Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't Own neither CSI:NY nor CSI:MIAMI nor CSI nor the related characters. I can only play with them and try to enjoy myself and yourself! So, read and review, please! (and not be too bad if I commit some mistakes, I'm Italian and I'm not very good at English!

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Mac Tailor was speaking with Stella in the hall of the NY Crime Lab about the case they were investigated on. A man set fire to an old building to draw the insurance, but in the arson 4 people were dead, and a police agent come near him with a letter on his right hand.

"Detective Taylor, a woman need to speak with you. She ask me to give you this letter."

Mack took the letter and opened it. It was form an old friend, Steve Mallory, chief of the L.A. Crime Lab. He mentally red it, with Stella who tried to cast glances at it.

"Do you need something?" the former marine asked her.

"Me? Oh, nothing, I was only curious about the mystery woman of the letter."

"it's not a mystery woman, you don't have to be so protective. And it's personal." He made a little smile. Strange, thought Stella, he never smile.

This was the letter:

Dear Mac,

It has passed a lot of time since the last time I wrote or speak to you, and unfortunately I don't write to you for delight, but because I need favour. The same I did to you 8 years ago.

8 years ago you send me Ivy Newman from Chicago. It was after her husband's death. You thought a change was necessary and Chicago reminded her too much of him. And also because her best friend worked here. As you probably know, he was her salvation anchor. He was her confident, he was like a brother. Some months ago, he died for an wandering bullet.

You know Ivy. She looks tough, but in reality she is so…sensitive. She will never admit it, but she need a change, because everything remind her of his past. I'm scared about what she could do. Both of us know she had drugs problem when she was a teenager, and that she was near to fall again into it after Noah's death. I can't leave it happen. For her and for her position. Please, accept her with you. You were not only a chief, but a friend, you convince her to enter the Crime Lab when she was only 21. You helped her once. Now, I ask you to help a second time. Please.

Greetings, Steve.

"Agent, please, can you accompany the lady in my office?" asked Mac to the policeman, a black man half-aged, with short grey hair and some wrinkles on his face. He made only a sign with the head and than went back to the lady he left some minutes before.

Mac walked quickly towards his office, followed by Stella. If some moments before he was smiling, now he looked worried. When he sat down at his desk, Stella remained near the door, without enter.

"Have you got something to tell me?" he asked. Stella made few steps into the small, full and tidy room. She put the hands on her hips and she made for tell something, but she stopped herself and went back. At the door, she came back in front of him and looked him into the eyes.

"Yes, I've got something to tell you. I tried to understand you and to help you, in all the possible ways, but you don't want our help! Sometimes I think you don't look at us like friends or family, but only colleagues!" She looked furious.

"Stella, I appreciate all the things you all do for me. But you mustn't be so… protective. Not in this case. It's something personal and private, concerned not only me but also other people."

In that moment, a woman knocked at Mac's door. She was in her thirties, with brownish rough hair on her shoulders, and black dark eyes. She looked cold, but also angry for something. She was also very elegant: expensive clothes, she noticed. A pair of black pants, a white blouse, a black vest, and, even black, a long wool coat. Also her shoes were black.

"Can I..." she asked before enter the room.

"I go, I must do some exams. If you need something…" Telling this Stella quitted them.

" Make yourself at home" he told standing up e giving her his right hand. "I'm happy to see you again after all these years. " She shacked hands with him and sat down in a black leather chair. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"It's strange. It's like come back in time of 12 years. I'm feeling like when I was a recruit and you my chief."

"I'm still your chief, but now you're no more a recruit, you're a detective. A CSI level 2.Time is passed. Listen, I receive the transfer request from your office some weeks ago, and I decide to accept you even if there were no motivations. But now I have red the letter… I must be sure you'll be honest and do your work in the best way possible."

"I understand you and your perplexities, but you know me, Mac. At work I have ever been good. I don't like mix personal affairs and work. And I'll not fall into my past problems. It's something I don't wont to repeat. I'm no more a teenager, yes, I've still problems, but I face them in other ways. You mustn't discuss my abilities or dedication to my work. Neither for a moment."

"In this case – he told her waking up and shacking again hands with her – I'm proud to give you my welcome to the NY Crime Scene Investigation Unit." He went back from the room and went in direction of the morgue; he entered into it followed by Ivy and went in Sheldon Hawkes' direction .

The black coroner was working on a white male, 30, dead for an internal haemorrhage caused by a gun shot on his chest. He was speaking with Danny Messer.

"Hi Mac. What can I do for you?" the doctor said.

"Good Morning boss. Good morning ma'am." Danny smiled to Ivy.

"At this moment, I don't need anything. – Mac replied – I'm only showing the lab to our new agent, detective Ivy Newman--- forgive me, Carter.- he said indicating the woman- I forget now you're using your surname and not your husband's one. Ivy, these are Dr. Sheldon Hawkes and Danny Messer, one of my detectives. . Now, if you two want forget me, I will introduce her to Stella and Linsday."

