"Hey, Danny!"
Danny turned around, hearing his name being yelled down the hall. He grinned upon seeing Flack coming towards him – in an obviously better mood than their last encounter.
"I like it better when women are shouting my name, you know." Danny said cockily.
Flack rolled his eyes. "I bet you do, since it only happens in your dreams, Messer."
"Whatever." Danny shot back. "What's up?"
"Yeah, well, uh, first…sorry for getting in your face earlier. You know, about Monroe." Flack began. He glanced around to see if anyone else was following their conversation.
"Hey man, no problem." Danny assured Flack.
"I took Lindsay home. She needed some rest." Flack explained. Danny nodded his head in understandable agreement, raising his eyebrows as if to ask if there was anything else. "I told her that if she was feeling up to it, that we'd take her out for a beer tonight. Your treat."
Danny shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head in agreement, up until he hear "your treat" – at that point he stopped and stared at Flack like he was crazy.
"What do you mean my treat?" Danny questioned.
"Well, I kind of got out of control and yelled at Monroe…and I had to do something to get her back on my good side. Bleeding you dry seemed like a good idea at the time. What can I say?" Flack said, a grin spreading across his face.
"Sure." Danny said reluctantly. "Just tell me when and where."
Danny was going to say something else, when Stella's voice popped up in back of the two guys. One look at the mischievous and knowing glint in her eyes, told Danny and Flack that she was up to something.
"So, Flack…" Stella began. "I heard that you got all hot, bothered and overprotective."
Stella's eyes were glittering. Danny ducked his head to hide the smile that was spreading across his face. He knew that he had a reputation for being a playboy, and it was probably well deserved, but around the precinct and lab Flack had a similar reputation. The only difference is that Flack had high standards where women were involved and was pretty choosy. Flack's reputation seemed to have materialized out of thin air, and was far from the truth. Danny couldn't say as much about himself. The funny thing was that Danny knew Flack well enough to know that when he started to let down his tough-guy stance and became concerned and protective is when Flack turned started to care about someone.
Stella knew Flack as well as Danny, and sometimes she could read him like a book. Stella had seen Flack's feelings for Lindsay coming for a while now, but she didn't think that Flack realized the extent of what he was feeling.
"Stel… what are you talking about?" Flack said skeptically. He cocked his head to one side, glanced at Danny and then stared at Stella. He was trying to tell her with his body language that he thought she was crazy.
"You went postal and became a knight in shining armor earlier. I think it's sweet." Stella said. She smiled sweetly and playfully used one finger to pat Flack on the nose.
Flack immediately wrinkled his nose, and then replied. "What? And how would you know? Unless you talked to…"
"Unless I talked to Lindsay." Stella finished. "I did. She told me what happened before you took her home. Nice move, taking her home, by the way. You shouldn't have yelled though."
"Stella…" Flack warned.
"I'm not chastising you, Flack, I'm just saying…I can tell that you like her. You have feelings for her. Next time, think about acting on those feelings a different way. Women don't like it when you yell at them." Stella explained, her voice had dropped to a quieter tone so others couldn't eavesdrop and she sounded much more serious than before. "Now that I've shared my wisdom with you, I'm taking Danny back to the lab so that we can work. But if you need me, you know where to find me."
Without giving Flack time to say anything, Stella pulled Danny by the arm down the hallway into the lab. Flack was left standing on his own, thinking about what Stella had said. He would have acted the same way if it had been Stella or another one of his friends hurt today. Stella must have had too much coffee or something, what was she getting at? Flack shrugged the conversation off for the time being. He had work to do and beer to drink later with Lindsay and Danny.
Lindsay had agreed to meet Flack and Danny at a bar close to her place for a few drinks. The minute Lindsay walked into the bar, she spotted Flack and Danny at a tall table close to the bar and walked over. Both guys smiled as Lindsay sat down.
"You're feeling better. Your grandma have any secret remedies for getting kicked in the gut?" Flack said, nodding towards Lindsay.
"Yeah, uh, thanks. And, no…I owe feeling better to sleep and a lot of Advil." Lindsay said with a smile.
"We got you a beer already." Danny said by way of a greeting. "That's okay, right?"
"Yeah, thanks." Lindsay said. She was happy to be out of the house and spending time with Danny and Flack. Lindsay was just hoping that neither would bring up what happened that morning. She had already spent the entire day at home alone and beating herself up over how stupid she was to go into that alley alone. But, now Lindsay had the chance to get her mind off of things.
For the first hour or so, the trio drank and chatted about anything they could think of – work, the weather, hockey, the Yankees, how cute A-Rod was (well, only Lindsay talked about that). After a few rounds of beer and a little time, talk turned louder, more drunken and more playful.
