"I finished getting prints off the burned fingers," Hawkes announced, coming into the conference room, holding the skull and a computer print out. "Computer's looking for a match now."

"Any DNA?" Mac asked.

"Running it now."

"The sticky reside we found was hair gel," Adam added. "Inexpensive, sold at hundreds of places around town. I found it in two places on the vic's shirt and no where else."

"Danny and Lindsay are back in the alley again, but did anyone else notice the steam pipes back there?" Jo asked shuffling through the crime scene photos. "See there. Is it possible the vic could have grabbed onto that hot pipe during the struggle? Maybe that's how her hands were burned. Sid said it was fresh."

"Hawkes, call Sid, have him document the size and shape of the burns and pull up any trace that he can. Then call Danny, have them document any steam pipes in the alley and swab all of them for DNA. It's possible the killer came into contact with it as well."

"On it."

"Adam, have you finished processing the vic's clothes?"

"Almost done. Not much so far, but I haven't got to the shoes yet."

"Let me know when you do," Mac said, a phrase of dismissal. Adam nodded and left the room, taking a quick detour in the break room to chug down a cup of coffee and call home. Faye answered and he could hear the boys playing in the background. He wished he was home with them instead of here, but there was not much to be done about that now.

"How're the boys doing?"

"They're just fine. I have no idea what this game is that they're playing but they seem to be enjoying it."

"Good. I'm going to try and be home early tonight, maybe around four."

"Alright. I'm going to take them for a walk after lunch and hopefully they'll both crash out after that."

"Fingers crossed. See you later."

They hung up and he went back into the lab, pulling the vic's clothes out of lock up and turning the black light on, making sure to swab every glowing patch on the jeans. It was tedious work, going over such things with a fine toothed comb, and before he knew it an hour was gone. His head pounded and his stomach was upset, but he wanted to finish with the shoes before taking a break. Sighing, he rolled his neck and went back to work, scraping dirt from the sole of the shoe and collecting it in a dish.

"Adam."

"Yeah boss?"

"Secure this evidence."

Mac's voice was tight and Adam spun around, wondering what he could have done wrong.

"What?"

"Secure the evidence," he ordered again. Adam did as asked, quickly, but confused.

"Boss, what's-"

"You need to get down to the hospital. Something's happened, Lindsay and Danny are there now."

"What?"

"Go."

That was all the urging he need and he jumped up from the light table and ran down to the parking garage, not even bothering to grab his coat. Austin was down in the lobby, apparently coming to find him, and they wordlessly made their way to the car, jumping inside and peeling out of the space, not bothering with seatbelts.

"What happened?" he asked, hoping she would have more answers.

"I don't know. Jess called and said Danny had called for backup and an ambulance and then they couldn't get him back after that."

Austin was as frantic as he was and that seemed to calm him a bit, unless he looked directly at her. He'd never seen her more haunted and for just a moment he forgot his own worry and wondered if she was going to make it. She seemed to be almost swaying in the seat next to him as he sped towards the hospital and he finally reached over to give her hand a squeeze.

They arrived at the hospital and parked in a spot that probably wasn't meant for parking, and ran inside the Emergency room. It took them a few minutes to even find the front desk and by the time they did, Danny was walking down the hall towards them. He had blood on his jeans and his shirt was ripped but Austin ran to him anyway.

"Danny! I thought you… we were… are you…?"

"I'm fine," he managed, softly. "I'm fine."

"Where's Lindsay?" Adam asked, afraid of the answer.

"Surgery. They took her up a few minutes ago. They won't tell me anything."

It felt like a punch to the gut and Adam stumbled over to a chair to sit down and get his breath back while Austin begged Danny to tell her what happened.

"We went back to that alley," he started, his voice strained. "Guess we weren't paying attention too good. The perp must have come back for some reason and he grabbed her and… it happened so fast, I didn't even have time to… he had a knife. He got her right in the side and she just fell and he took off and I called for an ambulance and… I don't really remember."

