A/N: Well folks, this is most definitely the chapter that you've all been waiting for. Ahh! And can I just tell you all how excited I am for you to read it? This was the chapter that sparked this story, although the initial version looked a lot different to this. I wrote the foundations of this chapter about a year and a half ago and it grew from there and took a life of it's own... so I do really hope you guys like it and it doesn't disappoint.

Huge thank you to the lovely people who reviewed last chapter. You guys are great and really keeping me motivated with your lovely reviews! cklovesm-m, Alice Quarantine, KTmac09, brendanakai, Pamro, afrozenheart412 and 18lzytwner!

The Way I Loved You – Taylor Swift.

And you were wild and crazy. Just so frustrating, intoxicating, complicated. Got away by some mistake and now I miss screamin' and fightin', and kissin' in the rain. It's two am and I'm cursing your name. I'm so in love that I acted insane, and that's the way I loved you. Breakin' down and comin' undone, it's a rollercoaster kind of rush, and I never knew I could feel that much. And that's the way I loved you.

Gazing at the seatbelt signs; she held her cell phone in her hand tight, waiting for the first opportunity to switch her phone on as the plane she'd been sat on for the last God knows how long. Her heart was in her throat and even then it was racing. Her stomach was flipping and her eyes were glazed with anticipation... with anxiety.

She just hoped that everything wasn't a huge mistake like she really thought it was.

With the seatbelt sign flashing off throughout the cabin, Lindsay pressed her finger down on her 'ON' button and shook the phone; as if it would work quicker with her desperate shakes. The second she could see her service bar finding reception she scrambled for the unlock button on her phone. "Please be off work." She whispered as she held down speed dial two and listened to the line trying to connect. "Please..."

"Messer."

"Danny," she whispered. "Danny, it's Lindsay."

"Montana?" His tone was surprised. Shocked.

"Listen, I know this is a little out of the blue, but I'm sat on a plane at JFK; can you come get me?" She bit her lip and closed her eyes as she waited for his answer.

She fortunately didn't have to wait very long.

"What's your flight number?"

She told him and in response, he told her he'd be stood in Arrivals waiting for her in fifteen minutes. He then disconnected without another word and she was left staring at her cell phone.

God did she hope she was making the right choice.

Danny Messer stared at his phone behind the wheel of the Avalanche. He blinked once, twice, three times before going to his Recent Calls list and checking he'd not just dreamed that conversation.

Lindsay couldn't be in New York... could she?

He looked again and listened to the replaying of her voice in his mind. She was at JFK. He was five minutes away from the airport. He shook his head in disbelief; this only happened in movies that she used to make him watch with her.

He had about a thousand questions bubbling inside of him. How? When? Why now? Seriously? What?

When she had left, she'd broken his heart. Granted he'd done a good job of shattering her's first, but a part of him – the selfish part of course – had been convinced that they could have worked through everything. The day she told him that she'd fallen in love with someone else and she didn't love him anymore – that she was over him - was the day he'd lost a part of him. He knew a huge part of their breakup was that she'd tried to accept everything that he'd done in the wake of Ruben Sandoval's death, but she just couldn't manage it. She'd dealt with a lot of shit from him, and she'd eventually gotten to the point where enough was enough. Deep down, it was what he expected. Hell, it had been what he'd deserved. It didn't mean though that it had been what he had wanted. He'd made a series of mistakes that had formed into one huge mistake, which had successfully wrecked the last year and a half of his life. People made mistakes, maybe not as many and as often as he did... but it was human nature. He'd never ever thought she'd let it get as far as it did. He never thought she was as serious as she had been; and that was quite possibly his biggest downfall. Underestimating her. He'd learnt over the years to never question her. Never bet against her. She was a stubborn little thing and if her mind was set on something – it was going to happen, no matter what stood in her way.

But in all honestly, knowing that she was sat in Chicago playing house with some guy that had whisked her off her feet, showing her the love he hadn't had the chance to, killed him. Now though... now she was back. And for the first time in a year and a half; the void within didn't seem as daunting. The knot in his stomach that had become a constant thing had vanished into thin air it seemed. And he dared not to admit it, but a smile was tugging at his lips. He took a deep breath and exhaled as he switched the lights on and abruptly made a U-turn.

