I Loved Her First

A/N I don't own CSI: NY or any of the main characters. While this isn't my first fan fic, this is my first CSI: NY fan fic. Be kind and R&R please.

Danny Messer stood in the New York Crime Lab, next to his co-worker, Lindsay "Montana" Monroe. The two had been working together for almost a year and a half, ever since Lindsay transferred out from some small, rural, Midwestern town, called Bozeman, Montana. Lindsay was a polite young woman, she had that mild mannered Midwestern charm, that was typical of that part of the country, but with a tenacity that gave the impression, she belonged in the big city. Danny couldn't help but look at her while they worked together. She was nice to look at. She was also fun to tease. Danny loved to tease her. He especially loved when he made her turn crimson from embarrassment. Often he called her Montana or Monroe. He only ever called her Lindsay, when he was being serious about something, which wasn't very often. He'd started this crap the first day they met, and it irritated her to no end.

Lindsay stood at the table, bits and pieces of evidence in an apparent lover's quarrel turned homicide she and Danny were working together, spread out in front of them. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Danny was casually checking her out, as he usually did. She swore she'd never tell him, but secretly she liked the way Danny looked at her. It was nice to feel attractive to someone, even if she never would act on it. As Danny turned his attention to the golf club that was used as the murder weapon, she looked at him more. Danny Messer was cute, there was no denying that. As much as he irritated the life out of her, she had grown accustomed to his obnoxious ways. She even came to like that he hardly ever called her Lindsay. He always called her Montana, and occasionally, Monroe. While Montana was what he "named " her, for lack of a better term, as a way to make fun of her on a daily basis, it had grown on her and slowly become a term of endearment. As things stood now, she knew when he called her by her given name; he had something serious to say. Not that she minded being called by her name; in fact, she was quite fond of the way her name sounded on his lips in his thick Staten Island accent. It just seemed to her, that it was more appropriate that she was his Montana.

"Ya checking me out Montana?" Danny casually asked, looking over at her, with that annoying, sexy smirk he always wore, to see her staring at him, lost in thought. Hearing his voice, Lindsay snapped back to the present and immediately flushed red with embarrassment as she quickly looked back at the table in front of her. "Oh come on, Monroe. It's only natural that you find me sexually attractive, like every other straight woman in New York." Danny teased, the smile on his face growing as the shade of red on her face deepened. "Danny" Lindsay said, embarrassed that he would ever imply that she thought he was sexy. It didn't matter that she did, but the fact that he would say it, was just so improper. "What, you've never even considered shagging me? Not even a little?" He asked suggestively as the warmth in her cheeks grew in intensity. "Shut up and go back to work" Lindsay muttered, desperately trying to ignore the feelings he was creating within her. "Oh, so you do want me?" Danny continued to tease her with his trademark accent. "I do not!" She protested as she finally made eye contact with him. "Yes you do." Danny playfully argued, getting a huge kick out of making her so flustered with just a few words, and wishing he had a camera to take a picture of the expression on her face. "What in the world makes you think that?" She asked incredulous. "Look at you Montana; you're as red as a lobster!" Danny finally blurted out as laughter took him over. "You're such a jerk" the crimson woman muttered before she turned her attention away from Danny and tried to regain her composure.

In her still flustered state, Lindsay dropped her pen on the floor. Danny who was still watching her and snickering, asked, "Can I get that for ya, little lady?" in his best mock, country accent. "You're such a jerk" she casually tossed over her shoulder along with a teasing smile as she bent over to pick up the pen. When she did, her lab jacket fell to the side and her green shirt rode up a bit, exposing part of her back. "You know you like…" Danny started to flirt back when he saw the deep discoloration on her lower back. "Christ Montana, what the hell happened?" Danny asked concerned at what he saw. Realizing that he saw the bruise, Lindsay quickly stood up and straightened out her clothing. "Oh, that. It's uh…it's nothing. I just fell into a wall last night." She quickly explained, hoping Danny would buy it, despite her lameness. "You fell into a wall?" Danny repeated what she'd just told him, not believing what she said at all. "Yeah, I lost my footing and hit the wall." She repeated, elaborating on her earlier answer. It wasn't actually a lie, she told herself. She actually did fall into a wall, just not the way she was telling him that it happened. Danny nodded his head thoughtfully as he slowly walked behind her and patted her back just under her shoulder blades with his hand. At the firm touch, Lindsay yelped in pain and wheeled around to face him. "Hey! Be careful, that hurts!" she chastised him. Just as she said that, she became aware that it had clicked in his head that the bruise went farther up her back than he saw. Danny turned her back around and gingerly lifted up a corner of her shirt just enough to see that the bruise covered most of what he could see of her back. Lindsay fidgeted uncomfortably at his attentions. She knew the interrogation was about to begin. "Fell into a wall, huh? Care to change your story Lindsay?" Danny said thoughtfully as he turned her to face him.

