Wow, two fics in the span of only a few days – and this wasn't even one of the ones I already planned to write! You can blame the inspiration for this one on Friday's episode – seriously, you do that to Danny and you give us NOTHING in terms of D/L? HUGE FAIL TPTB!

So, I wrote this to rectify that problem! I must say, though, that I must have still had my previous fic on the brain at least a little bit, because this turned out differently than I thought it would. I'd try and explain it better, but I'd ruin the story for you!

OK, that's enough of my blathering on, let's get this show on the road!

Spoilers from 7.09 Justified are ahead, so be warned! Otherwise, please enjoy!


Nothing They Can't Handle

After hearing about what went down when Danny and Flack tried to arrest Mitch Barrett, Mac stood pacing over by the elevators, anxious to make sure that Danny was alright. Sure, he'd already talked to him on the phone and Danny had assured his boss that he was still in one piece, but Mac needed to see the evidence of that with his own two eyes. Finally, the familiar *ping* sounded, and Mac watched as the elevator doors opened up to reveal Danny, who gave his boss a sheepish look as he stepped off the car. Mac immediately noticed the two swollen cuts on Danny's face and how he seemed to be walking stiffly.

"Hey Mac, I didn't realize that my returning warranted a welcoming party. Thanks, boss, I appreciate it." Danny knew he really shouldn't be cracking jokes at the moment, but he couldn't resist – that and he was sure his jokes would find a better audience with Mac than with Lindsay, who was probably gonna kill him when she heard about what happened. In all honesty, he was surprised that it was Mac who he found waiting for him at the elevators and not Lindsay.

A part of Mac wanted to smack Danny for his sarcastic remark, but then again it looked like Danny had received his monthly quota for beatings (and then some), so he just glared harshly at Danny for a few seconds, just enough for Danny to get the hint. "Not funny Danny. How is it that you and Flack always manage to get yourselves into these predicaments when you make arrests?"

"We're just lucky, I guess."

Mac decided to let that one go. "How is Flack?"

"He looks worse than I do. He's got a black eye and he's sore all over from getting tossed into a TV, smashed through a built-in bookshelf, and taking several punches to the stomach."

"And you? You look a little stiff."

"Well, I guess that's what happens when you get tossed across the room and go careening off a table." Danny could see that Mac was getting fed up with his flippancy, so he decided to tone it down a little. "I'm OK Mac, seriously. I just need some aspirin."

Mac eyed him with suspicion, but didn't push him any further, knowing that Danny would have to face another interrogation today, one that would not go so well if Danny kept up with the sarcasm. A small part of him pitied Danny for what he still had to face, but that feeling quickly passed. "Alright, go clean yourself up before you go back down to interrogation. The last thing you need is for those cuts to get infected."

Mac started to turn away, needing to get back to his own work, but stopped when he swore he heard Danny say under his breath "Sure thing Mom!" Mac looked over his shoulder and watched Danny jog down the stairs to the locker room, but wasn't sure whether Danny's speed was due to his wanting to get this over as quickly as possible or his trying to get away from Mac. The desire to smack Danny rose up in Mac once more, but dissipated just as quickly when he caught sight of movements towards the locker room out of the corner of his eye.

Mac turned around again and left for his office, a small, satisfied smile on his lips.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Danny quickly keyed in the combination to his locker, putting his gun away on the shelf, taking out the aspirin bottle and shaking out two pills, dry swallowing them as he replaced the bottle in his locker, grabbing his jacket off the hook and tossing it on a bench behind him before finally slamming the door shut again. He knew that Flack was waiting for him downstairs, so he wanted to finish with this as quickly as possible and finally get to interrogate that smug son of a bitch.

Danny grabbed a small towel to clean his face with on the way to the men's bathroom, passing through the door and not bothering to lock it behind him because he only planned on being in there for a minute or two. Turning on the cold water and letting it run for a few seconds, he looked at his reflection in the mirror. He looked a little rough for wear, but it honestly looked worse than it felt. He shoved the towel under the water, soaked it and started to wring it out when he heard the distinct sound of the bathroom door opening. Not bothering to turn around, he called out to the intruder. "Just give me another minute, man, and then it's all yours."