He had nothing to lose by going to pick her up.

But he had everything to gain.

She didn't know why, but she'd deliberately taken her time getting off the plane. She'd taken her time walking through the Terminal, going as far as letting elderly couples pass her despite their inability to keep a quick pace. She'd made a stop at the restroom that she hadn't even needed. She spent longer washing her hands and drying them than what she usually did. She just wanted to bide her time so that if, in fifteen minutes he wasn't there – she wouldn't have to walk away from what could be a watching audience; watching her stand there, waiting for someone who hadn't come. But now she didn't have anything left to do within the terminal before she emerged into Arrivals. Her heart was thumping in her chest as she strode towards the doors separating the last year and a half of her life, and her potential future. She gripped to her single carry on, letting it dangle by her knees as she took one last breath before pushing through the doors. The masses of people overwhelmed her for a moment or so and her eyes desperately searched the crowd for him. She felt tears rising in her eyes; even though he'd driven her to do it, ultimately all of this mess was her own fault. She'd done this. She'd moved away.

And she couldn't blame him for not being there.

She took one more step and as she did so, an elderly gentleman moved with his family, bringing the one person she was looking for into her sight. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he'd seen her first. His eyes were glistening, and the bouquet of flowers he was holding was dangerously close to slipping from his already loose grip. Her instincts were tugging her towards him, and in an instant she dropped her bag and raced towards him; tears slipping down her cheek as she did so.

In the time it had taken her to drop her bag, he'd dropped the flowers and was ready to catch her as she flung herself at him. He braced himself as her head connected with his strong chest;giving her a chance to instantly inhale his scent that she'd missed so much. She wrapped her slender arms around his torso, squeezing him tight and after a few moments of hesitance he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, taking the opportunity to inhale the faint smells of her shampoo that lingered in her hair. She still smelt the same. She still felt the same way when she was wrapped in his arms. He let out a breath as he tightened his grip on her. He could feel her tears soaking his shirt and he was proud to say that he didn't even care. He hoped that they weren't tears of sorrow or of heartbreak, but if they were, he would be the person to fix it. He would. He was determined.

It took all of his willpower but somehow he managed to back away from her for a second as he used his index finger to raise her chin so that she was looking up at him. He wiped her tears away before looking her in the eyes. "You're beautiful."

She giggled tearfully. "Hardly, I've been up all night, I've been on a plane for the last hour and a half and my make-up is probably all the way down my face," she hiccupped. "Not to mention I'm wearing the clothes I wore to work today, with a coffee stain right here." She pointed to the stained material. "I can't see me being the definition of beautiful exactly."

"None of that stops you from being beautiful," he whispered softly. "In fact, it makes you more so."

She bit her lip and fought the blush on her cheeks. She was about to explain everything when she spied a bunch of flowers out of the corner of her eye and realised that he'd bought them for her. Flowers? What?

"I hate flowers." She told him, her eyes locked on his, her hand gesturing down to the discarded bouquet of flowers. "I thought you knew that."

"That didn't stop you from stoppin' Patrick buyin' you flowers. I thought you'd changed your stance on them."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I haven't."

A small smile tugged at his lips. He dug in his pocket before pulling out something small and shiny. "It's a good job I thought ahead and brought you this then." He held his closed hand out and she opened her palm underneath his hand. He dropped the single Hershey's kiss into her hand. "It's a little melted, but it'll still do the trick."

"You... you remembered." She cried, tears filling her eyes.

"The small things are the things you love the most." He smiled before clearing his throat. Even though he was enjoying seeing her and soaking all of her in, he'd had enough of their pleasantries. He needed to know. "Lindsay, what are you doing?" His voice was soft and unassuming but desperate for answers; desperate to know where he stood with her - if he stood anywhere at all. "What are you doing here?"

She wiped her stray tears and sniffled. "My heart wasn't in it. It was somewhere else."

"But you loved him." Danny reminded her. "That's why you left."

"Not entirely." Lindsay admitted. "I thought I did. And I could have loved him but-"

"You told me you didn't love me anymore, that you were over me." he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "You said that to me, twice actually. You made sure that I heard you loud and clear I seem to remember."

