Title: New Beginning
By: Aiden
Fandom: CSI: NY
Pairing: Mac/Danny
Rating: AO
Series: 1) The Way Of Love
Warning: Fluff, disability (amputation)
Summary: Danny has to make a major decision.'
Authors note: This is the second part of 'The Way Of Love'. It's a few months down the road and Danny is recovering from a major infection in both his stumps.

***

Danny woke up, stretching.

Smiling, Mac kissed him. "Morning."

Danny moaned into the kiss, "Morning," responding in a sleepy voice.

"How do you feel?" Mac asked him.

"Better, the pain is gone." Recovering from a major infection on both his stumps, Danny was still worried. It was the second time he'd gotten the same infection, which his doctor attributed Danny wearing his prosthetics. They had suggested fitting him with new sockets but they couldn't guarantee that the infection wouldn't return. It was all a little depressing for Danny.

"What are you going to do?" Mac stood and went to the bathroom, returning with fresh bandages and Danny's medication.

The young blond shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know." They had talked about it since Danny was released from the hospital but he still wasn't sure what to do. It was a major decision, if he would discard the prosthetics completely he had to get used to life in a wheelchair.

There was a knock on the door, "Pappy, daddy," their daughter entered the bedroom.

"Good morning princess," Danny smiled at her.

Mac lifted her up and sat her on the bed, "Good morning, pumpkin."

"Are you going to make pappy's boo-boo go away?" They had told her from the start what happened to Danny and she knew exactly what was wrong with him.

"You are so smart," Mac hugged her. "Yes, I'm going to make Pappy all better."

"Good," she said in a determined voice.

Danny laughed, "The being smart part she got from me."

Smirking, Mac threw back the covers, revealing Danny's gauze-covered stumps. The surgical scars from the latest operation where still fresh and needed to be cleaned. He took off the bandages covering the scars and cleaned the wounds.

Angie watched all of this with great interest, "Pappy still hurt?"

"No, Pappy is feeling better," Danny smiled at her, but winced when Mac touched the scar on his left stump.

"Sorry, babe," Mac apologised.

"It's okay," Danny reassured him.

Angie moved towards Danny and kissed his left stump very gently, "Is boo-boo better?"

Danny couldn't help but smile, he always did the same to her when she hurt herself, "Yeah, boo-boo is better now," he stated and hugged her.

Mac finished dressing the wounds, cleaned everything up, "What do you guys want for breakfast?" he asked, handing Danny his medication.

"Scrambled eggs please," Danny replied, swallowing the pills with some water and transferred from the bed into his chair.

"I want cereal," Angie said.

"Excuse me," Mac gave her a stern look but had a twinkle in his eyes.

"Can I have some cereal, please," Angie smiled at her daddy.

Danny laughed and headed for the bathroom, "Oh, yeah, she has you wrapped around her little finger," he stated before closing the door.

Mac smirked, taking his daughter in his arms, "Let's get you some breakfast okay."

When Danny came into the kitchen, he headed for the coffeepot. Pouring himself a mug, he placed it between his stumps and wheeled over to the table. "I guess I'll have to get used to life in a wheelchair." Mac turned around and saw the determined look in Danny's eyes, "I don't want to go through that again."

Mac nodded, "Me neither," remembering long nights in the hospital, not knowing if Danny would pull through. The heartaches every time he'd walked into Danny's hospital room, seeing him hooked up to all those machines just to keep him alive, breathing.

Danny looked down, "Can I still come work at the lab?"

Mac smiled, "Wouldn't have it any other way. You'd better ace that exam; it cost a lot of money to make the modifications in ballistics."

Looking up, Danny rewarded Mac with a bright smile, "You gonna tell them about us?"

Mac shook his head, "No, not yet. Don't want to risk IAB finding out about it before you start working at the lab."

"I understand." Danny nodded. "So, I'm kind of a war hero you happen to know, looking for a job?"

"Actually, Aiden recommended you."

The young blond smiled," She's a good friend."

"She is, and she would go through fire for you."

Danny nodded, "Yeah, I know, she's helped me a lot."

Mac nodded, she had always been there for both of them. Every time Danny had pushed him away and Mac had thought about giving up, Aiden had been there, holding him, letting him cry, telling that everything would be okay. "Mmhmm. She has, the both of us."

"Thank you," Danny whispered.

