Lindsay woke up early to the sun streaming through the window and rudely waking her up. Rolling over, Lindsay realized that she laying the wrong way across her bed, still in her clothes from the night before. Suddenly the events of the night before came streaming back to her and Lindsay knew what she had to do.
The shrill sound of Danny's cell phone woke him up. He rolled over on his couch and as he blindly reached towards the coffee table in search of his phone, his hand knocked over a variety of empty beer bottles. Danny couldn't reach his phone in time. When he finally found it, the phone was beeping with voice mail.
"Uh, hi, Danny. It's Lindsay. Listen, last night shouldn't have happened. I'm on my way back to the hospital. I have to talk to Don. I thought you should know too." With a click, Lindsay's message ended.
Danny sat, hunched over with his elbows on his knees, and dropped his throbbing head to his hands. He sat there wondering for a moment, exactly what he had done. Danny got up, threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and headed out the door for the hospital.
Danny wasn't too sure what he was going to do when he got to the hospital, but his gut told him that he had to do something. When Danny arrived, he jogged up the stairs and down the hallway leading to Flack's room. He skidded to a halt just a few feet away from Flack's door, he saw an unmistakable bounce of brown wavy hair enter the room. Danny was too late to catch Lindsay. Sinking down into one of the chairs in the hallway, Danny sighed, leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes in defeat.
A voice caused Danny to open his eyes.
"Please go away." Lindsay said. That was it. That was all she said. Lindsay had every intention of walking back into Flack's room and forgetting all about Danny, until she saw Stella bouncing down the hall towards them.
"Hey, guys! How's Flack?" Stella seemed way to chipper for Lindsay this morning, but Lindsay thought, Stella was always upbeat.
"Okay." Lindsay admitted. She was keeping a good distance between herself and Danny, and each time that Danny attempted to close the distance between them she scooted away. "It was a rough night."
Stella nodded her head as if she understood, and smiled kindly as Lindsay excused herself to go back into Flack's room. Danny sighed loudly and shook his head. He began to pace just a bit and walk away from Stella.
"So, what's going on?" Stella asked Danny quietly. Stella was a detective, but anyone could tell that something was wrong. Lindsay refused to make eye contact with Danny and Danny alternated between trying desperately to get Lindsay's attention and attempting to sink into the pattern on the floor.
"Nothing. Why?" Danny said, attempting to side step Stella's question.
"Don't give me that crap, Danny. Even a blind man can see that there's something going on here. Spill." Stella said. She said in a way that only Stella could, blending her sisterly tone with a more authoritative one.
Danny looked past Stella and into Flack's room. He could see Lindsay leaning over Flack and taking his hand in hers. Danny could tell from watching Lindsay's back hitch with each breath that she was crying and he could tell from watching the look that came over Flack's face that Lindsay was telling him about the night before. Danny watched as Flack yanked his hand away from Lindsay and turned away from her.
Stella's back had been to Flack's room, but sensing that she had lost Danny's attention she turned to follow his gaze. Seeing Flack turn away from Lindsay and Lindsay sink into the chair next to him, Stella turned back to Danny, anger flashing through her eyes.
"Tell me you didn't have anything to do with that." Stella demanded.
Danny thought about answering with the words 'with what?' but he knew better. Sighing and wishing that the hospital floor would open up and swallow him whole, Danny turned back to Stella.
"I ruined it for them, Stel. I kissed her. I took advantage of her. That's what she's telling him right now. I'm the bastard that ruined my best friend's life." Danny said. There was a look of defiance flashing in his eyes, almost daring Stella to react and yell at him.
"Oh, Danny…" Stella said quietly, choosing compassion over yelling. She reached out with a free hand to place it on Danny's arm.
Danny pulled away quickly and walked past Stella.
"No. Don't." Danny muttered as he walked away.