Chapter Two – Witching Hour

Mac was fairly certain that he was the last to know about this situation. Stella had finally told him after he pressed for information and he quickly learnt that the rest of the lab knew the truth but nobody knew how to tell him. He wasn't angry; he just wished that someone had told him so that this little issue could have been avoided. He also wished that he wasn't so stuck in his own little world. He knew that he could have figured this out for himself if he had tried but he hadn't and that annoyed him more then anything else. Stella had pointed that out to him again and again; he just wished that he would learn to listen to her when it came to things in this area. He called Danny in first. Danny walked in, figuring it was to do with the current case, not knowing what the real issue was that faced Mac now.

"You called boss?"

Mac nodded towards the seat and Danny took it. Mac waited a few seconds trying to find the right words before finally speaking. He was not very good at this.

"How long have you and Lindsay been seeing each other?"

Danny blinked.

"Almost a year now. I thought we had been doing a pretty good job at keeping it quiet."

"Not really. Turns out I'm the only one who didn't realize. Stella let slip, she figured I would have known something was going on"

"You didn't?"

"Nope."

"Oh."

Mac took a seat across from Danny.

"I want to remind you of our policy on dating here in the lab"

"Mac, this is not-"

"I know this is not some fling Danny and I respect that. But you need to understand that this is my lab. Anything that goes wrong in here is my responsibility."

"I do Mac, I know that. Lindsay and I have been keeping up our guards; we are doing everything by the book."

"My worry Danny is that your concern for Lindsay may overshadow your duties as a CSI"

"Nothing would overshadow my duties here."

"What happens if I send you and Lindsay to a crime scene and it's dangerous? Who am I going to get, Danny the CSI or Danny the boyfriend?"

Danny leant forward, frowning slightly.

"We are talking about the same woman here right? Lindsay who happily tackles a man twice her size without thinking? The same one who got excited when she shot a bow and arrow? Someone like that hardly needs my protection"

Mac shrugged slightly.

"Good point"

"And you can't tell me that if push came to shove you wouldn't protect Stella."

Mac nodded.

"I'm not going to push this Danny but I am going to talk to Lindsay. I'm doing this to protect you as well as myself."

"And I understand completely"

The serious side of business now over, Mac asked another question, something that Stella had mentioned that had perked his curiosity.

"So, how did Lindsay's birthday surprise go?"

"Oh she loved it."

"What did you get her? Stella said I had to ask you, she said that I would never believe her."

Danny smiled widely.

"I bought Lindsay a horse."

"A horse?"

"Yup. She's called Firefly and to quote Lindsay, she's perfect."

Mac shook his head.

"Stella was right"

"What?"

"I never would have believed her if she had told me"

Judging by her face when she walked in, Danny hadn't said anything to Lindsay. She had had a grin plastered on her face all day and it was less annoying now that Mac knew why it was there to start with.

"I wanted to ask you a question Lindsay"

"About what?"

"Your relationship with Danny"

The look of happiness evaporated and a deep blush took its place.

"Mac….I don't know what to say"

"Just promise me that this won't affect your job here"

"That will never happen"

"Ok then. I hear that Danny go you a horse?"

"Yeah he did. When did you talk to him?"

"A couple of hours ago. I asked him not to tell you"

"Oh"

Desperate to break this somewhat awkward situation that he was in no way used to, he offered them both a way out.

"Do you have any pictures of Firefly? Danny said that you used at least two films on her and her father"

"Yeah I did. Do you find it sad that I've been carrying them around in my jacket pocket all day?"

Mac shook his head and handed her a photo that he always kept close by on his desk.

"I still have pictures of my horse Captain from when I was in my teens. I won't judge you if you don't judge me."

Lindsay smiled and pulled an envelope out from her jacket and handed it to Mac. He opened it and flicked through the pictures carefully.

"She really is beautiful."

"They were both abandoned and an animal shelter found them"

"Well, they did a good job on them, that's for sure."

"I just find it hard to believe that Danny found me a horse all by himself"

"What do you mean?"

"He's a city boy Mac, a big time city boy. How in the world did he know what to look for?"

Mac cleared his throat.

"I may have played a hand in that. Accidently of course."

"Huh?"

"About six months ago, Danny asked me for your parent's number. He didn't explain why and I didn't ask"

"So he called my dad and got advice. Ok that clears things up completely. It also means that I should be panicking about now"

"Why?"

"He spoke to my father. When I say that my father is overprotective and a bit of a traditionalist, it is an understatement. This is a man who, when my prom date stood me up, he lassoed him, hog-tied him and gave him a lecture on how to treat a woman."

