DISCLAIMER: It aint mine, not csi ny nor my references to how I met your mother or friends.

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: : Love Run Cold : :

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It was a slow paper work sort of day. No new death in New York, no hot cases, just cold work. Yet Danny and Lindsay were both is superb moods, which kept everyone else in good moods, and honestly, something was up. It had to be. Mac was happy he wasn't hearing moans and groans about mundane work, and there was no bickering, some teasing, but that was just entertaining. Adam was blasting the music, and everyone was laughing and pens were scratching, keyboards tapping. It was a good day. Yet only Sid seemed to catch the glances Danny and Lindsay were sneaking at one another. Not that he mentioned it to anyone other than Lindsay.

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"Ey Montana, wait up!" Danny called upon seeing Lindsay head toward the elevator bay to leave for the day.

"Hey, Danny." Lindsay smiled waiting for Danny to catch up to where she stood. When he did he draped an arm around her and led her into the elevator. He smelt so good…thank god they were the only two in the lift. "What's up?"

"We still good for dinner tonight?" He asked gesturing between the two of them

"You bet." Lindsay beamed up at him. Oh she had been waiting for tonight all week, really ever since the schedule came out and they set dinner tonight. She had her prep for tonight set. She had exactly 45 minutes from the time she left the lab now until she had to be in her apartment and in the shower.

"Good, I gotta run out to Staten Island now, so meet ya there at 8?"

"Sounds good." Lindsay smiled giddily. Oh this was really happening. The doors to the elevator binged open. Danny's hand dropped down from her shoulders and settled on the small of her back. With slight pressure to her back she let Danny lead her out into the sunny street.

"So, I guess I'll see ya in a few hours." Danny grinned at her.

"Yea, see you." She grinned back at him, there was a beat of comfortable silence between them, busy New York passing them by before Lindsay took the leap. Pushing herself up on her tiptoes she placed a chaste kiss to his lips. "Later Gaiter."

Danny was gob smocked. He hadn't even had a chance to respond to that kiss, but she was…just…wow. He watched her sashay in the other direction. Lindsay took a chance and glanced back. "You know Montana, that's suppose to come at the end of the date."

"Just a teaser." She shouted back then rounded the corner and was out of sight. Oh tonight was going to be good.

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She was running late so very late, ok 15 minutes, but still she was suppose to be getting out of the shower now, or at least shaving her legs…hey if tonight went well. Normally she wasn't one to sleep with a guy on the first date, and there was that whole theory of if I do not shave I must behave. But this was Danny, it was seriously like starting on the 7th date. Which could either be very good or very bad, honestly Lindsay was leaning towards very good. Just in the way he kissed her. It's just…oh listen to the Shoop shoop song.

Juggling bags Lindsay fumbled into her apartment, cursing the 1920's size door. Really, people AND shopping has gotten larger in the last century. Doors need to get bigger.

"Lindsay! Where have you been!" Jenna asked rooting Lindsay to her spot. Jenna usually didn't lash out at her, at least not seriously. It was always sort of goofy and joking, this was serious.

"Uh…I, I was running errands, tonight I have that date with…"

"You haven't been answering your phone!"

"It's on vibrate, and if it's work it'll ring, figured it wasn't impor…"

"Lindsay, your mom, your dad, all 4 siblings, your old boss, everyone has been looking for you." Jenna practically cried. This was huge news. And Lindsay could go either way. Jenna had experienced both emotions with Lindsay and this particular part of her past.

"Why… What's happened?"

"You need to call your supervisor from Bozeman, John, you have to you need to hear this from him."

"This? This what?" Then it dawned on her. No Freaking way. They couldn't have, could they? Everyone told her it was a pipe dream after 5 years. Now 10 years later and they may have….no, no way. "The dine-"

"Lindsay call." Jenna said thrusting the cordless phone at her roommate. She looked at her roommate then down at the phone. There was no point in procrastinating. She dialed the number she had committed to memory a decade ago.

"Sims."

"John, it's Lindsay." She started gnawing at her fingernail, a nervous trait she blamed her mother for.

"Linds, we got him." She could hear him smiling, if that was possible.

"What? How? Who? I mean….."

"Lindsay, you were right in making us run the DNA."