"I wanted to hurt you like you hurt me." She hadn't even realised what she'd said until she heard her words; when they were too late to stop or take back. She inwardly cringed at what she'd just revealed to both him and herself. Had that really been what this was all about? She was decidedly positive that it wasn't, but there was a lingering in her gut that maybe, just maybe, it could have been an unknown ulterior motive. And it shocked her that it had taken her all this time to realise. She wanted him to realise how bad he'd hurt her.

"Well, you succeeded," He sighed, completely unaware of her internal musings. "And you did a hell of a job... You told me yourself that you loved him Lindsay, you can't just switch that off."

"It could never be the way I loved you, though; the way I still love you." She said as she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her nose against his with her hand placed strategically against his chest, just above where his heart lay. "Letting you go made me a different person, Danny. I tried to pretend that it didn't hurt me, knowing that I was hurting you, but it just made it worse."

"I know I hurt you," he said as he edged away from her. "But I couldn't deal with waiting around for you to come back like I wanted you to; I thought that was it... I thought we were over."

"I - I thought we were too. But there's always been this part of me, that always thought that we weren't finished. That we'd left things..." She trailed off as she began to realise that maybe her feelings were one-sided. Had she just made a huge mistake."

"You told me that we were over, you told me you moved on. You fell in love with someone else, Linds. You left me with no choice but to move on."

She moved away from him abruptly. How hadn't she realised? Why didn't she think about it before? "Did you meet someone else?"

Her question was one he had prepared himself for, and he was going to say yes. He was. Just to hurt her like she'd hurt him. But as he looked into her brown eyes, he realised that he just couldn't lie to her. Not again. He'd told her enough lies to last a lifetime.

"No." He replied honestly.

"Did you move on from me? Are you over me?"

"Well I- "He narrowed his eyes. "I think I am, yeah."

She raised an eyebrow, "You wouldn't be here if you were." She'd said it on a whim, hoping to God that she had just played his bluff like he had wanted her to. "You wouldn't have come to get me. I totally cut you out of my life until today and I know you Danny you'd have told me you were busy; you've got no reason to be here other than you wanting to be here. You haven't moved on any more than I have Danny and you know it."

"I can't get anything passed you." He sighed as he pulled his fingers through his hair. "You've left your bag over there." He muttered as he backed away from her.

His actions suggested that he was about to up and leave. Had it all been too much? Was seeing her not what he wanted? Had she pushed him too far? She hoped not, but the evidence was pointing to that big fat yes. And her heart ached because of it. She was confident that she hadn't made a mistake leaving Chicago because she was never happy; despite the lies she told herself. She hated the two jobs she'd subjected herself to. She'd never felt comfortable in the city. She never felt right with Patrick; she thought she had, but her heart wasn't in it like he deserved. He was a good guy and she really could have loved him with more time, or with different circumstances; but that wasn't fair on him. He deserved to be somebody's everything, not her second best.

She glanced toward Danny through her tears as he handed her the flowers and walked towards her bag. After walking the short distance, he picked the bag up with ease and placed it on his shoulder. She could see him taking deep breaths as he made his way back towards her.

"Why did you leave?" he questioned as he approached her again, taking her hand and leading her to a quieter section of the Arrivals lounge. "Why did you leave Chicago?"

She licked her lips as she let him lead her away from masses of people surrounding them. She couldn't help but notice the warmth of his hand and how it filled the emptiness within her that she'd been feeling while she was in Chicago. She'd missed the way that their hands joined and how his hand encased her smaller one perfectly.

"Huh?" he prompted when he hadn't received an answer. "Why did you leave?"

"He was sensible, reliable, committed, incredible, he was wonderful to me and on the surface, I thought I loved him. I could have loved him. He was everything that you never were. He was caring and sensitive and there for me when you made me walk away from everything that we were. He was there when you'd broken my heart. He made me feel special and loved and I knew from the very beginning that I could have spent the rest of my life with him-"

"You're doin' a fine job of makin' me question my sanity in comin', Linds. I know I asked you why you left and everythin' but I didn't exactly need my nose rubbin' in what you guys had, okay? I know he was good to you, I know that."

