Disclaimer: I am not connected in any way with the creators of any of the CSI shows. (I wish I was though, so Danny and Lindsay would get together already.) These are just my mind's version of the events that transpire on the show.
Carrying their kits, Danny and Lindsay walked through the back door of the strip club. They stood there for a moment, surveying the area. Although it was almost 9:30, many of the club's dancers were still hanging out in their dressing room, and several women walked around in various stages of undress as they got ready to head home.
Lindsay shot an amused glance at Danny, who seemed vaguely uncomfortable with the whole scenario.
Danny shifted awkwardly. Who'd have thought he'd be in a room with half-naked women and he'd be freaked out? But then again, he'd never been in a room with half-naked women and his girlfriend, who he was beginning to suspect was the love of his life and the woman he'd spend the rest of his life with.
Sneaking a glance towards her, he caught the amusement in her eyes. He grinned despite himself and settled down to the job.
He cleared his throat. "Good morning, ladies. I'm Detective Danny Messer and this is Detective Lindsay Monroe and we're from the NYPD Crime Lab. We have a court order that says we get to look around your dressing room."
One of the women, a tall, gorgeous blonde with DD breasts, chimed in, "Is this about Snow Bunny?"
Lindsay spoke up this time. "Yes. This is related to the murder of Nikki Jansen, so we'd appreciate your cooperation."
Another one of the women, a redhead this time, sauntered over to Danny and stood close to him, running her finger seductively across his chest. "I'll cooperate with you, Detective."
Danny, to his credit, smiled good-naturedly at her before taking a casual step backwards. "Thank you. Would you mind opening your locker for us?"
She sidled closer to him once again, pressing her ample chest towards his side. "Sure, Detective… Messer, is it? You go ahead and open whatever you want."
Danny slid a cautious glance towards Lindsay. He was relieved to note that she didn't look pissed, but more of curious to see as to how he would handle the woman who had plastered herself to his side. He suddenly remembered the comical way Flack looked at Sullivan's the other night and he hoped to God he didn't look as idiotic.
Lindsay was thinking, He looks a lot like Flack did at Sullivan's the other night. She stifled a laugh at that thought.
Danny glanced at Lindsay again, his tongue snaking out to lick his lips. He raised his eyebrows at her. You wanna help me out and pull a Jordan here?
Lindsay just smiled and shrugged her shoulders at him. You're on your own, cowboy. She walked over to the locker marked 'Snow Bunny' and started bagging all the contents.
Danny shot her the death glare as he casually disengaged himself from the woman and walked over to the bank of lockers. He started opening them and looking through the things inside.
The redhead refused to let it go and followed him, drawling out, "What's the matter, Detective? I'm not your type?" She pressed a hand to her generous chest and pouted. "I'm hurt."
Danny was exasperated by now. He ordinarily did not like shooting down women, but this one was way too persistent for her own good. He looked at her and said, "As a matter of fact, no, you're not my type."
Even though this wasn't the response she expected, any reaction from the delicious detective was good enough for her. She leaned on the locker next to the one he was processing. "So what's your type then?"
"Curly brown hair, big hazel eyes that make me drown when I look at them. Small enough and fits me just right. Handles dead bodies really well and looks real cute eatin' fried bugs," he answered, sliding a glance towards Lindsay, letting every ounce of tenderness he felt for her shine through.
In return, she smiled softly at him and for a moment, there were no other people in the room, except the two of them.
The redhead butted into the cozy moment again, "Her?" she asked, thrusting her thumb in Lindsay's direction.
Danny grinned proudly. "Yep, that's the woman who's making me the happiest man in the entire world." He turned back to going through the lockers and pulling stuff out.
He suddenly caught sight of something that was on one of the dressing room tables. It was a sport bottle, the kind used by runners and it had NJ written on it. He frowned and walked over to the table. Danny looked back at the girls. "This belong to Nikki?" he asked, holding up the bottle.
The blonde answered this time. "Yep. That's hers. She keeps it on standby near the stage."
Danny called out, "Hey Montana, we gotta bag this one and send it to Trace."
