Chapter 5: Let It Snow
Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
The lights are turned way down low,
Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow
"Danny, we'll give you a ride," Don offered.
"Yeah, man, thanks. That snow keeps coming down, there won't be a cab free for hours. We'd have to sleep over at your Ma's." Danny answered.
Being a little awkward, Lindsay sat in the front seat, while Stella squeezed into the back with Danny and the baby in her car seat.
Danny sat quietly while Stella, Don, and Lindsay chatted about the evening. Star had grabbed his hand before falling asleep, and her fingers were wrapped tight around his. He watched her dream, her eyes moving under the delicate eyelids, her mouth moving as if she was smiling and talking even in her sleep. He could see both Don and Stella, a perfect mixture, in her sweet face: Stella's startling eye colour, but Don's high cheek bones, Don's dark, straight hair, Stella's determined chin.
He dreamed a little of their own baby, wondering what he would look like. For some reason, Lindsay, who had predicted with fair accuracy all her nieces and nephews, would not say what she thought their baby was. Danny was sure it was a boy, although he didn't know why. He didn't think it was any macho thing; he looked at Star and wondered how anyone could complain about having a little girl. He knew for sure that Don wouldn't have traded her for any number of little boys. Danny was pretty sure his friend wouldn't mind just adding a few more children to the family.
He was almost asleep when they got to his apartment. He felt exhausted; the case on Christmas Eve had really taken everything out of him. Not for the first time, he envied Don his uncomplicated family. They always seemed such a close group, close enough to easily open and take in people who needed a family, like Lindsay, and Danny himself. The Messer clan was just as close-knit, but there were so many dark places in his family: things people were not to know or talk about. Don Sr.'s joke had cut a little close to the bone, although usually it wouldn't have bothered him.
Lindsay noticed that Danny was very quiet as they said good night, and walked close to him as they went upstairs to their apartment. She could see that he was tired again, so didn't bother asking what was wrong. She knew he wouldn't tell her until he was ready.
She kicked off her shoes as soon as they stepped in the door, and sighed in relief. Danny reached to help her off with her coat, and she turned into his embrace eagerly, kissing him with all the passion she was capable of.
Danny eased back in surprise; sex had not been a high priority the past few weeks as Lindsay had become larger and more uncomfortable. The light in her eyes assured him he had not misread this signal, though, and his tiredness dropped like a start flag at a race track. He wrapped his arms around her still slight frame and lifted her easily, laughing against her mouth when she squealed.
Instead of going to the bedroom, he surprised her again by turning to the living room, snapping on the Christmas tree lights. Sweeping the couch cushions onto the floor and grabbing the coverlet Lindsay had slept under the night before, Danny quickly created a little nest for the two of them under the tree and pulled her gently down beside him. They went slow, kissing and caressing. The first thing Danny did was to take down Lindsay's hair, running his hands through it until it fell around her face in wanton curls, which she swept over his stomach as she kissed her way down his body, undoing his tie, then the buttons on his shirt, pushing it and his jacket off him slowly.
He pulled her back before she went lower. He wanted this to last as long as he could, and he knew she would finish him far too fast. He wanted to unwrap her like a particularly precious present, starting with the pretty party dress, but first he did something he had wanted to do since she had walked out of the bathroom that afternoon. He sat up and pulled her onto his lap, kissing her on the lips, then trailed his mouth down her throat, pausing at the pulse point which still gave off a subtle scent from the perfume she had placed there hours before.
His hands moved up her body to cup her breasts as his mouth descended to explore. His clever tongue searched under the soft fabric, teasing and licking. Lindsay gasped as his hands quickly moved under her dress and pushed it over her head, trailing tantalizingly over her skin. She felt as if her body had been dipped in hot water while every place his fingers touched sparked as if with a static charge.
