Title: White Valentine's Day
Author: Daisy
Rating: T
Pairing: Danny Messer/Lindsay Monroe
Content Warning: Romance/Humor
Summary: Would you like to peep in how Danny and Lindsay spent their first St. Valentine's Day? - DL, oneshot.

A/N 1: Hi, everyone! This is a little St. Valentine's gift from me. I'm not for sure of the timeline, but I think this story probably takes place somewhere around mid-season 4. But with a view to storytelling, I just decided to pretend that whole Ruben thing had never occurred.

BTW, February 14 is Valentine's Day, we Japanese celebrate it in a way largely different from in that of yours. In Japan women give sweets, commonly chocolate along with other gifts, not only to their boyfriends or husbands, but also to their male colleagues or bosses, as a token of their love or good will. In the latter case, the gift is called "Giri Choko", or Obligation Chocolate, since it is given from the sense of obligation, and not from love. The proper manners for the recipients are that they should duly reciprocate the gifts on White Day ( March 14 ), which is a genuinely Japanese institution! So, I wrote this story based on the Japanese style of celebrating St. Valentine's Day. I hope you'll like and enjoy their first Valentine's Day even just a little. Special thanks to Brinchen86 for checking out this story before posting.

A/N 2: I'm not sure whether you guys know about this: CSI:NY hasn't been renewed yet. There is an online petition called 'Operation 9' campaigning for the renewal of CSI:NY for a season 9 and many people are trying to show their support for the show in many ways. If you want to show your own support for our favorite show, go and sign the petition! I think it'd be really great if you could all go and sign it.

-White Valentine's Day-

Danny arrived at Lindsay's apartment after the shift at work and unlocked the door with the spare key - the one she had let him keep somewhere along the line after their first night on the pool table at his place. Their first night. Just remembering that, he couldn't resist breaking into a smile.

After they had been skating around each other for so long, he finally had the woman that he had been longing for so badly- and the truth to be told, it was not one time or twice that he had had her show up in his indecent dream.

Not long after being released from the hospital, Danny asked Lindsay to start over their first date - a real date- and much to his relief, this time she willingly accepted it. They continued dating whenever they got a chance from their insane work schedule. When they didn't have enough time for going out on a date, they simply spent time together at either of their apartments; they just cuddled on the couch watching movies, cooked together, or whatever. It was each other's company, not the activity per se that counted.

Danny had barely stepped through the door when a sweet whiff of chocolate wafted and tickled his nostrils, and it grew even more redolent as he made his way into the kitchen. Also, coupled with a fragrant flavor of sizzling steak, tantalizing smell permeated the whole kitchen.

Danny stopped short and watched her working around busily before he knocked thrice on the doorframe so as to inform her of his presence. "Hey. It smells great."

Lindsay's head whipped up at his soft voice, her eyes wide open. She was peeping in the oven so intently that she didn't even hear him come in. A soft smile found its way to her lips almost instantly her chocolate brown eyes connected with his deep pools of blue.

Danny's heart skipped a beat at the unexpected breathtaking sight that awaited him. In his mind Lindsay was always the most beautiful woman in the world even if she was with no hint of makeup on her face or her hair messed up in sleep. For all that, tonight she was exceptionally beautiful, he thought. He squinted into her brilliant beauty, pushing his glasses to the bridge of his nose.

She was wearing a short sleeved, pale violet mohair sweater, with which he had presented her on their first Christmas dating back two months. He had always thought that soft shades of colors, such as baby pink or pale violet, looked great on Lindsay. That's why he had chosen a sweater of this color as a gift for her. And it matched perfectly the simple black flareskirt that was above-the-tea length, from the hem of which, a pair of long slender legs were peeped out prominently. She'd also styled her soft wavy hair tied up loosely at the top and her light make-up accentuated the fineness of her features. All of this was for him. Just for him. Just thinking of it, Danny fell into a feeling of faintness and of being ready to swoon.

"I'm sorry I didn't hear you, Danny. Dinner is almost set up," Lindsay said offering him her sweetest smile.

Danny felt his breath caught in his throat at her beauty for quite a while that he was not certain he could find his voice, but finally managed it. "Wow. You look absolutely stunning, Montana."

Her smile broadened in sheer appreciation and a delicate blush rose to the apples of her cheeks. "Thank you, you look not so bad yourself, cowboy."

Danny just grinned in response. "Thanks for the invitation," he expressed his gratitude as to that she had him over for Valentine's Day dinner.

"You're most welcome."

"You said you'd bake chocolate souffle, right?"

"Yeah," Lindsay replied as she walked around the kitchen counter, and she stepped into his open arms which pulled her into a tight embrace. "For dessert tonight."

"Sounds delicious. But I'd rather have somethin' else for dessert." Danny winked playfully at her.

"What is it?"

His hands cupped her cheeks softly, her head tilted upward so that he could look her straight in the eyes. "You."

She shivered, feeling his hot breath hitting her lips as he slowly leaned down to capture her lips. His arms tightened around her waist as he brought her in more closely to him and lifted her off the floor just slightly. They melted into each other's tight embrace, feeling as if enchanting kiss seemed to last an eternity - but in truth, until they both struggled for oxygen.

Even after they broke off the kiss, they continued to just stare at each other for a couple of minutes, his forehead rested on hers before she broke the silence between them. "Danny, just give me a second."

With those words on her lips, Lindsay turned around and made her way back into the kitchen. She grabbed something on the top of the kitchen counter, dropping her eyes down at the small box in her hand for a moment. She smiled. Then she slowly turned around to face Danny. Now she was in all seriousness.

Not breaking eye contact with him, Lindsay slowly walked toward Danny until she couldn't close the distance anymore, but close enough that she could whisper.

