Sorry it took so long to update, shouldn't take as long now! I have ever chapter written of this story now, so I'll update sometime in the next few days! Enjoy!

Chapter Twelve: Reunion

The time at Hammerback Café had been splendid; everyone talked and had a great time. Maggie and many other waiters and waitresses seemed awestruck that the famous Mac Taylor was there and they wondered why he had even stopped by the restaurant. Mac ended up signing autographs, but he didn't mind. But Mac wasn't the only one getting attention; Aiden kept asking both Danny and Lindsay about the fire. She still assumed that both Danny and Lindsay knew something about the fire before it happened, but Danny and Lindsay kept telling her they knew nothing of it, they couldn't tell her that the fire had actually happened before and where they came from she was dead and Mac, Stella, Hawkes, Flack, Sid, and Adam worked at the New York Crime Lab. Though Aiden did finally leave them alone, she next began to bother Mac and Stella. She asked them when they would finally get together, since they did make such a cute couple when they sang on stage together. Mac warned her not to write anything in the paper about them, but she seemed not to have listened. It was funny to see Aiden working a different job, but Danny liked her better as a CSI investigator.

Audrey also made her appearance at the restaurant; Danny introduced her to the others and soon she felt relaxed, no longer worried if Danny's friends would accept her. They were all happy for each other's company; the night was reunion with old and new friends. And no longer would the fire be mentioned during the dinner, not until later that night.

Danny walked outside on the warm June evening, thinking about everything that had happened that day. There were still questions left unanswered, but to know he and Lindsay had made it out of the fire alive was more important to know than anything else. He had enjoyed the evening with both his old friends and new friends, and to think that this life would soon come to an end was almost heartbreaking to him. But he belonged in the world where he was a CSI, this place wasn't his life.

"Danny," a voice whispered, waking him from his thoughts. He glanced over to his side to see Audrey standing besides him. "Learned a lot today?" she said.

"Not enough," he replied.

"But you learned about everything you needed to know. I promise you will find out the answers to your other questions, like how the fire had started and what happened to Megan, I'm assuming that's what you wanted to ask me, no?"

Danny gave her a look of inquiry. "Can you read my mind or something?"

Audrey shook her head. "No. But after what had happened today, isn't that a question you would want to ask? Even if Megan had been the one who started the fire, wouldn't you want to make sure she had survived the fire?"

"Did she?" he asked.

"I can't tell you everything," she replied. "Like I said, you'll find out soon enough." They stood in silence for a while, gazing up to the night sky full of stars. It was hard to imagine there had been a fire that day, especially for the peaceful night it was. But only four people would know that this hadn't been the first time a fire had hit the crime lab, and even during this calm evening none of them would forget the tragic fires that had destroyed their home twice. "This is the end," Audrey whispered.

"The end?" asked Danny.

"You know what happened," she explained. "This will be the last night here. For when you open your eyes the next morning, your friends won't be working different jobs; they'll be CSI investigators again. The aftermath of the fire will be what you have to find out about."

"What about the others?"

"You mean the CSI investigators that worked for me," she said. "I don't know Danny, that's for you to find out."

"Your answers aren't really helping me."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "When your life returns to normal, find out what happened to them! That's all I'm saying! It's not too complicated to figure out."

"Thanks," said Danny. "Thanks for your unhelpful answers."

"If I told you everything, do you think you would get an understanding of anything?" she asked as she began to walk away from him.

"Wait!"

She turned around.

"Are you telling me you knew this was going to happen? The fire, the article, everything? You could have saved me time! I could have already been back to living my normal life if you could have told me about everything the first time we met!"

"Bye, Danny!" Audrey called. "Enjoy the rest of the evening!"

"You liar, you already knew me the day I came into your office! But did you tell me anything, no! You made me figure it out on my own so I could get an understanding of something!" He kicked the ground with his shoe. "I'll never forget this!" But as he turned to yell more to Audrey, he saw she was already gone. He shook his head, mumbling under his breath.

"Danny?" Lindsay was standing near the entrance to Hammerback Café, smiling, trying hard not to laugh. "You enjoy yelling to the city at this time at night?"

"No," Danny replied with a shake of his head. "Audrey was just here, didn't you see her?"

"No, I didn't see her at all." She walked over to Danny. "What did she say?"

"She said this would be the last day our lives would be like this. After this evening, our lives go back to normal."

"Well, that's good to hear." She studied Danny's face and thought she detected a hint of sadness in his eyes. "I'm going to miss this place, even if it wasn't our true home."

"Me too," Danny whispered.

They found themselves standing outside for a while, but as clouds started to form in the sky and rain began to fall, they hurried back inside. The rain had been their signal for the night to come to an end, for Danny and Lindsay shared a few words with the others before they decided to leave. As they said their goodbyes, Flack reminded Danny not to speed or he would be sure to catch him, Sid thanked him for bringing in more business to his restaurant, and Adam also thanked him for helping him get a job at the New York Crime as a lab technician. Aiden told him to call her if he had any more news about the fire—she wouldn't quit bugging him about it. But he would keep telling her the same thing, so it didn't matter. Hawkes didn't say much to him, but he understood, in this world, he hadn't met him before. Mac and Stella were the last to say goodnight to him.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Mac Taylor," said Lindsay with a shake of Mac's hand. She was pretending to adore him like the night he had performed at the jazz club. "And you too, Stella. Do you think there'll be any chance you two will be getting together sometime?"

"Yes," Stella replied. "We just didn't want to let Aiden know that." She turned to Danny. "Again, I'm sorry about everything I said to you. You're a really nice guy, Danny, I didn't mean to put you down or anything."

"It's okay," he said. "That's all behind us now."

"Many things are behind us now," Mac said in agreement. "Thank you for bringing us all together on this fine evening, Danny."

"You're welcome," Danny said.

They said their goodbyes to them, and they hurried outside to their car. Lindsay turned to look at Danny. "Thinking about walking home in the rain tonight?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she said. "You gonna join me?"

Danny took Lindsay's hand. "Yes, I'll walk with you, Montana."

As they walked home together in the rain, they stayed quiet, taking in the moment of their last night in this place. And Danny found himself wondering, what would he see when he opened his eyes the next day…