A.N. Drama, drama, drama. I love it. Oh, and I don't own anything. Just thought I'd mention that.
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Lindsay was waiting for results from DNA when Angell stuck her head in the break room. She motioned to her watch. "Ten to seven. Should we head over?"
Lindsay felt the surprise on her face and ducked her head to hide it. Sliding from her chair, she crossed to the sink and dumped the rest of her coffee down the drain. "Sure, let me just grab my purse."
Angell followed silently as Lindsay made her way to the locker room. Passing Stella, Lindsay stopped and hurried to catch up with her boss. "Hey, Stel, I'll be back in—"
Stella waved her hand dismissively. "Go home, Lindsay. Thanks for your help, but we got it from here," the older woman told her, smiling.
"Thanks," Lindsay said with some relief. "Have a good night."
Stella was already moving away again and wiggled her fingers as a goodbye. "I'll meet you at the elevators," Angell muttered and Lindsay nodded as they scurried in different directions.
Grabbing her purse and jacket, Lindsay bit her lip. For some reason, she felt nervous about spending time with Angell. No, that wasn't it. She felt nervous about spending time with Angell around Danny. She'd seen the way the other woman flirted with him. Sometimes it seemed like she wanted to jump him right there in the hallway.
Danny, being Danny, of course flirted back, but Lindsay didn't know what that meant. She was well aware of the fact that Danny flirted with every woman he came across. But Angell was so beautiful it was hard to imagine he wasn't interested at least on some basic level.
It didn't help that she'd seen one or two of the women he'd dated; tall, model-like brunettes. In other words, his type seemed to run exactly towards Angell.
Meeting up with Angell at the elevator, Lindsay was a little consoled by the fact that the other woman seemed as nervous as she was. They were silent again as Lindsay slid her arms into her jacket.
"So," Angell said, clearing her throat. "Why haven't I seen you at Sullivan's before?"
Shrugging, Lindsay fiddled with her purse. "I don't go out much. It's hard to make plans. Cases are constantly extending our shifts."
Angell nodded slightly as the doors slid open, and they stepped inside. "Mine, too."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
Angell folded her arms across her chest. Silence settled between them, making the quiet ding of the elevator hitting each floor seem louder than an explosion.
"Okay, why is this so awkward?" Lindsay finally burst out.
"I have no idea," Angell sighed.
"Look," Lindsay said, after a pause. "This is about Danny, right?"
Angell shot her a glance but didn't answer. Swallowing, Lindsay tried again. "He and I aren't together. So I'm not standing in your way if you're…interested."
She hated that she felt like a teenager saying all of this. And Angell's silent raised eyebrow didn't help matters.
"I'm not exactly a fish wife," Lindsay told her as they finally exited the elevator. "I won't gut you for talking to him."
Angell was surprised into laughter. "You know, I didn't think I was going to like you."
Lindsay smiled confusedly. "Why's that?"
Shrugging, Angell opened the door to the precinct and let Lindsay go out first. "Because you're the reason Danny wouldn't give me a chance."
Lindsay blushed and shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Angell's smirk grew. "Right. Like you don't know he's holding out for you."
Wincing, Lindsay squeezed her eyes shut. "I didn't want him to."
"Why not?" Angell asked, genuine surprised coloring her voice. "You're in love with him, aren't you?"
A breath of air, almost a laugh, escaped Lindsay as she fumbled with her buttons in the cold night. "I wouldn't call it love. We haven't even been on a date. It's a crush. A very serious crush," she mumbled, shaking her head ruefully.
Angell watched Lindsay tuck a strand of hair behind her ear self-consciously. "You're not what I expected."
Glancing sideways at the other woman, Lindsay completed Angell's unspoken thought with a raised eyebrow but no real censure. "For him?" Lindsay asked with a humorless smile.
Obviously unsure what to say, Angell ignored the question. "Butterflies?"
"What?" Lindsay blinked.
"Do you get butterflies? In your stomach," Angell clarified.
"Oh," Lindsay said, letting out a giddy laugh. "A riot of 'em."
Angell smirked again as they waited for the light to change so they could cross the street. "Butterflies are good."
