Your Smiling Face
Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize in this story, from music, to characters, to trivia.
Summary: DL, AU; Lindsay walks into a bar… and meets the famous Aiden Burn.
AN: I was watching a rerun of LOLD and was thinking about Aiden and DJ Pratt and all the stories about the two Messer women meeting for the first time, this is my mind working on that. It's of course Danny/ Lindsay because I get hives when handling other pairings. So I finished my TV bonding and turned on some James Taylor and the song Your Smiling Face began to play and it was perfect so I had to include it.
Lindsay Monroe revolved through the glass door at Mackenzie's, it was the eve of her day off, she had pulled a double and she needed a drink, yes needed it.
"White Lebowski Monroe?" Doug Roberts asked from his position behind the bar, she flashed a smile and slid into her usual barstool, it was like Cheers and it made her feel at home.
"No, I'd like a dead cat in a glass." She said Doug laughed and reached for a glass. She settled into her stool and turned to be parallel to the gleaming wood and stretched her legs to rest them on the bar of the chair of next to her.
"So what's shaking with you Dougy?" she asked, ready for something humorous.
"All four cheeks and a chin, well two chins I went to the doctor today." He grimaced, she laughed. "What up with you?"
"Nada, nunca, nothing. More crime, not enough time in some people lives. I need this drink man." Lindsay sighed, Doug sympathized and handed her a white Russian with half and half.
"This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass." Doug quoted to her in a way to lighten her somber mood. Lindsay sipped her drink and looked around the bar, it was early evening and there were only a few regulars peppering the quaint atmosphere. Doug's Canadian lit added soundtrack as she observed without having to process. Familiar laughter sliced the great white north's rumble and Lindsay spied Danny Messer at a corner table with a woman. She was… not pretty but distinctive, striking, intriguing, and clearly a girl from the city, Danny's type. She was smiling and holding up his left hand pointing to one of his fingers, she touched him with familiarity. Lindsay felt pain, her eyes, her throat and her heart. She prayed to the Dude that her Caucasian would assuage her. The vodka and cream did nothing for the fire in her throat and she knew that if a white Russian couldn't fix that kind of throat problem she was about to cry. It was masochistic and a ticking bomb considering her tear ducts were filling but she continued her watch. Danny looked up and into her eyes the look he was giving the woman was different from the one he gave her, he loved that woman with him… she couldn't take it. Grabbing her drink she hurried to the bathroom, thankful she held off the tears and thankful she didn't meet any resistance. In the empty women's room she leaned against the counter and took deep yoga breaths. Find your center, she had to find her center, nothing could be fixed by an irrational person, and she was utterly unreasonable. She had no claim on Danny Messer no right to be in a fit because he was happy and in love with someone who clearly suited him to a T. He was her work partner only; he never expressed any interest in her beyond chummy coworker banter and the occasional Good Samaritan thought. Breathe just breathe. She needed to take some cleansing breaths and then flush Danny out of her system it's not love if he doesn't love you back and no boy is worth crying over, and the one who is won't make you. She sipped her white Russian and tried to distract herself calm, how did 'Only a dream in Rio' go? She couldn't remember all she could hear was another James Taylor song, 'Your Smiling Face' – Danny's smiling face. Another woman entered the restroom and Lindsay instantly spun to appear like she was doing her make up, she set aside her drink and dug in her purse for her cosmetic's kit all the time praying the woman would take care of herself and leave quickly.
"Montana?" It was Danny's word but not his voice although the accents were similar. Lindsay paused and turned to face the speaker, it was Danny's girl. If there was a God this was a nightmare, she had tried to live her life in away to get out of hell.
"My name is Lindsay." She said turning back to the mirror her hand poising the mascara brush shaking slightly.
"I'm Aiden." She said Lindsay's unsteady hand slipped and stabbed herself in the eye; there was pain she was awake meaning she was in hell. Aiden Burn, the amazing Aiden Burn, she was like wonder woman without the outfit. Aiden Burn, the woman she replaced but fell short of every day, no wonder Danny had been so unwelcoming when she arrived, he loved the woman that she replaced. Lindsay began to cry anew, thankful that she could blame these burning tears on the assault to the eye by her four dollar mascara brush; Lindsay wiped at the water and smeared the fresh soft black color. Aiden handed her a paper towel and the women were silent for a time. Finally Lindsay couldn't take it anymore, she needed the woman to leave, she needed to get out of the bar with a plausible excuse and she needed not to cry until she was safely all alone at home.
