A/N: This is my muse's response to "Not What It Looks Like" and "Love Runs Cold" (Seas. 3, ep.'s 2&3) , I got attacked by a million plot bunnies and then my muse just jumped in and started writing and this is the result! Thanks to Boleyn for telling me I should make this a story, and thanks to Audacity and Lynn, who told me I should start writing in the first place! Hope you all enjoy my little piece of fun, I simply adore Danny and Lindsay and always love writing them! Any grammar or spelling errors are mine and I apologize! Oh and please review, it makes me feel special and all warm and tingly inside, lol!

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Present

The hospital was bustling like it did every morning, family members paced worrying, machines beeped frequently, the intercom blared every few minutes, paging various doctors while nurses hustled from room to room checking on patients and fulfilling doctors' orders. Time moved rapidly here, it's pace fast to match the nervous energy that seemed to flow through the hallways almost taking on a life of it's own. It was in the midst of this that he stood, seemingly unaffected by the confusion flowing around him, unaffected or perhaps more accurately unaware. His gaze was focused solely on the person lying still in the room in front of him. He stared through the glass window unmoving, afraid to even blink lest she disappear somehow in that split second his eyes were closed.

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8 hours earlier-3am

The shrill ring of his phone echoed in the stillness of the dark, waking him instantly. He groaned at the unwelcome disruption to his sleep and answered the phone gruffly.

"Messer."

"Danny we need you to come down here." Mac's voice was matter of fact and much too awake for Danny's liking. He looked at the clock and groaned, he'd just finished a grueling double shift and was finally in the middle of some seriously needed rest.

"Mac it's 3 in the mornin', can't the night shift handle this one?"

Mac paused..."I think you'll want to work this one Danny."

Danny sat up, the worry in his bosses voice finally bringing him fully awake.

"Why? What happened?"

"It's Lindsay, Danny..." Mac paused, concern clear in his voice, "We just got the call, apparently her neighbor found her….she…Danny, she was beaten pretty badly."

Danny sat stunned, unable to reconcile the image Mac had just created with the vibrant woman in his minds eye.

"Danny?" Mac's voice echoed through the phone line, his worry now aimed at the young CSI on the other end.

"I'll be there in 5." Danny managed, snapping out of his daze and rapidly grabbing his clothes.

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Back to the present

"Detective?" Danny finally turned at the sound of the Doctors voice, his worried eyes scrutinizing the other mans face, looking for anything that would give a clue as to the condition of the woman before him.

"How is she Doc?"

The doctor paused for a moment studying the man before him. From the several days old stubble on his face and the exhaustion in his eyes to the rigid way he held his fatigued body and the concern practically emanating from him; it was clear this woman meant a great deal to him. Suddenly very glad his news was good, the Doctor nodded his head toward the room,

"She was very lucky… we were afraid that the blows to her abdomen may have caused internal bleeding, but someone up there was looking out for her. She does have a couple bruised ribs but no surgery was needed. She has a concussion, so we'll need to monitor her for a few days to make sure there's no latent hemorrhaging in her brain, and her wrist was broken, but it was a clean break, so we set that. Other than that she just has a lot of cuts and bruises that are going to hurt for awhile but aren't a serious concern. She'll have to stay here for the next day or so we can monitor her progress and make sure everything is healing well, but baring any foreseen complications she should be free to go tomorrow evening I'd say."

Danny nodded his tired eyes going again to stare through the window at Lindsay's still form, "When will she wake up?"

The Doctor's eyes followed Danny's, his sharp gaze catching the worry that still pinched the Detective's exhausted features, "She'll need another round of medication in about two hours, so give her another hour to sleep and then you can go in there."

Danny nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving Lindsay, "Thanks Doc."

The doctor nodded, and moved past him down the hallway. He paused after a few moments to glance back before turning the corner, smiling at Danny's still vigilant form in front of the hospital room. It was as if, unable to do anything else, he were standing guard there outside her room, making his very presence a physical warning against anything else that might try to harm her.

