i know, i know, it's past Saturday, but i was like DEAD tired on Saturday night and i had to work a double last night..brutal !
so here we go, next chapter, whoot !

i've decided to dedicate this to laurzz and her drama, hope this makes you feel better kiddo !
haha.

enjoy (:
--mtc.

Chapter 14

"Well kiddo, looks like you're all set to get out of here."

It was like music to her ears. Bailey had been cooped up in the hospital for longer than she had ever wanted to be there for. Although it had only been five days, those long hours had seemed like forever in the eyes of the four year old little girl. Her room had been showered with cards, balloons, and presents galore, from her preschool class, the entire crime lab staff, as well as various family members on Lindsay's side. On one particular occasion, little Tommy Jones from her class had stopped by to personally deliver the giant card that the class had made for her, along with his own personal gift for her: a stuffed pink bear holding a plush heart that read "Get Well Soon". This struck a chord in Danny; his little girl had her first crush, and she was in preschool. Was this not the same little boy who had sent her home crying all those times? As Lindsay had sat by and watched him resist the urge to throw the little boy out by his ears, she laughed and reminded him that he was the same way with her when they had first met: he was a jokester, trying to win her over by poking fun at her. And it had worked. This small detail was enough to force him out of the room, leaving behind a confused Bailey and Tommy, and a laughing Lindsay.

At the end of the week, behind the giant piles of get well soon cards and feel better balloons, Danny's mound of gifts clearly ranked highest in size, being bigger than both the local toy store and the hospital gift shop combined. He had missed out on so much of his little girl's life already that he figured he would make up for lost time by spoiling her now, much to Lindsay's dismay. By the time they had dumped the truckload of Danny's gifts into their apartment, there would be no room for Lindsay and Bailey to live, a thought that made her chuckle. But anything that made their little girl happy was okay with her. The matching grins present on both father and daughter's faces just helped that decision along; the twinkle in both of their eyes making for adorable pictures that ended up plastered all over the walls of Bailey's hospital room. Lindsay laughed as she stared at each one of them, the serious one, the cute on of them cuddled together reading a comic, the one with both of their tongues sticking out, and the one that the doctor had taken of the three of them together. If perfection was ever possible, she was seeing it right at this moment.

After undergoing countless amounts of testing and physical therapy sessions, Bailey was finally being released from her "prison cell" as she liked to call it. She was ready to sleep in her own bed, eat junk food all day, and just be a normal kid again. Of course, the doctor had warned her, she was going to have to take it easy for a while, coming in once a week to check that the wound was healing itself properly, and eventually to take the stitches out. There was also the "don't get the bandage wet" rule that was strictly enforced upon her, one that she was quite excited to follow.

"Does that mean I don't have to take a bath?" she chimed in eagerly. Danny, Lindsay, and the doctor all shared a laugh.

"You'll still have to take baths regularly, you'll just have to be careful around your bandage. If you don't take a bath until it comes off, you'll be one dirty little girl, won't you?"

"Yeah Bay," Lindsay chimed in. "Plus, you don't want to start smelling like Danny, do you?"

Appalled at the insult, Danny's mouth dropped as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Well excuse me Ms. Monroe, but your morning breath is a little bit worse than my manly stench, am I right?"

As their playful bantering grew more and more heated, Bailey had erupted into a fit of giggles.

"At least I brush my teeth, Messer. I don't even want to imagine what goes on in that mouth of yours."

"That's not what you said last night," he mumbled, his face twisting into a devious grin, making certain that his words were solely audible to her ears. Her face turned bright red, both from embarrassment that someone had heard, and from the memories of the previous night that now flooded her thoughts.

They had gone to Lindsay's apartment. It was only supposed to be for a minute; Bailey had insisted upon Danny reading her another comic, and when they had discovered that it had been the only one that hadn't made its way to the hospital, their only solution was to go back and look for it. As they were about to give up, Danny had gotten down on his hands and knees and check under the couch.