Flack and Danny had had a great time grilling Lindsay about her life and pulling embarrassing stories out of her. She had just finished telling them about the time she and her boyfriend fell off the top bunk in college, when Danny changed the subject.
"You know, Montana, I've got these great satin sheets on my bed at home…" Danny began, leaning in between Lindsay and Flack, a smirk growing across his face.
"Danny Messer, are you trying to get me in your bed?" Lindsay asked playfully. She knew full well that Danny wasn't serious. It was fun to flirt with Danny. It was part of their friendship. Banter and flirting, but nothing more.
"I never deny anyone a test run." Danny said. Danny's eyes twinkled. He enjoyed watching Lindsay blush when he flirted with her.
"That's sweet Danny, but I'm more of a flannel sheets girl myself. You know, being from Montana and all." Lindsay patted Danny's chest as she talked. Glancing at Flack, Lindsay flashed a smile and grabbed his arm. "I'm going to the little girl's room. Keep lover boy over here out of trouble, will you?"
Lindsay skipped off across the bar to the bathroom. When she was out of sight, Flack turned to face Danny head on. From the glare on Flack's face, Danny could tell something wasn't right.
"What?" Danny slurred, trying to figure out the death stare he was receiving.
"What the hell was that about?" Flack demanded.
"Exactly what are we talking about, you've lost me Flack." Danny said.
"You and the sheets. Lindsay isn't just some girl you met in a bar. She isn't one of your cheap one-night stands. She's a friend and you work with her everyday. She deserves more than you and your sheets." Flack practically yelled at Danny. Sure he wanted had to make sure that Danny could hear him over the noise in the bar, but Danny thought that his voice was a bit louder than it needed to be. In fact, Danny was just a bit confused. He wasn't using Lindsay. He wasn't even trying to seduce her and pick her up. It was just a thing they did. Danny figured that Flack knew that by now.
"Whoa buddy." Danny said, throwing his hands up in defense. "You got the wrong idea, man."
"Do I?" Demanded Flack.
"I wasn't serious back there, and Lindsay knows it. It's just a thing we do. Haven't we had this conversation already?" Danny explained, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Flack and wondered about the source of his concern.
"I don't get it, man." Flack muttered.
"What don't you get?" Lindsay said quizzically, appearing behind Flack and pushing her way back into the middle of the group.
"How you can listen to country music." Danny said, jumping in and saving Flack from explaining himself to either Danny or Lindsay.
"Flack you haven't lived until you've spent a weekend relaxing and listening to country music." Lindsay said. She brought her hand up to Flack's cheek, cupping it in with her palm and then playfully slapping his cheek.
"You'll have to enlighten me sometime." Flack said quietly. Lindsay almost didn't hear him over the roar of the bar.
"Hey, Danny… thanks for the beer, but I'm going to get going. I think the knot on my head is growing again." Lindsay said, excusing herself from the gathering. Danny smiled, said something about calling if she needed more Advil and turned to talk to a pretty girl who had just "bumped into him". Lindsay turned to Flack, smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm actually really tired and want to go to bed. Are you coming with me?"
Flack stopped dead in his tracks. He was sure that he had heard Lindsay right and that she had just invited him into her bed. It was possible that Flack's ears were clogged, but he was a cop and he was trained to listen and get things right. In his mind, Flack had something smart to say back to Lindsay.
"Huh?" Flack was able to mumble.
"Earlier you insisted that you were going to share a taxi with me and make sure I got home safely. I'm really ready to go. Are you still insisting on delivering me to my doorstep?" Lindsay asked, completely unaware of the effect her words had had on Flack.
Oh…well…yeah…now Flack remembered saying all of that. It had been about 3 beers ago, but now he remembered feeling chivalrous and telling Lindsay that he wanted to make sure that she got home okay. Flack settled up with Danny and left a tip for the waitress before gently putting his hand on the small of Lindsay's back and guiding her out of the bar and into a waiting taxi.
In the cab, Lindsay slumped against Flack and sighed.
"Thanks for tonight. I needed to get my mind off of things." Lindsay closed her eyes briefly, the alcohol and exhaustion in her system mixing. "We should do this again."
"Monroe…you asking me out?" Flack asked, eyeing Lindsay and looking for her to start laughing at her practical joke or something.
"Not so much." Lindsay said sleepily. "Maybe. I have fun with you…and maybe even Danny. We should go out more often."
Flack smiled down at Lindsay and brushed a piece of hair out of her face. He wondered how much of this conversation Lindsay would remember the next day.