Her eyes were wide and dazed as his lips continued to explore her, returning again and again to her red, swollen mouth. His hands moved from her back to her thighs, and he ran his fingers teasingly over the tops of her stockings. She moved against him, reveling in the evidence of his arousal against her.
He moved her reluctantly off his lap so he could strip off his remaining clothes, and help her with hers. Finally, they lay skin to skin, spooned against each other so that there was no pressure on the baby. Then it was sweet and slow, sighs and sobs of pleasure. The Christmas tree lights shone on sweat-slicked skin and lit the night in a soft glow.
Sated, they lay together, arms tightly wrapped around each other, when Danny suddenly realized that Lindsay was actually shivering, not just shuddering from the afterglow. "What's the matter?" he said, concerned.
"Nothing! I'm just cold, that's all," she confessed, looking at him over her shoulder with half-shut eyes.
He licked his lips. She had no idea how she affected him, wanton and sexy, with her flushed and satisfied face half-obscured by her honey-blonde hair. "Well, we can't have that." He swung her into his arms again and carried her into the bedroom where they made love again, carefully, almost delicately. She finally fell asleep looking so smug he had to laugh as he tucked the blankets in around her.
He went to have a shower and make some coffee. He couldn't sleep yet; too many images were running through his head. The evening with the Flacks had coalesced a couple of things he'd begun to deal with in the spring, when Lindsay and he had taken their trip out to Montana to meet all of Lindsay's family. That had been an intimidating prospect to say the least, even though he had met three of her brothers in New York when they rode into town to save their little sister, only to find, like Danny himself, that she was pretty well capable of saving herself.
He'd met her older brother, who had been caught up in the corruption scandal Lindsay had broken, and was now learning to re-make his life, as well as all the wives, children, and assorted family who seemed to cover the state of Montana from one border to another. He'd met her father, who made little secret of the fact that he didn't approve of the Messer charm, the Messer accent, or the Messer background.
Then there had been Don Sr.'s joke tonight, referring to his family background as a "family of interest" to the NYPD. It wasn't that he had never thought about this stuff before: he had. Nearly every day in college, every day in the Academy – hell, nearly every day in the Minor Leagues, he faced questions and curiosity about his family and how they were "connected". Now, tonight, he just needed a little time to process some of those questions before his life changed forever within the next few days.
The thing is, he'd always seen himself as essentially an urban animal. He loved the city, wearing it like an extra jacket, shrugging into it as he walked out the door. He knew every street in his neighbourhood, had walked the alleys and dark corners until he knew every scent, every shadow. The night before Lindsay had finally admitted her feelings for him, he had jumped off a roof chasing a suspect. He had spent his adolescence doing just that, exploring the rooftops in most of the downtown neighbourhoods. It was a fast, secret, and above all, cool way to get around the city without worrying about who was looking for you. If you knew your way about, and no one knew his way about like Danny Messer, you could get from one end of the city without ever touching the ground.
He had moved into his own apartment, this apartment, as soon as he was accepted into university, working two, sometimes three jobs to afford it. His mother had cried and his father had yelled, but he had been determined to get out of the family home and make it on his own. With only a few slips, he had done just that, making a life and a home for himself that owed nothing to his father's connections or his mother's family. He had done so well, in fact, that he had come out of school and into the lab a little ahead financially, which was a relief, as a CSI's salary was not generous. In spite of many temptations, he had stayed clean. Mac Taylor was his model for how to stay on track.
He thought he had everything he wanted and needed, and then Lindsay had walked into that tiger cage at the Zoo and he had been lost. He had never expected marriage, or children, to be part of his life, had never worried about it.
He looked around the apartment he had chosen at 21, had lived in for nearly a decade, had shared with no one until now. He looked at the corner of the living room, where they had carved out a little space for a cradle and change table for the baby. It was a little too close to a window, and the cradle covered a cupboard door, which they had filled with items they didn't think they'd need very often. He turned his back on the room, and stared out the window at his city.
It was time to look for a home, one that would fit a family.