"Are they? I'm not so sure about that," Lindsay muttered.
"So if you're so into him, why the freeze out?"
"What?" Lindsay glanced at her as they stepped into the street.
"Well, he's obviously interested if he's turning down other women—"
"You don't know that's because of me," Lindsay protested. They were almost to Sullivan's. If she could just evade the question for a few more seconds, she'd be golden.
Angell laughed. "Actually, I do. I know it for a fact."
"He said it was?" Lindsay whispered, pausing on the sidewalk.
"Mmhmm. After you," Angell said, pulling open the door to the pub and gesturing inside.
Blinking in surprise, Lindsay mindlessly walked inside, standing just beyond the doorway until Angell stepped up next to her. "They're over there," Angell told her when Lindsay didn't make any move to actually enter the pub. With a frown, Angell pointed then led the way to the table.
Lindsay followed her through the crowd, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes when a man at the bar winked in her direction. Flack and Danny were the only ones at the table, and the two empty chairs were obviously reserved for Lindsay and Angell.
"Hey," Flack said, jerking his head in greeting. Danny smiled at her and slid the chair next to his out with his foot.
She smiled back, feeling very affectionate towards Danny at the moment. He looked a little surprised at first, but then his smile deepened and his eyes turned warm. Trying not to blush, she eased herself into the proffered chair, unbuttoning her coat.
"White wine?" Danny asked as she shrugged the garment off.
She nodded, and he gestured to a waitress wandering through the crowd. As the woman came closer with a wide smile, Lindsay felt her stomach sink. She recognized her. This was the waitress who tended to display her ample cleavage specifically for Danny.
As the waitress leaned over to do just that, Lindsay saw Flack's eyes slip down to the offered view and she tried to quell the urge to beat him with her purse. Angell caught her attention and rolled her eyes with a smirk, making Lindsay bite her lip to hide a smile.
"What can I do for you?" the waitress asked with a sultry smile.
Lindsay couldn't look at Danny, hating the wolfish expression she was sure she'd see there. She'd seen it before, directed at the various beauties that threw themselves at him, and had wondered why he'd never turned that gaze on her. With her it was always a smirk or a teasing once-over. He'd never gone into full seduction mode on her as he seemed to at the drop of a hat with other women.
It bothered her more than it should.
"A white wine for the lady," she heard him say—his tone a little friendlier than warranted by the situation. "Did you want something?"
Angell shrugged across the table. "Same."
The waitress nodded. "Coming right up." Then she was sliding away again with one last smile right into Danny's eyes. Lindsay swallowed convulsively.
"You wrap that case up, yet?" Flack asked. "With the million dollar stripper?"
Angell glared at him. "Half a million, actually, and, yes, this afternoon."
"Oh, well, excuse me."
"What kind of detective are you?" Lindsay teased him with a small smile.
"C'mon Monroe, not you, too."
The waitress reappeared, setting two napkins and two glasses on the table. "Anything else?" she asked, looking straight at Danny.
"That's it," he said. This time, Lindsay snuck a glance at him. He had his wicked half-smile on and her gaze jerked back to her wine. A raw, rabid feeling spread through her chest.
The waitress, gone, Danny sat back and casually stretched an arm out along the back of her chair. Meeting Angell's eyes again as Danny and Flack descended into conversation, she saw the detective shaking her head. She looked almost amused, really.
Lindsay knew she was being quiet, not participating enough in the conversation to seem normal, but she couldn't think of anything to say. She felt Angell eyeing her every so often and she tried to smile at her, but her skin felt too tight all of a sudden.
Which might have been why she nearly jumped out of her skin when Danny's hand accidentally brushed against her shoulder. Trying to cover the rather obvious jerk, she jumped from her chair and glanced around the table. "I need a beer. Anyone want anything?"
Angell's eyes darted to Lindsay's nearly empty wine glass before shaking her head. "Nope, I'm good thanks."
"Danny? Flack?" she asked.
Danny shook his head, looking highly entertained while Flack frowned at her. "Monroe, we can just call the waitress over."
