hey my lovely readers :)

well, this didn't exactly turn out the way id planned, but i needed something to bridge between here and friday night.

and yes, that means that the next chapter will be all about friday night (thats your cue to start dancing) :)

hahha.

maybe with a little review motivation, i can have it up sooner rather than later ? :)

enjoy (:

Chapter 7

"Bailey, you've hardly touched your dinner, is everything alright? You gettin sick on me kiddo?" Lindsay said to her daughter as she reached across the table to place her hand on the little girl's forehead. She was starting to grow worried. Bailey was sitting with her chin on her fists, staring disgustedly at her dinner. At age four, she was already turning into a teenager, which made Lindsay equally as humored as she was scared.

"But I'm not hungry. Can I just go back and watch tv?"

"Bay, you barely ate your breakfast, I found your lunch under Uncle Flack's desk, and now you won't eat your dinner? I even made your favorite, Scooby Doo mac and cheese. Are you okay sweetie?"

"I'm fine, I'm not sick I just don't wanna eat. Can I go watch tv. Please?" she said with a tired look in her eyes.

Feeling she had no choice but to give in, she shooed the little girl off and sighed as she began to clean up the kitchen. As she scrubbed away at the pots and dishes, her mind wandered to Danny. He had looked so peaceful laying in Flack's office with their daughter sleeping in his arms.

Their daughter.

He still didn't know. It pained her to keep the secret from him, but until he proved that he deserved to be back in their lives, she couldn't find a way around it. If he knew she was his child, she knew he would want to spend every waking moment with her. She couldn't bare the thought of being away from Bailey or having to deal with custody battles or any of that nonsense. She couldn't shake the thought from her mind, but would Danny really try and take her little girl away from her? No, she thought, he would never do anything like that. As much as she wanted to think of him as a self-centered bigot, she knew in her heart that he would wait for her to accept him as a father. Reassuring herself that he would wait only made her think of all the time he would spend waiting. He was going to do anything to get her back, wasn't her? The thought of him down on his knees begging and pleading made her laugh. He was a good man; she knew he would take the right steps to gain her trust back. The only question left was, was she ready for it? She had four days to decide. In four days, he would be in her apartment, in that very kitchen, having dinner with she and Bailey. In four days, he would be sitting here joking with his daughter as they read Flash comics. In four days, they would be sitting on the couch watching a movie, Bailey wanting to cuddle between the two, having all the attention like she usually did. In four days, Lindsay might just fall right back into his arms.

-----------

He didn't know what to say.

Mac had been his biggest challenge by far, apart from Lindsay of course, and he stared at the man, mouth agape, not knowing what to do. The older man stepped forward, hand outstretched with a laugh growing on his face.

"Did you really think I was going to shut the door in your face Danny? It's good to see you again." Shaking Mac's hand, Danny truly began to feel like he had been welcomed back into the family. He sat down in the chair opposite Mac's as the man got situated at his desk.

"So I hear you're looking for a job?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, if I'm gonna be livin here again I gotta find work, gotta find a way to support myself," he began nervously.

"Well Danny, I told you my door was always open and that when you were ready, a job would be right here where you left it. Are you willing to start back at the bottom again?"

"Yeah, yeah I know, I gotta start back at the bottom. I kinda screwed everything up big time, didn't I Mac?"

"You needed time to think Danny. Grieving the loss of a loved on, and an entire family at that, is not in any way screwing up. Your choice to stay gone was your choice alone, and if you needed that to gain your closure, then that's what you had to do. Everyone mourns in different ways. I had my way when I lost Claire, and you chose a different way when you lost your family. Don't think that what you did was entirely wrong, because it wasn't in the slightest. Your only mistake was not telling your family what was going on inside of you. And by family, I mean all of us Danny. You've still got all of us here; we're not going anywhere. There will always be one of us here to lean on or talk to or just to be there when you're down. Why didn't you come to us Danny?"

He didn't know what to say. Mac was so accepting and so wise, his words stunned Danny.

