The first time Emily brought up why Lindsay hadn't said anything to Danny, Lindsay had burst out crying. The second time, she'd yelled and screamed that it was none of Emily's business. However, the young woman had strength and perseverance characteristic of her family and though she retreated she didn't stop forever.

"Aunt Linds, seriously. Why didn't you tell him? You love him, I know him, he loves you! You're pregnant, why aren't you happy about that?"

"I am, Emily."

"Then why didn't you tell him! He found out because Stella blurted it out at emergency personnel because you were shot! He had a right to know before that!"

"I couldn't tell him Emily."

"WHY NOT!" Now Emily was outright yelling. "You used to be the one to prove to me that there was a chance for me to have a family and a career. You're going to have a baby! It's healthy, regardless of the fact that you got shot."

"The last time I was pregnant, I was shot and the baby died!" Lindsay yelled, finally cutting though her niece's tirade.

Emily's mouth snapped shut immediately. It took a few tries before she could get her voice to work. "You were never pregnant."

Lindsay hung her head. This was the part that hurt the most. "I was pregnant, Emily. Years and years ago. The shooting killed my baby."

"But…"

"I wanted to keep it, the father didn't. He was… he was the one who shot me."

There was a lot, apparently, Emily didn't know about her aunt. "Is that how you got Dad to convince Mom to let me stay? Does Dad know?"

"Nobody knows," Lindsay said adamantly. "No one except the CSI that worked the case and the doctor that told me I'd lost the baby."

"You didn't tell anyone?" Emily asked, surprised.

"No."

Emily sat down beside Lindsay on the couch. "You went through all of that on your own."

Lindsay sighed. "Honey, I couldn't stay in Montana. I couldn't face all of that. If people found out…"

"You didn't have to go through it by yourself," Emily insisted. "You could have told someone."

"Danny doesn't know."

"And you didn't tell him because of this?"

"Stella had convinced me to tell him, and I was going to. We'd planned on going to dinner that night and I was going to tell him then but… I got shot."

"And you were afraid you'd lose the baby?"

"I didn't know where I'd been shot, I didn't know much about what was going on. All I knew was that I'd been shot and I could lose my baby. I couldn't lose my baby again, not when it was Danny's."

"You really risked everything for this?" Emily whispered.

"I don't… I can't…" Tears sprang to her eyes and started running down her cheeks. "I miss him, Bunny."

Emily sighed as she wrapped her arm around her tightly. "He loves you, Aunt Linds, you know that."

"He's mad at me. He probably hates me now."

"Stop it. Enough. You're stronger than that."

"He hates me."

"I don't think he could ever hate you," Emily told her with a sigh. "Let's watch a movie, okay?"

Lindsay wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Hormones."

Emily walked purposely through the lab, knowing Stella was the only person Lindsay had told about the pregnancy.

"Something has to change," she said without preamble when she reached Stella's office. It was a paperwork day and so Stella was fairly easy to track down.

"Emily, hi. What do you mean?"

"Aunt Linds has cried herself to sleep last night… AGAIN."

"What?"

"She misses Detective Messer horribly. She's cried herself to sleep every day since she's been released."

"He hasn't been to see her?" Stella asked, surprised. Sometimes the two of them could be beyond thick.

"Not since she left the hospital."

"What is wrong with him?"

"I wish I knew," Emily said sadly, sinking into the chair across from Stella's desk.

"He loves her."

"I know."

"The baby's still alive."

"Yeah, and fine according to doctors."

"What is he doing?"

Emily and Stella locked eyes. Emily knew she didn't have to voice her request.

"I'll talk to him."

Stella found Danny in the locker room, looking a little worse for wear.

"Rough month?" she asked, knowing very well it had been.

Danny glared at her.

"Oh stop it. It wasn't my place to tell you anything. I had to weasel it out of her." She'd forgiven him for being a pain, simply because it was Danny and that was the way he was. She'd be of more use to him as a friend than she would be when she was angry at him.

"She should have told me."

Stella sat beside him. "She was going to. She told me the day of her shooting that she was going to tell you everything."

"Everything?"

"I didn't understand either. I just figured she meant about the baby."

"I can't talk to her, Stel. Not after this."

She called his name as he went to leave. "She needs you now more than ever. Are you really going to give up on something you worked so hard for?"

Danny locked eyes with the woman he considered as good as a sister. "I don't know if I can trust her."

Stella sighed. "She comes back in a week. Fix this before then or you're going to have to deal with Mac."