Disclaimer: CSI: New York doesn't belong to me. Never has; never will.

I have sort of edited this and rewritten parts, since I now have the show on DVD, so I can work out the errors I'd made. For those of you who don't know, this fits into my Walking With Angels series, after 'Pay Up' (not to be confused with the C2, though it is in there too).

Chapter One

"Sweet dreams, baby girl." Lindsay Messer pressed one last kiss to her daughter's head before laying her in the crib, whereupon she simply rolled over and continued to sleep.

For a few minutes, Lindsay just watched the baby dream, but her thoughts were interrupted by a banging on the door. She frowned and left the nursery, closing the door quietly behind her.

The banging stopped, but Lindsay didn't drop her guard for a second; Danny was at work and she refused to endanger Lucy in any way. Quietly, she slipped her gun out of the holster hanging over the back of one of the chairs and moved to the door, looking through the peep-hole.

She couldn't see anyone, which ruled out Flack, who had taken compassionate leave from New York's finest since Jessica Angell was killed a month ago; cab drivers the city over had stopped taking him to whatever bar he directed them to and began taking him straight to their apartment building.

Lindsay glanced down at the gun in her hand and was silently chiding herself for being so paranoid – clearly someone had needed help and had moved onto the next apartment when there was no answer – when the knocking started again, weaker this time and lower down.

"Danny…"

The voice was low and tremulous, as though its owner was crying. But the thing that caught Lindsay's attention was that it was female. And Danny didn't have any female relatives – Messers only make boys, he'd told her while she was pregnant with Lucy.

Oh, tell me this isn't an ex; I don't have the energy to deal with this right now.

Slowly, Lindsay opened the door a little, to find a woman her age slumped on the floor beside the door, a lone tear making its way down her cheek. Transferring her piece to her left hand, she crouched down and put a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Hi."

The woman lifted her head and Lindsay bit back a gasp. Aiden. Aiden Burn.

She knew very little about the detective she had replaced, only that she and Danny had been best friends ("she was my sister," he had explained, when insisting they give Lucy Aiden as her middle name). In fact, the only time her curiosity had come close to being sated was the murder charge they finally locked DJ Pratt up for: the team had spent the case thinking they were solving Aiden's murder, going by the digital reconstruction of the skull and the clues that had been left behind. Soon after Pratt's arrest, Sid had finally gotten around to checking Aiden's dental records and the truth had been realised; the victim, although bearing a stunning resemblance to the ex-CSI, was a complete stranger and Aiden had seemingly vanished into thin air.

Now, here she was, back in New York, outside Lindsay's front door.

"Sorry." Aiden wiped her eyes hurriedly. "I was looking for someone. I went to his old apartment; one of his neighbours mentioned this address…"

"Danny's at work." Lindsay explained, suddenly feeling very nervous. "My name's Lindsay, Lindsay Monroe. Well, Messer now, actually."

Although her eyes were still wet, Aiden's face broke into a smile and she accepted the other woman's help to her feet before embracing her tightly. "You mean he finally stepped up?!"

"Well, it was a little more complicated than that." Lindsay admitted. "Do you wanna come in? Danny should be home in an hour or so."

"That'd be great, thanks." Aiden replied, following Lindsay in.

Lindsay followed her gaze to her hand and blushed. "Sorry. You can't be too careful." She put her gun away and gestured to the kitchen table. "Do you want a coffee or something? You sounded upset outside."

"Coffee would be great, thanks." Aiden sighed. "It's DJ Pratt. I took a week's vacation at Dad's insistence and when I got back, he'd vanished. I've been tracking the company all over America and I can't find a trace of him."

Lindsay raised an eyebrow. "Unsurprising. He's in prison."

Aiden's smile grew. "Tell me you're not joking."

Lindsay couldn't help smiling as well. "No, we got him. On your murder actually. Well, obviously it wasn't your murder, but we thought it was and…"

"Lindsay." Aiden cut in. "Why don't you start from the beginning? And throw in how you and Messer hooked up while you're at it."

Lindsay handed her a mug of coffee and sat down, leaning back in her chair to survey her companion. There were things about her and Danny that not even he knew and it would be nice to finally get it all out. "Alright. First of all, I guess you should know that I was the detective Mac brought in to replace you."

"And…?" Aiden prompted. "Wait. Were you expecting me to resent you for that?"

