Danny was already awake when Lindsay shuffled out of the bedroom. He was in the kitchen on his cell phone, making breakfast, and scattered around him was the carnage of a half dozen eggs. A paper plate with bacon and one with toast were already on the small table in the breakfast nook, along with a carton of orange juice. Lindsay yawned and meandered towards the smell of coffee. There was a fresh pot on the counter and she poured herself a cup, adding cream and sugar. She took a fortifying sip and felt marginally more human.

Danny was pacing the length of the small kitchen and he looked upset. Concerned, Lindsay tried to listen in to his end of the conversation, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Damn Stel, are you sure?" He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.

"Yeah, yeah. Hell, I don't know. Naw nobody. Does Mac have any ideas?" His expression changed suddenly.

"You and Hawkes found a Secondary?"

Lindsay perked up when he said that, instantly awake.

"We wondered 'bout that but when Lindsay found the stuff in the dumpster we had more than enough ta bring him in. Keep us posted will ya? Yeah. All right."

He hung up and looked up at his partner. She was barefoot and she had showered and changed into a pair of khaki shorts and a white tank top. Her wavy, tawny hair was still wet from the shower and curled delightfully around her neck. His first thought was that she looked much too good in the morning for his peace of mind, but his lustful thoughts took a back seat to the phone call he had just ended.

"Stella," she said and he nodded.

"She told me that her and Hawkes found a Secondary. Seems Davis took the girls upstairs to rape them."

Lindsay frowned and walked over to the table so she could set her coffee down. She had to squeeze past Danny to get there and he had a flash of the vision she had made last night as her body brushed up against his. He caught a whiff of the light floral scent of her shampoo and had to suppress his groan.

"We checked the bedroom but didn't find any biologicals. That was before we knew he used a condom," she said, over her shoulder.

Danny frowned and moved to the stove so he could start cooking the eggs.

"Yeah, neither did they, but they found some fibers that could'a come from Rachel and Julie's uniforms."

Lindsay nodded and sat down at the table.

"They just can't prove it because we can't find the girl's personal items," she deduced, correctly. Danny sighed in frustration.

"Yeah, that 'bout sums it up. You like your eggs scrambled, Montana?" Lindsay dragged her attention away from the case and smirked at him.

"Wow, a man who cooks breakfast. Maybe I should have accepted your proposal when I had the chance."

He looked up, puzzled. "Which proposal?" She smiled and took a sip of her coffee.

"The marriage proposal during the Mann case."

Danny laughed and added the eggs to the hot skillet, stirring them as he spoke. He remembered that case. Tyrell Mann had gone first round in the NFL draft only to be murdered in his hotel room. Lindsay had been kneeling over the body taking pictures when he had walked in and had proceeded to give him Tyrell's stats. He had half jokingly said he should marry her.

There in lay his problem. If Lindsay was just another good looking woman with the brains of Paris Hilton on crack then he wouldn't be worried. His problem was that she was wicked smart, funny, had a strange array of interests that stretched from Opera all the way to football, and she was fearless enough to take down suspects and eat bugs.

Hell, even the Davis thing hadn't fazed her, not really. She may have been scared when it went down, but afterwards she had just been pissed. She didn't want the little bastard to walk anymore than he did.

"Sorry Monroe, that was a one time offer. You should'a snapped me up when ya had the chance."

Lindsay chuckled and grabbed a piece of bacon to munch on.

"So what else did Stella have to say? You looked upset when I walked in."

Danny turned back to the skillet and avoided her eyes. He scooped the eggs up, put them on a plate, and carried them over to the table. He sat down opposite Lindsay and started to fill his plate up.

"It was nothin' important."

His body language and voice clearly told Lindsay she should drop it but her curiosity was piqued. She cocked her head to the side and regarded him over her coffee cup. Danny wouldn't have been upset at Stella and Hawkes finding the secondary scene. He would have been pleased that their fellow CSIs found evidence that supported theirs. That meant that something else must have happened with the Riker situation.

"Danny." He looked up from his eggs and regarded her. He wasn't wearing his glasses so she had a clear view of his crystal blue eyes. He looked troubled and their was residual anger lurking beneath their depths.

