Authors Note: Thanks for all the lovely reviews. Keep 'em coming. I love writing this stuff.
DISCLAIMERS: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful writers for CSI: NY. Any resemblance to scenes from the episodes is included for clarity and continuity and I do not claim any of those as my own work. However everything else is mine.
The Nightmare
She was back in the apartment with the diamond dealer. He was pointing the gun at her and shouting, "Take it off." Her hands moved shakily over to Dana's eyes and mouth to remove the tape but when she did it wasn't Dana! The eyes stared at her blankly and the lips were dried and cracked. It was Laurel's face. The lips moved ever so slightly, "Why didn't you help me?" she whispered.
"Laurel, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I am so sorry I couldn't save you," Lindsay screamed out into the darkness sitting straight up in bed. Danny was there in an instant gathering her into his strong arms as he sat down on the edge of her bed. She sobbed uncontrollably into his chest. All the emotions of the previous day and her previous life in Bozeman washed over her in waves.
"It's okay, just let it all out." He murmured quietly into her hair. When her sobbing subsided he continued to hold her, one arm around her upper back, the other hand on the back of head cradling her gently against his chest.
Finally he said, "You good?" She just nodded her head.
"Stay with me please," she pleaded into his chest. She hadn't even planned to say it but it voiced her innermost need not to be alone. And even though she had been in New York for a year already, it was at times still a very lonely place for her.
He didn't reply but instead picked her up gently. Holding her with one arm handily, he pulled the covers back with the other and laid her gently on the other side of the bed facing away from him. She felt the bed sag from his weight as he laid the length of his lithe body along her back and pulled up the covers. His head rested on the pillow above her head and he placed his hand gently on the curve of her waist. She pulled that hand across her body to rest against her stomach and then laced her fingers through his. She snuggled back into him, her rear-end nestled into his groin. He didn't know if she did it on purpose or not but he felt the heat surge through his body anyway. He was keenly aware of the tank top and pajama shorts just barely covering her body. The material was so thin he could feel the heat of her body melding with his own. This would be the first time in the history of Danny Messer's adult life that he would lay with a woman in bed all night without having sex with her. He knew this because he felt her pain and he knew her pain because it was his pain too. All the pain he had felt in losing Aiden, watching Louie slip through his life in a coma, and seeing Flack with a hole blown in his gut mingled with her pain. To have someone to hold onto when you felt so much pain gave him the most peaceful feeling in the world. A peace he had never known. And he slept.
When he awoke the light was just beginning to filter through the blinds. He glanced over at Lindsay and she was sleeping peacefully. No hint of the trauma of yesterday or the nightmare shown in her face. She faced him and one arm was draped across his chest. He wanted to stay with her, nuzzle into her neck and take in the fresh springy scent of her hair, wrap his arms around her waist and…. God what was he doing to himself?
He slipped out from under her arm without waking her, slipped into his clothes from yesterday, turned off the alarm that had yet to ring and scribbled a quick note. He found a spare set of keys marked 'Spare' on the table by the door. He smiled. Leave it to Lindsay to be so thorough. Clicking the door shut behind him, he locked up and headed out into the early morning light. A quick drive over to his apartment to catch a shower and put on fresh clothes would clear his senses.