A/N: Same disclosures apply as in the previous chapter. Mandy is not mine – all the credit for her goes to NeverMindDream for creating such a wonderful spunky character. Please read and review! Enjoy.
A half hour into the ride, the silence had grown tiresome. I wanted to say something but I wasn't sure what. Somehow I didn't think that we would necessarily get back to the lab in one piece if I came out and said, "Hey Danny, wanna jump my bones?". I sighed, and shifted in my seat, trying to get more comfortable.
"Wanna stop and grab something to eat?" Danny asked, apparently noticing my movements. I see that he's looking at me out of the corner of his eyes and trying to keep his eyes on the road as well.
"No. Thanks though." I said shifting again to look at him, "Not really hungry but if you want to stop…"
"Nah," He said shifting his eyes back and forth from me to the road, "I'll be good until we get back to the lab."
Silence lapsed back into the vehicle. I started to play the license plate game, something I used to do with my sister Mandy. We used to count the number of different states we saw, and if we saw a plate with our initials on it, well then that counted double. My eyes started to feel heavy a few minutes later, so I rested my head back. I heard the soft click of the radio being turned on; Nickelback's song Photograph filled the small space. I felt warm, safe, and I drifted off to sleep.
When I woke up, Danny was carrying me into my apartment. I felt him lay me down on the couch and cover me up with a blanket. I opened my eyes briefly.
"Don't go." I asked him, like a child who's scared of the dark, "Lay with me."
I heard the words – did they just come out of my mouth? What the hell?
"Linds, are you sure?" I heard him ask me, and I nodded yes.
I felt him pull the blanket back and his body lay down closely next to mine. He rested his forehead against mine and placed his arm around my waist, pulling us closer together – if that was even possible. How I waited so long to feel his touch against me in this way; his hard body pressed closely against mine.
"Lindsay," Danny said softly, "You really should sleep; you've pulled a triple three times this week."
"I just want to spend some time with you." I told him, "I haven't gotten any time with you this week." Again, I heard the words and knew they were coming out of my mouth, but was I really saying these things? We're Danny and I really doing this?
"I missed you too," Danny told me, "there have been way too many hours apart from you."
I felt him place soft kisses on my forehead, slowly moving down my face. Soft kisses on my eyes, a peck on my nose and a kiss each on my cheeks. Finally he teased my lips. Oh how I waited for this moment; his lips on mine, soft and tender. I felt him pull back slightly, causing me to groan with dissatisfaction.
"Lindsay."
"What?" I answered, looking at his gorgeous face.
"Come on Montana. We're here."
"Danny…"
All of a sudden reality flashed before me. I wasn't at home. I was sitting in the car; Danny was standing at my door. I had fallen asleep on the ride; Danny was trying to wake me up. I felt the color rise into my cheeks; I sincerely hoped that I hadn't talked aloud in my sleep…or atleast I hoped that whatever I might had said wasn't audible.
"Hey…" I said looking at him, probably more sheepishly that I wanted to, "Guess I fell asleep, huh?"
"You look cute when you sleep," he smiled at me, as he made his way to the back of the Envoy, "though the snoring was a bit much."
"Haha," I said, as I got out of the vehicle, "You're too funny!"
"Yeah I know." He replied, licking his lips.
Damn him…Is it possible for him to not be sexy for at least five minutes?
We carried everything up to the lab, and dropped certain pieces with different techs with explicit instructions that everything we were leaving had top priority over pretty much everything else. Then we carried the remaining evidence into a fair empty lab. We began to lay everything out.
"I'll grab the photos if you want to start scanning everything in." I told him as I grabbed the memory cards from the cameras.
"Not a problem." He replied as his cell phone chirped.
I focused on printing out the pictures from the scene, while trying not to listen to Danny try and be discrete. He was saying something about not finding out, that he would…etc; like I said, I was trying not to listen. I, however, was also trying not to look at the pictures due to the fact that I was feeling the very familiar and unwelcoming feelings of nausea sweep over me. I closed my eyes in hope that it would pass quickly, then I heard the familiar click of a phone being closed.
"Danny," I said, my eyes still closed and hoping my voice didn't sound as shaky as I thought it did, "Want to switch?"
"Why?" I heard his reply.
"Just thought I would be nice and let you have the easy job." The nausea was starting to get to me, it wasn't going away. I was concentrating on my breathing…in and out…in and out…
"Lindsay," Danny asked, he was standing right beside me now, "Are you ok?"
I felt his hand on my back, steadying me. It was warm, comforting, and a level of touch that we had only experienced in my dreams.
"Yeah," I tried to laugh it off, "I'm fine. I just thought that you would want to handle the pictures since I know how boring scanning can be…and since you can pull rank and all…"
He stared at me inquisitively, and I felt like he could see right through me. His hand was still on my back as I started to rise from my chair. Adam popped his head in the door and we sprang apart as if we were two high school kids doing something against the rules.
"Hey Messer," Adam said, as if he hadn't noticed a thing, "I got something hinky to show you on one of those trace samples you gave me."