Mac laughed. He couldn't help it.

"It's not funny Mac! How do I explain this to my father?"

"I'm fairly certain that at some point Danny would have explained the whole thing to him"

Lindsay sank back into her seat, her face in her hands.

"I knew this was going to get complicated."

"You guys have been together for a while. I would have thought it was already complicated enough"

"Surprisingly, no. I mean we've worked together long enough to know each other fairly well, so little or no surprises. I was kind of hoping the parent thing could wait."

"It would have happened at some point, a little bit like me finding out"

Lindsay offered him a sad smile.

"I wanted to tell you but we figured that if you didn't mention it, neither would we."

"Denial in action"

"Exactly. Ignorance is bliss and all that"

"Well I believe that the bliss has ended."

"You can say that again"

Lindsay managed to cut a few hours off her shift so that she could get home early and make Danny dinner. She also really wanted to talk to him about her father, before she got a call from the man himself. She found it a little odd that all the times that she had talked to her father since Danny had called and he had said nothing. Normally he didn't enquire about her personal life like that but that fact that her Dad knew and said nothing annoyed her a little. She would have preferred a bit of a heads up that the two men in her life were communicating without her knowledge. Then again, the fact that her father hadn't called simply to knock down Danny was a good sign. It meant that on some level, her Dad liked him. She wrestled with her shopping, trying to find her keys which always got buried at the bottom of her handbag when her hands were full. She found them and opened the door, quickly dumping the bags on the counter. She turned on some music and checked the answering machine. There were three missed calls, all hang-ups. She didn't recognize the number so she erased them. She'd ask Danny about those later. She had just started chopping onion when the phone rang. She picked it up but as soon as she said hello, the caller hung up. Lindsay put the phone back on the cradle and resumed her chopping. Twenty minutes later, another phone call came along with another hang up. An hour later, two more. She was determined not to freak out. She had convinced herself that if one more came she would call Danny, until then, she would do nothing. After an hour, nothing happened so she decided to have a shower.

Danny was looking forward to dinner. Lindsay didn't say what she would be making but he knew that when she put her mind to it, she was a hell of a cook. The first thing he noticed when he got to her apartment was the incredibly thin puff of smoke emerging from under her door. He quickly unlocked the door and pushed his way inside. The smoke was thick and the moment he opened the door, the fire alarms in the outside passage started going off. For a moment he wondered why Lindsay's hadn't but he ignored the question.

"Lindsay!"

The lights were still on but he could see hardly anything through the smoke. He dropped low on the floor and made his way from one room to the other, trying desperately to find her but he couldn't.

"LINDSAY!"

He heard the fire engines downstairs and for a moment he was tempted to stay but knew that he couldn't. He made his way back out of the apartment and ran downstairs.

As soon as the emergency crew had done there thing, Danny made his way back into the apartment, this time with Stella, Mac and Flack in tow. Lindsay was missing. Though the apartment was smoke damaged the only really fire had come from inside the over, which was easily contained. She had been home long enough to prepare dinner and turn it on.

"She had a shower"

Danny followed Stella's voice into the bathroom. The clothes that Lindsay had been wearing at work that night were heaped in the corner of the bathroom.

"She's been kidnapped"

"Danny we can't jump to conclusions"

"I know that the fire crew have been through here but what part of this does not scream abduction?"

Mac had to agree with Danny, though he wasn't willing to admit it at this point. The apartment had been overturned but it seemed to be from something far more sinister then this fire. The bedroom for one had overturned lamps, clothes and make-up. The living room held much the same mess.

"Mac?"

"Hmm?"

"I think I just found blood"

Danny waited impatiently as Stella tested to see if the blood was human even though he already knew.

"It's human"

"We'll find her Danny"

"I know. The question is, where the hell do we start?"

Lindsay woke up to find herself bound to a chair. There were hospital style patches connected to her hands, legs and chest.

"Lindsay Monroe"

"Who the hell are you and how the hell did you get into my apartment?"

The man shook his head and Lindsay made herself concentrate. She needed to remember this guy. He was about the same height as Danny, thin with a seriously receding hairline and a dire need to visit a dentist.

"More about that later. You and I have someone in common. In fact with have many people in common"

"I have no idea what you are talking about"

"Danny Messer and all his merry friends at the crime lab"

"What does that have to do with me?"

"There is a reason I targeted Danny and not say Stella for example."

"Why?"

"Because you have made him happy. I don't want any of them to be happy."

"If they got you once, they will get you again"

"But first I'll go out with a bang. Let's have some fun shall we?"