A/N: Dear Pennsylvanian state troopers/SWAT. A part of me hates you a little bit for not checking Shane Casey coming out of a prison that appeared to be unharmed (other than the beat down he'd just been given...) in an NYPD uniform... AFTER a lock down... even I as the small town girl would think, hmm, something doesn't seem right there. Should we just check that? But I realise you were under the instruction of the powers that be, and couldn't deviate from the script, so whatever.

SO CLOSE. but yet, so far. :(

In the episode they didn't really address Danny's wallet being stolen, just the badge (at least from what I remember) so this may have a few tints of spoilerish stuff - just on the off chance they go back to the wallet at some point.

Hope you enjoy it - and for those of you who check at the time of my crack of dawn (which I'm sure you all have better things to do) sorry it's a little late... I was celebrating my last assignment of first year being completed by sleeping in! hahaha.

Post-ep oneshot; season 6, episode 19 - Redemption.

At the mere mention of Shane Casey, Lindsay Messer's heart temporarily stopped. Her reaction alone was going to warrant questions from the team; she knew that. And her glance to Danny which spoke a thousand words didn't help either.

They'd both had conversations – every night in fact about this... situation they were in. Every night. It was always the same. They'd watch a re-run of something on TV as a way to unwind after Lucy had gone to bed and then he'd turned to her with the look of uncertainty in his eyes. And she'd tell him the same thing.

They'd tell Mac tomorrow.

Except for; they never did. With everyday that they left it, it got too late. They found that burying their heads in the sand and stressing themselves out about it proved more effective. They both knew they were actually quite stupid in not telling their boss. He was one of their close friends, and even though he probably would get royally pissed off and would probably enforce disciplinary action; they had to remember that others had done worse.

And as well, they sometimes forgot that they were dealing with a psycho-maniac that couldn't distinguish the truth from reason.

Now though, things was different. Stella knew. Flack knew the whole story. Hell, even Adam knew.

They weren't the only ones carrying this burden between them.

As she moved the stir fry she was cooking from the heat on the stove she let out a long, laboured breath. She still had the sinking feeling in her chest when she thought about it. And honestly, even when she wasn't that feeling was still there. But... the weight on her shoulders had been lifted. She placed her wooden spoon on the counter and dragged her fingers down her face as an attempt to relieve herself from the stress of the day.

Hostage situations were ones that she wasn't a fan of. They panicked her to no end; not because of the severity of the threat – life or death. But she was on the outside doing everything she could to help and get whoever it was out... with no impact. She could look through as many blue prints, or do as many searches through AFIS and IBIS as her heart desired – but it didn't promise the release of Hawkes in this case.

Throughout the day, she'd cast her mind back to when Danny and Adam had been taken hostage; she'd never been so terrified in her life. Every now and then she'd see Adam look at his scars from the cigarette burns, rub them, and carry on with his work, and Danny still had the scars on his knuckles from where he'd been beaten with a Ak-47. Danny. Danny had taken her shift and he'd ended up in a hostage situation – and even though it wasn't her fault, she blamed herself. If she had woken up, the day's events would have been different. He wouldn't have taken a beating when he hadn't needed to. Not that she did of course. But... it still played on her mind.

"Yo, Linds, you heating up the apartment here?" Danny teased bringing her from her thoughts as he leaned over her and turned the stove off.

She turned and blinked at him before smiling. "Sorry, got lost in my thoughts for a minute or two."

Danny nodded as she reached for the pan and began dishing it onto plates. He pulled himself up onto the counter and reached for her arm as she held the wok.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure." She smiled as she set the pan back down on the stove and picked up a dish towel to wipe her hands. "What's up?"

"I've been thinking... you know how Casey escaped?"

Lindsay nodded as she positioned herself in between her husband's legs. "Yeah."

"He's using my badge and name, Linds."

Lindsay let out a breath. She'd spent the last hour thinking the same thing. And just like in the office this morning, she needed not to express her concerns verbally to him. By the look on her face, he knew exactly what she had been thinking.

Because it had been the exact same as him.

"I'm in shit, aren't I?"

"They know." Lindsay reminded him. "They know he's escaped, and anything in his possession is going to be part of his plan."

"Lindsay, he has my badge. He... I don't even want to think about it, but it's all I can think about."

"I know." Lindsay sighed. "I know, babe. But New York and Pennsylvania are on the look out... He's not going to get far, is he?"

"Is he?" Danny countered. "He's a fuckin' psycho, Linds."

"Language!" she snapped as she slapped his knee.