When she came face to face with the young detective, Lindsay knew the gig was up. She had to come up with something to tell him that he would believe, but what? Suddenly, it hit her that he had called her Lindsay. "Uh oh. This isn't good." She thought as she stammered to get out an explanation for why she had lied to him. Danny stared intently, his hand never leaving Lindsay's shoulder as she stuttered, her beautiful hazel eyes clouded over in sheer terror. Her skin became pale as her jaw dropped and she stared at him the ability to talk having left her entirely. Feeling her body begin to shake, Danny knew instinctively that she was remembering what had really happened to her last night, as well as trying to find a way to avoid telling him. Whatever had happened to her, it was apparent that someone had gotten violent with his Montana. Suddenly, it hit Danny like a ton of bricks that he knew who had inflicted such trauma on this innocent woman. "Lindsay? Did Kevin hit you last night?" Danny asked, trying to use his ability to sound like he had control of the situation to calm her down. In response, Lindsay averted her gaze away from Danny, and began to fidget nervously with the edge of her lab coat. With her head tilted away from him slightly, Danny saw the slight bruising on her neck for the first time. With that, he put his hand on her cheek to coax her to look at him. At the touch of his palm on the cheek, which had the bruise covered with makeup, the petite, frightened woman cowered away from his gentle touch. Realizing that she had another bruise on her left cheek under her make up, Danny led her to a chair and quickly wet some paper towels at the sink before kneeling down in front of her. "I'm sorry if this hurts Linds, but I have to look." Danny apologized as he gently began to wipe at the make up on her face. At this point, Lindsay was so shocked by all that had just gone on, that she didn't even flinch when Danny gingerly began to wipe the make up off her face to see the extent of her injuries. Instead, she allowed a few tears to roll their way down her cheeks as Danny continued his gentle care of her. Once all her make up was removed and Danny wiped away her tears, he assessed the damage to her face. The entire left side of her face from her jaw to right under her eye was colored a sickening mixture of black and blue. "Son of a bitch." Danny muttered as he continued to examine her face. He was tempted to go get Dr. Sheldon Hawkes to come examine her to make sure nothing was broken, but decided to find out what happened before he put her on display for the entire lab to see. "So, what exactly happened last night, Monroe?" Danny asked, using one of her nicknames as he took her hand in a show of support. Lindsay opened her mouth to answer the question, but Danny spoke again before she could say anything. "The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth this time, Montana." He said before letting her reevaluate the excuse she was about to give him for what happened.

Knowing that her days of hiding bruises and making excuses were over, Lindsay Monroe decided to actually come clean. "We had an argument and it got out of hand is all. He didn't mean it. He was just upset with me is all." She blurted out in one breath. Danny could hardly believe what the golden haired beauty in front of him was saying. Not only had she lied to him about being beaten by her boyfriend of two months, but also now, she was blaming herself for it. "Just an argument that got out of hand, my ass, Lindsay!" Danny yelled in shock. "He beat the crap out of you and you're saying he just got mad is all? What the hell could you have POSSSIBLY done to deserve him doing this to you?!" Danny asked, quieter this time. "I broke up with him." Lindsay answered quietly. "You broke up with him? Was that before or after he beat the hell outta ya?" he retorted pissed as ever. "I broke up with him because I was tired of him being jealous of all the time I spent working with you! Last night he accused me of sleeping with you and I just couldn't take it any more so I ended it right there. He told me that I was gonna regret doing that." Lindsay said, choking back a sob.

