"Mac, I told you, this is a lot of evidence," Stella said, as she walked into the lab, only to pause to see Danny and Lindsay elbows deep in the evidence. "And it seems that I'm behind."
"Sorry, Stella, but we got bored with Stan, and since we weren't getting anywhere with him, we decided to give ya a hand," Danny said, as he looked up at her. Lindsay started on another safety deposit box only to open it and drop it. She backed away from it in fear. "LInds?"
"What is it with the critters?" she muttered, as she backed away more.
"Critters?" both Mac and Stella asked, as they moved to look into the box and froze. There were scorpions in the box. "Ah, I see."
"Man, I'm not liking this at all," Danny said, as he moved away from the safety deposit box and accidently knock another one of them over to reveal another hand. "Whoa, another hand."
"And a lot of cash," Lindsay pointed out, as she made her way past the scorpions and picked up the box. "See." She titled the box back to show him. Inside was wads of rolled up money. "Money."
"That wasn't with the other hand," Danny pointed out, as he gently picked up the hand and tossed it to Mac. "Here ya go, Mac." Mac caught the hand and looked down at it with a scowl. "Nice catch."
"Nice throw," Stella said, as she looked at the hand. "It looks kinda small for an adult's hand."
"That's because it's not an adult's hand," Mac answered as he looked at the hand. "Good work, you two keep working. I'll take this to Hawkes to look at. Do you know where he is?"
"He's talking to Stan," Lindsay replied, as she began to pull the money out. She stepped back and they heard a squish as she stepped on a scorpion. "Yuck. I forgot that there."
"And I'll get someone in here to round up your little friends." Then he was gone, leaving Danny, Lindsay, and Stella to work on the evidence.
"Yep, typical," Stella muttered, as she pulled on a pair of gloves, and her fellow CSIs looked up at her. "He always seems to leave, when there's a lot of evidence to go through." That got both of them to smile, as they took up a box. "Okay, let's get to work, we got a lot of work to do."
"Yes, let's," Danny said, as he began to open another safety deposit box and came across more money. "I got more cash."
"Same here," Lindsay called out, as she set aside her box. She reached for another box only to stop short. Danny caught her actions out of the corner of his eye. She quicky put a hand to her side and bit down on her bottom lip. "Why is all this money and no guns or weapons like we found in the ones we found in the vault?"
"Don't know, Lindsay," Stella said, as some men came in to take care of the scorpion problem. "There over there, gentlemen." They gave her a smile, as they went on with her duty. "So we got money, any thing else."
"Well, besides another hand?" Lindsay said, as she started to open another box and started to reach in, Danny peered into the box and grabbed onto her arm, stopping her. "Messer, what's your problem?"
"Nothing, personal, Monroe, but look at what you're doing?" he replied, as he motioned towards the box. "Remember me and the knife incident?"
"Right." She then looked into the box and her eyes got wide. "Whoa, that would have hurt." She carefully pulled out a very sharp double edge knife. "Now that would have hurt."
"Now that's a sharp knife," Stella pointed out, as she looked at the knife. "Sharp enough to cut through somebody."
"Slice a couple of hands off too," Danny muttered, as he looked over at Lindsay. She had put the knife down and moved on to the next box. The scorpions were gone now, thanks to the guys who had come in to help. Danny mind slipped back to the moments they shared in the vault. Lindsay then sneezed and Stella replied bless you, bringing Danny's attention back to the moment. "So what we do we know?'
"That we got a whole lot of money, a hand, and maybe the knife used to cut both hands off with," Stella said, as she looked around. "Plus there's all these other boxes to go through."
"Oh course," Danny said, as he headed towards them. "But this is better than talking to Stan."
"Much," Lindsay said, as she joined his side. "I wonder how Flack and Hawkes are doing with him?"
"We struck out," Flack's voice called out through the air, and Lindsay jumped, slamming into Danny's side. "Sorry, Monroe. Thought you were always on your toes."
"Yeah, me too," she whispered, as she shot a glance over at the door to see Flack and Hawkes come in. "Guess not."
"So you guys couldn't get Stan to crack either?" Danny asked, as he turned to look at them, as they made their way over to their sides. "And here I thought you guys were smart." He leaned back on the table behind him, and crossed his arms over his chest. "We thought for sure, you guys would be the ones to get him to talk."
"Well he shut up after about a minute after you guys left," Flack muttered, as he looked around. He then picked up the rolls of cash. "Money? Stella's boxes had money. Hmm, interesting."
"Plus we found another hand," Lindsay said, as she turned to face them. "It was smaller than the other one. Mac took it to find you, Hawkes."
"Oh, he hasn't yet," Hawkes replied, as he looked around. "I better go find him." He then took off to find Mac, before he got in trouble.
"He sure ran out of here in a hurry," Stella said, with a small chuckle, as they watch Hawkes leave. "But it's for a good cause. But you guys missed the scorpions."
Flack shot Danny and Lindsay a look. "You guys have bad luck when it comes to animals," he said, as he looked down at the knife Lindsay had found. "Cool knife."