He expected to hear some sort of apology and the door opening again, but when he didn't, he started to turn around in frustration, talking as he did so. "Yo, you deaf or something, buddy, 'cause…"

The rest of his words died on his lips as he realized who had joined him in the bathroom. He'd hoped that he'd be able to delay this conversation at least until after he was done with the interrogation, but luck apparently wasn't on his side at all today.

"Hi babe, how's your day going?"

His attempt at levity fell completely flat, and Danny became more than a little worried when she said nothing in reply, reaching behind her back to lock the door. Danny swallowed thickly, now more afraid than ever of what she was gonna do to him. In any other situation, having Lindsay lock them in the bathroom together would be a huge turn-on, but not right now.

What was even more frightening was that her face was blank, betraying nothing of what she was thinking or how pissed off she was at him. She started to stalk forward towards him and Danny moved away from the sink, trying to get as far away from her as possible, but having not thought his plan through, he only backed himself into a corner, trapped between the sink and the toilet.

One of the things that most people did not know about Lindsay was that she could be very intimidating when she wanted or needed to be, and it had only become more pronounced after Lucy was born. Forget her small stature, her intense gaze went a long way into making people uncomfortable, and that was certainly how Danny felt at the moment. A part of him wanted to close his eyes, not really wanting to watch what she would do next, but he ignored it, wanting to face his punishment like a man.

Lindsay had finally made her way across the small room, coming to a stop directly in front of him. As she raised one of her hands towards his head, Danny cursed himself for involuntarily flinching, but he kept his eyes on her face as her hand finally made contact with his skin, resting on his left cheek as her thumb gently probed the area around his cut lip. She repeated the process on the right side of his face, carefully feeling the area around the cut on his forehead. Pulling her hands away from his face, she finally spoke.

"Is there anything else?" Her voice was barely above a whisper and it took Danny aback for a moment. He immediately suppressed any further sarcastic remarks and told her the truth.

"I'm a little sore and stiff from getting thrown across the room, but I already took some aspirin and it's starting to take the edge off. That's it, I swear."

Lindsay nodded her head in response, and the two of them stayed silent for a few moments, just staring at each other. Lindsay's right hand reached out across her body and took the wet towel from him, beginning to dab at the cut of his lip. He hissed at the sensation and Lindsay eased up a bit, dabbing it a few more times before she was satisfied that it was clean.

As she repeated the process on his forehead, Danny felt the tension he'd felt building up since he'd gotten back to the building disappear, and he let his lips brush against the inside of Lindsay's wrist.

"I'm sorry babe," he said as he pulled away again. "I'm OK, though, I promise."

"I know." She pulled the towel away from his face and threw it into the sink, finished with it.

"Are you mad at me?" Danny wasn't sure that he wanted the answer to that, but he asked anyways.

"I was, until you turned around." Her hands came up to gently frame his face, and Danny tentatively wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his body. They stayed that way for a minute, each enjoying the close embrace, until Lindsay's right hand moved away from his cheek and flicked his ear, causing Danny to jump a bit and loosen his hold on her.

"Oww, Linds!"

"OK, so maybe not all of the anger was gone, but I feel better now."

"Well, I'm happy for you, but my ear hurts now!" Lindsay reached up and placed a kiss to where she'd just hit him, and he immediately felt better. "Hey, can I get another one of those here?" He pointed to his lip and Lindsay obliged, kissing right next to the cut. Before he could ask for another, she started for his forehead, and he made it easier for her by lowering his head.

Pulling back, Lindsay's hand came up to his right temple, holding his head just away from the cut. "Are you sure that you don't want a band-aid for this one?"

