AUTHOR: serenity2bliss

TITLE: Exposed

RATING: T

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Not even the laptop that I'm currently using.

A/N: A big thank you to SallyJetson for the beta, and also her suggestion in giving this story some common sense. As always, all mistakes are mine and no one else.

Bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet, he stared at her closed door as he contemplated whether or not to knock on it. It was 10.30am. He had four hours left before his shift started. He knew hers had ended an hour ago, and she ought to be in bed by now, sleeping the day away.

He had stopped by the bakery two blocks away to get her favourite apple cinnamon cupcake. He would have gotten coffee too but he didn't want to risk 'wearing' the hot liquid over his head to the lab later. Better stick to something solid. At least that can be wiped cleaned with a paper napkin should she throw it on his face. The whiff of the said cupcake filled his nostrils as he weighed his options: wake her up from her much needed sleep, or put a sock on his infidelity for another day and leave.

No competition there. It was time for him to own up to his mistakes.

He knocked on the door twice, loud and strong, and waited nervously. He should have taken Flack's advice to take up yoga to help him calm his nerves and temper. But the thought of bending and twisting his body like a pretzel in tights did not hold much appeal for him. He would rather save the acrobatic moves, minus the tights, when he –

"What are you doing here?"

The sound of her voice; slightly surprised, snapped him out of his reverie. Funny how he didn't realize she had cracked the door open while his eyes had never left it. He put on a smile and opened his mouth to ask if he could come in, but when his brain finally registered what she was wearing, or lack thereof, the words died on the tip of his tongue.

Her pretty face was bare of any make up, leaving her skin looking fresh despite the dark circles under her tired eyes; her hair was in disarray, as if she had plopped her head down on the pillow while it was still wet, and the ugly but familiar striped, light blue shirt she was wearing; with the sleeves rolled up to her elbow, covered her well below the knees.

That struck him as odd. When realization knocked him to his senses, he saw red.

Fuming, his usual mischievous blue eyes narrowed to a dark slit.

"That's not my shirt."

Looking slightly amused, she replied dryly, "You have good eyes, Detective. Why are – hey!"

"Flack!" he bellowed furiously as he abruptly shoved the brown paper bag from the bakery at her, striding angrily past her to her bedroom. Just as quickly, he walked out, hands on his hips. His eyes hard on her, and then turned wide as if he had just realizes something.

With a growl, he bolted to her second bedroom, which she turned into a guestroom even though it was hardly used. Similarly, he found nothing.

Fuming, he strode out from the room in search for her. Seeing her, standing calmly in the kitchen, completely oblivious to her state of undress, sipping a mug of hot tea in that damn shirt made his blood boil over.

"Where the hell is he?"

"He's not here."

"But he was here?"

"Yes," she said in a tone of voice that one would use to say 'duh!'. "Don's my friend too, Messer."

Don? Since when did the two of them become so 'buddy-buddy' that she called Flack 'Don'? And what's with the use of his last name?

"Why was he here, Lindsay?"

Letting out a puff of breath in annoyance, she replied wearily, "Listen, Messer. I'm sure Don will be delighted to know that you're concerned of his whereabouts, and as for me, I really want to go to back to bed. So, if you don't mind…" she trailed off, head tipping towards the direction of the door.

Her casualness over the situation did nothing to curb his temper. He didn't want to jump to the wrong conclusion, but if it looked like a duck, and walked liked a duck…hell!

"Dammit, Lindsay! Did you sleep with him? Is that why you're in-in- that?!" he exploded, his hand gesturing to that offending object.

She looked at him; eyes wide but the look in them was incomprehensible to him. The corner of her lips tilted upward, almost like a snarl. He expected a vehement denial, an angry slap across the face for accusing her of such a thing, but he got neither. Did that mean…

"Well," she said sweetly after a moment of silence, "if I did, you and I are even then, aren't we?"

Holy sh-!

"What, you think I didn't know?" Her voice deceptively calm. "Come on, you think you're the first guy in my life? That I've never been cheated on before? Or that I never cheated on someone?"

How did…Does it really matter, Messer?

He dropped his head dejectedly. He was caught off guard and said the first thing that popped into his head. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

At the dead tone in her voice, his head snapped back up and he stared at her. Her usually warm and inviting brown eyes were now cold. He opened his mouth, trying to reason with her but closed it again, knowing it was futile. He was in the wrong and he knew it. Hell, he knew it the moment he had invited Rikki to his place.

"Linds…"he pleaded.

"Stop," she said, voice slightly above whisper. "Spare me the details. I don't want to know. I don't need to know. Fact is, it happened and you didn't tell me. You. Didn't. Tell. Me."

Knowing he was on the losing end, losing her, he walked toward her, closing the physical gap between them even though the trust that once bonded them so strongly had been broken; by him.

"Mon- Lindsay, I –" He grappled for words. "I wanted to tell you, I swear. But I couldn't. Not then. I wasn't ready."

It was a lame excuse, but it happened to be the truth. His hand reached out to cup her cheek but she slapped it away.

"Doesn't matter. I don't care anymore," she hissed.

Doesn't matter. Don't care.

Those words out of her mouth were like a splash of cold reality being poured down his back in a frozen winter. They pricked him to the bone. Hurt.

But nothing compared to the hurt he had caused her.

What did she say to him weeks ago?

