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A/N: I dedicate this chappie to my faithful little band of readers – I have not forgotten you, I promise, and I know it's been a while but there's this little thing some people call life that keeps interrupting me from my D/L obsession…anyway…here you are! A new chap!
All my love, El. (or if you're on talkcsi I go by Mad there)
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Chapter 11: Swelter
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"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Steinberg," Flack grumbled sarcastically at the smug attorney in front of him. The man sneered at him and Lindsay for a millisecond before turning and going back to his work, which he obviously thought was more important than helping the two detectives solve the murder of his employee.
Flack ushered Lindsay out of the office before him, keeping silent until they were safely back in the elevator lest there be open ears all over the law office they just left. When they were in the elevator and headed to the ground floor, Flack shook his head and pulled a disgusted face. "Ugh, that guy was real pain in the ass. It's like he could give two shits less about the fact that one of his employees was murdered so horribly. We should'a drug him down to the station and thrown him in a cell to cool off for a couple hours."
"I know, Flack, he was definitely an ass, but we can't lock him up just because you didn't like him. Wishing won't make him guilty. Besides, we can't afford to alienate him further in case we need any further information from him. As it stands, you might have to get a subpoena to get anything else from him anyway."
Flack grunted and shook his head, crossing his arms. "Yeah well, I still think a nice long slumber party in lockup would take that smug smile off his face." Turning, Flack gave her a long look.
"What?"
"How did you know all that legal stuff you shot back at him in there? You really shut him up when you showed him that you knew something about law, he looked pissed that he couldn't pull one over on us," Flack grinned at Lindsay, and thought. 'Note to self: don't ever piss Lindsay off.'
"Oh that," Lindsay scoffed at him, "I was mostly faking that and hoping that he didn't catch on." Flack gave her a shocked look. "Well, I guess I wasn't totally faking it, I had once considered a career as a lawyer, but something changed my mind," she trailed off, but not before her eyes took on a faraway look, and Flack was sure her mind was somewhere else. Just as quickly as the memories had come, they went, and Lindsay shrugged, "Yeah, so everything I said in there was a mixture of the couple law classes I took in high school and college and the fact that I watch too much Law and Order."
Lindsay grinned at him and Flack couldn't help but laugh. They made their way out of the building and to Flack's department SUV at the curb. Even though Max Steinberg had been downright rude in his encounter with them, they had learned that Cristine Connors had wanted a baby prior to her death. She had discussed adding a dependent to her policy with the firm, and she had briefly discussed the topic of adoption or single-motherhood with Steinberg and Galen in their most recent meeting. They also found out that Cristine had moved to the city only within the last 18 months and so was a relative new addition to the population of NYC. Lindsay couldn't help but wonder if the move was facilitated by Cristine's ticking biological clock or by the discovery that she had a younger brother out there somewhere. 'Why would she simply pickup and move somewhere completely new?' Lindsay thought – a question she herself was quite familiar with.
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Danny was still in his office, thinking about Montana's reaction to her flower delivery that morning, when his computer bleeped at him and the Audit Trail printer next to his filing cabinet began rolling printed papers off its inkheads. Danny turned to look at what the computer had hit upon, and found that his search on the last boy's parents had hit upon something. It turns out the parents were registered in the NYC database for foster parents, thereby providing a complete family history as well as various reports on home suitability, background checks on each parent, and various other pages of investigative materials. Danny turned and reached for the papers, tearing them off the printer as more spit out at him. He was just flipping through them, looking for the family history on the parents, when Adam knocked and opened his office door.
"What's up?" Danny asked after glancing up quickly. Adam stepped inside, and dropped a file folder on Lindsay's desktop, next to the infamous arrangement of flowers.
"I just stopped by to drop off some more detailed reports on those tests I ran early this morning on your vic."
"What tests?" Danny looked up confused, pausing in his search to find the family history of Ken and Jill Sdorow.
"Didn't you talk to Lindsay today?" Now Adam looked a little confused. Danny merely shook his head in the negative.
Adam shrugged. "Oh, well, like I told her, I ran some samples from your victim through the Mass Spec to see if I could find out what caused the strange smell Marty smelled when he did the autopsy." He definitely had Danny's interest now.
"You did that on your own?" Danny stood; reaching over to grab the file folder off Montana's desktop, while Adam just shrugged again.
"Yeah, I mean, I guess I was just curious to see if it might help determine what made her burn inside out."
"What'd you find?" Danny asked, as he started flipping through the file. Just as Adam answered, Danny found the results pages of the report.
"Bananas?"
"Bananas."
"Maybe it's just that Cristine Connors was consuming something with bananas in it prior to her death," Danny said, "because I highly doubt that bananas caused her stomach tissue to catch on fire."
"Hey, I'm only telling you what the machine told me. Three times, by the way," Adam said.
"Well this just adds another mystery to a case where we already have an abundance of unanswered questions. Thanks though, man, for running that stuff." Adam nodded and turned to leave, when Danny interrupted, "Hey, Flack and Monroe aren't back yet, are they?"
"I didn't know they were gone." Adam spied the flowers on Lindsay's desk, and grinned. "Are those the flowers he gave her? Man, Flack is just smooth like that, huh? He knows how to get right to the point with a girl, doesn't he?"
Danny's face turned to a scowl in record time. "Flack didn't give Montana the flowers!" he ground out. Adam looked scared when he saw the dagger eyes Danny was directing at him. "Flack isn't as smooth as he thinks, and he and I need to have a little chat."
"Um okay," Adam said as he started to slowly back out the office door, "I'm uh…I got stuff to do. Bye!" Adam couldn't get out of there fast enough; he didn't know what it was that he said wrong that made Danny so mad but he was literally afraid for his life.
I swear to God, Flack, I'll kill you if you let the whole lab give you the credit for those flowers. And you can kiss your charmer abilities goodbye if I find out you let Montana think you sent them to her. Danny grabbed his printouts and hastily searched through them and put the family history on top before laying the whole bunch on Montana's desk. He took the results folder for the Mass Spec in his hands and grabbed his jacket, before hastily heading out the door, but not before scribbling a note first. Where the hell are those two anyway? Danny thought, when the last thing he saw before he left were the flowers he had given Montana.
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Flack and Lindsay were just exiting the elevators and heading for the lab when Adam passed them.
"Oh there you guys are," he said, still trying to avoid Danny from earlier. Lindsay and Flack each gave him an odd look.
"Were you looking for us?" Lindsay asked.
"No," Adam said, taking on a rather worried expression, "but I'd avoid Danny if I were you guys. Especially you, Flack. He seemed ready to take away your mojo, or um, something along those lines." Lindsay was now confused beyond belief, but Flack seemed to understand exactly what Adam was trying to say.
"Oh so now he's pissed?" Flack started laughing. "You gotta be freakin' kidding me." Lindsay felt completely out of the loop.
"Is this about our case?" Lindsay asked, hoping to get some answers.
Flack ignored her, and kept chuckling, while Adam looked ready to run again. "What'd you say to him that pissed him off, Adam?"
"I'm not entirely sure," Adam said, scratching the back of his head. "All I did was stop by your office to give him those results I talked to you about this morning," Adam said, turning to Lindsay. Then he looked confused again, "Then I noticed the flowers on your desk –"
"You mean the bucket?" Flack asked, chuckling as Lindsay swatted his arm again.
"You've gotta stop referring to them as 'the bucket'," Lindsay grinned at him. They had silently agreed back at the law firm to not mention out loud the fact that Lindsay knew that Flack knew that Lindsay knew that Danny had actually given her the flowers. 'Oy,' she thought.
"Anyway," Adam continued, "all I said was that it was really nice Flack and that obviously you're on a higher level than the rest of us. That's all, and he went off, I thought he was gonna take me out."
Lindsay cocked her head, trying for the life of her to figure just exactly what Adam was talking about. 'Danny got pissed off because Adam said my flowers were nice?' she shook her head in confusion. 'And what does Flack have to do with any of it anyway?' Flack was grinning and laughing, apparently thinking whatever it was Adam was talking about was hilarious.
"Messer's so predictable," he said, as Adam hurried off, fleeting looks of confusion, fear, and thinking Flack was crazy for laughing crossing his face.
"Adam, wait," Lindsay called to him, "where is Danny?" Adam called that he'd left him in their office, and then made a beeline for the Trace Lab. Lindsay turned on Flack who had already started back down the hallway, towards the breakroom. "What is so funny, Flack?" This only made Flack grin more.
"Nothing," he said, rounding the breakroom door, and going to the fridge for a water bottle. "Messer just thinks he's smart, but he's really not. I've got him all figured out." Flack sipped his water as he looked at the petite brunette, who seemed to be getting increasingly confused and frustrated at her confusion. "Honestly, Lindsay, everything's fine, don't worry 'bout it."
She eyed him skeptically as Hawkes came into the room, looking for Flack to gather him up to head out to a new scene. Flack motioned Hawkes that he'd be right there, and made his way to the door, where Lindsay was leaning against the jamb. Leaning over so only she'd hear him, he said, "He really wanted to impress you. You better go calm him down." With that and a grin, Flack was off.
Lindsay shook her head, and turned, heading for her office and hopefully a much calmer Danny Messer.
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When Lindsay walked in her office door, she found the room empty. 'He's not even here,' she thought. Walking to her desk, she moved the flowers to the top of the filing cabinet and was wondering where Danny had gotten off to – they needed to have a consult session on the case – when she noticed the sheet of paper wedged under her keyboard. In unmistakable print it said:
Montana.
I had to go take care of some stuff but I'll be back soon. I left a file for you on your desk; it says 'Sdorow Family' on it. It's the reports on the Connors' baby's adoptive family. I hope you're around when I get back
– Danny.
Lindsay sat down as she read it, reaching for the file in question. She started to flip through it when she realized that she should do a credit check on the family, to determine if money was the motive behind this crime or not. She got up and made her way down the hall, heading for the stairs when she found herself just a little disappointed that Danny wasn't there when she'd gotten back. They needed to talk, and not just about the case.
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Lindsay had just rounded a corner when someone coming from the opposite direction ran right into her chest, scattering the papers she was holding as she began to stumble backwards. Two very steady hands shot out and grasped her just above her hip bones and securely pulled her forward. Lindsay's arms were squashed firmly against a solid chest, larger in size than her own and her head tilted back so as to not knock heads with the person in front of her.
In 5 seconds flat Lindsay had gone from thinking about Danny to being securely pressed against him, her hips flush with his upper thighs right where they met his torso. His hands were flattened against her just above the ridges of her hip bones, right at the spot where her shirt met with her pants. She could feel the heat searing through his fingertips and into her skin, which was just slightly touching the palms of his hands. Since she had tilted her head back to avoid smashing hers with his, she had a direct line of sight with two very blue eyes, watching her from behind a very sexy pair of glasses.
Lindsay's mouth quickly took on the qualities of a cotton ball, as Danny continued to stare down at her, his eyes darkening a shade and a few emotions that Lindsay didn't want to acknowledge at the current moment were sparking little glimmers of light in his now sapphire orbs. She could feel his body, hot and blistering, seep into her own body through the various points of contact – his hands, her hands, his thighs against her hips, her lower belly snugly flattened against his abs – 'his very hard and muscular abs,' Lindsay thought distractedly – and as his body heat flowed into her, it mixed with the waves of warmth emanating from somewhere beneath her stomach and the combined sensations poured over her, filling her up, and yet leaving her craving more.
Lindsay was stuck in neutral; she couldn't move and couldn't think, yet various thoughts seemed to flick across her mind at lightning speeds: 'His eyes are gorgeous, I could get lost in them. He makes me want to submit to him and let him take me home, let him make this contact again without so much clothing interrupting – Oh Monroe! What are you thinking? You have a perfectly good man waiting for you at the firehouse….' Lindsay hitched her breath, 'Yeah but he doesn't generate as much heat in one evening as standing here with Messer has accomplished.' The surprising honesty of her last thought and the physicality of their current situation caused Lindsay to shift slightly – in an attempt to alleviate their closeness Lindsay tried to slide out sideways but only managed in causing the two to become closer than before.
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Breathe. Breathe. Inhale because you need oxygen! Danny couldn't seem to manage to develop any more coherent thoughts than that. Danny sucked in a ragged breath, and with the much needed oxygen came the unique scent of Lindsay Monroe – soap and shampoo, vanilla and pine, and flowers and steam all rolled into one delectable fragrance. Okay, stop breathing. Stop. Breathing. She. Smells. Oh God! Fantastic. You don't need oxygen that bad! Danny caught his breath, but her scent still lingered in his nostrils, and combined with the jack up in calefaction between her body and his, it was only natural that oxygen was heading to other places in his body but his brain. He continued to watch her, intently, and saw the war of emotions playing games inside her, deep behind her eyes, which had gone from cocoa to molten chocolate in a matter of milliseconds. So good. We're so good, Montana. Her gaze was still locked with his when she shifted herself, managing to fit her body more snugly into his instead of putting distance between them.
Because of the shift, Danny's hands slid along her waist and back, resting just above where her ass began, and her blouse had ridden up just a fraction, allowing his hands access to the smooth skin of the small of her back. Her skin involuntarily puckered into goosebumps at the feeling of skin-on-skin contact, and the sensations shot through both of them. Her hands had slid up over his defined chest and onto his shoulders, seemingly only touching him lightly but Danny could feel their strength and possessiveness. When she attempted to slide out sideways, her legs had parted and somehow Danny's left thigh had managed to become lodged between them, nestling her hips securely into his pelvis. Her chest was resting gently against his now, and her head, because it was tilted back slightly had caused her lips to part, her breath caught in her throat, her lips dryer than the Sahara. Her head was mere centimeters from his own and Danny ached to bend his head down and close that last little gap between them, wetting her lips with contact from his, when he could see various emotions flick across her face like scenes from an old black and white movie. Uncertainty. Passion. Lust. Oh yeah, she's lusting alright. And something else, something stronger…Danny thought as his eyes wandered from her pools of melted chocolate to her dark pink lips and back. The intensity of the unnamed emotion Danny saw there made the sensations he felt because of their bodily contact pale in comparison to the shivering tightening that his racing heart was experiencing at that moment.
In the same moment, Lindsay could do nothing other than stare into the sparkling sapphire eyes that seemed able to bore straight into her soul. He felt good pressed against her, and she felt good in his arms, and the look of longing in his eyes made the heat rolling through her body that much hotter. As Lindsay slid her hands up his chest and over his shoulders, feeling the bunches of muscles rippling and tensing beneath her gentle fingertips she had the fleeting thought of what feelings the same action would produce if her fingers weren't separated from him by the fabric of his gray pullover shirt. Trying to dispel those dangerous kinds of thoughts, Lindsay made the mistake of looking into Danny's eyes once more, and thinking about how this man was so good, so sweet at times, so strong and capable, and so passionate. And when she saw his eyes take on a different sparkle than the lust she knew was there – a new emotion taking over and making his eyes spark and steam, an emotion she was afraid might be reflected in her own, Lindsay felt her heart slam against her ribcage, threatening to suffocate her. 'He is so good,' she thought, beginning to wish desperately that their lips would meet already. 'Danny, I…' she started in her head, not finishing the thought.
Lindsay, you…Danny imperceptibly applied gentle pressure to Lindsay's back, crushing her to him more firmly, trying to get as close to her as humanly possible in a public hallway with all their clothes on. He knew that if he didn't pull away soon, he wouldn't until he had tasted her mouth at least once; if she keeps looking at me like that there's no way I'll be able to leave. Danny slowly moved his head a hair's breath forward, his heated breath pouring down her chin and neck, and he licked his lips, anticipating. Looking in her eyes, his heart squeezed with the unnamed emotion he saw reflected there - she is too good for me, but with a little prayer and a little luck maybe I can convince her to give me a chance, Danny searched her eyes again, but this time all he could see were his own doubts, as if she were feeling them too. Give me a chance, Montana, but not like this, not as a convenience.
And with strength of will never before seen in any human being, Danny took two steps back from Lindsay and brushed off his shirt and pants.
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Lindsay stumbled on her feet, hands spread to her sides as much in an effort to balance herself as in a reaction to the desperately cold shock of the removal of Danny's body from hers. She shivered, a violent spasm racking her from her knotted belly through her toes and fingers and hair. She felt the loss of contact with him keenly, but lowered her eyes so as to not let on to the man in question. When she felt somewhat able to look at him without revealing too much – or so she thought – she searched out his eyes, silently seeking an explanation for why he pulled away when she had been so sure he was about to close the distance between them fully. Danny returned her gaze and she knew his emotions were in as much turmoil as her own, but she also saw the glints of doubt seep into his stare, and she shivered again. 'Doesn't he want this? Doesn't he want the same thing that I wanted? I could have sworn, from the feel of him under my fingers and the look in his eyes earlier…' but Lindsay's eyes now clouded with uncertainty, 'Wait a minute! I'm the one with a significant other; I have a big, sweet, Montanan man waiting on me, so why is it that I feel cold without Danny so close to me? Do I want Messer?'
