Start spreadin' the news, I'm leavin' today. I want to be a part of it, New York, New York. These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray, right through the very heart of it, New York, New York.

Danny Messer pulled nervously at the collar of his shirt. In the other hand he held a bouquet of white Daises. He pushed the button on the security panel beside the door, and listened as it buzzed.

"Whose there please?" Her voice floated through the speaker, and he forgot all the doubts he'd felt since arriving at her door.

"It's me, Lindsay." He moved through the door as she buzzed him in.

The walk up to her door seemed to last forever. It was their first official date, and he felt just as he had, the first time he'd taken out the girl in his high school chemistry class- what was her name? Anyway, he at least knew that Lindsay's dad wouldn't be waiting with a shotgun.

Pulling at his collar again, he knocked on her door and his jaw dropped when she opened it. She wore a metallic gold tank with spaghetti straps, and a pair of dark blue bell bottom jeans, embroidered on one leg was what looked like a snake in gold and silver thread, and a large red rose decorated the front of one pocket. Her hair was pulled up messily on the top of her head with a clip, curls spiraling down from it around her face and neck. On her feet were a pair of gold platform sandals, her feet bare, and her toe nails painted a glittering gold, She was breathtaking, and for a minute his vocal cords refused to work.

"Are you going to say something Messer, or are you going to just stand there with your mouth open." Her tone belied the nervous flutter in her stomach.

"Um…yeah…you ah-ya look incredible Mo-Lindsay."

She blushed pink and pretty, and he wanted to forget the whole night out on the town they'd planned, and make love to her right there and then, but he remembered their agreement to take it slow. Damn it, why did he have to be noble and do the right thing, he wondered as she stood aside to let him in.

"Danny their beautiful," she exclaimed when he gave her the flowers.

She kissed him on the cheek, and it was his turn to redden slightly. Wait, did Danny Messer just blush?

"Danny, you ready to go?"

He blinked, and then realized he'd been standing there, staring at her every move, as she put the flowers in water. Watching her delicate movements, was like watching water move over the stones in a brook, the way it made sunlight and colors dance on it surface, turning it crystal clear. His thoughts were very clear, he wanted her, and not just in the physical sense but emotional as well. He was patient; he could wait as long as she needed.

Walking next to her as they descended to street level, he breathed in deep the smell of the subtle perfume she wore, she'd done something to the eye makeup that made her eyes look smoky, slumberous, and damn sexy, too.

"Just keep your eye on the prize Messer, play your cards right and someday you might wake up next to that beautiful face."

He found the idea of waking up nextto her, every day for the rest of his life was very appealing. He would do what ever it took to make that dream become reality.

I want to wake up, in a city that never sleeps, and find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap.

She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he hailed a cab. He wore a leather bomber jacket and faded blue jeans, with the white button down shirt. He looked very sexy, and it had been all she could do not to jump him the minute she'd opened the door.

"Explain to me again why we're "taking it slow" Linds…because right now I don't remember." Oh right, you have "issues," Shut up, she told herself, and smiled as he held open the door of the cab, she hadn't noticed idling next to them.

They spoke awkwardly of work earlier in the day, both of them thinking to themselves that this had the makings of a disaster, if they couldn't find another topic of conversation.

"Jeez, what if that's all we have in common, lust in the lab." Lindsay thought with a shudder and a genuine hope it wasn't true, she didn't want him to be just a crush at work, "Since when Lindsay, isn't that what you've always wanted, no entanglement with the very hot Detective Messer?"

"Come on Messer think of somethin else to talk about, or she's gonna think you're morbid, and you get off talkin about corpses and bombs." He didn't like the direction that thought was taking him, he wanted there to be something for them outside the job, and he wanted it so badly he could taste it.

Lindsay's resolve to take it slow and just be friends was weakening fast. Sitting next to him, she could feel soft leather of his bomber jacket on her arm, and she wondered if she would smell the scent of his clean and spicy aftershave if she wore the jacket. The thought made her knees weak and she was glad she was already sitting down.

These little town blues, are melting away. I'll make a brand new start of it, in old New York. If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere, it's up to you, New York, New York.

To distract her self, she turned to look out the windows, the sun had just set, and all the lights of Broadway were dancing with gold's, greens, reds and purples, an entire rainbow enticing her to come join in the fun of a Broadway show. There were so many people on the street enjoying the coolness of the early fall evening. Taxis wove in and out of traffic, horns blew, and people shouted at one another. She rolled down a window and breathed in the smell of a sidewalk vendor grilling hot dogs. Funny how that smell could invoke the same feelings of peace, the wheat fields in Montana had given her just a year ago.

