Thanks to Aly and lily moonlight for reviewing! I'm glad you liked the last chapter!

Chapter Twenty Five: Safe For Now

Chicago Public Library

"Lindsay?" Stella asked as she recognized her number.

"Yes, it's me," replied Lindsay.

"Are you okay?" asked Stella. "Where are you?"

On the other end of the phone, Lindsay laughed. "One question at a time, do you expect me to answer two at the same time?"

"Lindsay," said Stella. "Seriously, just give me the news."

"Okay," replied Lindsay. "To answer your first question, I'm fine. And where I am, is in Montana. Danny, the pain in the butt jerk, is here with me too. I called him last night to tell him to go to Montana, and he trusted my judgment, and came here."

"And was your judgment good?" asked Stella.

"To Danny, no, but for me, yes," Lindsay said.

"Which is the answer, yes or no?"

"Yes," said Lindsay. "Montana was a good place to go. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for you Stel; I would have come if I knew where you were. I mean, you were probably at your apartment, but I didn't know that for sure."

"It's okay Lindsay," said Stella. "I'm just glad that you're okay. But to tell you where I am now, I'm in the Chicago Public Library. So you checked into a hotel with Danny?"

"Actually, no," said Lindsay. "I have a house I own in Montana. That's where we are now. And Danny is watching TV in the living room, acting like the lazy butt he is. He threatened that the electric bill would go up because that's all he was going to do while he was here. He didn't believe that Montana was a safe place to evacuate to."

"I'm betting he likes you," said Stella, looking out the doors of the library. She was waiting for Mac, who had gone outside to a store nearby, to get some supplies. He had been gone for a long time now, and it was making Stella apprehensive.

"Yeah, but I don't like him," said Lindsay.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Shut up Stella," said Lindsay. "Besides, I didn't call you to talk about Danny."

Stella thought she saw Mac outside, but it was another one of the stupid newscasters reporting the damage of the storm. "What did you call for then?"

"The weather," said Lindsay. "To warn you about what's to come."

"Don't tell me more tornadoes are going to hit," said Stella.

"No, but there's a bunch of rain coming your way," said Lindsay. "And reports say that Lake Michigan is already flooded."

"Wait, floods?" questioned Stella.

"Yeah," replied Lindsay. "But that's not all. You've seen 'The Day after Tomorrow', right?"

"Yes," said Stella.

"Remember when the floods hit New York in the movie?" asked Lindsay.

Stella wasn't able to answer, because Lindsay went on talking. But she already knew what was going to come after the floods; she remembered it from the movie. "Well, after the major flooding, freezing weather will move in, and it'll start to snow. No one will be able to go outside, or they'll freeze. Of course I'm not saying that's going to happen exactly like that, but you should be prepared. You said you're in the Chicago Public Library, right?"

"Me and about a million other people," replied Stella.

"Is there a fireplace?"

"Yeah," said Stella.

"Well, just like in the movie, you're going to have to keep yourself warm. You can throw books into the fire, so it doesn't go out. I'm sure there'll be plenty of them there. And make sure you don't go outside, because the flooding could get bad when you least expect it."

"Okay," said Stella.

"Hey, did you ever find Flack and Hawkes?"

"Yeah, they found their way to the library too."

"What about Samantha?" Lindsay asked, "And Jack Malone? You know, the people I work with?"

"No, sorry," replied Stella. "I'll call you again if I see them." Suddenly, she thought she saw a glimpse of Mac running towards the library, but realized that it was someone else. And five other people were following that person. "Wait, Lindsay, I think I may see Samantha."

The person that was running towards the building was Samantha, and when she entered the library, she was soaking wet. She looked up at her. "Stella?"

Stella nodded. "Samantha's here, Lindsay. She's with the rest of her team."

"Thank God," Lindsay said into the phone.

"You're talking to Lindsay?" asked Samantha.

Stella nodded. "What's going on out there?"

"Raining," replied Elena. Stella quickly smiled to her in a way of her thanks for answering her question.

"The rain is starting to flood the streets," said Jack.

"What's going on Stella?" asked Lindsay.

"It's flooding, like you said," replied Stella. "Lindsay, I have to go. Can I call you back at a later time?"

"Wait, how bad are the floods?" Lindsay asked.

More people pushed through the door, none of them Mac. This worried Stella even more. But what caught Stella's attention was that one of the people that came through the door was carrying a person in their arms. "Is she all right?" Stella asked the guy.

