Chapter 1 – Mondays are Bad Days

Lindsay woke up to the annoying sound of her alarm and sighed as she remembered her thoughts from two weeks ago. Danny was driving her crazy. She had never wanted someone so badly to just want her. She looked at her clock that read 6:06am and groaned. She knew it was not going to be a good day, mainly because it was a Monday. Mondays were always bad days. She rolled over, grabbed the stereo remote off her nightstand, and pressed play. The song 'Could Be Anything' by Eames Era started to play as she crawled out of bed and headed for the bathroom to take a shower.

Danny woke to the sound of his snooze alarm going off for the fifth time; all he wanted to do today was sleep. It was Monday -- he hated Mondays. All he could think about as he crawled out of bed was how, for the last two weeks, he couldn't get the nerve up to ask out the one girl who made his world turn. He turned on his computer and checked his messages before he headed off to the bathroom to take a shower. As the hot water cascaded over him, he did everything in his power to stop thinking about Lindsay.

Lindsay looked at her watch as she hurried through the doors into the lab. She knew she was late. She couldn't believe that she would do something like this. As she rounded the corner, she ran face first into the reason why she was late; Danny. She felt like her entire world was crashing down around her as she looked up at him."Mornin', Montana." He said with a small smirk.

Danny felt like he was losing control of his entire being as she stood there looking up at him with those beautiful hazel eyes.

"Shut up, Danny. How many times do I have to tell you …don't call me Montana!" As she tried to get around him, Mac poked his head outside his office.

"Danny, Lindsay can you come here for a second?" Mac asked.

Danny and Lindsay looked at each other and walked into Mac's office.

"What's up, Mac?" Danny asked.

"I wanted to inform you two about the annual fundraiser dinner. It's this Saturday night and I expect both of you to be there. You both may bring a date if you like. Oh, and it's black tie and gown," Mac said as he grabbed a piece of paper and handed it to Danny. "Here's your case assignment; now go before the case gets cold," Mac said sternly, motioning toward the door.

Danny and Lindsay walked out of Mac's office and toward the locker room.

"So, why were you late, Montana?" Danny asked as he held the door to the locker room for her.

"Danny, please, not today. Just don't call me Montana today," Lindsay said softly.

Danny knew something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on what the something was. He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"What's wrong, Lindsay?" He asked with concern.

Lindsay shook her head...What's wrong, what's wrong! You're what's wrong, you dumbass!...she wanted to scream at him.

"Nothing, Danny. Let's just go to the scene." She said as she picked up her kit and walked out the door to the truck.

"Nice one, Messer," Danny said to himself as he followed Lindsay.

Danny walked out to the truck and saw Lindsay leaning against the passenger side with a sad look on her face. Danny unlocked the doors, Lindsay got into the passenger seat, as Danny got in the driver seat, and started the engine. They sat in silence as they drove to the crime scene. Danny felt awful. What had he done to the girl he cared so much about? When they arrived at the crime scene, Lindsay got out of the truck and went over to start processing the scene.

"Another day in Siberia," Danny said quietly to himself.

Danny got out of the truck and walked past the officers toward Flack to get the briefing.

"Hey Flack." Danny said.

"Hey Danny. What's wrong with Lindsay?" Flack asked as he noticed Lindsay already starting to process.

"I dunno. All I know is I think I offended her," Danny said, watching Lindsay too.

"How'd you do that?"

"I called her Montana."

"You always call her Montana, don't you?" Flack asked slightly confused.

"Yep, I don't get it either," Danny said shaking his head. "Anyway what've we got?" He asked, remembering they were at the scene.

"A 419 and a 407. Vic's name is Charles Nalickk. He owned the store." Flack replied as he pointed to the store sign above.

"So a dead man and a robbery, eh? What's this city coming to?" Danny replied sarcastically.

"I'll keep you posted," Flack said as he started to walk towards Lindsay. "Hey, Lindsay, you can't say hi to a fellow friend anymore?" Flack said slightly sarcastically.

"Oh, hi, Flack." she said, then went back to processing the body.

"That's it? What's wrong Monroe? You on the rag or something?" He asked a little upset with her response.

"What!" Lindsay replied as she stood up, turned, and faced Flack. "No, I'm not on the rag! I'm just having a bad day! And now I have to find a date for this stupid fundraiser! And I just want to process this scene and go home! So do you want to keep bothering me?" Lindsay said, practically yelling.