"Well…when I knew that they were gone forever, I honestly didn't know what to do Mac. I couldn't just pick up and keep goin. I had to take him down Mac. I couldn't just…let him get away with what he had done. Someone had to bring that bastard down, and I wanted it to be me. I wanted him to know that if my family was going to die at his hands, he would die at mine. But…but as I kept searchin for him, I realized I was wastin my time…I was wastin my time, and it had been too long to come back. I didn't think I'd be able to show my face anywhere, especially here. I let my family down, I let you guys down, I let Lindsay down, and I let myself down. I didn't know where to go."

"You can always come back here Danny. Look around you. The people here are here for you. I hope you realize that now, that if you ever need anything, you just knock on one of our doors and it's done."

"I know that Mac, I know that now. But I tried that with Lindsay, and I almost screwed it all up again."

"Ahh, so you've seen Lindsay then?"

"Yeah, yeah I saw her. I can't believe I let her go Mac. This Cameron guy you hired? I don't like him, I don't like him one bit. And I gotta try with all my power to get her away from him, but I don't know how I'm gonna do that, especially with that precious little girl of hers. I can't tear them apart again, especially not the kid. How am I supposed to fix this?"

Mac laughed to himself. The thought of Lindsay being with Cameron Burke was always a joke around the lab considering how desperate Cameron was to be with Lindsay. But it anything would make Danny fight more, it was definitely having Cameron to get rid of as motivation. So he decided against revealing the truth. "Danny, you love Lindsay, am I right?"

"Of course I love her. With all of my heart Mac. That hasn't ever changed."

"Well there's your solution."

At this, Danny was confused. Sure he loved Lindsay with every fiber of his being, but how was that going the be the solution to everything? The confused look on his face gained a chuckle from Mac.

"Danny, if you love her enough, your love for each other will pull you through this. You two belong together, everyone here could tell that from the moment you met her. Now your job is to get this back on track. Choose your path wisely, and don't let her get away from you again. Just trust me on this one, your love will conquer all."

"Wow…Thanks Mac. Thanks."

He stood up, shaking the man's hand with a goofy grin on his face like he had just discovered the secret of life.

"You're welcome. Like I said, my door is always open. And Danny?" he said as the young man was about to exit the office.

"Yeah?"

"I'll expect you here bright and early for your shift tomorrow."

Danny smiled at this, and mock-saluted his boss. "Thanks Mac. You don't know how much I appreciate this."

"Just don't screw it up Messer," he replied jokingly.

"I'm not makin any promises but I'll try my hardest," he replied as he made his way to the parking lot, excited as ever.

He had his job back.

He had his team back.

Now, all he needed was his Lindsay back.

-----------

As she finished up the dishes, Lindsay heard the patter of little feet making their way back into the main part of the apartment. She saw Bailey make her way tiredly over the couch, plopping down almost before she had made her way completely to it. Lindsay walked over, noticing that her daughter was clad in long sleeved pajamas and wrapped in a blanket. It was easily 75 degrees outside and not much cooler inside the building, why was the child so cold? She glanced down to see that she was already asleep, although it was only 6:45. Sweat matted her forehead, but she was at the same time shivering. Lindsay once again put her hand to the little girl's forehead, feeling that it wasn't too high above the normal temperature. She sat down on the couch and carefully picked the little girl up, cradling her like she had when she was a baby, and cuddling her to her chest. She hated seeing her baby girl sick, but now that she wasn't running a fever, Lindsay became scared. As it grew later into the night, Lindsay carried Bailey back to her room, figuring she would be more comfortable there. She tucked the little girl in and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Good night baby girl. I hope you feel better," she whispered as she closed the door. She decided to get ahead on case work for the next day, and around 11:30, she decided to call it a night. Laying down in her bed, she began to dream about the life she wished she had with Danny.

-----------

As he made his way down the hallway towards the exit of the crime lab, Danny found himself face to face with the one person he didn't want to see.

Cameron Burke.

It took all his strength not to punch him in the face, especially when the man began to speak to him.

"Hey, you're Danny Messer right?" he said, thrusting his hand in Danny's direction.

Be polite, don't screw this up he thought to himself.

"Yeah, that's me."

"So you're the infamous comeback kid. Great to finally meet you. I'm Cameron. Cameron Burke."

"Yeah, I think I saw you the other night at Lindsay's place."

"Oh, that was you at the door? It all makes sense now!"

This guy was too animated. Danny was getting sick of it already and they hadn't even been talking for five minutes.

