Lindsay nearly gasped audibly as she entered her first crime scene since being off of maternity leave. She was used to gruesome sights because of her job, but this was almost too much for her. Blood was literally everywhere. The carpet was soaked red, as was the couch and love seat, blood dripped from the lamps and ceiling fan (how the blood got up there she had no idea) and from the television. Worst of all, two decapitated bodies lay on the floor next to each other. Their heads were nowhere to be seen.

Lindsay felt her stomach rolling and had the sudden urge to throw up. Her face turned pale and she wobbled a little when she tried to take a step. Danny reached out and steadied her, a look of concern on his face. "Are you ok?" he whispered gently, "This is kinda a bad scene to start with."

Lindsay bit her lip uncertainly. She didn't want to flake out, but she really didn't want to process this scene either. "Um…" she said, stalling for time.

"Why don't you go and talk to the daughter?" Danny suggested. "A uniform is out with her, but I think she might be more responsive to a woman."

Lindsay smiled out of relief and gratitude. Danny knew exactly how she felt and had remedied the situation perfectly. "Thanks," she murmured, giving him a discreet peck on the cheek.

Lindsay headed out of the expensive penthouse and downstairs to the lobby of the apartment building that probably cost more to furnish than it did to furnish, paint and redecorate her entire apartment. A grandfatherly police officer sat on a plush couch trying his best to comfort a hysterical teenage girl. He was relieved when he saw Lindsay come sit down next to the girl and excused him. 'Thank you,' he mouthed.

The girl, who Lindsay estimated to be about fourteen or fifteen years old, was clad in designer jeans and a pink cashmere sweater. She sniffed a few more times, and wiped the tears away from her pretty face with the back of a perfectly manicured hand. Her make up had run, and her face was red and puffy when she raised it to meet Lindsay's eyes. "Who are you?" she asked in a small voice. She wasn't rude about it, just curious.

"I'm Detective Lindsay Messer," she replied, "what's your name?"

"Corrine." The girl answered tearfully, "Corrine Davenport. Most people call me Cori, though."

"Is it alright if I call you Cori as well?" Lindsay asked gently.

Cori nodded mutely.

"Do you feel up to answering any questions?" Lindsay asked hesitantly. The girl was obviously a basket case and she wasn't sure how much Cori could handle at this point.

"I guess," Cori said, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.

"Were you the one who found your parents?" Lindsay asked her.

"Yeah," Cori said, "I spent the night at a friend's house last night. They dropped me off this morning and when I came home I found them like….like that." She couldn't bring herself to go into any more detail about her parent's condition. "I screamed and called the police."

"Was there anybody else in the house?"

Cori shook her head. "It's the cook's day off and the cleaning lady doesn't come in until the afternoon."

"Do you know what your parents did last night while you were gone?"

"I think they went out to dinner," Cori said, the tears starting to flow again, "but I'm not sure." Her lip trembled and her voice shook.

"You don't have to say anything else if you don't want to, Cori. We can stop it you'd like."

Cori nodded. "I don't know where I'm going to go!" she said suddenly. "Neither of my parents had any brothers or sisters. My mom's parents died a long time ago, and my dad's parents won't have anything to do with me."

Lindsay impulsively pulled the girl into her arms. "It's going to be ok, Cori, I promise." She knew that she shouldn't be promising any such thing, seeing as her parents were dead and headless and the girl had to other family to take her in, but Cori's sobs broke her heart. She had to try and reassure the teen.

Lindsay stayed with Cori until the rest of the team finished processing the scene. Despite the amount of blood and severity of the murder, there wasn't much to process. Whoever had killed Mr. And Mrs. Davenport had been very meticulous and careful which was surprising since he had decapitated them both. You would think that somebody who chops heads off would be rash and wouldn't be able to cover his tracks well.

Danny and Mac walked over to where Lindsay and Cori sat, Lindsay's arms still around the teenaged girl. Cori pulled away when she heard the footsteps draw nearer and stop in front of her.

"You two go home," Mac ordered Danny and Lindsay. "There isn't much that we can do at this point. We only have a few hairs and fibers to test and hope we get a hit on the partial that we got off of the lamp."

Danny and Lindsay nodded. "Can Cori come home with us?" Lindsay asked suddenly. "At least until we figure something out?"

Mac nodded slightly uncertainly. "I guess. I'll try to get a hold of the Davenport's lawyer tonight to see their will."

"Are you ok with that, Cori?" Lindsay asked the girl.

Cori nodded. She supposed that she didn't have much of a choice. Besides, she liked the young detective who had talked her through this.

Lindsay and Cori got up and began to follow Danny to their SUV. "Cori, this is my husband, Danny," Lindsay said, forgetting that neither Cori, nor Danny had a clue who the other was. "Danny, this is Cori."

"Nice ta meet ya," Danny said, a friendly smile on his face.

Cori just nodded at him.

They all climbed into the car and Danny drove away in silence. Nobody spoke during the short ride from Cori's penthouse to Danny and Lindsay's apartment. When they arrived, Danny parked and they all headed upstairs.

"Danny, could you get Sophie from Missy's?" Lindsay asked, figuring that it would be awkward for Cori and Danny to be left alone together, even if it were only for a couple of minutes.

"Sure. I'll be there in a sec."

Lindsay and Cori entered the Messer's apartment. Cori looked around, taking in the baby toys strewn across the living room floor, the dishes piled up in the kitchen sink and Danny's impressive DVD collection on the wall next to the big screen TV that Danny had insisted on keeping after they had gotten married. "So you have a baby?" Cori said slowly, trying to break the awkward silence.

Lindsay smiled. "Yeah. We have a little girl named Sophia."

Just then Danny entered the apartment, the baby in one arm, her diaper bag dangling off of the other. Lindsay hurried over to him to relieve him of Sophie. She pulled the baby into her arms and held her tightly. "I missed you, sweetie," she whispered into the infant's ear. She hogged her child for a while and wouldn't let anybody else hold her for at least twenty minutes. It had been the first time that she had been away from her baby for so long. Danny and Cori made awkward conversation while Lindsay reacquainted herself with Sophia.

Finally Lindsay went to join Danny and Cori. "Would you like to hold her?" she asked Cori.

Cori nodded and took the sweet child into her arms. She instantly fell in love with the baby and kept her company while Danny and Lindsay prepared dinner.

"Lindsay, what are we going to do with a teenager?" Danny asked his wife once they were alone.

"Come on, Danny, it's just temporary. She had nowhere else to go!"

Danny sighed dramatically. "Fine, but you owe me."

"Think of it as training," she told him with a smirk. "Sophia's going to be a teenager someday too." She laughed at the look of horror that crossed her husband's face.

A/N Yes, weird ending. Weird chapter. Weird everything. Sorry about the delay. Review?

xoxo

Lia