A/N: Well guys, thank you so much! I appreciate all of your kind words from last chapter. It was a bit of a monster, so I appreciate the time it must have taken to read it all. I hope you enjoyed it and it wasn't too emotionally draining ;). This one isn't as half as emotional as that one, so I think you can put your tissues away for now. :)

I'll leave it there for today, because it appears that if I carry on, I'm going to end up telling you the rest of the story and we don't want to do that... so huge thank yous to those that reviewed last chapter. You guys are great and really keeping me motivated with this story. Lady-Buster, Megan, afrozenheart412, brendanakai, cklovesm-m, saderia, pretty7 and 18lzytwner

Ben Harper – Walk Away

They say time will make all this go away, but it's time that has taken my tomorrows and turned them into yesterdays. And once again, that rising sun is dropping on down. And once again you my friend are nowhere to be found.

The lecturing job hadn't been for her. She knew that deep down, it wouldn't be. She wanted to be useful; to apply what she knew to situations that needed solutions. She wanted to help solve the crimes that needed solving. She didn't want to make up hypothetical situations (which nine times out of ten were actually real occurrences that she'd encountered in New York, to satisfy her longing to be back there with the team). She wanted to help bring closure to families, and she couldn't do that in a lecture theatre... And if she watched another hungover student run from the damn lecture hall in search of the nearest restroom, she'd lose all respect for herself for insisting on pursing something that was making her so unhappy.

Yes it was a job, a well respected, well paid and enjoyable job... but it just wasn't her job. She spent her free periods between her classes and lectures researching potential opening positions in various departments of the local crime scene units. After coming up with nothing, she'd extended her searches from local to not so local; desperate to find something to appease her aching need to get back into the field.

Except Danny had been right; trying to land a job in their profession was seriously tough. She was drained from searching, teaching, lecturing and disheartened from getting absolutely nowhere.

Patrick had been supportive, and reminded her everyday of how much he appreciated her making such a sacrifice for him. Which, in turn she appreciated. It would make her situation a lot more difficult if he was less than acknowledgeable about all that she'd given up for him and the struggles she was now having to face. The same conversation perhaps didn't need to take place every single day, but she had come to understand that it was the way that Patrick was. He felt guilty and wanted to make sure she knew that he wasn't about to take her for granted. He'd asked a lot of her and while she was more than willing to go along with it, trusting in him, she sometimes wondered whether... No, she knew it was worth it. It was. He was quite wonderful to her. She didn't regret her decision to move to Chicago with him one bit. He loved her, and he made her feel special.

Eventually after a string of sleepless nights, she'd packed in her job with the College; realising that she was just kidding herself. She had a few interviews lined up for local departments that would provide her with the step up that she'd needed since they'd moved to Chicago months ago.

She'd gone on tours of each workplace with the other potential employees, and while she tried to keep the negativity out of her mind, she couldn't help but feel disheartened at what she was presented with. Going from a top of the range crime lab to a little unit with less than stellar equipment was quite the adjustment. She wouldn't be having little dates with EDNA. She wouldn't be able to beat the crap out of their massive GCMS machine after Adam messed around with it. She wouldn't have the access to the things she needed to in order to do her job to the best of her ability. She wouldn't have her sounding board... not that she needed him. No, she was perfectly fine by herself.

When she'd been hired, raised eyebrows were among the interview panel at her request for a job. They'd argued that she was overqualified for the position of a lab technician. Her resume was impressive; that was undeniable. They'd lamely pointed out to her that she'd worked for one of the top crime labs in the country, in which she had been a key crime scene investigator, helping to send the crime rates plummeting after she herself joined the team. She had an incredible reference from both her Montana supervisor and Mac Taylor. They'd been floored at the signature at the bottom of the complimentary recommendation that Lindsay Monroe would be their best employee to date if they chose to hire her. However, with all that evidence pointing to Lindsay being an impressive candidate, they asked her politely if she wished to reconsider her application; perhaps withdraw and wait for a position at the crime lab at Detective level; something that was more suited to her career path.

But rather than agree with them and take her application and rip it to shreds, she'd plastered a smile on her face, shook her head politely and explained that she didn't want to wait for something to open up. She'd rather be working at the bottom of the totem pole, being good at what she was doing, as opposed to doing something completely unrelated to the field that she ultimately wanted to work in. So long as she had her foot in the door at the crime lab, there was eventually going to be that opportunity for her to land that position that she so desperately wanted.

And she'd landed the first lab technician job she applied for. And the second... and the third... and the fourth. She was inundated with choice. She and Patrick celebrated after she accepted one of the positions– he went all out and he took her to have dinner in a beautiful (and highly expensive) restaurant that Lindsay had seen on the way to their apartment from the Airport upon first arriving. Then Patrick had taken her to the top of Sears Tower - or Willis Tower as it was now called - to soak in the sites of the city in front of them; the city that had become their home together. The view was spectacular, all lit up as they watched the sun set on the horizon – it had been a perfect end to their celebration. But something just didn't feel right. She knew she should be happy – hell, ecstatic that her life was finally getting back on track – but there was something in the pit of her stomach that told her that things weren't right. She felt like something was missing; like she'd lost something. She didn't voice her concerns, or even really dared to admit it to herself; but when she thought about it, the view ahead of her didn't give her the same feeling of butterflies. It didn't wow her to the degree that somewhere else had - somewhere else that still had a tight hold of her heart. She knew that with time, that awe and longing she still felt would disappear, and she'd have the same feelings. Time solved a lot of things; she'd learnt that from experience. That feeling of butterflies would find their way into her tummy eventually.

The scary thing though was that she wasn't sure whether it was the city or the company that wasn't providing her with the same butterflies. She cast a glance to her side and smiled brightly at the man stood with his fingers intertwined with her own, and she sighed as he squeezed her hand affectionately.

There was something missing. And that scared her.

Funnily enough, one of my best friends has just been to Chicago and took about a bazillion pictures from the Willis Tower and other parts of Chicago... so it was funny to edit/re-read this to make sure it was okay as my friend put up her photos onto Facebook. I don't know why I shared that. Hahaha, moving on, a very short, filler chapter almost, but it's the beginning of things turning around; I'll put it that way ;)

I'd love for you to let me know what you thought... it'd be much appreciated. Thanks for reading! :)