"For what?" Mac stood, walking up to him, crouching down until they were eye to eye..

"For not giving up on me. For kicking my ass when I wanted to quit, for loving me no matter what." Danny couldn't help the tears that started to fall down. "I love you."

Mac took him in his arms, "I love you, too. Always have and always will, never doubt that for a minute." Mac took Danny's mouth in a heated, searing kiss, feeling how Danny responded to him.

When they broke off, Danny smiled, "I know you do, and I'll never doubt your love for me ever again."

Mac felt someone pull on his sleeve, "Daddy, why are you crying?"

He took Angie in his arms, "Because I'm happy." He looked at Danny, love shining in his eyes, "And I have the best family anyone could wish for."

***

Danny growled when he was wakened by the sound of his cell going off. He blinked at the clock on the nightstand. "It's the fuckin' middle of the night," he mumbled. Remembering he was on-call, he picked it up reluctantly. "This better be good."

'Danny,' he heard Mac's voice on the other end. 'We need you at the lab. Don just made a big bust in the warehouse district, weapons trafficking. They're bringing in a truckload of guns as we speak.'

Danny sat upright. "I'll be there as soon as I can. What about Angie?"

'I called Aiden, she'll be at the house in twenty minutes.'

It was a good thing she lived near by, Danny thought.

"Okay, I'll see you at the lab." Danny clicked his phone shut. Lowering himself down from the bed to the floor, he hand-walked towards the bathroom. While he was getting ready, he heard Aiden enter the house. Ten minutes later, he exited the bathroom and lifted himself onto his chair.

"Aiden?" he said as he moved down the hallway.

"Danny." She walked up to him.

"Thanks for coming over." He smiled at her.

She bent over and hugged him. "No problem, now go get the bad guys."

~.~

When Danny entered ballistics, he'd had no idea just how big this case would be until he saw the number of crates. He whistled. "Okay, I have my work cut out for me," he commented.

Mac walked up to him. "Yeah, I had no idea it would be this big."

"So how many crates are there?" Danny asked.

"About thirty."

"Wow, that's a really big bust. So, I'm doing this on my own?"

Mac shook his head. "No, I'm putting Lindsay Monroe with you. She started today."

"Okay, I'll get started." Danny moved over to the table, and started to write down some information.

Mac smiled. Danny really was in his element at the lab. Ever since he'd started working at the lab three weeks ago, he'd made friends with everyone, especially with Don. The best part about Danny was that he could do different things, trace, fingerprints, even some profiling. But his main area of expertise was ballistics, and the blond loved it.

"I'll send Lindsay over," Mac said.

Danny nodded. "Okay."

Stella walked in, looking around. "Wow, you've got your work cut out for you, Messer."

"Hey, Stella," he said, looking at the crates. "Yeah, I do."

"Got those results from the Johnson case," she told Mac, handing him the file.

Mac smiled tiredly. "Thanks, Stella. Could you ask Lindsay to come down here? Danny's going to need her help."

"Yeah, sure, see you later, Danny." She headed out.

Danny was so caught up in his work that he didn't hear Lindsay come in until she cleared her throat. The young blond looked up. "Oh hey, you must be Lindsay."

When he moved his chair backwards and around the table, Lindsay looked at him in shock. "Yeah…I'm…I'm Lindsay."

Danny rolled his eyes and sighed. He moved up to her, ignoring her stare. "Okay, you start on the first crate, take out the weapons and place them on the table."

Lindsay kept looking at him, not able to tear her eyes away from his stumps and wheelchair.

Danny snorted. "When you're done staring at me, get to work."

"Uhm…what?" Lindsay stammered as she blushed. "Yeah, okay." She walked over to the crates, put gloves on and opened up the first one but she kept glancing back at him. She took out the first weapon and placed it on the table.

Danny whistled. "Wow, that's a beauty," he commented. "It's an M21 sniper rifle, a military rifle. How the fuck did they get their hands on those?" he said out loud.

Lindsay looked into the crate. "There are a dozen of those in here." She walked over to the next crate and opened it, taking out another weapon.

"That's a machine gun," Danny commented, surprise evident in his voice. "It's an M249 SAW." He took out his cell and hit speed dial. "Mac, you'd better get over here. This is bigger then we thought."

Mac and the rest of the team walked in a few minutes later. "Danny?"

"These are all military weapons, Mac." Danny explained.

