Sorry it's taken so long. I know it's short... but there's more coming! I promise.

Stella turned her attention back to Flack's room. Lindsay was sitting curled up into a tight ball in the chair next to Flack's bed. Stella could tell that her tears had calmed, but Flack had yet to turn to face Lindsay. Stella slowly walked into Flack's room, standing quietly in the doorway.

"Hey, guys." Stella said casually. Flack looked up, made eye contact and attempted to smile. Lindsay didn't move from her ball in the chair. "Flack, I need to steal Lindsay away for a while. Something's come up with an old case and Mac needs some information. Lindsay?"

Stella looked over at Lindsay and motioned for her to leave the room. Stella glanced back to Flack who watched Lindsay go and slowly closed his eyes. Lindsay slowly walked out of the room and down the hall with Stella. As she walked next to Stella, Lindsay didn't say a word. She had collected herself enough that her tears had stopped, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

Stella silently guided Lindsay through the halls and into the cafeteria. Both women slid into a chair, on opposite sides of a table. Lindsay sat, fiddling with her hands, unable to will her eyes to meet Stella's.

"Danny told me what happened." Stella said quietly, breaking the silence.

Lindsay sat quietly for a moment and then looked up at Stella.

"So, no pressing lab emergency after all?" Lindsay asked, almost sarcastically.

"You knew it was a poor excuse to get you out of the room the minute I started talking." Stella said, smiling a little.

"Yeah. He knew it too." Lindsay said, her voice just barely above a whisper.

"So… what are you going to do?" Stella asked quietly.

Lindsay chuckled sadly and smiled and heartbreaking smile. "What can I do? He had every reason to hate me and I may never really get the chance to make this right."

Stella could hear the disappointment in Lindsay's voice. For a while, Lindsay and Stella sat in a comfortable silence. Lindsay was deep in thought and contemplation, and Stella observed, unabashedly, every person that passed by. Stella desperately wanted to know what had been said in Flack's room earlier, after all not only was Stella a CSI but she was a woman, but she could sense that enough had been said on that subject for the time being.

A few minutes later, Lindsay and Stella were comfortably chatting about their work schedules when a nurse nervously approached their table.

"Um, excuse me?" The nurse said quietly. Lindsay and Stella both looked up expectantly. Lindsay instantly recognized the young girl as one of the nurses on Flack's floor. "I don't know if it's my place to say anything, but I thought that you might want to know that Detective Flack's temperature has suddenly spiked and he's running a fever – which could be dangerous to his recovery."

The nurse paused and searched Lindsay's face for some kind of understanding. When she noticed the small, hitched breath that Lindsay took and the worried look that crossed her face, the nurse knew that she had said enough. Smiling kindly, the nurse took her leave, leaving Stella staring anxiously at a worried Lindsay.

"I've got to go, Stel." Lindsay jumped up abruptly and walked out of the cafeteria in the direction of the elevator.

Lindsay paused just before pushing the door to Flack's room open. She knew that she was taking a chance. Lindsay drew in a deep breath as she pushed the door open. Flack was lying with his head turned towards the window and away from the door. He made no move to acknowledge that someone had entered his room. Lindsay glanced quickly around the room, noticing only the extra medication attached to Flack's IV and the shallow breaths that he was taking.

Walking over to his bed, as if gliding silently, Lindsay positioned herself next to Flack's bed and perched on the side of the bed.

Flack felt his bed sag slightly under Lindsay's body weight and sighed as he closed his eyes wearily.

"The nurse told me you're running a fever." Lindsay said after a minute or two of silence.

Flack rolled his head over in Lindsay's direction, but avoided her eyes. He wanted to be angry with her. He wanted to tell her to go to hell and get out of his room. He wanted to pummel Danny for what he did. But right now, Flack felt as if all of his energy was being channeled into remaining conscious and fighting the awful burning sensation that was traveling through his body.

"Water." Flack said with a raspy voice.

"You're thirsty?" Lindsay asked hopefully. Thirst and a request for water might mean that his fever wasn't as bad as she thought it might be. Lindsay brought a cup with a striped straw to Flack's lips and he sucked on it tenderly.

"No, I wanted to go skinny dipping." Flack said flatly after he swallowed.

"Sorry." Lindsay said meekly. "The nurse told me that you were suddenly running a fever. I was worried."

"Sure." Flack said. Lindsay couldn't read his voice. Was it sarcasm? Anger? She couldn't tell with just his one syllable. "Don't be. I'll live."

"Yeah. You don't know how happy that makes me." Lindsay began. She could tell that she has Flack's attention and somewhere behind his angry exterior he was listening to what she had to say. "I just want you to know that I pushed Danny away and regretted what I had allowed to happen the minute it started. I didn't go over to Danny's wanting this to happen. I've never stopped loving you. Not for a single moment. And when…" Lindsay sighed and bit down on her lip. She was biting so hard that Flack thought he might draw blood. "… when the nurse told me about your fever and how it could be dangerous… I knew that I needed a chance to make this right. Please, Don, help me fix this."

Flack could see the tears welled up in Lindsay's eyes and how she was willing them not to fall. Deep inside he knew that he had pushed Lindsay out of his room and into dinner with Danny. Flack also knew that Lindsay hadn't made the first move. Lindsay had told him as much. She didn't mean for anything to happen, and for now Flack was ready to believe and forgive Lindsay.

"Well, I should go…" Lindsay said in response to Flack's silence. "I just wanted to…"

"Don't go." Flack said. Lindsay had to stop and rerun his words in her head to ensure that she had heard him correctly.

"I don't want to pressure you into to anything. I just needed to say those things." Lindsay assured Flack.

"I don't have brain damage, Linds. I know what I'm saying." Flack said. It was hard to tell, but Flack thought there might be a grin on his face.

"I never doubted that. You've always had a head that's hard as a rock." Lindsay smiled as she talked. Her hand found Flack's and their fingers looped together.

"I think you might have us confused there Monroe." Flack joked. "Thanks for coming back."