Chapter 4 – Uncertainty

Danny awoke to a muffled MEEPING noise. He opened his eyes, squinting at the sunlight beaming in through the window. The clock on the DVD player read 6:45. He drew in a deep breath, then looked around, surveying the situation as it would be. He smiled, taking it in. She was lying on her right, with her left arm draped over his chest, her hand resting on his right shoulder. His left arm encircled her back, allowing him to hold her close. The annoying meep of her alarm pulled him back to reality. He hesitated only a moment before waking her; he was surprised to find himself enjoying this moment together immensely. He breathed out a sigh, and shook her gently.

"Montana," he whispered.

"Mmmmph..." was all that came out of her mouth, as she stretched. She opened her eyes and squinted, as Danny had done. Stupid sun... she really had to get better blinds, instead of the cheap ones that were there when she moved in. As her eyes came into focus, she saw Danny looking at her -- hold on, Danny! She sat up quickly, suddenly feeling very awkward. When she had woken up the night before and realized the situation at hand, she was too tired to think logically, and she was facing the consequences now. "Do you--" She inhaled sharply, her hand going to her jaw line. Right, that, she thought. That hurt a bit more than she was expecting it to.

"Montana, you alright?" asked Danny. Lindsay turned to look at him. He was propped on one elbow, looking intently at her. Her eyes fell on his lip - it was swollen, but not as badly as she would have expected it to be; hopefully, she'd be just as lucky.

"Yeah, just a bit sore from yesterday's debacle - it's not that bad, just caught me off guard." She gave him a weak smile, then looked at the clock. "You start at 8 as well, right?"

"Yeah... I'm just thinking that. I doubt I have enough time to get back to my apartment, especially with early morning traffic," he replied. He doubted anyone at the lab would notice if he wore the same clothes a second day; if he was out in the field, then it definitely didn't matter, and if he was in the lab, he could just wear a lab coat and no one would notice.

Hold on, he thought, why do I care anyway? I've gone in the next day wearing the same clothes as before - no one knows that I was with Lindsay last night, except for Flack and Hawkes, and they're guys, they definitely won't notice... He sat up, resting his face in his hands and rubbing his head. "Do you mind if I take a quick shower here?" he asked; at least he wouldn't smell.

"Sure," she said, getting up from the couch. She walked to the linen closet and grabbed a clean towel. Her body felt stiff as she moved. She turned to walk back to Danny, and was startled to see he was right behind her. "Um, here..." she said quietly, handing him the towel. Why does this feel so awkward? she thought.

"Thanks," he said, taking the towel in one hand, and putting the other close to her jaw.

What is he doing! she thought nervously. He's not... is he! Her breath caught in her throat.

His hand met her chin, but instead turned her face to the right, and she realized he was looking at her jaw. Lindsay, you fool, she thought to herself, resisting the urge to laugh at herself, at her own embarrassment. Clearly, he wasn't going to do that.

"Not as bad as I would have expected," he said, moving her head around slowly. "It's a bit discoloured, but nothing some womanly magic can't fix up... put some concealer on this, and I doubt anyone will notice. If it makes you feel any better, the Gala will be dimly lit, so you don't have anything to worry about."

Lindsay felt her pulse quicken at Danny's mention of the Gala - she had totally forgotten about it until he mentioned it. She took a breath, trying her hardest to hide her anxiety, as she realized she had not done any of the prep work she had hoped to accomplish. All she could do was smile nervously. "Be quick in the shower," was all she could think of to say.

Danny smiled and walked down the hall towards the bathroom. In a few seconds, she could hear the shower turn on, and the curtain slide shut. She quickly walked to her bedroom and took out the first clean, decent outfit she could find. She changed quickly, then walked to the mirror to examine her jaw. Danny was right - slightly discoloured, but nothing some work with some concealer couldn't fix. She gingerly touched it - it was still pretty tender. She'd just be careful today as to not aggravate it. She kept her makeup in the bathroom; she'd cover it up once Danny was done.

She walked back to her closet, and pulled out her dress. She gave it a quick once-over to ensure it wasn't dirty or crinkled, then hung it back in her closet. She didn't want Danny to see it - based on what she had been told on previous occasions where she'd worn the dress, it made her look, well, downright stunning. She just hoped that it was true.

She looked over at the clock – if they left a few minutes early, they'd have time to stop at the coffee shop around the corner and get a bite to eat before catching the subway. She walked down to the bathroom, and knocked on the door.

Danny looked at his lip in the mirror. Swollen, but not discoloured. Unlike Lindsay's, though, the swelling was a bit more obvious. He opened his mouth - ah, that's where the bruising is. The inside of his cheek was dark blue, from where the man's fist had caused his cheek to connect with his teeth. Danny said a silent thank-you that he didn't bruise easily - he had been like that since he was a kid. It really took quite a bit of force for him to show colour on the outside from an injury. He slipped off his clothes, placed his glasses on the counter beside the sink, and stepped in the shower. Looking around, he laughed at how many bottles were in the shower. In his, there was just a bottle of shampoo and a bar of soap... Lindsay's had two different brands of shampoo, a bottle of conditioner, one of those pouffy sponges whose proper name Danny didn't know, body wash, shaving cream, and baby oil. He was even more amused when he picked up the two bottles of shampoo, only to discover that they were both smelled of flowers. Well, I'll just be pretty today, he mused.

The mirror was steamed when he stepped out a few minutes later. He towelled off and stepped into his jeans. He was still drying his hair when he heard a knock on the door.

"Danny?" came her voice through the door.

He opened it, one hand inside the towel, on his head.

"Montana?" Lindsay just stared at him, standing in front of her without his shirt on. Was he trying to kill her? Danny waved his hand in front of her face.