"No." Lindsay smiled slightly. "I've heard enough about you to know that you wouldn't. I … I resented you for it though." She fell into a thoughtful silence, wondering how to explain her thoughts.

Aiden didn't push for her to continue, letting her work things through.

Finally, Lindsay let out a shaky breath. "I grew up in Bozeman, in Montana. It's tiny, compared to New York. When I heard that Mac had requested me personally, I knew I couldn't pass it up. I didn't know why you'd left or been fired or whatever; it didn't matter to me. But moving to a big city, away from my family, it scared me."

Aiden reached across the table and took her hand. "I bet. It scared me and I only moved from Brooklyn."

"I probably shouldn't listen to the lab techs…" Lindsay began.

Aiden snorted. "They're the cheerleaders of the CSI lab, Lindsay; anything that comes out of their mouth outside of evidence analysis is pure crap. But go on."

"After every case I worked, I'd hear them in the locker room: 'Aiden wouldn't have done it that way'." Lindsay sighed, shaking her head. "I know it's stupid, but it got to me. And Danny…"

"Oh, I thought it'd have something to do with him." Aiden smirked knowingly. "Daniel Messer can act just like a spoilt child sometimes. What did he do to you?"

Lindsay laughed. "Well, first day on the job, some guy gets dumped in the tiger enclosure. I get there and Mac tells me that I need to hold the tiger's jaw so he can take an impression. Before I have time to get my gloves on, Danny's at my side. "Just take a deep breath," he told me, "and don't let him know you're afraid, cause he can sense when you're nervous." I pointed out that the tiger was tranquilised and he said, "I was talking about Mac. And make sure you call him sir."

Aiden winced. "Oh, that's low! Mac hates that!"

Lindsay sighed. "Yeah, I figured that out. Don't get me wrong, Mac and Stella and Hawkes and Sid … they were all great. But I always felt like 'the country girl'. Danny constantly calling me 'Montana' didn't help. But time went by and it got a little better. I mean, he still called me that, but it was more of a … more of a nickname than anything else. And I just got tired of telling him to stop."

Aiden chuckled. "I know that feeling."

Lindsay laughed with her and let herself ramble for a while about old cases, memories flittering in and out of her mind…

…finding Danny with Adam and Hawkes, watching Tara Stanfield's sex-tape…

…demonstrating how a doll-doctor had been holding one of his 'patients' too tightly for a coincidence and finishing up just holding hands in the middle of the street, until both realised what they were doing…

…being called to a crime scene in the middle of her first date in New York and feeling really irritated, until Danny caught sight of her formal attire and stood up to greet her ("Well hello, Miss Monroe. You clean up nice.")…

…meeting him at Cozy's and telling him something about Mac that he didn't know…

…making him lose a bet by eating deep-fried spiders, but winning a dinner with him in the process, however unconventional the meal had been…

…bribing him to help her with a reconstruction and ending up in his arms as he carried her across a roof-top garden…

…Danny teasing her about the necrophilia Americano bugs…

…having a perfectly normal conversation with him about the merits of phone sex (it was only afterwards that she realised how weird that was)…

…meeting him at the scene of Tyrell "Superman" Man's murder and reciting what she knew about the vic and his surprise at her football knowledge ("it's dangerous," he'd said, "I might ask you to marry me.")…

But now her voice faltered, remembering what came next.

Aiden sighed. "I'm guessing something big happened."

"Yeah, we got an old homicide." Lindsay confirmed. "Someone called in telling us where we could find a body and then shot himself. We found the body with a cigarette butt … the DNA came back to Danny."

"No…" Aiden whispered. "Danny wouldn't…"

"I know." Lindsay took a deep breath. "That's why I showed Danny the results first. He took them to Mac; told him he only ran with Tanglewood once, but had left when he realised there was a kid tied up in the back of the trunk and that they were gonna hurt him. We were all outside the office and he looked at me … straight at me … ignored the others … and the look in his eyes … it was like he was begging me not to give up on him. And Danny Messer does not beg."

"No, he doesn't." Aiden frowned. "So what happened?"

Lindsay sighed. "Louie happened. He went after the actual murderer and confronted him wearing a wire. Long story short, Danny ended up cleared and Louie ended up in hospital, brain-dead. They … They pulled the plug three months later."

"Oh God…" Aiden ran a hand through her hair. "I should have been here."

