A/N: This is a sort of complementary piece to my original Tease Me If You Love Me story. The lack of DL in the last episode inspired me to make it into a series and continue filling in some of the blanks of what we’re not seeing on the show. Hopefully we’ll get some juicy DL moments in the future (don’t spoil me either way!) and this will be the last part of the series. Until then, I have a feeling I’ll be forced to write these one shots for each episode!

Thanks for reading! Huge thanks to mel60 for the beta!

Danny’s cell phone roused him from his sleep. Lindsay had set the ‘Danny Boy’ lyrics as his ringtone without him knowing because she thought it was funny and, despite his pout when it unexpectedly rang in the middle of an interrogation, he never changed it because it made him think of her.

“Hello,” he groggily answered, not paying attention to the caller ID.

“You were right.”

The voice on the other end managed to make its way into Danny’s clouded mind, which he recognized as Lindsay’s. Sleep was still too fresh for him to be able to put any thought into why she was calling.

“What?”

“Look at the time.”

Danny turned and squinted at his alarm clock. 3:33 a.m.

“3:33,” he said aloud.

“See? You were right. Women do make phone calls at 3:33 in the morning.”

As it dawned on Danny that there was no emergency, and that he didn’t have to go into work, he sunk back into his pillow and smiled at this unexpected phone call from Lindsay.

Lindsay could practically hear Danny’s contagious smile through the phone. She knew he wouldn’t care that she’d woke him up. She had tried and failed going to bed early, attempting to recover from the stressful day. Although stressful was a bit of an understatement. Trapped on a subway, hurtling full speed ahead into another car, trying to save Mac from being held hostage. Traumatic seemed like a more appropriate description of the past twenty four hours.

But her job required her – all of them – to brush things like that off and keep following the evidence. Lindsay often wondered how she avoided mental breakdowns because it sometimes took all she had to stay focused on work. Only later, lying in bed was Lindsay able to process the day’s events. The 333 killer had been terrifying, but Lindsay’s thoughts kept drifting towards Danny.

He had saved the day, yet again. He was the most heroic person she knew – fiercely loyal and unselfish. Flying to Montana for her, helping her with cases, picking her up when she was feeling down. She loved that about him. But there was no ignoring the restlessness boiling inside her. Uneasiness at being put in life-and-death situations. Frustration at the fact that when Danny did things like he did today, when all she wanted to do was run up to him and kiss him, she couldn’t. Because they were at work and had to be professional. Plus, she wanted to be strong and not seem needy. Instead, when Danny found her and asked if she was okay she simply said yes. A second later Stella had called him away, leaving her with a quick arm squeeze instead of the hug she desperately wanted. At times like this Lindsay hated professionalism and strength.

“So, can I expect a puzzle on my doorstep?” Danny asked, interrupting her thoughts, referring to Drew’s calling card.

“Nope. Something better.”

“What’s that?”

“Me,” Lindsay finally said, making Danny jump out of his bed and jog to his door when his doorbell rang.

When he opened it they both flipped their phones closed and stared at each other. Lindsay had a crooked grin on her face, almost bashful for her unannounced visit. But she was glad she had come because seeing his face made her instantly feel better. Danny had a similar expression, except his grin was caused by amusement and surprise.

Danny finally broke their comfortable silence. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t sleep so I thought I’d make you share in my misery,” Lindsay said with a poke to Danny’s chest as she entered his apartment.

“You’re lucky we both have the late shift tomorrow,” Danny said as he shut his door and wrapped his arms around Lindsay, nuzzling her neck. As he made his way to her lips and cheeks he saw that look. That ‘I’m worried but trying not to show it’ look Danny first recognized a year ago when she’d been dealing with her friends’ murder trial.

But Danny knew what was causing that look right now. After the day they’d had, most people would be much worse. He’d been tense all day himself. Sometimes he laughed at his chosen profession. One which required him to be patient and wait when he was always about action - tediously examine even the most miniscule piece of evidence, hang around for results, wait until all the pieces were in just the right place before making a move on a suspect.

It was his need to move, to do something, that made his muscles jump into action and run down the subway track to try to stop it. That, and the fact that Lindsay was on it but if he thought too much about that he knew he would become paralyzed with fear. So he just kept moving.

