A/N: Ok, disclaimer and all in the first chap….and I'm working on chap 3 already, but I wanted to get this out cause all the reviews have been so great! Y'all made my day, seriously!

oh and Sammy, i know what she said was kinda harsh, but it was sorta meant that way…just wait, you'll see what i mean.


Chapter 2: Flare


Danny grabbed a file from the lab counter and trotted towards the stairs; Marty Pino and Lindsay were waiting for him down in Autopsy 1 to run through the various areas of interest on the burn vic. He buttoned up his blue jumpsuit just as he walked backwards through the doors, file in his teeth. He didn't know if it was the heat of the day, or the fact that they were in the basement, but he was rather irritable; I'm sweaty, I'm hot, and it definitely smells down here today. It didn't help that all he could think about was the way Lindsay had reacted to that firefighter this morning.

"And here I thought we were going to have to wait all day for you, Messer," Lindsay laughed. Marty chuckled and moved over to the opposite side of the table from them, readying himself to go through the report with them. Danny just grunted, crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at the body.

"Ok, let's start with basics," Marty said. "Your vic is female, we had to determine that from a pelvic x-ray, and she was not older. I'd say somewhere between 25 and 35. She was pretty well burned, but the weird thing is that her burns originate from the inside of her body," Lindsay looked at Danny intrigued and he just quirked an eyebrow, "and then spread outward after exiting through her oral and vaginal cavitities – which were both pretty deteriorated from the fire – and also from this large open hole I found on her lower right abdomen;" the appropriate pointing was done.

"There was also something else I found inside the body that was rather interesting. Danny, give me a hand," Danny and Marty began to lift and roll the body onto her right side, towards Marty, when Lindsay chimed in,

"Hey, just cause I'm a girl doesn't mean I don't have enough strength to roll a body too." Danny laughed as Marty shrugged. "Sorry, Lindsay, I only asked Danny cause he was closer."

"Rolling a body takes more than strength, it also takes skill," Danny teased. "It isn't like roping a calf or grabbing a rope, Montana, this is dead weight, ya know." Marty chuckled at Danny's stupid "dead wight" joke, as Lindsay crossed her arms and did her best to glare at him as she started to blush at his reference about earlier at the scene. His words made her mind go back to that very good looking Montana fireman, which helped dampen her already weak scowl.

Danny knew she was thinking about the firefighter from earlier, and wished she was thinking about other things, but he chose to enjoy the blush on her cheeks instead; that color pink on her outdoes any make-up she could use, mmm, damn!

"Earth to Montana, Pino here has been talking for the last minute and you've been off in a place hotter than this," Danny shot at her. She blushed again, a deeper shade of that pink, at being caught by him thinking of the fireman – how did he know my thoughts – and turned her attention back to the exam.

"All I said was, when I cut into her to start examining the organs, I didn't find any blood, but rather this dark and yellowy colored liquid. I sent it to get tested, and the results are rather interesting," Marty looked up at them. Danny chuckled and said, "Doc, everything is interesting to you."

"Well yeah, but the tests showed that her blood went through large amounts of erythrocytolysis, and basically came out as nothing but deteriorated cells and plasma with some serum. It was really shocking the amount of damage that was done, her RBC's were basically black and charred – but not from the fire, from some chemical." Marty cut into her back and showed them the oozing fluid. He moved to the other side of Danny, who was pulling the body up towards him, and cut into her leg; this time blood came out.

"So she had large amounts of hemolysis in her torso, but not in her legs. That would mean that whatever chemical agent caused the damage was administered from a site somewhere on the torso," Lindsay commented. "So this is definitely a murder."

"Well," Marty shrugged, "I wouldn't say definitely, because she could have introduced the chemical agent herself, but the fact that she damn near exploded from the inside out, leads me to believe, yes, this is murder. And a very painful one at that." Lindsay shook her head, feeling bad for the pain the woman obviously endured.

Danny watched her face, betraying her feelings for those who looked close enough, and caught his breath. God she even makes being compassionate sexy. Dangerous thought. Attempting to put his mind back into a safe place, he asked, "Do we have any idea what caused the fire?"

Marty shook his head, "No, unfortunately. So far there's nothing that obviously caused that. There was this strange smell emitted when I performed the autopsy though, but I couldn't identify it. And it wasn't a normal autopsy smell. I sent everything to be analyzed, and there's a tox screen pending, but otherwise, finding what or who killed her, that's you guys."

Danny shrugged and thanked Marty for the info. Lindsay was already at the swinging doors waiting for him, when she said, all smiles, "Well then, Danny, let's go learn how to start the fire inside."

Danny groaned under his breath as air caught in his throat; Oh God, this is gonna be one helluva case if she keeps doing that.


ok, so i know this one seems kinda dull, but i had to get the case science in somehow, cause the title Combustion has a threefold meaning…so it also refers to the case. so while this is gonna be a heaping plate of hot DL, its also gonna deal with the case.

you know you loved it anyway, so please Review.