A:N: Thanks to Little Wing, 72NewYorker525, YumaWolf, and dopeyidiot for their reviews. Sorry this took a while. Just have been running a lot and I just had my wisdom teeth pulled so I've been on vicaden (I know I didn't spell that right). I've been sleeping...alot

Dance the Night Away

Taylor had torn the phone apart and hadn't found a thing to get a trace it back to Connors. No finger prints, no make-up nothing could be found on it. She had to have had a glove on when she stuck it in Bonesara's pocket. His search for something to trace it back to her actually hadn't been a total loss though. He had founda small design inside the phone. A bridge with two guns with a name that he couldn't read quite right. Brooklyn something. The rest of thewordswere scratched out.There were several gangs in the Tanglewood Boys' territory and Connors worked in the area that they were at. So she was also after another gang besides the Tanglewood Boys. The only thing he didn't know was the name of the gang that started with Brooklyn. However he knew someone who did. Danny Messer.

Messer looked at the photo of the design carved into the phone. He didn't know where Taylor had gotten the design from because he didn't tell him yet, but he knew the design well. It only took him a moment to know what the design meant. "Brooklyn Hawkers." He told him with a scoff. "They say Brooklyn but they travel everywhere." He told him handing the photograph back to Taylor. "They can get just as bad as the Tanglewood boys. Stealing, murder, drugs." He looked up at Taylor as he looked over the photograph again. "Where'd you get that design anyway? They usually don't hand them out on a little businesscard."

"It was inside the phone Connors put in Bonesara's pocket." He told him as he pulled out a photo now of the phone to show him. "This is the third case she's on right now. So all we need to know is where the Brooklyn Hawkers are at right now."

"And I got that." Flack told them as he entered the room. Both Messer and Taylor turned to listen to what Flack had to say. "She's suppose to meet the leader of the Hawkers, a guy by the name of Anthony Grisdale, at a dance club called Sahara. Where he's suppose tomake a confession to the murder of a cop two years ago. How she'll get him to admit to the murderI don't know or care. She'll then callhim in when she has it recorded." He handed Taylor the directions to the club. "She won't howeverenjoy seeing the police show up before she gets the confession and the guy in a pair of bracelets."

"Yeah Jacob Hemm told me that she hated cops coming on her turf unless she told them too." Taylor began then thought over something that didn't seem to add up. "How did you get that information from the undercover cops?"

"Had a friend who is married to one of them." He said with a smile. "Thank God they talk to their wives."

Taylor nodded with a smile. At least they knew where she was at for the moment. "We still need to talk to her regardless of her case now."

"Mac,"Messer began sounding a little concerned at the fact that Taylor had said 'regardless' to where she was onher case. "You do realize that us taking her in while she's still ontwo othercases and close to closing them could expose her as a cop, right?"

"I know." He told them with a nod. "Which is why you and Flack will go to the club. Watch and wait until after she gets the guy then go after her and bring her in."

Flack raised an eyebrow. "What should we bring her in for?"

"Murder of an officer." He told them as he began to walk away towards the door of the lab to head off to talk to Bonesera to find out whether or not she had been successful in locating the man that had been with Connors the day she had been bitten by the rattlesnake.

"Which officer?" Messer questioned him.

Taylor stopped in the doorway then turned back to look at them a slight smirk on his face. "An undercover officer. Natasha Connors."

Taylor entered the lab where Bonesara sat shaking her head at the computer screen. He walked over and pulled up a chair. "Having trouble?" He asked her. She gave a nod as well as a sigh while she continued to watch the computer screen. "What's the problem?"

"The guy we're looking for," She began looking at Taylor briefly then back at the computer monitor. "He's name is Ethan Carter. Well, actually it was his name." He looked at the screen. "He died on July 2nd 2002, shot five times. He was only nineteen." She heard Taylor gave a 'huh' over her shoulder and she looked at him."What is it?"

"The date sounds familiar." He told her with a slight shrug. He had seen the date before. He was sure of it, the only thing was he couldn't remember where he had seen it. July 2nd 2002. Why did he know this date? He shook his head then turned his gazeback at the screen to see a photo of the young man. He was tan with dark black hair and brown eyes. Not much too him except a scar that ran over the bridge of his nose. "What was his major?"

"He was in the police academy."

"Explains how they met." Taylor stated staring intensely at the computer screen. "How did he end up getting shot?"

Bonesara scrolled down on the computer screen. "He was shot enter a home while in the occupantswere in the middleof an armedrobbery. There were three other casualties but it doesn't say who they were. Possibly some friends. Sometimes academy and colleges kids go to the others house to get drunk or stay over for the night." He nodded to her. "Did you get anything off the phone?"

"Only this." He handed her a photo of thedesign from the phone. "Danny said that the design belongs to a gang called the Brooklyn Hawkers. She's suppose to bringthe leader ofthem in tonight according to Flack."

"Are you sending them after her?"

He nodded. "I don't see any way out of bringing her in other than arresting her."

"Arresting her? For what may I ask?" She questioned him with a raised eyebrow. "Her record is completely clean."

"For the murder of Natasha Connors."

"You're kidding I hope."

He shook his head. "Nope." He looked over at her. She gave him a look that told him she wasn't convinced about his plan. "The killer who burned her alive was never apprehended was she?"

"So you're going to go up to her and tell her that she's under arrest for the murder of herself?"