"I'm not finished," she reminded him, curling her fingers tightly around his. "In him Danny, I couldn't have asked for anything better and I would have spent the rest of my life with him." She paused. "I just would have spent every second wishing I was somewhere else, and that wasn't fair on him. I could never love someone else in the way that I loved you. I didn't realise it then, but I miss everything about you. I miss screaming at you, yelling at you, I miss that feeling I get when I look at you. I miss the way that you used to make me feel. I miss making love to you. I miss the little things," she said, gesturing down to their hands. "Like I miss the way you used to hold my hand and how they fit together perfectly."

"They do fit pretty perfectly together." He said, smiling down to their joined hands.

"At the time I didn't realise what we had and I was hurt Danny. You have to understand that what you did - what happened – it hurt me, more than you'll ever know." She paused for a moment, and took a series of deep breaths, giving Danny a chance to voice some of his thoughts.

"I had things to deal with Lindsay, I never meant to hurt you, surely you know that somewhere deep down?"

"Deep down I probably did," she agreed. "But when it got to a stage that all you were doing was hurting me, I had to really question whether or not it was a relationship I wanted to be in. We weren't going anywhere and we both needed space. It wasn't healthy for me Danny; you surely see that in retrospect now. I was a shell of the person I used to be and I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't do it to myself."

"I would have gotten my act together though, Linds. You just moved on without a second thought. You never me a chance to get my shi-"

"I knew, Danny." Lindsay said softly, "I knew exactly what you'd done. I understood. I didn't blame you for what had happened, and I don't blame you now for what you did. You were hurting, she was hurting... But it didn't mean it didn't hurt any less. And it didn't make it any easier on me that you never told me."

"You knew?" Danny asked.

"I knew," she nodded.

"Fuck," Danny sighed, rubbing his tired eyes with his hand that wasn't joined with Lindsay's. He pinched the bridge of his nose before turning his eyes back to Lindsay. "I wanted to tell you Linds, I wanted to so bad. I thought about telling you every day, but I just couldn't hurt you like that." He said, "I knew what I'd done and I was ashamed. I had no excuse for what I'd done and even though we'd cooled off, I still cared about you and you deserved to be treated better than what I was treatin' you. I always hoped that you wouldn't know, so that what you didn't know couldn't hurt you. But when it all boils down to it, I was just a friggin' coward and hell, I couldn't even tell you now. It took you sayin' it to me to get me to admit to it. I'm sorry Linds, I'm so sorry I did that to you."

"I know you are," she said gently.

"Why didn't you ever say anything? In an argument or somethin'? We had enough of them, you had plenty of opportunities to call me on it. Why didn't you?"

"I only had my gut telling me that something wasn't right. I didn't want to say anything just on that off chance that you hadn't. I knew you would have been hurt and it probably would have made things worse between us. Not to mention that I never really wanted to hear it out loud, or hear you admit to it. I wasn't strong enough for hearing it. It would have crushed me hearing you say you'd slept with someone else, even though I knew it. I had so many scenarios of how it happened in my mind that it was driving me crazy. I couldn't get my head around the fact that you'd done things that had been so intimate and special between you and I with someone else. And you'd done it so easily too. The thought of your hands on her made my stomach churn. I couldn't deal with the idea of you loving her like you had loved me. And because of that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't let you back in. I just couldn't do it."

"I never loved her Lindsay, what happened was a huge, huge mistake. It happened once and never again. And I never ever had what I had with you with her, you've gotta know that."

"I know," she nodded slowly. "I'm in a different place now, and I've accepted it."

He shook his head slowly. "How the hell do I deserve you? Like, how? What the hell did I do to get someone like you?"

Cupping his face with her free hand, Lindsay affectionately ran her thumb over his cheek. "It must have been something really bad."

"Wiseass," he teased, despite the heaviness of their conversation. Danny swallowed as he composed himself. "Are you going back? Or are you staying?"

"I don't know." She whispered, accompanied with a shrug. "I didn't think this far ahead. I wasn't even sure that you'd come."

"That's not true," he smirked at her. "You knew I'd come."

"Well, I hoped you would," she smiled shyly. "I thought everything would fall into place when I stepped off the plane."

"No you didn't," he told her. "You know exactly what it is you want. You know you're staying here. You wouldn't have come back if you didn't have every intention of staying."