Lindsay came over and took the bottle from him. "I'm done with her locker. Which ones have you finished?"
Danny motioned to the lockers again, "You can start on the second one. I'm pretty much done with the first."
Lindsay walked over and started rummaging through the second locker. Danny looked around the rest of room.
A few minutes later, Lindsay called out, "Danny?"
He was at her side in a second. "What?"
She flashed a smile at him. "Guess what I found?" She held out an orange prescription bottle.
Danny grinned back and read the label. "Diazepam." He pulled her head to his for a quick, hard kiss and smiled proudly, "That's my girl."
She kissed him back. They agreed to keep the affectionate displays outside of work, but she too found the redhead annoyingly persistent. Plus, there were no other people from the lab around.
Lindsay checked the locker door and looked around the room. "Who's Naughty Nina?"
The room was suddenly quiet. No one answered the question.
Danny flashed his most charming grin and said, "C'mon, ladies. What happened to that cooperation thing we were talking about?"
The women in the room looked at each other, until one of them, a young woman who had dark, curly hair and smooth olive skin spoke up. "She's Naughty Nina," she said, pointing to the redhead, who was now leaning insolently on another table.
Lindsay sighed. "I guess you're coming with us."
At the interrogation room, Danny and Lindsay questioned the Naught Nina, a.k.a. Nina Jeffries.
She sat there wearing a low-cut tank top that showed off her impressive cleavage, along with jeans so tight they might have been painted on. She tapped her long, perfectly painted nails against the metal table. Well, perfectly painted, except for the thumb, which had a small chip on it.
"What's the Diazepam for, Nina?" Danny asked, squinting his eyes at her.
She looked him straight in the eye and shrugged her shoulders delicately. "I have trouble sleeping at night." She continued in a sultry tone, "You wanna help me with that, Detective?"
Lindsay spoke up, "We just got the results from Nina's water bottle. It had traces of Diazepam on it. You want to tell us how it got there?"
Again, Nina shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. You're wasting your time, Detective Monroe. I'm not telling you anything cause I don't know nothing." She turned her smoky gaze on Danny again. "Now, you on the other hand, can ask me anything you want."
After fifteen more minutes of not getting any useful information from Nina, Danny and Lindsay reluctantly ended the interrogation.
Lindsay shot her a steely glare. She'd had it with this woman. She suddenly remembered the conversation she had with Danny a few days ago, when he said, 'Let's see how you like it the next time a woman pays too much attention to me.'
Yeah, she definitely didn't like it. Although, she had to admit it wasn't Danny's fault. The woman just simply refused to take a hint.
She said in a low voice. "Don't take any sudden trips, Nina. We'll be in touch."
She walked briskly out of the interrogation room and Danny followed her out.
Back at the lab, they surveyed the new evidence they collected from the dressing room. Danny was examining the water bottle, whose contents confirmed that Nikki Jansen's water had been laced with Diazepam. Lindsay was taking a look at the other stuff, when Danny suddenly said, "Something wrong, Montana?"
Lindsay refused to look at him and instead concentrated on the items in front of her. "Nothing, why?"
He answered cautiously, "Well, you've been kinda quiet ever since we got out of the interrogation room." He prodded, "You wanna talk about it?"
Lindsay raised her eyes to meet his and smiled slightly. "I'm fine. Danny."
Danny looked closely at her. Wait a minute… A smile broke out on his face. He walked over to stand beside her, abandoning the water bottle for a moment.
He lowered his head to look at her. "Are you jealous?"
Lindsay made a huffing noise and said, "Of course not!"
This time, Danny smirked and said, "Yes, you are! You're jealous."
Lindsay glared at him and went back to looking at the evidence.
Danny grinned and pulled her close, whispering, "Come on, Montana. You don't have to be jealous. You're a thousand times more beautiful than her."
"Hmph," she grumbled. She glared at him again and said, "Keep going."
Danny let out a short bark of laughter and whispered some more in her ear. "And you're smarter and sexier and a whole lot more fun and I happen to love you very, very much." He nipped her ear and said, "Plus, her boobs looked totally fake."
