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Notes Chapter ten; Lindsay, Danny and a leap of love. Please review, we love to hear from you! Thanks for all reviews, alerts and favourites, please continue! We hope you enjoy this chapter :D

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Ten lords a-leaping

Nine ladies dancing

Eight maids a-milking

Seven swans a-swimming

Six geese a-laying

Five gold rings

Four colly birds

Three French hens

Two turtle doves

And a partridge in a pear tree.

Leaping Lords

When the glare of day had muted into the softer glow of night, and lights winked in stores and apartment blocks, Manhattan was at its best. And on winter nights, when snow dusted the city, it possessed a whisper of fairytale allure. This was how Lindsay had always imagined New York, before she discovered the reality of its ogres and demons, its wicked secrets, and its cruellest corners. But as she walked along the sidewalks, through the thronging crowds with Danny anchored to her by his fingertips, she remembered again her dreams and the city's magic, and smiled to herself.

They reached an intersection and stopped at the edge, Danny swaying on his heels, "You okay there, Montana?"

"I'm good." She stepped up to him whilst they waited to cross. People bunched round them, and Lindsay instinctively wrapped her arm around herself. As they waited, cars flowing past, she rubbed her hand over the curve of her stomach, still finding herself in wonder at the soft swell of life inside.

My baby.

Her eyes caught Danny's, and even as she lowered her eyelids, smiling softly, she caught the same look in his. His hand loosed from hers and his arm slid round her waist, drawing her closer.

Our baby.

"Where d'you want to go?" He asked as they crossed the street and paused at the other side, retreating against a wall to avoid blocking other pedestrians.

"Someplace close. I wouldn't mind sitting down pretty soon." She confessed, and regretted it immediately as a familiar look of anxiety descended on Danny's face, "Danny, it's fine. I'm just tired. It's been a busy few days… I loved the ice dancing last night, but I guess it took a lot out of me."

The crease in his forehead deepened, "Things getting too much for you?"

"No, no, it's fine." Lindsay sighed, but could not resent his concern. It was a feeling that warmed her, to have someone care for her; for her baby.

For our baby.

"Then how 'bout the pizza joint two blocks away? You know the one, we've had a few slices there before. Or you want some take-out instead? Could take it back to your place? Or mine. Whichever you prefer."

"Take out sounds good, and my place, if you don't mind." It was not the food that appealed to her so much as the thought of her couch, and the warmth of her apartment. Even swaddled as she was in a sweater, thick winter coat and scarf, the raw chill of the wind crept through the layers and made her shiver, and the wind felt as if it was scraping the skin on her cheeks, "You choose where for the food."

Danny grinned, as his glasses were pushed up, "You bet. Know just the place a block away. And your wish is my command, we'll take it back to your place."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Already he was moving, picking up a rapid pace and striding along ahead of her. Even the contents of a garbage bag spilling onto the sidewalk did not slow him; he simply leaped over the mess, and all Lindsay could do was trot alongside him, still tethered to him by their fingers. It made her feel suddenly the awkwardness of the difference in her shape, and made her mindful of the crowds that Danny seemed to move through so nimbly, and she did not.

So many people.

It had never bothered her before; the sheer numbers of people that fitted along the sidewalks had only been a cause of wonder, but now it felt almost as if every person could be a threat, a danger to her baby.

To our baby…

"Danny!" Her voice was blown away, "Danny! Wait up…" She panted, and tugged at his fingers.

As he stopped and turned, shouting and exclamations became audible behind them. Lindsay, as she shifted herself to look, saw a ripple of commotion heading towards her. And then as she was turning, becoming slowly aware of what was happening, a girl dived past, and caught her shoulder. Lindsay stumbled, lost her balance as her changed centre of gravity caught her out, and began to fall…

"I got you." Danny threw his arm around her, pulled her back up and righted her before she even had time to gasp, "You okay? Stupid kid, charging along like that. Hey!" He hollered to the rapidly disappearing back of the girl, "Watch where the hell you're going next time, unless you want a ride downtown! Man. Kids today…" He shook his head, and looked Lindsay up and down as she calmed her breathing and managed a faint smile, "Montana, you sure you're okay? Nothing hurt?"

She squeezed his hand and drew in a shuddering breath, hiding it with a quick smile, "I'm okay. Lost my balance, that's all. Come on, I'm hungry." Motioning to her bump, she managed a grin, "So's the baby. We're keeping Junior waiting."

