AN: Only two more chapters to go after this. Thanks for reading!

Chapter Six: I Can't Get Next to You / The Temptations

Sheldon was a little worried as he watched Lindsay walk back into his office, the plastic bag that Sid had given her clutched tightly in her hand. He knew the prospect of what was ahead of her was daunting, but he didn't understand why she seemed to be dreading it so much. It was a surprise, but he would have thought it would be a good one.

He got up to close the door and then sat in the chair next to the one she was in, almost curled up into herself with one leg up under her and her arms crossed over her stomach, the bag still clutched tightly in her fingers. Sheldon was about to ask why this seemed to be such a horrible thing when Lindsay finally spoke and began to answer his unspoken questions.

"I…I haven't been completely honest with you, Sheldon." She blew out a breath. "Danny and I have been doing a lot better lately, but we had a…setback, I guess you could call it. Last week."

Hawkes thought he knew where this was going. "The Carson case."

She nodded. "Yeah. We've been dealing with some other…stuff…" Sheldon didn't know what she meant by that, but he didn't push. "And then this, and it just blew up in my face, but I have no one to blame but myself…"

One week ago…

Danny gripped his keys even tighter in his hand as he walked through the parking garage towards his vehicle. He needed to get out of here and fast. But God wasn't on his side as he heard his name being called from behind him. He considered jumping in the car and leaving before she could catch him, but it was probably better that they had this out here anyway. Less prying eyes than in the lab and he didn't want to scare the kids by doing this at home.

And so he stopped when he reached the car, turning and leaning against it, his arms crossed over his chest as he waited for his wife to approach. He decided to let her speak first, see where she wanted to take this.

He didn't move as she gently brushed the cut over his eye. The concern in her eyes over said cut and the bruise that was quickly forming on the eye below it was soon replaced with anger. "What were you thinking, Danny? You had him cold, you didn't need to provoke him."

Danny straightened. "It's always better to have a confession. And I can't believe you would get on me about this! So what if I provoked him? The bastard deserved some provoking."

Lindsay shook her head. "I don't care about him, Danny, I care about you. This isn't going to go over well with the brass." She crossed her arms over her chest and there they were, facing off with one another. "And why didn't you call me? I can't believe I had to hear about this from Scagnetti, who was nice enough to give me a heads up that my husband had been attacked in interrogation. Damnit, Danny, I thought we were doing better!"

He snorted. That was rich. "Better? That's funny coming from you, Lindsay."

She flinched and he knew that she knew what he was talking about, but she still refused to admit it. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's supposed to mean that I can't get next to you lately, Lindsay. We were doing great, I got that whole job offer thing off my chest and I thought we were fine. And then I notice that you can't seem to look me in the eye anymore. You're not eating as much as you usually do, you're tired all the time. Something's obviously bothering you, but I thought I would just let you tell me in your own time since I'm not the best about coming clean with everything right away. And I was dealing with it fine until you came over here and accused me of being the reason we're back to square one. Tell me, don't tell me, I don't give a damn, just don't pretend like there's nothing going on and then blame the distance between us on me." He couldn't stand the look on her face, so he turned and walked around the car to get in the driver's seat. He pulled out and drove away without looking back.

Hours later, he was sitting on the living room floor having a tea party with his daughters at the coffee table and waiting for Lindsay to walk in the door. He needed to apologize, but he had no idea where to start. Not that anything like that had ever stopped him before.

Danny tried to concentrate on his daughters for the time being. It wouldn't be that much longer before they grew out of wanting to have tea parties with their dad. Actually, he had the sneaking suspicion that they were doing it this time just for him. Ella had noticed that he wasn't in the best of moods. It was something that he and Lindsay tried their best not to do: bring their jobs home and let it affect their home life. Though if he were completely honest with himself, his current mood didn't have anything to do with that murdering bastard Carson who had beaten to death the thirteen year old he had been pimping out. No, Danny's current mood was all about his fight with Lindsay. Nothing could put him in a bad mood faster than having it out with his wife.

He accepted the tea cup Ana offered him and tried to smile convincingly. She seemed to buy his act, but Ella looked like she didn't, at least not completely. She had his eyes, but as he looked into them he was reminded so much of Lindsay. Both of them seemed to be able to look into his eyes and see his soul. He was used to it from Lindsay at this point, but it was a little disconcerting to get the same look from his daughter.

The front door opened and Ana got up to run and greet her mother. Dominic barely looked up from his homework, still annoyed that his dad had made him stay downstairs where he could watch over him instead of letting him go upstairs to his bedroom where he was likely to get distracted. Danny leaned forward and kissed Ella on the forehead, then pushed himself up off the ground and went to his wife.

It was like a knife to the gut to see the pain in her eyes and know that he had put it there. He squatted down in front of his older daughter who had been chattering away about her day to her mother. "Hey, Montana-ana," he said, using the nickname he sometimes called her. "Can you go play with your sister for a bit? I need to talk to Mom about something." Ana cocked her head, considering for a moment, then nodded and ran back to the coffee table.

Standing back up, Danny took Lindsay's hand and pulled her up the stairs to their bedroom. Once inside with the door closed, he turned to her. "Lindsay-"

"No, I should apologize first," she interrupted. "You're right Danny, there is something I haven't been able to figure out how to tell you-"

It was his turn to interrupt as he walked forward and placed a finger on her lips. "No, I'm first this time, Montana." He took his finger away and brushed some hair back off of her face. "Look, whatever it is, I don't care, okay? Tell me whenever you feel like it. I shouldn't have jumped all over you for that. Just don't pull away from me, okay?" He blinked quickly a few times to hold the tears at bay. Nothing made him cry like a baby faster than having pain between him and Lindsay. "You're the key to my happiness, Lindsay. Nothing I do matters without you. I just need you to know that, and if this thing you can't figure out how to tell me has anything to do with me, just tell me what to do to fix it and I'll do whatever it takes. I'll turn back time if I have to…"

"No, no, Danny, no, it's nothing you did, honestly." She sucked in a breath, obviously near tears herself. "Really, it has nothing to do with you, it's me, I just, I can't seem to bring myself to say it…"

He cupped her face with his hands. "Then don't. Say it when you want to, don't say it, I don't care. Just forgive me for being a jerk and tell me we're okay." She whispered her forgiveness and her assurance and he pulled her against him. Despite their reconciliation, he had the feeling that this wasn't completely over, that even with her wrapped tightly inside his arms that he wasn't really next to her, not in the most important sense. But as long as she was physically here, they could work on the rest. And he was determined to be more patient than he ever had been before and wait as long as it took for Lindsay to come clean with what was bothering her.