Here's the beginning of another one...or just a one shot. You decide...

Lindsay paced back and forth on the catwalk above the main hall of the New York Police Department Crime Lab. It was seven paces one way then turn and go back. She'd been there before, on the day she shared information with Danny about his DNA in the grave at Giants' Stadium. She questioned her presence on the walkway that day a few years back much like she questioned her position presently. She was really setting herself up for a confrontation, something she hated in any circumstance, but she had to know. It'd been four long months of fake smiles, being cordial enough to get the job done and avoidance of each other at all other times. She knew the situation was affecting her personal life but it was also intruding on her professional one. She'd been called on it by Mac, who explained that he was just concerned. She had been foolish, slipped and someone noticed. She was pacing…trying to sort out her thoughts.

Danny made her so happy…at one time. It was all so simple between them. They innocently flirted at work, but her past became an issue and he backed off without disappearing from her life. He showed up in Montana and without touching or saying a word he held her up while she testified. Her heart opened that day to the possibilities between them and the flirting started again. She attacked him or him her, it's not quite clear, but with the assistance of a lot of alcohol she ended up snaked around him on top of his pool table. Her face and heart warmed at the vivid Technicolor memory.

Maybe that should have been a warning sign. It was too easy. Relationships should take work.

To keep their growing attraction and personal relationship out of the workplace the flirting became scarce and they almost forced professionalism. The simple was disappearing.

The memories stated to make her lose what gumption she had worked up. The talk with Mac had led her to some truths that contradicted what she felt. She had told him things to help him regain confidence in her and the ability to do her job. Danny and her feelings for him were a distraction that she needed to get past and move on with her life. But when she thought of the words that she said; when she thought about the reason for saying them, she was confused about the validity of each syllable. She needed someone else's view of the issue.

She paced some more, fidgeting with her hands in nervousness. Everything was so messed up in her brain, she didn't know how to sort them out or if she even wanted to. The idea of leaving New York had been considered. A recommendation from the great Mac Taylor would do her wonders when finding another job. She just didn't know where to go. No other place called to her like her new home. So the confusion and feeling of being lost needed to end so that she could do her job.

"Lindsay, what's up? You beeped me 911. You find my DNA at another scene?"

He still looked the same. He approached the same. He sounded the same. Her concern was the same. She felt the same. It was all too much, she was there to get answers to questions not take another stroll down memory lane. It didn't go unnoticed to her that he said 'Lindsay'. He didn't greet her with 'Montana', 'Monroe', or even 'Linds'. He called her 'Lindsay' and the canyon between them seemed to grown wider. "I just got finished with Mac down in the garage. I showed him what was found about the evidence in the cabbie case. He's gonna follow up on it."

"Good, good, but did it warrant the 911?" The stance he took widened and arms crossed his body at the chest.

She looked up from the floor, shook her hair from her face determined to go through with it and really looked into his face for the first time in a long time. "Mac also asked me if I was okay. Quinn informed him that I stormed out of the lab and away from you while processing the evidence and left it out when I left."

"I was right there, you know I would have covered."

She let out a sigh and stopped him from going any further. "I know, that's not the point though. Mac pointedly told me that I could not let whatever was or was not going on between us get in the way of my job and I have. It's already happened." Her eyes left the lock they had on his and back down to her hands. "I told him it was stupid to get involved with someone I worked with, really stupid." Quickly she brought her gaze back to his face and locked stares with him again. "Was I wrong in my comments to Mac? Was I stupid to get romantically involved with you?" She wanted to add so much more.

The silence was thick. She searched in his eyes for any kind of answer that he might have. People brushed passed them not knowing the heavy emotional conversation that was going on. Danny looked as if he had been slapped. Her straight forwardness shocked him.

The hesitation and silence on his part was making her mad and the longer he just stood there staring blankly at her the angrier she got. He had nothing of course to say. He wasn't expecting he day to proceed like that.

With nothing helpful coming from him, enlightening her in either direction, she walked off. She left him standing there to watch. The shift was completed swiftly, quietly and she left to get out of the building and to the safe haven of her home.