"What else did Stella tell you?" He frowned at her and poured some orange juice.

"Just drop it, Montana," he warned.

Lindsay was quickly progressing from concerned to annoyed. Normally she wouldn't push Danny when he didn't want to talk about something, because she knew how he would react, but circumstances were hardly normal right now.

"No, I'm not going to drop it. It's Riker isn't it? He's found something out about you like he did with me and the misconduct charge?"

Danny pushed away from the table and stalked into the living room, but Lindsay wasn't about to let him get away with that so she followed him.

"Danny, talk to me. We are in this together and I need to know in case it comes up in the trial."

He was pacing the living room like a caged animal and he still wouldn't look at her.

"Danny!"

He snapped.

"Jezus Lindsay, just leave me the fuck alone, okay?"

Hurt and anger flashed in her whiskey eyes and she turned away from him. The next thing he knew she was headed for the back door.

"Montana?" She wouldn't speak to him; she opened the door and stepped out.

He blinked; a myriad of emotions from confusion, to anger, to remorse, constricting his chest.

"Montana wait, where are ya goin'"

She paused and turned back to him with a look that could strip paint. She was shaking with rage.

"I'm doing what you told me to do, Messer. I'm leaving you alone. It's seems to be how you work best."

She stalked out and slammed the back door hard enough to rattle the pictures on the wall.

He didn't go after her; instead he sank down onto the sofa and held his head in his hands.

Smooth, Messer, really fucking smooth. He thought. With a sigh, he wiped a tired hand over his face, got up, and started cleaning up the kitchen. She made him crazy and she had no idea.

Danny knew that he should have just told her what Stel had said. Hell, it wasn't like she probably hadn't already heard about it. Cops liked to gossip and when Internal Affairs got involved their tongues started wagging even more. He was just pissed that Riker, the little shit stain, had gotten a hold of that piece of his slightly disreputable past. He was also afraid that if he could find out about the shooting then he could also find out about Louie and the Tanglewood boys.

Lindsay had no idea what it was like to grow up in the kind of neighborhood he had. Where he was from there were two kinds of people, those who had connections and those who didn't, and if you didn't then you had to watch your ass and be tougher than the next guy in order to survive.

That kind of growing up didn't leave a lot of room for trust. He was always trying to stay one step ahead, until Louie became a member of the Tanglewood boys. He hit high school and for the most part he was left alone because he was Louie Messer's little brother.

Danny's mind drifted back over the last few months and his brother. When Louie got beat up by Sonny and his crew, Danny had found out that he had started treating him like he did, because he didn't want his little brother to get caught up in the same illegal shit as him. He had wanted more for Danny than that kind of life and the result was that he and Louie had never been closer.

Louie still wasn't completely right after he got out of the hospital. He limped noticeably and sometimes he would lose his train of thought when he was talking, but at least he was alive. Danny knew enough now to know, that if Louie hadn't done what he did when they were young he would have followed in his brother's footsteps. He hadn't been kidding when he told Lindsay that he wanted to be a wise guy. He had been young and stupid and had only seen the respect that the gang seemed to get from the neighborhood.

Now, he was old enough to tell the difference between respect and fear. Danny also realized that he owed Louie more than he could ever repay, because if it hadn't of been for that night near Giants stadium, Danny would have never turned his life around.

He was the person he was today because of his brother. It had taken a lot of soul searching to come to terms with that, but in the end he was grateful.

Danny knew that despite everything he had real respect now; the kind of respect that came from giving victims a voice. He and his co-workers went to the front lines and pieced together the story; how they lived, why they died, and who deserved to pay for it.

They were the Justice League without superpowers, and it made what they did heroic.

The respect he got for busting the bad guys though was only part of it. He also had the respect of his co-workers, even if he wasn't always secure enough in himself to understand and accept it.

He had Lindsay's respect and the reason he had practically chased her out of the house was because he was terrified of losing it.

Danny finished cleaning up the kitchen and went to take a shower. He didn't know how he was going to fix this. He paused; as soon as the thought crossed his mind he amended it. He actually did know how to fix this; the problem was that it required him to give her what she wanted. It required a piece of his soul.

Danny just wasn't sure if he had it in him to do it.