"Am I keeping you from the mirror or did you just come in here to use that great nickname because Danny can't?" she asked drawing strength from the dude and his drink.
"No I came in here to meet the woman he loves." She said Lindsay couldn't take it any more grabbing her stuff she moved from the mirror like a four hundred pound gorilla.
"Then let me get away from the mirror so you can have a conversation face to face with her." Lindsay's voice was tighter than her white knuckle grip on her bag and glass. Aiden laughed. Bitch! It stung like a yellow jacket and lingered like pneumonia.
"Yes he does love me," She admitted it and flaunted it Lindsay was getting sicker by the second. "He loves me like he loves Louie; I'm like family to him. He calls on me for advice and when he's too damn lazy to feed himself. You need to stand in front of that mirror because Danny loves you and it's a completely non brotherly way."
"You're wrong." Lindsay said she didn't know what game was being played with her emotions but it was killing her. "He eats with you, drinks with you, talks with you, touches you, he loves YOU." She said pointing to the woman indicating that she was the you.
"He's with me because he doesn't have the balls to be with you! I was trying to convince him that he could ask you out, that 'a boy like that' could be with a 'girl like you'. He's a moron putting up unnecessary road blocks and making his life hell. When he saw you across the bar tonight his eyes lit up like Super Gold Thai, and then he saw you cry and leave and he damn near broke down. I came in here to get him answers because even though he acts like he doesn't have them he still physically has testicles." Aiden fired back. Lindsay paused in disbelief, how could that be true? Miss Burn walked towards her to place a hand on her shoulder, "Go talk to him, make a move, I'm still not sure he's man enough for you. From what I've heard you're a great girl and a good CSI and a damn miracle worker. You've changed him, I can beat his bad habits out of him, and I've tried but you've made him look within himself to change. And you have cute shoes. I like you. I love Danny like a brother and every sister wants her bro happy, you make him happy, so I want you to walk out there and drink with him." Lindsay blushed and instantly regretted every bad thought she had just had about this woman.
"Thank you." She said weak in front of this greatness. They walked out of the bathroom together and headed for Danny's table, half way there Lindsay was compelled to speak. "I'm sorry…"
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, you have nothing to apologize for. Wait I take it back, you're the reason I've listened to enough James Taylor to satisfy two lifetimes." Lindsay faintly smiled.
"James Taylor?"
"When Danny thinks of you he hears 'Your Smiling Face', he thinks of you all the time and is increasing." They reached the table.
"Thanks for the drink Messer but I've got to go." Aiden said picking up her leather jacket and purse and ruffling his hair.
"Would ya just watch the hair!" Danny exclaimed narrowing his blue eyes at his pseudo – sister who just smiled sweetly. Before exiting Aiden turned to Lindsay.
"I'm gunna wanna further discuss your shoes." Lindsay smiled, 'Wonder' Burn wasn't half bad.
"You were talking about shoes?" Danny asked slipping into his work façade that she was now aware of. Lindsay grinned wickedly.
"And your balls." She said finishing her White Lebowski as he chocked on his Samuel Adams. "I've got James Taylor on vinyl at home." She said.
Whenever I see your smiling face (Chorus) I thought I was in love Isn't it amazing a man like me No one can tell me that I'm doing wrong today
I have to smile myself
Because I love you (Yes, I do)
And when you give me that pretty little pout
It turns me inside out
There's something about you, baby (I don't know)
Isn't it amazing a man like me
Can feel this way
Tell me how much longer
It will grow stronger every day
Oh, how much longer
A couple of times before
With the girl next door
But that was long before I met you
Now I'm sure that I won't forget you
And I thank my lucky stars
That you are who you are
And not just another lovely lady
Sent down to break my heart
Can feel this way
Tell me how much longer
It can grow stronger every day
How much longer
Whenever I see you smile at me
No one can tell me that I'm doing wrong today
Whenever I see your smiling face my way
No one can tell me that I'm doing wrong today
No one can tell me that I'm doing wrong today
James Taylor; Your Smiling Face