Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance Part 2

Author: meg (magratj)
Summary: After Danny does his recon . . . there's a plan to set in motion
Rating: PG to be safe
Disclaimer: So not mine. But neither's that glass of white . . ..
Notes: Thank's to for the beta. Hopefully part 3 will be done soon. I know what I want to happen. . .

To put it simply, she couldn't figure it out.

She'd ruled Danny out. Oh, he'd been attentive to her, there was no doubt about that. He'd been more aware of her – of what she was working on, or what she was feeling – hell, even what she was thinking. He'd get her a chocolate from the vending machine on the bad days, always offer to get her lunch or a drink if he was stepping out for something himself. In fact, he'd been the perfect gentleman for over two months now,

But he'd been obvious about it. Oh, not over the top and looking for acknowledgement or gratification, but she could tell he wanted her to know that he was still interested and that she hadn't succeeded in scarring him away.

But the gerberas . . .

They'd started showing up two weeks ago – a fresh one every three days, like clockwork. Only one. The colours always varied, although there had been a preference for red. She'd walk into her office first thing in the morning or after being out in the field, and find the fresh flower in the finger thin vase that had appeared with the first mysterious bloom.

Danny hadn't said anything, other than 'nice flower' on the first day, suggesting to Lindsay that he believed that she had brought it in herself. Besides, if he did know who was responsible, surely he would have teased her mercilessly about it. That was his style after all.

Of course, the thing about a single gerbera was that it was subtle. A single rose, particularly a red one, would definitely draw attention. But gerberas didn't. And a single one was the kind of thing a girl would buy herself to brighten up her office.

The truth was that a single unclaimed flower left on her desk wasn't really the style of any one of the guys she worked with.

She considered taking the matter to Stella, but decided against it. If it was someone in the lab who was responsible, Stella would be on her back to do something about it, and Lindsay wasn't sure she was ready for anything with anybody.

She'd returned from the field one day, and after logging the evidence with Adam, she intended to take ten minutes to catch up on any emails or messages.

Upon reaching her desk, however, she found the NYPD's HR director Alexis Martin, standing at her desk, eating a gooey looking chocolate.

"Hi Lindsay," she said, guiltily licking caramel off her fingers. "Want one?" She offered a small wrapped chocolate.

"Thanks – what are these?"

"The best chocolate to come out of Oz. I just got another batch in. Damned hard to get here, and Flack uses them as blackmail material with me, but so worth it."

Lindsay smiled. "Cool. What's up?"

Alexis pointed at some papers she'd left on Lindsay's desk. "Last of the insurance papers from that explosion."

"More? That was ages ago,"

"We're talking about insurance companies. It takes six months for requests to hit the top of the pile," she said.

"This is a massive waste of paper," Lindsay complained as she started signing.

"That's what they do best. You know, I have to start doing this."

"What's that?" Lindsay asked, still concentrating on the paperwork.

"Get some flowers for my office," Alexis said, smelling the bright flower.

"Oh, I didn't buy that," Lindsay said without thinking.

"Really? Someone brought you a single gerbera?"

"Um, yeah," Lindsay admitted, somewhat embarrassed.

"Who?"

"What?"

"We're not replaying that skit. Who gave you the flower?"

Lindsay sighed as she put down the pen. The truth was, she was dying to talk to someone about the situation, and Alexis was far enough removed from her daily work . . .

"I don't know," she admitted.

"You don't know?"

"No. It started a couple of weeks ago. A fresh one turns up every three days. No note, nothing. It's starting to drive me insane."

Alexis looked pensive for a moment. "You know, it's probably nothing. I mean, it's unfounded gossip, and I hate unfounded gossip, but . . ."

"What?"

"Well, you know Trent from my office? Tall, blonde, camp as a row of tents?"

Yeah?"

"He couldn't keep his mouth shut if you paid him. And actually, I do pay him to . . Anyway, he swears blind that he saw Danny walking into the building with a yellow gerbera the other day. We figured it was for a case, but maybe not."

"When was that exactly? What day?"

"Oh, Thursday I think, because Rahda was going on and on about Jericho."

"There was a fresh yellow one on Thursday morning. What's he playing at?"

"Seems like he wants your attention."

"But he hasn't said anything."

"Oh, he will when he's ready, I'm sure."

"God this is so complicated." Lindsay sighed in frustration.

"Yeah – I just thought of all the potential sexual harassment issues."

"God, I hadn't even thought of that. I just don't know if I can –"

"Can what? Let this guy sweep you off your feet? Cause that's what it looks like he's trying to do. I mean, Danny's got a rep, sure, but word is he's mellowed out lately."

"I thought you hated gossip," Lindsay accused.

"Oh, no. I love gossip. I just rarely pass it on. In my job, you have to be careful. My point is, if Danny has mellowed, my guess is it's because of you. What's so wrong with the idea of dating Danny Messer?"

"It's not Danny," Lindsay admitted. "It's me, I mean, I like him, I really do, but . . ."

"But what? You gotta take a risk sometimes, you know. Otherwise you'll spend your life thinking about what could have been."

"There are things . . ."

"There are always things. That's how you figure out if they're serious about you." Alexis looked again at the gerbera. "If it is Danny, let him make the move. He'll tell you when he's ready." She collected the papers back from Lindsay, and went to leave. "Enjoy your chocolate. And if you can convince Flack to tell you where he gets them, I'd appreciate it."

Lindsay was still staring blankly at her gerbera five minutes later when Danny entered the office. He took quick stock of her look, and the chocolate sitting on her desk. And smiled to himself. Those things weren't cheap, but were definitely worth the investment.

"Hey, Montana, Mac wants to know if we can stay back on Friday night. Apparently there's been a problem with too many people on leave or something," he said, deliberately ignoring her distracted state.

Lindsay shook herself out of her reverie.

"Friday, yeah that's fine." It was just another day to everyone else anyway.