Disclaimer- I own nothing

Oasis summer fruits is one of my favourite drinks...and if you think my spelling is bad, you're probably american. I'm english...we spell some words different, like over here we spell Color Colour, we have a U, similar to Favourite, wheras in America it's Favorite. Not sure if Oasis is in america, but damn, it's mighty fine.

Mac opened his eyes, squinting at the light that shone in through the large window of Lindsay's apartment. He glanced at his watch, 6:02 am. Considering the job never gave anyone enough time to sleep, his body had been programmed into waking alertly not long after six am. He glanced down at Lindsay's curled form, her soft hair gently brushing his chin. He pondered their kiss, wondering how he'd managed to stumble up to her apartment wasted as hell without breaking a bone or two.

Normally he never involved himself in his co-workers personal lives, it was just something he had never had any problems with, until now.

Lindsay was young, perhaps too young. But he couldn't ignore the obvious attraction between them, there hadn't been anyone he had been remotely interested in since Claire had died. Life had been tough on him since that faithful day. September 11th 2001. The day his beloved wife of a long time had been taken from him. Things had been rough from that day on. Stella, Aiden, Danny, Flack and Hawkes had all been supportive, offering him help whenever he needed it.

But he had surprised them by doing the opposite of what they had expected him to do. He had buried himself into his work, trying to leave behind the pain that had plagued him since that day. He tried not to remember that last phone call with Claire before she died. No one had given much opinion on how they felt though, only because he usually kept to himself, shying away at even a mention of 9/11.

And now, three years later. He felt better, finally able to leave what had happened behind him, he knew that Claire would always linger in the back of his heart, but a new space for love had taken up residency, and he couldn't stop it. He found himself absentmindedly stroking Lindsay's hair, he hadn't even noticed that she had been awake for over fifteen minutes, staring up at his face as many thoughts ran through his mind.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked, barely a whisper.

He glanced down, containing his surprise that she had been awake the whole time. He composed his face into a neutral look, but also knowing it wouldn't fool her for one second.

"The last time I spoke to claire before she died." Lindsay smiled sadly and rubbed his shoulder in a comforting manor.

She knew that he wouldn't want her to talk about it, or try to make him feel better, from the short time she had known Mac, she knew that a comfortable silence was the best thing for when he was feeling this way.

After some time had passed he leaned down and kissed the top of her head and gently whispered thank you into her ear.

"I remember 1983...I was young, Claire and I had just married, it was just after the marriage that I went on a tour of Beirut, it was a tough war, our Platoon Sergeant was a brave man. One of my best friends, Stan Whitney died in my arms, I tried to save him but my efforts were futile."

Lindsay smiled sadly, again not offering any kind of condolence, knowing he wouldn't appreciate that. He didn't like to talk about his past, only to people who had known him for years. She knew it would take some time before he would open up to her like that. The fact that he had told her about Beirut in 1983 had been big, big for him anyway.

People had described Mac Taylor to be a stubborn bull-headed man, who never ever took any days off unless he had an injury impairing him to do what he did best. The only time he had ever taken any time off was after Claire had died, he'd given himself a week before he buried himself into his work. During that week had thrown every single item in the house that had belonged to Claire apart from one, a beach ball that she had blown up the previous summer, he kept it because it contained her breath, meaning he still had a part of her. He had packed up his things into boxes and moved out of the apartment at the end of that week, not even thinking of trying to cope without her in the apartment they had shared for a long while.

Mac tightened his arm around Lindsay's curled form, pressing his chin firmly on her head in an affectionate gesture.

"I haven't been interested in any women since Claire, until now."

"I know."

"I dream about her sometimes, once she told me that I needed to move on, that I would find love again."

Lindsay nodded silently and took ahold of his left hand, squeezing tightly, he squeezed back and smiled, loving the comfortable silence.

"You know, Stella used to pester me every day, asking me when I would be taking off my wedding ring, I told her I would when the time was right. I took it off last year."