"I've fallen in love with you and now I have to figure out how to let that go."

In love with you…Let that go…

Love…Go…

Doesn't matter…Don't care.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he staggered from the kitchen to the couch in her small but homey living room. Sitting down with his head in his hands, he concentrated on breathing.

In love with you…Let that go…

Doesn't matter…Don't care.

What was she trying to say? She was no longer in love with him? That she had moved on?

His head throbbed and the guilt gnawing inside him intensified. He rubbed his hand over his face and turned his head to look at her; still standing behind the kitchen counter.

"But what about… what about us? Do you -" still love me? Still want me? Us?

He couldn't form the question, afraid to know the answer.

Instead of replying to him, she turned around to pour the rest of her tea into the sink and wash the mug. The apartment was silent except for the sound of the running water.

Wiping her hands dry with a paper towel, she sat on one of the kitchen stools. Her need to keep her distance from him didn't go unnoticed.

He fucked up, big time.

Duh! Way to go, Captain Obvious!

Calmly, she said, "We can still be friends. It'll be hard at first like the other day," referring to that moment in the lab during the shark case, "but maybe, hopefully, over time, we'll be okay."

Back to being friends?

Gruffly, he replied, "That's not good enough."

"And apparently I'm not good enough for you," she mumbled under her breath but he heard it.

"Honey, -"

"Let me finish." She held up her hands as she continued, "I know why you did what you did. Really, I do. Because I did the same thing every year on the date of my friends' death since I was 18. It was just sex but it helped me forget," she shrugged and gave him a tight smile. "As I said, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself. I just… I just wanted to be there for you, so that you don't have to go through the nightmare alone like I did." She scoffed. "Silly of me to think you might need someone to lean on when all this time you already had that 'someone'. Turns out that 'someone' wasn't me."

He crossed the room to her in a heartbeat. Her scent wrapped around him like a warm blanket on a cold winter night. He put a hand up, letting her hair brush his palm. She stiffened at the contact but she didn't thwart it in any way this time around.

"You're wrong. I do need you, Lindsay. Don't think for a second that I don't," he whispered, forcing her eyes to meet his. "I was lost and I know that's no excuse for what I did. I wanted to tell you about her, about what I did." He paused, struggling for the truth.

Without honesty, they wouldn't stand a chance.

"I knew that if, and when I told you, you'd leave. And that scared me. I was just bidding my time, preparing myself, so that when you did walk out of my life, I'd be strong enough to stand on my own."

Her eyes glittered with unshed tears. "That's a very nice speech, but it still doesn't change the fact that you cheated on me."

He closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. "No, it doesn't."

"You should have come to me." Then she threw herself at him, pounding her fist against his chest. "You wanted sex? I would have given you sex. I would've fucked your brains out if you wanted me to! Why didn't you just dump me if you don't want me anymore, you cheating bastard! Why did you have to go to her?" she screamed the last part at him, hitting him over and over again and he took every single one.

He wrapped his arms around her, dragging her to the floor and onto his lap. He tightened his hold around her when she struggled to break free. He let her hit him until she had no strength to lift her arm anymore.

Then he rocked her as she sobbed. "I'm sorry," he whispered, chanting his apologies over and over while cradling her to his chest.

"Tell me how to fix this," he whispered. Tell me you still love me the way I love you.

She shuddered and fisted her hand in his shirt. "You can't."

"Let me try. Please. I can't let you go. I won't let you go."

She took gulps of air, pushed herself upright and away from him. "You have to because I'm letting you go."

Her words sucked the air out of his lungs. "Lindsay…don't do this."

"I didn't do anything. You did." She crawled off his lap and stood. "Put yourself in my shoes. If you caught me cheating on you, would you be able to forgive me? Could you look me in the eyes and pretend it didn't happen?"

Rising to his own feet, he clenched his jaw tight. He'd find the fucking guy, that's what he'd do. And convince him to forget her. Limb by bloody, broken limb.

As if reading his mind, she sneered. "That's what I thought, Messer."

The use of his last name fueled his anger once again. "So what now? We're over? Date other people?"

"It's been over the moment you touched her," she said acidly. Then added, "And while we're on the subject, we're free to fuck other people too."

"Don't say that," he said, feeling livid by the second statement.

She scoffed at him and rolled her eyes.

He stiffened, adding a few inches to his height. "It's over when I say it's over. I don't want to see other people, and I sure as hell don't want you to see other people, not even my damn best friend whose shirt you're still wearing!" His voice cracked like a whip.

She looked up at him, not feeling the least bit intimidated. "Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Messer. I can wear Don's shirt if I want to, and I can fuck him too if I feel so inclined," she said in a small, stubborn voice.

With his breath drawing harshly in and out, he watched her. But all he saw was the damning flashes of Lindsay and Flack; Lindsay writhing on a bed that wasn't his, her hair spreading on a pillow that wasn't his, her lips moaning and screaming a name that wasn't his.

He tried to stop his chest from heaving but couldn't.

"The name is Danny," he said softly but his mouth curled to an evil grin. "Or Dan. You can even call me Daniel. Anything but Messer." He inched closer toward her until he could feel her warm breath fan across his chest. "I suggest you get it straight because it'll be the only name you'll be screaming from now on."

As she gasped in shock, he scooped her up with ease, tossed her over his shoulder and headed to her bedroom.

His shift be damn!