She inhaled abruptly and shut her eyes. Exhaling, she looked up at him, using all her self-control to not look back down to his built chest. "Uhh, just wanted to see how you were coming along - if we leave shortly, we'll have enough time to stop for coffee and a muffin or whatever before making our way over to the subway stop." She was speaking uncharacteristically quickly.

"Yeah, that'd be good," said Danny, grabbing his shirt off the counter and walking past her. He laughed to himself once his back was to her - the look on her face was priceless.

Within a few minutes they were ready to go. Locking the door behind her, Lindsay led Danny down the staircase and into the bright New York sunlight.

Dear You Love Me was one of Lindsay's favourite New York coffee shops. The atmosphere it created could calm any New Yorker on even the busiest of mornings. The interior decorum was soft shades of browns and blues. Bay windows allowed the sun to brighten the inside. The smell of freshly-ground coffee beans enveloped every customer as they walked through the door. On mornings when Lindsay had more time than usual, she could enjoy just watching the city from the shop's patio.

"You know, I've lived in New York my whole life, and I don't remember even seeing this place," said Danny. The door chimed as he held it open for Lindsay. He looked around, taking in his surroundings.

"Hey Lindsay!" Danny followed the direction of the voice to a blond-haired, blue-eyed young man standing behind the counter. It was hard to tell because the floor behind the counter was slightly elevated, but Danny guessed him to be about six feet tall; he ballparked his age at late twenties.

"Hey Kevin," replied Lindsay cheerfully, walking up to the counter. Danny followed.

"It's been a few days since we've seen you around here - we were beginning to think you'd found another favourite place for your caffeine fix!" He smiled at Lindsay.

"Oh please, as if I could ever replace you!" mused Lindsay. Danny felt his body stiffen slightly as he watched the interaction between Lindsay and this guy - Kevin, had she called him? He wasn't sure if the guy was being so friendly because he was working, or because it was Lindsay that he was talking to. He had a suspicion it was the latter, and he didn't like that.

"Better not! Oh now," said Kevin, looking up at Danny, "You haven't introduced me to your friend! Kevin Rafers. I co-own this place." He held out his hand to Danny.

"Danny Messer," said Danny curtly, reaching to shake Kevin's hand, though deliberately cutting the shake short.

"Pleasure." Kevin turned his attention back to Lindsay. "The usual for you, Miss Monroe?"

"Of course," she replied smoothly, then turned to Danny. "What have you decided on? I have a few suggestions if you're stuck, though it's hard to pick something bad here."

Danny looked at Kevin, who had his eyes fixed on Lindsay. "Just a large dark roast coffee for me," Danny said, his tone less than friendly.

Kevin rang through their totals; Lindsay swiped Danny's hand away as he reached into his back pocket for his wallet. He had paid for her drinks the night before her, then took care of her... buying him a cup of coffee was the least she could do.

Danny did his best to hide a scowl as Lindsay and Kevin said their goodbyes.

"He seems nice," Danny commented sarcastically, as he held the door open for Lindsay.

"Yeah, he was working when I first came in the first time - turned a totally crappy day around. The movers were late showing up, and then we had some pretty big issues trying to move furniture into my apartment – you saw my staircase – and every room in the apartment I went into needed some severe cleaning, and my landlord was conveniently occupied all day… I had to get out, I was just getting so frustrated with the whole situation. So I just started walking, and this was the first decent-looking coffee shop I came across." Lindsay smiled at the memory. "Kevin was working – he could tell right away that I was in a pretty foul mood, so he made me this fantastic coffee on the house. That's what I've ordered every time I've been there since," she said, holding up her coffee cup.

"He probably thinks he's your knight in shining armour. A pretty girl walks into his coffee shop, he jumps on the opportunity to impress her… he's definitely got a thing for you, Montana." Danny realized that the tone of the latter part of his thought contained a bit more distain than he intended. Hopefully Lindsay hadn't picked up on it.

Lindsay just laughed at him. "Yeah, I figured that… was flattered, actually – he's cute!" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Idiot, that's not something you say to a guy you have a crush on! She looked away and took a sip of her coffee.

Danny laughed into his coffee. "So what, Montana, you flirt with every cute guy you come across?" He gave her a look.

"I was not flirting!" she defended.

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Oh, come on Montana, you completely were flirting with him… and he was practically drooling on you."

Lindsay opened her mouth in surprise, then returned the incredulous look he had given her earlier. "So, what then, it's fine when YOU flirt with blonde bartenders, but when I do I'm suddenly a terrible person?"

Danny smiled – he was getting under her skin, and it just made him laugh. "THAT was not flirting."

"Oh, no, absolutely not." Lindsay's words dripped with playful sarcasm. "Naw, it's completely normal behaviour for a guy to hit on every pretty girl who crosses his path."

"Actually," said Danny, raising a hand, "that part is true. If she's hot, he's going to hit on her. That's just the way it goes, Monroe."

Lindsay raised an eyebrow. "That's pathetic."

"Again, true."

"So why is it a different situation for me then?" She fought the desire to burst out laughing at him.

"Look. Guy sees a girl. She's hot. He hits on her. End of story. But when a girl sees a guy... she'll first determine if he's hot, then she'll ask her friends if he's hot, then if he is, she does this whole 'yeah, he's hot... but is he nice? Is he funny?' And then you just play this little dancing game, so once you finally decide to hit on him, it's obviously more than just 'he's hot'. See what I mean?"

His response surprised Lindsay. It was ridiculous... but it was also accurate. She wasn't about to tell him that, though. Instead, she just shrugged her shoulders and took off towards the subway terminal.

"You're just saying that because you know I'm right!" he laughed, only a stride behind her.

A/N: Hopefully you enjoyed this - there's definitely more to come! Thanks for all the great reviews - please keep them coming, they make me happy:)