Lindsay glanced up, giving him a curious glance before resting her head under his chin again, closing her eyes for a few moments. He began stroking her hair again, absent mindedly, she sighed happily and kept her eyes closed, she knew she could probably drift back to sleep with the calming sensations he was sending her.

Lindsay had been drifting in and out of consciousness, snuggling deeper into Mac's side, enjoying the quiet time they had managed to snag together. Mac smiled down at her and pushed her to the side, standing up from the couch and stretching, he laughed when he saw her glare up at him, shivering at the loss of warmth.

He grinned and leant down, scooping her up into his arms and glanced at her for indication, she pointed towards a brick wall and motioned for him to carry her there. He smiled, enjoying the view she had from her bedroom, there was another apartment complex next door, and slightly beyond that he could see the Brooklyn Bridge. He really loved New York, ever since moving there after he had married, it had become his beloved home, even though he lost his beloved wife in New York, it would always be his home.

Mac wrenched back the covers with one arm and placed Lindsay down, leaning down to take his shoes off, grimacing once realising he hadn't taken them off the night before. He slid into the bed next to Lindsay and glanced at the clock on the wall, 7:09, he smiled and wrapped an arm around Lindsay's waist, knowing he probably wouldn't sleep, but choosing to enjoy the comfortable vibes she was sending his way.

A few hours later Lindsay woke, moving her right hand across the sheet, searching until she found nothing, her eyes shot open and she grimaced, noticing that Mac's shoes were gone, as was he. She tried to reign herself in, knowing that Mac had a lot of responsibilities, in and out of the lab, so him not being there when she woke up shouldn't have been a surprise. She glanced over to the clock, noting that it was way past eleven and decided to get up, stripping off her clothing from the night before and grabbing a towel from the closet in her room. She closed the bathroom door behind her, throwing the towel down so it draped over the railing, stepping into the stall, closing the door and turning on the shower, smiling happily as the hot water flowed down her body, releaving the stress and aches her body had collected over the week, she spent longer than she should have in the shower, resembling a prune as she stepped out. She brushed her teeth and hair, opening the door and stepping into her room, slightly surprised to find Mac Taylor lying on her bed, legs crossed, reading the complete works of Oscar Widle that she had never managed to get into, only a few early pages of Dorian Gray, that was all.

She blushed slightly, pulling the towel tighter around her body, not ready to be exposed this way just yet.

"I'll close my eyes."

"Ok." She said, walking past the bed and over to the dresser, where she pulled out some sweat pants, new underwear, socks and a long sleeved t-shirt, all too prepared for a lazy day. Ten or so minutes later she entered the room again, crawling up the bed, sitting back on her knees at Mac's feet.

He grinned and placed the Oscar Wilde book down on her bedside table, leaning down to grab a bag from the floor.

"I figured you'd be in the shower when I returned, so I bought us subs instead of making breakfast, I had to run into the lab, make sure everything was running smoothly, and of course being scolded by Stella for coming in at all." He smiled, pulling out a turkey salad sandwich and a ham and cheese.

"Turkey or ham?"

"Turkey."

They ate their sandwiches in silence, glancing up at each other every so often with small grins, enjoying the comfortable silence even more so.

"What hours are you working tomorrow?" He asked, wiping some dressing from his lips with a paper napkin that had been in the bag containing the sandwiches.

"11 till 1, but I'm on call so I'll probably work over-time depending if we get a call out or not."

"It's New York, I can almost guarantee that you will be on a call out."

Lindsay nodded, finishing the last bite of her sandwich before using another napkin to wipe her mouth, throwing the trash into the bag afterwards.

"I know. Even the crimals never sleep."

He smiled, "And we never sleep because we're always up chasing them down."

"The job has it's pro's and con's...I couldn't imagine doing anything else though."

He smiled, allowing her to continue. "Since leaving Montana, I haven't thought of anything else other than this job, living, breathing and this job, it's all I've ever wanted since I was a kid."

"I was like that when I was younger, I wanted to follow in my father's footsteps, become a Marine straight out of high school, and that is exactly what I did...infact, my father was the one who persuaded me to take this job, just before he died, he told me that I should take it, that there wouldn't be anything left for me in Chicago, that Claire and I may as well live out our lives in the city."