"Nope, you gotta let a cut breathe. It's something that I was told once, and it's stayed with me ever since." He caught her eye and she smiled despite herself.

Tightening his grip on her once more, he ducked his head down and captured her lips. He felt a flicker of pain as her lips put pressure on his cut, but as he got lost in the sensation of sharing a loving kiss with his wife, the pain disappeared. All too quickly, the kiss ended and the pain returned, but he ignored it.

"Are you alright babe?" It may have seemed like an odd question for Danny to ask Lindsay, since he was the one that had gotten hurt, but he knew that if their situations were reversed, he'd be on edge even after seeing she was alright with his own eyes.

Lindsay looked at him and she knew that he understood what she was feeling at the moment. "I'm fine…I will be fine."

"I have to get down to interrogation before Flack has a bird. I'll see you later, OK?"

"OK."

Leaning up again, Lindsay captured his lips and wrapped her arms around him briefly before letting go. As the kiss broke apart, she felt Danny's arms let her go and before moving away from her, he sweetly kissed her forehead. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She stepped away from him, giving him the chance to grab the towel from the sink before heading for the door. Lindsay kept her back to the door, needing a minute to calm herself down. She heard the lock turn and the door open, but just as quickly the door closed and the lock turned again.

Confused, she turned around to see what had happened, and she jumped a little when she saw that Danny was standing right in front of her. She was certain that he'd just been across the room, but before she had the chance to ask him, he had her backed up against the wall as he tilted her face up. He crashed his lips on top of hers and Lindsay responded eagerly. Their tongues duelled for dominance until the need for oxygen became absolutely paramount.

Both pulled away panting, and Danny started to hiss, now paying for his actions. Lindsay placed her hand on the back of his neck, pulling his head down so she could easily pepper feather-light kisses all around his lip. When she pulled away again, she smiled shyly up at him as he beamed down at her.

"I feel better now," he stated simply.

"So do I." Her smile grew wide, honestly feeling better than she had since she'd heard what happened.

"I love you Lindsay."

"I love you too Danny. I'll see you later."

"Yes, you will." Giving her one last lopsided grin, Danny pulled away from her again and went back to the door, unlocking it and opening it for himself.

As she watched him leave, she realized that it would never get any easier for her to hear that he'd been hurt on the job, especially after the two times she'd already had to nurse him back to health, but she knew that if she could survive him being in a wheelchair, she…no they could make it through any injury.

Momentarily lost in her thoughts, Lindsay didn't realize until it was too late that the bathroom door was opening, revealing Mac on the other side. She blushed, embarrassed that it was her boss, but also thankful because he was unlikely to ever want to repeat this story to anyone.

"Sorry Mac, I was just leaving. You guys got a nice bathroom here." She couldn't believe that she'd just said that, but she was trying to somehow cover up why she was in there. The look Mac gave her in response told her he wasn't buying it, but also that he really didn't care to know what had just happened in there.

"Umm, thanks."

Lindsay crossed the room in three big strides and quickly squished through the door by Mac.

"How is he really, Lindsay?" he called out to her as she passed, knowing he'd be more likely to get the truth from her.

Facing her boss and giving him a genuine smile, she answered. "He's fine, Mac. A little banged up, but it's nothing we can't handle."

Mac didn't miss the fact that she used the word 'we,' but he chose not to comment. Returning the smile, he merely nodded in reply. "Adam's waiting for you up in trace."

"OK, thanks Mac." Without saying anything else, Lindsay turned and left the locker room.

Listening to the door close, Mac found himself agreeing with her statement: there was nothing that Danny and Lindsay couldn't handle…together.


OK, so now that we're at the end of the story, I feel like it's a little rushed, but please feel free to ignore my paranoia! As I originally thought about this one, Lindsay was supposed to get angrier with Danny, but as you can see, he got off fairly easy by the end of it, and our favourite couple got to share a very intimate moment in a bathroom! How romantic! ;)

Alright, that's enough out of me. Take care everybody and thank you for reading!