Title: The Greatest Fear 2/2

Author: Calie

Summary: Lindsay can't stand being alone anymore.

Notes: This is the last chapter. It was just a short story. I kind of have an idea to more their relationship further along but I'm not sure if I will get to it. Hope you like.

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Danny opened his eyes and looked around in the darkness of his room. He would swear he just heard something. It was only a few moments before he was positive he heard something. Once he heard the knocking at his door he looked over at the clock on his bed stand. It was one o’clock in the morning and he had no earthly idea who would be knocking at his door.

Danny groaned as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. There was another knock at his door and he knew he had to move a little faster. For a moment he considered grabbing his gun but decided against it. Danny made a lame attempt and brushing his hair down with his hand as he walked through his darkened apartment and to his front door. When he looked through the peep hole he didn’t even stop to wonder why the person was even at his apartment. He hurriedly slid the chain off and unlocked the dead bolt before opening his door. It had only taken moments for him to become awake when he saw her standing there. “Lindsay.” He wanted to ask her what was wrong but he couldn’t find the words. Her normal neat attire was absent and instead replaced by a t-shirt and pants, wich most likely were her pajamas. Her hair which had been in neat waves earlier that day was frizzy and up in a messy ponytail. It wasn’t those things that surprised him. It was her red puffy eyes staring back at him that made him stand there in silence. It felt like a long time but he quickly regained his composure and grabbed her by her arms and pulled her in. He locked the door, even though he hated to waste the time doing so, and then turned to her. “Lindsay,” he grabbed her face in his hands and brushed her hair away and studied her, “what’s wrong?” She didn’t respond right away and he was ready to explode if she didn’t tell him why she was on his door step at one in the morning in such a state. He did notice her teeth chattering and finally he remembered that she didn’t have a jacket on and it was cold outside. “What are you going not wearing a jacket?” He wrapped his arms around her and led her to his sofa.

Lindsay allowed him to lead her to the sofa, not caring whatsoever where he took her. At this point she was just relieved to be with him. He grabbed both of her arms and gently pushed her down onto the couch. Silently, Lindsay watched him move about his apartment. First his turned on a lamp, then he moved to adjust the thermostat, next he walked down a hallway and reemerged seconds later with a blanket in his arms. When he got back to the sofa he sat down, wrapped the blanket around her. Lindsay took it and tried to give him a soft smile. “Thanks.”

For the few moments that Danny was moving around he had felt better. Now that he was sitting there in silence and had nothing else to do all he could do was look at her face and see the look there that he’d seen for so many days now. Only this time she looked worse. “Lindsay did something happen?”

“No.” She shook her head quickly because the last thing she needed was for him to think she was hurt or in some kind of danger. “I’m fine.” She wrapped the blanket tighter around her in an attempt to get rid of the exposed feeling she had.

“Well you can’t be fine if you’re here right now.” For the first time since Lindsay had arrived she looked away from him and seemed to be studying his apartment. When she didn’t look back at him brought a hand up to her face and turned her back to him. “Lindsay, what’s wrong?”

It was his gentleness that broke her. The feel of his hand on her face, the gentle concern in his voice, and the soft look on his face all broke her. As she blinked the tears she had been trying to control since she first saw his face escaped. “Danny, I don’t want to be alone.”

He knew she was still hurting but he couldn’t help the sigh of relief right before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. He felt relief because nothing had happened to her like he had originally feared when she arrived at his door and most of all he felt relief that she had finally come back to him. Her body shook against him silently and he knew it wasn’t from her being cold. Her face was buried into his chest but he could still tell that she was crying.

For a while Lindsay just stayed curled up against Danny and cried. Gradually she calmed down and just lay against him. Having him holding her was the only comfort she’d had in a long time.

Once she did quite down Danny spoke softly into her hair. “I don’t know what’s going on, and you don’t have to tell me right now if you don’t want to, but I still want to be with you.”

Lindsay couldn’t believe what he was saying. Since the day she had met him she had thought him rather harsh, not always a caring kind of a guy, and especially not a relationship kind of guy. Somehow that had all changed. He had wanted to be with her and had been trying for months now. In the beginning it was mild flirting which they both took part in, then it started to escalate to lunches then dinner. That’s when she got scared and around that same time that’s when he decided he wanted to be with her. She was reluctant to leave his arm but she forced herself to and sat up. She made a poor attempt to wipe her eyes and straiten her hair then when she looked back at him he had a smirk on his face. “What?”