"Wait, who is all right," questioned Lindsay. "Is Samantha hurt or something?"

He looked up at her. "She's unconscious, but she still has a pulse."

The woman standing besides him looked at her too. She had blond hair, and she quickly put her hand out to introduce herself. "Dr. Allison Cameron. And this is Robert Chase, and the woman standing next to him is Lisa Cuddy."

"Stella, is Samantha hurt?" Lindsay asked again on the other end of the phone.

Again, Stella ignored the question. She looked at the other woman besides Chase. She had black hair, now pulled back into a ponytail. She hadn't looked at Cameron when she was introducing her; instead she had just looked around her, like no one had mentioned her name. This act surprised Stella.

"And the girl that's in your arms?" asked Samantha.

"Well," said Cameron, "we call her Thirteen. We don't exactly know her real name. She never told us."

"Thirteen?" questioned Jack.

"She was in a competition, and that was her number," replied Cameron.

Jack nodded.

"Um, we should probably move from the entrance so we don't block it from other people," said Vivian.

"Yeah," agreed Samantha.

Lindsay was still asking her question on the phone. "Earth to Stella, are you still there? Is everyone all right?"

Stella didn't answer. Instead, she made a break for the door. Samantha immediately turned around. "Stella, where are you going?"

"To find Mac," she yelled to her. She burst out the doors, gazing at the now flooding streets. But that wasn't the only thing that had started to flood. She looked down to her feet and saw that the water from the rain was starting to form puddles on the stairs. She had to find Mac and soon, before it would be impossible to walk through the streets.

She ran for the street, which became harder as the water came to her knees. She looked around for Mac, but she didn't see him. From the phone, she could her Lindsay yelling, "Stella? Stella? Are you all right? What's going on?"

"Mac!" yelled Stella. "Mac, where are you?"

"Mac?" questioned Lindsay. "I thought everyone was inside? Wait, are you outside?"

Stella collapsed onto a car, and began to cry. She couldn't lose Mac, not now. But Lindsay wasn't going to let her give up. "Don't cry, Stella. I've taught myself that crying does nothing but bring more pain. Find Mac and get yourself back into the building!"

With tears rolling down her face, Stella searched the flooding streets for him. In the midst of it all, she could see him, standing in the streets by a bunch of deserted cars. "I found him," Stella said into the phone.

"Good," Lindsay replied. "Now hurry and go to the library!"

She waded through the water, over to him. "Mac, thank God you're all right!" she exclaimed. When he didn't answer, she said his name again. "Mac?"

Mac just pointed ahead of him, and when she saw what he was talking about, she gasped. She held the phone close to her ear. "Tell Horatio Caine your location. He is coming to Montana."

"Okay," said Lindsay. "But Stella, don't wait forever! Hurry up and get inside before the flood waters are too high!"

"Lindsay, I think we're too late for that," said Stella, looking at the sight in front of her.

"Why?" questioned Lindsay. "What's happening?"

"There's an enormous wave heading straight for us," said Stella.

"What…?"

Stella hung up and grabbed Mac's arm, pulling him away from the street. They ran through the water as fast as they could, which was now waist deep and still rising. When they had reached the steps of the library, they signaled to the others inside to back away from the door. Samantha turned to the others and yelled, "Get back from the door, now!"

As they ran further away from the entrance, Samantha opened the door for Mac and Stella. "What's going on?" she demanded.

"The flood waters are rising," replied Mac.

"And there's a huge wave heading straight for this building," said Stella.

"Oh God," whispered Samantha.

Stella looked behind her to see the water seeping through the crack of the door. "We need to get away from the door, now!" She took Mac's hand and together they ran for lobby of the library, where all the people were sheltering from the storm. As they ran to find Flack and Hawkes, Samantha stayed behind them, quickly closing the doors so the water wouldn't get in. She let out a sigh of relief and looked at the gathering crowd. We are safe now, she thought, but not for long.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I actually updated on time! Yay! The big enormous wave hitting the building thing sounds very unbelievable and probably won't ever happen, but in the movie 'The Day after Tomorrow' a huge wave hits the library they're sheltering in, in New York City if you don't remember. Anyway, the next chapter should be up tomorrow or Wednesday! Horatio and Calleigh will arrive in Montana (along with the rest of the team, but they aren't mentioned as much) and they'll talk with Lindsay and Danny. And Danny may come close to figuring out Lindsay's secret...