A/N: Sorry for the long wait in updating. Once again, the reviews are inspiring! Be forwarned that this chapter sucks. It's written bad, so, yeah. :)
Chapter Three:
After a moment, Lindsay shook her head. Having found her voice, she said, "I'm Lindsay Monroe. I work with the crime lab and I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?"
Her brown eyes scanned Lindsay up and down, sizing her up. She obviously had some idea that Lindsay was the one that had replaced her just a few months' prior.
Lindsay waited for a few moments before the other woman finally spoke. "What do you want?" she didn't sound angry or bitter. In fact, she sounded disinterested.
Lindsay averted her gaze down to her shoelaces. A sudden wave of nervousness overwhelmed her. "Actually," she started, clearing her throat and looking up to make eye contact with Aiden. She thrust her hands into the pockets of her thin coat as she twiddled her fingers anxiously. "I was wondering if I could come in?"
Aiden Burns pursed her lips and looked around, as if she was contemplating letting Lindsay in. Lindsay caught the corner of her bottom lip in between her teeth as she waited for Aiden to let her in, or reject her and tell her to get lost. After a few awkward moments of silence, Aiden pushed open her front door and let her step inside.
When they were both inside her apartment, Lindsay's eyes began to scan the interior of the room. It was really cute, comfortable and lived in. She turned a full circle to see the petite brunette standing by the door with her arms crossed over her chest. She was waiting for Lindsay to explain why she was there.
"I know we've never met." She started off slowly. "But I wanted to ask you a few questions about a case that you were working on."
Lindsay noticed the rise of her eyebrow and saw that she had caught the woman's interest. Even though she hadn't told Aiden what case she was referring to, Lindsay realized didn't have to. She already knew. So Lindsay spoke in the wake of her silence. "There has been a string of rape's as well as murders for the past couple of weeks and we haven't been able to collect enough evidence to convict anyone yet. That is . . . " Her voce trailed off.
"D.J. Pratt." Aiden finished her sentence for her. She shook her head in disgust. "I knew that he would strike again. Sick bastard." She spat. Lindsay noted the venom in the woman's eyes as she shook her head. Aiden finally turned to Lindsay. "Well, what do you want me to do about it? It's not like I've still got my job."
Lindsay nodded in understanding. "No, I know that." She responded quickly. Moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue, Lindsay wanted to scream out for help. Anything to get this guy caught; to get him behind bars. She had been working this case for a few weeks now and she saw their bodies. Processed the scenes. Nobody understood. Except for Aiden. Hell, she had lost her job over it. "You're the only one that gets it. That has seen their faces. You know what it's like to come so close to justice, but then suddenly, he walks and you just know that he is guilty."
They were silent as Aiden watched her closely. Her arms remained neatly folded over her chest. She didn't say anything, simply watched her. "I was wondering if you could tell me anything about your cases." Lindsay proceeded. "I have read all your notes and the case files of the victims, but it's not the same as if coming from you."
After a little while, Aiden nodded. "Okay, fine." She gave in.
Lindsay brought her hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn when her gaze traveled to her watch to check the time. Her eyes widened as he sat up straight and ran her fingers haphazardly through her hair. "I better get going." She replied tiredly.
Aiden twisted on the couch and turned to the small black clock that rested on her side table. She nodded and stood up. "Okay, well, I hope I helped." She offered a small smile.
Lindsay returned the tentative smile and grabbed her jacket and shrugged into it. As she headed to the door, Aiden called out to her. "Hey, can you keep me up to date with this case?" she asked shyly and Lindsay grinned.
"Sure." She nodded and raised the papers that were clutched in her hand tightly and waved them in a fair well. "Thank you for these. I appreciate it." And with that, Lindsay left the apartment and shut the door behind her.
Going over here hadn't been a waste after all, she thought with a small smirk as she folded the papers and stuffed them into her pockets. She yawned again and began her descent down the winding stair cases to head for home. She could get a few hours of sleep in before she had to be back at work.
Danny watched her as she climbed out of his bed and started her trek toward the bathroom. He ran his hand over his face and let out a low groan. He heard the shower start and knew that she was, once again, staying the night at his place.
He really liked her and it wasn't one of those things where he'd sleep with her and after a few weeks their relationship would run dry and then he would decide to call it quits. No, after Cindy, Elicia was different.
They had met on the subway a few weeks ago and he noticed how cute she was. When they began to talk and things started off slow, he was amazed at how fast he had fallen for her. She knew him, what he did for a living; his attitude. She knew and recognized one of his black moods and steered clear of him to give him space. Oh, He liked her a lot.
"Hey," he heard her call out from the bathroom. Danny turned to his side so that he could hear her a little better over the running water and bustling city of New York. "Do you have to work this weekend?"
Danny yawned and reached out toward the night stand to pull on his glasses. He had talked to Mac earlier this week about giving him the weekend off, but the older man would have none of it. It had led to another heated discussion between the two men about Danny's responsibilities to the lab. He wouldn't tell Elicia that the argument had started because he wanted to spend more time with her. "Yeah, I have to work." He replied gruffly, his voice thick with sleep.
"That's too bad," she spoke ruefully. "I was hoping that we could spend Saturday off." He could hear the pout in her voice and Danny smiled to himself as a mental image of Elicia played in his mind. Her bottom lip would stick out, making her lips look plump and her eyes would downcast in a mixture of hurt and confusion.
After a few more minutes of lying lazily in bed, Danny pushed the overs off of his body and swung his legs off the side of the bed. After rolling his head from side to side and worked out the kinks in his muscles, he stood to start getting dressed for the day. Elicia took long, and hot showers and he knew never to get one right after her. Unless he was in the shower right along with her.
