Note from the Author-- Okay, so I'm really not sure where I'm going with this one. I'm not terribly thrilled with the way this first chapter has come out, but I'm also incapable of walking away from it. So we'll see what happens.

Disclaimer-- I don't own the characters of CSI: NY, nor do I own the Kanye West song All Falls Down, which the title of this piece is taken from.

Mac was surprised when he saw the light glowing from Stella's office. It was well past midnight and her shift had ended hours before. Curious, he made his way over to see what was going on. When he saw her he knew immediately, and he realized that he should have known. She was perusing the file of an outstanding case, one that had been eating at them all for months now.

"You should go home," he told her, walking in to take a seat at her desk.

When she looked up her eyes were haunted. "I will, eventually."

Reaching across the desk, he flipped the file around so he could look at it. He'd seen it so many times, they all had, and still no one had been brought to justice. "This is a bad one."

"It's just…. We know this guy did it Mac. All of us know in our hearts, in our guts that he did it. Jason Manes killed three women because of the color of their skin, decorated them with swastikas and left them to rot, and we can't get the bastard. How is this even possible?"

Mac ran a hand over his tired face. "I wish I knew Stella. We do the best we can, and there's just no evidence on this one. We all want to get this guy just as bad as you do, but you can't let it eat at you this way. Go home." He stood. "Get some sleep." She nodded in agreement and said goodnight as he left, but it was hours more before she turned off the light and left the lab.

The next day she was called to a scene with Danny and Flack, and though she was sagging under the weight of sheer exhaustion she downed somewhere in the neighborhood of five cups of coffee and dragged herself to the scene. Neither man at the scene missed the fatigue written on her features, but she blew past them and started processing before either could say anything, though not before a worried look could pass between them.

"You noticed how she's been lately?" Danny asked; his voice barely louder than a whisper.

Flack nodded. "It's the Manes case. It's tearing her apart that we can't nail the sadistic bastard."

"More like consuming her from the inside out. Have you taken a good look at her lately? She's not healthy, man."

"I know." He spent a great deal of his life taking a good look at Stella Bonasera, and Danny knew that better than anyone. He'd noticed the changes long before Danny had. He and Mac had talked about it over a month before, but now the entire team had noticed. Hell, even Adam had expressed his concern for her in recent days. She was a great deal too thin, she was entirely too pale and bags had taken up permanent residence under her eyes. He glanced over at her and shook his head. "I just hope we can figure it out soon, because I'm not sure how much longer she can keep going this way."

Stella knew she was obsessing. She knew she wasn't taking care of herself and she knew that everyone was worrying about her; she wasn't a CSI for no reason after all. Even still, she couldn't get her mind of the case. Three vibrant young women's lives had been taken from them for no other reason than a man was hateful and ignorant, and she couldn't prove it. For now Jason Manes was under careful observation and behaving, but it was only a matter of time before the higher ups would start to see the whole exercise as futile, and eventually he wouldn't be watched any longer; and then, Stella was sure, more women would die.

Doubt about what she'd been doing had been nagging at the back of her mind, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. She knew it was a dangerous road to go down, but if it could help, if it could put Jason Manes behind bars she was willing to try. This one had gotten under her skin and wouldn't leave. It wasn't often that someone slipped through their fingers, especially not someone who had done something as horrendous as this guy, and she hated it. She hated that she couldn't bring down justice for these girls and their families, that she couldn't give them closure. So here she was, putting her job and her well-being on the line in the search for justice.

When her phone went off, Stella sighed. "Bonasera," she answered. "Yeah Adam, I'll be right there." Figuring she'd only be gone for a few minutes, she left her files sitting there, and with one last regretful look she headed to see a lab rat.

Adam kept her longer than she expected, but he had basically broken their latest case and for that she was grateful. With one more case out of the way it gave her more time to focus on the Manes case, and the more time she had the better. Yet as she approached her office she saw Danny leaning over the desk and her heart leaped to her throat. Picking up the pace she prepared herself for damage control.

She didn't have time for damage control. Danny heard her coming and turned to face her and her heart sank when she saw the picture in his hand. "Danny…"

"What the hell is this Stella? You've been watching this guy?"

"Danny, it isn't as bad as it looks. You're overreacting here."

He slammed the picture down onto the table. "Overreacting? Stella do you have any clue what you've gotten yourself into?"

"I know what I'm doing," she told him, going on the defensive.

"Like Aiden did?"

The blow was a direct hit, and she felt it in her heart. "Danny."

He shook his head. "No Stella. Aiden thought she knew what she was doing, and she got trapped. We caught the guy, but we lost her in the process. I can't believe that you don't have enough respect for her or yourself to remember that."

"I'm not going to end up in the morgue Danny," she said quietly.