That got Lindsay laughing and she relaxed against him. "Go back to work, Messer."
Danny gave her one last kiss and teased, "Admit it, Montana. You're jealous."
Lindsay vehemently denied it and they spent the next few minutes playfully bantering while examining various items.
They stopped when Danny said, "Whoa!"
Lindsay was alarmed, "What?"
Danny was squinting down at the cap of the water bottle. "Come over, here Montana. I gotta show you something."
Lindsay hurried over, "What is it?"
Danny pointed to something inside the cap of the bottle. "See that?" He grabbed a pair of tweezers and plucked it out.
Lindsay grabbed his hand to bring the object closer to her face. "It looks like a paint chip." She grabbed an evidence envelope and held it open so Danny could slip the paint chip in. She labeled it and handed it over to one of the lab techs, "Can you run this for us, please? Thanks."
Around twenty minutes later, the lab tech came back with the results of the paint chip. Lindsay took a look at it and said, "It's nail polish."
Danny read the report over her shoulder and said, "Crimson Tide."
Lindsay's brow furrowed, "Nina was wearing bright red nail polish and there was a chip on the thumbnail. It could have happened when she opened the water bottle."
Just then, Jordan and Flack entered the lab.
"Hey!" Flack greeted.
Jordan said, "We just got back from a chat with the manager. He confirmed that he had been dating Nikki Jansen."
Flack continued, "Apparently, it wasn't a big secret."
Jordan picked up the story, "But not everyone was okay with that arrangement. The manager's ex-girlfriend …"
Flack said, "Nina Jeffries pitched a…" he turned to Jordan, "What's the word the girl used?"
Jordan offered, "A bitch fit."
Flack continued, "Right, a bitch fit, when she found out."
Danny interjected. "Wait, Nina Jeffries was the ex-girlfriend?"
Jordan nodded, "Uh-huh. Manager dumped Nina when he started hooking up with Nikki."
Lindsay smiled slowly, "And we have motive."
Flack and Jordan looked at her in confusion.
Lindsay explained, "Nikki Jansen died because she hit her head and her system couldn't handle the blow cause she was drugged up with Diazepam."
Danny continued the story. "We also found a prescription bottle of Diazepam made out to Nina Jeffries."
Lindsay finished, "And we also have a nail polish chip stuck in the water bottle. That could have come from Nina, we just need to get a sample of her nail polish."
Jordan grinned, "Let's go then."
As the two other detectives made their way out of the lab, Danny hung back, shuffling his feet. Lindsay immediately noticed and asked, "Danny? What's wrong?"
Danny hesitated, "Can you…?" He looked around to check if Flack was still there. "Can you and Jordan just be the ones to question Nina again?"
Lindsay laughed at his discomfort and gave him a kiss. "Sure. But you owe me dinner, okay?"
Danny smiled at her, relieved. "You got it, Montana."
Lindsay grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the lab.
They managed to get a sample of the nail polish and less than two hours later, they confirmed the match. Nina Jeffries drugged Nikki Jansen.
It was a case of professional and personal jealousy. Not only had the manager broken up with her, Nikki had also started getting more stage time than she did.
In her anger, she drugged Nikki, hoping to make her too sick to dance. Later that night, the two got into an argument about the manager in the alley outside the club. Nina had pushed Nikki and she hit her head.
Lindsay and Danny spent the rest of the afternoon closing the case and filling out the paperwork. Once they finished, they got permission to head out early and made their way to Lindsay's apartment where they started packing more of her stuff to bring to Danny's place.
Before they left the apartment, Lindsay surveyed her things. "We might need to keep a lot of this stuff in storage." Danny glanced around and said, "Yeah, we'll look for one tomorrow."
Lindsay agreed. "Alright, Messer. No more stalling. I heard somewhere you owed me dinner."
Danny grinned and said, "That I do." He reached for her hand and started pulling her out of the apartment. "Since I love you so much, I'm not taking you out."
Lindsay raised her eyebrows at him and said, "Really?"
