Silly Love Songs
Part 7
By: ioanhoratio
The second chapter as promised! :)
Ah, she gave me more, she gave it all to me
It was nothing in particular that woke Danny Messer. He cracked on eye open and gazed down at his daughter. He loved to see her dance, or hear her laugh, but watching her sleep had to be his favorite thing. She was beautiful and innocent. Her little lips pressed firmly together while every other feature appeared relaxed and comfortable. When she was asleep she looked the most like Lindsay. Her face round, her cheeks pink with sleep.
Danny stretched, careful not to disturb Lucy, when his eye caught Lindsay's purse. He rolled off the couch, replaced his body with a cushion to ensure Lucy wouldn't roll off and went in search for his wife. The small bit of doubt that had formed that morning had not dissipated as Danny had assumed it would. In fact, it seemed to propel him through the apartment; he needed the assurance from his wife that everything was ok.
He heard the shower running and without knocking nudged the door open. What he saw was anything less than assuring.
"Hey," he called softly as he pushed his way fully into the bathroom.
Lindsay jumped up off the side of the tub and hastily wiped at her eyes, turning away from him, "Oh, uh, hey," she mumbled, embarrassed at being caught.
Danny crossed over to her and despite being afraid of the answer, asked, "Was wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Lindsay answered quickly, clearing her throat.
Danny couldn't help the sarcastic tone, "Right 'cause you cry so often for no reason whatsoever."
Keeping her back to him, she said, "Just leave it Danny. It's not important."
"Ya see that is obviously not true 'cause you just don't cry that often Linds. So when I see tears I know somethin' is up."
Lindsay gave a derisive snort and couldn't help the thought, 'so that you know but not that I would appreciate a nice Valentine's?' She immediately felt guilty over her criticism and instead said aloud, "Well, sometimes I cry over dumb stuff too. I just do my best to keep it under wraps."
"Ok," Danny replied hesitantly, "Well what dumb thing are ya cryin' over right now?"
Lindsay answered his question with a question of her own. "Why is Lucy asleep so late?"
"Paige said she slept for about 15 minutes today and then refused to go back to sleep. By the time I got home she was a holy terror. I was spending so much time fussin' at 'er and listenin' to her cry that I just had enough. I made her lay down with me and she was asleep in about 2 minutes. She's only been asleep for about 30 minutes and I won't let her sleep past an hour," Danny assured her then added, "Now stop avoidin' my question."
Lindsay was quiet for a moment and the said softly, "It's dumb and embarrassing."
Danny placed his warm hands on her bare shoulders and gently turned her to face him.
"Please, Linds. I don't care how dumb you think it is. If you don't tell me I'm just gonna spend all evenin' worrying."
"It's really nothing," Lindsay insisted, "It's just that...well...I figured that with this being our first Valentine's as a married couple...we might, you know...do something special. And when I realized you didn't feel the same I was disappointed."
Danny's heart sank. He had disappointed her. He suddenly felt foolish.
Lindsay mistook his silence and quickly added, "See, I told you it was stupid."
"I thought you didn't like Valentine's Day," Danny cried defensively, "I mean, the reason I thought that was 'cause you were the one who told me you didn't like Valentine's Day."
"You're right," Lindsay agreed, "This is why I didn't want to tell you. I don't need you to explain or try and make it better."
"I'm just confused Linds."
"I know," she groaned. She searched for the right thing to say, knowing it wasn't going to make a whole lot of sense.
"So now you like Valentine's?" He asked confused, his tone pleading for understanding.
"Yes...no, I don't know," she stammered, trying to explain, "See...lonely, pathetic Lindsay Monroe didn't like Valentine's Day, didn't want to celebrate Valentine's, but maybe happily married Lindsay Messer does. Is that dumb?"
"Maybe," Danny said honestly, "but I'm glad to hear it."
Lindsay's bowed head snapped up, "What?"
"I said, 'I'm glad to hear it.'"
"Why?" Lindsay pushed. Her lips forming a frown, just as they always did when she was perplexed.
"You think I wouldn't plan somethin' for our first Valentine's Day? Come on. Who do you think you're dealin' with?" he questioned with a twinkle in his eye, "You married an Italian here babe. There's no way around a romantic evenin' for two."
Despite her suspicions, Lindsay laughed, "Stella made almost the exact same comment."
"You, ah, talked to Stella about it?" Danny asked casually.
"Yeah, she wanted to offer her services for babysitting. Speaking of," Lindsay hesitated slightly, feeling foolish for her emotional outburst, "what are we doing tonight?"
"Oh no wife," Danny teased, "I've kept it a surprise this long, ya just goin' to have to wait a little bit longer. Now, finish ya shower and once you're done I'll tell ya what to put on, k?. I'm gonna go wake Lucy."
With that he grinned at her, turned and walked out of the room pulling the door shut behind him.
"Crap," he mumbled. He had about 15 minutes to plan the perfect evening. Instead of waking his daughter, he used the silence to think.
It was nearly 6:00 p.m. on Valentine's Day. What decent place would let them in without a reservation? An open field? That was practically the only option available.
Danny began to pace. He ran a hand over his face. What was he going to do? Then suddenly a thought began to form. Danny paused mid-pace, afraid to drive away the small notion that was developing. He wrinkled his brow in concentration and he summoned all the powers of his ancestry to help him out of his dilemma.
As the idea took root, Danny felt his body surge with excitement. For to pull this off everything would have to fall into place. If even one thing didn't work he was scre...
He stopped himself, if even one thing didn't work then Danny Messer knew that him getting screwed was the last thing that was going to happen.
Can he pull it off? Will he get the help that he needs? Will Lindsay be happy with his idea? Can I come up with anymore inane questions? Stay tune for the exciting conclusion tomorrow!
