Behind These Hazel Eyes

DL,MS. Danny puts a stop to Lindsay's denial that anything's wrong and whilst she's trying to deal with her own secret, Mac and Stella are trying to move forward.

Chapter One: I Can't Breathe, I Can't Sleep, I'm Barely Hanging On

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or CSI:NY. I do however own my imagination, my Muse, my insanity, my fangirliness and my dreams.

A/N:- My first CSI:NY fic. No idea where this came from.

…. CSI:NY …. I've seen a few eps from Season One but I really got into it when Lindsay joined the team because I'm a huge Without A Trace fan and Anna Bellknap guest starred in one of the best WAT episodes ever! Lindsay and Danny undoubtedly need to be together and Stella rules and deserves happiness with Mac of course.

She had chosen this bar because it was always full of cops and federal agents which made her feel safe but at the same time it offered her some peace and quiet as she was too new in town to be recognised by many.

Now she sat in a dark corner, staring down into her Martini and lemonade. So many things had happened in the past few weeks: The move, starting a new job, meeting a never-ending crowd of new people at work and now … this. She was hurting so much but she kept it all inside, put on an act, showed her colleagues a brave façade but she knew they weren't all convinced. She had been acting different these couple days and Stella especially seemed to have noticed it. She was always hovering around, asking her whether she was okay and whether she needed a break. She didn't need a break though. Working herself to the bone was her way of dealing with it and so what if she hadn't been able to sleep in days.

"Hey Montana, you waiting for someone or is this seat free?"

Lindsay jerked her head up to see Danny looking down at her. Before she'd had a chance to form some words, he had sat down in the seat opposite from her and was examining her.

"You know, all you had to was ask and I would have deigned you with my company so you wouldn't have to drink alone." He smirked.

"Shut it Danny. I'm not in the mood." Lindsay said, sipping her drink. "I came here to be alone."

Danny chuckled and drank some of his beer. "I'm not taking the hint so you might as well get used to at least trying to be civil to me."

"Danny please just go and annoy someone else." Lindsay said, almost pleadingly. She didn't want to be around anyone at the moment.

"No can do I'm afraid; everyone else seems to find me quite charming and I'm sure I'll win you over sooner or later." Danny said offhandedly. "Another drink?"

"No thanks." Lindsay said coldly, standing up and pulling her coat on.

"Hey, where are you going?" Danny questioned, confused.

Lindsay downed the rest of her drink and headed towards the door. "Away from you."

Danny frowned down into his beer. Something was up. Of course it wasn't like he was the person Lindsay trusted the most in this city and he couldn't remember one serious conversation the two of them had had outside of work which wasn't littered with blatant teasing remarks and sardonic replies. He realised that he didn't know her at all …. Still, these last few days she had been distancing herself from the rest of the team, not just him, and she barely spoke two words together. Even when he'd said things solely to provoke a reaction out of her, she had barely acknowledged that he had spoken. Something had happened in the past few days which she wasn't telling anyone about. Something which had caused the strongly opinionated CSI who was always willing to stand her ground to crawl back into a shell Danny didn't even know she had. He would never tell her but when she was all worked up over something he had said to provoke her or over a suspect in a case, was when he thought she looked the most beautiful. It was then when he realised he wasn't just playing with her, he was attracted to her more deeply than anyone would have guessed. He gulped down the rest of his drink and ran out of the bar to find her.

The New York streets were as busy as usual on a Thursday night and it took Danny a minute before the crowd cleared a path so he could see which way Lindsay had gone. Having spotted her retreating back, he jogged after her.

"Lindsay." He called, noticing how foreign that name sounded coming from him. Calling her 'Montana' had become second nature to him and by using her first name it seemed to make this much more personal and Danny Messer didn't do personal.

"I told you to leave me alone." She said, stuffing her hands in her pocket, annoyed that he had followed her, especially since she was on the point of breaking down.

"I just want to talk." Danny said, wading through a crowd of foreign tourists, struggling to keep up with her.

"Well I don't." Lindsay said.

"Something's been going on with you these last few days and I want to help." Danny insisted, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her into an alleyway to stop her from walking away from him. That appeared to be a big mistake though. The next thing Danny knew he felt her hand come into contact with his cheek. He let go of her wrist, and stared at her in surprise.

Her eyes were narrowed and her stance defensive.

"Don't ever touch me again, do you hear? I don't want to talk to you. Just leave me alone. I just want to be left alone, why don't people understand that!" Lindsay raged.

Danny felt something sizzle up in him. Was this really the same Lindsay Munroe who worked quietly and diligently beside him in the lab six days a week? What the hell had he done to deserve a slap? Figures that the one time he was actually concerned for someone, it came back to slap him in the face, literally. He was just about to ask her what the hell her problem was when he noticed something in her eyes that made him stand stock still and bite his tongue. The anger that had been in her eyes when she had hit him was now replaced by fear. And tears. He didn't understand it. She was starting to shake and she wrapped her arms around her body, holding herself tightly.

"Lindsay?" Danny questioned, cautiously reaching out to touch her arm comfortingly with the hand that wasn't clutching his stinging cheek.

She stepped back out of his reach. "Just don't." she said softly before turning and running back into the main street.

Danny stared at where she had just been standing, trying to process everything that had just happened. She'd run out of the bar, he'd run after her, he'd grabbed her arm, she had hit him. He'd touched her and she'd slapped him. Something wasn't right about this. Danny got out his cell phone and called the one person who would know what to do.

……………………………………………

Stella looked down at her cutlery which was glittering in the candlelight with a slight blush. He was making her feel everything she knew he would make her feel.

"What's up?" he asked, reaching across the table and placing her hand in his gently.

"Nothing. It's just been so long since I've been on one of these."

"What a date?"

"Yeah. Usually I'm sitting petrified in my seat right about now thinking of a hundred things that could go wrong." Stella said with a nervous laugh.

"And tonight?" He questioned, bringing her hand up to his lips and kissing her knuckles softly.

"Tonight, everything's perfect - but then again I knew it would be with you." She smiled.

"Mmm. I couldn't agree more."

Just then Stella's phone started vibrating in her pocket and she took it out. "It's Danny." She said, looking at the caller ID.

"Don't answer it. You're not on call." The gentleman said, taking the cell phone away from her.

"Exactly. There's got to be a good reason Danny's calling me when I'm not on call." Stella pointed out.

Mac groaned and handed it back to her letting her answer it. He hated it when she was right, which was nearly always. She had been right about it being time that they addressed the hidden feelings between them which had lately been simmering so close to the surface even Flack had picked up on it. And she had been right about taking things slow, letting him decide when and where he wanted their first 'date' to be. And she had certainly been right to wear that dress tonight. God she looked breathtaking and he hadn't taken his eyes off of her since the moment she had opened her front door. She caught him staring at her and gave him a small smile which made his heart warm in a way which he hadn't felt for years. But then the smile faded and was replaced by a look of worry.

Stella put down her cell and gave Mac an anxious glance.

"What is it?" he asked worriedly.

"It's Lindsay. Something's up." She said.

A/N:- Okay, there's the start. What do you think?