A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! They make me smile and make me want to continue! As promised here's the second chapter!
SPOILER ALERT: This story could contain potential S3 spoilers for early episodes. That's your warning!
Disclaimer: Again…I don't own anything….sadly!
Chapter 2: Girl Talk and Schemes
"Hey." Stella said to gain Lindsay's attention. The petite brunette looked up from her screensaver that was replaying random pictures of the team at a party, to meet the eyes of her friend. Since Stella didn't receive an invite, she walked into the office and took a seat across from Lindsay. "This is comfortable." She stated and bounced in the chair a little.
Lindsay smiled. "I know. It's Danny's. It smells like him too." She received a comical looks from Stella in response to her statement and explained. "I have to have something to remind me of him on his days off."
Stella shook her head. "Girl, you have it bad." Lindsay and Stella broke out into loud laughter. When the laughter subsided, a comfortable silence filled the small office that Danny and Lindsay shared in the crowed New York lab. "I know what happened in the interrogation room today." This automatically grabbed Lindsay's full attention. Stella received a 'how-did-you' look. "Flack told me. Well actually, Danny told Flack and Flack passed it on to me."
"Oh." That's all Lindsay could make out. How could she explain it to Stella when she was still trying to figure out what was going on herself? So instead of answering, she averted her eyes back to her computer screen.
Stella automatically caught on to what she was attempting to do and she wasn't about to let this slip. Stella, along with Flack and probably the whole lab, knew that if these two didn't work things out, working in the building would be a living hell. "Lindsay Monroe, look at me." Lindsay slowly obeyed. "You have to deal with this and don't tell me you don't love him because that was confirmed when I walked in here."
Lindsay cut her off before she could continue. "I do love him. That's not the problem. It's just…" Her voice faded out and Stella couldn't here her.
"It's just what Linds?" Stella pushed gently. "Whatever it is you can tell me. I know what it feels like to keep something inside and have it eat away at you."
When Lindsay looked up at her friend she could see the understanding and concern. "It's a long story. Are you sure you're up for it?" She joked.
Stella smiled. "Yeah and when we're done here I'll buy you some dinner. Now spill." She leaned back in Danny's chair and made herself comfortable.
Lindsay in turn, did the same. "As you know, I was a CSI back in Bozeman before I came here. We had a tough case a year before I transferred. It was a triple; three kids killed at gun point. I had a confrontation with a suspect in an interrogation. I got out without a scratch, but it didn't stop there. After we got him put away he decided to send someone after me. But instead of getting me…" Lindsay stopped short of the end. Even two years later she still had a hard time talking about it. She took a deep breath and continued. "That night I watched my baby brother, who was 18 at the time, lose his life by a bullet that was meant for me."
Stella saw the forth coming tears making their way into Lindsay's eyes. She knew how much this hurt bit deep down it was good for Lindsay to let it all out. "So what does all this have to do with Danny?" She already had a good idea to as what the answer was going to be but she wanted it to come from Lindsay.
Lindsay wiped away the wetness from her eyes. "Matt, my brother, was young, talented and had his whole world in front of him, including a career in baseball. He was an innocent bystander and lost his life because of me and my job. Everyone wanted me to quit but it was never an option. His murder just fueled my aspirations to catch the bad guys. I moved away the first chance I got because I didn't want the people closest to me to suffer. Here, in New York, nobody knew me so I had no one to put in danger."
"I promised myself that I wouldn't fall in love, but then I met Danny." Despite herself Lindsay smiled. "I tried my best to not love him because I don't want him to get hurt because of me, but as hard as I tried I can't." She finished with a sigh.
Stella smiled at her friend's concern. "Lindsay, its sweet of you to care so much but there are a couple of things you need to realize. First of all, the risk comes with territory of the job. Second of all I think you've missed the boat. Danny Messer would take a bullet to save you, give him the chance."
"I just don't think I could forgive myself if something ever happened to him." Lindsay said quietly.
"Okay." Stella said as she stood up. "That's enough of this nonsense. Danny loves you and you love Danny. Now that we've got that covered let's go get something to eat, shall we?" She suggested and before waiting for Lindsay to protest, she continued. "I'll meet you at my car. I have to go get something from my office and go drop something off at Mac's office."
Lindsay nodded in agreement and Stella walked out of the room. She picked up a piece of paper and a pen. After writing a little not she grabbed her purse and headed out the door.
Meanwhile, Stella walked into Mac's office. Two chairs swiveled around to reveal Danny Messer and Don Flack. They both had solemn yet curious looks on their faces. "It should all be there." Stella tossed the tape down on the desk. "And Danny, don't so anything stupid. Now I'm going to dinner." Once again she spun around and walked out the door.
"Thanks Stel." The two men called after her with smiles on their faces.
A/N: The 3rd and final chapter should be ups soon!
