Disclaimer: I obviously do not own CSI: NY. I just own my car, my laptop and my crazy muse who seems to want to write 4 different stories at a time. I also do own any characters that you do not recognize. You can borrow them if you ask permission first!

A/N: Okay. Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed! Here's the next chapter!!! Many thanks to Aphina and Axellia for the beta. I don't own the chapter title either. It belongs to the wonderful Mighty, Mighty Bosstones.

Chapter 12.

Bad News and Bad Breaks

Lydia stared at Cory in shock as she told her that Sheldon had been rushed to the hospital. "What? Why didn't they call me?"

Cory looked at her in sympathy. "Adam said he tried, but your phone was going straight to voicemail."

Lydia looked down at her phone and cursed in Spanish underneath her breath as she realized that she had forgotten to charge it the previous night. "Damn. I forgot to charge it," she growled as she got up and began to walk towards Cory's car, intent on getting to the hospital.

Cory looked at Morgan, who looked confused. "Sheldon is her boyfriend. He's a crime scene investigator with the New York crime lab." She smiled apologetically, withdrawing some money from her purse. "Sorry to run on you, but here's some money to cover lunch. I'll talk to you later." She turned and strode to her car where Lydia was waiting impatiently.

"What happened?" Lydia asked quietly as they pulled away from the curb.

"I don't know. Adam didn't say, but he'll be okay," she reassured her.

Lydia just bit her lip and stared out the window until they reached Trinity Hospital. When they pulled up and parked, Lydia was out of the car as soon as it stopped moving. Cory shook her head as she followed at a more sedate pace and caught up with her in the waiting room, where Sid and Adam were standing.

"Adam? What happened?" Lydia said in a rush.

Adam just looked at her, his eyes full of pain. "I think Sid can explain it best," he said quietly.

"Sid can explain what?" Cory asked from the doorway.

Sid looked up and smiled at the redhead. "Today a man died on the street, no sign of foul play. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do the autopsy immediately due to a backlog in the morgue. When I finally got the tox results back, I discovered his true cause of death."

"Well? What was it?" Lydia asked with an edge to her voice.

Sid looked at them in all seriousness. "Ricin. I don't know how it was administered, but I did confirm that it was Ricin." He looked both of the women in the eyes. "I believe that Hawkes was infected with it as well.

Lydia covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes filling with tears. "Oh, god."

Cory's face grew even more serious. "Is this an attack?" she asked.

"I don't think so. I mean, if it were an attack, more people would be sick, but they're not. It's just the victim and Hawkes, although how Hawkes got poisoned, I have no idea. It couldn't have been at the scene because both Flack and I were there and we're fine. But Flack and Hawkes went to the vic's apartment, but then Flack is still fine," Adam babbled until he ran out of breath.

Cory arched an eyebrow. "Adam, stop babbling. Where is the rest of the lab?"

"It's Lindsay's day off, but I called her to come up here because I know that we'll need to process the evidence. She should be here soon. Danny, Mac and Stella were all at a scene when this happened and they said they would come by as soon as possible."

Cory nodded as she began to pace. "Where's Flack?"

"Right behind you. I just got here with Lindsay. What the hell is going on?" Flack said from the doorway.

Quickly Sid filled him in. "We need to find out where he got poisoned and make sure that no one else has been affected," Flack said after the explanations were done. "Adam, come back with me to the apartment and let's see if we missed anything."

Adam nodded, his normally cheerful expression gone. "Got it, but we're going in with masks. I don't want to risk that this is airborne," he said with confidence as he began to walk towards the door.

Sid sighed as he stood as well. "I'd better get back to the morgue and see if I can determine how it was administered."

Cory nodded, knowing that there was nothing that she could do for now, other than be with Lydia. She smiled as Lindsay sat next to her gingerly, trying to adjust for her pregnant belly. "We have the worst luck ever, you know that?" Cory mused.

Lindsay just smiled, knowing full well that both she and Cory were familiar with hospital waiting rooms. "I know, but I think that it has to do with the fact that we are all cops. I mean, that puts us at a high risk, so we get to spend more time here."

Cory nodded, studying Lydia as she paced back in forth in the waiting room, hoping to here some good news. She sighed, recognizing the pacing as something that she did on a regular occasion. She finally turned her attention back to Lindsay, noticing that she was grimacing slightly. "You okay?"