Danny came running out with his gun drawn to check out the commotion. When he saw Lindsay yelling at Flack he replaced his weapon in his holster, and stood there for a moment to listen to what she was yelling about. As she said, 'Now I have to find a date for this stupid fundraiser,' he realized that he maybe still could stand a chance with her.

"Jesus, Lindsay, I'm sorry!" Flack said, quickly backing off.

As Lindsay stopped to take a breath, she looked over to see Danny watching the commotion between her and Flack. She wanted to scream at Danny for just standing there looking like a beautiful Greek god. At that moment, she knew what was about to happen, she couldn't stop herself – she was going to cry. She couldn't let them see her like this. As the tears came to her eyes, she dropped her evidence bag and ran for the truck. She had never felt like this before. Lindsay was crying over a guy who seemed like he barely noticed her. She leaned against the truck and she sobbed into her hands. After a few minutes, her tears began to not fall quite as hard. Her stomach ached with hurt from crying. Her face and eyes burned from her tears. Her heart felt like it was going to never stop breaking. How could she have let this happen? How could she get this attached to a guy like him? She used to eat, breathe, sleep, and just live for her job – that was before Danny. Her knees felt weak, hell, her entire body felt like she had no strength left. She finally gave into the weakness and collapsed on the ground. As she heard footsteps running toward her, she slowly raised her head, only to see the reason for her tears running toward her, Danny.

Danny ran up to her with a look of shock and pain on his face. He wanted to hold her, he wanted to make her pain stop.

"Lindsay, are you alright?" Danny asked, as he knelt down next to her.

"Yeah, I said I was having a bad day, and it just keeps getting worse." She replied with a shaky tone and a half-hearted smile.

"Listen, I can call Mac, tell him you're not feeling well, and you can go home. How bout that?" Danny said, as he sat down next to Lindsay.

"And leave you here alone to process?" She asked through her sniffles.

"Well I don't think we have much of a choice."

"I don't think so, Messer." She retorted.

"Okay…" he started. "So…do you want to talk about why you're having a bad day?" He continued cautiously.

"I do, but…"

"But what?"

"I'm not sure what would happen if I told you, but I know I need to." She continued doing her best to stare at the ground.

"Lindsay, we are friends, or at least I thought we were. So you can tell me anything." He replied as he placed his hand under her chin making her look at him.

At that moment, Lindsay felt weaker than she did before, almost as if she was powerless to his touch. She looked up into his deep blue eyes allowing them to consume her. She wanted to just grab him and kiss him. She wanted to hold him, touch him. She wanted to…whoa! Where was she letting her mind wander to? She pulled away from his touch and stood up. She placed her hand on her aching forehead and let out a small groan. Danny stood up to face Lindsay.

"You okay?" He asked as he watched her hold her forehead.

"Danny…You know what's the worst thing you could say to someone when they've been crying? Are you okay? It only makes things worse." She responded, trying her best to keep her composure.

"Oops. I'm sorry." He said staring down at her. As her eyes began to fill back up with tears, he realized what kind of mistake he had made. "Lindsay, please don't …I'm …I …oh, damn it." He said as he grabbed her and pulled her in his arms, stroking her hair. "I'm so sorry…I didn't mean to. I just want you to be okay. It kills me to see you like this." He continued, still holding on to her.

"Well, I'm not okay!" She said through her tears, as Danny backed away from her for a moment.

"Hold on…" He started, then reached for his cell phone in his pocket, and then dialed Mac. "Mac, hi, it's Danny. Listen Lindsay has gotten sick, no, no I think it's a stomach bug, but I'm gunna take her home...Great, thanks, yeah see ya tomorrow." Danny said as he hung up his phone and smiled at Lindsay. "Stella is on here way here, she's about three blocks away, so we're free to go. Mac told me to take care of you." He finished, giving her a sly smirk.

"What the hell, Danny? You just call Mac and what? Expect me to follow your orders or something?" She countered.

"Do you really want to have this conversation here?" He said as he waved at Stella.

Looking over and seeing Stella, "No, not really. My place or yours?" Lindsay said quietly.

"Yours." He said as he quickly ushered her into the passenger side of the truck.