"Wow, no shit?" Don asked, surprised. "You think they stole these weapons from a military base?"

"That or someone on the inside sold it to them." Danny looked down and shook his head.

Mac heard what Danny left unsaid. If this was an inside job, someone was betraying their country, and to Danny and him, that was the worst kind of crime out there.

***

As he walked by the trace lab, Mac shook his head when he noticed that Danny was still working. He opened the door and walked in. "Danny, why are you still here? Go home."

"Look who is talking," Danny retorted.

Mac smiled. "Okay, let's both go home."

Danny looked up and smiled at his lover, "Okay let me put everything away and we're out of here."

"You really think this was an inside job?" Mac asked.

"I do, these kinds of weapons don't go up for sale on the market," Danny answered, stretching his back.

Mac nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Danny put everything away into the vault. "I can't believe they would do something like that, Mac. Don't they have any honor?"

"Money is a good motivator," Mac said, smiling sadly. "Now let's go home."

"Okay." Danny followed Mac, who held open the door for him. "Are you gonna put me with the new girl again tomorrow?"

"Why, you don't like her?" Mac asked curious.

"She can't stop staring at me," Danny stated. "And she thinks cause I'm in a chair, I'm stupid, too."

"She just needs to get used to you. Give her a chance, okay?"

Danny shrugged his shoulders. "Okay."

"Now, let's go home," Mac said walking towards the elevator.

~.~

Danny was lying on the bed face down, while Mac kneaded the knots in his neck and back. He moaned when Mac hit a sore spot in his lower back. "You work to hard," Mac scolded.

Danny snorted, "Pot calling the kettle black, Mac."

Mac smiled and bent forward, lightly kissing Danny's neck. Shifting until he was straddling Danny's hips, Mac moved his hands up and down the strong back.

"Hey, you stopped," Danny pouted.

"No, I didn't," Mac retorted and continued to massage Danny's back. "Just got comfortable."

Danny sighed. "That's good. Oh, yeah… right there."

Mac moved his fingers over Danny's spine, lightly kneading the tight muscles. "Mmhmm, you're very tight here."

"Yeah, well.. bending over a scope all afternoon ain't too good for my back," Danny mumbled.

Mac looked surprised. "Lindsay helped you, right?"

"Yeah, well…I don't know, Mac, she said she had some other stuff to do. Is she working another case?"

"No, she was supposed to help you. I didn't assign her to another case."

"Well, I guess she doesn't feel very comfortable around me." Danny sighed. "Now, go on with what you where doing."

Frowning, Mac continued moving his hands over Danny's back. "I'll have a word with her in the morning."

"Okay." Danny yawned.

Mac moved until he was lying next to Danny. Pulling him into his arms, he met Danny's gaze and smiled. "Love you."

"Love you, too," Danny retorted, claiming Mac's mouth.

Mac responded, moaning into the kiss. "Now, get some sleep. We both have the eleven to midnight shift and we're on call."

Danny got comfortable on Mac's chest. "Mmhmm, good thing I'm dating the boss." He snickered. "Or is it coincidence we're both on call and have the same shift?" He yawned again.

Mac smiled. "No, it's not, stop talking and get some sleep," Mac scolded him.

"Yes, sir," Danny mumbled, dosing off.

Mac ran his hand through Danny's hair and sighed. He knew why Danny was this tense; it was this case. If this was an inside job, who knew what they would discover? He closed his eyes and tried to relax, letting sleep take over.

~.~

"Lindsay, can I have a word with you?" Mac called out as she walked down the hallway. This was the first time he'd had a change to catch her since he'd gotten to work.

Lindsay turned around and smiled. 'Oh he looks so good,' she thought. "Of course, Mac," she walked towards him.

"Please sit down," Mac said as soon as she walked in.

"Something wrong?" she looked up, batting her eyelashes.

"Yes, I thought I told you to work the warehouse case with Danny?" he asked, frowning.

"I did," she retorted with a sweet smile.

"Danny told me that you made excuses. He was under the impression that you had another case." Mac looked a little irritated, she was flirting with him.

"I didn't…he's lying," Lindsay said, upset.

"And why would Danny lie about that?"

"I don't know." She shrugged her shoulders.

"You don't think he's incompetent do you? Mac asked, remembering what Danny had confided to him last night.

"Of course not…He's lying Mac," Lindsay looked like she would burst out in tears.

