Nowhere else I'd rather be

Fandom: CSI: NY

Pairing: Danny/Lindsay

Rating: T

Category: Romance

Summary: It's her birthday and she feels guilty that he has to take care of her.

AN: Thanks to my lovely beta chris4short. You rock, hun!!

Disclaimer: Yeah, CBS owns all of the fun, I just borrowed it.

"Make a wish, Montana," Danny whispered in her ear as he took his hands from her eyes and let her take a look at her birthday cake and the daisies Danny had spread on the table.

She smiled weakly as she turned to him and kissed him lightly. "Thank you baby," she said and caressed his cheek. She started to cough and he held her tight. She felt him kissing the top of her head as she leaned her forehead against his chest and closed her eyes. She tried to breathe in deeply but every breath she took caused pain in her lungs.

"I wanted to invite the guys over, but since you aren't feeling so well, I thought I'll ask you first," he said while wrapping his arms around her waist and putting his chin on her shoulder. She leaned her head against his and closed her eyes. She had caught the flu and she wasn't feeling quite well, so she'd spent most of her birthday in bed with lots of tissues and tea mugs around her, and slept most of the time.

"You really like it?" he asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, I do," she whispered. She looked down and sighed.

"Linds, you alright?"

She nodded. She turned to him, still looking down.

"You wanna go back to bed?" he asked and touched softly her forehead. She felt warm, he could tell and he was worried about her. Never had the flu hit her this hard.

"No," she said, her voice just above a whisper. "No, just hold me for a second okay?"

"Okay," he whispered softly, while he caught her in his arms. He held her close and could hear her breathing heavy.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"What are you sorry about?" he asked. "It's not your fault that you caught the flu. Besides I really love to play the nurse for ya." He smirked. "I hope you know that."

She nodded. "It's just..." she started, but before she could complete the sentence she felt Danny lifting her chin and kissing her softly upon her lips.

"Shh, shh... Montana," he said.

"I'm so tired, Danny..." She leaned her forehead against his chest and sighed. "Sorry I make you taking care of me. Sorry. I know you could think of other things to do right now."

"Montana, would you please stop blaming yourself?!" Danny said while lifting her up in his arms and carrying her over to the bed.

"There's nowhere else I'd rather be right now, okay. Stop doing this. I'll take care of you, I always will. You just caught the flu and we're going to catch up on everything once you're okay again. Alright?" He pierced her with his look.

She smiled weakly and nodded slightly. "Okay," she whispered.

"Good," he responded while touching softly her forehead yet again, to feel her temperature.

He sat down onto the bed. "Come here," he said and caught her carefully in his arms, allowing her to go back to sleep while he was stroking her hair.

"Montana?" he asked.

"Yeah," she whispered. He looked down at her, noticing that she had closed her eyes.

He lifted her hand and kissed it. Then he put a little box out of his pocket and opened it. It should've been a surprise, his birthday gift for her, but he didn't want to wake her up right now. He knew she needed the sleep. So he opened the box and took the simple sapphire ring out of it and put it on her finger.

"Happy Birthday," he whispered and kissed her hair.