"Boom!" he had exclaimed upon finding the crinkled book, a thin layer of dust beginning to form on the cover. "Looks like we've got what we came for," he half mumbled as he began to get up, bumping into Lindsay in doing so. There faces were so close to touching, neither one of them could bear to pull away. It was like gravity was pulling them closer to one another, the force of attraction unavoidable. But neither of them minded.

What had begun as a treasure hunt for their daughter's comic book had turned into a make out session on her living room couch, just like they had done back in the day, no one around to reprimand them and tell them to get back to work, no phone calls to interrupt them, nothing to get in their way. They were tangled up in each other for what seemed like an endless eternity, when they both pulled back at the same moment, neither wanting to, but both knowing they had to get back to Bailey. They returned to the hospital, one of Danny's strong hands clutching the magazine and the other intertwined with Lindsay's, leaving Bailey confused and the two of them fighting for an explanation.

"Do you guys like each other or something?" the little girl had asked point blank, quirking her eyebrow as she stared at her parents who looked like a pair of deer caught in headlights. Their hands had broke the instant she had spoken the words, both staring at each other, searching for answers.

"Or were you just holding my mom's hand to help her cross the street?" The child's innocence was like a huge sigh of relief. Nodding in agreement as quickly as possible, trying not to seem flustered, they were both calmed as the little girl shrugged and returned to her coloring. The rest of the night was very relaxed, the three of them huddled together on the bed reading comics and joking together, but the tension made Danny and Lindsay uneasy.

After tucking their little girl into bed, they had returned to their beds in the family wing, deciding to crash for the night. But neither one of them could honestly say they got any sleep. The same thoughts were running through both of their heads. They had never discussed if they were officially "back together" yet, it was something that was hanging over them like clouds in the sky. Of course it was what they both wanted, but the list of questions was endless. Where would they live? Would they be able to manage work and play? Would there be a horrible failure like the last time? And most importantly, what would Bailey think? They hadn't even brought into consideration that their little girl was still completely oblivious to their budding romance, what if she didn't approve? As much as she loved Danny being around, there was still that small chance that she only wanted to have him as her friend, a thought that pained them both. But there were more important things to think about, like the fact that their daughter was getting out of the hospital and that they would all be able to go home again and return to their lives once again.

Being pulled from her memories, Lindsay smirked back at Danny as the doctor helped Bailey into a wheelchair, preparing to take her to the front desk to be signed out. As they exited the room, she pulled Danny--who had started following them--back towards her, pulling his ear towards her lips.

"Any more cracks like that Messer, and there won't be much of anything going on in that mouth of yours anymore," she whispered seductively, leaving him speechless, mouth agape, standing in the middle of the hospital room. He was twitching the entire car ride home, Lindsay laughing at his every squirm, patting his thigh lightly to reassure him, which only made things worse for him.

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"My bed, my bed!" exclaimed an enthused Bailey, running at her tiny bed that had been covered in all of the stuffed animals she had received while she was gone. Lindsay chuckled as he daughter ran around her room hugging all of her toys and throwing her self onto her bed.

"Happy to be home, Bay?"

"YES!" the little girl yelled as she laid down, snuggling into her comforter.

"You look tired sweetie. Do you want us to leave you alone so you can take a nap?" Lindsay asked the drained looking little girl whose eyes were beginning to close.

"Sure, sounds like a good idea," she replied, yawning.

"Alright then, sweet dreams," she whispered, kissing the little girl on the forehead.

"Night Bay," Danny said, following Lindsay into the room, standing next to her in front of Bailey's bed.

"Wait, Danny, are you gonna be here later?" she asked, suddenly wide awake.

"If you want me to. I won't leave until you kick me out," he replied with a chuckle.

"Good," she answered him simply, closing her eyes again as she tucked her Yankees blanket tightly around herself.

They stood there for a moment, watching her sleep peacefully. Neither one of them wanted to leave, fearing that the second they did, something would go wrong. Eventually, the decided to leave her to her nap, and they headed into the living room, sitting on opposite sides of the couch, both too shy to initiate a conversation.

