A/N: I don't know if this was the best way to end it, but here it is anyway.

Cycles

Most species do their own evolving, making it up as they go along, which is the way Nature intended. And this is all very natural and organic and in tune with mysterious cycles of the cosmos, which believes that there's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fiber and, in some cases, backbone.
-Terry Pratchett

Stella and Lindsay cast depreciative looks at the man seated across them at the interrogation table. They stared at him for a long while, wholesomely disbelieving the cockamamie story he had given. Like hell they would believe he didn't know the victim when they found his skin under her nails. After a long while, Stella broke the silence, "How did we manage to get your DNA from her body, then?"

Lindsay watched as the smug smile on his face collapsed. Hopie was right, he did have funny eyes.

"Maybe you made a mistake." Lindsay disliked the haughty tone his voice had taken.

"Then maybe you wouldn't mind giving us a sample of your DNA, so we could double check." She pulled out the swab from under the desk, "it won't hurt, I promise."

Stella grinned at Lindsay's sarcasm. "So what do you say, Mr. Berger?" She folded her arms across her chest.

The man gave the table a big shove, anger and guilt burning a path through him. Lindsay brought a hand up to stop the table from colliding with her ribs. She arched an eyebrow at him. "Violent tendencies?"

"I don't know Francesca!" He yelled.

"And yet you know her first name." Stella pursed her lips and looked at Lindsay, who gave her a small smirk in return.

The interrogation room fell silent again, Mr. Berger glaring at the two women. It was a matter of minutes before he cracked, raging inside for his stupidity and inability of not covering his tracks better. Lindsay was happy that he had confessed, so that justice could be achieved, but it was his words that made her furious. He killed her just because she wouldn't give him money for gambling and she hadn't agreed to sleep with him. He had been mad that a child should have more importance than him in her life. As he was dragged off in handcuffs, Lindsay called out to him, "Mr. Berger."

He turned back, with a haunted look in his eyes.

"Women are not property. We are not for men to have and own. I hope you realize the inhumanity in robbing Hopie of her mother during your stay in jail." She spoke, softly but clearly. Stella looked at the smaller woman in a mixture of awe and confusion. One day, she was going to have to schedule time to know Lindsay better.

They exited the room, and flashed each other a smile. Another case solved.

"Paperwork?" Stella asked.

Lindsay sighed good-naturedly, "Yeah."

Lindsay sat at her desk, and pulled out the piece of paper in her pocket.

You looked cute holding the kid and being all pissy at me.

She had found it this morning, but Stella had been in the locker room rushing her and she hadn't bothered to read what was on it yet. Now that she had, her tummy did a somersault. Lindsay used her finger to trace the scrawl at the corner of the note. Danny.

"Argh." She screamed to herself and shook her head to clear the image of his face. Lindsay reached for a pen and switched on the computer. She was not going to let any guy, no matter how mesmerizing he was, affect her performance at work. Determinedly, Lindsay shoved the noted into her jean pocket.

Finishing her report half an hour before shift ended, Lindsay leaned back into the reclining chair and reflected about the case. She remembered the Calvin's cycle. In high school, it had been a bother remembering the number of electrons entering and leaving. There was a lesson learnt though; what goes around comes around. Working as a CSI, she found that there was great truth in that statement. Commit a crime - face the consequences.

She opened her eyes when there was a knock on the door.

Danny.

"Hey."

Lindsay tilted her head to the side.

"Got my note?"

She dug the crumpled slip of paper out from her jean pocket and couldn't help blushing slightly, her hand trembling just under the effect of his close proximity. He started grinning, looking very much like a five year old on Christmas Day.

"Lost your voice?"

"No." Lindsay gave him an indignant glare. I just didn't trust myself to speak.

"Good, you had me worried there."

"Why?"

Danny's grin grew. "I don't want to fall sick from kissing you."

"Who ever said you'd be kissing me any time soon?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Lindsay felt like banging her head against the top of her desk. She knew these banters with Danny never ended in her favor, it was a vicious cycle. And an addicting one at that.

"Maybe I could change your mind?"

Her heart did a flippity-flop and she already knew what the end result was going to be. "Perhaps."

"Did you read the fine print?"

Giving him a quizzical look, Lindsay straightened the piece of paper. "Fine print?"

"Yeah, at the back." Danny bounced on the balls of his feet and beamed at her.

Flipping over the note, Lindsay blushed furiously.

Good for one kiss.

"So, what do you say?"

Lindsay sucked in a huge breath. "Why are you doing this?" Finally, the question she had been longing to ask.