Releasing a deep breath with nervousness in the pit of her stomach, Lindsay opened her mouth. But "Danny..." was all that poured from it.

"What's up?"

Lindsay thought twice before she put her thoughts into words. "Uh...well..."

When he saw a slight blush creeping into her cheeks, a little concern crept into Danny's mind. "You alright?" he inquired, wondering if she had a fever.

Just before Danny could reach out for her forehead to check her temperature, Lindsay held out a small box gift wrapped and a red ribbon tied around - up to the level of his eyes.

Abruptly words slipped out of her mouth. "I...I think I've fallen in love with you, Danny. Could you be my boyfriend?"

"What?" All he could say was that one word. Danny shook his head, thoroughly confused before he managed to find more words. "...Lindsay, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

Running his fingertips through his spiky hair nervously, Danny took a deep breath. "You know what? I thought we are already together?" Danny asked gingerly.

Was it just him or were they really together? Was this a new banter she was playing on him or was she just teasing him? What if the perception of their relationship was his one-sided not mutual? He was not entirely sure which one, but he knew deep down he shouldn't jump to conclusions until he found out what she really meant with it. Besides, the look on Lindsay's face told him that she was completely serious.

"Yeah...but...Yukari told me that in Japan they do this on St. Valentine's Day even though they're already a boyfriend and a girlfriend."

Danny gave her an odd look. "I can't see your point. Who is...Uh, what's her name? Somethin' along the lines of Yuka or Yumi?" he queried.

"It's Yukari. Well, I take flamenco lessons on Thursday evenings, you know?" He nodded, wondering where her statement was going. But it did look like Lindsay was relaxing. She continued. "She's an exchange student from Japan and I met her in the class. She taught me how they Japanese celebrate St. Valentine's Day and it was impressing to me. You know, this is the first Valentine's Day we celebrate together, so I wanted to make it special."

It began to dawn on Danny why Lindsay confessed her love for him all at once while he was listening to her explanation. According to what her Japanese friend had told Lindsay, in Japan February the fourteenth was the day on which women were supposed to give small gifts, commonly chocolate, to their boyfriends, husbands, or the ones whom they had a secret crush on - as a token of 'love'.

"So that's the reason you decided to take the initiative in confessing your feelings for me?"

"Yeah, but I've gotten the wrong idea about her explanation, right?"

"Maybe...a little, I guess, though I'm not for sure about Japanese culture myself."

Letting out a heavy sigh, Lindsay cast her eyes down with an apparent hint of heavy heart. "You think I'm stupid?"

"No, not at all. There's no reason to think you're stupid." Danny didn't have the slightest idea that Lindsay was stupid. Far from it. He would have rather thought himself stupid to have made her take the initiative in doing that so as to elucidate their relationship. He should have been the one to express his love for the woman he had desperately longed for - and he was practically going to do that tonight - because in all honesty, he had feverishly wanted to make their relationship exclusive.

As much as he felt like cursing himself inwardly in that he himself didn't take that first step, he couldn't resist smiling at her irrelevant confession of love for him even though it was completely coming from her misunderstanding - off the track. Lindsay was such a cute woman and Danny loved this side of her that she let disclosed to him alone. Just thinking that she did all of these for him, he felt the ever-present urge to swoop her petite body up into his arms, carry her into her bedroom and make mad passionate love to her until neither of them could move spreading through his body.

A couple of minutes later, Danny turned his gaze to the small box in his hand.

Taking notice of Danny staring at the box, Lindsay said gingerly, "I made it yesterday. I hope you'll like it."

"Thank you," Danny expressed his gratitude succinctly, offering her a benign smile. Then, gently grabbing her hands with his own, he guided Lindsay to the window from where they could look out on the night view of Manhattan.

He gestured to the outside of the window. "Lindsay, look at that," Danny said.

Tilting her head ever so slightly, "What is it?" Lindsay inquired.

"I wanted to show you...this."

Lindsay's eyes followed his gaze. Then she swallowed hard at the breathtaking sight that spread out before her very eyes.

Outside the window, she saw trees, buildings, streets, the whole shebang covered with snow as far as the eye could see. One fine powdery snow after another was falling down from the sky as it changed all the world into snowscape.

For a moment Lindsay stood there just staring at the intoxicating view as if her voice had been trapped in her throat before she simply murmured, "It's beautiful."

"Yeah..." Danny agreed, though his inner voice - he was quite cognizant of it - told him that Lindsay was far more beautiful.

"Here's to White Valentine's Day, right?"

Danny cracked a smile at her and nodded. "Yeah, you like it?"

"No." His heart sank instantly at her negative response, but she stood up on her tiptoes and brushed her lips affectionately against his cheek. "I don't like it; I do really love it. And thank you for being here with me tonight."

His smile soon returned and spread across his face. Danny lifted their already intertwined hands up enough for his lips to plant a lingering kiss over it. One of his hand gently brushed a strand of honey curl out of her face while the other was continuing to hold her hand. "Now I think I should answer your previous confession and reciprocate for a heartfelt gift."

"Yeah...?" Lindsay sighed happily.

He brushed his lips against her ear as he whispered, which caused her spine to tingle. "I'm head over heels in love with you, Lindsay. Could you be my girl?"

Who knew by what words Lindsay responded to his heartfelt confession and how they made the most of the rest of their night? The only creature or existence that knew the answer was the tiny white angels constantly floating down fluffily from the sky - and oh! I would never forget, definitely you guys who willingly peeped in this first Valentine's Day of theirs.

*The End*

A/N 3: Thank you for reading, and Happy Valentine's Day! From my heart to yours!

Feedback is always welcome and more than appreciated.