"Is that Bailey's baby book?" Danny's eyes had been wandering the room, avoiding Lindsay's, and they had come to rest on pink photo album resting on the coffee table. As he noticed the baby bottles and rattles that decorated the outside, his eyes lit up as he realized what it was.

"Yeah," Lindsay replied warmly, a smile spreading on her face. "You wanna see it?"

He was finally able to make eye contact with her, both of them smiling sweetly as she grabbed the book off of its resting position, creaking the cover open as it had clearly not been looked at in a while. His eyes were sparkling as she flipped to the first page.

It was beautifully decorated, scrap booked like a professional, obviously all Lindsay's doing. "Bailey Louise Monroe" was written across the top of the page in pink lettering, above a picture of an extremely tiny baby. She had a pink hat on her head and a standard newborn blanket wrapped around her. Underneath the picture was written "February 11, 2006, 3 lbs., 7 oz." He stared at the picture of his daughter in amazement. She was the tiniest little being he had ever seen. He and Lindsay had scooted closer together, the book resting comfortably on both of their knees that were so close, they were almost overlapping. He gently ran his finger over the picture, mouth slightly agape, staring in wonder and amazement.

"She's so tiny," he said, barely above a whisper, not taking his eyes off of the picture for one second.

"She was a month premature," Lindsay replied quietly.

At his news, his head shot from the picture to Lindsay.

"Was she okay?" he asked worriedly. If anything had happened to his baby girl, he would never be able to forgive himself. Lindsay smiled at him reassuringly.

"She was fine, Danny, it's okay. She had a little trouble breathing for the first night, but other than that, she was completely healthy. She was the perfect baby." She smiled as she remembered the days of Bailey as an infant. She was such a happy baby, it made it so much easier for Lindsay to get through the days.

She turned the page to reveal the picture that Danny passed by so often in the hallway, the one of Lindsay holding her daughter for the first time. It amazed him how natural and beautiful she looked holding their little girl in her arms. It made him sad that he wasn't there to share the memory with them. There were various other hospital pictures of Bailey, including her and her maternal grandparents, a photo of Bailey and the crime lab staff, and one of Bailey and her mother getting ready to leave the hospital. He still couldn't get over how tiny and perfect she was. She took his breath away. Turning the page, they shared a laugh as they saw pictures of Bailey's first bath. Mac and Stella had been over that afternoon to help out, and they amount of water covering the three of them was more than the amount in the sink the baby was sitting in. There were many other Baby's First photos for Danny to see, including her first time sitting up, her first attempt at crawling, and her first time at the park, Lindsay pushing her in a swing as she erupted into a fit of giggles.

There were photos of the baby's first birthday party, chocolate icing covering her face, her first Halloween where she was dressed up as a pumpkin, and her first Christmas, sitting on the lap of Flack who was dressed as Santa for the staff's Christmas party, taking place in Lindsay's living room. He had tears in his eyes as he stared at all of the pictures, himself absent from them, wishing he could turn back the clock and right all of his wrongs.

"I missed so much Linds. I feel like such a failure. I wish I could have been here to help you out with all of this. It must have been terrible to have to go through it on your own," he said as they were stopped on a page with a two year old Bailey at the beach, digging in the sand.

She glanced up at him with a sad smile. "It's okay Danny. You're here now, and that's all that matters. Besides, I didn't do it all on my own, I had a lot of help from Mac, Stella, and Flack."

The thought of his coworkers changing diapers made him chuckle. "I know that, but I still should have been here. I should have never walked out on you Linds, it was the most selfish thing I've ever done, abandoning you with our daughter. I'm a failure to you, and I'm a failure to Bailey."

"Danny, you could never be a failure to me or our daughter," she said, grabbing his arm in reassurance. "Do you realize how much she adores you? She loves you Danny, and…and so do I."

He stared into her eyes, realizing the words that had just come out of her mouth. She loved him. Of course, he had never doubted that, but it had been so long since he had heard her say those words, it was like he could finally go on living again. He took hold of her shoulders and pulled her in for a sweet kiss.