Mac sighed. He knew Danny would never lie to him, especially not when it came to work matters. "Okay, I'll let it go this time, but if I get any more complaints, I will look into it. Understood?"

Lindsay nodded and stood. "I understand. Was that all?"

"Yes, that's all. Go to Trace, and process the evidence we collected at the scene," Mac commanded.

"I will," she turned around and left the office. Damn, Danny. Why'd he have to go to Mac and snitch on her. "I'll get you, you fuckin' cripple," she mumbled.

***

As the day wore on, Danny got more and more frustrated by Lindsay's behaviour towards him; his patience was definitely running thin. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" he asked her when she returned from her latest made-up errand.

"Nothing. What is wrong with you?" she asked, smirking.

"Hey, I'm not the one who keeps running off in the middle of a case," Danny retorted.

Lindsay huffed. "Well, that would be kinda hard for you to do, wouldn't it?"

"Is this what's bothering you?" he asked, his hands resting on the wheels of his chair. He shrugged his shoulders. "This is me, get used to it."

Lindsay clenched her fists, angry because he hadn't reacted the way she thought he would.

Before she could respond, Mac stormed into the room. "Danny, didn't I ask you not to sign off on the Hampton case?" he asked angrily.

Danny looked confused for a minute. "I didn't," he retorted.

"Then what is this?" He slammed the file on the counter in front of him.

Danny opened it and saw his signature on the bottom of the first page. "I didn't do that," he said emphatically.

Mac glared at him. "Really? Then who did?"

"Mac, I swear I didn't." He looked the older man straight in the eyes, not backing off.

Mac saw that Danny was telling the truth. "Lindsay, could you give us a moment, please?"

"Of course, Mac," she smiled at him. She turned and walked out of the lab.

Mac looked at Danny. "What is going on here?"

"I have no idea, Mac."

"Danny, be honest with me. Did you sign off on this case?"

Danny shook his head. "No I didn't. You wanted to talk to the father again, so I waited like you asked me, too."

When Mac just kept looking at him, Danny demanded. "Why would I lie, Mac?"

"I have no idea," Mac retorted.

"You don't believe me?"

"I'm not sure what to believe." Mac frowned.

"Fine! Why would you? It's my signature on the file!" he turned his chair, and went back to the evidence on the gun running case.

"Danny, I'm…" he sighed. Nice going Mac, he thought.

He hung his head and knew that now wasn't the time to talk about this. He would wait until they where home. Hopefully, Danny would have cooled down by then.

Mac walked out of the lab, but didn't notice Lindsay standing around the corner, smiling. When Mac was out of sight, she walked towards the lab and watched Danny lock away the evidence he'd been working on. The young man went through his routine, muttering to himself. Suddenly, Danny stopped, cursed and threw his empty coffee mug against the wall. "Damn you, Mac!"

Lindsay smiled brightly. "Everything goes as planned," she said very softly and walked off.

***

Furious, Danny opened the door to their house. "What the fuck was Mac
thinking?" he snarled, as he wheeled in and slammed the door behind
him.

"He should know that I would never do anything like that." He grabbed
his back pack that was sitting in his lap and slammed it on the
ground. "I hate you, Mac Taylor!"

"You have every right to hate me," Mac said softly from behind him.

Danny turned around, surprised and angry. Mac made it home before him,
what rarely happened.

"I should have believed you." Mac looked down. "I'm sorry."

Danny snorted, still angry. "You should know me better by now, Mac. I
would never disrespect your wishes."

Mac sighed. "I know." He walked closer to Danny, wanting to touch his
lover, but not sure he would allow it. "You forgive me?"

"I'll think about that. You really hurt me," Danny responded. He
grabbed his back pack from the floor and wheeled past Mac. "I'm gonna
change and go for a run."

Mac knew that Danny meant to go for a spin in his chair, although he'd
bet Danny would rather be doing the real thing.. Something else that
frustrated his young lover.

He'd known that it was stupid to accuse Danny but he'd been so angry
when the file had landed on his desk, signed and closed. After
thinking about.. really thinking about it.. he wondered who had sign
off on it, forging Danny's signature.

He walked over to the bedroom and watched the blond change into sweat
pants and a sleeveless shirt. "I'll have our handwriting expert look
over the signature tomorrow," he told Danny.

"Whatever," the young man said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Danny…" Mac sighed.

