Disclaimer: Using characters which are owned by CBS. Not for profit. Choking hazard for children under 3.
A/N: These one-shot ideas keep coming at me and I have to write them. I'm like the guy in "Jamalot" with hypergraphia. Perhaps I need Danny to arrest me:-p This is written in first person, Lindsay's POV. Purely for the purpose of inducing warm-fuzzies.

Something More

I'm having a bad day.

Scratch that, I'm having a terrible day.

I got here late – one thing I never do – and Mac greeted me with those "Don't let it happen again" raised eyebrows. Great. Why isn't he ever here to see me walk in twenty minutes early, like I do most days?

I can't find Stella. We're working this case together, and I need to go over some test results with her. I think I may have found something big, and we're in major need of such a break. But she has vanished.

One of the lab techs spilled coffee all over my case files. She's not even supposed to be drinking in the lab, but she had set her cup down to apply that awful orangeish lipstick. I'm pretty sure she's not supposed to be doing that in here either. Then she tipped the cup over, right onto my folder. I snapped at her as I sopped up the mess with paper towels. She gave me a steely gaze before flouncing off.

On top of everything else, I've been weighed down with a bad case of homesickness. Working so much has left me little time for socializing, and I'm sad to say the only friends I have made are my work colleagues. So on these cold gray mornings, I find myself missing the close-knit community I came from. I miss my family, I miss my lifelong friends. Just the thought of them causes a lump to form in my throat.

I'm just chalking it up to the winter blues. All I do is work and sleep. There has to be something more.

Right now I'm standing here in the lab with Danny. He's on a different case, but I'm bouncing ideas off him while he helps me peel the coffee-crusted sheets apart. We seem to have developed a friendship, despite an awkward start. He's fun to be around, but he is also dedicated to his job. I trust his instincts. The fact that I am very attracted to him, and the fact that I care for him, is something that I push to the back of my mind.

Two lab techs, Coffee Klutz included, walk into the other side of the room. They don't see us through the tall shelves of bottles and assorted clutter. I hear Orange Mouth's voice:

"She needs to pack her saddlebags and ride off to Montana where she belongs."

Danny and I both freeze. He starts to open his mouth, reaches his hand towards mine, but before he can I spin on my heels and head for the door. It was just the last straw. As I go out, I hear Danny yelling. Is he yelling for me? Or is he yelling at her?

I stand at the elevator for a minute, punching the 'down' button repeatedly. Nothing. I don't feel like waiting, so instead I head for the stairs and make the long descent. The staircase is deserted, one would have to be crazy to walk down this many flights. I am hot and panting by the time I reach the lobby, and slip gratefully out into the frigid air.

I plop down on a bench outside, and stare up at the sky. Tears burn my eyes, threatening to fall, but I deny them their gravity. I sit for a few minutes and try to focus on something else. How many stories in that building? Thirty-one, no, thirty-two. Where is that plane flying? Barbados, maybe? Aruba? Someplace warm, definitely.

I jump when I hear the voice just over my shoulder.

"Don't let some little lab rat get to you."

I know it is Danny without even turning; he has this presence about him. When I don't respond, he sits down next to me. He's close to me, our legs are almost touching. I wonder why he is still wearing his lab coat. He must have been in a hurry to follow me.

We sit silently on the bench for a few minutes. He keeps rubbing his hands together. I always think it's cute when he does that, though I'm not quite sure why he does it. I catch a bit of his cologne on the breeze, and I find it enjoyable. Yeah, that's probably a little pathetic.

"Seriously, Monroe, they're just gossips." He tries again.

"It's not that," I start to explain, and then my voice cracks. I exhale with a forceful puff.

Will. Not. Let. Him. See. Me. Cry.

Breathe in, breathe out.

"What is it, then?" he probes.

I sniffle. I can't bring myself to meet his eyes. If I do, I'm afraid I will either start sobbing, or throw myself in his arms. I'm not sure which. Maybe both?

"I'm lonely here," I say, my voice just above a whisper. The wind is stinging my face, though not as much as the tears, and a strand of my hair is stuck to my damp cheek.

Danny reaches out and brushes it from my face. Tenderly. It is the sweetest thing that's happened to me since I moved here.

"Lindsay," he says, moving in closer to me. He's never called me 'Lindsay' before. It's always been Montana, then Monroe. "You know why they act like that, don't you?"

I shake my head. His face is so close to mine, our noses are touching. We are in our own private universe, oblivious to the people walking by. They don't matter to us, we don't matter to them.

"She's just jealous," he whispers. "Because you're smart, and strong, and likeable, and…" he pauses, then finishes in a rush. "Sodamnbeautiful."

I want him to kiss me in this moment. He does, ever so lightly. Like a feather, just on the corner of my mouth. I love the sound it makes. Now this is the sweetest thing that's happened to me. Before I can kiss back, he pulls away and takes my hand, tugging it.

"Come on, I'm taking you to lunch."

I open my mouth to object – we are both in our lab coats for heaven's sake! - but he cuts me off with a wag of his finger. "No excuses this time."

As we walk away, he slips his arm around my shoulders. Protectively. Comfortingly. I could get used to this.

Maybe this is the start of something more.

A/N: No, I'm not continuing this. It's just a one-shot, nothing more. If you read this, and you don't review, you will have bad luck for the next three seconds. ;)