" I think they are both somewhere in the lab. – Danny said shaking his hands with Ivy – let me guess: Ivy stays for Evelyn or Eve…"

"No – she answered smiling – Ivy stays for Ivy. It's my real name. I know it's strange, but… I think my mother was a sort of daughter of the flowers, at the time I was born, also if she doesn't want to admit it…"

"Now we must live. Danny, Sheldon, good work." Said the chief of the NY crime lab. He went in direction of the exit followed again by Ivy.

"Bye" said both the men together.

"Bye – she replied – and now, what's our second step?"

"I've already told you, I will introduce you to Stella and Linsday. Here they are. Linsday! – he called – come here!"

"yes? What's up?" the young blonde girl asked.

"Linsday, she is our newest agent, detective Ivy Carter. Ivy, she is Linsday Monroe. She was the last agent assigned to our squad."

"Nice to meet you. Excuse me, now I must go, Danny needs some results and he needed it yesterday."

"see you later. How about the case?" he asked.

"it's going ahead. I… I go."

" does this work concern become friends with each of my "colleague"?" she asked sarcastically.

"I didn't remember this side of your personality. I want introduce you to… - his phone rang and he answered – Taylor, yes? What? Where? We'll be there as soon as possible. – he closed his mobile and looked her into her eyes – come with me, I'll give you your badge and your ordinance gun. We've got a crime scene."

Central Park, less than 15 minutes later.

The police officers were already on the scene. There were almost about ten, all in uniform, excluded one, who was looking at the cadaver: a young girl, 25, in a white track suit. She was laid on the soil, face on the sky. An haematoma on the head. And a lot of blood.

"Mac. We've a girl, 25, haematoma. No documents found."

"did someone saw something?"

"no one. An other girl found her this early morning during her daily walk. – Don Flack looked at the girl and gave her his hand – detective Donald Flack… Don."

"I was forgetting to introduce you two. Don, she is Ivy Carter, former CSI detective in L.A. she was an agent in Chicago, years ago, when I worked there."

"nice to meet you" he said smiling.

"Me too." The girl answered. "Mac, looks over there. There are some footprints. And I don't believe they're neither of the girls. They are too big. Have you got a ruler?"

"They can be of everyone else. Everyone can pass here. "Flack replied.

"I don' believe so – answered Mac – it's almost isolated. Only who wants to came here, pass here. How about the measure?"

"It can be a man or a woman with big feet. It's a 11½ . I need some gypsum."

She was making a mould of the footprints while Mac was examining the girl's body. He put one bag on each girl's hand and gave a look at her body.

"there are some hair. Brownish hair. She looks like a natural blonde. What about the girl found her?"

"It's reddish, and she preferred to stay to a certain distance from the body…"

"If we're luck, they are from the murderer and with DNA traces." Telling this, Ivy gave Mac a little plastic bag for the evidence.

"I don't think she was sexually abused. She is perfectly dressed." Don said.

"Yes, I've got the same opinion. Hope she is on some database. Someone can have lost his daughter today."

Back to crime lab. Morgue. The day after.

"Have you got some news for me?" Mac entered the morgue and looked at his friend.

"Nothing important. To cause the death has been a blow here – he said indicating the cranium – it has been very quickly. I can also tell you something about the shape of the object used: something spherical. I found a strange substance in the wound. Something like…oil. I took a sample for an exam. Do you know something more about her?"

"Flack is working on it. And I'm expecting some results from the trace lab."

"Good morning everyone. – exclaimed Ivy entered into the morgue – I've got some news."

"Bad or good ones?" asked her Mac.

"I don't' have news about the hair. The lab is still working on them."

"What about the traces under her nails and the footprints?"

"The footprints suggest they came from a boots, 11½ as we thought."

"Tell me the news about the nails are good, at least them."

"Here we have some good news, in fact. Under her nails there was DNA but we can't find his owner. I found also traces of ground. When I'll have a sample of the soil she was found, I'll be able to tell you if it came from our crime scene or not. If not, it could tell us where she was before die."

"Sheldon was telling me the girl was killed with something spherical. He had it with himself. And if we're luck, he left it on the scene. We must control it again and again, and see if we have forgot something. What are thinking about going on the crime scene without me?"

"Thanks for the faith. You'll not be sorry for this, boss. "

I hope it, Ivy, I really hope it. Mac Taylor thought preoccupied in his mind.

Central Park, less than 15 minutes later.

Ivy was bended on the ground, examining the footprints again. We must control the crime scene again and again, Mac told her, and she did it. And something was wrong, something wasn't as usual.

"Something strange?" she heard at her shoulder. She turned her around frightened, with the breath in throat.

"I prey, don't do it never again !" she said looking into his eyes. Don Flack was wearing, as usual, a dark blue suit, a grey tie and a white shirt and a black short coat.

"Did I scared you?" he asked her laughing.

She didn't answered the question, but come back to her work. "Something in these footprints doesn't convince me. Look…- she said indicating one of the many footprints on the soil – the weight it's not distributed in the right way. It's like someone used boots bigger than his size."

"Someone wants send our investigation up smoke."

"Or he wants frame someone else. Did you find something more on the mystery girl?"

"Heidi Kovalsky, Russian origins. 24. Her room-mate noticed her disappearance yesterday, and she report it immediately. She told us she made the same stroll at the same time everyday."

"it means everyone was able to spy and then hit her. "

"We are still at the starting point. I start to think this case will be filed soon as not closed."

"don't be so negative, detective Flack. I've got a good news: Mac was right."

"Right about what?"

"about the weapon. The person who killed the girl, tried to abandoned it that canal, but unfortunately he didn't used too force and it isn't full."

"Are you trying to tell me you found it?"

"Absolutely yes". She showed him a bronze trophy, not very big, with a reproduction of the Planet Heart on the top. "there's something on it, it seems polish, maybe the substance Hawkes found on her. Who polished it wasn't very good in house works, because there are some fingerprints. And maybe is also very stupid, because left use his name. Raphael Kovalsky, under 16 international football championship, 1997."

"Framing or smoke?"

"Who knows? At this point, we can't be sure of anything."

Crime lab.

"The DNA under Heidi's nails is from someone who has a great similarity with hers: a brother." Mac said, sat in his office.

"and he have got brownish hair, scratches on his face, he was the owner of the cup and he has the same boots left the footprints…there are no "but", Mac." Flack replied angry.

"But he is 11½, it doesn't explain the distribution of the weight…someone used them and stole the cup." Ivy looked sure of what she was telling. She was on foots looking him into his eyes.

"You can't believe him: have ever heard about a criminal who admit his crime?"

"I don't think about what he tells us, I think about what the evidences tell us, and the evidences tells us he is…"

"And what about the fingerprints and the hair? What do you tell me?"

"Stop it, you two! We've his DNA, after a confrontation we'll be able to say if he is the murderer. I'm expecting the result from a moment to the other. Be quiet, please."

"Mac – Linsday said entered the room and giving him a sheet – at the analysis lab asked me to give you this…" she put it into Mac's hands and then went out.

"What about…?" asked Flack.

"Did she have other brothers?"

"An other brother? Yes, Michael. Why?"

"Because it's the other brother's DNA"

Crime lab. Some days after.

"I heard you resolved a case with the new girl." Mac was at the reception, taking some messages left for him. He turned the head around and saw Stella.

"New in town but not at work. Ivy is able like everyone else in the lab. She knows her work, and I know her. I've faith in her and her ability."

"Excuse me for the scene I made the day she arrived. The fact is we are a family, friends, we share everything. I share everything with you, and see you wanted share something with me."

Mac took Stella with him and went in his office, and closed the door. They were both on foots.

"I met Ivy when she was a teenager. She comes from a Chicago family…one of the best Chicago family. She was ever under pressure. And she started used drugs. I helped her to detoxify herself and I convince her to work for the CSI unit after she take her degree. She was 21. Two years later she married a U.S. Marshall, who died during his work 8 years ago. I had a friend, in L.A., the CSI boss. I asked him to give her an hands because she thought, and me too, a change was need. Some months ago, one of her best friends died. My friend asked me the same favour I made me same years ago. That's all."

"Thanks. It's important know you believe in me."

Ivy was walking into the lab's corridor, controlling some results, with a pair of glass on her face and the hair picked up.

"You were right" she listened someone tell behind her.

"I told you not to do it ever again. And… yes, I was right. But only because I can sense what the evidences tell me. Do you arrest the killer?"

"I killed her for an inheritance. With her dead and his brother in prison…"

"I can't believe it. Worst than Cain and Abel."

"Listen…I was thinking about… I made a mistake treating you in such way. I think I don't made a good first impression on you."

"yes, it's true. You're stubborn and pigheaded."

"Yes, you're right. And I was thinking about the way to make me forgive. – Don Stopped himself for a few seconds – I was thinking about invite you to a dinner. There's a nice place near here, if you want."

"What are trying to say exactly?" she said smiling.

"Ok, I'll be honest and curt: would you like to go out on a date with me?"

She was still smiling. "What? What are telling me?" she was incredulous.

"I ask you to go out on a date with me. What's strange?"

"I'm older than you. do you know I'm 33? "

"Yes, and it's not a problem."

"I can't understand why you want go out on a date with me. There are a lot of woman more attractive and intelligent than me…"

"I'm not only stubborn and pigheaded. I'm also vain. I think I'm a young intelligent and handsome man. I think the same things of you. I think we can be a beautiful couple. And now answer my question: why not?"

She remained in silence.

"Ok…then I passed by you at eight. You will not be sorry"

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here we are. I hope you enjoy with this one-shot. I don't know if I must continue with this story and the characters, so tell me what you want! I'm expecting your reviews!