A/N: Just a little filler chapter. Oh yeah baby…

Lindsay's cell phone chirped and she rearranged the files in her arms in order to answer it. It was late and she was almost ready to go home, but there were a few things that still demanded her attention. The weather had started to turn again, a steady warmth with an undertone of crispness that seemed to settle a calm over the world.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me."

She smiled at his voice and dropped the stack of files onto the table. Adam had left for a long weekend with his family in Phoenix this afternoon and she already missed him.

"How was your flight?"

"Let's just put it this way. I am not a fan of recirculated air."

She grinned and sat down at the table, figuring she could put off her paperwork for a few minutes.

"Are you still at work?"

"Oh yeah. I'll go home in an hour or so."

"Hold on just a second."

She heard him place his hand over the receiver and a moment later he came back on.

"Hannah wants to talk to you."

"Okay."

"Lindsay, guess what!"

"What?"

"Daddy says that this summer I get to have horse-back riding lessons! And he said that if I like it I can keep going all the time and maybe someday I could have my very own horse!"

"Really?"

"Yes! That's even better than having my own car, huh?"

"I think so. You make sure your mom or dad takes some pictures of those lessons okay?"

"Okay. I think I will look really good up on a horse, huh?"

"I bet so. Do you have a cowboy hat?"

"Just play ones."

"Well I've got a lot of them and if I find an old one that would fit you, I'll send it your way. But you have to stick with those lessons. Deal?"

"Deal. Brudder wants to talk to you again."

"Alright. Bye Hannah."

There was another silence before Adam came back.

"She's been talking about those lessons since I got here. I think she might be excited."

"It's possible. How hot is it there?"

"Scorching. It's too hot to swim."

"You're going to come back all tan and junk aren't you?"

"Yeah. Jealous?"

"Maybe a little. But I suppose if I get to look at you it'll be okay."

He chuckled and took a sip of the iced tea that sat next to him.

"Do you work tomorrow?"

"Yeah, early. Court in the afternoon. I'm going to take Stella out to lunch. Something's going on with her. She's been quiet lately."

"I've noticed that too. Think she just misses Mac?"

"I don't know. I'm sure it's strange for her to be working without him, but I think it's more than that."

"Possible. Maybe she just needs someone to notice."

"Yeah. We'll see."

"You sound tired. Finish your stuff and then go home."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"You know, you've got limited free passes on bossing me around. Sure you wanna use it now?"

"You sure you want me to use it on something else?"

"Touche."

"Go. Call me when you get home."

"Okay. I love you."

"Love you too."

They hung up and she stood from the table, gathering the files again and taking them into the office. It was quiet around the lab lately; it seemed that everyone was on vacation. She'd been working a lot, Hawkes seemed to always be there, and she was pretty sure Stella had been sleeping in her office. It made for a lot of work and they were all tired, but she felt herself being more aware of everything she did.

She rubbed her neck and powered up the computer, figuring she could record her notes on the case fairly quickly and get out of there before too late.

"Hey Lindsay," Hawkes said, poking his head in the door. "Did you figure out what that blue substance was in the injection site?"

"Yep. Ink."

"Ink?"

"I'm thinking that wasn't an injection site for the purpose of murder. Have you ever gone to get your printer cartridge refilled?"

"No."

"They use needles that are a slightly larger gauge than a syringe to pierce the cartridge and refill it. I'm not sure how the ink fits in to the bigger picture of the murder, but I've got type and manufacturer right here."

"Actually, this makes a lot of sense," he said, taking the test results from her. "Thanks Lindsay."

"I aim to please."

He gave her a smile and left the room and she turned back to the computer. It didn't take long to input the data and before she knew it, she had saved and printed everything and was hitting the office light. She took the long way out, stopping in to Stella's office before leaving.

"Hey Stell. I'm going to go home and sleep a few hours unless you need anything."

"No, get outta here kiddo," Stella replied with a distracted wave of her hand.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just tired, overworked, underpaid."