Danny nodded and said, "Uh-huh. Even better than that. I'm making you dinner."
Lindsay smiled in appreciation. "So, whatcha making me tonight, Messer?"
As they walked out of the apartmen, Danny started describing the dinner he was planning for her. By the time they reached the door of the building, Lindsay's stomach was rumbling. "Come on, cowboy. Get a move on. I'm starving here."
Danny laughed and let himself be dragged to the car.
When shift ended, Hawkes swung by the Trace Lab to pick Cassie up. She saw him coming and she waved at him.
He walked in the lab and made his way to her, dropping a kiss on her cheek. "Hi."
Cassie smiled and said, "Hi, yourself."
Hawkes asked, "Ready to go?"
Cassie shook her head. "In a few minutes. I have one last sample that I'm waiting for. I just popped it in the machine and it should be done soon. Can you wait for me for awhile?"
"Sure," Hawkes said agreeably. He settled himself on a lab stool and watched her work.
As she waited for the result of her trace, she bustled around the lab cleaning up the mess. The machine pinged after a few more seconds.
"Bingo," she said softly. She scanned the results for a moment and slipped in into her out tray. She turned to Hawkes and smiled. "Ready when you are, Doc."
Hawkes reached for her hand and they walked out of the lab. "So, what have you been up to the whole day?"
Cassie explained, "Running stuff from Danny and Lindsay. They closed the stripper case today." She looked sideways at him, "What about you?"
Hawkes answered, "Mac had me doing fieldwork today, which is why I wasn't able to see you today." He slid a shy glance at her. "I wanted to, though."
Cassie smiled, "It's okay. I figured you were working." She slipped her arm around his waist and changed the subject. "So where are we going?"
Hawkes smiled secretively. "You'll see."
As they walked, they talked more about what happened during the day. Cassie told him what she knew about Danny and Lindsay's case. He told her stories about people in the lab.
Before long, they came to a building. Hawkes let himself in with a key and Cassie was getting a bit confused.
He smiled at the expression on her face and said, "Just wait, okay?" He led her to the elevator, where they zoomed up to the roof of the building.
As soon as they stepped out, Cassie gasped at the sight in front of her.
They were on the top of the building, with the night sky above them and the lights of New York City shining marvelously around them. There were candles around the edges of the roof and a small table was set-up in the middle. There was a rose petal-lined path that led from the elevator to the table.
"Oh my lord," she breathed, taking in the sight around her. She spun around to look at Hawkes, who was smiling in pleasure at her reaction. "You did all this?"
Hawkes nodded, looking tenderly at her.
Cassie's lips curved into a smile. "This is so sweet, Doc."
He led her away from the elevator and towards the table. He held out her chair for her and once she was seated, turned to another table where their dinner was kept warm.
He grabbed the two plates, set it in front of her and said, "For you."
She smiled at him again and they both dug into their dinner. Throughout the meal, they talked about their families and their pasts. Cassie told Hawkes why she moved to the city and he told her why he decided to go from the ER to the ME's office and from there, to the CSI lab.
They laughed and got to know each other. When they both finished eating, Hawkes held out his hand and led her to the lounger that he had set up near the edge of the roof so they could look at the city lights as they talked. He took a seat and she sat down next to him. He lifted his arm as she snuggled close to his side, relaxed after a wonderful dinner with great company.
Cassie laid her head on his chest, feeling the steady thump of his heartbeat under her ear. She lifted her head to smile at him, "Hmm. You did good, Doc."
Hawkes laughed at her teasing compliment and bent his head to brush her lips with his. "I'm glad you liked it."
They stayed there the entire night, talking, laughing, cuddling and kissing. They snuggled close to each other and soon, they fell asleep, wrapped in each other's arms under a warm blanket on a New York rooftop.
Here's where it ends for tonight. What did you guys think? I'm sorry I had to send the Vegas guys home so soon. The next chapters will probably be about Moving Day for Danny and Lindsay so wait for that. :D In the meantime, don't forget to let me know what you think about this one. :D Thanks again to all the reviewers:D