"Yeah, I found it," Lindsay said, as she took it from his hand. "Could be a murder weapon. So please don't touch it." She then patted his arm. "Don't want your prints on it."
"Ah, gotcha. Don't touch the evidence."
"See, Flack. You're learning," Danny said, as he put a hand on his shoulder. "That's good." Flack shot him a glare and then smile. "It's all good. You want to help us here, or go help Hawkes with the hand?"
"I think I'll take another crack at Stan," Flack muttered, as he headed for the door. "Have a nice time with your evidence." Then he was gone.
"We will," Stella said, as she looked around at her fellow CSIs. "Why don't you guys take a break? You've been working since early this morning, without a break. Grab something to eat. This all will be waiting for you when you get back."
"Okay," Danny said, as he slid off his gloves as Lindsay slowly did the same, and she followed him out the door. "Want us to bring you anything thing back?"
"Some water?"
"Gotcha." They then headed for the break room. Once inside, Danny gently grabs Lindsay's arm and turns her to face him. "Okay, what's the deal? You're hurting, aren't you?" She turned her head away from him. "Lindsay, the truth."
"Yeah, I am," she replied, as she looked up at him. "I don't know why. It just hurts."
"I think we know why, Lindsay. You were stabbed."
Lindsay gave him a harsh glare. "Danny, I know. I was there." She then put a hand on her wound. "It just stings a little now and again."
"That's not good." Danny reached out and gently ran a hand along the side of her face. "You should have gone to the hospital."
"Yeah, I know, but I didn't want to be pulled of this case."
"Linds...you are not thinking straight. You could be hurt seriously."
"Danny, I'm fine." She then turned to go, but he grabbed her arm, and pulled her close. "Danny." He lowered his head and gently kissed her. She smiled when the kiss broke off. "I'll be fine. I promise."
"We're going to have Hawkes check you out, just to make sure," Danny replied, as he kept a tight hold on her arm to keep her from moving away. "Don't worry, I'm sure we can work something out with him, so that he won't tell Mac or the others."
Just then the door opened and Hawkes waked in. "Hey, you guys," he said, as he came in. "Any of you seen Mac?"
"You haven't found him?" both said, as they turned to look at their fellow CSI.
"No," Hawkes said, as he turned to leave, and Danny quickly moved to stop him before he was out the door. "Messer, what's wrong?"
"We need you to do us a favor," Danny said, as he turned him to face Lindsay.
"It's your wound isn't it," Hawkes said, as he look at Lindsay. "You should have told us it was worse than it was before."
"I didn't think it was," Lindsay said, as Hawkes came up to her side. "Plus I didn't want you guys to be worried about me."
"LInds, we keep an eye out for our fellow CSIs. Cause it takes too long to break a new one in." Hawkes lifted up her shirt to reveal her wound, and he let out a soft whistle. "Now that is a nasty wound. Remind me to have a nice long take to Stan when I see him again."
"You go right ahead," Danny said, as he went to the door and peered out to make sure that no one was coming. "So, is she going to be okay? Or do we have to drag her in handcuffs down to the hospital?"
"Hmm, sounds like a good idea," Hawkes replied, as he gently touched the wound, only to have Lindsay move away from him. "Easy, Monroe. Not trying to hurt you here. Just trying to see how bad you're hurt. Nothing else."
"I know," she replied, as he continued to examined her wound.
Lindsay bit down on her lower lip as Hawkes examined her wound. "You should have gone to the hospital," he said, as he looked up at her. "You have bruised some ribs."
"But other than that, I'm okay?" asked as she looked up at him. "Right?"
"Lindsay, you were stabbed," Hawkes said, as he put a hand on her arm. "But I'm guessing, Danny's all ready said this before."
"Yeah, he has." Lindsay said, as he backed away from them, and pushed her shirt down. "Am I okay to get back to work?"
"As long as you take it easy." Hawkes shot her a concerned look. "You should have told us you were hurting."
"Yeah, I know, and I promise I will tell you if I am." She then grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge for Stella and bolted from the room. "See you later." Then she was gone.
"You're in trouble," Hawkes said to Danny, as he went up to his side. "She's hurting bad."
"Yeah, I know," Danny whispered, as they watched her leave. "Think we should tell Mac?"
"No, I think she needs to be the one to tell Mac." Hawkes then slid out the door. "I still have to find Mac. Danny, keep an eye on her. She's still hurting." Then he was gone as well.
"Yeah, I'll keep an eye on her," Danny said, as he headed for the lab, after grabbing some more bottles of water, for himself and Lindsay. "I'm good at that." He turned the corner and slammed into Mac. "Hey, Mac."
"Have you seen Hawkes?" Mac asked, as he looked at the young CSI in front of him.
"Yeah, he was just looking for you," Danny replied, as he looked around, and spotted Hawkes coming up behind him. "And there he is." Mac turned to face Hawkes. "I'm going to back to the lab. You guys have fun with that hand, and this time, Hawkes, don't name the hand." Then he was gone.
TBC
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