"I love you too Lindsay. With all of my heart. I'm going to make this right again. I promise, I will never let you down again."

All she could do in response was smile.

"You know, there's still more to the book. Bailey added some pictures before her accident, and she wanted you to see it, but she never got the chance."

She signaled for him to turn the page, and his eyes brightened up as he stared at the picture in front of him. It was the one they had snapped the first day he had picked her up from gymnastics class: her and Danny, sitting together on the floor of his living room. Scrawled in the little girl's amateur handwriting above the picture were the words "Best Friends." He tried not to cry, but he couldn't help himself. Lindsay smiled as she cuddled up next to him, both staring at the picture.

"See? I told you Cowboy. She loves you. Turn the page."

It was no surprise to him what was coming next. There was the other picture snapped from that day, Lindsay, Bailey, and him. The perfect little family, all cozy and cute. He hugged her close and kissed the top her head.

"I love you Lindsay Monroe."

"I love you too Danny."

As they cuddled on the couch, completely oblivious to the rest of the world, they didn't notice the sneaky child watching them from behind the wall. She had only been there for a couple of moments, but she had seen enough to have the wheels turning in her head. She would have to be pretty sneaky, and working around the adults would be hard, but she was sure she could pull her plan off. The ideas concocting in her head were much bigger than her, but she saw opportunity in front of her, and she knew what she wanted. All she needed now was the help from a friend, and her little scheme would be set into motion. As she heard them mumble something about "checking on Bailey," she quietly snuck back into her room, diving under the covers and pretending she was asleep, her back turned to them, laughing to herself as whispers of "she's still asleep" rang throughout her room. As she drifted off to sleep, she couldn't wait until morning came so her plotting could be set into motion.

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"You don't have to go Danny, you can just crash here, I know Bailey wouldn't oppose, and you know I wouldn't either," Lindsay said as Danny was searching for his misplaced keys.

"Are you sure Montana? I don't wanna be some kind of disturbance," he replied with a smirk, pulling her into his arms.

"You? A disturbance? I would never dream of it," she replied, placing a tender kiss upon his lips, lingering there for a moment before she tried to pull away, only to be pulled in for more.

"I guess we're having a sleepover," he said jokingly, kicking his shoes back off and plopping down on the couch, opening his arms for her to join him.

"Danny, you don't have to sleep on the couch. My bed is big enough for the both of us," she laughed as she leaned into his embrace.

"See, I thought about that. But then I got to thinkin'. If I share that bed with you, I'm gonna want to be doin' a lot of things to you that I'm not sure you'd want our daughter hearin'," he whispered into her ear in a deep voice that made her shudder.

"Well then cowboy, you have a decision to make. Either resist temptation, or take the backache in the morning," she replied with a laugh.

There was no question in his decision as they got up, him following her through the all too familiar route to her bedroom.

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It was only 6:30 in the morning, and Don Flack didn't begin his shift until noon. That to him was a blessing, but the minute his phone had begun ringing at ungodly hours, he was ready to throw a tantrum. Reading Lindsay's name through blurred vision on the screen of his phone, he began to worry. Was something wrong with Bailey? Or had Danny gone off the deep end again? Without hesitating, he answered the phone, assuming the worst.

"Lindsay, what's wrong, is everything okay?"

"Hi Uncle Flack. It's me Bailey."

He was confused. What was Bailey doing awake at 6:30 with Lindsay's cell phone?

"Hiya kiddo, what's up?"

"I need your help with something, but it's a secret. You gotta promise not to tell anyone."

"Sure, what do you need?" His thoughts began racing. What could his four year old niece possibly be concocting?

"Okay, here's the thing…"

As he listened to the little girl reveal her plans, he had to resist laughing. For such a young, innocent child, she had certainly caught on quick. He couldn't wait to help her put her plan into motion. No matter what consequences he received from his friends, it would all be worth it in the end.