The Missing Scene from 3×18 “Slight Out of Hand.” D/L. First time they slept together, but Danny’s passed out from exhaustion. Mostly just fluff.
Disclaimer: Sadly I don’t own any of the characters.
Danny smiled as Lindsey sat beside him after her testimony. He was exhausted after the last case, but he knew he wouldn’t sleep worth anything after Stella had mentioned that Lindsey didn’t sound good. That had prompted this cross country excursion. The defendant turned to glare at Lindsey, so Danny just put his arm around Lindsey and glared back. The defendant turned back to face forward. They listened to the testimony of a few more people who didn’t really have anything tremendously revealing to the case. The defendant didn’t turn around again, but Danny kept his arm across the back of her bench anyway. The judge declared recess and stated that they would reconvene in the morning for closing arguments. Danny followed Lindsey out of the courthouse.
“Are you hungry? ” Lindsey asked. “I didn’t really have much of an appetite for breakfast or lunch for that matter.”
” I don’t remember when I last ate either.”
“Do we need to get your car out of the garage?” she asked indicating the parking garage attached to the courthouse.
“No, I took a cab here from the airport. Didn’t do the rental thing.”
“Well, I left my rental car at the hotel and walked over this morning. But there’s a 24 hour diner just around the block that we used to eat at all the time. The food may not be the best, but we ate there all the time.”
Danny just grinned at the thought of flying 2,000 miles just to eat at the local cop diner, but for Lindsey he’d eat anywhere. “Just lead the way, Montana.”
Apparently Lindsey knew almost everyone in Bozeman’s law enforcement community. By Danny’s estimate at least three quarters of the diner’s patrons had stopped by their booth to talk to her. Danny had lost track of the number of people he’d been introduced to. And he had a sneaking suspicion that a few of the older guys would run him when they got a chance. Danny didn’t care at this point. He’d hit the wall. He sat there while Lindsey was chattering away and he was falling asleep in his coffee.
“Danny? Danny?” Lindsey’s voice finally penetrated his haze. Danny shook his head to wake himself up.
“Sorry, Linds, guess I’m jet lagged. Took the red eye out of La Guardia.” Lindsey’s eyes just narrowed at him shrewdly.
“How many hours straight did you pull before you got on that red-eye?”
“Hmm. 48, I think.”
“Forty- eight hours straight? Danny it’s a wonder you aren’t hallucinating.”
“I started that about 24 hours ago. I swore I saw you walking down the hall in the lab.”
“Daniel Messer, why are you sitting there listening to me prattle on? You need sleep. What hotel are you at?”
“Didn’t pick on out yet.” Danny yawned. “I took the cab straight from the airport.”
Lindsey got up and paid their bill. “Did you leave your bag in the courthouse lockers?”
“Nope. Didn’t pack one. I didn’t really plan this out, Linds. One minute I’m headed home to crash and next thing I know I’m at La Guardia trying to find a flight out to Bozeman.” Danny stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk. Lindsey grabbed him and he placed his arm around her to steady himself while walking.
“We’ll just go back to mine and see if they have one available.”
“Shounds like a plan.”
As they got closer to the hotel Danny had to lean more on Lindsey and the slur in his speech was increasing. So Lindsey made the executive decision to skip trying to find Danny a room and just take him up to hers. When she got him up there, he fell face first onto the bed. Lindsey removed his glasses and jacket from hi prone form. She saw his weapon holstered in the small of his back. That definitely wouldn’t be comfortable if he rolled over on it. So Lindsey started to remove it. Danny began to stir, but she leaned down and whispered, “Danny, it’s just me. Just Montana. I’m putting your weapon on the nightstand.”
Danny calmed at this. Lindsey removed his gun and went through the steps of clearing the weapon almost automatically. Once she placed the weapon on the nightstand closest to Danny she removed his boots.
Lindsey then sat at the desk across the room and opened her laptop. She noticed Stella was online so she sent her a video chat request. Stella popped onscreen with a “How’s the trial going?”
“Went well. Well, well enough on my part. It helped that Danny showed up. Closing arguments are tomorrow.”
“Wait a minute did you say Danny showed up? In court in Montana?”
“Yes, take a look.” Lindsey tried to angle to laptop to catch Danny’s sleeping form for Stella.
“Oh. My. God. What did you say or do to finally get him to go to sleep?” Lindsey turned the laptop screen back so she could be seen.
“Not much. He almost fell asleep walking back from the diner.”
“Let him sleep! Did you know that he worked on this case for 48 hours straight on only 1 hour of sleep? And he had just came off a 20 hour day before that?”
“No wonder he just shut down.” Lindsey glanced amazed over her shoulder at Danny. “Any way, I buzzed you cause I need a little recon work.”
“Sure, what do you need?”
“I need you to raid Danny’s locker and tell me what kind of stuff he’s got there. Danny showed up with nothing except what he was wearing. I was going to be nice to the idiot and hit the drugstore around the corner and pick up a few a few things for him.”
Stella laughed. That was so impulsively Danny. “I’ll call you right back after I finish my panty raid. Take care of him for us, Linds.”
Lindsey waited until Stella returned and gave her the list. She saw a housekeeper in the hallway on her way out and got an extra blanket from her since Danny had crashed on top of the blanket and bedspread. So she slipped back in and spread the blanket over Danny and tucked him in. Then she went out to purchase toiletries for him.
When she got back she showed and changed into a camisole and her pajama pants. She had no desire to read or watch whatever happened to be on TV. She felt her own energy start to drain after the stress of her testimony. So she decided to just go to bed. The king size bed in her room had plenty of room even with Danny sleeping on the other side so Lindsey decide to try to sleep some. She hadn’t slept very well for the last 10 years, but there wasn’t much else to do. Lindsey lay down beside Danny. He muttered something beneath his breath and reached out so his palm lay on her abdomen in a protective gesture. Lindsey smiled and for the first time in years easily fell into sleep.
She was hiding in the bathroom again, the cold feeling of dread washing through her. She heard 4 shotgun blasts and heard footsteps nearing the bathroom. Please don’t open, please don’t open, please don’t open, she thought. The bathroom door eased open and she found herself staring down the barrel of a shotgun
KABOOM
Lindsey woke up screaming. She fought against the arms that were holding her.
“Lindsey, Lindsey! It’s just me. Just Danny.” Lindsey relaxed on his shoulder and started crying. “It’s okay. Montana. I’m right here, just let it out.” Danny held her and rocked her until her tears and shuddering subsided. “It’s over.”
“But Danny, what if they don’t find him guilty? I hate being this scared.”
“Montana, after what I heard you say up there, I don’t think they have any choice, but to find him guilty.”
“I dreamed about what happened, but this time he found me in the bathroom.”
Danny leaned back enough to look at her face in the moonlight. “You’re safe. I’m Here.” H placed a kiss on the top of her head before embracing her to his chest. “I’m here.” He leaned them back to lying on the bed. Lindsey turned on her side so that her back was to Danny’s chest. HE threw his arm over her and she interlaced their fingers. They slept that way until morning.