"Okay…"

"Linds, his name is Danny, well Daniel Cadence. He was in a bar brawl that went a little too far, and his DNA came back to the feds, and we got him girly."

"Danny?" Lindsay repeated slumping down onto the couch. No, no way. She was falling for a Danny, and a Danny had shattered her world. Of course there was no connection, but still, at the moment the name Danny came with the thought of that night, and that face and not the native of New York/ex minor league baseball player/detective/csi she was suppose to be meeting in an hours time.

"Yea, Danny, he's denying it, but when we age that sketch you helped with its...Danny."

"Please. Can we call him Daniel or better yet Cadence."

"Sure, anyway your friend in the DA's office is already collecting everything for the trial. We're going to need you out here in a few months time."

"Sure." Lindsay replied, her voice nearly failing her. She could see why they were all stoked out in Montana, but here, it was just...she had put it behind her.

"Linds this good, we can finally put all of this behind us. It's almost over kiddo." And with that the phone call was ended. Lindsay sat there staring at the phone.

"I already was." She said to herself.

"Linds? You okay?" Jenna asks sitting down on the couch next to her friend.

"No, No I'm not." Her voice was shaky, she was shaky. She was in shock. Jenna draped the throw from the back of the couch over her. "Jen, they found me?"

"Who found you?" Jenna asked concerned. Lindsay wasn't making much sense.

"The ghosts. They were suppose to stay in Montana." Lindsay said. She saw flashes back to the diner, the blood the look of death on her friends faces, and suddenly she couldn't take it anymore. Whatever was in her tummy…well, now, it was in the trashcan.

"Linds…"

"I'm fine Jenna."

"Baby, you are anything but, I'll make you some tea."

"Thanks." They sat there for quite some time doing nothing, sitting there, staring into space, and sipping at the tea that had long since gone cold.

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Danny checked his phone again. She was half an hour late. That wasn't like her. Lindsay late, the two words just didn't go together. Granted she was a girl, and it was technically a first date, but still Lindsay was good about letting people know if she was going to be late to anything, anywhere. He called her number. It rang 6 times then went to voice mail. He wasn't about to leave a message, that was just desperate.

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Jenna reached over and picked up Lindsay's ringing phone. The screen lit up the name Messer. Shit, Lindsay had a date with him tonight. "Linds, it's Danny."

"Don't say that name." Lindsay shuddered: the blood spattered figure appeared in her head again.

"Okay, it's Messer. Didn't you have a date tonight?"

"Oh…..yea." Lindsay said looking a little anxious. Jenna went to hand the phone over but Lindsay simply stared at it. The phone blinked missed call. No voicemail.

"Lindsay…."

"I…..I…I just ca…can't" Lindsay whimpered. She couldn't bring anyone else down with her. She just couldn't.

"Linds, then you should at least let him know…I mean this IS Dan…" Lindsay shot her friend a deadly look. "its Messer. He deserves to know that you won't show up, you don't have to go into details, but still, you can't stand him up. At least a text message." Lindsay nodded, and took the phone from Jenna. "good, now I'm gonna warm up this tea." Jenna left the room. But Lindsay couldn't function, just put the phone on the table.

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20 minutes later her phone went off again. This time it was dispatch. "Linds, that's work." Jenna told her and forced her to answer. Finally, something new to focus on.

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She was really trying to distance herself from him. She had said something came up. Nah, there was more to it than that. If something had just come up then why was it so awkward with her? Leaving the precinct he saw her a little ways ahead of him. The hallway was pretty much deserted. It was now or never. "Lindsay Monroe." Using her full given name should catch her attention and then some. She turned back to see Danny striding towards her with purpose. So this was it. She began to steal herself for a heavy conversation. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yea." She sighed turning to face him.

"I have to know what's going on with you." He admitted looking her dead in the eyes. And honestly, he had to, this girl in front of him, she wasn't the same Lindsay Monroe that had kissed him in the street 2 days ago. A look of defeat crossed her face as she closed her eyes and looked to the ground. Looking for the words to tell him.

"Look, I mean, you and I" he says gesturing between them "we have this thing right, this chemistry." She smiles at that, that must be a good sign, she can at least admit to that. "Like we're into each other, but every time we're in the same room together today it's like…" There is a pregnant pause before Danny has to ask the question that's been bugging him. "Don't tell me you don't feel it also."