"We are, huh?" Danny pressed himself closer, and with one arm still firmly round her waist, he laid his other hand on her stomach, "You think he's going to start kicking again?"

Lindsay smiled and rested her hand on top of his, enjoying the feeling, after her first initial instinct to draw back subsided, "He might, and so might she!"

Even Danny's touch, known so intimately, she found provoked a spike of anxiety. Only for a moment. But a moment long enough to feel the fear and enormity of the life that she held; the life that she carried through streets that seethed and teemed with people, with danger; the life that she could only carry for so long and then no longer

They walked on and Lindsay breathed deeply. A few more months, and then the person held inside her would be exposed to all that the world held. All the bad, the wrong, the dangerous…

She sucked her breath in, and Danny again stopped, and his hand tightened, "I'm fine." The reply was automatic, despite the turmoil underneath that she could not talk about. Not yet. Maybe later, when they were safe inside, she would tell him. "I needed a moment…"

A look flashed into his eyes; curiosity, worry, and a glimpse of hurt which pinched and poked at Lindsay. She let out the breath she held, and let herself lean into him a little, "I… I was only thinking about, you know, about everything; about the baby."

Looking up at him, she saw the light from the chains of lanterns strung across a store window blink in his glasses, "Was thinking 'bout that too. Thinking what a guy like me's got to be doing to make sure the both of you are going to be good, you know, 'cause I want it to be good. I want us to be good, for all three of us."

"I know." She murmured, "I know you do. And so do I."

"Cool. We're on the same page here. We're good, right?"

"We're good."

His hand rubbed her stomach gently, "Cool."

They walked at Lindsay's pace now, stepping carefully through pedestrians, Danny stalking in front and clearing space for her, glancing at her every few moments. As independent as she was, the hand in hers felt good, felt right. They were safe…

The shouts, and then a scream, came from above this time. Lindsay stopped dead, looked up and her own scream leaped into her mouth.

"Danny, look out!" With more strength than she realised she owned, Lindsay heaved on his arm, and pulled him backwards. And a heartbeat later, the man she had seen falling from the second floor window bounced on top of the canopy above them, rolled off, and landed where Danny had been standing.

Her mouth open in an 'O' of horror, Lindsay froze; one hand welded to Danny's arm, the other held out in front of her. In the seconds of confusion, she wondered vaguely if she'd had some idea of trying to catch the man.

Danny was speechless and grey, his mouth opening and closing as he stared at the man lying in front of them, "You…you saved…"

Another scream from above shattered the trance and released her breath. Breaking her grip on Danny, Lindsay knelt down, with no small effort, beside the fallen man. His eyes were closed, mouth slightly open and one arm was bent beneath him; the other, clutching a rose, was stretched out above his head. Tearing her gloves off, she felt for a pulse.

"He's alive! Call a bus, Danny!"

"What?"

Lindsay hauled herself up into a crouch, "Danny! Call a bus, I got a pulse! You still with me?"

He blinked, "Yeah, yeah…" He rooted in his pockets, "A bus, okay. I got my cell… somewhere…"

"Here." She tossed him hers, and shook her head in despair as he fumbled with the buttons, "Come on, Danny!"

"I'm on it… Hello?" He cut off to send details to dispatch, and a minute later, was kneeling beside her, hand on her back, "Bus is on its way. Lindsay, stand up, this can't be good for you, the sidewalk's cold as hell…."

Mustering a glare that she hoped appeared as hot as hell, she snapped, "Then make yourself useful, and help me out! Get people to stand back, give us some room."

"Okay, okay! Boss lady…"

He pulled a face, but did as he was told; and to Lindsay's relief, at the sight of his badge and the sound of some well-chosen words, the press of exclaiming onlookers moved back.

Lindsay kept her hand on the man's neck, feeling the pulse of life beneath her fingers, and watching his chest rising and falling. At the same time her mind was racing to find an explanation for what had caused a man, dressed in a tunic and leggings with a rose in his hand, to fall from a hotel window.

It did not take long for the answer to come flying towards them and stutter to a stop.

"Oh God! Henry!"

A young woman stood in front of her, dressed in what had to be historical costume; a long velvet dress topped off with an elaborate headdress which was askew on her short, dark hair. It slipped further as she dropped down beside the man and called his name frantically, "Henry! Henry! Oh no!" She seized Lindsay's wrist, tears streaming down her face, "Is he dead? Please tell me he's not dead!"

"He's not dead, I got a pulse and there's an ambulance on its way."

