Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

Author's Note: I know this is cheesy but I think of Danny and Lindsay every time I hear "Far Away" by Nickelback. Had to fit it in somehow.

CHAPTER 14

Lindsay Monroe

The knock at my door comes shortly after midnight. A look through my peephole reveals a happy Sheldon Hawkes. "Sheldon!" I say when I open the door. "It's kinda late, isn't it?"

To my surprise, he breaks into a wide grin and picks me up off my feet, spinning me around. "She said yes, Lindsay. She said yes!"

Considering his obvious elation, I don't need to ask who or what "Nicole agreed to marry you? Oh, Sheldon, congratulations." He showed me the ring yesterday as we got off shift. They had been dating only three months, but he felt the time had come.

"I'm 34 years old, Lindsay, Nicole's 31. We've both lived a lot in this life, been through a lot. We know what we want. Or at least I think I know what she wants." With that he had shown me a beautiful emerald cut sapphire, flanked by two diamonds – sapphire was Nicole's birthstone.

"So I take it she liked the ring?" I ask him, smiling when he finally puts me down.

He grinned. "Loved it. Said she always wanted a sapphire for her engagement ring. Can you believe it Lindsay? She wants to marry me. Who would have thought?"

I kiss him on the cheek. "I would have, Sheldon. I'm happy you found each other." I really am. I just wish I his joy was contagious – I could use some - but c'est la vie.

Sheldon Hawkes

I am a happy man. Ecstatic, actually. There's just one fly in the proverbial ointment. Lindsay Monroe. I want her to be happy as well – despite the old saying, happy loves company just as much as misery.

Well, there's not much I can do, except provide a possible venue for reconciliation. "Hey Messer."

"Hawkes!" Danny greets me with a smile. We've managed to move past most of the awkwardness of me sleeping with the love of his life. "I hear congrats are in order. Good for you, man."

I accept his handshake. "Thanks. By the way, Nicole and I are having a party at the Emerald Lounge on Friday – a friend of hers owns it, and it's all ours for the night. Drinks, great music … can you make it? Around 8?"

Danny seems to think a moment before nodding. "Yep, I'm not on that night. I'll be there with bells on."

I frown. "Not sure if I want to see that." Danny laughs as I turn to leave. I pause at the door. "Oh, and Danny?" He turns, eyebrow raised. "Lindsay's coming, too."

Danny Messer

"Lindsay's coming, too."

Three small words. Big impact. Somewhere along with way, after he slept with my ex-girlfriend, Hawkes became an ally – he actually seems to want me to patch things up with Lindsay. I'm just not sure I'm deservin', ya know? Still, Hawkes is my friend, so I'll be there. Beyond that? I guess I'll have to see what develops.

Friday arrives and I arrive in my usual party attire – jeans and a silk t-shirt. No chain, though – Montana used to tell me it made me look a little too much like a Mafia wannabe. The party is well underway – the double team of Hawkes and Nicole, a sweetie has brought out a good crowd. The team's all there: Mac, Stella, Flack, Pino, even Hammerbeck.

And Montana.

She looks beautiful in jeans and a black asymmetrical halter. I look around her and don't see anyone in particular nearby – namely that douche bag attorney she was datin'.

"Hey Messer. Close your mouth, stop drooling. She looks good, but it's embarrassing." Flack nudges me.

I smack his shoulder. "Bite me."

"You gonna talk to her?" He's been working on me for weeks. Talk to her. Tell her you're sorry. Tell her you love her. Yeah, right. After what I've done that would go over like a fart in church. I'm still staring at her when her eyes meet mine.

For one moment, the world stops, and it's just Lindsay and I in the room. I start thinkin' maybe they're right, I should talk to her – then she looks away, and suddenly I'm alone again, a sad sack in a crowd of merry makers.

"No," I grumble to Flack. "She doesn't need this – she doesn't need me." Despite some recent of ideas of winning her back, part of me knows I'm not good enough.

"Feeling sorry for yourself doesn't work, trust me." I turn to see Mac at my elbow with a beer.

"Ya know about me and-"

Mac rolls his eyes. "Kind of hard to miss, watching you two moon over each other the past few months. Look, Danny, I've been through the worst kind of pain …" Flack's nodding his agreement – he's no stranger to it himself. "Shutting the world away isn't the answer." I sigh – whatever Jedi Taylor. Easy for you to say – you never came to work with a thong hangin' outta your pants.

Flack claps his hand on my shoulder. "When ya get knocked down, get back on the horse, cowboy."

"Jesus, Flack, cut the Hee Haw crap. Who would want me after all I've put her through?"

"If I'm not mistaken, Lindsay does, even if she doesn't know it yet," Mac answers, but I'm still not buyin' it. Annoyed, they finally leave me in peace, and I sit at a nearby table to brood. I'm lost in thought when a familiar song begins to play … a song I've listened to at three in the morning when thoughts of Montana haunt my dreams.

This time, this place
Misused, Mistakes
Too long, too late
Who was I to make you wait …

Drawn like magnets, my eyes find her across the room. She's was talking to Stella when I see her stop short, and her eyes meet mine.

… I love you
I have loved you all along
and I miss you
Been far away for far too long …

Part of me – the wimpy jackass that took over my body – wants to look away, but the part of me that has loved her since I watched her grapple with a tiger's head can't.

On my knees, I'll ask
Last chance for one last dance
'Cause with you, I'd withstand
All of hell to hold your hand
I'd give it all
I'd give for us
Give anything but I won't give up …

The tension between us crackles until the spell is broken when Lindsay looks away. Stella puts her arm on her shoulder and looks at me questioningly. I avert my eyes, reeling inside. Her shoulders are slumped, and she looks like she wants to be anywhere else but in the same room with me. My heart recognizes the truth.

It's too late. It's over. She doesn't want me. As Chad Kroeger mercilessly sings the song of my life, I blindly push through the crowd toward the back door.

I keep dreaming you'll be with me
and you'll never go
Stop breathing if
I don't see you anymore…

Finally, I burst through the door into the alley. Fuck. Not a drop of booze in me and I feel like I have the worst fucking hangover. I lean against the brick of the building, breathing the fetid air of a nearby dumpster as I muster the energy to head home.

Lindsay

"Lindsay? You okay?" Stella puts her arm around me.

"Yeah …" I murmur vaguely. "I'm fine."

"Like hell," she says. "Do you love him?"

… I need to hear you say
that I love you
I have loved you all along
and I forgive you
for being away for far too long …

I look into Stella's concerned eyes. "Yes." I croak. "I love him, but –"

"No buts, honey. If you love him, go to him. He knows he was wrong and he loves you, but I don't think he knows how to reach you."

"I don't know what to say …"

She cuts me off. "Well think fast, Linds. Go to him. Talk. Find a way to bridge the gap, cause he was wearing the look of a man defeated. It may be your only chance."

In my heart I know she's right. Slowly, purposefully, I stand and move through the door Danny exited a few moments before. The rational part of me is yelling STOP! But some part of me knows if I don't go I may regret it for the rest of my life.

TBC