Authors Note: I want to send a special thank you to my proofreader, editor and creative consultant, D.D. Big Hug

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.

Eggs Montana Style

Danny reached around Lindsay to grab a beer out of the fridge as she pulled ingredients out and set them on the counter. She felt him brush against her and her face heated. God you're such a lightweight, Lindsay.

"Do you want a beer?" he inquired.

"No thanks but I'll take some wine. It is sitting on the counter right there. Glasses above it in the cabinet," she motioned in the general direction of the wine.

He poured her a glass and when he turned around she had a huge frying pan in her hands.

"What the hell is that? That looks like you could do some serious damage to someone's noggin."

She smiled as she turned the frying pan over and over in her hands as if seeing it in a new light. "It is actually my grandmother's cast iron skillet, but with the right angle and right amount of force, you could clock someone real good with this," she said appreciatively of the skillet as she took a practice swing with it in midair.

"Easy Montana, just put it down nice it easy on the stove and no one will get hurt," he said in his best suspect negotiating voice.

She laughed right out loud and set the skillet on the stove. She took the glass of wine from him and took a big gulp. He cocked an eyebrow at her and smirked. She smirked back.

"Alright," he said, "don't get yourself drunk before you've had time to fix my dinner."

"Spoken like a true man," she grinned and turned to the counter to begin the dinner preparations.

That's me Montana, 100 red blooded male. Check you out. And he took in her appearance like any red blooded male would in this situation. She wore her hair pulled back in a sassy little pony tail but little tendrils had escaped and were curling seductively against her neck. Her blue tank top clung revealingly to her body from her perspiration and her black fitted running shorts hugged her rear-end like a glove. She was a petite woman but very well-toned he noted as he ran his eyes down her legs. He thought about teasing her a bit about her attire just so he could see her blush and get her a little riled but decided against it because that would probably send her scrambling to put on more clothes and frankly he liked the view just as it was.

She could feel his eyes on her and to help calm herself she said as casually as she could muster, "Messer, what were you doing in my apartment earlier and how did you get in?"

Since she had her back to him, he crossed the little kitchen to lean against the counter next to her and said, "I came to see what was up?"

"Up?" she looked at him quizzically.

"Yeah, I tried to call ya for 2 hours straight and ya didn't pick up. That's not like you so I figured I'd swing by on my way home and check on ya."

She focused on her dinner preparations again and smiled to herself.

"But how did you get in? Surely you didn't pick my locks," she said in mock horror.

"These," he said as he pulled her spare keys out of his pocket and laid them on the counter.

"Oh"

"Why didn't ya pick up when I called?"

"Oh, I think I lost my cell phone when I went for a run. I spent two hours retracing my steps and I still didn't find it. In fact I can't really remember if I clipped it on before I left the apartment or not."

"Well let me call it and see if it's here." Danny pulled out his cell phone and punched a button.

In a second they heard a muffled ring from the bedroom. While Lindsay finished dinner preparations, Danny retrieved the cell phone.

"Mystery solved, Miss Monroe," as he placed the cell phone on the counter.

"Whew that's a relief. That would have been a truck-load of inconvenience having to replace the phone and transferring all that data. Thanks, Danny, my life is in that phone," she smiled at him. "Come on its time to eat,"

As they sat down to two heaping plates of scrambled eggs and toast, Danny remarked, "Sure does smell good but what is this?" pointing at the glass of milk.

"Milk, Danny."

"I haven't drunk milk since I was a kid,' he said raising his eyebrows.

"Well you have to drink milk with breakfast," she replied with a smile. "It's a given."

"I'll just stick to my beer," he said as he set it on the table next to the glass of milk. "And technically it's not breakfast time."

"Well if you want to argue on technicalities, this is breakfast food and you drink milk with breakfast food," she said as she picked up his beer and set it at the other end of the table out of his reach.

"Yeah but it is supper time and I drink beer at supper," he said with a faint whine.

"Are you arguing with me Messer? Because if you are…"

"No, no, no," he replied with a sigh remembering the finger pokes earlier. He knew better than to argue with a woman who had a fork and a knife in her hand.

He took a bite of the eggs and rolled his eyes skyward. "These are really good. What did you put in them?"

"Well, I had to improvise. I was going to make eggs Montana style."