"I know," she admitted. "I just, I don't know how to tell you what I want to tell you. I feel like there are loads of things I need to say, I just don't know what those things are. I'm feeling overly conscious of the fact that I just cut you from my life over something that now seems so insignificant and silly, you know? I'm scared." She admitted quietly. "I'm scared that you don't love me in the way that I still love you. I'm scared that you're mad with me for, well, everything."

"Lindsay, how could I be mad with you, you didn't do anything wrong."

"I left. I moved on." She said quietly, looking down at the ground.

"So?" he implored, tucking a finger under her chin, making her meet his gaze. "You deserved to be happy, and he made you happy, didn't he?"

She nodded slowly.

"That's all I wanted, was for you to be happy. It sucked. You have no idea how much it killed me to watch you slip through my fingertips, but what can I say, it's not as if that torture wasn't well deserved."

Danny sighed as he watched Lindsay's disheartened features. How on earth could she think he was mad with her? What the hell would give him the right to be mad with her? He had nothing to stand on even if he had been mad.

"I – I just-" She sighed, clearly frustrated with herself. "I thought I'd be a little more verbally literate when I got here."

Lindsay while usually talented at expressing herself in a sophisticated and rational manner, and had done just moments previous, he'd come to realise that at times she faltered significantly when it came to him and their relationship. When things got emotionally tough, she sometimes lost her train of thought. He knew and was so confident because he was the same. They often had so much that they wanted to say to one another, but couldn't organise their thoughts well enough to do so.

Although he'd not been particularly vocal about it, another thing that Danny realised was that he'd been waiting for this moment with Lindsay for nearly two years and he, quite embarrassingly wanted to soak it up and savour it; just in case he woke up from his latest dream. He'd missed the way she fit perfectly in his arms. He'd missed the way that she was the perfect height to lean his chin on the top of her head when he was holding her from behind. He missed her kisses and the way that she made him feel. They'd always been passionate; their feelings, emotions, arguments, lovemaking... everything about them had always been passionate. Sometimes it had its downsides, arguments between them were always emotional - and more often than not – tearful and angry. But he'd take any form of passion if it meant that she was back in his life.

His eyes soaked her in, and watched as she tried to find the words she wanted to say to him. He was convinced that the only way, right now at least, to tell her how much he'd missed her and how he didn't care about her cutting him out of her life for as long as she did was to show her. He knew that words – his words at least- carried very little meaning to her after all that he'd done even despite her coming back to him. Sorry was just a word that he'd abused. His promises that he wouldn't do it again had turned into empty promises – which left him with actions spoke louder than words. The silence between them allowed him to conjure a plan; he wanted to make sure that she knew exactly how he felt. He wanted her to know that he wasn't going to mess her around anymore. He wanted to show her how hard the past eighteen months had been on him and how they had in result, matured him. He had a different outlook on them. On her. He wanted to show her how much he'd missed her. And he wanted to show her that he wasn't going to do anything to jeopardise their relationship; he had no intentions of ever letting her go again. Ever again.

And secretly, he wanted to reassure himself that she still felt the same about him. Even though it was obvious for all to see. For some ungodly reason, Lindsay Monroe was still very much in love with Danny Messer. And for that, he couldn't be more thankful.

Taking her hand, Danny stepped towards her and gently kissed her. He wanted to test the waters with her first and was glad he'd done so when he felt her freeze against him. He broke their one-sided kiss almost instantly and settled his lips so that they were hovering over her's. "Let me show you how sorry I am." He whispered.

Despite her initial stubbornness he fortunately didn't need to ask her twice. She shoved her bag he held on his shoulder to the floor, near the long forgotten bunch of flowers. This time, she wasted no time in deepening the kiss, like it was their first kiss all over again. Almost in sync to her desperation to kiss him, Danny effortlessly wrapped his arms around Lindsay, lifting her so that she was safely snuggled into his body, and in response to his affections, she wrapped her legs around his waist; neither of them faulting in their kiss as they did so. After many years of practice they'd mastered the art of this, he'd inwardly mused to himself.