Adam didn't want to hear anymore anyway and jumped up from the chair, stalking to the elevator and punching the buttons for the 8th floor. He stepped inside when it arrived, hitting the button to close the door, then pacing until it arrived at the surgical ward. The nurse at the desk was polite despite his demands to know where Lindsay was and his yelling that she shouldn't be doing this job if she didn't know where patients were at any given time. She assured him the doctor would be out shortly, then directed him to the waiting room, where he paced back and forth, not sure what to do at this point. He was vaguely aware of Danny and Austin joining him and sitting across the room. He didn't care though, he just wanted some information, he needed to know how bad this was.

It felt like hours but it was probably only a few minutes before the doctor entered and cleared his throat.

"Where is she?" Adam asked after the doctor had introduced himself.

"She's still in surgery. The knife entered quite high and did a lot of damage to her liver, so we're trying to repair that now. She's lost a lot of blood and she's given us a few scares but she's stable for the moment."

He couldn't really give them much more information than that, and left after a few minutes.

Lost a lot of blood, lost a lot of blood, lost a lot of blood.

It rang over and over again in Adam's ears, just as it had the first time when Colton was born and they weren't sure if Lindsay was going to make it or not. He felt sick but more than that, he felt anger snapping through his veins like a whip and he took it out on the first person he saw.

"You were supposed to protect her!" he shouted at Danny, knowing it wasn't his fault but having to blame someone. "You're supposed to have her back!"

"I know, I know! It happened so fast…"

"I trusted you. You're supposed to keep her safe and you didn't. This is your fault!"

"I know! I tried Adam, I tried."

He wanted to plow his friend into the wall and slap him around a little, but he couldn't do that, so instead he turned and rammed his fist into the plexi-glass vending machine. It hurt and he wanted to do it again, but there was a part of his brain that spoke in Lindsay's voice, telling him to stop and cool down because this wasn't helping anyone. Without another word he left the room.

He held her hand between his, elbows on his knees and lips grazing over her fingertips. The surgery was over but she had yet to wake up and he couldn't get over how cold she seemed. He knew it was from the blood loss, it would probably take a while before she felt warm again, but that didn't matter. She was okay. She was fine.

Austin sat on the opposite side of the bed, after taking Danny home to get cleaned up. Neither one of them had said a word so far, he was still embarrassed by his loss of control, and she was still slightly freaked out by it. She'd never seen him mad, not even annoyed and to see him like that had really shaken her. She knew why it had happened and didn't really blame him for it, but that hadn't made it any easier to watch.

"You know, this one time," Adam started, clearing his throat. "We had the radio on, and she asked who sang the song that was playing. And I told her I thought it was Hanson. She got the most horrified look on her face and she clutched at her heart and dropped to the floor like she was dead, except she kept her foot twitching. And I just stood there staring at her and she opened one eye and asked me why I didn't care that I had just killed her with pop music."

Austin chuckled and shook her head.

"That's Lindsay."

"She hates Hanson."

They smiled together for a moment, then fell back into silence, still not sure what to say to one another.

"Adam?"

"Yeah?"

"Danny did his best."

"I know he did. I don't doubt that. I just… I was scared, Aust."

"You scared me," she confessed, drawing one knee up onto the chair with her.

"I'm sorry."

"You're not supposed to do that. You're the one that always keeps his cool."

"I know. And I'm really sorry I did that and I'm even sorrier you had to see it. I know what that must have felt like."

"I measure myself by you, Adam. If you can snap then so can I. I don't like that."

"Austin. You're not going to snap. Sometimes though you have to let yourself get mad. It's not comfortable and I know you don't like doing it, but it's not wrong. It's people like us that hold it all in and we end up hurting ourselves and everyone else. Don't do that."

"Okay."

"You're not like he was, Austin. It's not genetic and it's not lying in wait. Okay?"

She nodded.

"And I'm sorry I did that."

"Okay."

They went back to silence for a while, not needing any other words. They both understood that part of each other better than their spouses did, and they didn't really need explanations or apologies. It was what it was and what it was, and that was all in the past. It couldn't touch either of them now, not unless they let it, and neither one were keen on letting that happen.

It was nearly another hour that they sat there, speaking occasionally but being quiet for the most part. Austin would have gone home but she just couldn't make herself leave until Lindsay woke up. She was worried about Danny, knowing he was feeling guilty, but also knowing that he needed some time to get his equilibrium back. It would be better for him to just sit with the kids for a while, get his mind together and then have her come home.

"Hey Adam?"

"Yeah?"

