A/N: Sorry for the delay in updates. I was busy staring at my tv screen and rewatching the Hug Scene over and over... and over. And-- you get the point.
Caution:
If you get easily emotional from fics, and happen to be in a public setting like school or work, don't read this right now. Wait til you are alone, lol. My test subjects have told me it is a tear-jerker. Don't hate me, I promise I'll make up for it later. ;)


Chapter 10
Danny: Breakthrough

A plan was hatching.

The idea came to Danny on Tuesday night: Ed kept his cell phone clipped to the edge of his belt, where it dangled precariously, threatening to drop with each step the man took. Now a scheme was burning in Danny's brain; a raging inferno that consumed his every thought.

He would get to her. Nothing would stop him.

Danny spent all day Wednesday watching television, flipping through the stack of magazines, chatting amiably with Joe. His mind, however, was busy weaving a web, a foolproof plot to make contact with the one person he was desperately missing.

The hours ticked by slowly as Danny waited for evening to come. For the first time, he was elated to see Ed walk through the door. The guard grunted his usual brusque hello, then returned to his station outside of the room. When Ed brought the dinner tray in, Danny double-checked to see if the phone was in its usual, unsteady position. It was. He forced down only a portion of his dinner, too nervous to eat very much. After watching some mindless television, he took a shower; it was his one refuge in this box he was confined in. He would stand there with the hot water beating down on his back, sluicing over his body and rinsing away the tension.

Around nine that night, when his excitement was almost unbearable, Danny was finally ready to enact his plan. He began by carefully arranging himself in an awkward position on the floor, to appear as if he had fallen. He removed his glasses and tossed them aside haphazardly, for further effect.

"HELP!" he shouted, on his chest with his legs curled slightly to one side. Silence. He tried again, louder, "I NEED HELP!"

At last he heard the click of the door being unlocked, and Ed stomped in. "What's your prob--" He stopped mid-complaint when he saw Danny down on the floor. He gawked for a moment, then rushed over to help. "What happened? Are you alright?" he asked.

Danny noted that this was the first time he had seen any emotion from the man. "I got dizzy and fell. Can you bring me some water?" he asked in a raspy voice.

"Sure," Ed said, seemingly frightened to see his charge in such a condition. "You stay right here, I'll be back." Ed returned a few moments later with a bottle of water, and helped Danny up to a sitting position. With his hand supporting Danny's back, he encouraged him to take a drink. Danny sipped obediently.

"Help me stand," Danny mumbled, replacing his glasses.

"You sure?" asked Ed skeptically.

Danny just nodded. He started to push himself up; Ed grasped both of his arms for support. Danny suddenly pitched forward and stumbled, grabbing Ed around the waist to steady himself. In a flash, while pretending to recover from the near-fall, Danny snagged the cell phone from Ed's belt and slipped it in his back pocket.

"Whoa, thanks," he said, still trying his best to appear unsteady.

Ed guided Danny cautiously to the bed. "You'd better lay down," he instructed. "Get some sleep, you'll feel better."

I will feel better, Danny thought, his heart seizing with joy at the thought of the phone he now possessed. A link to Lindsay. A lifeline.

For now, he feigned tiredness, and crawled underneath the covers. He waited until he heard the click of the lock in the door which signified Ed's exit, before pulling out the phone.

Danny had decided to call Lindsay's apartment line, rather than her cell phone. He didn't want to catch her if she was working late at the lab, and risk her getting upset there. If she wasn't home, he would leave her a message, and tell her… Tell her what? he asked himself. What exactly was he going to say? He had no idea, but he needed to do it before Ed noticed that his phone was missing.

Sliding out of bed, Danny walked to the far side of the room so Ed couldn't hear him. He dialed Lindsay's number, and held his breath as it rang. Please be home, he thought. I need you tonight.

After three rings, she answered. Her voice was like water raining over his parched senses.

"Hello?" She sounded breathless.

"Montana," he whispered. "It's me."

"Danny?" she gasped. "Oh, God! Where are you?"

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "Some hotel room they've got me in. I stole a cell phone, Linds, and I've only got a few minutes."

"I miss you," she said softly.

Danny smiled. God, he missed her. He would give positively anything to touch her right now. "I miss you, too," he said. "You're all I think about."

"It's so good to hear your voice," Lindsay said, her own voice cracking slightly.

They were both quiet for a few seconds, just concentrating on the sound of each other's breathing, savoring what they knew wouldn't last long.

"Hey," Danny said, trying to lighten the conversation. "I saw you on television yesterday morning." He grinned at the recollection.

"You did?" asked Lindsay with a slight chuckle. "At the Truesdale place?"

"Yeah, something like that," he replied. You were so beautiful, he thought, as always. Again, silence ensued. Danny swallowed a few times, trying to remove the lump in his throat. Damn, this was harder than he imagined. There were so many things he needed to tell her, and he didn't know where to begin.

"When are you coming home?" Lindsay's voice cracked again, this time at the word 'home'. It made Danny's heart ache to know she was in pain, and there was absolutely nothing he could do to help it.

"I don't know, but look," he said, wrestling the emotions which threatened to take complete control of him. "Lindsay, I am so sorry. I am so sorry I dragged you into this—"

"Danny you didn't drag me into anything," she choked out, evidently close to weeping. "I've always just wanted to be with you, no matter what."

"Let me finish," he continued in a rush. "It kills me to know you're hurting, and that it's my fault."

"It's not your fault," she argued, then added gently, "and I know you'd give anything to change the circumstances. So would I."

"Just listen," Danny pleaded, knowing that time was running out and wanting to get these words off his chest. "When I get back home, and that's going to be soon, I am going to make this up to you. I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you, Lindsay."

She was silent, and then he heard muffled sounds. She was crying. Oh God, he thought. As if he wasn't already having trouble holding back his own tears.

"I want you to listen to me," Danny said firmly. "When I get back there, I'm not ever letting you—" he stopped, wiping an unchecked tear from his eye. He swore silently at himself for crying, then tried to finish. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again. Not ever." He waited for a response, but just heard more muffled sounds.

"Lindsay? Lindsay, do you hear me?" His vision was completely blurred now from his own tears.

"Yes," she finally responded. "Danny, I miss you so much."

"Me too, me too," he whispered softly. He knew his time with Lindsay was slipping away. "Look, Linds, we're going to have to say goodbye now."

"No! Please," she begged him, her voice strangled with grief. "Not those words. Just a few more minutes."

Danny was about to agree when he suddenly heard a shout in the hallway, and a key in the door. Dammit. He had to hurry. "Lindsay?"

"What, Danny?"

Ed crashed through the door, and Danny attempted to get one last thing out. The most important thing. "Lindsay, I--"

The cell phone was wrenched from his hand.

"-love you."

But it was too late.