"What? You know how bad you hurt me? And now you want me to forgive
you just like that!" Danny snapped his fingers.

"I know I screwed up," Mac admitted. "But it looked like your
signature, what was I suppose to think?"

"You could have called me to your office and let me know what was
going on instead of storming into the lab and starting to yell at me.
In front of Lindsay of all people, she still has problems with me."
Danny wheeled over to the door. "I'm not sure when I'll be back. I
need to clear my head." He headed for the front door and exited the
house.

"I love you," Mac whispered.

Mac sat down on the couch and buried his head in his hands. "Nice
going, Mac," he mumbled.

He grabbed his phone and hit speed dial. He waited for his friend to
pick up the phone. "I did something really stupid," he stated.

'Mac? What did you do?' Aiden questioned.

"I'm…I accused Danny of something he didn't do." Mac lowered his head,
waiting for Aiden's ranting; she didn't disappoint.

'You did what? Mac, you should know better?' Aiden yelled.

Mac took the phone from his ear, wincing. "I know. It was stupid."

'You damn right it was stupid!' Aiden was furious.

Mac took a deep breath. "I don't know what to do," he confessed.

'Grovel,' Aiden replied.

Mac smirked. "I know, he's really angry and hurt."

'Where is he?' she asked.

"He went for a run," Mac replied.

'Give him some time. You know he always does that when something's
bothering him.' Aiden was pretty sure Danny would be showing up at her
door soon.

"Yeah, I know and probably go to you," he sighed.

'When he does, I'll talk to him.' Aiden promised. She said goodbye and
clicked her phone shut. Heading for the kitchen, she figured it was
time to make some coffee.

She smiled, when a few minutes later, the doorbell ringed. She pushed
the button that opened the door without even asking who it was; she
already knew who it was. She opened her front door and waited for her
friend.

A few minutes later, Danny entered her apartment. "Hi, Aiden."

"Hi, Danny-boy," she replied, leaning over and kissing him on the
cheek. "Want some water?"

"Yeah, please," he replied, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"I'll get you a towel, too," she said heading for the bathroom. She
came back out and tossed him a towel.

He took off his gloves and dried his face. "I'm sorry to drop in like this."

"No worries," Aiden said, when she came out of the kitchen with a
glass of water.

He drank it down and gave her back the glass. "How are you?" he asked.

"I'm great, and you?"

He dropped his head. "I had a fight with Mac."

"He called me," Aiden confessed.

"Why I'm not surprised," he said, transferring from his sports chair
to the couch.

"What happened?" she asked as she sat down next to him.

"He asked me to not sign off on a case, and I didn't. This afternoon,
he storms into the lab and accuses me of signing off and closing the
case after he specifically asked me not to.. and he did it in front of
everyone."

Aiden shook her head. "He knows you would never do anything like that."

"He hurt me, Aiden…badly!" Danny yelled.

She looked at her friend, seeing hurt and anger flashing in his eyes.

"I don't know if I can…can…! Aarch!"

"If you can forgive him?" she finished for him. "He is very sorry and
knows that it was very stupid. I'm pretty sure he's beating himself up
right now."

"Good, I hope it hurts like a bitch," he said, hitting the armrest of the couch with his fist.

Aiden looked at him and smirked. "Feeling better?"

"No!" he growled. "I hate him!"

"No, you don't," Aiden said, wrapping her arm around his shoulders.
"But that is okay."

She looked at him for a while, and noticed that he looked tired and
beat. "Why don't you go take a shower?"

"No, I'd better go," Danny responded, trying to suppress a yawn.

Aiden rolled her eyes. Men. "Take a shower and stay here tonight. You
both need some space."

Stretching, Danny thought about it and knew that she was right. "Okay.
Do you still have some of my old stuff around?"

"Yep, you know I do." She smiled at him.

He smiled back. "Thank you."

"You know you're always welcomed here," Aiden replied.

She watched Danny transfer back to his chair and wheel over to the
bathroom. Taking her cell phone, she hit speed dial. "Mac, he is here,
and he's going to spend the night."

Mac sighed. 'Yeah, okay. Thanks for letting me know.'

"Mac, never doubt that he loves you, but he needs some space right
now. Time to think," Aiden told him.

'I know, and I love him, too.'

"Don't worry. I'll make sure he gets home to you first thing in the
morning, even if I have to drag him."