Lindsay squeezed her hand. "Danny took it bad, but he doesn't blame you for that. I heard very little about you, actually, until…"

"Until Pratt upped the ante." Aiden guessed, "Alright, what happened."

Lindsay took a deep breath, remembering the day clearly. "We'd found a body in the front of a burned out car. It couldn't belong to the car's owner – he was a male and Sid said the body was definitely female. And then … Sheldon started a digital reconstruction and paged us all 911…"

Lindsay was the first person to reach the room, and found Sheldon Hawkes with Stella Bonasera, both staring at a skull on the computer screen. "What's going on?"

To her surprise, the greeting Hawkes gave her was hollow, empty, and Stella let out a sob, covering her mouth with one hand.

"What's happened?" Lindsay repeated, with more conviction, hurrying to Stella's side. "Stella?"

Almost immediately, she heard two voices echo her question and glanced over her shoulder to see Mac Taylor enter with Danny.

Hawkes, who had clearly had time to get over whatever shock had caught Stella's attention, leaned in to whisper in Lindsay's ear, "Watch Messer for me; someone's got to."

Lindsay swallowed hard and glanced at Stella, before moving back slightly, keeping one eye her regular crime scene partner.

Hawkes cleared his throat, catching her attention again. "That's a scan of the skull of the victim. This…" he pressed a button, giving the skull flesh and skin once more. "…is a 3D reconstruction. This…" a sketch of a face appeared over the top of the skull "…is a sketch of what the victim should have looked like. And this…" A photograph appeared transparent over the top of that, leaving no doubt that it was the same person. "This is Detective Aiden Burn."

Mac let out a shaky breath and pulled Stella into his arms, letting her cry into his shirt. For a few seconds, the only sound in the room was her sobs. Then…

BANG!

Lindsay jumped as Danny's fist hit the wall, almost cracking the plaster, before he sank to the ground, not even bothering to hide the tears. She hesitated for a second – she and Danny worked together a lot, but that was it; even when Stella had been in the hospital and she had broken down halfway through an interrogation, Danny had squeezed her arm and told her they had to solve the case.

Maybe that was the way he worked.

But it wasn't her way. Tentatively, she crouched beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder, not sure if he would want her comfort – she was, after all, Aiden's replacement – but he leaned into her, prompting her to embrace him tightly, her eyes straying to the photograph…

"It wasn't how I'd imagined you." Lindsay commented.

"Well, no, I should think you'd imagined me alive." Aiden retorted.

Lindsay laughed. "No. That's not what I meant. I meant that … I hadn't been told an awful lot about you and … they made you sound like Superwoman. I don't know what I expected, I guess, just someone … less human. Am I making sense?"

Aiden was silent for a minute. "No. But I understand anyway."

Lindsay shook her head. "All we really focused on was how we'd get the son of a bitch that did this. You'd … I mean, the victim ... she'd been beaten to death. We thought it was the owner of the car at first, because he reported that he'd just seen his car being stolen three hours after we found it burned out."

Aiden snorted. "When will these people learn? If you're gonna lie, at least try to make it convincing!"

"I know, right?" Lindsay agreed. "Danny walked into the precinct just as we were taking him out of interrogation. Three officers had to hold him back; it was the full alpha male thing. "Is that him? Is that the scum-bag who killed Aiden? Oh come on, Mac; just give me five minutes. I'll get him to crack." I think he could have as well." She added as an afterthought.

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "I thought the guy was innocent."

"He was." Lindsay confirmed. "But you didn't see the look in Danny's eyes. Didn't you ever hear the joke about the NYPD officer sent in to a forest to look for a rabbit?"

Aiden frowned. "No."

"He emerged with a badly-beaten bear, who was crying "I'm a rabbit! I'm a rabbit!"" Lindsay smirked.

Aiden laughed. "Very nice. When did you realise it was Pratt?"

"When we realised you'd been following him." Lindsay answered quietly. "She did look stunningly like you, Aiden; we know who she is now. He was trying to kill you; he started stalking another victim assuming you'd be following him. Our vic definitely noticed, went to see if the girl was okay. She … she never stood a chance." She took a sip of coffee, trying to read Aiden's expression. "She left bite-marks on the armrest and on him. That was enough."

Aiden shook her head again and buried her face in her hands, silent sobs overtaking her body. Without hesitating, Lindsay moved her chair round next to Aiden and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug and letting her crying into her shoulder.

