Chapter 5 – December 5 2006

He felt like crap.

His nose was completely clogged and he couldn't find a single medication that allowed him to sleep through the night. He hoped the dark circles under his eyes weren't as visible as he thought they were. Of course, he worked in a lab with people paid to be observant so those chances were pretty slim.

"Sick, Danny?"

He groaned.

Lindsay chuckled sympathetically. "That time of year. Is there anything you can take for it?"

"I tried," he answered. "Couldn't find anythin'."

"Stella's been looking all over for you so I don't think you're going to get a reprieve." She rested a hand on his arm as she moved to step past him. "I have to go see Flack about the toy store case."

"I heard about that. Some guy got bludgeoned to death, right?"

This made Lindsay laugh out loud. "Yeah. It looks like he got beaten to death trying to get a toy for a Christmas gift."

"You're kiddin'," he said, awe in his voice.

"No word of a lie. Flack's got some of the customer names that bought the same toy. They had a new shipment that morning, so we can limit it to people who most likely bought it."

Danny sighed dramatically. "You always get the interesting cases."

"I promise to give you all of the gory details," she said with a grin. "Go find Stella. I'll see you later."

"How are you feeling?" Lindsay asked as she stepped into their office around lunch time. In her arms, she carried a bag of take out and a bag from a pharmacy.

"You brought me drugs?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, his stuffed nose twisting the consonants of the sentence.

"And soup. Stereotypical, I know, but I find it always helps," she said. "Plus, now you get to hear all about the guy who died trying to buy a Christmas gift."

That made him perk up as she passed the drugs over their desk and set the take out bag on her own.

"I can't believe he actually died over this," she said, shaking her head. "There had to have been a pecking order or something."

"You have nieces and nephews, right? Have you even wanted the newest toy for one of them?" Danny asked.

"I usually leave that to their parents. They can spend all that money."

"And go through all the hassle, right?" he said with a smirk.

Lindsay shrugged. "One of the downsides of being a parent, I guess. I get to get hem the eclectic gifts."

One eyebrow raised as he gazed at her. "Eclectic? You're the eclectic aunt?"

"It's how the family explains my job," she replied with a wave of her hand. "And why they don't have any cousins from me."

Danny wisely left that comment alone. "Chicken noodle?"

She blushed. "Yeah."

"What's with the pink, Montana?" he asked, elaborating when she looked at him in confusion. "You're blushing."

She hoped her face didn't go any redder. "It was one of the only bags I had left in my apartment," she started to explain as she pulled two Thermoses from the bag."

"It's homemade? How did you get time?"

"I made it the last time I had a cold, a couple of weeks ago," she defended.

"When did you go get it? You didn't know I had a cold before."

"I might have made Flack stop by my apartment on our way back from talking to some of the store workers."

"Might have, Montana?"

"Okay, okay, I did. But don't tell Mac, I'm pretty sure he'd kill me."

"Stella would hug you," he returned. "I overheard her complaining to Hawkes that my cold was making me miserable to work with."

Lindsay smiled. "I can believe it. Mind you, Hawkes was complaining about my attitude when I had the same problem so she probably felt she had someone to commiserate with."

"You're cranky when you're sick?" he teased, knowing very well she'd been down right cruel. Stories mentioned her ripping the head off of a poor lab tech for taking too long with her results. He wished he could have been there just to see the poor kid crumble.

She threw a ball of paper at him. "Shut up."

At the end of their meal Danny let out a happy sigh. "Drugs, soup and excellent company, I'm feeling better already."

Lindsay blushed. "Let me know if you want any more soup. I'll make sure to make some more up."

As Lindsay stepped out of the subway, her phone beeped with a text message from Danny.

Soup is good. Turn around.

He was behind her and he'd scared the ever loving junk out of her. "Damnit Danny!"

"Tell me, Montana, how fast can you whip up a new batch of that soup?"

She laughed as he linked arms with her and they headed out of the subway station.

Thanks to everyone that reviewed! I'm glad you're enjoying this. I have 2 more chapters before I'm completely caught up to the date… Of course, that's assuming I can write 2 today. Then the updates will slow down. I wanted to make sure I had that clear so that people didn't start being all upset because it's taking me a whole 24 hours instead of 6 to update jks!

Thanks again.