The private hospital waiting room was dark and quite, probably the only good thing about it. Lindsey sat curled up with her arms wrapped around her knees and chin resting on her kneecaps in an uncomfortable old gray chair at the far corner of the dimly lit stark white room. She'd stopped crying hours ago, instead sniffling every once in a while. Not a word had come from her mouth as she sat there staring at the worn gray-green carpet. Her thoughts took twists and turns, replaying the last conversation she'd had with Danny and wondering what she could have said or done differently in order to prevent the accident from happening.

'I could have been a little more open to his advances. I could have joked around with him. I could have just ignored his comments. Oh, I don't know! I don't know anymore! I should have just told him that I didn't want to get involved with another coworker because I knew the complications that would come if the relationship went sour. But, NO! I had to be stubborn and stupid. I had to tell him that I did have feelings for him, but that I couldn't do this. That I had things I needed to sort out. God, I'm so fucking stupid,' Lindsey silently berated herself.

"Coffee?" Mac asked, making her nearly jump out of her seat. He sat down in the chair beside her and extended one of the two cups of coffee he'd brought from the cafeteria. She gingerly grabbed the offered cup and took a small sip of the warm liquid. It wasn't as good as the stuff they made at the lab, but it would do for now. "So, are you ready to tell me what happened or do you still need time?" he added.

Lindsey sighed deeply as she stared into her coffee cup. As much as she didn't want to relive the past few hours' events, she knew she had to tell her boss what happened. It was all part of their job, and being the only eyewitness to the whole thing, it was her responsibility to put the person who'd done this to her friend behind bars.

"Danny and I were at the crime scene," Lindsey began. "We had only been there a few minutes. I was standing by the newspaper dispensers a few feet away from the dead body on the sidewalk while Danny was kneeling down looking for trace. I needed to grab some gloves out of my kit so I could start processing with him, so I put it on one of the dispensers. I was just about to put one of my gloves on when out of the corner of my eye I saw something shiny coming towards us." She paused for a moment, using the back of her hand to wipe away a couple of tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes. "When I looked up, there was the car bearing down on the crime scene headed straight for the curb. I yelled to Danny, but it was too late. He jumped up, but the car was already over the curb. The last thing I remember was seeing Danny hit the windshield, and… and…" Lindsey couldn't keep going. She burst into tears as the last few seconds of the accident replayed in her mind with vivid detail.

Mac wrapped his arms around her and said, "Its okay," over and over while she continued to cry against his chest.

"I told you this was all my fault!" Lindsey bawled. "If I'd put my damn gloves in my coat pocket…"

"Then you might have also been hit," Mac finished, not wanting her to place anymore blame on herself for something she had no control over. "It was an accident, Lindsey. There was nothing you could have done differently to prevent it."

"Bull shit!" she cried out, pushing away from him and pulling her knees to her chest as she began to rock back and forth. "That damn car should have hit me! I'm the one who deserved it! Not Danny!" Lindsey buried her face in her knees and continued to cry.

Mac stared at the small woman, realizing this was the second time she'd managed to confuse him that afternoon. But before he could ask her what she meant, the door to the waiting room opened and a young doctor wearing blue scrubs walked in, his blood stained mask hanging from his neck like a proud medal of honor. He stepped up to both of them and said, "Detectives, I'm Dr. Doug Stewart, Chief Surgical Attending."

Immediately, Mac stood at attention, just as he'd learn in his Marine days, and firmly shook the doctor's hand. "Detective Mac Taylor," he introduced himself. The doctor took his hand and looked at the small woman sitting in the seat next to him "This is Lindsey Monroe. She was with Danny at the time of the accident." Hearing her name being spoken, Lindsey looked up at the doctor with her sad, empty chocolate brown eyes.

"I would like to discuss Detective Messer's condition with you," Dr. Stewart told the pair.

"Danny; his name is Danny," Lindsey corrected him quietly.

"Danny," the doctor repeated with a warm smile towards the cowering little woman, not offended at all. He could clearly see that she was very upset.

Mac followed his gaze and suggested, "Why don't we talk over there," as he pointed to a spot across the room near the door and far from Lindsey's range of hearing. The doctor nodded in agreement and headed towards the door as Mac turned his attention to the young woman. "I'll be right back," he told her, gently squeezing her shoulder before walking towards the doctor.

"Sorry about that. She saw the accident happen and Danny is one of her best friends. She's still pretty upset and I don't want to risk upsetting her further," Mac explained as he walked up to the doctor.

"I understand completely. Seeing such a thing can be traumatic for a person. Is she going to be okay or should she see a doctor too?" Dr. Stewart asked as he looked past Mac and observed Lindsey while she sat balled up in the chair staring at the carpet in front of her.

"I think she'll be okay, but I'll let you know if she needs anything," Mac answered, glancing back at Lindsey to make certain she was okay. "So, how is my other detective doing?" he asked, shifting their conversation to the reason they were here in the first place.

"Danny is stable," the doctor replied. "We managed to get the internal bleeding under control and patched up his left lung. We'll be monitoring his head injury for the next 24 hours to make sure there's no more swelling in the brain. If it gets any worse, we might have to operate. We'll have him in recovery as soon as we finish stitching him up. Danny is one lucky guy. I rarely see anyone get through surgery after an accident like this. We'll be wheeling him into ICU within the next hour, which is when I'll come and get you guys so you can see him."

"That's good to hear, Doctor. Thank you," Mac said as he shook the doctor's hand once again before he headed back into the operating room.

"How's Danny?" Lindsey poked her head up from her knees when she saw the surgeon leave the room.

"He's doing okay. We'll be able to see him soon," Mac answered with a reassuring smile. He could see the color return to her face and a slight hint of a smile curling up on her lips. She let out a deep sigh of relief as she let her head fall back down against her knees. The rest of her body seemed to relax as well.

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Thank God it's Friday... I don't think I coulda handled another day of this week... It's been the week from HELL! Everything that could possibly go wrong, did, and not to mention, everything I could screw up and get in trouble for, I did as well. The only thing that got me through it was the wonderful comments you guys sent me. Thank you so much! I hope you've got some more encouraging words, cuz I'm feeling really low right now. I barely managed to finish this next installment for y'all, which is prolly why it's so short. Sorry about that. But thanks again for all your support. I can't appreciate it more. You guys are definitely a wonderful bunch. I've got a few wallpapers up on my profile page that you can check out, kinda like my present to you for being so wonderful. Hehe. Thanks again. Have a great weekend and enjoy the story! More coming soon!

-DK