Disclaimer: I don't own CSI:NY, much to my dismay.
AN: Well, my last little oneshot was so well received that I decided to try another one that popped into my head. It involves the game of dominoes which might not be as well known as Go Fish, but it's not hard to figure out. Basically you take turns matching the numbers on either side of dominos until somebody gets rid of all of theirs. Hopefully even for those who have never played the story is still enjoyable. :)
"Finish it, Don."
"Damnit, Danny, you know I can't." Don reached over and grabbed a domino from the bone pile. "Have mercy on the guy with the stomach wound, would you?"
"You know him better than that," Sheldon said as he laid a domino from his stockpile down on Danny's double three domino. "Danny plays for blood in everything from basketball to dominos."
"Don't worry, Don," Lindsay interjected. "I think I've got him this time." She put down a double blank and smiled smugly at the man to her left. "Finish it, Danny."
Danny muttered under his breath, but added another to his pile, then laughed when Don had to take one himself. "Guess that backfired a bit on ya, Don."
Sheldon just smiled as he finished off the double with his second to last piece. "Uno."
"No way!" declared three different voices, but it was hard to deny the lone domino that remained in front of their friend.
"If you guys paid attention instead of ribbing one another, maybe you wouldn't be getting beaten so badly."
"We get beat by you all the time, Sheldon," Lindsay reminded him as she put down a tile on her line. "It's gotten to the point where it's mostly a competition for second."
"Speak for yourself," Danny told her. "I still maintain that Hawkes made up that word when we played Scrabble yesterday. If we had had a dictionary I could have proved it and I would've won."
"If, if, if, Messer. You're such a whiner," Don told him as he managed to put down a domino worth 17 points. "I'm glad I got rid of that one because I have a feeling Sheldon will be going out."
"And you would be correct my friend," Hawkes told him as he laid his last tile. He picked up the piece of paper they were keeping score on while the other three groaned and counted up their scores. "All right, that's another zero points for me. Lindsay, how many did you have?"
"Eight this time. Not too bad."
"Take that times three for me, Hawkes," Danny said disgustedly. "I am having the worst luck today."
"Poor baby," Don retorted while showing Hawkes his two tiles that added up to fifteen points. "Other than dominos, what has gone so wrong for you today?"
"Did you tell him about the lab accident?" Hawkes asked as he tallied the scores and began turning over the tiles for the next round.
Lindsay laughed while Danny scowled. "Did you really have to bring that up?"
"Come on, man," Don pleaded. "I'm stuck here all day and don't get to hear about the lab stories. Fill me in."
Seeing that Danny was still reluctant to talk, Sheldon began while they all picked their first seven tiles for the new round. "Some of the lab techs that have crushes on Danny-"
"They do not!"
"Whatever, Messer. That's been a known fact for years," Don told him.
"You're one to talk. What about that rookie patrol cop that kept calling you specifically to scenes even when it was something minor?"
Lindsay raised her eyebrows at Don's wince as she put down the double two and another tile to begin the next round. "How have I not heard about this?"
"Because Mac made us promise not to gossip about it when he got the woman transferred to a different precinct," Sheldon told her. "He didn't want the rumors to follow her to her next posting and ruin her career."
"It wasn't that bad," Don interjected. "She just called me to a few too many scenes and Mac took pity on both her and me and transferred her before it became a problem." He pointed a finger at Danny. "And nice try changing the subject, but you're not getting out of telling me this one."
"Fine, fine," Danny conceded as he started a train with his tile knowing that if he didn't he would be screwed the next go around. "A couple of the lab techs got a little careless with a burner and let it burn too long without the hood on which built up carbon monoxide in their area, no big deal."
"No big deal?" Lindsay said incredulously. "They both passed out and one of them knocked over the burner and almost set the lab on fire and they probably would have been burned if you hadn't pulled them to safety."
Don reached over slightly and punched his friend lightly on the arm. "Way to go, dude. Are you getting a medal?" he asked teasingly.
Danny snorted. "Oh, I highly doubt that. Mac doesn't exactly blame me, but I think the fact that everyone thinks that the techs were talking about me hasn't gotten by him."
"Not much does," agreed Sheldon has he played on his turn.