"No, no, take too long. It's fine. Really."
Turning, she started pushing her way through the people around the bar. They'd been there for over an hour and the crowd had thinned considerably, but she knew it would be a wait. Staking a claim on a stool, she was surprised when the bartender came over almost immediately.
"What can I get ya, doll?" he asked in a thick Irish brogue.
"A Guinness, please?"
"Good choice," he said with a wink and Lindsay smiled as he moved back down the bar.
Leaning her elbows on the glossy wood, she watched absently as he started three drinks at once. The man really was a genius. She was so lost in her own thoughts, she barely noticed as someone squeezed into the space next to her at the bar. Unconsciously, she moved over to give the newcomer more room.
"How's it going, peaches?"
Glancing up, she found a man staring down at her with a lecherous gleam in his eye. "Peaches?" she asked coldly, turning her eyes back to the bartender.
"Can I get ya a drink?"
"Already getting one," she answered, refusing to look at him again. The bartender came back up to her and slid the pint at her. Reaching into her pocket, she tossed down the appropriate amount of money and turned to go.
She didn't really feel much more than surprise when the guy's hand on her arm held her in place. Sighing, she steeled herself then glared up at him. "Let go."
"C'mon, don't be like that."
"Let go of me," she repeated. His eyes turned cold and he squeezed her arm a bit. "You don't want to do that."
His smirk started to slide off his face. He was obviously annoyed now. Irritated that it had gone this far, Lindsay tossed her beer in his face, and broke his hold on her arm as he sputtered in surprise.
"Sorry," she told the bartender, throwing an extra few bills on the bar.
He just shook his head and handed her another Guinness. "Not a problem."
She almost laughed at the drink now in her hand, but was too angry to do more than smile tightly and storm back to the table. When she got there, Angell and Flack were staring at her in shock while Danny looked more dazed than anything else. Lindsay collapsed in her chair, still breathing fast from the incident.
"That was hot," Angell told her calmly after a moment, making Lindsay choke on her beer.
She coughed for a second. "You liked that, huh?" she said when she could breathe again.
"Oh, yeah."
Flack shook his head at the two of them. "You want I should beat some sense into him, Monroe?"
She chuckled. "I think he learned his lesson."
Flack raised one black eyebrow. "Lesson?"
"Never call me peaches," she told him seriously. When Angell and Flack started laughing, she finally felt her muscles relax.
It was Danny's turn to be quiet, but Lindsay was so wrapped up in her own thoughts she didn't notice. He'd seen the man slide in next to her and immediately pegged him as trouble. When he'd grabbed Lindsay's arm, Danny had shot out of his seat, only to fall back into it as Lindsay's beer made an appearance in the guy's face.
Danny knew that Lindsay thought the whole thing was over, but he could tell the guy's pride was hurt. So—thinking he might try something—Danny waited a few minutes to excuse himself and made his way to the back room of the pub. He'd watched the man slink back here afterwards and knew he'd find him surrounded by buddies. He was that type.
Sure enough, he found them laughing around a pool table, three other guys with him. The pool cues didn't look too promising should this get out of hand, but Danny was beyond caring.
"Hey," he said casually as the guy turned around. "How ya doing?"
Shirt and hair still wet with beer, the other man eyed Danny disdainfully. "You got a problem?"
Danny chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest. "No, no. No problem really. Just a friendly chat."
"Man,I don't swing that way," the guy said, starting to turn away.
Reaching out, Danny caught his arm in a painfully tight grip. "You touch my girl again, you're gonna wish you did," he warned, smile still locked on his face.
The guy's eyes narrowed. "I didn't see no sign on her."
"Must not have been looking hard enough." Lindsay would quite probably murder him if she heard him say that.
He knew the exact moment Flack stepped up behind him. Immediately, the flunkies who'd been closing in on the Danny and the neanderthal started backing away.
"Everything all right in here, detective?" Flack asked tensely. "There a problem?"
Danny smiled again and let go of the guy's arm. "Nah, we was just chatting."
"You're a cop?" the guy demanded. "This is police brutality."
