These characters do not belong to me ... but at this point I wish they did :p ... this is my attempt at making everything go in the right direction. And the poem is not mine either. But I thought it was really good.

Hannah, Chapter 1:

Lindsay carried her lunch down the street to the little park located close to the lab. It had become her habit in recent months, on days when she wasn't in the field during her lunch break. She would escape into the sunshine and not have to deal with Danny when he came into work. She could only be grateful that this was one place they hadn't shared.

Besides, it really was a beautiful day. The smog level was low; the sky was bright and blue. And if she pretended, she could ignore the smell of exhaust and breathe in warm air that was clean.

And if she was pretending … she might as well pretend to be happy.

Danny had texted her and asked her to lunch today, as he did most days that he was coming in, and as he would have before Rueben Sandoval died. Of course, he was calling her then.

As she had the day he….

She pushed the thought back.

She'd returned his text and told him she was on her way to meet up with a friend. It wasn't a lie, really. Of course, her friend might not show. It wasn't like Lindsay knew them to be dependable.

And if it made Danny jealous, it wasn't her problem. She wasn't doing anything wrong. Even if she was seeing someone romantically, she wasn't committed to anyone.

She stopped at the traffic light and waited for the right to walk across.

And if she still loved him that was her own problem. He didn't have a right to her heart anymore.

Lindsay sighed as she walked across the street, and worked against the emotions that just seemed to spill out and over.

She found her bench, under the cover of trees, and sat down. She took a deep breath and tried to pretend.

Hands in his pockets, Danny stood on the sidewalk and leaned against the building that the park nestled beside. He watched her. He shouldn't have followed her, shouldn't have followed that need in his gut just to be close to her. If she found out, it would just be adding a few more bricks back on the wall they'd slowly begun to take down.

He missed her. Just being with her, holding her hand, listening to her laughter … without the dredge of fear that it would never be right again. Unlike other girls he'd dated, she hadn't expected him to be anything but who he was. She'd just become part of him, part of what made the two of them seem so right for each other.

He could go off, he could be a little crazy, intense ... he could put all of his emotions into a case.

And she would understand. She stabilized him.

And he loved to watch her spread her wings, try new things. He loved that part of her. He just loved being with her, watching the life and light of her smile and in her big brown eyes.

And now … she was turning down lunch with him, meeting someone else at the park.

He started to turn around, to give her the privacy that was her right. It wasn't his business whom she saw on her lunch break.

Not anymore.

Then he saw the person approach Lindsay's bench and he watched. For her safety, he told himself.

But when she turned her head and smiled, he at least knew this was her lunch date.

"Hannah," Lindsay said as her friend sat down. Dressed in clothes that had not been clean in ages, and layered too much for the summer sun, Hannah sat down on the park bench. Homeless Hannah.

She didn't reach for the half of a sandwich Lindsay had set to her side, though she nearly always accepted it when it was offered.

Nearly … because sometimes she was not in the right mind to be friendly. Like so many homeless, she needed medication. Lindsay suspected she was schizophrenic, but any offer to help was rebuffed. None of Hannah's … personalities wanted to be on medication. She said the medication kept her from her memories. It made her forget. And she didn't trust anyone enough to believe it was for the best.

Sometimes Hannah was angry and ranting, sometimes she was cold and unfeeling, and sometimes she was as soft and warm as a young girl in the bloom of womanhood. And sometimes she was the mother she'd never had a chance to be.

She'd been a developer in her other life. She'd met people, been successful and been unhappy. Her family had not wanted her then, and they didn't want her now.

Well, said Hannah.

But, most important, she was just a friend that Lindsay could turn to. They shared the fact that they were both from out west. It had bonded them in the beginning, as had their shared sadness.

Lindsay couldn't talk about what was hurting her, not during the day. Not with her coworkers. They didn't know what had happened between Lindsay and Danny--they didn't know he'd cheated on her. They didn't choose sides, but at times it seemed, though it was never said, they thought she was being a little rough on him. A little look here, a tiny comment there. Sometimes she felt it on the tip of her tongue--and somehow managed to snatch it back.

It wasn't their business and it … she was not going to make them choose sides and divide the lab. Mac had been right. What was between her and Danny didn't belong in the there. They had a job to do, and if they messed it up a criminal could go free.

"How is Detective Lindsay Monroe, today?" Hannah asked.

"Detective Lindsay Monroe is fine," she answered. When Hannah used her name, it meant she had to as well. Otherwise, it seemed to confuse her.

"Lindsay's hiding from him again."

"Maybe Lindsay is, but she likes to spend time with Hannah."

Hannah snorted.

Lindsay lifted the other half of her sandwich and held it out. "Hungry, Miss. Hannah?"

Hannah took the sandwich without a word and began to eat. Sometimes she ate like she was ravenous, sometimes, like she was scared—her eyes darting back and forth.

It seemed like today she was eating like a lady. Small nibbles with her incomplete set of teeth, long, thoughtful chews.

She simply fascinated Lindsay.

"You should forgive your man," she said at last.

"Danny?" Sometimes Hannah cursed him, sometimes she wept for Lindsay. This was something new.

"Life is really short," she said and turned, her eyes haunted with regrets. "Mistakes are made, but without glue to put it all back together, life just ends."

"Danny and I can't ever be more than friends."

"And why not? I ask you, why not?" Hannah's eyes glassed over, as she seemed to go back to her former life, as she began to recite.,..

"Forgiveness lane is old as youth, you cannot miss your way; 'T is hedged with flowering thorn forsooth where white doves fearless stray. You must walk gently with your Love, frail blossoms dread your feet— And bloomy branches close above Make heaven near and sweet. Some lovers fear the stile of pride And turn away in pain—But more have kissed where white doves hide and blessed Forgiveness Lane!

"That's beautiful, Hannah," and it pricked her heart. "But Danny and I … we have to work together—"

"But that's where you fell in love, Detective Lindsay Monroe. That's who you fell in love with. Shouldn't you look forward to the blessings?"

Lindsay shook her head. "I don't know."

"What?"

Lindsay managed a smile. "Detective Lindsay Monroe doesn't know."

"The doves will be watching Detective Lindsay Monroe. You both have strong bones."

Despite herself, Lindsay smiled. That was more like something Hannah would say.

Poem is called "Forgiveness Lane," by Martha Gilbert Dickenson. Please review if you want (not the poem, I had nothing to do with that) :p