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Stella couldn't help but smile as she watched Danny playing with the little terrier he'd brought in to help find what had shattered the glass in their jewelry store robbery. The little dog bore an uncanny resemblance to Danny, hair color and all. Despite Danny's protests that the dog was a loaner, his interactions told Stella that the dog was either Danny's or he knew the owner quite well. "C'mon buddy. I'd better get you out of here before your mommy catches me."
That struck Stella as an odd thing to say. Why would Danny be so worried about the dog's owner seeing him here? Intrigued, she followed Danny out of the reconstruction room, suddenly, Flack appeared and started laughing at the sight.
"Showing your twin around, Messer?" Danny rolled his eyes at his best friend.
"I was using him to find out how our Hollys managed to get the glass to shatter, Flack." Danny grumbled, trying to walk as fast as he dared, constantly looking around, like he was checking for someone. Stella followed closely, insanely curious as to who Danny was checking for when a surprised voice called out.
"Bronco!" Bronco squirmed out of Danny's arms and ran as fast as his little feet would carry him to the source of the voice, Lindsay Monroe.
Stella's mouth fell open as Bronco ran up to Lindsay and immediately began whining to be picked up, which Lindsay happily did, not minding the dog hairs she was getting on her clothes.
"What're you doing here, huh?" Lindsay asked as Bronco happily gave her wet doggy kisses on her chin, his little tail wagging madly.
"I, uh, needed him to help find out how our robbers managed to break the glass in the display cases." Danny explained sheepishly.
Lindsay looked at him in surprise, "Did you get it figured out?" Danny nodded, explaining what he'd found. He and Lindsay loved on Bronco for a few more minutes, completely oblivious to Stella's stunned stare. After a few minutes, both became aware of Stella watching them. Lindsay handed Bronco over to Danny again. "Will you be sure to walk him before you take him home?"
Danny nodded, "You bet." He headed back down the hall scratching Bronco's ears and telling him what a good boy he was, leaving Lindsay alone with a smirking Stella.
"That's *your* dog, Lindsay?" Stella could barely keep the triumphant sound out of her voice as she thought of the bet she had going with Mac and the fifty bucks riding on it.
Lindsay's pretty face turned a very entertaining shade of red. "Yeah. Danny gave him to me for my birthday."
Stella's eyebrows ran headlong into her hairline. "Danny gave him to you for your birthday?" Oh yeah, that money was as good as hers.
Lindsay seemed a little flustered by the question. "Yeah. I'd been telling him about how much I missed the dogs my dad keeps at his ranch. He wanted to get me a German Shepard or a Golden Retriever, but my landlord has a ten pound weight limit on pets, so he got me Bronco instead. Why? What's the big deal? He was just being friendly. I thought it was sweet."
Stella nearly laughed her head off at Lindsay's lame attempt to throw off Danny's very romantic gesture as something any friend would do. "Please, Lindsay. I've been friends with Mac for over ten years and he's never given me a goldfish for my birthday, let alone a puppy. So try again."
Lindsay bit her lower lip for a moment before turning away. "So, let me tell you about what I've found." She began talking about the items found in the ventilation shaft. Stella growled with frustration, and decided that before the day was out, she'd get the petite brunette to admit what was going on between her and Danny and collect her money from Mac.
***Just after Lindsay drops the flash bang grenade***
Stella could barely hold her anger in check at Mosi Ghedi, the man who had come very close to shooting Lindsay. He'd already killed one girl and was willing to kill two more. And for what? Compressed and heated chunks of carbon mined using slave labor. She let Flack take him and turned to make sure that Lindsay was alright. What she saw stopped her in her tracks. Danny and Lindsay were wrapped in each other's arms, Danny's chin was resting on top of Lindsay's head, murmuring gentle words in her ear. Stella sighed, she needed to be sure that Lindsay was alright, but she also knew that she'd be hard pressed to get her away from the protective blond Italian. She walked up to the couple and tapped Danny on the shoulder. "Danny, we need to have Lindsay checked out by the EMTs."
Lindsay frowned, "Stella, I'm fine. My ears are ringing a little, but I'm fine."
Danny looked at her, "You need to be checked out Lindsay, just in case." Lindsay looked like she was about to argue, but seemed to think better of it and let Danny lead her outside.
Stella watched as Danny never left Lindsay's side as the EMTs checked her over. Every gesture telling her that her two friends had finally gotten together after months of flirting. Sneaking her cell phone out of her pocket, she snapped a quick picture of her two friends wrapped in each other's arms sitting in the back of the ambulance. The picture showed a man and woman leaning against each other, the woman's head resting on the man's shoulder, her eyes closed. The man's arms were around the woman's slight shoulders, his cheek pressed against her forehead.
Don peeked over Stella's shoulder and smiled when he saw the image on the camera phone. He was glad that Danny had finally found someone who could tame him. And the fact that Lindsay had done it without trying to make Danny change who he was, made Don grateful to the lab's resident cowgirl.
Later that night, while Stella was collecting her fifty dollars from Mac, Danny and Lindsay lay curled on their bed, playing with Bronco. As they played with their little helper, Danny gave Lindsay a very special present: a one carat princess cut diamond set in a simple gold band. Lindsay was so stunned, that she couldn't speak at first. Then Bronco barked and sniffed at the ring. Both of them laughed as Danny slid the ring onto Lindsay's finger, thanking heaven that those African diamond dealers didn't have time to shoot the one woman who could convince him to abandon his tough guy image, even in the midst of chaos. He knew most men would balk at doing such romantic things as buying their girlfriend a puppy or shelling out a chunk of their savings on a ring, but Lindsay was the first woman he'd been with that inspired such feelings and come hell, high water, and homicidal diamond dealers, he wasn't about to let her get away.