Elicia came out of the bathroom and padded barefoot toward him. He smiled as the scent of soap and shampoo filled the room. She was wrapped in one of his large green towels and she was dripping water onto the wooden floors. He didn't mind though. The only thought that even registered with him was the fact that underneath the towel, she was wet and nude.
Danny coiled his arms around her petite frame and nuzzled his head into the crook of her neck. She let out a squeal of delight as the towel fell from her body and dropped to the floor.
Lindsay wiped the sleep from her eyes as she drowsily entered the lab the next morning. When she had swaggered into her apartment earlier that morning, she didn't even bother showering. She merely kicked off her shoes, tossed her jacket onto the brown, overstuffed chair and collapsed onto her mattress. Sleep came instantly.
It had felt like she had only received a few minutes of rest when her alarm clock sounded her awake. Lindsay was this close to calling in Mac and requesting a day off, but her conscience got the best of her. So, here she was, dead on her feet.
Slowly, as to not spill the coffee that she was sipping, she cautiously made her way to the locker room to start of the day that already seemed too long. Letting out another tired yawn, she maneuvered past some lab techs that stood by the glass doors. She set the Starbucks brand of coffee down on the wood bench when she heard a soft chuckle. Turning, she saw a very entertained Danny coming toward her.
"You look like crap." He observed as a cocky smirk adorned his face.
Lindsay glanced up at him over her shoulder and shot him a sardonically sweet smile. "Always the gentleman."
Danny laughed and proceeded to his own locker. He always loved bantering with Lindsay. At first he just did it for kicks. He saw that it got a rise out of her and he liked the way her facial features hardened. But she soon caught onto the little game that he played with her and she left him on his toes more often than not.
But lately it was different. She was so absorbed into the Pratt case that she hardly had time to sleep, and it showed. Her face was blanched and she had dark smudges under her normally vibrant brown eyes. She had lost weight, he noticed, as his eyes grazed down her slender frame. Danny wanted to shake her out of this, because every time a new body came up, she always blamed herself. For not finding new evidence, for not making the connections in time. And it would send her deeper into the case.
"What?" she asked, breaking him out of his thoughts and brought him back to the locker room where she stood watching him, watching her.
He shook his head and, soundlessly, turned back to his locker. An awkward silence settled between the two of them as they both went through the procedures of getting ready for the day. He didn't want to stand there in silence. He willed his mind to say something, anything, but his mouth stayed shut. So, after a full three minutes of thinking up something to say, he turned to her and said: "Do you have to work this weekend?" Smooth.
He inwardly cringed as she shook her head and glanced up at him while attaching her badge to her belt. "No." She sighed. "No, I don't have to work this weekend, but I think I might pick up some extra hours."
Danny watched her and wanted to tell her to take it easy on this case, but rather he kept quiet. "Yeah, lucky you." He responded dejectedly. "I've been working four weeks straight without a break. But when I talked to Mac about giving me a weekend off, he started going on about my responsibilities to the lab."
He shut the door of his locker with a sound slam and the two of them made their way to the break room before Mac started handing out assignment. He heard her chuckle and Danny looked down at her as they wove their way around detectives and scientists. "You're a big whiner. You know that?"
"What?"
A small smirk graced her face. When she turned to take a look at him, she noticed the offended look and laughed softly. "Oh, please. It's just one weekend. I'm sure you'll live." She assured him teasingly. They rounded a corner together and Lindsay continued. "Back in Montana, I worked two months straight." She spoke in a matter of fact tone.
"That's because you guys had to work around cows." He muttered.
Lindsay turned to Danny in disbelief. "We do not work around cows." She refuted his playful accusations. Lindsay paused momentarily, then added. "Well, once when I was a rookie . . . " her voice trailed off and Danny ducked his head and laughed. "Well, the idiot went around a cow pasture killing off cows. And that's the only time!" she spoke with a defensive attitude.
She heard him chuckle and Lindsay felt her cheeks burn a shade of scarlet. She ducked her head so that he wouldn't be able to see her embarrassment. For something to do, she lifted her cup to her mouth and took a small drink of her now lukewarm coffee.
As the two made their entrance into the break room, Danny walked over to join Stella and Hawkes at the coffee machine while Lindsay took one last swing of the sugar infested drink before tossing it into a near by trash bin.
"Lindsay?" a stern voice grabbed her attention. Turning to face the inquirer, she noticed that Mac Taylor stood beside her. He touched her elbow to lead her away from the rest of the group and Lindsay followed curiously.
"I know that you have been working on the rapes and murders of those women for the past few weeks now," he spoke once they were out of ear shot; not wasting any time. Lindsay shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans, a funny feeling arising in the pit of her stomach. The tone is Mac's made her uneasy at the direction the topic was heading. However, he continued. "There has been another body found."
Lindsay was speechless. She removed her hands from her pockets and they fell limply to her side. Dammit, she knew this would happen eventually. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She simply hung her head when the cool voice of her boss brought her back to the present.
"I want you to go out to the scene and start processing." He told her plainly and Lindsay nodded. She was going to get this guy. "Once I hand out the cases, I'll be out to join you. The body was found early this morning on the corner Bank street in the Village. Flack is there waiting."
He gave her, what looked like a weak smile before turning and heading back to the rest of the crew. Lindsay felt her pulse quicken with anger. Turning sharply, she made her way back to the locker room to grab her kit. This was going to be a long day.
Please R&R! Let me know what you think! All ideas are welcome::hint: