A/N: Ok. If the accident you are about to read were real it would be an awkward scene because everyone would be wearing masks…so I took a little license with a chemical that burns on contact but not by inhalation. Forgive me. And the chapter itself is choppier than I'd like it to be, but I forgave myself.

Chapter 2 – Exactly What She Is

The tension was high in the lab, everyone was feeling it. Everyone was tense. Adam couldn't even begin to speculate what root cause was but he knew Danny was uptight and Lindsay was uptight and Mac seemed even more uptight than usual.

Adam was preparing an experiment, he needed to pull some corrosion off a piece of metal and nothing else was doing the trick, so he pulled out a vile of hydrofluoric acid to strip it.

He was so engrossed, and Lindsay walked so softly it didn't register with him when she set up an experiment on the table across from him. He would have warned her.

It happened in a instant. The vile slipped out of his grip and shattered. Glass and liquid flying in Lindsay's direction.

It was slow motion. Danny on the other side of the lab could see it but couldn't stop it. Some of the drops landed on Lindsay's lab coat instantly burning through the sleeve of her left arm.

"Adam." She said calmly. "What is that?" She was looking him in the eye.

"Hydrofluoric acid." He answered in a panicked tone and loudly enough for Danny to hear.

Danny pounded on the glass wall to get Hawkes' attention to come into the lab, and he rushed to the table where Lindsay and Adam were.

"Adam, call 911 and then get Mac. Lindsay take off your lab coat. Hawkes!" Danny yelled over his shoulder as Sheldon entered the room. "Get the first aid kit and the calcium gluconate gel. Lindsay's got a Hydrofluoric burn."

"Oh shit" Sheldon whispered under his breath. He knew, as did most in the lab did, that Hydrofluoric acid is extremely hazardous. It binds to calcium on contact causing rapid cell death and is difficult to neutralize. Tissue destruction can continue for days. If adequate supplies of calcium are unavailable for vital bodily functions, exposure can be fatal.

Her arm on the lab table, Danny faced her holding her now trembling hand and elbow. Hawkes was now behind her applying the gel. She was biting her lip, her eyes closed. She seemed to shudder.

"Montana, you need to hang in there for a bit. EMS will be here soon and they'll take you to the hospital." Danny was stating the obvious in an attempt to keep her conscious and out of shock. He looked into her eyes, himself realizing it was the first time since that day in Times Square that he had. He missed them.

Mac rushed into the lab, Adam close behind. Mac ran the few steps to her.

She held up her right arm practically stopping him in his tracks with her elbow. Danny watched as she intently looked into Mac's eyes and almost imperceptibly shook her head as if saying 'I'm OK, don't blow it now.' She did rest her forearm against his chest and even in that limited contact, through clothes and in front of coworkers, Danny could sense her muscles relax. She was relieved, safer now that Mac was with her.

"Lindsay," Mac held her hand and looked directly into her eye. "You're going to be ok."

She bit her lip and nodded quickly.

"Does it hurt?" His voice a deep whisper.

More quick nodding.

"Adam," Mac barked. "What's the strength of that solution?"

Adams rushed to the area where the accident had happened and grabbed the broken vile.

"50."

"Lindsay," Hawkes gently handed over a pill. "Take this," Hawkes was still behind her so Mac took the pill and placed it in her mouth. "It's a calcium supplement it will help until you can get to the hospital." Hawkes explained.

Both Danny and Mac each still holding an arm could feel her body cooling with damp sweat. Each of them searching her eyes could see she was losing focus.

"Mac. I feel nauseous. Its in my bloodstream isn't it?" She said looking for his gaze but not able to hold it with her own.

"No, Lindsey. It's the pain and shock that's making you nauseous. You're going to be OK."

Jesus, call her sweetheart, call her Baby. Comfort her! Danny was yelling in his mind. He was shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He could feel Lindseys' grip on his wrist weakening.

"Mac….Mac…" She trailed off.

"Lindsay, it's a diluted solution, and a small burn, you are going to be fine." Sweetheart! Danny added in his mind. His anger with Mac rising.

Now her whole body was trembling slightly. Hawkes was alert, afraid she may start convulsing.

Her eyes closed and opened again slowly. She turned to Danny.

"Danny," her voice a hoarse quivering whisper.

"Yeah Montana." He used her nickname deliberately as no one was calling her sweetheart he hoped to convey some affection.

"Can you kick that trash pail over here?" Danny did as she asked and she bent forward and vomited. She pulled her hand from Mac's grip to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand. Silent tears had begun rolling down her cheeks.

Mac grabbed her hand again. Steadying her with his other hand on her back.

"Lindsay, its your body's reaction, its not the acid."

She was trying to nod but it was hard with the trembling. She was blinking more and more slowly and Mac and Danny both noticed when she did so her eyes seemed to want to be backward in her skull. Her head bobbed forward as she lost consciousness just as EMS arrived.

Mac supported her body with his and Danny maintained his grip on her afflicted arm.

"Hydrofluoric burn, 50 solution, I applied calcium gluconate gel and gave her a 500mg oral calcium supplement. She just lost consciousness, vomited once, was in shock." Hawkes reported to the paramedics.

"Her name is Lindsay Felicia Monroe. 26 years old, approximately 115 pounds. Take her to Bellevue burn." Mac ordered. "Hawkes go with her, nothing happens to her that you don't know about, you understand me?"

"Yes boss." Hawkes said helping EMS with the stretcher. Lindsey's right hand drifted loose of Mac grip as they rolled her away.

"You're not going with her?" Danny was irate as Mac snapped opened his phone.

"No, Danny I'm not. Dispatch, this is Detective Taylor I need to speak with Bellevue Burn Unit immediately."

"She's scared Mac." Danny yelled.

Mac turned to face the younger man.

"I know exactly what she is." Mac said, his eyes and words delivering their own acid burn. Mac turned to the phone "This is Detective Taylor of the NYPD Crime Lab, one of our CSI's, Lindsey Monroe is on her way in with a Hydrofluoric acid burn. It happened 12 minutes ago, it was a 50 solution, burn smaller than a quarter. She was vomiting and shockey. I need to know what the expected prognosis and treatment will be." Mac was silent, listening.

"I expected she may need to be transfused, correct?" Silence. "She is A/B negative, how are your stocks?" Pause. "OK, I'll see if anyone in our precinct can donate. She has no family in New York, I am her Heath Care Proxy. I will be there immediately."

"Adam," Mac said brickely aafter he snapped the phone shut. "Ask around for anyone who is A/B negative and tell them to get to Bellevue to give and be sure they reference Lindsay's name. Danny can you call Flack and see if he can do the same with this guys."

Danny nodded., but didn't forgive.

She was in shock and she needed to be observed, she wasn't out of the woods.

It was later that night that Danny watched from the hallway around the corner from her room. He could see through the glass as Mac approached her. She began sobbing at the sight of him alone. She held out her arms encircling Mac's neck. He held her and spoke to her gently. Mac pulled back slightly and kissed her forehead, her cheek, her lips. He was urgent, grateful she was alive but he was sweet and tender. Mac himself got into her bed and shifted so he was sitting up, his back leaning on the bed, with Lindsay against his chest. She was clutching at the front of his shirt, her face nuzzled into his neck. His brow creased with concern, his arms around her, he spoke to her soothingly. Danny couldn't hear the words through the glass but he could see she was being cared for, even lovingly he allowed himself to admit.

The next day Danny came to see Lindsay in the hospital.

"Hey." He said softly.

"Hey." She said weakly smiling.

"How you doing?" he sat down next to the bed.

"I'm Ok." She was glad to see him. Things hadn't been the same between them for a while, and she missed his friendship.

"Yeah? I came to see you last night. But Mac was here," he didn't mean to start in on her right away, but he was ready to implode. He let his words trail off.

"Oh," was her only reply.

"Yeah. Nice to have a boss that cares for his people like that." Danny said. He did feel guilty for pushing her like this when she was injured. But they were inadvertently forcing him to keep their secret and he hated it. It ate at him, it made him cruel.

"Yeah." She said looking at her bed sheets.

"Of course, something like that, I guess that can be a slippery slope. I mean, a boss cross the line or something. That can get sticky and ugly real quick." Her eyes met his. She understood his meaning, she knew he knew. She was tired and sick and weak. He was coming at her now and a part of her hated him for it.

"Yeah I guess so." She answered and swallowed hard, not because she thought she couldn't handle Messer, but because she felt so queasy. "Yeah. Something like that. I guess, if it did happen," she paused for emphasis "could break up a whole team." She could see that rattled him so she took it as her cue to continue.

"I mean supposed two people, each lonely for their own reasons, become friends. Then more than friends. And although never unprofessional, are breaking rules. If it came to light, the powers that be could break up the whole team that works together. I wouldn't want to see anything like that happen," she said, staring him coolly in the eyes.

He nodded and blinked. He never thought about the consequences that way. The most he had thought about was that it might break them up, Lindsay and Mac. And he wasn't sure why, although he knew it had nothing to do with professionalism, he wanted them broken up. He recognized immediately the selfishness of that. He wanted her for his own. He didn't want Mac to have any claim to her. But Mac did. And it was a secret claim. And Danny knew.