Mother May I?
Part 2
By: ioanhoratio
A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews! Thank you to bluelilyrose, uscrocks, rapidtetv, afrozenheart412, Dine89, Brinchen86, and laurzz . Your reviews are wonderful (I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets all giggly over pregnant Lindsay ^_^). I also appreciate those who favorited or alerted this story: laslovesangel, CSINYBabyy, backstagespotlight, JavaJunkie4evr, nkhh923, madhatterette, and Lindsay1234.
Danny Messer pinched the bridge of his nose as he let lose a rather large yawn. Normally he would politely cover his mouth, but since he found himself alone in the lab and was just tired enough to not really care otherwise, his body took advantage of sucking in the extra oxygen. He froze however when he heard a snort come from behind him.
His nostrils filled with a familiar cologne, and Danny just groaned. He should have known he would get caught slacking.
"Rough night Messer?" Don Flack's voice teased from behind.
Danny didn't need to turn to know that Flack's face was sporting a smirk.
"Somethin' like that," Danny merely grumbled as he quickly tried to focus the lens he was using to photograph some evidence.
"So which hot chick kept ya up late? Ya wife or ya daughter?" Don continued, completely ignoring Danny's sour tone.
Danny did choose that moment to turn from the evidence to face his friend. He raised a single eyebrow in warning and clipped, "First off, it's none of ya business and second, don't ever use the term hot chick when referring to my daughter."
Don raised his hands in surrender, though his mocking tone never changed. "A'right, I was just jokin'. Geez Mess, what's got your panties in a wad?"
Danny gave Don a lazy look and just shrugged.
Now slightly worried about his friend, Don pushed, "Everything alright Danny?"
Noting his friend's concern, Danny relented. "Yeah, jus' the usual. I go to bed late, Lucy's up early, Linds is gettin' further along with the baby, work is busy, an' there just ain't enough hours in a day, ya know?"
Don nodded in understanding, but still couldn't help jabbing, "Must be hard, havin' an adorable daugther, smokin' hot wife, a son on the way, and a well payin' job." He put his arm around Danny's shoulders and just hung his head in mock commiseration.
"Get off me," Danny griped, shoving his friend back easily. The two pals shared an easy smile and Danny remembered something. "Oh, hey, Linds wanted me to make sure you were still plannin' on comin' over on Sunday for Dinner."
"Like I would miss that," Don said, then asked, "She still makin' burgers?"
"I hope so," Danny answered, both men salivating at the thought of the delicious burgers Lindsay could create. Their thoughts were interrupted by the singing of Danny's cell phone. Tugging his phone out of his back pocket, Danny grinned. "Speakin' of, I'll ask her right now."
He put the phone to his ear and answered, "Hey babe! Ya ears musta been burnin' 'cause Don an' I were ju...Babe?"
Don's head flew up at the change in Danny's tone.
"Lindsay w'as wrong? Calm down babe...try an' calm down...What happened? Are you ok? Lucy? Please babe, ya gotta take a deep breath and talk to me," Danny pleaded, the sobs heard through the speaker frightened him, and he was desperate to do something. From where he stood, Don could hear Lucy fussing in the background.
"Lindsay," Danny tried again, "where are you?...You're driving? Pull over right now an' I'll come to you...I'm serious...well, how close is close?...Fine, just be careful. I'll see you in a minute."
Danny ended the call, and practically ran out of the lab with Don hot on his heels.
"Yo, Danny, what's goin' on man?" Don asked, catching up with his friend at the elevator.
Danny was pushing the down button over and over again, quickly and forcefully. "I don't know. Lindsay was just cryin' pretty hard an' I really couldn't make out what she was saying."
"Where we headed?" There was no question that Don was going too.
"I finally figured out that she was pulling into the parking garage," Danny told him as they entered the lift.
It seemed to Danny to take forever, but soon they were exiting into the hallway that led to the building's garage. Danny sprinted towards the doors and used his body's weight and speed to shove them out of his way. Despite the warmth of the spring day, it was cool in the enclosed cement parking lot, but Danny was numb to it all as he waited for the headlights of his wife vehicle.
The two men stood next to each other, anxious and worried.
"The fact that she came here is a good sign Danny," Don tried to comfort his friend, "If something was wrong physically then she would have headed for the hospital."
"Yeah, yeah," Danny agreed distractedly, "but this is Lindsay. She gets upset sometimes but she never cries like she was cryin' jus' now. The last time I heard her cry that hard was in Montana when she had to testify. I hope her family's a'right. Her dad hasn't been feelin' too good lately."
Neither knew what to say after that, and silence filled the space. Danny's mind raced with every dark possibility, and he felt like he was going to crawl out of his skin. He needed action.
"Where are they?" he growled with frustration. He was pulling out his cell phone to call her when he heard the sound of an approaching vehicle coming up the ramp.
"Finally," he breathed jogging over to meet the car. Lindsay, not bothering to pull into a parking spot, threw the car into park and was opening the door, exiting as quickly as her cumbersome body would allow.
She blindly reached for him, and he immediately responded by pulling her into his arms. Her body was shaking, and though her tears had changed from deep sobs to whimpering it was clear she was still quite upset. Danny wrapped his arms tightly around her, angling her body so her enlarged belly was turned to one side, but her face could be buried against his neck.
He stroked her hair, and spoke soothingly to her as he twisted his head so he could get a look into the car and ensure Lucy was alright. The toddler had her fingers stuck in her mouth, and her eyes were red and slightly swollen. She began to wail in earnest when she saw her father.
Danny made eye contact with Don over Lindsay's head and sent him a silent plea. Nodding in understanding, Don jumped into action. He made his way around the vehicle and unbuckled Lucy from her seat.
"Come'er little one," Don cooed as he pulled her out of the car. She gripped tightly to his suit's lapels and rested her snot covered face against his shoulder. Don followed Danny's example and stroked the child's hair lovingly.
Danny felt Lindsay relax against him and her shaking subside. He didn't move though. He waited until Lindsay pulled back before asking any questions, and even then only after he had carefully examined her face.
"Ya a'right?" he asked quietly, noting the track of dried tears on her cheeks.
Lindsay looked up at him, her eyes sad, but she nodded and mumbled, "Sorry."
He could see her cheeks burning red from embarrassment as she struggled to get her emotions under control.
"Can you tell m what happened?" he pressed gently.
She sagged against him, but cleared her throat to answer, "I'm not even sure. It was so unreal, Danny. She seemed so unreal."
"Who?" he asked, the skin of his forehead wrinkling in confusion.
"Daniel Cadence's mother."
Thanks for Reading!
Well, I guess the next chapter we'll have to find out what happened between Lindsay and Cadence's mother. ^_^