Danny and Lindsay were both awoken suddenly that night by a loud crashing sound in the living room. They both jolted upright, startled by the noise. "What was that?" Lindsay asked sleepily.

"I don't know," Danny said, the worry slightly evident in his voice.

They heard approaching footsteps. "Do you think it's Cori?" Lindsay asked.

"The footsteps sound too heavy to belong to her," Danny said, a warning bell of panic going off in his brain. "Stay here, I'm going to go check it out." Danny grabbed his glasses off of the bedside table and his gun from the top shelf of his bookshelf and crept out the door.

Lindsay heard the floor creak slightly as Danny walked down the hallway. She had seen her husband turn to go towards the kitchen and living room, and became petrified when she heard another set of footsteps tip toeing towards Sophia's bedroom and the guest room where Cori slept. Not even realizing the danger of her actions, she leapt out of bed and down the hallway to the baby's room. The intruder saw her streak across the hall and shot wildly, missing her by mere inches and waking up the rest of the household. Danny came thundering down the hall, gun drawn, but it was too late, for the man had slid out the window and down the fire escape.

"What were you thinkin'?" he practically yelled at his wife, who had snatched her baby girl out of her crib and was tenderly cradling her against her chest. "He coulda killed you!"

"He could have killed our baby," Lindsay reasoned, tears shining in her eyes. Danny very rarely raised his voice and it terrified her when he did. "I had to protect her and Cori."

"A lot of good you'd have done if you were dead!" Danny said, unable to calm down.

Lindsay brushed past him; Sophia snuggled safely in her arms. The cries of the child had quieted to soft whimpers and in moments she would fall back to sleep. "What are you doin'?" Danny asked, his tone harsh and unforgiving.

"I'm going to check on Cori," Lindsay said as calmly as she could. She didn't turn back to face him as she spoke, not wanting him to see the tears tracking down her cheeks.

Lindsay knocked on the door to the guest room and pushed the door open when there was no answer. She saw Cori curled into a tight ball on the bed, the covers pulled over her head. She could hear the sobs of the teen from the doorway. "Are you alright?" she asked, sitting hesitantly on the edge of the bed. She heard Danny talking to Mac on his cell phone outside the door.

Cori sniffled and adjusted the covers so that her face was peeking out. "This is my fault isn't it?" she whispered, "That man was here looking for me."

Lindsay felt her heart shatter at the guilt she detected in the girl's voice. "We don't know that," she assured her, "It could have been a coincidence." There was a great possibility that Cori was right, but she didn't want to tell her that. She'd already gone through enough.

"Could I be alone for a while?" Cori asked quietly.

"Of course," Lindsay said getting up and walking to the door. "The police will probably be here in a few minutes and they might want to ask you a few questions."

"More?" Cori asked, a hint of vulnerability in her voice.

"I'm sorry," Lindsay said simply, and left.

Sophia had fallen back to sleep while Lindsay talked to Cori. A part of Lindsay wanted to hold the child in her arms when she had to face her husband, as a barrier of some sorts, but she decided to think of Sophie's comfort first instead of her own selfishness. She planted a kiss in her soft, wispy hair and laid her gently into her crib.

She headed into the kitchen. Danny sat at the table, head in hands, and a cup of coffee sitting next to him. Lindsay sat down across from him without saying a word. He looked up and saw the tracks the tears had made on her face and immediately felt immensely guilty. "I'm sorry," he said, shifting uncomfortably.

"You'd think the thought of me dying would upset you, not cause you to yell at me." Lindsay said shortly, ignoring his apology completely.

"I was upset! That's why I yelled!"

"Most people cry when they're upset, Danny, or at least get very sad, not angry." her voice trembled, much to her annoyance and she swallowed several times in order to regain control. "I know that I'd cry a lot if you were to die, or get hurt."

Danny sighed. "Lindsay, honey, you are totally overreactin'!"

Lindsay narrowed her eyes – a tell tale sign that she was about to erupt. "Overreacting? Danny, a guy tried to shoot me! And instead of rushing over to see if I was alright, you screamed about how stupid I was!"

"It was stupid!" Danny protested.

"So? If it had been you, I would have at least made sure that you were ok before I started going on and on about how stupid you were being!" Lindsay had stood up and was pacing. It was physically impossible for her to sit still when she was this angry. "Maybe you don't love me enough! Maybe you wanted me to be shot!" She threw out those last two declarations for the sole purpose of seeing how her husband reacted.

"Lindsay, now is not the time for you to doubt my love for you!"

Lindsay stopped dead in her tracks. Danny realized that he had just said possibly the worst thing he could have. "And when would that time be, Daniel?" she hissed. "When everything is all peachy and nobody is trying to harm my family? When we're processing a crime scene? On Sophie's first day of kindergarten?" Her voice had become thick with tears. "When?"