Mac laughed. Aiden would make good on her threat. 'I know you will.
Thanks, Aiden.'

"What are friends for?"

***

The next morning, Aiden was making coffee when her cell beeped. She had a text message. She smiled when she recognised the number, it read, 'I'm downstairs. Please open up. Mac'. She anticipated what she should do, but walking over to the door she already made up her mind. She buzzed the front door, letting Mac in.

A few minutes later, Mac walked into her apartment. "Hey, Aiden."

"Hey, Mac, how are you?" she said as she walked back to the kitchen.

He tried to suppress a yawn. "I'm okay."

"Yeah, right. You probably didn't sleep all night," Aiden scoffed.

"Is he still sleeping?" Mac asked her, looking wistfully towards the bedroom.

Rolling her eyes, Aiden nodded towards the hallway. "Yeah, you know where he is."

Nodding, Mac walked out of the kitchen and towards Danny's room. Quietly, he opened the door, hoping to find his lover fast asleep. Instead, Danny was tossing and turning and moaning in pain. "Danny?" Mac rushed to his side. "What's wrong?"

"Mac?" the young blond croaked out, looking at him, pain evident in his bright blue eyes.

"Yeah," he said, sitting down next to him. Mac moved his hand through Danny's damp hair, kissing his forehead. "What is wrong, babe?" he asked again.

"How can something that isn't even there anymore hurt like a fuckin' bitch?" Danny asked between clenched teeth.

Mac winced at the thought of Danny's phantom pain. "What do you feel?"

"Like someone's driving hot pokes through my legs."

He continued stroking Danny's damp hair. "Try to relax for me, okay?"

The doctor had warned them that when this happened, Mac should try to make Danny as comfortable as possible and distract him. Kicking off his shoes and climbing into bed next to Danny, Mac took the young man in his arms and rubbed his back soothingly. "Shhh, it will get better, I promise."

Danny whimpered. "Why does it hurt so much, Mac?"

"I don't know, babe." Mac started to move his tongue over Danny's cheek.

"What are you doing?" Danny asked, still moaning in pain.

Mac continued to move his tongue towards his ear. Taking Danny's earlobe between his teeth, he whispered, "Distracting you."

A shudder went through Danny as he started getting hard. "It's working."

Standing up and stripping, Mac climbed back into bed and straddled Danny's hips. "You're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Danny shifted restlessly. "Now go on, distract me."

Mac slowly kissed Danny's bare chest, flipping his tongue over one nipple. Once it was hard, he moved to the other nipple.

Danny was so aroused that he momentarily forgot about the pain. Arching his back, Danny bit his lip and moaned. "Oh fuck, Mac," grabbing the headboard with both hands.

Looking up at his lover's face, Mac smiled and moved farther down, kissing and licking Danny's chest. He dipped his tongue in the young blond's navel, getting a deep moan in response. Mac shifted down again, and moved his tongue over the head of his hard and throbbing cock.

Danny groaned and gasped for breath. "Shit…Mac…please."

Mac continued to move his tongue over the head of Danny's shaft, licking up the pre-cum. Slowly, Mac moved his mouth over Danny's hard member, swallowing him whole.

Danny grabbed the sheets and arched his back. "Mac…please," he begged again, feeling the hot wetness of Mac's mouth surround his cock.

Mac sucked harder and faster, knowing that his lover was on the edge. Grinning, Mac knew just how to get Danny to let go completely, forgetting about everything else. He would always know just how to distract his lover.

On the edge, Danny screamed as he came inside Mac's mouth, seeing stars for a few seconds. Panting hard and heavily, Danny closed his eyes. "Mmhmm, Mac, that was good."

Mac released Danny's softening cock. Moving up, Mac lied down next to his lover and took his mouth in a heated kiss. "How is the pain?" he asked quietly when they'd broken off.

Silent for a moment, Danny smiled softly. "It's gone."

Mac grinned back. "Good. That means that my distraction worked." Cuddling Danny in his arms, Mac lied back against the pillows. "Relax, I don't have to be at the lab until this afternoon."

The young blond snuggled and relaxed in Mac's arms. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Danny." Mac kissed his forehead, smiling when he saw that Danny had already fallen asleep. In seconds, he followed Danny in a light slumber.

That's how Aiden found them an hour later. Quietly closing the door, Aiden was happy that her favourite couple had made up.

***