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7.5 hours earlier-3:30am

Danny took the stairs two at a time up to Lindsay's apartment, passing several uniformed officers on his way. His heart dropped to his stomach as he reached the landing and saw the yellow tape stretched across Lindsay's open door. Somewhere in his mind he had hoped it was all just a cruel joke, that perhaps someone had simply made a mistake on the address and that it wasn't really Lindsay who had been found. Fear raced through his body and rooted his feet to the floor, images and scenarios of what he could find through that door suddenly overloading his brain.

"Danny?" Stella placed her hand on Danny's shoulder and shook him slightly. He turned to face her and Stella grimaced at the panic racing across his face. "She's gonna be okay Danny, " Stella reassured him softly. "she's in good hands on her way to the hospital and she's gonna be okay."

Danny swallowed several times and finally managed to find his voice, "Was she awake when….was she awake when you got here?"

Stella shook her head slowly, knowing he needed to know but still wishing there was some way she could protect him from what he was about to see and hear, "No, by the time Mac and I got here she was unconscious."

His eyes slid shut and he dropped his face into his hand, his breathing growing shallow, as he fought his emotions. He looked up again after several minutes, pain and anger sparking from his eyes, "Who would do this Stel, and why…..why Lindsay?"

Stella sighed, "I don't know Danny, but we'll find out., " she paused and watched him closely, " You gonna be okay to come inside? I think Mac wants you to take a look around…see if you notice anything missing that might help us find out why this happened. Can you do that?"

She watched Danny's eyes flick to the door and drop again to the floor, he took a few deep breaths, and squaring his shoulders, he finally met Stella's eyes and nodded. "I can do it."

Stella squeezed his shoulder sympathetically for a moment and then turned and ducked under the tape, catching Mac's eye as she did so. She nodded in Danny's direction and he stood and stepped up to the younger man. Reaching out he gripped Danny's shoulder and with almost the same words he'd used just a few short months before when they had found Danny's brother brutally beaten Mac spoke, "We'll find him, Danny, whoever did this to her, we'll find him, I promise."

Danny nodded, as he found himself suddenly fighting his emotions yet again. He managed to find his voice though there was a definite waver in his words.

"Thanks Mac, " he husked, scrubbing his face with his hand several times. He took a few more deep breathes and raising his head he took his first real look of the night around her apartment. It was decorated simply, not over done like some women tended to do. Lindsay favored classic comfortable decorations and furnishings and Danny thought it suited her. She liked greens and blues and browns, colors that reminded her of nature and home he'd always thought. There were a few knick knacks and framed photos spread around, but not so many that it felt cluttered. Lindsay loved it here Danny knew, it had been her space, a space that each time he'd been here had somehow reminded him of the wheat fields and blue sky's she loved so much. His eyes fell to the drops of blood that dotted her kitchen floor and he felt the bile rise again to his throat. He struggled for a long moment, before forcing himself to forget that this was Lindsay's apartment he was in. Locking his emotions away for the moment was the only way he could do this, and he had to do this because the sooner he was done here the sooner he could be with her.

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Present again:

Danny slouched in the hospital chair, his chin resting in one hand, while his other hand tenderly cradled Lindsay's pale one. His eyes caressed her features, tenderly studying her face as she slept. His heart was beating normally again for the first time since he had answered Mac's call that morning and he knew that was only because he was finally able to touch her and see for himself that she was indeed going to be okay. He watched now as her eyelashes fluttered for a few seconds before they finally opened, and he felt his heart expand in his chest as her gorgeous brown eyes immediately sought and found his.

"Hey, " she whispered, her voice weak.

"Hey yourself, " he whispered back, thinking he had never heard anything so beautiful in all his life.

"Did you get him?" she asked softly and Danny had to smile. Only his Lindsay, 30 seconds after waking up would want to make sure they had caught the guy, leave it to her to be practical.

