.

"We need to talk." He breathed.

"There's nothing to talk about." Lindsay screwed the cap of the bottled tightly, with more force than necessary, and walked over to the machine.

There was a brief moment of silence as Danny watched her handle the equipment. The computer next to him beeped and he turned sharply to look at the mass spec report. Lindsay moved near him and pressed a few keys on the keyboard to print the report.

Danny noticed she refused to look at him. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"You should be," she gave a sarcastic snort and ripped the paper out of the printing tray, "you're wasting time which should be well spent solving this case."

He was at a loss of words. Apologizing was never something he was good at.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to check on the autopsy." Lindsay pushed past him, "Hammerback's waiting for me." She felt a twinge of guilt for snapping at him, but quickly justified her actions, reminding herself that he was a jerk. Shaking her head proudly, Lindsay stalked out.

Sighing, Danny headed for the AV resource room to review the surveillance tapes.

Lindsay listened to Hammerback point out and explain the possible cause of deaths and left the autopsy room much more enlightened about the case. She pursed her lips in annoyance when she realized reluctantly that she had to see Danny, or they would never be done with the case. She searched the lab and found him in the AV room.

Clearing her throat, Lindsay slid the file she was holding across the table to Danny. He looked up and when she arched an eyebrow pointedly, opened the file. "Seven year old OD'd before being strangled." Tapping on the file cover, Danny frowned in Lindsay's direction.

"Yeah," Lindsay took a seat next to him, "Any luck with the videos?"

"We have three suspects." He moved to replay the videos.

She murmured lowly and bent closer to the computer screen, "Hmm-mhm."

Relieved that she was at least speaking to him, Danny remained as calm as he could get and explained who he thought was the most probable murderer.

After they got the warrant to arrest the perpetrator, both Danny and Lindsay were feeling better. Even though she still didn't feel like talking to him, successfully solving a case with him had removed some of the awkwardness. She wasn't even mad at him anymore; she was more annoyed by herself. In the locker room, she had known Danny didn't mean to hurt her. Yet it had caused something in her to swell in anger. Perhaps the anger was directed at herself for thinking that the kiss meant something, she didn't know. Now that six hours had passed since that little encounter, Lindsay was irritated that she had gotten over emotional over something so trivial. Part of her just wanted to scream in disgust while standing on the top of the roof. Taking a swig of water before leaving the break room to search for him, Lindsay swallowed unhurriedly, the cool fluid washing away the dryness of her mouth. She wasn't in a rush to go anywhere he was.

They were cleaning the mess they had created in the lab processing evidence in silence. Danny had been sneaking glances at the brunette who seemed engrossed in scrubbing stains out of test tubes. He knew better though, she was just avoiding him. He mused with the thought that Lindsay seemed better at avoiding things than he was, and he had always considered himself good at that. Spraying some distilled water on the bench, Danny watched the liquid cling onto the surface of the glass panel. Water retention was always fascinating. Sighing inwardly, he used the sponge in his hand to wipe the puddle away.

Lindsay turned to face Danny. He felt her gaze on him and looked up quizzically.

"Danny," she started and hesitated for two seconds, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" The words left his mouth and he blinked slowly, realizing that these were the exact words that initiated their argument. No, it wasn't an argument. He didn't even know what the hell it was. Some episode of a Cold War. Then again, it wasn't a war.

She bit her lip, the familiarity of the lines they had just exchanged not lost on her. "For today. I know you didn't mean any…" she searched for the right word, "harm." Placing the polished test tubes back in the wooden rack, Lindsay took a step closer to the door. "I was being unreasonable." Her face was burning and she hated that. "And I did have fun last night. See you tomorrow."

Lindsay tore off her lab coat and fled. Thank God shift was over, she thought to herself and rushed to the locker room. All she wanted to do right now was get back to her apartment, take a nice long shower and fall asleep wishing that the whole day had not happened.

Danny decided against following her. He reasoned that if he did, Lindsay would only feel trapped, and nothing good was going to come from that. Placing the bottle of distilled water back on the shelf, he let out a long breath. Why were things between the two of them always like a game? They'd move forward one step, and then jump apart the next. It struck him that he had never thought so much about things regarding another woman before. He did mean the things he said last night. If today hadn't gone so badly, he wouldn't have regretted kissing her at all. He did enjoy her company at the diner, watching her smile made him smile too.

Walking out of the sparkling clean lab, Danny concluded that when both of them ignored each other, things could be done to the extreme. He paused when he came to a window. It was raining pretty heavily, sheets of rain falling against the rays of the setting sun. He wondered briefly if Lindsay had an umbrella for her walk to the subway station. Betting that she'd look beautiful walking in the rain, Danny closed his eyes for a moment, picturing her with the dull murmur of rain in the background. He had always loved water. The scent of its simplicity and the gentle caress of it trickling down his skin. Even when the city flooded, water was still beautiful in the destruction it caused. Everything about water was intriguing, the way it held only three small atoms, and the way something so unsophisticated could hold such great power. The power to cleanse, to destroy, and to sustain life. Touching the window pane with his fingertips, Danny relished how the cold contrasted with the heat within him.

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