Lindsay nodded, "How did Claire take everything?"

"She was supportive, happy I had decided to move to the city, all of her family live here, so you can imagine she'd be estatic."

Lindsay smiled, "What about kids?"

Mac gave a small smile and sighed, "Other than Reed, It was always next year, I always put it off, I always told Claire that our jobs were to hectic for children at the time, and waiting a while would do...and it just never happened."

Lindsay smiled sadly and placed a hand on Mac's shoulder, "There's still time, you're not exactly an old man."

He raised an eyebrow, "I know...but I'm not getting any younger."

She glared at him, "A ninety year old man has been recorded in a record book somewhere for getting someone pregnant...no matter how old the guy is, it can happen, belive me."

He gave her a worried look, "Where did you hear that?"

She tutted, "I two older brothers, and a boat load of cousins, my cousin Anthony always loves to brag about how his great grand daddy got a chick pregnant when he was ninety."

Mac shook his head, laughing, "Your cousin is crazy."

"Don't I know it, I grew up with him."

"So, where do your brothers live?"

"Well Nate lives in Wyoming with his girlfriend Stacey, and Morgan lives in Phoenix, he met some dolly over there and married her after two months, haven't heard from him in a while, I'm sure he'll check in soon. Think the girls name was Candy...says something doesn't it, sounds like a stripper."

He laughed again, "If he's in love, then what can you say?"

"That I don't want nieces and nephews named after sweets."

"Fair enough."

He smiled and glanced at his watch, "It's getting late now, so I think I'm going to head home, I'll see you in work tomorrow..." Mac trailed off, getting up from his space on the bed.

"We've really been in bed all day. Well I have, wow I feel lazy." He said, brushing some hair back from her face.

"Yeah." He said, moving forward after having put his shoes and coat back on. He leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on her lips, stroking her hair before leaning back.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight." She whispered, staring after him as he left.

The next day she found herself stepping off of the elevator one hour earlier than she should. She knew her shift didn't start till eleven, but she had woken up early and couldn't get back to sleep, she had a tray of four coffee cups in her arms, her bag slung over her shoulder as she made her way towards the break room, she knew Mac would be in his fish bowl of an office so she knew she could bring him his coffee a little later.

Danny and Hawkes were sitting on the large orange couch as she entered, their eyes lit up when they saw the coffee cups, glad they'd be drinking something other than the brown sludge in the coffee pot on the counter. She grinned and placed the tray down on the glass coffee table, unslinging her bag as she sat down on a chair opposite, dropping her bag to the floor.

"There's coffee for you two, Stella and Mac, thank me later." She said, standing up, grabbing both hers and Mac's coffee and leaving the break room, giving the boys a smile as she left.

He had a medium sized stack of paperwork in front of him, and appeared to be on his computer, probably writing a report. She knocked gently on the glass, waiting for his approval. He grinned and beckoned her to come in with his hand, leaning back in his chair.

"Morning, I brought you coffee, black, no sugar." She said, placing the cup down on the table in front of him, she smiled and turned to leave, keeping up a professional relationship was something that they both took pride in at work, not letting anyone know their business was mandatory.

"Lindsay!" He called, she stopped for a second, waiting for him to say something.

"Thank you for the coffee."

She nodded and carried on down the corridor back towards the break room, noticing that Stella had arrived, and was thoroughly enjoying he coffee Lindsay had brought in for her.

Stella spotted Lindsay and made a loud appreciative noise, "Thank you, you are truly a life saver...the coffee here is purely disgusting, and I didn't have time to pick any up this morning."

Lindsay smiled as she sat down, sinking back into the chair with a contented sigh.

"Everyone have a good weekend? I took Cindy to a Coldplay concert, and I'm already startin' to regret it." Danny mused, sipping his coffee slowly, savouring the taste.

Lindsay smiled, "I stayed in, didn't really do anything..."