She no longer missed her family with the ferocity she had just months ago. She would never admit it the truth to Danny, but it was mostly due to him that she loved the city. She been deliberately blasé about the New York skyline a few weeks ago, even though she felt that as long as Danny was there, the wheat fields could go to the devil and she wouldn't miss them.

"Lindsay?"

"Oh nice work Monroe, you get so caught up in watching New York, you forget Danny's in the car." She turned pink again, wishing there were a way to cure that response to him.

"Hmm, sorry Danny I didn't mean to ignore you, but the city is beautiful tonight." She said with a little awe.

"You're beautiful Montana."

"Watch it big guy, you're taking it slow remember?"

"Yeah, I remember, I also see that Lindsay's fallen under the spell of the Big Apple, it took her long enough."

"Yeah it's nice and this is our stop."

The cab pulled to a stop in front of Cozy's, it was the same club Lindsay had taken him to when they listened to Mac play the guitar, none of them knew about that particular skill, and it had tickled Danny to see his boss happily jamming, part of the jazz trio.

The club had a decent grill, so they took a table and ordered food and drinks. Talking to each other became easier as they recounted the last time they'd been there. From there, it was a discussion of their favorite types of music. Danny assumed that Lindsay would love country music, she did, but she also had a liking for metal.

"No way Lindsay," he said in disbelief, he imagined she was teasing him.

"Yes way, she mocked his tone. Country's great, but I like all kinds of music including heavy metal.

"I hafta to say, that's not the kind of music I pictured as a favorite of your's but, I won't make fun of your choices in music, if you don't make fun of mine."

"Tell me, what kind of music do you like?" She chided him.

"I like this, what were listenin to now, jazz and blues. He said challenging her with his eyes not to laugh. I bet you thought I'd be into Springsteen or Bob Segar."

"No, that's not what I thought, and I'm not laughing as you can see."

The evening passed quickly, they talked, and laughed together easily and eventually they joined other couples on the dance floor. Lindsay's resolve was breaking down fast, she had to get away from him and think, so she excused herself to go powder her nose.

As usual, the line for the ladies room was never ending, but that was ok, it gave Lindsay time to ponder how things were going so far. Danny was trying so hard to remain true to their agreement; it was very sweet, she thought, as she answered the call of nature and then washed her hands that she no longer wanted to go slow. As her thoughts chased themselves around her brain, she moved back down the hall and tried to commit to a path that went to his bed or to friendship. Her path was suddenly blocked, by a large, very hairy, very drunk man.

"Hey pretty little thing, wanna join me in a drink at my place?" He put a hand on her arm and she yanked it away.

"Get lost creep or I'll run you in!" She said, pulling her badge out the small handbag she carried, making sure he could see it.

He grabbed her arm again and said "don't be that way baby."

That did it, she stomped on the instep of his right foot and then grabbed one of his big hands, pulling back hard on the thumb, hyper extending it to the back of his hand. He dropped to his knees, howling in pain as Danny rounded the corner. He'd wondered what was taking her so long. She looked up at him, as if sensing his presence, and smiled at him.

"Hi Messer, want to call in uniforms for this lovely gentleman?"

Seeing that she wasn't in physical danger, he said quite calmly. "Um, ok what's da charge?"

"Assaulting a police officer," she said, as calmly as she could, she didn't want him to over react and do something stupid to the pathetic drunk.

Of course over react is exactly what he did. She released the drunk letting him fall to the floor when Danny's eyes filled with rage.

"What!"

Danny roared, striding forward and knocking a couple of people over in his haste to get to her. The man was dead if he'd hurt her. She met him and placed a hand on his arm. It was enough to stop him, instead he turned to her, looking her up and down, and in the same way he'd looked at her after the Holly Golightly case. There was love in his eyes then, and it was there now. She knew in a split second that she could never refuse him again. She wondered why she'd tried in the first place.

"Did he-"

"No, Danny he's just a drunk who won't take nofor an answer."

She smiled at him to reassure him she was ok. He took a deep breath, trying to calm the frantic beating of his heart, and pulled out his cell to call it in.

After he finished, he walked over to where the man lay, put his face close to the man's ear, and said. "It's a good thing my girl knows how ta take care of herself, if I'd had ta take ya down, ya wouldn't be walkin outta here."

He and Lindsay chatted calmly while Danny stood with one foot on the man's back, he needn't have worried about the man trying to get away, and one look into Danny's rage filled eyes had convinced him that the prudent thing to do was to wait for the uniformed cops.

It turned out that uniforms were just down the block when the call came in and the arrived in record time.

"Hey Detective, we got him," one of the officers said, as his partner moved in to handcuff the man.

