Chapter 20

Lindsay awoke the next morning to find herself wrapped around the torso of one Detective Danny Messer. He looked so beautiful when he slept. As she slowly regained conscoiusness she watched his chest gently heaved up and down, up and down.

"What happened?" she heard a soft whisper. Danny was waking up. "Where are my pants?"

Lindsay chuckled and tossed him the pair of pants they'd thrown into the corner the night before. Soon after, they emerged from the bedroom to see Madison still laying on the couch, watching SpongeBob SquarePants. God, Lindsay hated that stupid yellow sponge.

"OHHHHHH... he lives in a pineapple under the sea! SpongeBob SquarePants!"

"Ugh!" Lindsay went for the coffee pot. Luckily, Danny had it set to start before the alarm even went off each morning.

"What? What's so bad 'bout SpongeBob?" It was Danny's turn to laugh.

"Well you don't have to deal with it every morning," Lindsay stirred a little milk into her coffee and took a sip.

"Hey Maddie, you want some breakfast?" Danny asked the little girl still sitting on the couch in her pajamas.

"Yes please!" she shut the TV off and came into the kitchen. It took her all of 30 seconds to get to the table and sit quietly.

"Okay, let's see what we got in the fridge!" Danny opened the fridge and found a jug of orange juice. He poured some for Maddie and set it in front of her. He replaced the jug and went for the cupboard. Ah, he had just the thing.

"Lucky Charms, Danny?" Lindsay scoffed as he poured some in a bowl.

"Breakfast of Champions," he smiled as he prepared to set it down on the table.

"And not for Maddie," Lindsay swiftly snatched the bowl away and set it back on the counter.

"Aww, Mom!" Maddie whined.

"Never mind, Maddie." Lindsay swiftly rummaged through the cupboard and pulled out a box of Museli from the back of the cupboard. She dumped the Lucky Charms into the trash and replaced the offending cereal with the much healthier version. Pouring milk on it, she set it in front of her daughter.

Museli? I hate Museli! Mom makes me eat it every morning, she says it's good for me. I look at Dad to see if he's gonna make me eat it too.

"Aw, c'mon Lindsay. You only live once." Dad takes the bowl from me and sets it in the sink. "Let's go out for breakfast."

So off we go. Once we sit down in the diner and get our food (Mom gets a bran muffin and yogourt, Dad gets an egg sandwich with spicy salsa, and I ask for oatmeal with raisins), Dad's cell phone goes off.

"Messer," he listens to who's on the other end. "Yeah. Okay, fine." he shuts it and gets up. "I'm sorry ladies, but we gotta go." He puts some money back on the table and off we go.

"So what've we got?" Danny asked as Hawkes pulled back the sheet to reveal their victim.

"No fucking way!" he stepped back, covering his eyes.