"How scared were you before? Scale of one to ten."

"Fifty."

"Enough to ask her to stay out of the field?"

"I'm not sure. The thought's definitely crossed my mind. Probably not very fair to ask that of her, is it?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"That's one place where she and I are different. She could be in the lab or out in the field and it wouldn't matter because she was doing her job. I feel like I'm slacking if I'm just at the precinct. That's not to say that if Danny asked me to stay behind a desk I wouldn't at least give him the courtesy of thinking about it. But Lindsay… I don't know Adam, I think if it's something you feel strongly about she would do it. Especially after this. She doesn't make stupid decisions and she's good about staying safe, but sometimes things happen."

"I know. I just don't know if I could go through this again. I don't know if she could."

"I have no advice to give you there. I do know that she'll listen to you though. She's not going to ignore what you're saying if she doesn't want to hear it."

"She does give me the benefit of the doubt quite a lot."

"You're spoiled."

"Hey, so is she!" he said with a grin.

"Yes, we do tease her mercilessly about it."

Adam smiled.

"I don't know what she'd do without you, Aust."

"Adam, she'd be fine."

"Why do you two always act like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you aren't as close as you are. You always act like she doesn't need you and she acts like you don't need her but you would both be lost without each other."

"I would be. She… she's stronger than I am, Adam."

"I don't know about that. I don't think she could go through losing someone again. Especially not you."

"I'm pretty sure it will end me if something like this ever happens again."

"You're not the only one."

"Shuddup," Lindsay croaked suddenly. "Tryna sleep."

"And she's back," Austin chuckled, squeezing her hand.

"Hey darlin'," Adam said softly, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "You okay?"

"I dunno, you both got that look."

He grinned.

"On drugs and you're still like this."

"I'm going to go find the doctor," Austin said, excusing herself and slipping out of the room.

"Adam, what happened?"

"You don't remember?"

She closed her eyes tightly and tried to recall what happened, but there were only little snippets. She remembered pain and sirens and that was about it.

"Is Danny alright?"

"Yeah, he's fine."

She nodded and let out a deep breath.

"It hurts."

"I know sweetie. The doctor will be in soon."

"How bad is it?"

"You're going to have a really cool scar."

"Adam."

"No lasting effects, honey. They patched you up just fine, you'll be back to fighting crime before you know it."

She gave a wry smile as he brushed her hair back from her face.

"You're okay. You're okay."

He was saying it more for himself than for her, and she squeezed his hand even though the simple motion ached.

"I'm okay."

The door opened and the doctor stepped inside, quickly going over the extent of the injury, projected recovery time and then apologizing for not having the time to talk to her as he was on his way to an emergency surgery. Lindsay didn't really mind, she was only half coherent anyway.

"I'd better go," Austin said, raking her hair away from her face.

"Thanks for stayin'."

"Young lady don't you ever do that again, okay?"

"I'll do my best."

They gave each other's hands a squeeze and a look that said they would talk more later, and Austin left again.

"Where are the boys?"

"Jo went over there to stay with them."

"Are they alright?"

"I called a couple hours ago. Ben keeps asking for us and Colton… he's pretty worried."

"Why?"

"The last time someone in our family went to the doctor they didn't come back."

"Oh."

He moved from the chair to the bed, being careful not to jostle her too much.

"You want to call them now?"

"Yeah, please."

He picked the phone up off the bedside table and dialed the number, tracing his finger over the lines on her hand as he did it.

"Hey Jo, it's Adam… Yeah, she's awake, she wants to talk to Colton… Okay, just a sec."

He handed the phone to her, then just helped her hold it since it hurt to move her arm that way.

"Mama?"

"Hey baby."

"Mama, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine."

"You coming home? Please?"

"I can't come home tonight baby. I need to rest and get better."

"But you can't sleep at the doctors!"

"I have to. I really want to come home but I just can't do that tonight."

He started crying, pitiful sobs that ripped through her chest and she wanted to jump out of this bed and run home and hold him.

"Mama please."

"Baby, I can't. But you can come and see me tomorrow, okay? I'm just fine, Colton, I promise."

"You not dyin'?"

"No, I'm not."

"Okay."

He hiccupped and she could tell he was wiping his eyes with his sleeve, just like she did.