Lindsay smiled. "Yeah, it's just Braxton-Hicks contractions. My OB/GYN said that they would become common since I'm less than two months away from my due date."

"They hurt?" Cory asked, intrigued.

Lindsay nodded her head slightly. "A little bit, it's kinda like cramping before your period."

Cory curled her nose at that. "That truly sucks."

Lindsay just laughed as she settled into a more comfortable position. "Yeah, but it's going to be well worth it when the baby is born." She turned and saw the look on Cory's face. "Nope, still not going to tell you the sex of the baby. Don and I want it to be a surprise."

Cory stuck her tongue out as she mock pouted. "Fine. Don't tell me." Both women looked at each other as they dissolved into giggles, breaking the tension.

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Flack and Adam stood outside of the apartment building, waiting for Mac and Danny to arrive. Just as they had gotten back to the lab, Mac had called for details on Hawkes' collapse. Mac had instructed Adam to wait for him and Danny to arrive before entering the apartment, so they were waiting with two spare suits. They didn't have long to wait, as within ten minutes of arriving, Mac and Danny were screeching to a halt beside them.

The men were somber as they quickly donned the CDC suits. Flack and Adam took the lead, knowing where they were going. Once at the door, Flack cautiously opened it with the key that the building sup had given him. Once he walked in, both he and Adam noticed a difference in their entrance. They looked at each other and uttered at the same time, "Where's the dog?"

"What dog?" Mac asked from behind him.

Flack turned around. "When we were here the first time, a Golden Retriever bounded on us as soon as we entered the apartment." He smirked. "Cute dog." He looked around a bit before calling out, "Here puppy!" There was no response.

Flack unholstered his gun while motioning for Adam to get behind him. He quickly scanned the room, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary, other than the dog not greeting them.

Mac mirrored Flack's actions and followed him into the dark apartment. He looked around the living room, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. When they entered the kitchen, he noticed a stain on the floor next to an overturned bowl. "Was that here before?" he asked in a low voice.

Flack shook his head. "The dog knocked it off when we were processing," he responded just as quietly before moving down the hall towards the bedroom and bathroom. He still looked around, not seeing any changed from when he had walked down the same hall earlier. Shaking his head, he quickly turned into the small bathroom.

Mac moved past Flack to the open bedroom door. He entered cautiously, checking to see if there was anyplace for a person to hide. After studying the room, the only obvious places for someone to hide was under the bed or in the closet. He decided to check the closet first. He opened the door, only to find boxes and dirty clothing. Sighing, he got on his hands and knees to check under the bed. "Flack! I found the dog," he called out as he stared at the unmoving canine body under the bed.

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A few hours later, Cory was leaning forward in her chair, responding to her email on her Blackberry. She shook her head as she reread the response from the superintendent of the New York City school district. She had emailed him again, trying to determine what kind of security measures he had put in to place after her warning, but he had responded that there was nothing that he could do without conclusive proof that an attack was immanent.

Resigned, she closed out her email and put her phone back in her purse just as the doctor walked in. Lydia jumped up from her chair, a look of worry on her face as she greeted the man. "Doctor?" she questioned with hesitation. "Is Sheldon okay?" She waited for the answer, not knowing how she felt about what the answer was.

The young doctor looked at the distressed women. "He should recover fully from this," he reassured them with a smile. "Luckily, he only received a small dose and Dr. Hammerback knew exactly what had caused him to collapse. We are going to keep him for a few days to ensure that he has recovered fully, but then he'll be able to return to work immediately."

Lydia sagged in relief that he was going to be fine. "Oh, thank the Lord," she breathed as she sat back down. "Can I see him?"

The doctor shook his head. "Not yet. We are prepping him to move from the ER to a room. I promise that as soon as he's moved, then you can see him. I'll make sure to send a nurse to bring you to the room as soon as possible," he promised as he turned to leave.

Lydia just nodded as she covered her face, both in relief and in confusion about her feelings for both him and Morgan. Cory smiled as she patted her shoulder, unaware of the myriad of emotions that were racking her friend. "See, I knew that things would be okay," she said soothingly.

Lydia drew a breath and pasted a smile on her face. "Yeah, you did. Thanks." She bit her lip as she tried to think of what she wanted. "Why don't you and Lindsay head out? I'll be fine. I can just take the subway home from here."

