A/N: You guys rock for all those great reviews, thank you so much!!! I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, and please keep reviewing :)
Oh, and special thanks to Pepite for the support, and to Kkristabell for the beta, the support and for keeping me from posting stupid stuff...

Happy New Year everyone!!!!

Everything seemed to take place in slow motion: the police taking away Gus and his fellowship, the EMTs rushing into the store, putting Danny on a stretcher and carrying him out. Had they even bothered to check his vital signs?

Lindsay could only sit there in shock, Danny's blood all over her, and watch it happen. Everything felt unreal, she felt aloof, unable to move and get back into the scene. All of a sudden a man appeared over her, waving a flash light into her eyes. His uniform identified him as a member of the ambulance team, his lips were moving, he kept opening and closing his mouth, but Lindsay couldn't hear any of the words he was probably saying. She understood that she was expected to answer something, give a sign that she was okay, not hurt, that none of the blood was hers. She managed to slightly move her head up, and then down again, so that it looked like a nod. The man helped her standing up and brought her to one of the ambulance vans waiting outside. Her colleagues came running to her, but Lindsay couldn't hear what they seemed to be screaming into her face, she saw the worry and relief in their smiles, but all she could think about now was Danny.

Was he still alive? Judging from the amount of blood her clothes had soaked up, he wasn't. Lindsay tried to open her mouth. Putting all the strength that was left in her into forming that simple yet most important question on her mind right now, she tried to ask one of the EMTs around her about Danny's condition. She eyed this man who had brought her into the van and was holding her hand as they drove towards the hospital. She really tried to speak, but all that came were tears and muttered fractions of words she didn't even understand herself.

At the hospital she was washed, her clothes were changed and finally she was laid into a bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she sank into a deep dreamless sleep. She woke up exhausted, it was evening again, frantically looking around and trying to remember what had brought her into this room full of strangers. Hearing the usual hospital sounds, she could locate the room, and with that the rest of her memories of the night before came flooded back into her mind, along with a name: Danny Messer.

Glad to have found her ability to hear and talk again, she asked a nurse in the room if she knew anything about a man being taken to this hospital with a gunshot wound last night. The nurse wasn't able to tell her anything about him as she had started her shift only an hour earlier, but Lindsay was determined to find out if Danny was here, if he was alive. She stepped out of the bed, her head still pounding after all the stress from the night before. Ignoring the flowers and get well cards next to her bed she slowly walked out to the hallway. There she stumbled into a doctor, finally someone who had been working since last night. He directed her to a room up the stairs and offered to take her there in a wheelchair since she didn't stand too firm and her steps looked quite shaky. In the elevator, she tried to get her thoughts in order, but one of them kept running around in her head messing everything else up: He's alive.

Still thinking about what to say to Danny, how to behave in a situation like this, she entered his room. It looked exactly like the room she woke up in only few minutes ago, with the little difference that here, everyone was sleeping. No, not sleeping, these patients were all in a coma, not expected to wake up any time soon.

The doctor brought Lindsay over to Danny's bed and then left. She carefully took his hand and studied his face. The expression on it was a peaceful yet painful one. He looked tense, but with a hint of happiness. His eye-lids kept moving, he seemed to be caught in a dream, maybe even a nightmare, unable to escape. Lindsay started to think about all the events she had gone through, they had gone through the night before. After picking her up as a stranger at the side of a road, he had risked his life for her. He had taken the bullet that most likely would have hit her. Tears kept crawling up her eyes, the emotions she had not been able to set free last night or in her sleep were now seeking their way out of her body.

He had saved her life. Even now, only holding his hand, she felt a strong bond connecting them. She wanted him to stay with her, stay her lifesaver forever. She remembered the short time in peace they had spent together in his car, the warm feeling that had sorrounded them, the attraction she had felt for him the moment he had stopped for her. And she remembered how all those sentiments had grown stronger with every minute she had spent with him.

Once again, her head was spinning, full of thoughts about Danny and her feelings for him. Over all this she became weak and tired again, and fell asleep holding his hand, resting her head on the side of his bed.


A/N: Just so you don't get the wrong impression: No, I didn't forget that Lindsay is married in this story. In fact, you're gonna meet her husband in the next chapter ;)