The other men shifted nervously as Danny's smile became a glare. "Oh, really? Interesting since you assaulted an officer back there."
"She's a cop, too?" The guy drew back as though he'd smelled something terrible. "What is this, a setup?"
"Yeah," Flack said sarcastically. "We planted her at the bar so you'd humiliate yourself. Get out of here."
When none of the men moved, Flack took a step forward. "That look on his face don't mean nothing good for you. If you're not out of here in ten seconds, I'm letting him loose."
For a moment, no one moved. Then one of the men set his cue on the felt and the others followed suit. Danny didn't move as they filed out the door, his eyes locked on the neanderthal until he moved behind him.
"What was that, Danny?" Flack demanded when they were alone.
"He touched her, man."
"Yeah, not cool, I agree. But she handled it. Why the theatrics?" he asked as Danny finally turned to face him.
"I know guys like him." Danny insisted, gesturing angrily at the doorway. "He was gonna try something."
"With the three of us there?"
Danny shook his head disgustedly. "He could have followed her home."
"Danny, listen to yourself. She turned down a sleezy guy in a bar. Why are you flipping out?"
Danny ran a hand over his face. "We see these things all the time, Flack. He coulda…" he trailed off as the adrenaline faded away.
Shaking his head, Flack turned away for a minute. When he spoke again, his voice was soothing. "Monroe can take care of herself. She's not like the girls you date, Messer."
Danny's head shot up. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Completely exasperated, Flack threw up a hand and walked away. Danny trailed behind him, still in a horrible mood. When they rejoined Lindsay and Angell at the table, they were laughing and Danny wondered what was so funny.
He was pretty sure he hadn't seen Lindsay laugh so hard since before last fall. It should have made him feel better to see her happy. It's what he'd wanted for her for a long time. Instead, he felt like he's swallowed a lemon.
He tried to shrug it off, but after ten minutes of stewing over it, he gave up. Disgusted with himself, he stood as casually as possible and started pulling on his leather jacket. Lindsay glanced up at him.
"You leaving?" she asked, her question catching Angell's and Flack's attention.
"Yeah," he said, his voice cool. "I'm on call tomorrow."
Lindsay nodded and glanced down. His gaze followed hers to the still full beer in front of her then met her eyes when she lifted them back to his face.
"You wanna share a cab?" she asked, her cheeks slightly pink.
His heart flipped in his chest and he shrugged. "Sure."
Nodding again, she quickly stood and took the jacket Flack offered. Angell caught Danny's eye and tilted her head to the side with a frown, but he dropped her gaze without responding.
"You kids get home safe now," Flack told them with a little wave.
Lindsay laughed and waved back. "See you."
Danny forced himself not to put a hand on her lower back as he lead the way out of the bar. He still felt vaguely unnerved by the whole incident and he found himself unsure how he was supposed to act around her.
He'd told the slimeball she was his girl, but she wasn't. Until now, he'd been operating under the assumption that they were more than friends despite the awkwardness that had been between them lately. But the conversation with Neanderthal Guy had only served to highlight that they weren't. He had no right to confront the guy, had no hold on Lindsay whatsoever, as Flack had so eloquently pointed out.
Suddenly, the ground under Danny's feet seemed very treacherous.
"You okay?"
Glancing down, he saw Lindsay staring worriedly at him and realized he'd been silent for a very long time. Signaling a cab, he nodded and opened the door for her. He felt like an ass when he saw her bite her lip as she leaned down to slide across the seat. But, really, what did she expect from him?
Stifling a groan—sharing a cab had been a bad idea—he slid in after her and gave the driver her address. He felt her stare, but he turned his face so she couldn't see his profile.
A long, awkward pause filled the car as the cab swerved in and out of lanes. They'd gotten a particularly aggressive cabbie, and Danny sighed inwardly as they swung around a corner just a little too fast.
"Danny?"
His eyes slid closed and he didn't move. "Yeah?"
"What's going on? What happened?"
"Nothing, Lindsay. Everything's fine." Her sigh sounded very loud in his ears.
They were only a few blocks from her building; he could hold out that long. She shifted next to him. He tried hard to hold it together, but when he felt her fingers gently brush his hand, his head dropped forward to rest against the window.