He'd been right. Their passion was undeniably still evident and ignited the second Lindsay's tongue swiped Danny's bottom lip, begging for further access to which he granted with pleasure. Although it'd been nearly two years since he last kissed Lindsay this way; if not longer, he thought, he still felt the same way about her. He still felt like he could spend hours exploring her body; finding new things to adore about her every time. Her lips were soft and the way that her fingers made a path through his hair as she wrapped her fingers through the styled mess sent shivers down his spine. Nothing about Lindsay was different, except the obvious evidence that she had her confidence back that he'd taken from her. She was stronger. Happier. Ready to let him back in again. And she was positive that this was where she wanted to be.

And to his relief, he could readily admit that nothing was the same about himself. Yes, he still loved her just as much as he had on the day she'd walked out of his life. Yes, he still kissed her in the same way he did when they were dating, and yes he still very much wanted to make love to her through the night, ignoring the world outside... but other than that; very little was the same. He was different. He felt different. He was happier, healthier and majority guilt-free. It had taken a lot to achieve it, but with a lot of time to himself, he'd been able to work through his issues, leaving him open and ready to let Lindsay in.

He just hoped that a simple kiss would suffice for now at least in conveying that to her. At least until he found the words to voice his thoughts.

When they eventually broke away several long minutes later, he carefully set her back down on the ground and Lindsay snuggled into his embrace; giving him the chance to press a kiss to her forehead.

"It's not gonna be easy." He said; his voice and words muffled by her hair. "It's going to be really hard, and we can't just pick up from where we left off because it doesn't work like that. It can't work like that because that's where we went wrong last time." he told her. "But, as hard as it's gonna be, I know that I'm a wreck without you. I've got a void just about here," he slid his arm between them and held his hand over his chest, "and I know you feel the same."

She nodded against him. "I do," she whispered against his chest.

"So if you wanna commit to this as much as I do, then I think we might just have a chance. No more screwin' you around as far as I'm concerned. I've learnt from my mistakes and I'm gonna try real hard to let you into those places that I never let you into before. I know how much that means to you, and I think that if I stop holdin' back then we're goin' to really get somewhere you and me. We can do this, I know we can. You mean too much to me for us not to work. You've made your sacrifices, you've made tough decisions and you've cried more tears than I'm sure you wanna admit... You've come all this way to put your faith in me, in us, and I'm not gonna let you down. Not again, not ever."

She curled her fingers around the material of his shirt and let out a weepy sigh. "Please don't go back on this promise," she whispered. "Because all of this is exactly what I need to hear. It's what I've needed to hear since... all of this happened. I really needed that reassurance. Please don't break your promise to me." She meekly pleaded with him.

"I promise," he pressed another kiss to her forehead. "And I know I haven't said it when I should have and I never said it enough, but I love you, Montana."

She swiped angrily at her tears that insisted on spilling down her cheeks; frustrated with herself from being unable to stop her crying. "Why didn't you say any of this before? Why did you make it so hard? Why didn't you stop me from leaving in the first place?"

"Because I didn't realise what I had until you were gone. I lost you once, I'm not gonna do that again, Lindsay."

"Good because I don't know whether I could go through the last year and a half again. I don't want to mess this up again. This is where I want to be."

"Good, 'cause you're not going anywhere without me again." His fingers curled around hers and squeezed them tight. "Now, how about you and I stop making a scene in the airport? Let's get out of here and go get some dinner. I bet you're starvin'!"

"You asking me on a date, Danny Messer?" She asked, wiping the last and remaining tears from her cheeks.

"Maybe," he smirked. "If I was, would you say yes?"

She squeezed his hand tightly and tugged him towards her. She stood on her tiptoes and settled just next to his ear and whispered. "Ask me and you might just find out."

I really, really sincerely hope you guys enjoyed that as much as I did writing it. To see it finally getting posted for you guys to read is so exciting for me as it's been something that has constantly been niggling at me for the past year! And anyone that knows me, knows how... fond I am of airport scenes. So this was just a 'had-to'. I'd absolutely love to know what you thought. I hope as well it was a satisfying enough reunion and I did it justice. There's one more chapter after this one, so not much left of the story to go *sniffles* Anyway, enough of my rambling. Thanks for reading, and if you have a few spare minutes, I'd really appreciate some feedback - let me know what you thought! :)