Title: Identity
Author: Marie
Characters: Cassidy Casablancas/Reed Garrett. Mac Taylor, Stella Bonasera. Kendall Casablancas mentions.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 696
Disclaimer: I'm too lazy to check who owns the rights to CSI: NY, but I know it's not me. Rob Thomas is still my god and he still owns Veronica Mars. The Kendall helping Cassidy part was first introduced to me by – credit goes to her for that idea.
Notes: Crack!fic - again. The idea issued from a random thought I had after comparing Cassidy!faces with Reed!faces in a Kyle on CSI picspam I did in my LJ. I blame thank Rachel for saying this crossover had to be written. VM AU from the end of 2x22. Also, this was written after Reed's first appearance on CSI, which means it doesn't take into account anything that happened afterwards.
Spoilers: VM- up to 3x01; CSI:NY- 3x08.
Summary: He grabs a yellow zip-up sweater off the back of a chair and slides into it, tugging the hood up to cover his head and part of his face. Showtime.

The apartment is small, dingy and barely furnished, but it will have to do for now. He isn't a rich heir anymore; he couldn't just book the presidential suite at the nearest Hilton. No, he threw that privilege away the night he faked his death at the Neptune Grand.

He has to give Kendall some credit; the woman was devious. Her manipulative ways proved to be useful. After all, she was the one to make sure he was where he is now. It's sad, really, that such a distrustful woman ended up getting screwed over by someone she thought she could trust. She really should have known better than to trust a Fitzpatrick. What a shame.

His gaze sweeps over the papers spread over the table in front of him. Birth certificate, passport, ID cards. Everything is there. Cassidy Casablancas is dead; Reed Garrett has always existed, as the estranged, adopted son of a cop's deceased wife.

His new identity.

There aren't many differences between the past and the present. Longer hair, a different attitude, and that's about it. He almost ran into Veronica Mars this summer, mere days after he arrived in the city, and that would have completely blown his cover. Thank goodness for the hoods he's started wearing; it masked his face enough so that he could make a getaway before she saw him.

He looks around the room again and wrinkles his nose. It's only for a few months, he reminds himself, and then he'll be eighteen and that part of the Phoenix Land Trust profits he asked Kendall to put aside will be coming through to him. The minute that money comes through, it's goodbye seedy apartment, hello comfortable suite, all thanks to that inheritance from a 'rich uncle, his adoptive father's brother'.

With a sigh, he tugs the closest sheet of paper over to him and quickly reads it over. Reed Garrett. Nineteen years old. Adopted parents: Ryan and Tina Garrett. Biological mother: Claire Conrad Taylor, died September 11th, 2001. Step-father through biological mother: Mac Taylor, Crime Scene Investigator.

He knows all this information by heart. He's been getting ready for this day, the day the plan is put in motion, the day he is going to finally assume his new identity.

He's been bidding his time. He learned a long time ago that this kind of thing takes a lot of preparation, careful organization. Kendall proved to be useful on that front as well; turns out she wasn't really Kendall Lacey Shifflet. He doesn't know why he never saw that one coming – he should have known.

So he's been waiting patiently for everything to fall into place. It's like planning a murder, planting a bomb on a bus or on a private plane, really. It's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

He's been watching Taylor's apartment for weeks now, waiting for an opportunity. He knows Taylor is close with one of his teammates, and that woman is the perfect pawn in his little setup. The plan, established long ago with a little help from Kendall, is simple: to follow Stella Bonasera. The detective is bound to notice, there will be a little chasing going on and the cat will come out of the back, how he followed her because he wanted to see what his mother looked like, maybe even talk to her. Act surprised when she says she's not Claire, then connect with the husband. Easy enough. He's done much tougher things in his life.

His opportunity came last Saturday, when Stella briefly dropped by Taylor's apartment. He let himself be seen and started tailing her, allowing her to get glimpses of him here and there, enough to make her suspiscious. Last he saw her, she definitely looked suspicious.

Now it's time to act.

He grabs a yellow zip-up sweater off the back of a chair and slides into it, tugging the hood up to cover his head and part of his face.

Showtime.

"Why are you following her? What do you want?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Reed Garrett, alright? I just... I wanted to talk to you."

Piece of cake.