"Danny," she murmured, moving her fingers soothingly over his skin.
Flipping his hand over, he caught her fingers with his, stilling them. If she kept it up, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from pulling her close and holding on. Calmly, she threaded her fingers through his and let their hands rest on the seat between them.
When the cab started to pull up in front of her building, Lindsay spoke again. "You want coffee or something?" she asked quietly.
Danny stirred and looked at her finally. Her expression was gentle and completely devoid of the irritation he expected to see. She was just worried about him. He found himself nodding.
She smiled and shook his hand a little before letting go. When she reached for her wallet, Danny beat her to it and paid the driver.
"Thanks man," Danny said, opening the door. "Have a good night."
"You, too," the driver said absently.
"Night," Lindsay added, taking Danny's offered hand and letting him help her from the car.
Danny silently followed her up the steps and inside. In the elevator, Lindsay leaned against the side of the car and raked her eyes over him. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he stared at the increasing numbers and pretended not to notice.
Lindsay's apartment was only a few doors down from the elevator, so she had it open by the time he caught up with her. She walked in, leaving him to lock the door behind them.
"Please tell me you always lock your door," he muttered to her.
She shot him a confused look. "Of course I do. Why?"
He shook his head and turned to find her moving towards the kitchen. "Coffee?" she called.
"You got a beer?"
She glanced at him, surprised, but she merely shrugged. "Guiness or Fat Tire?"
"Surprise me," he said with a smirk. While she grabbed two beers and opened them, he wandered into her tiny living room.
He'd never been inside before and he found himself studying his surroundings. Bookcases stuffed to their maximum capacity, a comfortable rather than fashionable looking couch, large tv, coasters on the coffee table, all served to highlight what he already knew about her. He felt a smile tugging on the corners of his lips. But, contrary to what he'd expect, she didn't have snapshots adorning the walls; instead she had a couple of framed prints.
"Here."
Moving his head to the side, he saw her holding out a bottle. He didn't care what it was and barely registered the taste.
"South of France," she said in answer to his unspoken question.
"You been there?" He couldn't help the surprise in his voice, but she didn't look offended.
She snorted derisively. "No. My French teacher in high school gave it to me as a graduation gift."
"Why?" he asked, watching her carefully.
Shrugging, she took a sip from her own glass of water. "At the time, the plan was Princeton, travel for a year around Europe, then medical school."
"You wanted to be a doctor?" The thought made his shoulders tense just slightly.
She nodded without expression. "Things change," she said dismissively, then turned to take a seat on her couch.
He met her eyes, reading the question in them, before walking to her window. Staring out at the small street below, he swallowed thickly. "You remember the guy from the bar?"
"Who? Grabby hands?"
"I went after him."
There was a small gasp behind him and he winced, quickly raising his beer to his mouth to camouflage the reaction. She was quiet after that, so quiet for so long that he couldn't take it anymore and turned to look at her.
She seemed confused. "But…why?"
Running a frustrated hand over his hair, he shifted his weight agitatedly. "I don't know. He touched you."
"So?" she asked, her forehead crumpled.
"I'm sorry. I know you can take care of yourself, I just…"
Lindsay regarded him from across the room, her eyes narrowed as she studied him. She took a deep breath to say something, stopped and looked away. Finally, all she asked was "What'd you do?"
"Told him never to touch you again."
Eyebrows raised, Lindsay folded her arms, glowering at him crossly. "This is New York, Danny. The odds of ever seeing him again are slim to none."
"I know, I know, I know. Look, I knew guys growing up who didn't take 'no' so well." He cut himself off, turning away, back to the view—rather nice for such a tiny apartment.
"Thank you for worrying about me, but, like you said, I can take care of myself."
"I know."
Sighing over his own pathetic behavior, Danny crossed the room to sit on the couch. He made sure to sit on the opposite end and he felt Lindsay tense at the gesture. Silence fell between them as he rubbed his forehead tiredly.
"Danny?" she asked after a minute.