“I’m sorry Lindsay, but I don’t think anything but a shower and a brush will help you at this point.” She shoved at his arm and he caught her hand in his. “You look fine.”

“I’m sorry I woke you. I just…” She sighed and tried to find the words but he interrupted.

“It’s okay. I’m glad you did.” She gave him a soft smile which for some reason relieved him. “Look, I’m not letting you go home this late at night, just sleep in my bed and I’ll sleep out here okay.”

Lindsay should have said she was okay and that she would go home, or at least say she would sleep on the couch, but she said nothing. All she did was nod and allow him to lead her by the hand he was still holding. When they got to the bedroom he released her hand and turned on the lamp.

When he turned back to her she was already sitting on his bed looking so small and so tired. “Do you need anything?”

Lindsay bit her lip and looked around. She did need something. “Don’t go. I told you I didn’t want to be alone.”

“Alright.” Even as he said it Danny was beginning to wonder if he should have just insisted on sleeping in the living room. There was no way he could have said no, not when she needed him and he wanted to be near her. “Do you need anything before I turn off the light?” She shook her head and he turned away from her to turn off the lamp. Danny needed the darkness it was a lot easier if he didn’t have to see her. While he walked to the other side of the bed her heard the bed moving and knew she was laying down. As Danny lay down on his side facing her he quickly realized he’d never been so uncomfortable in his own bed. It wasn’t as if he’d never considered the situation of being in a bed with Lindsay. The circumstances had always been different in his head though.

“Danny?”

“Yea?”

For a short moment she remained silent before speaking. There was so much she wanted to say to him. She wanted to tell him she was sorry for not showing up for there date, that she was sorry for ignoring him after, that she was sorry for running out on him, that she was sorry for hurting his feelings, and that she was grateful for him being there for her even thought she hadn’t done anything to deserve it. Of course she couldn’t manage to say any of that yet. “Thank you.” The city lights illuminated his face perfectly and it made her heart warm to see the small smile on his face.

“I told you I’d help you if you needed anything.” She smiled back at him and for a moment Danny was able to forget that she still had secrets and their rocky start. For a moment everything was feeling right.

“I know, I just didn’t feel I could come to you.”

“Why not? Didn’t you know I have a weakness for Montana girls?” The smile got wider and it made him wish he could say something to see that smile all night.

Hopefully she wasn’t blushing and if she was she hoped he couldn’t tell. “How many Montana girls do you know?”

“Only one.”

“That’s good to know.” She laid there in silence for a while. It still felt like there was much more that needed to be said and that wasn’t even including what she was hiding from him. They both know that they liked one another but that’s it. It’d been so long since Lindsay had feelings for someone in a romantic way that she wasn’t sure how to go about it. All she did know is she wanted to do it the right way and not mess it up. He’d been so patient with her. Always worrying about her and always doing things for her even though she pulled back from every advance he made. Yet still he’d always been there for her, even when she had thought she wanted him to stay away. “You could have just forgotten about me and given up on me after what I did. Why didn’t you?”

“Please, I knew you’d come around.” He heard a small laugh and it relieved him a little that her mood had lightened. Then her fingers touched his chest and gently fingered at the material of his shirt. “Well, I hoped.”

“Well, thank you for not giving up on me.” His hand covered the one on her chest and she allowed herself to smile again.

“Don’t be ridiculous Montana.” He yawned and rolled onto his back while still holding her hand. She was forced to scoot closer as he pulled her hand so he wrapped his other arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him. When she finally gave in and settled against him with her head on his chest he closed his eyes. “I couldn’t do that, your one of a kind.”

After so long, being held by someone felt wonderful especially since it was Danny. Just as she was drifting off to sleep he pulled her hand up and kissed it. For a moment she wondered what it would have felt like if instead his lips had kissed her own. Quickly she tried to dismiss that thought, the last thing she needed was to be thinking of a physical relationship with Danny. Hopefully they would get to that point but at the moment she content to just lie next to him.