Cory studied her before nodding. "All right, but I insist that you take my charger for my phone. I can use my car charger for now," she said as she withdrew the cord from her purse. "That way, you can call us if anything changed."

"Thanks Cory," Lydia said gratefully. "Lindsay? Can you let Flack know that everything is going to be okay?"

Lindsay nodded as she stood up, easing the ache in her back from the uncomfortable chairs. "Thanks. I just want to put my feet up. They keep swelling," she said wrinkling her nose.

Lydia smiled as she leaned over to hug her. "Do that. And let Flack pamper you tonight."

Lindsay returned her hug. "I will. Don't stay up here too late tonight. He'll probably sleep until tomorrow."

"Yes, Mom," Lydia snarked.

Cory and Lindsay laughed as they walked out of the waiting room. "So Cory, what are your plans for tonight? You and Danny have a hot date planned?"

Cory just rolled her eyes. "Seriously? You think that I'll see Danny before they find out how Hawkes got poisoned?" she drolled. "Nope. We actually didn't have anything planned anyway. Why?"

Lindsay grinned. "Hey, I have to live vicariously through someone! My social life has been reduced to doing things that don't make my ankles swell."

"But, you're going to be a mother!" Cory gushed.

Lindsay just shrugged. "I know and most days I'm ecstatic, but I've been so uncomfortable the last couple of weeks that it just sucks."

Cory patted her shoulder. "You'll be fine," she said as she unlocked the car. "Just settle in and I'll get ya home so you can put your feet up."

Lindsay just smiled as she settled into the small car for the drive home.

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Mac watched as Sid took the dog's body out to the van to be transported to the morgue. They both suspected that the dog had died from a lethal dose of Ricin, but they needed to run the tests to be certain. After Sid left, Mac turned to Danny and Adam, anger burning in his stomach. "I want this place processed within an inch of its life," he bit out. "I want to know where the Ricin is and how it was administered."

Both men nodded gravely and they split up. Adam headed back to the bedroom, Mac to the living room and Danny to the kitchen. When Danny looked around the small space, he slowly went through the list of anything that could possibly be used to transmit the Ricin. Methodically, he began to process the kitchen, starting with the refrigerator. He bagged samples of all the food in the small unit, noticing that the victim leaned towards frozen dinners and alcohol.

After done, he moved on to the garbage, wrinkling his nose as the rancid odor wafted from the can. God, I hate going through trash, he thought as his nose wrinkled. Gingerly, he shifted through the waste, wondering why there was a container of mashed up food in the can. It doesn't look moldy, so why throw away perfectly good food?

After completed with the trash, he made a quick search through the cabinets before taking swabs of the bowl that had fallen from the table. Once done, he rejoined Adam and Mac in the living room. "I took swabs from the bowl, but I found a bowl of perfectly good food in the trash, so I think that it's important and bagged it."

Adam nodded as he held up a couple of bags. "I grabbed all of the costume make-up in case the Ricin was laced in it," he said.

Mac smiled. "Good work, both of you. I didn't find anything in the living room, but we need to seal this place up until we've found the source."

Danny and Adam agreed as they left the apartment, hoping that they could solve this case before someone else was infected.


AN: Okay. I'm horrible. It's been a month since I've updated! I'm sorry!!!! But I have finished moving and already have chapter 13 written and beta'd, so I should update that within the next week....I'll give y'all an incentive. If I get 5 reviews for 12, then I'll update it sooner!!!! I'm interested in hearing anyone's theories, if you have them about how Hawkes got infected by Ricin!

Soccer - I'm glad you love it! I'm almost to two storylines that I'm very excited for!!!!

BEG - I'm glad your still around! How've ya been? Yeah, most people won't touch child porn with a stick, but I figure if it happens in real life, then it will just make the story better! Believe it or not, it was supposed to be a filler case, but it got a mind of it's own! I'm close to getting to the case that I'm most excited about, but I have to wrap some things up in the story first....Hope you had a good Christmas!

Aphina - I'm glad that it had everything into it. I'm definitely going to be delving more into Lydia, Morgan and Alistair....I think I have some interesting information about them all coming in! I really am going to try to get your chap back to you!!!!

Axellia - It has been a while since you've had time to sit down and read! But hopefully the "holiday" is helping! You don't have to wait for Morgan...he's here! I think they have made up their mind on kendall, since she hasn't been in an episode this season! :D