"Buddy I need to go back to sleep now, but you be good for Jo and take care of your brother, okay?"

"Okay."

"I love you."

"I love you more mama."

"Goodnight buddy."

Adam hung the phone up and wiped her tears away.

"You should go home," she whispered. "It'll make him feel better."

"You want me to go home without you? Not a chance babe. I'm staying right here."

"I'm so tired."

"It's okay. Go to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up. And every day after that."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"Hey Montana."

Lindsay looked up from the crossword puzzle she was doing and smiled.

"Hey."

"You're sittin' up, that's good right?"

"It's some kind of progress," she agreed as he sat down.

"How are you feeling?"

"I got a lot of drugs."

"Good."

"You?"

"No drugs."

"Danny."

"I'm fine. Feelin' a little guilty, but I'll get over that."

"You'd better. This isn't your fault."

"I know. I just feel like-"

"Danny stop it. If you hadn't been there, I would have died. Simple as that. You saved me. Don't ever sell yourself short on that."

"Alright, alright."

"Now, are you going to go and find that guy or are y'all waitin' for me to get out of this bed and do it?"

"I'm heading into work right now. He's gonna be a very unlucky guy when I get my hands on him, let me tell you."

"Video it for me."

"Done."

She smiled and he squeezed her hand.

"I gotta go, but Austin'll be in soon. She's on the phone with Flack."

"Okay."

"You be good, okay Montana?"

"I will."

"Love you."

"I love you too."

He left the room and she sighed, stretching as much as she could before it hurt. She'd woken up only an hour ago when Adam left to go home to the boys and she already wanted to go back to sleep. Getting well was exhausting.

"Mornin' butthead."

Lindsay snorted at Austin's greeting and put the crossword on the table beside her.

"Mornin' snot face."

"Still in that bed? Wimp."

"Shut it, Messer."

"Bored yet?"

"What do you think?"

"Well I am here to save the day," she said, plopping down in the chair and kicking her feet up on the metal bedframe.

"Ouch, don't jiggle me."

"Sorry. I brought you stuff."

"Contraband chocolate?"

"No, I don't want to hospitalize you further."

"But-"

"Liquid diet."

"Chocolate syrup?"

"Lindsay."

"Austin."

"Anyway, I brought you trash magazines so you can draw moustaches on Angelina Jolie. And I ran by your place and got your laptop and Monty Python DVDs. And a newspaper because I was at the stand anyway."

"You're the best best friend ever."

"I do what I can. So how are you feeling? Honestly, none of this "I'm fine" crap."

"I hurt everywhere and I'm nauseous and I'm tired and I really, really want a long shower."

"I'm sorry."

"Dem's da breaks man," she sighed, picking at a thread on the blanket. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"If something ever happens to me, like really happens, will you take care of Adam and the boys?"

"Lindsay stop it."

"I'm serious right now. I have to know they'd be okay."

"You don't have to worry because it's not going to happen."

"Austin please," she said, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I have to know they would be okay. I have to. If they weren't, I-"

"Okay, okay. I'll take care of them, I promise," Austin said quickly. "You don't have to worry, they'd be fine."

"Thank you."

"I'm only obliging because you pulled out tears on me, lady. No more talking about dying, you got it?"

"I got it."

"Geez, bring the whole room down."

Lindsay snickered.

"Can I ask you just one more question?"

"Sure."

"Adam freaked out on Danny didn't he?"

"A little."

"Was it bad?"

"It was understandable. They talked later though. They're fine."

"Good. How long do you have?"

"As long as you want me. Danny's mom has the kids. She's taking them to the zoo."

"Brave woman."

"I swear she has twelve arms."

"You wanna watch the Lifetime channel with me then? Mock the bad movies?"

"Is there gonna be one on?"

"It's the Lifetime channel, Aust."

"Well then surf on."

Lindsay giggled and scooted over slowly and carefully, wincing a little when she moved too much.

"You okay?"

"Yep, I'm fine."

Austin grinned and sat down on the bed beside her and they both leaned back against the pillow.

"Ooh, is this the one where the husband is a cheater?" Lindsay asked excitedly.

"I think you have a ninety nine percent chance of being right."

"I'll take those odds."

"I'm gonna hug you now, tell me when it hurts."

"Never."