"And it's not just speculation, Danny, it's an educated guess," Lindsay told him. "I constantly here those women talking about you."
"Oh, really?" Danny asked with a smirk. "What do they say exactly, Montana? And do you join in?"
Don and Sheldon shot each other looks as Lindsay blushed. "I most certainly do not join in and not everything they say can be repeated in polite company."
"Good thing we're not polite then," Don told her. "Your turn, Lindsay."
The brunette looked down at her tiles grateful for something to do and put one on Danny's train.
"Why thank-you, Montana, I needed that."
Don rolled his eyes at the flirting way Danny had said that, but wasn't going to back off of Lindsay. "So, Monroe, what is the word in the lab about the Mighty Messer these days?"
Hawkes about spit out the drink he was taking from his soda can. "Mighty Messer? You make him sound like Mighty Mouse!"
They all laughed loudly at that, even Danny after feigning being hurt at the implication. After they had settled back down, Don asked again, loving the reactions he was getting. "Come on, Linds, have pity on a guy."
She shook her head. "I don't gossip, Don, but if you need some I'm sure I can find some old ladies who would love to visit you."
"She's good," Danny declared almost proudly as he played a domino.
Don shrugged, willing to give up the fight. "So who were the lab techs? If they're in the hospital here maybe I'll swing by a say hi when they wheel me around to give me a change of scenery."
"Jill and Jackie I think," Lindsay told him not noticing how Don's eyebrows went up in surprise.
"You saved Jackie?" Don asked the friend to his right.
Danny shrugged. "It's not like I could just leave her there."
Lindsay looked back and forth among the three men. "Okay, what did I miss now?"
"Nothing," Danny said forcefully as he played another tile. Lindsay looked to the other two, but they seemed reluctant to answer.
"Hey, it's not fair if you guys talk about something that I have no clue about and then don't explain," she told them.
Danny threw up his hands and sighed. "It's not that big a deal. Jackie and I dated for awhile a long time ago."
"Let me guess. It ended badly?"
"Not really," Danny told her. "I probably could have handled it better though."
"Hey, you had every right to break up with her," Don said. "And she had no right to spread rumors about you around the lab."
Lindsay's eyes widened in recognition. "Wait, is that where all those 'can't finish' rumors started?" She knew the answer by the looks on Don and Sheldon's faces and by how Danny refused to look at her. "That witch. If she thinks she's hurting right now…" Lindsay got up from her chair next to Don's bed and started for the door.
"Whoa, Montana, slow down." Danny quickly got up and caught her arm before she reached the door to the hallway. "It's not a big deal. Nobody really listens to her anyway."
"But you don't need that kind of crap, Danny. I know for a fact that you can 'finish' in every way that word implies and I don't think it's right for some jealous loser who can't operate a Bunsen burner to be able to say that kind of stuff about you."
Sheldon looked down at his pad of paper and wrote a quick note to Don. Is there something going on here I don't know about?
Don's reply was one word. Hopefully.
"It's really not that big a deal, Linds." Danny knew that him using her given name always caught her attention. "As long as you don't believe the rumors, that's all that matters."
"I never have," Lindsay murmured as she put a hand on his cheek. Things may have gone farther if Don hadn't involuntarily sneezed. Lindsay blushed and Hawkes would swear to anyone that asked that Danny did too, but the two quickly came back to the game acting as if nothing untoward had happened.
Don couldn't believe they weren't going to say anything, but after play had gone around the tray table twice without anyone saying a word, he finally had to break the silence. "You guys can't seriously expect Hawkes and I to not comment on what just happened. Is there something going on between the two of you?"
Danny quirked an eye at the woman to his right. He wasn't going to say anything unless she wanted to. But then he knew he didn't have to worry when that spark of mischief he loved so much came into her eyes.
Without taking her eyes off Danny's, Lindsay smiled in a "come get me" way and put down a double five on her line of dominos. "Finish it," she openly dared him.
"Gladly," Danny told her as he got up, put his hands on the armrests of her chair and leaned over to kiss her quite thoroughly. So thoroughly in fact that he didn't even notice that high five between Flack and Hawkes.
Lindsay slowly opened her eyes when Danny finally pulled away and smiled up at him. "Now that's what I call a great finish."