It took Aiden several minutes to compose herself, but it was less time than Lindsay had anticipated. She loosened her grip and handed the other woman a tissue, giving her time to dry her eyes.

"I can't believe it." Aiden muttered. "All that work to stop him raping again and he went and murdered someone."

"You wouldn't have stood a chance either." Lindsay pointed out gently.

"But there'd have been a reason for me…" Aiden began.

"Everything happens for a reason." Lindsay interrupted firmly. "Danny wouldn't have coped. As it was, I got a call at 3am the night in between from a bartender."

Aiden groaned. "I'm gonna have to have a word with him about that. Come on, we've got this far; let's hear the rest of it."

Lindsay smiled weakly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Aiden nodded. "Yeah. Let's hear it."

"Well, there was a huge bomb threat, but that was cleared up pretty quickly. Except the first bomb went off with Mac and Don in the building…"

Aiden gasped. "Were they okay?"

Lindsay winced, remembering the sight of Flack being carted out by EMT officers. "Don nearly died; if it weren't for Mac, he may well have done. It looked like half his stomach had been blown away." She shuddered involuntarily. "The only reason I wasn't inside was because I'd left one of my cases in the car."

"And let me guess…" Aiden smirked slightly. "Danny was the first person to notice you were injured in any way."

Lindsay blushed slightly. "It was just a small cut. But yeah. About a month later … actually, it might have been closer to two, but it's not really important, we had this case where three girls dressed up as Holly Golightly to rob a jewellery store. One we found dead and then we found out there was a diamond smuggling ring involved…" She shook her head. "It's never open and close, is it? Before SWAT could move in, we caught one of the others, who told us that they had the third held hostage; she had twenty minutes to get everything they took or they were going to kill her. We didn't have enough time to wait for undercover, so I said I'd do it. We were the same size and they'd been wearing wigs."

Aiden nodded understandingly. "I did the same thing, but I got found out. Stella said Danny looked like he was ready to ignore her orders and just run in."

Lindsay bit her lip. "Well, he went one better this time. He did ignore her orders and run in."

"Who are you?"

Lindsay tried to keep her voice steady. "Beth."

The man picked up a framed picture on the desk and she felt her heart quicken. If that picture was of the three girls, he would know she wasn't who she said she was.

He slammed the picture down with such force the glass shattered and lifted his gun so it was aimed at her face. "Try again. Who are you?"

Lindsay didn't respond.

"Who are you?!" He repeated.

Without blinking, Lindsay dropped the bag in her hand and the flash bomb went off. In the same second, she dove forward, knocking the hostage to the floor as smoke filled the room. The noise that came with it surprised her, making her ears ring and blocking out the sounds of the SWAT team moving in.

But one voice was audible over even that. "Lindsay? Lindsay?"

"Danny." Lindsay staggered to her feet, knowing the hostage – Danielle? Dana? – would be taken care of. She must have been imagining it; Danny never used her real name. It was always Montana, which she'd hated to start with but now made her feel … safe.

No matter what was going on in her life, Danny was constant: Montana implied fun, friendship and an unspoken bond between them.

She had never expected him to call her name – her real name – with such worry and desperation

Yet here he was, his hands steadying her, staying on her arms even after she'd got her balance, one moving to cup her face, as if reassuring himself that she was alright, before pulling her into his arms.

Lindsay buried her face into his strong chest, breathing in the scent that was just unmistakably him.

Aiden smiled at the red tinting Lindsay's cheeks. "And then he asked you out."

Lindsay's blush deepened. "Yeah. And I…" She sighed. "I stood him up."

Aiden's mouth fell open. "You what?"

"I stood him up." Lindsay repeated heavily. "I was in two minds about accepting in the first place and then I got a call…" She sighed. "When I was fourteen, I was at a diner with my best friends. Apart from the waitress, we were the only people in there. While I was in the restroom, a man came in with a gun. I was the only witness … the only survivor. I thought I'd left it all behind, but…" She shook her head. "I got a call from Bozeman saying they'd arrested the guy but they'd need me to come back to testify."

"Danny would have understood." Aiden told her softly.

