Title: Finding A Real Home
Category: CSI: NY
Rating: T
Genre: Romance/Drama
Pairing: Lindsay/Don
Prompt: #5 - Home
Word Count: 1,487
Summary: He didn't care who was against them or what reasons they had for it; he and Lindsay found their home in each other and he didn't want it with anyone else.
Finding A Real Home
-1/1-
Don Flack Jr. wasn't the type to wax poetic about, well, anything. And he preferred to think that even in his current relationship, where love had punched him in the gut like a flyaway bullet, he hadn't changed so much that he'd start spouting crap on how perfect and wonderful everything was. But he was man enough to admit that what he had with Lindsay was strong, dependable, and in the end, it was like coming home. Not the home he had growing up, exactly, where his dad had big expectations and his mom was just trying to make him happy, but more of an implied homey feeling.
He and Lindsay had been together nearly four and a half years and they'd had their ups and downs; one namely being in the form of Danny Messer. He being his best friend and her ex, things were rocky for a long while when it became obvious that Don and Lindsay had been trying to date, casually. And when things became serious, Danny was the first to say it was all wrong, that his ‘Montana' wasn't meant to be with Don. But they stuck through it, they made it through the stipulations Mac put on their working relationship and the way the others were sort of waiting for it to fall apart. They got through his dad's disapproval; thinking Lindsay just wasn't Flack material. Too smart, too mouthy, too ready to voice her thoughts, she just wasn't able to fit in with them. His sister, on the other hand, loved her, and so did his mother. They made it through Lindsay's family not quite agreeing with the relationship, if only because it meant just another reason she might not ever return to Montana with them. And in the end, he found what he was looking for in a brainy and beautiful crime scene investigator that he'd long ago labeled as his best friend's girl and his good partner.
There was something relaxing about coming home to find her there, asleep on their couch with a book open on her chest or watching a movie with Stella on one of their girls' nights, which was thankfully planned the same day as his boys' night out. He could come home a little buzzed on beer and a few presidents short in his wallet and crawl right into bed, haul her up against his chest and fall asleep in the comfort of her scent and her mumble of, "Have fun?" that she always got out before she was right back to sleep.
It was a couple years in that he realized whatever happened, he already had what he needed and what he wanted for his future. He didn't care if his dad didn't approve, if she wasn't what he called Flack wife material. He loved that she spoke her mind; that she never backed down against his dad's disapproving glances or intimidating way of standing over her when he was trying to prove a point. He loved his mom with all his heart, but he didn't want to marry someone just like her. He loved that Lindsay wouldn't take his shit but called him out on it; he loved that she wouldn't always have dinner cooked and ready for him but instead grab the take-out menu's when they'd both had a long night. He liked that it was a give and take relationship. That when he was exhausted and his body ached, she'd push him back on their bed and give him a full body massage until he was thrumming with relaxation and wanted nothing more than to turn her underneath him and show her his gratitude. And just like she did for him, if he knew she'd had a day that had her going crazy, he'd pull her down into his lap and rub her shoulders, kneading her neck deeply until she fell into him in a puddle of mush, forgetting all about the day.
He asked her to marry him seven months ago, got down on one knee out of the blue, took her hand that was wearing a white medical glove and pulled it off. He didn't have a ring, hadn't really planned it at the time. It was a spur of the moment thing that hit him when she said something about how she wanted nothing more than to go home with him and forget about everything. And then he was holding her hand and he was telling her some cheesy line about how wherever she was it was home for him and he asked her to marry him and amazingly, she said yes. He bought a ring a week later with the money he'd been saving up the last while, and then he took her to his mom and sister, where there was hugging and crying, happy for them. And when his dad came in, he took one look, knew what was happening, shook his head and walked away. And Don let him go.
She was sprawled out next to him now, half asleep after a mid-afternoon nap that he came home to find her curled up in. She was wearing nothing but her panties and one of his favorite basketball jerseys. Taking off his gun and shield, he kicked his shoes off, toed away his socks, shed his shirt and crawled into bed next to her. She woke up while he was stroking random shapes on her thigh, holding his head up in his other hand, arm bent beneath him on the mattress. He stared at the round bump hidden beneath the large cover of his jersey and slid his hand upward, drawing the shirt up until it was bunched at her ribs. He knew what his dad would think; that he was just marrying her because he knocked her up. And he'd let him think that, didn't care anymore. His mom and his sister and everybody who knew them, who mattered, knew why he was really marrying her.
He slid a little closer and rested his cheek against her protruding stomach, fingers running small circles over her abdomen lovingly.
Her fingers stroked his hair lightly, nails grazing his temple as she soothingly ran her hand back and forth. "Fell asleep at work today," she murmured.
His lips quirked. "Hawkes mentioned it."
"Your son picked a really bad time to make me tired," she sighed.
He chuckled. "I dunno... I kinda like comin' home to find you half naked in the middle of the day."
She tugged his ear and he looked up at her, brow lifted. "What are you doing home so early anyway?" Her brow furrowed. "I couldn't've been asleep that long."
He shook his head, lifting a shoulder. "Took the rest of the day off."
Her brows furrowed. "Nose to the grindstone, Don Flack Jr., took the rest of the day off?" she teased. "You're getting soft, Detective."
He snorted. "They didn't need me, it was a slow day."
"A slow day in New York? Unheard of." She thinned her eyes. "You missed me," she accused knowingly. "You went by the lab, found out I went home and so you took the day off."
His lips pursed. "Maybe."
She laughed, wiggling down the bed so they were face to face and then turned him over before she straddled him, taking his hands and pinning them down against the mattress. "Just admit it, Detective. You missed me." She ducked her head, nuzzling his nose with hers. As he tipped his chin to kiss her, she drew away teasingly. "Say it..."
He spread his hands and twined their fingers together. "All right, Monroe, you caught me... I missed you." He squeezed her hands. "And I'm gonna keep missing you until you gimme my welcome home kiss." His brows lifted for emphasis
She grinned, leaning forward to slant her lips across his, her eyes staying open to stare into his deeply. She moaned as their tongues met, tangled, stroked back and forth and her eyes threatened to flutter closed. Her body relaxed down against him until she was no longer pinning him at all, but instead sprawled against him, slack. He could feel the roundness of her stomach against his own and a grin tugged at his lips.
This was home. With Lindsay and their baby and whatever their life threw at them in future. They'd face it and they'd triumph and he'd keep on living this life despite anybodies disapproval. He continued to watch her expression as her eyes fell shut and her brow furrowed in concentration and pleasure. He loved her more each day, in a way his dad wasn't ever going to understand. He didn't want a Flack wife material type woman. He wanted Lindsay Monroe and he had her, was gonna keep her, for the rest of their lives. She was his home and he was hers and that's all they needed.