In her favorite stretched out sweat and her BPD t-shirt she was able to sit down and relax. The ball was in his court now, she said her piece. She gave him something to think about and maybe like every other man on the planet, he needed time to think. She hoped he would take too long. She wanted this out of her mind. All the possibilities were already thought through. They could strictly be coworkers working and solving cases. She did that with other people, she could be forced to do it again. They could be friends, but that meant a lot of work on his part. He broke what they had, he needed to fix it. Then there was that slight possibility that it went further than friends.

Later in the evening, a hesitant knock came on her door. There was no question who it was. No one else would come to the door at that hour and expect her to be awake and answer. Unfolding her legs from underneath her, she left the comfort of the couch to open the door to what might be a very unpleasant discussion.

Opening the door revealed a defeated Danny Messer propped up with a hand on each side of the door and his head hung low. It snapped up when the door was fully open and she stood against it waiting. She had nothing more to say to him. It was his turn now.

"You are one of the most intelligent women I know. You keep me on my toes at every turn and you challenge me to be a better CSI and person. Don't ever call yourself 'stupid'. The term doesn't fit."

She held a posture of defiance. His words were meant to be a compliment, but she didn't feel it. "If it wasn't stupidity that led me to our relationship than what was it? I knew your track record. I heard the rumors. I should have known. I should have known that you were going to break my heart."

Boom there is was. Finally it was all out there. Not only did she blame him, but she put some of the blame on herself. It was beyond him that she would even consider putting any of the blame there and the wonder was written all over his face. He knew…he could pinpoint where he'd gone wrong. He could plot the dates on the calendar where he had done the wrong things, taken actions that he shouldn't have. There were four months gone in his life that he could name the dates and events that put him where he was. But she was at no fault. She was telling him that none of their love would have happened if she hadn't ignored the stories and looks from those around them. Blaming herself had to end and he had to end it now.

"Lindsay, you are in no way at fault for what pulled us apart. I screwed up. I closed up and found comfort in the worse possible place. You were there trying to put me back right but I pushed and ignored. I'm the stupid one I guess. You have done nothing wrong, I have."

Realization of his own words struck him hard in the chest. He grasped the full, big picture of what was happening. He took everything they had for granted and there was almost nothing left. She was standing right in front of him, yet emotionally was miles away. He didn't know where he stood with her anymore. He was more lost now that he was when Ruben died. There was nothing for him to reach out to.

"So where does that leave us, Danny?" She wasn't giving him any hints on the answer she was looking for. It stung to hear the harsh tone.

"I don't know. I want to erase the last few months and go back to the way we were when we argued about the Batmobile and Mach 5." A fleeting hint of a smile brushed past her lips. It was there and then gone, just a twinge of a muscle. She'd forgotten about that case. They were so dirty and greasy when they left work; they canceled their plans out and stayed in. A shake of her head pushed back the memory and erased the images.

"I wanted that too, but I just can't jump back into the middle of a relationship that's go broken. I don't even know how to trust you again." She was tired and wanted to get back to the couch.

"Can we try friends? Out of all of this I miss our friendship. I miss my friend who doesn't give me the evil eye across the desk. I miss the tough country girl who wasn't afraid to knock me down a few with her biting comebacks and cheap shots. Can we at least try to get back to that?" The look of hope and sorrow for what he lost mixed on his face.

She crossed her arms to keep them from reaching out to him. "Yeah. Its gonna take a while though; you did a lot of damage.

"All I'm asking for is my old partner back." He held out his hand for her to shake. She looked suspiciously at him, something was up. She took the offered hand and get an overactive shake. Something was brewing. "Miss Monroe, I look forward to seeing you at work tomorrow." He took a short bow and left.

Lindsay felt somewhat better. Danny seemed to be a little lighter, his step had more pep in it than she'd seen in weeks.

Out on the street, Danny's head started working. The neurons in his brain started firing. Possibility started moving him down the street. Me made a left instead of a right and set his target. He needed to get back in the lab. There were a few things he needed to take care of before going home.

So what do you think? Does it end there or should I go on? Let me know.

Happy Valentine's Day by the way.