A/N: Thanks to all you guys who reviewed the last chapter. :) I really appreciated it. This story has moved pretty slowly, the way I intended it to be, so uhh..patience is a virtue.

Gravity

There was soft laughter in the background when Lindsay opened her eyes in the late morning. Stella and Flack turned to face her when she moaned and tried to push herself out of bed.

"Lindsay, stay in bed!" Stella pushed her down gently, the mirth still not completely gone from her voice.

Lindsay sighed tiredly, "Fine, but can I have some water please?" Her throat was parched and it hurt badly, the worst feeling was not the pain but the taste. It tasted as though something had died and decomposed in her mouth. A glass of water was fetched and she gulped it down; anything to get rid of that taste.

Removing the empty glass from her hands, Flack smiled warmly, "You gave us quite a scare."

Nodding sheepishly in agreement, Lindsay chuckled; she had given herself quite a scare too. At first when a burning pain seared through her flesh, she though she had cracked a rib, but when it was possible to discern that blood was gushing out, Lindsay was terrified. She then remembered the two minutes before everything became a blur. "How's Danny?"

Stella and Flack burst into laughter, confusing her deeply. "I beg your pardon?"

They winked at each other, and she at once knew there must have been a joke involving Danny and herself. "He should be here soon. We sent him to get coffee so that he would leave this room for a while." Flack responded, before facing Stella and erupting in laughter again.

When he entered with a tray of coffee, the first thing he noticed was laughter. Then he looked up, closing the door behind him and realized that Lindsay was awake with an annoyed look on her face. He could've sworn Flack was howling.

"Your orders," Danny cleared his throat and frowned as the laughter died down.

Stella received her coffee with a smirk, "Alright, we need to head back to the lab. You two have fun." Flack nodded in agreement, before following her out of the door.

Danny watched them leave before turning back to face Lindsay, "How are you feeling?"

She shrugged, scooted over to let him sit on the bed. He nodded and remained silent.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Gravity," he mumbled, but she caught what he said anyway.

She wondered for a brief moment if trauma had knocked Danny's mind off its orbit. "Gravity?"

He refused to meet her eyes. "It makes everything fall, doesn't it?"

"I don't have amnesia, Danny, I know how gravity works."

He smiled sadly and got up, the words were struggling to get out, but he swallowed them in anyway. Cupping her cheek, Danny brushed his thumb lightly over her cheekbone. "Get well soon, Montana."

Lindsay watched his hurried exit and punched the button at the side of the bed, elevating the backrest to a comfortable height. Letting the heavy sigh in her chest go, she switched on the TV set and pulled the covers over herself. As images flickered across the screen her mind wandered back to the day before. She knew he could be gentlemanly, but the way he held her close showed a tender side of him she had never seen before. It thrilled her for a second, but then she started thinking about how many women he had been with, and how she was probably never going to be one of them. Yet, even if she did get there, Lindsay predicted with a dull ache that it wouldn't end well. How was she going to survive if he dropped her as fast as he had those other women? She admitted to herself the desire growing in her veins, but mused almost immediately that perhaps denial was the sweetest thing on earth. Blissful ignorance had wrapped a warm blanket around her for as long as it had lasted. Too bad all that changed yesterday.

She was distracted from her depressing thoughts when the doctor came in to check on her. He coolly announced in an emotionless voice that she had fifty-two stitches and the bullet had nicked a small part of her intestines. Luckily for her, or so he thought, her ribs were intact and they had managed to close the wound without any complications. Lindsay watched wearily as he opened her chart and called a nurse to give her more pain medication. As the nurse disinclined her bed and fiddled with the IV drip, Lindsay felt her eyelids droop. Turning to her uninjured side after the nurse left, she clutched the spare pillow on the bed and dozed off, millions of fragmented thoughts swimming before her mind's eye.

Danny drove back to his apartment for a much deserved hot bath. As he watched the soap bubbles swirl into the drainage pipe, Danny thought about how Lindsay's life almost followed the eddying current down. He didn't want to try to understand how she would rather wait, alone in a stranger's house, bleeding her arteries out, and have him arrest Peterson, than have someone familiar with her during the long wait for the paramedics to arrive. He knew if he was caught in her shoes, he would have wanted her there. He would have wanted to feel her fingers running down his arms in a comforting fashion, or to smell her scent above the coppery tang of blood. That was yesterday, a gasp, sandwiched between the tongue and palette, trying its best to shimmy out; as if it could get to the bright side of things.

He contemplated having a stiff drink, but decided against it as soon as he opened the fridge. Instead, Danny pulled out an apple and bit into it, the light acid in the juice stinging his throat. Maybe he needed to feel some pain, the past twenty four hours and gone by in a numbing flash. He threw the half-eaten apple into the trashcan and got up on his feet. Forget apples and worldly laws, he had to explain to Lindsay the conflicting feelings within him, and perhaps apologize for the haste departure.

She was fast asleep when he arrived. Danny sat carefully on the bedside chair, making as little noise as possible. He admired her sleeping form for a while, liking the way her hair curled at its ends, before tearing his eyes off her and gluing them to the TV.

"Danny?"

At the sound of her voice, Danny abandoned the baseball game he was watching. He poured her a glass of water, which she accepted gratefully.

"Feel any better?" He couldn't control the way his voice dipped lower in concern. She nodded and sat up straight, making a face when the stitches hurt. "I, uh, forgot to return your cell phone." Danny dug into his pant pocket and pulled the little gizmo out, placing it on the bedside table.

"Hey, Danny?"

He gave her a quizzical look in return. Lindsay couldn't help but smirk at the confusion in his eyes, "What was that all about? The gravity thing."

"Oh, I was just thinking about something Stella said."

"And what may that be?" Lindsay arched a brow.

"Nothing, and you obviously feel much better," He pulled the chair closer to where she was. "I never said thank you."

A smile danced across her face. "Yeah, you didn't." Danny moved his face nearer to hers and Lindsay instinctively closed her eyes.

He kissed her temple softly and felt her sigh; the air trembled warmly against his throat, "Thank you."

He stayed a few moments longer, pretending to look through her chart and admire the view from her window. It would be later that evening when she was finally allowed on her feet that Lindsay would realize there was only a garbage dump in sight. When there were no more excuses he could find to trade for extra time, Danny pulled on his coat and moved towards the door.

"Thanks for stopping by, Danny." She called out just before he stepped out of the door, her mind already measuring the vast magnitude of boredom that was to come.

He turned back to look at her, hair falling into her face, eyes wide and glowing. Danny smiled the smile he saved for her, "Y'know, I was wondering if gravity made people fall in love." Stepping out, Danny shut the door behind him. It felt good saying that, even if it could mean nothing at all to her.

Love is metaphysical gravity

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