He was already halfway to the door. "Aiden didn't think she would either." Then he was gone, and Stella was left there, torn.

Flack was leaving the station late that night when his phone rang. "What do you want Messer, I'm tired."

He could hear the edge of fear and worry in his friend's voice when he spoke, but he still couldn't seem to believe what he was hearing. "She what? No way Danny, she wouldn't, not after what happened."

And yet he was completely insistent, after all he'd seen it with his own eyes. "Damn it, she would. The way this case has been eating at her she would." Flack leaned his forehead against the hood of the car. "Damn it, I've got to talk to her. I'll see what I can do Dan."

Don slid into the driver's seat and when he got going immediately directed himself towards Stella's. As he drove his mind wandered, thinking about Stella, as he frequently was. Before the Manes case they had been getting a lot closer, sharing drinks and dinner more frequently and generally turning to each other as friends and confidantes. Things had been progressing from friendship to something more, and then the case had come along. It hadn't taken long for them to realize they had absolutely nothing they could pin Manes with, and when they had everything had changed. Stella had pulled away from him and everyone else, and solving the case had become the only priority for her.

He tuned back in; sighing when he realized he was pulling up to Stella's building. He wasn't sure exactly what he was going to say, but he parked and headed in anyway. When he reached her door he knocked softly and waited for her to answer.

It didn't take long for Stella to come to the door, and when Flack saw her his heart almost broke. She looked so tired, her beautiful face bordering on gaunt. What bothered him the most was that she was losing so much of what made her beautiful on the inside. "Don? What's going on?"

"Can I come in Stell?" he asked.

She nodded and stepped aside so he could pass her. Closing the door behind them, she watched as he took off his jacket and rolled the sleeves up. He was settling in, and she sighed when she realized it. "Danny told you," she said.

"Yeah," he told her. Trying to keep calm, he turned to face her. "What are doing Stell?" he asked quietly.

"I'm going to make sure we get this guy Don, I have to."

He shook his head. "So you're going to do it the way that got Aiden killed?"

"I'm not Aiden."

"No, you're not, but don't you get it?"

She turned her back on him, unable to deal with the intensity he was directing towards her. "This is important to me Don. I can't stand those three families never having justice for what happened to their daughters and sisters and wives."

He could feel his temper flaring but tried to tamp it down as he came up behind her, resting his hands on her arms. "This isn't healthy." His hands circled her arms and he was shocked to the core when his fingers met easily. "Damn it Stell do you see what you're doing to yourself.?"

"I'm fine Don."

"Fine?" He wanted to shake her; decided she may actually fall apart if he did. "This is not fine." One hand squeezed lightly around her arm while the other traveled down to her hips. His heart dropped again when he pressed against her skin and realized that one hand spanned her body from one hip bone to the other. "When was the last time you ate a decent meal? When was the last time you got a good night's sleep?"

It was as if all of the energy drained from her. She leaned back against him and his arms came around her waist. She let him hold her, her eyes falling closed. "I don't know. I don't know anything anymore Don."

"Let this go Stell, please."

"I can't, you know I can't."

Flack turned her in his arms so he could look into her eyes. "If you won't back away from the case then please stop following this guy. We can't lose you too. I can't lose you."

She nodded. "I know it's too much, and I know it's dangerous. I will."

"Promise me."

"I promise you, I'll stop."

Breathing a sigh of relief, he bent to press a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Thank you."

She nodded, taking a shaky breath as she leaned fully against him. "I'm so tired," she whispered.

"I know." As much as he wished he could keep her there forever, there were other priorities to be attended to. "Let me make you something to eat and we'll see if that helps you get some sleep."

"You don't have to do that Don."

He pulled back so he could see her again and couldn't help but brush a hand over her cheek. "I want to Stell. I miss you."

"I miss you too," she said quietly.

He wanted her, he always did. It had stunned him the first time he realized that he wanted to take her in his arms, make love to her and never let her go. But that had been years before, and he'd become accustomed to the feeling now. Yet now still wasn't the time, so he settled for kissing her temple one last time as he eased away and made himself comfortable in his kitchen.

He made something simple; there was a can of soup in her cupboard and it was easy enough to pour it out and heat it up. He headed back into the living room with a full bowl and couldn't hold back a smile when he saw that she was curled up on the couch fast asleep. The soup went back to the kitchen and Flack came back to ease Stella into his arms. He felt another twinge when he realized just how light she was, but with any luck he could encourage her to fix that. When he reached her bedroom he settled her as gently as he could, pulling the covers up over her body.

Don left a note on the side of her bed, urging her to actually have breakfast in the morning, adding a comment that coffee didn't count. Brushing a hand over her hair, he slipped out and left her to sleep.