Author's note - I'm done! Yay! I finished one! Hope it's clear at the end... I'm still working on the other story, if anyone's interested. :) Happy reading!

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Danny sat up and took the coffee Lindsay handed him. She'd split her portion into two.

"You sure you don't want the whole thing? You need it more than me…"

"No, I'm fine," she said, staring into the sloshing dark liquid.

"So." Danny said, preparing himself.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm sorry, OK? I know I promised I wouldn't do that again." She fiddled with the hem of her white blouse.

"Not – not that. I mean, we'll get to that later. I meant this guy, Joseph."

"Oh, him."

Danny leaned back onto the arm of the couch and took a sip. He watched her fiddle with the blouse, then move onto the light blue wear in the knees of her jeans, smoothing and scratching at the material. It was a good three minutes before she spoke.

"After I called him and got his wife, I went out to meet him like we'd arranged. I thought it might've been a mistake. When I got there, he was twenty minutes late. I saw him take off the ring outside the restaurant."

"Oh, Linds –"

"No, it's OK. I should've known, right?" She looked up at him with an expression he couldn't place. It was a sort of acceptance, a type of sad submission to a rule that shouldn't be there.

"Montana –"

"Don't, Danny, it's fine. I'll be alright. He was so perfect, and so nice, and I was blindsided by that just like I was …" her voice faltered and she returned to her fiddling.

"Lindsay, you can't just accept it. You shouldn't." He knew this was his fault, too, and he was right there with this Joseph guy. He was five seconds from bashing his head into the wall. "What he did, what I did – that's not how the world is. So don't just sit there and act like it's your fault, because it's not. I told you this. It's not your fault. It's his, and it's mine. Cheating – it isn't something people are allowed to do. Get mad at him, for Chrissake! Don't act like it's no big deal."

She stared at him solemnly, watching him. He'd pulled himself up onto his knees, and was sitting on his heels, almost like he was begging her.

She pursed her lips and sat back, holding the coffee carefully so as not to spill it. She said nothing for a while. Their eyes caught and they watched each other, Danny's pleading and hers neutral.

She started moving on the couch. She put the drink down on the table. She nudged her knees forwards. One leg swung slowly off the couch. She slid herself more, onto the next cushion. Her hands pulled herself further along using the top of the couch. Finally, she was right in front of him, her breath hot on his face, leaning in towards him.

He took the last step. He couldn't take it anymore. She was no more than two centimeters from his mouth. There were a few things Danny Messer could not take and one of them was uncertainty. So he made up his mind to kiss her before he exploded with the suspense.

He touched her only with his lips first, pressing lightly to make sure he'd made the right choice. She brought her hands up slowly, like she was moving through pudding, to rest on his shoulders, her hands hanging limply down his back. Only when she parted her mouth did he lean forwards, holding the backrest to steady them both, and brought himself on top of her on the couch. He sucked her lip carefully, wondering where she planned to take them and how far they would go, and what it meant and what he'd done and could he please stop thinking and just kiss her and let that be that.

She couldn't help but emit a tiny sigh, and he pulled away immediately. She shook her head and pulled him back down to her, opening her mouth wider and brushing her tongue forwards into his mouth.

She took off his shirt; he touched the skin above her jeans. She unbuttoned his pants; he moved his hand to her butt. She couldn't get him to go much further. Finally, with a low growl, she brought her hand to his and dragged it up to her shirt, pulling their hands together up to her bra. He got the hint.

By the time their heard the knocks at the door, she was topless and pressed tightly against him, her jeans in the process of being pushed down her waist. Danny, clad in a wifebeater and unbuttoned pants, groaned, pulled away, and dropped his head into the curve of her neck.

She laughed at his defeat, "It's OK. We'll finish later."

He got up and buttoned his pants.

"I think it's my neighbor. I gave him a pie yesterday; he's probably just returning the pie tins."

"I'll get it," he said, pulling her shirt out of her hands and brushing his hand along her cheek as he walked to the door.

Once Danny put the pie tins back in her cupboard, he made his way back to the couch, where she was struggling to get her t-shirt back on.

"Got any pie left?" he asked.

"No," she smiled, "I only made one."

"Thought you said you only made pie when you were worried 'bout somethin."

She shrugged, "nothing I can't fix."

He grinned at her.

Her phone rang and she looked at it for a moment before dropping it onto the floor in disgust.

"Wassa matter? Who was it?"

"Joseph," she said grumpily. She swung her feet over the side of the couch before pausing. "You know …"

Danny smiled, "We could have a little fun with him…"

Joseph Petrelli didn't know what hit him. He was all prepared for a casual talk with a girl he thought he could get something from, when he heard a moan and a few choice words directed through his phone.

"Um, Lindsay?"

"Oh, God, YES! … Jo-Joseph?" She gasped. At the other end, Danny watched her proudly, before starting in with his own moans and grunts.

"I was just calling –"

"C'mon, baby, GO! C'mon! Augh …" Danny shouted, Lindsay sitting cross-legged in front of him giggling through her hand.

"-to, uh, to see if you wanted –"

"Ah, Danny! RIGHT THERE."

"- you know what, maybe this is a bad time …"

"Oh, God. OH GOD!" Lindsay screamed, and she heard the click. She collapsed onto Danny's chest, laughing and giggling hysterically.

"That was so much FUN!" She shouted.

"Wish we coulda seen his face…" Danny grinned.

"I love you."

He looked at her, smiling and hiccupping, and could do no more than brush his lips to hers.

"I love you, too."

"Good," she smiled toothily, "now let's go get some food. I'm starving!"

"We could have you make a pie …"

"OH! Let's go to Andy's!"

"Alright, alright. Get your coat, it's freezing."

She watched him lock the door behind them, pocketing her keys, and took her boyfriend's hand.