Lindsay rubbed her hands up and down her arms as if she was cold and wandered down the hall. She honestly didn't think this day could get any worse or any weirder. She had missed something in Mac's office just then, and it upset her because she wasn't use to being in the dark. Her job was about illumination but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what Danny had gotten out of that exchange that she hadn't. She decided to go look for him and bumped into Stella instead.
Her face must have betrayed her inner turmoil because Stella came up beside her and pulled her into a sidearm hug. Lindsay laid her head on the other woman's shoulder and sighed.
"It's not what you are thinking," Stella informed her. Lindsay almost smiled.
"You don't know what I'm thinking." Stella released her and turned to face her.
"Sure I do. I'm all knowing, all seeing." This time Lindsay did laugh and it did wonders for the self pitying mood she had been slowly drifting towards.
"And what oh great swami, do you see in your crystal ball?"
Stella put her hands to her temples and pretended to concentrate on the great beyond.
"I see a handsome young man who is determined to protect you and your reputation at any cost, especially after that little bomb shell."
Lindsay looked away. "Nice to know someone could tell what he was thinking."
Her co-worker cocked her head, regarding her. "Trust me; I've known Danny a long time. He doesn't work that hard at concealing his thoughts unless he is feeling something very deeply."
Lindsay scoffed and her lips twitched into a bitter half smile. "It could have been disgust and suspicion."
Stella shook her head and her smile took on a sardonic twist.
"True, but if Danny felt that way you would have seen it. He only works so hard at hiding his emotions when he starts caring too much."
After that little illuminating revelation she excused herself so she could go find Hawkes. Lindsay watched her go, feeling more confused than ever before and not liking the feeling one bit.
Danny slammed his palm against his locker and sank down on the nearby bench. He couldn't believe this was happening. He and Lindsay do solid investigative work and get a child killer off the streets and some high powered attorney decides to cloud the issue because of an old grudge. Riker should rot in hell along with Davis.
Frustrated he spun his combination lock and popped open his locker. He had emergency duffel that he kept packed in case they got called in for lock down. A lot of police forces had procedures in place in case of a state wide emergency that required officers to report for duty when called and stay sequestered in designated places until the emergency was over. CSI usually didn't get called but every since 9/11 the criteria had expanded.
His duffel had a change of clothes, some pajama bottoms, a toothbrush and some travel size toiletry items.
He had a plan to keep him and Lindsay out of Riker's clutches until Mac came up with a miracle to save their careers. He just hoped that whatever magic Mac had up his sleeve was going to be good enough. With a determined expression he flipped open his cell phone and dialed.
That was how she found him, sitting on the bench with an open duffel and talking on his cell phone. It only took her a second to figure out who he was talking too.
"How you doin'? How's the side?" Flack must have made a joke about his injury because Danny laughed.
"Don't strain yourself, Romeo," he teased. Flack said something else that made Danny laugh and Lindsay smiled. She missed listening to them tease each other like kids and she was glad that Flack was feeling well enough to engage Danny in their usual banter.
Danny glanced up then and saw her. He waved her forward and gestured for her to have a seat in front of him. He was straddling the bench, facing the door so in order to keep facing him she had to straddle the other side.
"Listen Don, I got a favor to ask." Danny grinned again and she could only imagine what the other detective had said.
"Get your mind outta the gutter." He paused to listen. "Naw it ain't that either. Listen, does your pop still have that cabin upstate in Black Lake. He does. Anyone up there? Yeah I need to get outta town for a few days. Naw it ain't trouble like you're thinkin'. Call Mac and he'll fill you in, yeah. Great, have him drop the keys at my cousin Tony's. Yeah at the garage. Hey man, thanks I owe ya. Yep, okay, bye."
He hung up and met Lindsay's eyes.
"You got an emergency bag yet, Montana?" Puzzled by the question she nodded.
"It's in my locker." He nodded, distracted and put his phone in his own duffel.
"That was Flack. His pop got this cabin when he retired from the force up in Black Lake. It used to belong to Don's granddad. He is gonna have his friend Michael drop the keys at my cousin Tony's garage and I'm gonna borrow one of Tony's pick-up trucks so we can get outta Dodge for a little while."
Lindsay blinked at him in surprise and instantly started shaking her head.
"I don't think that is such a good idea Danny. What if Mac needs us?"
She latched on to Mac because she didn't want to admit the real reason this was a bad idea. She knew that if she went away with Danny Messer for a few days then all the self control in the world wouldn't amount to a hill of beans.
"Monroe, by gettin' outta town we're doin' what Mac needs us to do. What do you think he was tryin' to tell us in his office?"
He frowned and shook his head. "You don't know Riker. He's a leech and if we get served before Mac can work his magic then the whole case is gonna go straight to hell in the proverbial hand basket. So if you got a better idea let's hear it."
Lindsay bit her lip and looked away from him. The truth was she didn't have a better idea but she still wasn't sure about this. She watched his eyes watching her, assessing her in new ways and she felt slightly uncomfortable.
"You've got a point Messer, a good one. It's just…I don't like feeling like I'm running away." She had already done that once in her life and she swore that she would never do it again.
His lips twitched into a half smirk.
"We ain't running away. We're engaging in a strategic retreat." That got a smile out of her and he couldn't help but mark it as an internal victory. She was biting her lower lip again and Danny had to fight back a groan.
She just had to call attention to her mouth at time like this.
"All right, I'll go." He smiled. She hesitated only a moment before adding.
"Danny…about what I told everyone…John and I…we never…" Danny frowned at her.
"I believed you when you told it the first time, Linds. Why bring it up?"
She flushed but met his eyes head on, almost defiantly.
"Because I couldn't tell what you were thinking and I didn't like it."
Danny took off his glasses and ran a weary hand over his face. He put them back on and assessed her critically. She wanted honesty, he'd give her honesty.
"Like I said Monroe, I believed you but I also know you well enough to know that you was holdin' somethin' back."
She looked away and focused on a point behind his head and sighed. She seemed to be having an internal debate with herself and when she reached a conclusion she met his eyes again.
"I was attracted to John. He was…is a very attractive man; and I always felt a little guilty about it. If he hadn't been married things might have been different but he was and they weren't. He was a good friend and a good boss, but that was it."
Danny graced her with a small smile and she felt the weight that had settled on her chest lift.
"You ain't got nothin' to feel guilty about, Montana. You got caught up in somethin' that you couldn't do anything about and that guy who accused you outta jealously was a real bastard. Believe me, I know a little somethin' about situations that are outta your control."
She smiled then and it lit up her eyes like sunlight through stained glass.
She opened her mouth to thank him but his phone rang. He shot an annoyed glace at the offending technology and sighed.
"I'm sorry but I gotta take this," he apologized and answered. "Messer, yeah, hey Tony."
He got up so he could pace and turned away from her.
Lindsay watched him discreetly from underneath her lashes and felt a tug deep with-in her abdomen. Speaking of attractive men. It was ironic that she would come to New York and find herself once again, attracted to a co-worker, but this time there was nothing standing in the way of that attraction. Dangerous territory, dangerous thoughts, and now she was going away with him. He moved the phone higher and she watched his bicep flex under his dress shirt and she amended her earlier statement.
This wasn't just a bad idea this was a going to be a mistake of epic proportions.