Stella gave her a curious look, and she wondered whether Mac had told her where he had spent his weekend because they were closer than most of the team, Lindsay shrugged and had some more coffee.

"I was doing some more research on brain tumors, even though I'm not an active surgeon anymore, I like to help in any way I can." Hawkes added, enjoying another sip of coffee.

"That's very productive, how did Cindy like coldplay?" Stella asked, a smirk on her face, regarding Danny.

Danny rolled his eyes, "Screaming, jumping, the whole lot all while I was standing next to her lookin' like a clown."

"Does she even know more than one coldplay song?" Lindsay asked, twirling a curl between her fingers.

"Talk and yellow."

"Oh dear...is she blonde?"

"Do I even have to answer that?"

"Well you're the one who choses to date these air head blondes Danny..not us."

"I like blondes...they're hot."

"Don't we all." Hawkes added, picking up a science world magazine from the coffee table and flicking it open.

Stella and Lindsay collectively rolled their eyes and sighed, Stella stood and walked over to the trash can, dumping her empty cup in and walking to the door as her beeper went off.

"Briefing with Mac in ten minutes, come on people, fun times over."

They all smiled and got up, Danny heading out and towards the locker room, Hawkes and Stella walking to the conference room while Lindsay stayed back and threw away her trash.

She was the last to walk into the conference room and took a seat next to Danny, Stella sat to the side of the head of the table whilst Mac stood by the electronic board screwed to the wall.

"Now, as we do not have any active cases running now, we are going to focus on the unsolved ones until we get a call out, now, who has been assigned to the DJ Pratt case sinse Aiden left?"

"I have." Danny said, digging out a file from his binder and throwing it to the middle of the table with a disappointed sigh.

"Anything new?" Mac asked, picking up the file.

"No. I'm exactly where Aiden was three months ago, staring DJ Pratt in the face but powerless to do anything, there isn't much trace at all, and I've been over the victim's clothing more times to count."

Mac's brow furrowed, "Have there been anymore rape reports with the same MO as Pratt?"

"No sir, I have been checking every day, and still nothing."

"Ok. Well we're going to need to keep at that case, I don't mean to push anything aside, but what more can we do with this little evidence?"

"Not much..." Danny added, glancing down, missing Aiden more than he cared to admit to the others.

"Right...well I have a corner store robbery/homicide on hells kitchen, we have no suspects but I know the owner saw more than he's telling people, think someone's on his case not to budge."

"Who's the guy?" Hawkes asked, crossing his hands.

"Jimmy Corden. He's Italian-American, lives in the Bronx."

"Ah, I arrested him once for fighting with another corner store owner." Danny spoke up, smiling.

"He's a funny guy...guess he's in big trouble now."

"Yeah well, Allison Corden will have my ass if I don't solve this. She already came by and stirred up a storm about Jimmy keeping secrets from her and the police, she wants peace again, not trouble."

"They have any kids?"

"No thankfully. Kids are always the prime target."

"Yeah well Corden is a tough cookie, good luck with him." Danny smiled, remembering the arrest.

Mac raised an eyebrow, "Well since you know him so well Danny, you're coming with me to question him again."

Danny's smile widened, "Don't think he liked me much ya know."

"Don't try and get out of it."

Danny raised his hands, "I ain't...was just sayin'."

"Does Corden even like you?" Mac asked after a few minutes as he stood, straightening the lapels on his jacket.

Danny smiled, "He didn't at first, I'm sure he loves me now."

"Good...we don't need another suspect not co-operating because he hates one of our police detectives."

"You got that right!"

"Come on. Let's go before I change my mind about bringing you." Mac said, smiling at everyone as he left.

"See ya later Montana." Danny winked as he left, leaving Stella, Hawkes and Lindsay to they're own devices.

"Stella, I'm leaving you in charge, so any call outs or cases we're working on are on your call, coffee later." Mac said before following Danny out of the room.

Stella nodded and got up and threw some files down on the table, Lindsay and Hawkes each grabbed one and inwardly groaned, there was nothing they hated more than working dead end cases with little evidence.