"Would that be the state or the person?" he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

She smiled and her heart fluttered at his casual reference to the nickname he had given her but she took a deep breath and continued, "The person. So I had to improvise because some Italian stocked my fridge," as she looked pointedly at him, "and I didn't have the right ingredients."

"What would those be?"

"You know peppered bacon, yellow onions, sharp cheddar cheese and vine-ripened tomatoes." She took a bite. "Yeah, I like them," she nodded in agreement. "I'll have to call them Eggs Italiano you know because of the prosciutto, provolone cheese, shallots and sun dried tomatoes."

"Actually you'll have to call them Eggs a la Messer."

"Oh no, no, no. You can't take credit for this. I put this delectable dish together," she said shaking her head emphatically.

"Yeah, but the genius is in the ingredients and I bought those," he smirked back at her.

"But anyone knows that ingredients are just that. It isn't until you put them all together that it becomes something more. I mean words are just words until someone strings them together in meaningful way, then they become poetry, a gripping play or a great work of literature or… or… when a painter puts paint to canvas."

He loved it when she became animated. Her eyes sparkled, her checks glowed, her hands gestured and her face became so expressive. He didn't see it often enough in the lab where she was always so serious.

"Danny, are you listening to me?" she asked earnestly.

"What… yeah, yeah, painter, paint" he replied faintly. Actually he hadn't really been listening at all, just watching her in between shoveling in mouthfuls of eggs. Man they were delicious and he was hungry in more ways than one.

"Are you going to eat those?" he asked pointing at her plate of eggs with his fork.

"Back off Messer," she said as she pointed her fork menacingly at him with a fake grimness in her face. "I ran two miles and walked three today. I'm hungry and I'd fight you to death for these eggs."

"I think I'd win that one," he said dryly.

"Drink your milk, Messer," she said with finality.

The rest of dinner passed in companionable conversation. Lindsay couldn't remember when she had had a more enjoyable time since coming to New York. Finally she said, "You want another beer."

He tipped the empty bottle back thoughtfully and looked at it. "Why not," he said. "I'm off tomorrow."

"Lucky you," she said as took the plates into the kitchen and grabbed another beer. "I have to go for the psych evaluation tomorrow," she said handing him the beer.

He noted her worried expression. "Like I said Montana, you don't gotta worry about that. Merely routine. Unless you are hiding some deep dark secret from your past," he added playfully. He expected at least a chuckle from that but her face clouded over and she turned quickly toward the kitchen. Dammit Messer.

"Lindsay," he said softly.

"It's okay Danny. I'm just a little tired. Why don't you make yourself comfortable in the living room and finish your beer. I'll be right there."

He went into the living room and sat on the couch. He heard water running and dishes clanking. He figured she probably needed a little time to collect herself. He mused: Montana with a secret past. Everyone had stuff in their past but he wondered what hers was.

Lindsay washed the dishes while in deep contemplation. The last time she had had a psych evaluation had been on the job in Bozeman after Laurel had been murdered. Hideous scenes rushed into her consciousness and she pushed them quickly aside. The killer had never been caught and it haunted her every day of her life. That is why she was working in New York to learn all she could so someday she could nail that son-of-a-bitch.

A dull thunk in the living room brought her back to the present. She dried her hands on the towel and walked into the living room. Danny was sound asleep. His head was thrown back, legs up on the coffee table and his hands had loosened their grip on the beer bottle and were lying relaxed by his side. That's what had made the thunk, the beer bottle slipping out of his hand and to the floor. She walked around the couch, picked up the bottle, at least it was empty, and contemplated waking him. He looked very peaceful and she knew it had been rough week. They had pulled 20 hours straight on the diamond heist and even though she had caught up on her sleep today, he had put in another full day. She put the bottle in the kitchen, gathered up the pillow and blanket from last night and brought them back into the living room and laid them on the coffee table. She gently removed his glasses and placed them on the side table. She was sorely tempted to run her fingers along the strong contours of his face. It was so handsome and strong. It really tugged at her heart to see him so peaceful and quiet when he was normally so vibrant and alive. She indulged herself for a few more moments and then locked up, turned out the lights and went to bed. Before she crawled into bed however she took a sleeping pill. She wanted to be well rested for the evaluation tomorrow and even though she would have loved a repeat of last night with Danny in her bed, she didn't need the nightmares messing with her head for tomorrow.