The impish look on his face disappeared, but he was still smiling. The smile he saved for her. Lindsay wondered when she had seen that smile before, tiny, sincere, serious and tender. It came back to her after two seconds; she had seen it that day in the hospital, right before he had left. "Why do you think?"

"Danny, I don't want to be…" She trailed off, if she completed the sentence he was going to be hurt deeply.

"What?" He asked, eager to know her impression of him.

"Used."

Her voice was soft but he heard her anyway. Danny felt like he was being kicked in the stomach.

"I'm sorry," She stood up and moved closer to him, "I don't want to believe you're that kind of guy, but everyone seems to be singing the same song." The hurt look in his eyes scared her; had she just lost a friend for nothing? She reached for his hands but drew them back, "Danny, say something."

"What's there to say?" He took a step back and turned, moving swiftly out of the door.

Swallowing, Lindsay hurriedly sent her report to Mac's email and slammed the case of the laptop shut. What have I done? She couldn't lose him, not like that. So she ran out of the office and into the elevator, barely missing being crushed by the doors. Two lab techs stared at her, wondering what kind of rush she could be in. Lindsay gave them a fake smile and raced out when they reached the foyer. She caught sight of Danny's back disappearing through the doors of the main exit and strode down the hallway, swinging the glass door open and caught his arm.

It was only then she realized it was pouring heavily, water falling and rolling off her forehead.

"Lindsay." Danny sighed, but made no move to remove his arm from her grip.

"Tell me," she tighten her grip and stepped closer, "Tell me what you want." She just had to know before she did anything silly.

He frowned into her eyes. "I don't want to use you. I want to keep you. I want you to keep me."

She implored him with her eyes to be honest, ignoring the stinging rain water dripping across her eyebrow and through her lashes.

"I mean it Lindsay, I want to take you out, have meals and wonderful times with you. I'm not looking for a one night stand to indulge in after tough cases, not like any of those…things you've heard about me."

Releasing his arm, Lindsay looked up at the sky, "I'm sorry, I should not have let that influence my actions."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Nothing's changed, Lindsay, you don't have to apologize for listening to the truth." He was right; she did look beautiful in the rain.

"You want to know my take on the situation?" She asked him, looking back at his face and slyly took a step forward; they were almost touching now. She'd never done this before, but New York meant change, and change it was going to be. Surveying the look on his face, Lindsay liked what she saw. She waited for him to nod slowly and the moment he blinked, Lindsay stood on her toes and kissed him. There was a brief hesitation before Danny smiled against her lips and wrapped both arms around her waist.

She pulled away and liking that he had a content lost expression, smiled coyly. "It has changed. And how come I'm only good for one kiss?" She didn't care; caution now belonged to the wind.

"You'll just have to stick around more then," Danny whispered into her ear teasingly.

Lindsay smiled widely and tugged his hand. "Let's go back in."

"Let's go back in, and then out." He chuckled and opened the door for her.

As they made their way across the foyer, dripping badly and giggling like children, they bumped into Stella, who was holding a stack of paper.

"What the…"

"Sorry!" They apologized before the cuss word could leave Stella's mouth.

"The two of you had better go change up before Mac sees the mess you're making." She noticed that Danny was grinning like a fool, and the girl beside him looked infinitely happier than she had been the past two days. They waved to her and scurried in the direction of the locker room.

As Lindsay wringed the rainwater out of her blouse before folding it neatly and placing it in a plastic bag, she couldn't help but steal a glance at Danny from the corner of her eyes. He looked happy. She felt happy. Maybe life was a complex cycle, made up of bazillion particles, each one having an implied consequence on the next. Take away one and the effects could be changed irrevocably. It was a delicate equilibrium too, one bad move may instruct a severe mutation, like the DNA in us. Lindsay zipped up her bag and stared at Danny. If he hadn't kissed her on Valentine's Day, if he hadn't needed saving and it hadn't resulted in her taking a bullet for him, if he hadn't been there at all the right and wrong moments to amplify the attraction she had for him. So many 'if's, she thought. How was it that she couldn't remember when exactly she had fallen for him?

"Come, Montana, you can continue staring at me later." His voice rolled into her ears, the bemusement clear.

Looks like cocky was going to be his middle name forever, Lindsay rolled her eyes. The optimistic soul within her hoped that tonight would be the start of a new cycle. One much happier, brighter and less lonely. They would think about Mac's reaction later, after the thrill and excitement died off.

Life: a cycle. A series of events, meetings, and departures. Friends discovered, others lost, Precious time, wastes away. Big droplet tears are shed for yesterday, but are dried in time for tomorrow, until all that remain are foggy, broken memories of a happy yesteryear.
-Daniela Gallo

A/N: Alrighty, the story is now complete! Do review, they're greatly appreciated. And thanks for reading.