Chapter 9 – December 9, 2006

Danny was surprised at the sight that greeted him the next morning when he stepped into his office. Lindsay was leaning down over her desk, arms folded and her head resting there. Her hair spilled over her arm, brushing the blotter on her desk. He chuckled softly to himself. Her neck was going to kill her when she woke up.

"Montana," he said softly, shaking her shoulder.

Lindsay groaned, her eyes blinking open. "Five more minutes."

"I thought you said you weren't tired," he teased, continuing to shake her shoulder gently.

"Danny?"

"Morning, Montana. Sleep well?"

She hissed as she lifted her head, glaring at him playfully. Her hand went to her neck, rubbing the back. "Didn't realize I'd fallen asleep."

"I never knew lab reports were that enthrallin'."

Lindsay blinked her eyes open, trying to get them to focus and moved around the pages on her desk. "I'm fine."

Danny chuckled. "What were you planning to do at lunch, Montana?"

"Sorry?"

"Ever seen Central Park in the winter?"

It was Lindsay's turn to chuckle. "Why, Mr Messer. Are you inviting me to have lunch with you while we walk through Central Park?"

"It's nothin' fancy, Monroe. Street meat and winter, that's all."

She hoped the disappointment didn't show in her voice or face. "You're on." She couldn't miss the happiness and relief in his. Maybe he still wanted something with her.

She was half way through a trace analysis when Danny poked his head into the lab.

"Ready to go?"

She looked up at him with a smile. "You willing to give me a hand to finish this up? Its trace from the Chapman case."

Gloving up, he took a peek at the slide she'd created and set under the microscope. "Definitely granular," he said, changing the focus of the microscope. "I'd put my money on a mineral."

Lindsay nodded. "That's what I thought. I'll leave Adam to run it through the GCMS. You buying?"

He rolled his eyes in mock annoyance. "I guess."

She grinned, removing her lab coat. "Then what are we waiting for? Let me get my coat."

He watched her as they walked down the New York streets, her on the inside, walking by the stores. It was something small she conceded to him every time they walked somewhere. He liked that he could pretend he was protecting her, even if it was something superficial.

She didn't hide herself from the cold, something that was characteristic of most New Yorkers. Instead, she walked as straight and tall as always, her hands in her pockets the only tell-tale sign that she was cold. She stood slightly behind him as he ordered two hot dogs and ribbed him about his choice of onions on his street meat.

He grinned, reaching in to his pocket and withdrawing a package of gum and explaining to her that most dates he didn't take for a hot dog in Central Park.

"I like simplicity," she told him in response. "I'm from small-town Montana. Simplicity goes farther than lavish."

He took her hand and made sure to meet her eyes. "I'll keep that in mind."

She blushed, but didn't let go of his hand, munching away with the other. The park, she decided, was gorgeous in the winter. She loved the greenery it displayed through the spring and summer months, and enjoyed the colours changing through the fall, but the way the snow glinted in the winter sun and the way it sat just so on the branches of the trees made her literally feel like she was walking through a winter wonderland.

Danny simply watched her and the awe that was reflected on her face. He figured she'd love the park in the winter, especially as the wandered further into it and the focus was on nature, not remembering that they were in the middle of a city. Even he got wrapped up in the beauty of it all.

Which explained why he didn't feel the tug on his hand as Lindsay bent down to grab a handful of snow and dropped it right on his neck.

Danny yelped, letting go of her hand and immediately trying to brush the cold, wet snow from the bare skin of his neck. When he turned to scold her, she'd already scampered a few feet away, a huge grin on her face. "Come on, Montana, that was cold."

She laughed, stepping backwards as he moved forward. "Its snow, Danny, it's supposed to be cold."

"That wasn't fair," he told her, continuing to advance on her.

She continued to giggle as she backed up further, very much aware she wasn't walking on the path anymore. Her shoes crunched into the snow of the park, creating footprints in the originally flawless white. She was shocked when her back came in contact with the hard wood of a tree trunk, her eyes previously too focused on his to pay attention to more than the snow beneath her feet.

Before she could move away, Danny was pressed against her front, pinning her hands – one of which contained another handful of snow she'd swiped off of the ground while he'd been preoccupied with preventing her first handful from spilling down his back – above her head. Lindsay had to try hard to keep her eyes on his as his body came in full contact with hers.

"Now, Montana, you promise to play fair?" he asked, his voice much lower than he wanted.

Her breath had shortened with his proximity. She'd never denied it, never avoided it. She was more than attracted to him, but it she would only readily admit to the attraction. He was hot. Nothing would get her to admit the deeper feelings. It took plenty of her willpower to focus on what he'd asked. "It was just a little bit of snow, Danny."

"It was a cold bit of snow," he corrected. "Cold."

"Come on, Danny," she whined.

"That's twice you've one-upped me with snow," he told her frankly, forcing his mind to focus on the matter at hand and not on imagining what her legs would feel like wrapped around him while he kissed her senseless against the tree.

Her eyes were innocent. "I'm sorry."

He laughed, letting her hands go since she'd long ago dropped the snow. Then he bent down, pinning her body in place by a hand on her stomach, picking up his own handful of the white stuff. She shrieked as he dropped it on her head and ruffled it through her already messy curls.

"Danny!"

If she hadn't been laughing and grinning while she combed her fingers through her now-wet hair, he would have seriously believed that she was angry with him. As it was, he only laughed along side her.