Lindsay wasn't at work. Her shift started nearly half an hour ago, and she hadn't called in sick or anything.

"Where is she?" Danny asked angrily to nobody in particular.

"Danny, calm down!" Stella told him, "She's probably just running late or something."

"She's never late!" Danny insisted, which was true.

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Flack put in.

"You don't understand!" Danny yelled, "That bastard of a boyfriend of hers abuses her!"

The whole team fell silent and stared at Danny. "It's true! I saw a bruise and once when I was eating dinner with them he nearly hit her."

"That doesn't prove anything, Danny," Mac reasoned. "It's just one bruise, and you might have just thought that he was going to hit her. You were probably just confused."

"I'm not confused!" Danny said, loosing what little bit of self-control he still had. He picked up his phone, wallet and keys and stalked out of the room. "I'm going to go find her," he shouted of his shoulder before anybody could stop him from leaving.

Mac nodded to Flack. "Follow him," he told him, "Don't let him do anything stupid."

Flack agreed and too was gone.

Danny rapped on the door to Lindsay's apartment. Nobody answered. He heard some shuffling in the room, so he knew that somebody was in there. "NYPD!" he yelled, growing impatient and opening the unlocked door himself. He walked into the room and saw Lindsay lying unconscious on the floor, blood pooling out around him.

Danny caught a glimpse of Vince's back retreating towards the fire escape and ran after him. "Don't you even think about it!" he yelled, but it was too late. Lindsay only lived on the second floor, so Vince was already on the ground and running when Danny got to the window. He called for backup and rushed to Lindsay's side. After a quick scan of her body, he could see no life threatening injuries, and sighed with relief. Her eyelids fluttered open. "Linds? Linds, it's Danny. I'm right here, ok? I'm gonna stay right here as long as you need me."

Lindsay attempted to nod, but the pain was too great. A single tear slipped down her cheek.

"Shh…" Danny soothed, "Don't cry, I'm right here. The ambulance is on its way."

"Don't leave," she managed to rasp.

"I won't, I promise," he said, trying hard not to cry himself.

Flack entered the room a moment later, and saw Danny cradling Lindsay in his arms, telling her softly to stay with him. "How'd you get here so fast?" Danny asked, sniffing to regain his composure.

"Mac told me to follow you."

"Is the ambulance here?"

"No, it'll be here any minute though,"

"Vince used the fire escape. You gotta find him."

"We will, Danny, just stay here with Lindsay," Flack left the room.

Danny heard the sound of sirens growing closer and closer. He figured he save the paramedics the trouble of getting the stretcher up the stairs – there was no elevator – and gently lifted Lindsay up into his arms. She had managed to stay semi – conscious, and wrapped her hands around Danny's neck. As carefully as he could, he carried Lindsay all the way down the stairs and outside, just as the paramedics arrived. He lowered her onto the stretcher and they loaded her into the ambulance. "Don't leave," she pleaded once again, so with the paramedics ok, he climbed into the ambulance after her.

While Danny accompanied Lindsay to the hospital, Mac, Stella and Hawkes arrived at Lindsay's apartment. Stella and Mac began knocking on neighbors' doors, trying to find out if anybody heard anything while Hawkes processed the apartment.

"Did you hear anything unusual next door?" Stella asked Lindsay's neighbor – a slim, blonde bimbo about 25.

"Not really," she said, snapping her gum, "Just a lot of screaming and yelling."

"That's not unusual?" Stella questioned.

"Not for them, no," she shrugged.

"What do you mean?" Stella asked, wanting more specific details.

"Well, normally she gets home first, and then he gets home a while later. Most days he starts yelling as soon as he gets home. These walls are thin here, so I pretty much hear everything. Normally stuff about food and why she hasn't started dinner. I hear her cry sometimes, I'm pretty sure he smacks her around a lot."

"And you say this happens every day?"

"With the shouting and yelling and hitting? Yeah."

"Thank you," Stella said, forcing a smile. How could she have been so blind? She knew that something was wrong, but to have her friend be beaten day after day and not notice? She felt like a terrible person.

"What have you got?" Mac asked, interrupting her train of thought.

"Well, just a lot of screaming and yelling. They all say it's pretty normal, though. The airhead I just talked to said that she was pretty sure he beat her."

"That's pretty much what I got," Mac confirmed. "Let's go see how Hawkes is doing."

Lindsay lay in her hospital bed, not wanting to show Danny the extent of her bruising. "I'm fine!" she insisted stubbornly.

"No, Montana, you're not. You were beaten pretty bad, and I know its not the first time. You know that I'm going to have to take pictures as evidence," he paused, "Unless you want Stella to do it,"

"No," she shook her head, realizing that there was no way around it, "you can do it. Just make it quick, ok?"

He nodded, and got to work swabbing her hands and underneath her fingernails. He took pictures of her hands and face and legs, but saved her shoulders and back for last, not really wanting to know what bruising lay beneath her hospital gown. Finally, she turned around and untied the top of the gown so that her back and shoulders were exposed. Danny gasped. He knew it was going to be bad but he had no idea that it would be this bad. Her entire back was nearly one big bruise. There were some cuts and scratches, but for the most part her back was a rainbow of color – black, brown, blue and yellow splotches marring her creamy skin. "Just take the pictures," she whimpered. Danny did so, quickly and told her that she could retie her flimsy gown. She moved slowly – Vince had broken a few of her ribs – and she lay back down gingerly, trying unsuccessfully to lie in a comfortable position. Every time she tried, something hurt. "I give up." She groaned, flopping down onto her back (not the smartest move). "Ouch." She gasped.

"Didn't they give you anything for the pain?" Danny asked, alarmed.

"Yes, but it's not helping too much."

"Do you want me to get a nurse?"

"No, Danny, I'm fine, really." She paused and attempted a smile, "As long as you're here I'll be fine."

"I'm not going anywhere," he promised her, sitting on the edge of her bed. He took her hand and they were silent for a minute. "I have to ask," he began, "I know it's probably not my place, but I just have to- "

She cut him off. "Why didn't I leave him? That's what you were going to ask, isn't it?" Danny nodded. "I was scared." She said simply. "He threatened to kill me and my family – and Danny, if Vince says he's gonna do something, he does it, no questions asked. That's one of the things that I liked about him at first, his perseverance and the way he's true to his word. But, in the last few months, that's what scared me about him."

"But, Linds, you knew that we wouldn't let anything happen to you!" After saying that, he realized that wasn't the best thing to say, as she was lying in a hospital bed, all black and blue, and he hadn't been able to help her at all.

"There's more," she said, with much difficulty. "It wasn't just that. The story doesn't end there."

"What is it Linds?"

"He killed her."

A/N Ha ha. I'm such a terrible person, but you love me anyway!

xoxo

Lia