Danny leapt up and crushed Lindsay to his chest. "Never," he whispered, and then kissed her with all the fiery passion he could muster. Lindsay resisted for quite some time, her mindset being that her husband thought he could fix anything by kissing her, but then she realized that he could. She couldn't help it, but she was extremely vulnerable to his kisses. His lips left hers and roamed her face, kissing away all the stray tears that glistened on her ivory skin. He planted a final kiss on the sensitive spot just below her ear and held her close. She buried her face in the nape of his neck and took deep, even breaths in order to calm herself down. "Losing you terrifies me, Montana," Danny finally whispered. "That's why I get so mad whenever you are in danger. I can't stand the thought of you leavin' me here all alone. I'm nothin' without you."

His admission startled Lindsay slightly. He'd told her on several occasions that he was afraid of losing her, and that she and Sophie were his whole life, but to say that he was nothing without her was more than she had expected. "I love you, Danny," she said simply. She didn't need any other words.

"I love you, my Montana." he whispered back.

They were broken apart a minute later by a knock on the door. Lindsay was afraid to answer it. She knew it was stupid and that it was most likely just Mac, but it still scared her. "Danny? Lindsay? Are you ok?" Mac called through the door, relieving them both of all worrying. Danny rushed over to the door to let their boss in. Several uniformed cops stood with him, and they spied a few more down the hall, speaking to their frightened neighbors. "Is everybody alright?" Mac asked again.

"Yes, we're all fine," Danny said. "Sophie was scared by the gunshot, but she fell back ta sleep a while ago. Cori's still in her room, I guess," he looked over at his wife who nodded in confirmation.

"Do you have any clue who it is, Mac?" Lindsay asked, very worried.

"I don't know," Mac began, "but I have a terrible feeling that it was the same person who killed Cori's parents."

"I knew it," a small voice said from behind them. They all whirled around and saw Cori standing there, a horrified expression on her face. "This is my fault!" Tears began to stream down her face once more.

Lindsay rushed over to her and pulled her into her arms. "Shh…. it's not your fault, Cori. You did nothing wrong. Besides, we don't even know for sure if it's the same man." She was careful not to say 'the man who killed your parents.' At this point she was afraid that if she upset Cori any more the child would die of guilt, remorse and sadness.

"You'll have to leave the apartment, I'm afraid," Mac said. "We need to process it. Did any of you get a clear picture of the guy's face?"

They all shook their heads. "I only saw a glimpse," Lindsay said. "It was dark, but I'm pretty sure he was over six feet tall. He had dark hair. That's all I saw. I'm sorry, Mac."

"It's not your fault." he assured her. "Why don't you go and gather up whatever you need. You can sleep at a hotel tonight. We'll station two uniforms out side your door and have others patrolling the premises." He turned to the four officers behind him. "Barkley, Mulligan, you two escort the Messers and Miss Davenport to the closest Hilton. Stay outside their door until the backup gets there. Carson and Davis, you stay here with me." The officers nodded solemnly.

"Cori, why don't you go grab your bag," Lindsay suggested, "and then could you help me get some of Sophie's things?" Cori agreed and scurried off to her room. "It'll just be a moment," Lindsay said, trying her best to hide the shakiness in her voice.

She and Danny retreated to their bedroom and packed what they would need for the morning. Lindsay brushed away a tear as discreetly as she could, but Danny saw it. "Hey," he gently turned her around and pulled her into his arms. "It's gonna be ok," he promised, kissing her lightly on the lips. "We're gonna be ok."

Lindsay nodded and squeezed him one more time before heading to Sophia's room. She grabbed everything that she thought Sophie would possibly need. Naturally, she ended up with enough supplies to sustain the baby's life and happiness for at least two weeks. Danny and Cori both laughed when they say Sophia's bulging diaper bag in contrast to the small backpack Lindsay had her own things in. "Dan, will you grab Sophie?" she asked. She and Cori stopped in the kitchen to grab one of Sophia's bottles and some formula before following the police officers to the squad car, Danny right on their heels.

The ride to the hotel flew by and in no time they had secured a room, a suite for that matter, and were getting all settled in. Lindsay set up the collapsible crib and Danny laid Sophia gently in it. "Sweet dreams, Fee," he whispered.

They checked in on Cori, and once they were satisfied that she was all right, they fell into an exhausted sleep.

A/N Wow. I just realized that the actual break in was probably no more than 100 words (ok, 228, if you start at the very beginning until the guy goes down the fire escape) Kinda funny, if you ask me. Most of the chapter is arguing. Anyway, review!

xoxo,

Lia