He nodded and finally found his voice, "Yeah, we did, he was careless, so that made it pretty easy. Linds, " Danny paused, hating what he had to ask but knowing it was necessary, "did ya get a look at the guy at all?"

She shook her head slowly, clearing her throat, "All I remember is hearing my front door crash open and then seeing a fist coming at my face…." She grimaced shifting her head to a more comfortable position, "who was he? Do we know?"

Watching her Danny winced, forcing his emotions down yet again as he answered her, "Yeah, it was one of Mosi's guys. We figure he saw you go into Mosi's apartment with the jewels last month, and then when Mosi was taken away, he got it in his head that it was your fault. He must have followed you home last night and decided to make you pay for putting his boss away."

"And we got him, for sure?" Lindsay asked, doubt still lingering in her voice.

Danny nodded a cynical smile on his face, "Oh yeah, the son of a bitch was stupid. He dropped his wallet in your kitchen, and when we tracked him down he still had some of your blood on his shirt sleeve." He nodded again grimly, "He's not going anywhere for awhile."

Lindsay nodded, finally feeling safe again for the first time since this whole nightmare had begun. Danny watched as her lids slid shut again, his eyes tracing her face. Her right eye was already black and blue, and she had a cut on the cheek below it and another one right below her hairline; but despite all that she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. As if she could feel his stare, Lindsay's eyes opened again and locked on his for a long moment. She studied him, her eyes reaching straight into his soul.

"I'm alright Danny," she whispered, reading the lingering fear in his gaze, "I really am."

He nodded, his gaze skittering around the hospital room before returning to hers. She watched helplessly as his eyes filled with tears, her arms aching to hold and comfort the strong man who was currently breaking down in front of her.

"I was so scared Montana," his voice quavered, "I really thought I'd lost you, I don't even really have you yet and all I could think was that you were really gone."

"Oh Danny," Lindsay gasped softly, tears sliding unchecked down her cheeks. "All I could think was I hope I get to tell Danny how foolish I was. I was scared Danny, I was scared of what could happen, and I convinced myself that maybe if you didn't know how I felt and if I wasn't with you that somehow that would make it easier if something bad happened. But I was so wrong," she was crying in earnest now, "Forget what might happen, I want to be with you Danny, I do, and I am so sorry that I was scared and stupid and….I do…" she stopped finally, struggling to calm herself and gain her breath back.

"I want you Lindsay," Danny said softly his eyes locking on hers, "I think I realized it when you went undercover to get Mosi and then this morning when I got Mac's phone call I knew for sure…I want it all Montana, not just drinks and laughs, but the relationship and the love too, I even want the cuddling. I want all of it…" he paused, "and I want it with you."

Lindsay studied the man before her, here he was risking his heart yet again for her. What she ever did to deserve him she wasn't sure, but she certainly wasn't letting him get away this time.

"Me too Danny," she whispered, her throat thick with emotion, "more than anything me too."

They stared at each other for several long moments before he reached up and tenderly dried the tears still clinging to her cheeks, then pressed the softest kiss to her temple before leaning back in his seat. Lindsay could not keep the sappy grin off her face,

"Ya know under all that macho tough guy stuff, you're just a big softy Messer!" she teased. Danny took in the mischievous sparkle in her eye and the happy flush on her cheeks and knew he would never find another woman like her in all the world, and she was finally his.

He grinned, "Just don't tell Flack okay, he'd never let me hear the end of it!"

Lindsay laughed softly, marveling at the love that radiated from Danny's smiling eyes, love that was directed solely at her. It stole her breath and made her want to dance in the same moment. She nodded and pretended to consider his request,

"I think I can remember not to say anything, but…" she paused and Danny raised an eyebrow, waiting, "I might need something to make it worth my while."

Danny's eyes softened and leaning forward again he brushed his lips tenderly over hers. He drew back slowly and with a smile that made her heart beat that much faster, said softly,

"Anything for you Lindsay Monroe, anything at all!"