The View From Up Here

Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership over D/L, just the story itself.
AN: Came from a 'vision' I had of Danny and Lindsay on a ferris wheel. Growing up showing animals at county fairs was also an inspiration - something I miss greatly. :) Will run about 5 chapters.

Chapter 1

Damn Danny Messer for being so attractive.

And damn this New York City traffic. It's the third of July, and the steaming pavement is like a giant pancake griddle. As we inch along, I wonder why drivers bother to honk in a situation like this. It's not like anyone can help it - we're all stuck in the same position. Back home, we only honked if we passed someone we knew, as a sort of 'hello'.

"This is insane," I grumble as I push the air conditioner up to create an icy blast, and fan myself with the Sports section of the Times. I've read it twice over, and filled Danny in on every play, score, and call.

"What, you never had traffic jams in Montana?" he asks, amused at my impatient antics. You can tell that he is New York born and raised. "No herds of cattle causing big back ups?"

I roll my eyes, but a grin spreads across my face anyway. We're on our way back from arresting a suspect; another case successfully closed. He's driving and I'm in the passenger seat. I just want to get back to the lab, but the traffic is at a complete standstill. A woman who looks at least eighty years old whizzes by us on a bike. Yeah, it's that bad.

"We are civilized out there, you know," I say to Danny. "It's not like I drove to work on a John Deere."

"But I bet you had a pickup truck," he challenges. Okay, I'll give that to him.

"I learned to drive in an old Chevy pickup with 'Farm Use Only' spray painted on the back," I admitted. "I was ten when my dad took me out in the pasture and taught me about steering and shifting gears. My idea of 'clutch' has never been a handbag." We both laugh.

I take a peek at him out of the corner of my eye. Heavens, he's so attractive. I hate that I find him so attractive, because he's one of those guys. You know, the kind that are not only attractive, but know that they are? I can deal with that, but what's starting to worry me is the fact that sometimes I think my feelings for him go way deeper. No, they don't, it's just my imagination. I just have a little crush, it will fade when the novelty wears off. Mm-hmm. I keep telling myself that.

"So, what are you doing for the fourth of July?" Danny asks, raising an eyebrow in my direction, and jarring me out of my internal debate.

Now I'm embarrassed; I have no plans. I'm sure he has plans which involve longneck bottles and long-legged women. I have only been on one date since I moved here, and it was disastrous. Adam from the lab took me to the opera a few months ago. I went because I had nothing else to do, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings by turning him down. It went so badly: we couldn't manage to keep up a conversation, he spilled his gin and tonic on my coat, and opera really isn't my thing. Both of us were thankful when Mac paged me to join the subway-surfer case. Adam and I agreed not to mention it again – to each other, or to our coworkers.

"Oh, I don't know yet," I shrug casually, as if I have so many offers that I simply can't decide.

"Well, what did you do back in Montana?"

"The Gallatin County Fair," I reply fondly. "My cousins and I showed our lambs there every summer."

"Lamb?" Danny mutters, looking out the windshield at a nearby Greek restaurant. "I could really go for a gyro right about now."

I reach across the seat to slap him. "Danny! That's mean!"

"Sorry, Little Bo Peep," he teases, chuckling as he dodges another one of my slaps. "Anyway, tell me about the fair."

"Oh, it was the best time," I gush, reminiscing as we scoot forward ten centimeters. "Showing our animals was just the beginning. It went on for about three days, and we ran wild all over the fairgrounds eating candy apples and paying games. All of us kids would sleep in the stalls at night, and someone always snuck in a jug of homemade watermelon wine."

"Watermelon wine?" he asks, both astounded and disgusted.

"It's lovely." I smile and close my eyes, leaning my head back against the seat. "And funnel cake… ummm." My imagination is taking me back there, the sights and sounds the wonderful smells. I can hear the animals stirring about in the straw, the pipe organs, and the people screaming on the rides. I remember the smell of fried vegetables and spun cotton candy, as the night sky lights up with thousands of bright colors.

Danny drums the steering wheel thoughtfully. We move another two inches.

"I'll miss that this year," I say wistfully, looking out the window as the cars begin to pick up speed. "I doubt there's anything like it in New York."

Finally back at the lab, I'm signing off on the last piece of paperwork from our case. It's just me – I had told Danny to go ahead home while I wrapped up. Now everything is complete, and I triumphantly slip the packet in Mac's inbox before stopping at the locker room.

I open up my locker and pull out my belongings, when Danny's head pops around the door.

"Hey, Montana," he says.

"Hey yourself," I respond, slightly startled. His voice sounds funny. "I thought you already left. What's up?"

"Look, I heard that the Franklin County fair is going on right now," he says awkwardly, rubbing his neck. He's so cute when he's all shy like this. "It's only about forty-five minutes from here. You wanna go tomorrow night?" He licks his lips and averts his eyes, another thing I find cute. "I mean, if you don't have other plans…" his voice trails off.

Whoa. Did he just ask me out? No, surely not - he's just being friendly.

"I didn't say I didn't have plans," I argue, trying to play it cool. Much to my horror, my voice cracks.

Danny holds up his hands innocently. "I didn't say you didn't. I'm just making a better offer." He winks. Lord help me. Down, girl.

I'm trying to appear nonchalant, but inside I am shrieking. "Sure, it sounds fun," I say calmly.

He grins, looking almost relieved. Am I that intimidating? "I'll pick you up at six, how's that?" he asks.

I nod. "Great, I'll see you then," I say. Danny vanishes as quickly as he appeared.

As I walk toward the elevator, I wonder how he happened to know about this fair that was going on. He hadn't mentioned it in the car, and he hardly seems like the type to follow such events. I turn on my heel and make a mad dash back to the office, where I settle myself in front of Danny's computer. Looking around to make sure no one sees me snooping, I open the internet browser and check the History file. I see that, indeed, he ran a search on Google for "NY fairs". Then he got directions to Franklin county from Mapquest.

Would he have done all that just for me?

A/N: Chapter 2 coming soon. ;)