Danny felt like a heel for literally dropping Lindsay like he did, but he needed space – and oxygen to his brain. He wanted her, Goddamn but I want her!, but he also wanted her to come to him; he didn't want them to kiss based on the fact that he almost ran her down. So Danny did the only thing he could to give himself time – he focused on their case. "So Montana, what were you doing rushing around corners and racing up stairs?" He hoped his voice came out more stable than he felt.
'The case? The case! He wants to talk about the case – well fine, Messer, let's be all business,' Lindsay thought, grumpily. "I was actually on my way upstairs to Flack's desk," she said. She hoped her voice wasn't as breathless as it sounded to her ears. "I was going to leave a note for Flack to run a credit check on the Sdorow family, seeing as how their son is actually our late victim's younger brother." For some reason, Lindsay felt the need to explain things to him as she crouched down to pick up the papers that had surrounded her feet when Danny had run into her. She glanced up at him with guarded eyes, "What're you doing rushing around here? Where's the fire, Messer?" Lindsay had fully intended for her last statement to be a double entendre, and she knew Danny knew it too.
Danny shrugged, shoving his hands in the pockets of his pants. He looked down at her, feeling all kinds of aches and stabs in the general vicinity of his heart, and shrugged again. "I was actually headed to the library." But I'd much rather stall that and hold you again, Montana. She glanced up again, quirking her eyebrow at him.
"Catching up on the classics?" the teasing lilt in her voice that he knew so well was tinged with something a little huskier. Jolts of electricity shot through Danny anew. Play safe, Messer, tease her back.
"Why? You need to catch up on your summer reading list?" Danny smirked, and Lindsay cracked a half-smile.
Lindsay brought her slender frame to a standing position; crossing her arms and spreading her feet shoulder width apart, striking the stance directly opposite him. "No." She tossed her brown curls over her shoulder. "I just think it's about time we got together." Lindsay stopped there, knowing what the first thought in his mind was going to be and grinning inside.
I completely agree, Montana. "I know," Danny said, not bothering to acknowledge the innuendo. "It's time we sat down and hashed this out – it's high time we sat down and explained this fire."
"Mmm," she muttered, assenting to his quip. "How about you go to the library and do whatever it is you need to do, I finish up what I was working on this afternoon, and we meet for dinner to discuss all this," Lindsay said, motioning a hand between them.
Danny nodded, you're on, Montana, and licked his lips again. "Sounds like a plan. McGregor's…say," Danny glanced at the wall clock behind her, "seven?"
Lindsay nodded and the two started to move in the directions they had originally intended to move. As they passed each other – Lindsay starting for the stairs and Danny through the doors leading around the corner and to the labs – they brushed against each other. If either of them thought the heat they'd felt earlier was just because of how securely their bodies had been melded together, they were sorely mistaken. The mere brush of Lindsay's hand on Danny's lower torso sent just as much spark through them as before. It took all Danny's self control not to grab Lindsay and practically maul her, but, oh Lordy, what I wouldn't give to be in her arms again!
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Lindsay left a note for Flack and returned to the office she shared with Danny, praying to God that she wouldn't run into him again in the stairwell. 'I don't think I'd survive another brush with him like before,' she exhaled shakily. Sinking into her desk chair, Lindsay started to read over the reports Danny had left her in the Sdorow file, and attempted to piece together how Cristine's younger brother fit into the equation that resulted in her death.
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Danny made it to the library without further incident, but he felt jittery and pumped up – like he'd drunk three cups of coffee in as many minutes and was now on a caffeine high. Not caffeine, though, he thought, this is another kinda high. He groaned inwardly, so as to not disturb the other people at the tables around him, and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. He had at least a dozen various journals and chemistry books open in front of him in an attempt to find out just how bananas played a role in Cristine Connors's death. It seemed that all his mind – and his body – could think about though was Lindsay and her body. Danny made himself buckle down and get some work done, but couldn't help one last thought from entering his head: How am I ever gonna survive dinner with her tonight?
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Ok – so I started this chapter with big intentions of it being mostly about the case, but somehow it morphed into what you just read. Hopefully you still loved it – let me know…updates won't be so long next time - i vow this.
Big hearts and D/L cakes to all who review! -- and what the hell, cake to all who don't too!
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