Standing right outside the lab were Detectives Mac Taylor and Stella Bonasara. "What is going on in there?" Mac asked, seeing that his two CSI's were getting into it. "I don't know. Practical joke gone awry?" Stella made a random guess. "No, I don't think that's it." Mac answered back as he noticed Lindsey appeared to be crying, and Danny seemed to be the cause of it. He motioned for Stella to follow him as he walked into the lab to investigate. "What's going on in here?" Mac asked as he walked over to the two young people in the corner. Danny looked up from his crouched position at the imposing officer, while Lindsay just kept her head down and continued to cry. "Lindsay are you okay?" Stella asked, and in return got a sob, but no verbal answer. "What did you do to her?" Mac asked Danny. "I didn't do anything to her!" Danny defended himself and quickly stood up. "Lindsay." Mac said, hoping to gain the rookie's attention. Still, she looked down and continued to cry softly. "Lindsay, look at me." Mac tried again, this time a little louder. Slowly Lindsay looked up at her superior. Nothing could have prepared Mac or Stella for what they saw. Upon seeing the bruises on her face, Stella drew in a deep breath before softly saying, "Oh, Lindsay." Mac just silently examined what was in front of him, before speaking in a calm voice. "Jesus, Lindsay. What happened to your face? Did Danny hit you?" He asked, shocking Danny that he would make such an implication with him standing right there. For her part, Lindsay adamantly said, "No" before looking up at Danny's face, her eyes beginning to tear up again as she silently begged him to tell the story for her. "Then what happened?" Stella asked as she knelt down next to the young woman. "Kevin beat the hell out of her, for breaking up with him is what happened." Danny answered the question when he saw the look on Lindsay's face. "He what?" Mac asked, not sure he'd heard Danny right. "She broke up with him, so he beat her up." Danny repeated. Just hearing the events of 12 hours ago, spoken aloud, sent Lindsay into another tail spin and she began to sob once more. Seeing this, Danny couldn't take it anymore. No one hurt his "girl" and got away with it. Even though he and Lindsay weren't dating, he felt the need to protect her and take care of her. With that thought in mind, he headed towards the door. "Stella, go get Sheldon and tell him Lindsay is hurt and we need him to look at her." Mac ordered, just as he noticed Danny walking out the door. "Where are you going?" He called after him. Danny stopped and answered the question. "I think Kevin needs to have a friendly little chat with New York's finest, don't you? He asked and started walking again. "Danny, don't kill him!" Lindsay cried as he walked away from her.

Danny got down to his car in a hurry and quickly headed off towards the apartment of the ill-fated Kevin Alexander. On the way over there, Danny let his mind wander. "Lindsay Alexander. What a hokey name." Danny thought to himself as he drove. "Lindsay Messer has a much better ring to it." He said aloud before, even realizing he was thinking along that line in the first place. "Whoa there Messer! That's even assuming she feels the same way about you. And also assuming I feel that way about her." He said inwardly as he stopped at a traffic light. "Do I feel that way about her? Sure, I like to look at her and flirt with her. Hell, I even like holding her and burying my face in her hair when she needs comforting after a tough case. Maybe if she wasn't so damn cute and didn't smell so good, I wouldn't like it as much. But that still doesn't mean I think of her in a girlfriend way." Danny reasoned, as he turned down Kevin's street. "You're on your way to beat up her boyfriend you idiot; of course you have feelings for her!" His brain taunted as he parked his car. "Ex boyfriend." Danny corrected himself aloud as he grabbed a lead pipe out of the backseat of his car and headed up to Kevin's apartment. "Maybe Mac was right….love can happen, even to me." Danny said to himself as he banged the pipe against Kevin's door. Suddenly, Danny's eyes grew wide with this sudden revelation. "Holy shit, do I love Lindsay Monroe?" He asked himself, but couldn't answer as the lock on the door in front of him clicked off, and the door started to open.

"Well, Detective. She's not here." Kevin curtly said, as soon as he saw Danny at his door. "I know she's not here." Danny hissed at him, his anger beginning to rise at the disdain he felt for this man. By his reaction, Danny knew Kevin knew he was there for some reason regarding Lindsay. "Well, if you know she's not here, then you should go find her." The tall man at the door told Danny, as he started to slam it in the shorter detective's face. That was the last straw. Danny officially hated this person and wanted to hurt him as bad as he'd hurt Lindsay; maybe worse. Before the door could close, however, Danny stuck the 3" diameter lead pipe in the door jam, effectively allowing him to push the door open and walk in. Once inside, Danny closed the door loudly and approached the incredulous little shit that stood in front of him. "So Kevin, let's talk." Danny growled at the shirtless man in front of him as he tapped the lead pipe in the palm of his hand. "Talk about what? Lindsay broke up with me, you can have her. Nothing to talk about there. She was a useless, stupid fuck anyway. I'm better off with a real piece of ass." Kevin did his best to insult her in order to get a rise out of the angry Italian in his living room.

What Kevin didn't know is that he'd just violated the two cardinal rules in the Danny Messer Guide to Talking About Lindsay Monroe. Rule one, never call her stupid. And even more importantly never, EVER insult her sex appeal. Ever. Danny quickly advanced on Kevin, and that is when the tall Latino knew he'd made a grave mistake. Right now, he couldn't help but be afraid of Detective Daniel Messer. As he backed into the very wall, he'd shoved Lindsay into and the pipe was slammed into the plaster dangerously close to his head. Kevin wondered if Danny could in fact kill him and get away with it, as Lindsay had said he could, after the first time he hit her. However, he didn't have much time to contemplate that before the lead pipe was removed from the wall and connected quickly, and violently, with his ribs, causing him to double over in pain.