"Yep, that was me. Nothin gets past you does it?"

"Nope! Well, I've gotta get back to work, but nice meeting you! Hope to see you around here more often," he said as he walked away, that stupid grin that never left his face just begging Danny to punch it off.

"Yeah yeah, you'll be seein a hell of a lot more of me jackass," Danny said under his breath. But he was bound and determined not to let anything ruin this.

He made his way back to Flack's house and crashed in the guest room as soon as he had arrived. Staring up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head, he started thinking about Lindsay. Glancing over at the clock and seeing that it was 11:33, he closed his eyes and dreamt about Lindsay, about what their life would be like when he got his girl back.

-----------

"What the hell is this stuff?" It was his first day back on the job. He figured he'd be demoted to most of the crappy jobs, but he didn't think that when Flack had said that's what the rookies got, he meant it literally.

"That my dear Messer is the contents of a port-a-pottie. Make sure you shower before you step foot back into my apartment," Flack said patting him on the back and laughing as he walked out of the room. It was going to be a long day.

As he sifted through the evidence trying not to gag, he heard Lindsay sneak in, trying not to laugh at the faces he made.

"'s not funny Montana. Why don't you come over here and stick your face in this crap?"

"Actually Messer, it's very funny. I see it as payback."

"Payback for what?" he replied quirking an eyebrow, both at her and at the stench of the contents of the container in front of him.

"Don't you remember my first case? The tiger dung? This is your first case Messer, you know the rookie always gets stuck with the shit jobs." She smirked at him as she gathered the chemicals she needed and went to make her way out the door.

"Hey Lindsay, wait up." He threw his gloves off and chased after her, reaching into his back pocket to reveal a Flash comic book, worn down from authenticity and previous readings.

"Did you bring the little one in today? I found this last night and thought she might like it."

Lindsay almost began to cry. He was holding the comic out in front of her, and as she stared at the villains on the cover, she recognized it as one of Bailey's favorites.

"That's really nice of you Danny. Yes, she's here, but she's not feeling too well. I think she's coming down with the flu. She's sleeping in my office, I'll give it to her when she wakes up." Not wanting to cause a scene, she thanked him, took the magazine, and made her way back to her office, leaving Danny in the dust, utterly confused. She opened the door to her office where Bailey lay sleeping on the small armchair in the corner. She smiled at the sight and placed the magazine on the coffee table next to her. Brushing the hair out of her daughter's eyes, she felt the heat radiating off of her forehead. She hated it when her little girl was sick. She tucked the blanket that she had been covered with tighter around her small frame and sat down at her desk, beginning her paperwork.

-----------

As their shifts were coming to an end, Danny had failed in his attempts catch a glimpse of Bailey. He adored the child after only one day of knowing her, but he still couldn't seem to get enough of her. Walking down the hall towards Flack's office, a tiny body collided with his. Looking down, he realized his wish had been granted.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" he could hear her say as she hugged his legs. "This is my favorite episode ever! Thank you Danny!" He squatted down to her level and could tell that she was clearly ill, but trying to stay awake long enough to thank him.

"No problem kiddo. It's my favorite too."

"Really!?"

"Of course, it was one of the first ones I ever got. Tell you what, I've read it enough times, why don't you keep it. You'll have somethin to do while you're at home sick, huh?"

"Yeah I guess. Mommy says I have to stay home tomorrow. But I can really keep it?!"

"Sure, you'll probably get better use out of it than I would. I hope you feel better kiddo."

"Thanks Danny. I hope I do too. I don't wanna be sick for Friday."

"Well that wouldn't be fun, now would it? You'd better go home and take some medicine then. And don't give your mommy a hard time about it, she just wants you to get better," he said glancing up at Lindsay who was standing behind Bailey smiling.

"Okay, I will, pinkie promise," Bailey said, sticking out her little finger. Danny and Lindsay couldn't help but laugh.

"Pinkie promise it is then," he replied, wrapping his finger around hers, winning himself a big four year old smile.

"Well, I gotta get goin. Feel better kiddo."

"Bye Danny. Thanks for the comic book!"

They parted ways and he couldn't seem to get the smile off his face.

Friday couldn't come soon enough.