"Ya want to press charges Detective?" The first officer asked Lindsay.

"No, but a night in the drunk tank might cool him off."

"Can do, and don't worry we'll give him a nice ride and a better welcome at the station."

The officer's tone couldn't hide the twinkle in his eyes. This man would be sorry he'd messed with one of their own.

"Well, that was fun," Danny said. The rage he felt was leaving swiftly, and he was beginning to see the humor in what had just happened. His mouth twitched as he tried not to laugh.

"What's so funny Messer?" She didn't like to see him angry, but his obvious fight not to laugh was strange, too.

"I was just thinkin that we always seem ta bond over a dead body, or a crime scene."

She began to smile and said, "You know I was thinking earlier, that I hoped we had more in common then processing crime scenes."

He laughed out loud and said, "I know, I was thinkin the same thing as we were ridin over here." He held out his hand to her and gestured to the door, "Let's get outta here kay?"

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see soon enough."

New York...New York. I want to wake up, in a city that never sleeps, and find I'm A number one, top of the list, king of the hill, A number one…

He led her through the crowd and out the door. It took a few minutes to get another cab, and she was wild with curiosity. Where was he taking her this time?

Finally they got a cab. He held the door for her as she climbed in and sat down. He followed her inside the car and said to the cabby, "the empire state buildin, please."

"Danny Messer, what are you up to?"

"You haven't been ta the top of the empire state buildin, right?"

"Well no, I haven't yet." This was a lie, she'd actually been up twice, but he was so excited to show it to her, she couldn't say no and burst his bubble.

"You're in for a treat Lindsay, you can see all five boroughs from the top, and it's great."

His trademark smile was back, the crooked one that always made her weak in the knees…she wanted to kiss him…and taste the mouth that could smile like that.

It was full dark when they arrived at the Empire State Building. The entire city was lit up, and they made up for the stars she couldn't see. Danny bought for her, a miniature replica of the building, ignoring her protests that it wasn't necessary, and they headed to the elevators going to the top.

She didn't have to fake the amazement she felt when the doors opened, and they moved across the platform to look out over the city. She been up here, but that was in the day time with lots of tourists. Now it was almost closing time, and only she and Danny were at the top. It truly was breathtaking, lights as far as you could see, and the sky was clear so they could see stars as well. It reminded her of the time she gone on a field trip in the sixth grade to the planetarium in Bozeman.

"Oh Danny it's so beautiful, thank you for bringing me here."

She turned to look at him, and what she saw in his eyes combined with the view brought a shiver to her spine. He saw her shiver, pulled off his jacket and threw it over her shoulders. Another split second of clarity hit her, as his scent filled her nostrils, and his body moved close to hers. He didn't pull back, so she threw caution and the voice of reason in her head, to the wind and kissed him. He was surprised, and backed away from her when they broke apart.

"Lindsay I-" he stuttered.

"It's ok cowboy." She said, answering the unspoken question in his eyes.

She stepped up close, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him again. He forgot what they'd promised each other as his arms came around her small waist. His mouth opened and their tongues met. A bolt of electricity shot through him, a hundred times more powerful than what he'd felt the first time he'd held her in his arms. He'd known it would be intense, holding her, but this was like coming home. All the things he never knew were missing in his life had come to him in this incredible woman; he didn't know how he'd lived before he'd met her.

As for Lindsay, there was no turning back; all of her doubts about Danny were gone in an instant. He made her feel like no one ever had, and she would fight to keep it. This was right, she'd found the missing part of her heart. After what felt like forever, Danny broke off the kiss and said.

"Lindsay ya hafta know, I didn't plan this by bringin ya up here, I just wanted ta show ya the beauty here since we see so much ugliness in our job."

"No Danny, I don't think that. I'm the one who should apologize, I broke our agreement to take things slow by kissing you, I wouldn't blame you for being angry and thinking I'm a tease, but I swear that's not what's happening here. I think I'm falling in love with you." Her face flamed and she couldn't look at him.

"Lindsay, look at me baby. He said using a finger to lift her chin to look at him. I don't think you're a tease; I just want ya ta be sure this is what ya want. I'm pretty sure I'm fallin for ya, too. I don't want ta mess it up. Can we continue to explore this and see where it takes us?" He held her tight, afraid she would disappear if he let go of her.

"Sure cowboy, on one condition." She said with a wicked smile.

"What condition is that?" He asked, afraid of what she might say.

"Call me Montana."

"You got it, Montana!" He took her hand and led her back to the elevator.

These little town blues, are melting away, I'll make a brand new start of it, in old New York. If I can make if there, I'll make it anywhere, it's up to you, New York, New York!!!