CAUTION: Major sappy fluff ahead!

Chapter 8

Mac was working with Stella in the reconstruction lab when his cell rang. The shrill sound of it had caused both of them to jump. The entire lab was riddled with tension. He snapped it up open quickly. "Wyndham, tell me you have something?"

"I do," Wyndham replied. "The search dogs trailed scents for both of your detectives, in the same direction. They followed the trail right up to the tracks, then stopped. It appears Messer and Monroe boarded one of the cars. The train left before it was cleared to go yesterday morning. It's likely they were in there when it did."

Mac felt an enormous wave of relief wash over him. If this was truly the case, then Danny and Lindsay were most likely alive. Cold, tired, and hungry; but alive.

"We're trying to find them," Wyndham went on, "but it's not easy. Can you trace the train's route and see if it made any stops? We know it's headed to Akron, but we have to find out where it is now, and locate a station for an emergency stop."

Mac gave Stella the thumbs up sign as he replied to Wyndham. "We'll get right on it. We need to stop that train."

--

Twenty minutes later, Stella and Hawkes sat clustered in front of a computer terminal, scrolling through a series of maps and charts.

"According to this schedule, after the train left the station yesterday morning, it stopped to pickup more cargo in Newark, only a few hours later," Hawkes mused. "So, given the rate of speed and the rail line they are on, it looks like they should be somewhere between Williamsport and Lock Haven right now."

Stella squinted at the map on screen, tracing her finger over the route thoughtfully. She reached for the phone. "I'll call the station at Clearfield, and tell them to expect the train. The controller can radio the conductor and get him to stop." She grinned. "Let's get our kids home!"

--

Evening had settled just as Lindsay woke up from her third nap of the day. She had never known just how truly exhausting boredom could be. Danny, too, had dozed off several times, but now she noticed that he was not by her side. She sat up, rubbing her eyes groggily. Despite the dark, she could see his shadow a few feet away.

"Help me with this, will ya?" Danny grunted as he threw his entire weight against the door of the car. Though it groaned and rattled, it would not open.

"Why bother?" asked Lindsay quietly, despondent. Their previous attempts at breaking out hadn't been successful. Even if they could open the door, what could they possibly do until the train stopped again? She was more concerned with the blast of cold air they would be exposed to.

But Danny was looking at her so determinedly, so pleadingly, that she couldn't resist helping him. She fumbled for her flashlight, using its weak beam only long enough to make her way to the door.

"You push, I'll pull," Lindsay instructed. "One, two, three!" And with all her might, she pulled. She pulled until the muscles in her upper body felt as if they were on fire. On the second try, they managed to wriggle the door open, almost wide enough for one person to get through.

"Now what?" Lindsay shouted, her voice almost carried away by the roaring of the wind mere inches away.

Danny looked at her, steeling himself to the reaction she would obviously have to his suggestion. "A little more, and we can jump."

Lindsay's jaw dropped. "Oh, no," she said.

"We'll hold hands, do it together," he prompted. There's nothing but fields around us right now, we'll land in the grass."

The countryside was nothing but a blur of darkness, how could she trust just to leap out? "No way, Danny. We could get hurt… killed, even."

Danny shook his head, impatient, his eyes nearly wild with frustration. "We'll be fine. I'd rather have a few bruises than be stuck in this car any longer."

Lindsay winced. What remained of her composure was fast dwindling away. "Being stuck with me is that terrible?" she snapped, emotions rushing to the surface before she could bottle them.

Danny groaned. "That's not what I meant, and you know it." He rubbed his head. "I'm jumping, so either you're going with me, or you'll be left behind."

That was it for Lindsay. A threat of being left alone, and the tears began to flow – tears of rage, tears of panic, tears of hurt. "So that's it?" she yelled at him, half choking on a sob. "You're just going to jump out there, maybe killing yourself in the process, leaving me alone? Not caring about me?"

Danny, however, was equally as agitated. "Not caring? You think I don't care?" he demanded. "Dammit, Lindsay, haven't I been trying so hard to show you just how much I care? Exactly how I feel for you? What more do I have to do to show you that I just want to be with you?" He leaned against the wall, sliding down to a sitting position. "That's the problem," he added, his tone softer. "You're afraid, you're too afraid to take that leap."

Lindsay was stunned into silence, unable to speak. They had just gone from arguing about a train, to arguing about their relationship. The thing was, Danny was right: since the day she met him, her emotions had been swept away, speeding down the tracks, making her a helpless prisoner. She had fought every twist and turn, riding it out, avoiding what scared her the most.

Now, here she was, vulnerable without being able to escape, and he could read her. Everything came into sharp focus. In order to have what she really wanted—a true relationship with him—she needed to gather her courage, close her eyes, and jump.

"What are you so afraid of?" he pressed.

She inhaled shakily, the breath rattling in her lungs as she tried to stop the tears. "Losing you. Losing this," she said.

Her eyes grew bigger as Danny approached, stepping so close that she could feel his breath on her face. "Tell me," he whispered. "Tell me what this is." He dropped his hands to her side, his fingers wrapping around hers.

She looked at him, the whites of his eyes most intense in the dark. "What we have between us," she finally uttered. "Don't you see? Once we take that step, Danny, all that's left to do is wait for something to go wrong. I'd rather stay in limbo than risk not having this… connection that we have." She never knew that wanting could hurt so much.

"Staying put isn't going to help us out," Danny gently pointed out. "Just like this damn train, Lindsay. We stay where we are, we'll never know what might have happened. We jump—sure, we might get hurt. But it could be the best decision we've ever made. I don't know about you, but me… I can't live with the not knowing."

After a moment of silence, he went on. "Look, for thirty-two years, my life was a big puzzle. Then the day you showed up, it's like all those missing pieces finally fell into place. You're what I want, and I'm not giving up on you." He cupped her chin tenderly, this thumb stroking a light path over her jaw line. "Talk to me, Montana," he coaxed. "Tell me what you want."

"I want to be with you," she sighed, weakening as usual at the sound of her nickname. Her life was pretty good, but she knew that having Danny in it could make it really special. "I'm just afraid of it all going wrong."

"But what if it doesn't go wrong? We could waste our whole lives being afraid of the bad, and miss out on so much good."

She opened her mouth to try to form a response, but Danny cut her off with an unexpected kiss. A kiss so soft, yet so commanding. Her arms automatically moved as if they were attached to puppet strings, circling his neck, drawing him closer to her. He was all she could taste, all she could breathe. The kiss was slow and easy, like a hammock being rocked by the breeze on a summer afternoon.

And then suddenly, sharply, she jerked away from him, breaking contact. But it was not for lack of wanting.

"Danny," she said hoarsely, her knees beginning to tremble.

The train was stopping.