"I'm assigning you both to the Pratt case as Danny and Mac are working the bar shooting one."

Lindsay nodded and headed towards the evidence storage unit where all case evidence was kept under maximum security. The clerk looked up from his news paper with a bored miserable look on his face, he looked tired and worn, probably not even wanting to deal with anyone.

"Buzz me in and I'll look for what I'm lookin' for." The clerk pressed the buzzer and gave her a grateful smile before pointing to the back, she smiled back and pushed open the door and headed straight to the back.

She took the two boxes from the shelf and walked back to the front where the clerk kicked open the door for her, she nodded thanks and headed towards the trace lab where Chad was leaning over a microscope, looking for something.

"Sup Monroe...what'cha got there?" He aksed.

"DJ Pratt case evidence."

He made a face "Ooh unlucky...Aiden was stuck on that one before she was fired, good luck making further progress."

"Oh I know...Hawkes is helping me though."

Chad nodded, "You're gonna need all the help you can get...Regina Bowen let the case drop so it's going to be hard."

"Again?"

"Yeah, too scared to testify I guess."

Lindsay shook her head, maybe if Regina Bowen hadn't dropped the case the first time, DJ Pratt would be behind bars now, but unfortunately life had a way of making things difficult sometimes.

Lindsay brought the bag over to the light table Chad was working from and sat down the boxes, she pulled Regina Bowen's clothing from the box and set the evidence bags out spaced away from each other.

"You won't find any trace on those clothes, Aiden went over them a hundred times and still came up with nothing." Hawkes said as he came in, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"I trust Aiden's judgement...I just don't know what we can possibly do now...there is next to nothing to go on."

"We can hit the clothes with a lazer...that's something Aiden didn't do."

Lindsay sighed and nodded, with little hope she followed Hawkes to the dark rooms where they kept the lazers and other equipment used for detecting nearly invisible trace. It was going to be a horribly long day, and they both knew it.

Mac pushed open the heavy glass door of the store, waiting a few seconds for Danny to follow him. Jimmy Corden's eyes widened when he saw the two cops enter his shop, he cleared his throat and threw down the news paper he had been reading, folding his arms tightly across his chest.

"I ain't sayin' nothing, like I told ya scrawny friend, I didn't see nothin'."

Danny glared at him, "I'm not scrawny."

"Damn sure looks like it boy." Corden glared back

"Yeah, you look like you could lose a few." Mac tossed Danny a stern look, telling him to back off.

Corden pointed to Danny, "I don't like this guy...you better watch it Messer."

Mac ignored him, a blank expression on his face as he pulled a picture from the inside pocket of his jacket, it was a mug of a someone they had suspected of being there during the shooting.

"Don't give me that bullshit. I know you saw something, now you better start talking."

Corden eyed the photograph wearily, huffing heavily before slamming his hands down on the glass counter.

"His names Rosie, Italian or something...listen, you gotta protect me and my wife, Ali's all I got, and I don't want her taken from me cause Rosie or one of his thugs find out I ratted on em'...c'mon."

Mac sighed, "I'm placing you and Allison under protective custody."

Corden didn't look impressed, "Like that's gonna be enough...they'll get us while we're sleeping."

Mac sighed again, "No one will get you Corden. Now I've got a lot of work to do, and not a lot of time to get it done in, now I'm out of here...you'll be seeing men in blue around every corner, and pack your bags, I'll be expecting you and Allison down at the 12th precinct later."

Corden nodded and gave Danny one last glare before heading into the back.

"Corden, hold up." Mac shouted, remembering something else. Corden huffed and glanced up

"Does Rosie have a last name?"

"Rosie is his street name, now get outta here."

Mac rolled his eyes and followed Danny out of the shop, they walked in silence towards the avalanche, thoughts mulling over in their heads."

"Make sure you cover ya head...I don't want Lindsay on my door step at three in morning crying because she can't find you anywhere. Be careful on this one Mac."

"I will. There's no way Lindsay will be without me on this one."

"Good."

"That's settled then."

They nodded and got into the truck, heading back towards the lab, thinking of better things.