Afterwards, when they were all out of harm’s way he’d found her to make sure she was okay. He’d wanted to say and do more than he had – how grateful he was that she was okay, kiss her – but they were in the middle of a crime investigation and his instincts for action were in full gear. They were surrounded by too much commotion for him to speak without revealing how shaken up he’d been.

“To be honest,” Danny said, “I hadn’t been asleep very long when you called. We had a pretty crazy day, huh?”

“Crazy? You mean me trapped on a runaway subway car or you doing your best Bruce Willis in Die Hard impersonation to stop it? Nah, those were run of the mill occurrences back in Montana.”

Lindsay was smiling but Danny saw that it didn’t reach her eyes. Without a word, he held Lindsay’s hand and pulled her towards his bedroom. When they reached his bed he gently pushed her so she was sitting on the edge and kneeled in front of her. His room was dark except for a strip of moonlight creeping in through the window, allowing Lindsay to just barely make out the gleam in Danny’s eyes.

She was about to ask him what he was doing but he pressed a finger to her lips to quiet her. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms as if trying to warm her. Dipping his fingers under the hem of her sweater he lifted it off her, letting it fall to the floor. His hands once again slowly moved along her sides, this time continuing down her legs. They stopped when he reached her shoes and it only took him a moment to rid her of those. His hands reversed their path and made traveled back up her legs. His hands skillfully unbuttoned her jeans.

“Danny.” Lindsay said in quiet protest.

“Shh.”

With gentle tugging from Danny, Lindsay lifted her hips to allow him to finagle her jeans off, leaving her in just a tank top and underwear. Finally, he stood up and kneeled behind her on the bed, pulling her close so her back was pressed against his chest. His fingers slowly feathered up her arms one more time before landing on her shoulders where he applied just the right amount of pressure and began rubbing them with agonizingly slow circles. He alternated from her shoulders to her upper back, down her spine and lower back. He endlessly reversed and repeated this pattern until he felt the tension drain out of Lindsay’s body underneath his fingertips, until her breathing fell into a hypnotizing rhythm. He had become almost languid himself - the effect of having her so close to him.

When Danny knew Lindsay was finally relaxed, the baggage of the day’s events drained from her body, he stood up and went to his closet, pulling out a small box.

“Here,” he said as he handed it to Lindsay and stood in front of her.

“What’s this?” Lindsay asked, confused about what made Danny stop his wonderful massage.

“Just open it.”

Lindsay carefully opened the box and pulled out the tissue paper. “A Pocket Size Survival Kit,” she managed to read the name on the package through the darkness.

Danny was normally a thoughtful gift giver but Lindsay was having trouble grasping the meaning behind this unusual present. A quick perusal of the contents revealed a small pocket knife, hot spark flint, a compass, matches, fishing supplies and tape. “Yup,” Danny stated matter-of-factly as if it was the most practical gift ever. “Carry it around with you and you’ll be prepared for anything.”

Realization slowly sunk into Lindsay. Danny was trying to keep her safe - from speeding trains or crazy suspects or whatever else he thought fish wire and tape could remedy.

“Thank you,” Lindsay said as she put the box down and pulled Danny into a kiss and onto the bed next to her. She dropped quick kisses all over his face and neck as his hands roamed her body.

After a few moments, Lindsay paused and said, “You know, none of those things would have helped me on the subway.” She whispered her words, not wanting to dishearten Danny but not wanting to ignore the danger they had both faced today.

“I know,” he said immediately but then hesitated “It’s just …I bought that because…I don’t ever want you to get hurt…and I don’t want to lose you. Ever.”

Lindsay smiled and squeezed Danny tighter. “You know, we could always change jobs. Do something a little safer.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Well, I interrogated someone last week who was a professional mattress tester. Maybe you could do that. You can’t get hurt, no guns are involved, no attempts on your life, not even a bug bite.”

Danny laughed. “That doesn’t sound too bad, especially if you’re with me.” He moved on top of her and kissed her. “We could definitely put those mattresses through the ringer.” He pushed his hips into hers for emphasis, making them bounce on the bed.

“You’re such a sweet talker,” Lindsay teased.

“You know, Montana, there’s no better way to stay out of trouble than to stay in bed and never go out.”

As they became more tangled up in each other and their kisses become deeper, Lindsay said, “Now that, Messer, sounds like a plan.”