"Oh thank God!"

"Is he your boyfriend? What's your name?"

The woman shook her head and stroked the man's face, and choked out, "Isabelle, and… and no, he's not, but… but he'd like to be. That's kind of why he fell; we were at a Lords and Ladies party…" She drew in a sobbing breath and continued, "I don't… don't make a habit of dressing like this. Henry had asked me to go with a bunch of his colleagues…" Her shoulders shook, and Lindsay gave her hand a squeeze.

"Hey, it's okay. He's going to be okay."

"What happened? How'd he fall?" Danny crouched down behind Lindsay.

"It was the… the stupidest thing, honestly, the dumbest thing ever…" Isabelle cupped the man's cheek in her hand and gazed down at him, with a mixture of pride and exasperation in her face, as tears dripped onto Henry's tunic, "I was… was at the window, looking at the lights, you know, and… and my corsage must've worked loose, because a gust of wind caught it, and it blew on to the next balcony along. I told Henry it didn't matter, it was just a flower, but he insisted…"

"Don't tell me." Danny grimaced, "Our Lord here decided to leap across and go get it, huh?"

"Yeah, you got it. I was yelling at him to come back in, but he climbed right up on the edge of our balcony, took a jump and… and missed!" Her face scrunched up and she gasped with more sobs, as Lindsay rubbed her shoulder soothingly.

"You got yourself a lucky guy here." Danny muttered shaking his head, "That was one hell of a fall."

Isabelle nodded, wiping her eyes, and spluttered, "I don't…don't know whether to kiss him or hit him for being so plain dumb!"

"Maybe leave the hitting till he's back on his feet." Lindsay suggested with a wry smile, "Hopefully that's not going to be long." She peered at Henry's face, and saw his eyelids flickering, "I think he's coming round…"

As she spoke, the whoop of sirens sounded, and in a few minutes, she was being gently eased up and out of the way, and the paramedics were surrounding Henry. Before he was loaded into the ambulance, Lindsay squeezed Isabelle's arm, "Hang in there, he'll be okay. And once he's up and about again, you better keep an eye on him, stop him leaping off of any more balconies. Seems like he needs a lady to keep an eye on him." She winked as she said this, and looped her arm through Danny's.

"I… I guess so." Isabelle managed a tear-stained smile, "Thank you so much, you've really helped. With… with everything."

"You're welcome." Lindsay grinned.

The last glimpse she had of them, before the back doors of the ambulance closed, was Isabelle, holding her rose in one hand and Henry's hand in the other. She stood and watched as the ambulance departed, nosing its way into the traffic, then Danny jigged her arm gently, "Come on, Montana. Don't know about you, but I'm starving. You ready to eat?"

"Are you kidding? I'm ordering two of everything!" This time she grabbed his hand and pulled him along.

"You know what?" Danny said as he hurried at her side.

"Not until you tell me." Lindsay flashed him a grin, but did not stop.

"Huh, well, all I was going to say was, you know I'd do the same, right? If you ever needed me to…"

Lindsay stopped and faced him, with her bump brushing against his jacket, "You would?"

"Sure I would."

She frowned and folded her arms, "So, you'd leap off a balcony, risking your life, to retrieve a flower that probably only cost a few bucks? You'd do that?"

Eyes shifting to either side, Danny pushed his glasses up his nose, "Yeah, I'd do that. If I had to. For you."

"Oh, Danny!" She groaned, "You idiot! You sweet, stupid, romantic idiot!" Seizing hold of his jacket with both hands, she pulled him forwards for a kiss and then held him back to look him up and down, "Let me tell you something, Danny Messer, I would be so mad at you if you ever did that, you would not hear the end of it…" He opened his mouth, and she laid a finger on his lips, "No, listen to me; you leaping off of balconies for me is not what I need."

Danny pulled her finger gently away and leaned into her, so his breath whispered in her hair and his fingers caught round the gold heart on the necklace he had given her, "Tell me what you do need."

"I need you to take care of yourself, Danny." She stroked the hair by his temple, "Because I can't always do that for you, and because what I want is for both of us to take care of this baby." She paused and felt his breath on her cheek, "Can you do that?"

He nodded and his forehead touched hers, "I can do that. For the three of us."

"Thank you." She whispered, "That's all I need."

We hope you enjoyed this, please review and tell us what you think! Next chapter up as soon as possible. Lily's story 'Old West' also recently updated! Thanks, Lily and Blue x