"Hey, Stella."

She looked up to see Hawkes walking toward her, taking off his lab coat as he went. They both reached for hangers to put up their coats, Stella grabbing her leather jacket and slipping it on.

"Hey, Sheldon. Heading out?"

"Yeah, finally." He looked around, frowning. "Where's Lindsay? I thought she was until five with us today."

Stella's eyes tightened. "She wasn't feeling well. Mac sent her home early."

Hawkes noticed the tension in his friend's voice, but decided to ignore it for the moment. "It's nothing serious, I hope."

She shrugged. "Something about a sore throat."

Sighing, he stopped, waiting for her to do the same. "Alright, Stella. What gives?"

"What do you mean?"

"You and Lindsay used to be tight. Now all of a sudden you're snapping at each other, and she's looking like a puppy that's been kicked. So what happened?"

Stella shook her head. "It's complicated."

"Too complicated to explain to a friend? I don't even think Lindsay knows why you're upset."

For just a second, he thought that she was going to open up to him. He could see the pain in her eyes, and how heavily this problem was weighing on her. But as the time passed, she seemed to gather her strength, and when she met his gaze again, he knew that he wasn't going to get anywhere.

"I'm sorry, Sheldon. I can't. Not yet."

He nodded. "I understand. But, Stella...don't wait too long to talk to Lindsay. She's really hurting with all this Danny and she feels alone -"

Stella shrugged. "Maybe she wouldn't feel so alone if she hadn't hurt other people."

Hawkes stared at her in shock - he had never heard Stella be so openly hostile to someone, especially to a friend. He wanted to press her, to make her talk about what had happened to make her turn so cold, but she was obviously done. Without another word, she turned and walked away, leaving him standing in her wake.

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When the knocking started, Lindsay stared at the door in disgust. Her throat was raw and scratchy, and her entire body ached. All she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and go to sleep, but she had been to lazy to stop at the pharmacy on the way home from work. So now she just lay on the couch in misery, wondering why she had to get sick on top of everything else that was going wrong in her life.

But the knocking was gentle, and she was fairly certain that Danny would have been pounding and yelling through the door. Pushing herself up from the cushions, she stumbled to the door, opening it without even bothering to check the peephole.

"You look awful," Hawkes said, looking at her critically.

"Wow, you really know how to make a girl feel special."

"Sorry," he said sincerely. "But I'm hoping because I bring medicine and soup, you'll forgive me and let me in anyway."

Lindsay couldn't help but smile. "Well, in that case..."

Standing aside, she held the door open for him as he stepped inside. She looked at the couch, suddenly disgusted with the mess of tissues and blankets, but Hawkes didn't blink at any of it. He simply took a seat next to her and turned to face her.

"I hear you have a sore throat?" She nodded and he gave her a sympathetic smile. "Open up?"

She did, and Hawkes did a cursory inspection. Checking her throat, he also felt along the lymph nodes in her neck. When he was done with that, he took her temperature, frowning when he saw the results.

"Well, you don't have strep."

"What? But my throat is killing me!"

He shrugged. "No white spots. I'm sorry to say, it's just a cold."

"Ugh," she said, flopping back against the cushions.

"When was the last time you slept?" he asked.

"Two or three nights ago."

"Then lucky for you have the perfect solution."

Reaching into the plastic bag he had brought, Hawkes pulled out a box of pills. Lindsay peered closer so that she could read the label.

"NyQuil?" she asked.

He gave her a smile. "So you can sleep like a baby. Now, when was the last time you ate?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well, then you have to have the soup first. You can't take pills on an empty stomach."

He reached into the bag again and pulled out a Tupperware container full of chicken noodle soup. Getting up from the couch, he made his way to her kitchen, searching until he found a bowl and spoon before heating the soup in the microwave. Lindsay watched him closely, amazed at how he was going out of his way to take care of her. It had been months since she felt safe and protected, and his kindness was almost enough to move her to tears.

"Do you want some help?" she called.

Hawkes stuck his head back out and smiled at her. "You're sick. Stay."

A couple minutes later and the soup was ready. Wrapping a towel around the hot bowl, Sheldon carried it out to her, sitting next to her as she took it and began eating.

"This is really good," she murmured.

"My mother's recipe."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "As a doctor...does chicken noodle soup really do anything when you're sick?"

"Not really. But it's warm and comforting, and you're more likely to get better if your body is relaxed and lets itself recuperate. So it can't hurt."

"I like that reasoning." She paused, looking over at him. "Do you want something to eat?"

Hawkes just smiled. "I'm okay."

The rest of the soup was consumed in silence, and when it was gone, Lindsay had to admit that she felt much better. Without a word, Sheldon took out two pills and handed them to her, along with a bottle of ginger ale he had brought with him. She took them gratefully, her body suddenly begging for the sleep it had been missing out on.

"Now it's time for you to sleep," he said gently.

"Stay," she whispered, her voice small. "I'm so tired of being alone."

"I'll stay until you fall asleep," he promised.

Lindsay stretched out on the couch, resting her head on the pillows she had brought in from her bedroom. Hawkes covered her with a blanket, making sure that she was tucked in tightly.

"You comfortable?" he asked.

She nodded. "Thank you."

He shrugged. "It seemed like you needed a friend."

Closing her eyes, Lindsay felt the tears building in her eyes. "Everything is so screwed up," she whispered.

"Talk to me," he urged quietly. "What happened?"

"It all started with Danny," she mumbled, her head starting to get groggy from the medicine - she had always been a lightweight when it came to that stuff. "He cheated on me."

"Oh, Lindsay..."

"And then Flack...I don't know what I was thinking. I just...I needed to feel safe, and he always makes me feel safe..."

Hawkes looked at her closely. "Wait. Are you saying that you and Flack...?"

She shook her head firmly. "No." Her voice grew small. "But I would have if he had let me...I get why he's avoiding me. I'm sure I made him really uncomfortable. But Stella...she's my best friend, and she'll barely talk to me."

Slowly, things began to fall into place for Hawkes. He looked down at Lindsay with sadness and pity - she had been handed a raw deal, but on top of that she had made some bad decisions. Reaching out, he brushed the hair out of her face, feeling some of the tension leave her at his gentle touch. She deserved so much better than all of this, and yet Sheldon didn't know how to make any of it better for her.

"Flack probably told Stella what happened between the two of you. He couldn't go to Danny or Mac with it..."

Lindsay closed her eyes. "Oh God," she groaned. "She must hate me."

"She'll get over it," he insisted. "And right now there's nothing you can do."

She opened her eyes, and he saw that they were full of tears. "I made a mess of everything," she whispered.

"It's nothing that can't be fixed."

Staring at him for a minute, she sniffed. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Am I usually mean to you?"

That brought out a small smile. "No."

"You're my friend," he said firmly, looking her in the eye. "And I care about you."

Her eyes fluttered closed again, and Hawkes knew that the medicine was dragging her down to sleep. "Thank you," she murmured.

He rubbed his thumb against her cheek, smiling down at her as her eyes stayed closed and her breathing evened out. "Anything for you," he whispered.