"Sounds like more than that," Lindsay said, sitting down in the chair near the door. "What's up with you?"

Stella sighed and flopped down in her own chair staring up at the ceiling.

"Do you ever feel like you're getting left behind? Like everyone around you has a purpose and a plan and you're just sitting there waiting for your turn?"

"Sometimes."

"I guess I'm just looking around at everyone and you all seem so happy and driven and content with life. And I don't know if I want more or something different or what."

"Your restless streak is showing, Stella."

"What?"

"Do you really want to hear what I think?"

"Always."

"You've put your entire life into this job. Sure you sometimes take days off, but they're few and far between. You have this part of you that's creative and adventurous and wants to go and do and be, and you never let that out. Your heart is here in this lab, it's out on the street keeping people safe. But your soul is somewhere else. It wants adventure and discovery and culture. And for a while it got that with the chases and the cracking cases, but that's not enough anymore."

"What are you saying?"

"Sometimes you have to let yourself be the person you wanted to be when you were five. Like… okay, I used to want to be a painter. So sometimes I buy a cheap canvas and just paint. And I suck at it and it usually ends up in the trash, but I always feel better. Sometimes you just have to let go of all the things you have to do and focus on what you need."

"So if I wanted to be a pilot, you would suggest…?"

"Take lessons. Just get in there and do something. Be active because you want to be. As far as all of us being happy and driven and content, it's not like that all the time. I think we're all wandering around unsure of what's going on half the time. You're just more in tune to that feeling than the rest of us."

"Did you ever want to be a therapist?" Stella asked on a dry chuckle.

"I went through a phase of wanting to be the bully on the playground that sent kids to therapy."

"Right. You being a bully. Sure."

"I could tell you stories. Don't underestimate me."

"I never will again."

They shared a laugh and Lindsay stood up.

"I'll see you in the morning, Stell."

"Night."

"And please go home at some point, okay?"

"I will."

Lindsay slipped from the room and made her way to the elevator. The exhaustion was hitting her hard and she was suddenly glad she'd taken the subway to work instead of driving. Of course this meant that she was going to have to walk the streets alone in the middle of the night, but her neighborhood was fairly safe. Of course fairly safe meant that there hadn't been a murder there in the last year. Shaking her head and sufficiently creeping herself out, she hailed a taxi instead.

"You're supposed to be in bed by now," Adam said in greeting. Lindsay smiled and slid into bed, adjusting the pillow before leaning against it.

"I am."

"I meant asleep, dear."

"Oh that. What'cha doin'?"

"Fighting with jet lag and watching Edward Scissorhands."

"Yes Johnny Depp, no Scissorhands."

"What?"

"I just hated that movie. It's so far out of the realm of possibility. I couldn't even watch the whole thing."

"But you have to watch the whole thing or it doesn't make sense. He's not a real boy."

"Yeah, well I didn't like Pinnochio either."

"Lindsay we need to have a serious talk when I get home."

She giggled and pulled his sweatshirt from underneath her pillow, burying her nose in it. She was going to have to swap it out for a different one; it was losing its scent.

"You wanna tell me what else you hate so I don't run into this problem again?"

"Disappearance, The Coneheads, From Justin to Kelly, Soultaker except the Mystery Science Theater version is okay, Glitter, Baby Geniuses, Freddy Got Fingered-"

"Okay, okay, now I'm going to be dreaming about those horrors."

"I still like The Goonies."

"Only a complete moron hates that movie."

"I agree."

"Hey Linds?"

"Yeah?"

"You need to go to bed."

"But…"

"What?"

"I don't know. You're right."

"I know. We'll talk for longer tomorrow. That is if I can escape my grandmother and her constant chatter."

"So that's where you get it."

"You love it."

"I do."

"I'd kiss ya right now if you weren't so far away."

"I'd kiss you back."

"Goodnight Linds. I love you."

"I love you too, Adam."