Surprised to hear the hesitation in her voice, he felt his eyebrows pull together as he glanced at her. "Yeah?"
"Why did you go after him?"
Seeing her sitting there safe and sound with that innocent, tentative expression was like a shot of tequila straight to the bloodstream, and his brain reacted appropriately: near complete shut down. "I just told you," he murmured.
Her eyes refused to let his go and the effect was heady. "No, I mean…" She paused and licked her lips. "Would you have done that if it had been Stella?"
It took a moment for the words to register in his mind and then another for him to make any sense of them. Slowly, he shook his head. "No."
Her expression grew warmer as her head tilted to the side. "Then why?"
"You know why."
He watched, fascinated, as her pupils dilated and her breathing grew labored. His eyes flicked down to her mouth then up again. He felt his own lips part as her eyes slid closed and her body shuddered.
She was standing and moving towards the kitchen before he could blink. "You're on call tomorrow?"
His sluggish brain tried to catch up with the new topic. "Yeah. On call."
"Me, too," she said briskly, dumping the rest of her water in the sink.
He caught the hint but didn't move. She wasn't getting rid of him that easily this time. "You wanna watch a movie?" he asked, staring at her television.
The dishwasher creaked open behind him and he heard glass clink together as she loaded her cup in. He held his breath, knowing she'd probably kick him out.
"Sure," she said finally, coming back into the living room. She gestured towards the bookshelf while he tried to tame the smile spreading across his face. "You wanna pick something out?"
He pushed himself up from his cushion with a shrug and made his way to the indicated bookshelf. She shot him a grin as she passed him on her way to take her seat and he could have sworn the air in her apartment turned to pure oxygen. His head felt light and his knees felt a little weaker than usual.
Forcing himself to scan her titles, he felt a scowl forming. "Chick flicks," he sighed. "Shoulda known."
He was pretty sure it was the only time he'd ever heard Lindsay Monroe giggle.
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Kavi Leighanna: I really never thought you were being bratty. I appreciated the constructive criticism; I always want to improve the way I write and I like the feedback and honesty. Thank you. I'm glad this chapter was better than the last few. Hopefully, things are cohering better from here on out.
messermonroe: I hope this solved some of the tension issue; they were definitely headed for a bit of a blow-out like this. I mean, it won't be gone entirely until they finally manage to get themselves on the same page, but it's shaping up. (Early morning is an evil time of day, it messes with your mind.)
Muzzy-Olorea: This story will refer back to the last in the upcoming chapters, but it definitely could be a stand alone. I like the friendship between Lindsay and Angell, too. They just seem so well matched. More of that coming. Yeah, jealousy issues are being served on a platter in this fic. Let me know if it's too much. :-p
chili-peppers: I'm hoping the friendship between Lindsay and Angell keeps gaining fans; I'm really liking Angell in this. More D/L goodness in the next chapter, too.
Tenley: It's been hard coming up with interesting cases. I think I've just about tapped out my brain. I understand the frustration. Reading back over the chapters without more of an idea of where it was going, I could see why everyone thought it was a bit strange after Montana.
specialfrog: Danny did seem a bit off, didn't he...I think that, even though he understands to an extent, he's getting a bit tired of Lindsay's hot and cold behavior. Thanks so much for your review. I'm so glad you think I'm writing something new and different. Sometimes I feel like the story isn't original at all. It's good to know I'm just paranoid.
The Little Corinthian: Seriously. Shouldn't my boss understand that some days you just need to take time off to write your fanfiction? It seems reasonable to me. I hope I didn't blow your expectations out of the water too much. Angell's just been taking such a shine to Lindsay—and she really only wants Danny for his body—that I didn't picture her still trying to seduce the man. Of course, the thing with the waitress was along the lines of what you were expecting...And she will appear again! Mwahahaha...ha...(trails off) Yeah, it's time for bed.
CSIMel: I'm digging in my brain for all the little science trivia I've picked up from the show and from my lab tech roommate. I'm starting to run low! (looks worried)
qt4good: Lindsay is making head way, I agree. I think things will move along nicely for her from now on. Hopefully, that includes letting Danny in just a little bit more than she has been.