He apologised before continuing. "I just... Fuck."

"Danny!" Lindsay scolded.

"Fuck... fuck... Linds..."

"What?" she asked with arched eyebrows at his facial expressions; the colour had run from his face as he stared at her. "Danny, what? You're scaring me... what's the matter?"

"He had my wallet." He began. "Linds, he had my wallet."

"We know that." She reminded him. "He didn't use any of the credit cards or anything like that because remember, they put the anti theft tracking on it... it's okay... he was in prison so we know that he couldn't have..."

Danny held his hand up to cut her off. "Linds, I'm not talking about the credit cards. I had pictures of you and Luce in there."

Lindsay stopped. She tried to hide her reaction but she couldn't. She swallowed and squeezed Danny's knee reassuringly. She wanted it to be a reassuring gesture, but it was the only thing she could do. Words were failing her. So really, it was far from reassuring.

"Fuck." Danny cried as rest his elbow against his thigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Lindsay... fuck."

"I get it." Lindsay gently reminded him about his cursing. "Danny, there's nothing we can...-"

"Lindsay, he has pictures... recent pictures of what you and Lucy look like. You worked the investigation. He knows you're a CSI. He's gonna be able to put two and two together."

"Maybe not." Lindsay suggested. "Maybe he hasn't actually seen the wallet Danny. That state trooper said to Hawkes that he had his family hostage. Perhaps in his mad panic, he just grabbed everything and tossed your wallet."

"Or that was the one thing Casey was actually wanting, Linds."

Lindsay took a deep breath. "There's nothing we can do about this now, Danny."

"Fuck." Danny muttered. "Shit."

"I get that we're wanting to hit the curse limit for today in this one conversation baby, but come on, it's going to be alright." She reasoned, despite her own concerns.

"Lindsay, I pissed him off about his brother. He won't let that shit go, k? He knows about Louie, he's done all that – haunted me about it. Saw that it kind of affected me, but he knows I blocked it out. He does something to you or to Lucy, and he knows he's got the goldmine there, babe."

"Well, we just make sure that doesn't happen."

"Linds, I don't think you understand. Shane Casey knows exactly what you and Lucy look like now." Danny paused. "He knows that you're my wife that I love and Lucy is my daughter I love... How did I not think of this sooner?"

Lindsay leant forwards and wrapped her arms around Danny's waist as she laid her head against his chest. She let the soothing sound of his heartbeat fill her thoughts for a moment or two before looking up at him. She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his jaw. "Whatever happens, happens, alright? I'm not going to let us sit here now for the next two months and worry whether or not he's going to come in through the window all ninja style and whisk me and Lucy away to punish you, Danny." Lindsay tried to tease, but there was some seriousness to what she was saying. "We've spent enough time stressing ourselves about this whole thing, haven't we? Mac made sure that the right people involved were aware that he has your badge, alright? So anything that happens from now until then isn't your fault. And you know, people have seen him on the news before, they're going to want to get him off the streets. You don't need to panic about this, alright?"

Danny let out a breath.

"I mean it," she continued. "Stress isn't good for your back because that's where you carry it. Whenever your stressed you get the twinges in your back. You think I'm blind or something and don't see you snapping up when you're playing with Lucy, or when you're reaching for a beaker in the lab. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"I won't." Danny sighed. "I just..."

"I just nothing." Lindsay cut him off. "I'm refusing to let us worry about he that is Shane Casey again."

"Linds..."

"Sssh." She smiled as she held her finger to his lips. "That's worrying, I said I didn't want that."

"But..."

"But nothing, Danny." Lindsay finally snapped. "Let it go. When he comes and whisks me or you off, then we'll worry alright? Can we not live our lives in constant worry? It's getting a little old now, you know?"

Danny rubbed his tired eyes and nodded. "Only because you want that." He began. "But you know me, and I'm still going to worry."

"I know you are." She smiled up at him.

"I just don't want to lose you, you know? You mean a hell of a lot to me."

Lindsay smiled. "And I love you too... but to get past everything we have; we're going to be fine, Danny."

"I hope so." Danny whispered to her as she moved to grab the pan and continued to dish out their food.

Silence fell between them as Danny hopped off the counter top and filled their glasses with water and moved them to the table. And as he was out of sight, Lindsay closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

She'd never let on to Danny; and she didn't want to stress him out even more than what he was now going to stress himself out – but she knew for a fact that their little family was in some sort of trouble with Shane Casey on the loose.

She just didn't know how, or when, this trouble would materialise.

Thanks for reading, any thoughts are appreciated :)