Parental Obligations: Of Laughter and Dancing

Lindsay struggled not to sigh as she sat between Elizabeth and Danny who had decided that bickering and fighting were fun things to do while watching movies. They were having a movie marathon, and Lindsay wanted to scream with frustration.

She couldn't exactly bring up all their familial problems in front of Danny. She suspected that was the reason he was there: so she wouldn't be able to blow up at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth stared thoughtfully at the television screen. She would make witty comments every once in a while, but she wasn't really watching the movie. She had seen it enough to tune back in and make comments that annoyed everyone in the room.

Danny tried not to fidget as Samantha twisted his short hair with her fingers. By the slight droop of her eyelids, she was getting sleepy.

When the movie ended, Samantha wasn't fully asleep and she seemed to jerk completely awake. "My turn!" she said, all thoughts of sleep disappearing from her head.

Lindsay struggled, quite unsuccessfully, not to sigh. "Go ahead. Grace left her movies if you want to watch one of them. They're on the table."

Knowing Elizabeth's secret desire to watch it, Sam settled on Mulan II.

Danny watched with amusement as the girls sang at the top of their lungs through the songs. When the, hopefully, last song came on, Elizabeth grabbed her mom's hands and dragged her up.

"I wanna be like other girls," Elizabeth grinned at her mom and swung her toward Sam and Lindsay, in a momentary relapse into childhood, scooped the little girl up.

"Climb up a tree like other girls can," the three females chorused,"Just to be free like other girls…Get to be."

Danny watched as they danced around the room. It was nice to see Elizabeth without a frown, pout, smirk or any other negative expression. She was laughing and carefree…a thirteen year old girl. Of course Lindsay was receding to her tween days as she danced and laughed with her daughters.

"Come on, Danny!" Sam cheered.

Danny shook his head. "You go ahead," he said. "I'll just watch."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and swung Sam up onto her shoulders. "No hands folded perfect, like holding a lily," she mumbled softly.

Lindsay plopped down next to Danny as the song came to an end. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was coming out of the clip she'd put in to keep her hair out of her face.

To Danny, she was beautiful.

Elizabeth smirked and practically dropped Samantha onto Danny's lap and squeezed between the two adults.

Danny coughed softly and scooted down a little. Sam pushed the tip of her index finger into her mouth and lightly gnawed on the small digit. She absent mindedly reached up and wove her fingers through her sister's long hair.

Elizabeth let her head fall back on the couch. It had become a habit for Sam to play with someone's hair whenever she was sleepy, and it was what lulled Elizabeth to sleep most nights.

Elizabeth's eyes fell shut and she started to drift to sleep until something pulled her back to the surface. She cracked open her eyes and looked over at Danny. "Are you humming?" she asked suspiciously.

"No," Danny said casually.

Elizabeth nodded and closed her eyes. Until Sam started singing along with the humming. "I wanna be like other girls…"

Lindsay laughed softly when Danny's cheeks colored and he ducked his head in embarrassment.

"Don't stop," Sam protested sleepily.

Danny looked over at Elizabeth. She sighed without opening her eyes and started humming, taking pity on the man.

Samantha sang along until she drifted to sleep, bringing Elizabeth with her.

Danny sat there as the credits rolled. He couldn't move. Samantha was asleep across his lap, her head against his chest. Elizabeth's head had fallen to rest on Danny's shoulder and she was snoring softly in his ear.

"You are such a softy," Lindsay said.

Danny peeked over Elizabeth's head. "Please. The ladies love me."

"Yeah," Lindsay said softly, switching off the TV. She stood up and stretched. "Help me get these two into my room and we can share the last beer."

Danny grinned. "I like the way you think," he said with a grin.

((((((((((CSI:NY))))))))))

"You said we'd share," Danny protested, trying to take the beer from Lindsay's hands.

Lindsay took one last sip before passing the beer to Danny. "Tonight was fun," she decided. "Even though you completely ruined my chance to really be super angry with them."

"Super angry?"

"Danny, they travelled from Montana to New York by themselves. You really expect me to just let that pass?" Lindsay asked.

"You can't just yell at them on their first day," Danny pointed out, setting the beer on the countertop.

"I know," she admitted, "but when I think of what could've happened…"

Danny stayed quiet for a few minutes. "Do you want to talk about it?" he finally asked.

Lindsay raised her eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

"Whatever it is that's making you nervous to be alone with your own kids," Danny said softly.

Lindsay looked into his sympathetic blue eyes. He was so worried about her and her daughters that he'd spent a perfectly good night with them when he could've been out with someone or doing whatever it was he did. "I'm not nervous to be alone with my kids," she scoffed.

Danny put his hand on her arm when she tried to move away. "Montana—Lindsay. You almost didn't get up when Elizabeth grabbed your hands earlier. You're afraid of something…I don't know what it is, but it's affecting you."

Lindsay rolled her eyes uncomfortably. "Danny, there's a lot you don't know about me. One thing, though, that you should already know is that I don't scare easily. I'm not afraid or nervous or whatever it is that you're thinking. I just need a little time to figure some things out. I wasn't prepared to have my daughters come here…not so quickly anyway."

Danny nodded and pulled his hand away as if he'd been burnt. It hurt that she didn't trust him enough to tell him what was going on. "I should get going." He drained the beer and set it beside to sink which was lined with several bottles and cans.

Lindsay nodded in agreement and walked him to the door. "Talk to you tomorrow," she said softly.

Danny patted her on the back. "Don't be too hard on them," he warned, "or I'll bring Grace over. She'll take care of you."

"Right," Lindsay said with a laugh.

"She's almost as big as you so I dunno…" Danny ducked away from her playful swing and walked away, still laughing.

In the bedroom, Elizabeth laid still on the bed. She listened to Lindsay clean up and make her bed on the couch. Lindsay wasn't as fearless as she seemed, and it wasn't only about whatever happened back in Montana. She was also afraid to let Danny close to her.

TBC…yeah, not completely satisfied with this chapter, but, due to recent events on our favorite show…I got my muse back!