Lindsay is still for a moment, like she wants to say something but can't. "I can't do this Danny." She says reaching out for his hands and taking a step closer to the wall, like it will give them more privacy or something.

"Can't do what?" he needs clarification, there is something there, something she isn't letting go, something she's trying desperately to keep to herself.

"I can't be in a relationship with you." Just the thought of a relationship with Danny Messer makes her smile, but she can't she won't it has happened before, the minute a guy finds out she was the survivor, that she has a gruesome, past, hell the fact that she has baggage they are out the door. Danny lets out a uneasy/nervous/you gotta be kidding me laugh before begging to babble.

"Aright…I… I'm not…I don't…I just…" in all honesty, Lindsay is a relationship type girl. She's the girl to bring home to ma. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, with Lindsay Monroe, with Montana, it WOULD BE a relationship. "I'm just talking about spending some time together. Dinner, a few drinks, some laughs."

Oh that sounded so good to her, but it was Danny, she couldn't, her baggage was just too much. And even if she did let Danny in to help her carry it, like all the others he'd probably drop out once her found out what was really in side and leave her crushed under all of it. She wasn't going to do that to him, to herself, or to the team. She just couldn't she had herself and Jenna, and now the four ghosts that seemed to haunt her every step. "Look…pause...Danny…pause...I like you…pause…a lot. But right now, I can't." He tipped his head at that, if she liked him so much why was she fighting so hard from giving in. "It's not you okay. It's just…pause…It's…..I need to be by myself right now so that I." She broke off and shook her head trying to shake the images out of her head. "I need to figure some stuff out that I thought I had put behind me." She was near tears, whatever was bugging her, it was big. "I didn't mean for this to happen…" She trailed off.

Danny shook his head. She was telling the truth. He only wished she would let him in. Before this summer they were friends, she had seen him at so far the worst time in his life. She had helped him to get through his brothers beating, through Aiden's death, and now, she was fighting her own demons, and couldn't take her own advice, couldn't confide in another, in him. "It's okay."

"Maybe we should just do our jobs and…." They both looked down. What was once a bright happy shiny future had gone dark and rainy. This was going to be it for now. He had to respect her wishes. They would have a future. That was the one thing that made it a little easier to take. She wanted to say more, but couldn't. Instead she turned and left.

"If there's anything you need from me, just let me know. Okay" He called after her, but it was a lost cause. She was already turning the corner.

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Flack found Danny slumped against a wall in the corner of the precinct hallway. He appeared to be deep in thought, and it looked as if he may have been there for awhile. "Hey Danno, feel like grabbing a slice?"

"Actually, yea." Danny had to admit he was still Jonesing for a slice at the end of the day, and after the conversation with Lindsay, well he needed some good old fashioned greasy comfort food.

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"So the date with Monroe cut short for the DB?" Don asked taking a bite into his folded piece of New York pizza.

"You could say that." Danny said taking a heaping bite of his pizza. Good he couldn't talk for a few minutes, could get his thoughts in order. Was he really going to have to tell Flack that the woman stood him up?…Possibly. There was something in her face today when he caught her in that hallway, something he couldn't shake.

"So how'd it go, before Mac ya know."

"It didn't." he responded shortly

"What? How's that? I saw you two snag a peck after hours yesterday."

"Yea, then a few hours later, she stood me up."

"Wait, she stood you up? For real?"

"Yea." Danny took another bite.

"Did ya get an explanation from her?" Flack asked. This was just weird, Lindsay and Danny were well, Lindsay and Danny everyone knew, everyone bet, it was just they were gonna get together sooner or later.

"Not you, it's me." Danny shrugged, it sounded cliché and it was, but something about the way she said it was just….

"No, no way, she pulled that one, what's that all about?"

"You know Don, I think she's serious, honest to god, she looked like she'd seen a ghost. Something's buggin her. Somethin she can't shake."

"But she likes you?"

"So she says."

"You want me to keep an eye on her for ya?" Flack asked reading his friends expression. Danny was worried about her. It was the same look Mac got on his face when Stella was acting out of character.

"Yea, please, just don't let her know."

"Mess, you're talking to the master."

"Yes Obi Won."

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Hope you enjoyed, more coming soon.