Disclaimer: Not mine. Not yours. Not any of the girls that want to jump Carmine.
A/N: Thank you for the reviews. Another set. Slightly longer than "bite-size", so some cookies perhaps?. Still not chronological. Unbetaed, all mistakes are mine.
Dedicated to those who signed Sugah's petition.
Flack is a man of honor. He believes in freedom and justice, and all the moral values they drilled him at the police academy. He believes that if he pushed enough, give enough effort and patience, the outcome is a beautiful confession from a cracked mind suspect.
He believes in the truth.
And after hanging around Mac's team, he believes that people are liar and hypothesis, until proven wrong, always lead to an answer.
And God help him if he wasn't going to find the truth out of Danny.
" So Lindsay," Flack started. " What you doin' this Friday?"
Lindsay looked up from her mug of tea, and furrowed her brows. " Do we have a meeting?"
Flack pushed off from the counter of the small kitchenette of the break room that he's been leaning on, and shrugged his shoulders. " Nah… just wondering if you're free." He fidget with his tie, scuffed his shoe against the floor shyly, and completes the act with a slightly hopeful voice, " are you?"
And tried his hardest to look completely endearing.
Lindsay gave him a tiny smile, and Flack thought that she looks good when she's a bit flustered—face slightly pink, surprise crowding her irises. Catching sight of Danny's tense body beside Lindsay, a small part of him thought he understood why they bicker.
" No… I'm not busy."
" Great," Flack smiled. " There's this new wine bar across town, and thought you might appreciate the drink."
" Yea.. that sounds good." Her phone went off, and before she leaves the break room, Flack called out, " I'll pick you up after shift!"
When Lindsay was out of sight, and hearing radius, Danny looked at him with icy blue eyes Flack recognized only from interrogation.
Flack just smiled and shrugged his shoulders, "What?"
" You interested in her?" Danny gruffly asked, arms cross, jaw tense.
" Are you?" Flack challenged.
She felt a whisper of air brushing her neck, and turned to find Danny staring intently at the window that was open on her computer screen. Before she could slap, shriek in indignant, or even more smartly close the said window, Danny spoke.
"Didn't pegged you as the cooking type Montana."
Lindsay turned and faced her computer screen, deciding that acting nonchalant would curb Danny's interest. She clicked a button to indicate the next recipe that she was browsing. Two sets of eyes read the recipe in silent, and for a second, Lindsay thought that Danny was genuinely interested in cooking. Lindsay quickly read over the instruction again and thought that this might be the one to try.
When she hits the print button, Danny spoke up again. " You're not seriously gonna try this are you?" He had straightened up and was giving her an incredulous look, like Lindsay was going to do something extremely taboo.
Her phone beeped a message. Lindsay glanced at it, and then snatched the printed paper.
Grabbing her kit, she waved and was gone with a distracted, " see ya later".
At the end of her shift, Lindsay was tidying her desk when she found a list of ingredients and concise instructions written in Danny's block handwriting.
P.S. Don't insult the Italians. Heavy on the tomato, and leftovers are appreciated.
The next day, she caught him at the end of his double shifts and shoved a container into his tired hands. With exhaustion already evident in the dull color of his eyes, he merely threw her a smile before walking out of the locker room.
Danny Messer knew the city better than anyone in the lab. Except maybe Stella. That woman knows everything.
So it was with a reluctant hand that he dropped the car key on Lindsay's outstretched palm after she declared that her favorite spot in New York City was a place Danny had never heard of.
They drove through the midnight traffic, passing by blurs of neon lights, a New York and big city way of claiming the night as their own. Danny tried to guess where this spot was exactly in the city plan ingrained in his mind. They turn to a quieter side of the city, where skyscraper gave way to apartment buildings and the city noise waned to a quieter dull.
She parked in front of a space between two buildings, presumably an alley, gated by a wrought iron gate. She threw a glance behind her shoulder, and smiled at Danny's confuse face. She stretched her hand to him, and he laced his fingers around hers, always a perfect fit. A gentle tug had his feet following her lead, and he was only reminded that it was in the middle of the night when the gate made a groaning noise from Lindsay's gentle push. The noise reverberated loudly against the brick walls encompassing the darkened space.
When Lindsay uncurled her fingers from his and left his side to wander further into the darkness, Danny felt a sudden gap in his stomach and was about to cry out for Lindsay when the space around them was suddenly bathed with fairy lights.
There, standing amidst what looked like a small garden, stood Lindsay. Arms wide indicating the scene behind her and a smile so innocent and giddy, Danny thought he should go to church more often to thank the Man upstairs. The lights were nestled along the leaves and snaking up around a sturdy tree at the corner of the small garden. Long, spidery veins hugged the brick walls, the leaves outstretched towards the night sky. A bench, aged with oxygen but clean from the city pollution, sat neatly besides a patch of flowers.
Lindsay took his hands in hers and they both sat down on the rusty bench.
" So," Lindsay glanced up at him. " What do you think?"
Danny took a look around the greenery and soft shadows and gave it an appreciative nod. "Not bad Montana."
She sighed against him and he wrapped his arms around her. Not bad at all.
She's full of compassion without the pity glance or the smoldering worry looks. She squeezed his shoulder after one of his stunts; the act transferring everything he needed to hear without compromising everything. That was stupid, but you're okay. He's both relieved and surprised that she let him have the ball in his court. Acknowledging, even for a brief few minutes that he's a man and entitled to his macho-ness.
He thinks maybe she doesn't really worry.
And that thought pained him more than the bruises and scratch wounds.
A/N part dos: Even if you don't leave a review, please take two minutes to check out Sugah's petition and add your name as a sign for your support to this lovely ship. Link can be found in my author's page.
Thank you,
Bo-