"Yeah, he would." Lindsay agreed. "But everyone treated me differently back home after it happened, when people found out. Here … no one did. I didn't want sympathy. I didn't want to be 'the lucky one'; I sure as hell didn't feel lucky." She took another shaky breath. "I told Danny that I really liked him, but I needed space to work some things through. He told me to take all the time I needed."

"That's Danny." Aiden agreed.

"Yeah." Lindsay smiled fondly. "And I…" She was cut off by the phone ringing, swiftly followed by a cry coming from the nursery. "Damn. Could you…?"

"Sure." Aiden got to her feet and followed Lindsay's gesture towards the other room.

Lindsay grabbed the phone. "Monroe."

"Lindsay, it's me." Sid Hammerback's voice told her. "I need you in autopsy right now. It's important. Don't let anyone know you're here."

For a split-second, Lindsay froze. Who had been brought in? But then she realised that Mac would have phoned if it was something like that. "Alright. See you in a few." She hung up and headed into the nursery, stopping in the doorway with a smile.

Aiden had managed to soothe Lucy and was now chatting to her quietly, occasionally making her giggle. "She's beautiful."

Lindsay started, unaware that Aiden had noticed her. "Thank you. Her name's Lucy, by the way. Lucy Aiden Messer."

Aiden looked up sharply. "Really?"

"Would I joke?" Lindsay asked in response. "Danny named her. I wanted Lydia, but there you go."

"Lydia…?" Aiden prompted.

"Aiden." Lindsay smiled. "There was never any doubt about her middle name." She sighed wearily. "That was Sid, says he needs me in autopsy. Normally, I take Lucy in with me, but something tells me this needs to be kept quiet, or he'd have called someone on duty. I don't suppose you'd mind watching her for an hour or so until I get back?"

Aiden looked down at the baby. "Well, I've never been much of a baby person, but I think we can work something out, right, Lucy?"

"She hardly ever cries unless she's scared." Lindsay told her, grabbing her coat, badge and gun out of habit. "There are bottles of milk in the fridge if she needs them – just test it before you give it to her – and the diapers are under the sink. But I changed her before I put her down, so they shouldn't be necessary." She kissed Lucy's forehead. "Be good for Auntie Aiden, sweetheart."

Aiden smiled as the door closed; Lindsay really did remind her of herself. "Well, then Lucy. It's just you and me for a while." Auntie Aiden. I like the sound of that.

Getting into the crime lab without anyone noticing was no easy task, but finally, by taking the goods elevator and taking the longer route, she made it to the autopsy lab without anyone seeing her. "Alright, I'm here." Lindsay announced, closing the door firmly behind her. "What's going on and why did I need to sneak in?"

"Over here." Sid beckoned her over and she joined him next to one of the drawers. Her heart dropped when she saw the name on the card.

Det. Jessica Angell.

"Sid, I can't do this." Lindsay stated shakily, taking a step backwards.

"Just a second, Mrs. Messer." Sid requested. "I promise I didn't ask you to come and watch the autopsy."

"Why did her father request an autopsy anyway?" Lindsay asked.

Sid sighed. "I think he just wanted to be reassured that nothing could have been done to save her. But that's not why I wanted you here." He opened the drawer and pulled it out, revealing Jessica lying under a sheet, looking as peaceful as though she were asleep.

Lindsay couldn't help reaching out and brushing her dark hair away from her eyes, but this caused her to frown out of confusion rather than sadness. "Something's not right."

"Precisely my thoughts." Sid agreed. "These drawers are kept cool and ventilated to prevent decomposition, but there's not even a hint on her. And I've been putting this off for a month."

Trying to forget the fact that it was one of her best friends lying in front of her, Lindsay lifted her hand. "She's too warm. And the freezer should have kept her in rigor." Without thinking, she shifted her grip to Jess's wrist; her eyes closed in pain and she moved to release her when something happened beneath her fingers.

"Sid…" Lindsay whispered. "Have you checked her pulse?"

"Well, no, but I'd have thought that was…"

"Check it." Lindsay insisted. "Tell me I'm not imagining things."

With a sigh, Sid felt Jessica's other wrist and then the side of her neck. He looked up at Lindsay. "I felt it."

Lindsay lifted a hand to stifle her sob, but it still echoed around the empty morgue. Somehow, Jessica Angell was alive.

AN: Yes, I brought them both back; I can't help but notice that Stella and Lindsay are getting outnumbered by the boys. Plus I love Aiden and Jess and I hate what happened to them. Review please!