"Well Flack and Danny actually are." He told her with a smirk. She shook her headwhat he had said."We need to talk to her. She's the only one besides the murderer that knows the truth about what happened at that apartment. She's has the information that we need. Danny and Flack are going to a club called the Sahara to pick her up after she makes a hit."

"So Flack and Danny will be dancing the night away searching for her?"

She entered the room, lights flashed brightly over the crowded bunches of people in the room. At least it was dry, it had started to rain and the weather man had said that a thunder storm was heading in. The bodies in the club moved to the music that was so loud she could barely hear herself think. She could only hope that the mic on her would pick up the leader of the Brooklyn Hawkers, Anthony Grisdale's, confession on her recorder. She'd be stuck pulling him off the floor to get his confession to the murder of another cop and several citizens of New York as well. She just wanted to get him behind bars. Two more left after him then she could go on a vacation for a few weeks. The Bahamas were beginning to agree with her right then.

The music blasted from the stereo system that was rigged up in the club. She had been here before, observing several of her targets. She knew that he would come. He never missed a Friday night here. He better had decided to start now.

She made her way into the sea of bodies. Her outfit was out to attract her prey. It as of the moment though was attracting unwanted guest. Several guys reached to grab and pull her to dance with them. Each time they did she slapped their hands away. She could see him. He sat with the members of his gang. He was drinking something, probably a beer, she couldn't tell nor did she care. She moved to the table. She saw his eyes move to her body as she made her way to him.

"Hey," She told him with a smile her hands went to her hips. "You Anthony?"

He stood up and moved over to her. "Yes.." He mumbled his answer as his hands grabbed her by her waist. He pressed his mouth against her cheek, she could smell theterriblestench of beer and cigarettes.She wanted to gag at the rank smell. "And who would you be?"

She gave a weak smile while she leaned into him and whispered. "Anything you want me to be." He gave a coy smirk. He had taken the bait now all she needed was his word to take him in for good.

Taylor walked back into the morgue again. He had told Hawkes for him to call him when he had some what of a time line or more or less order of which victim died first. With that he could learn if Connors had been around for the whole time or had left sometime through it.

"What do you have doctor?"

Hawkes pulled out a file. "Well, I'd be willing to bet money that your undercover cop wasn't at the second apartment." He told him. The file that he had was sketches of the scene that Burn and Messer had made on their second trip to the crime scene. "The victims in this room, Eric Keels and Rebecca Wilks where first to get murdered. They died from the blade wounds they strung up I'm guessing like a prize. I matched the one of the blades that killed Keels to the blade that was found on Jake Wilks." He pulled out Keels' body from the autopsy draw and pulled the blanket down to show his abdomen. "I managed to pull out a fingernail from the scratch.." He pointed to the three long scratches on his abdomen. "Here. I didn't realize it was there at first because it was so far in his skin. I sent samples to DNA. Female DNA matches the blood that Danny found on Jake Wilks shirt."

Taylor nodded. "Do you think she was in the room before the killing or somehow got dragged in there in the process?"

"I'd be willing to bet that she was in their before hand." He pointed back at the sketches of the crime scene. "More of the female's blood was found here." He pointed to a table that had blood both on top of it and beneath it as well. "Stabbed while she was sitting then pulled back against Wilks to restrain her from helping with the attacks or stop them."

"So we still have no clue who's side she was on." Taylor stated as he looked at the sketches. He thought for a moment over how Keels could have gotten Connors' fingernail beneath his skin. He pointed at the sketch. "Was Connors' nail was placed in Eric's skin post mortem?"

Hawkes nodded to him. "Defiantly a post mortem injury."

"Connors wasn't in the room the time of the two victims death," He began looking at the sketch again. "She ran in to try and stop the killings."

"Would explain the way they were dressed if she showed up after they were killed." Hawkes stated rethinking what he had said over again. "She showed up half-way through the murders?"

Taylor nodded. "She showed up as they were being strung up. Jake Wilks' grabs her and forces her to watch, in the process stabbing her. Then she was shoved forward by either him or the other murderer into Eric and used his body to break her fall. Which explains why the scratches are in a downward motion and why her nail got stuck in him. Page me if you find anything else out alright?"

"No problem." Hawkes replied as he left to wait for a call from either Flack or Messer about wher Connors was and when she would be coming in for a visit.

Flack and Messer entered the bar. They looked around the place, the people danced and moved all around on the floor. Messer looked to Flack who gave a shrug at some of the way the women and men were dancing with one another. They looked briefly before they spotted Anthony Grisdale standing in the back circling some woman like a hawk. Her head turned to follow him. Messer recognized her right away. Natasha Connors. He pointed her out to Flack, but what he didn't realize was that she had seen them. And she wasn't happy to see them either. She shot them a glare of hate and annoyance but Grisdale grabbed her and pulled her out into the crowd of people on the dance floor.

Messer watched as Grisdale held Connors close to him moving his body beside hers to the music. "How do we know when she's got the guy in custody?"

"When she puts the hand cuff's on him?" Flack suggested to him as he watched her. "She's moving. Come on, we better follow her and make sure she doesn't get into trouble."

Connors moved quickly and quietly to the back of the club. She was aware that they were there as well as following her throughout the club as she moved. The mess of bodies and noises was confusing but they still managed to follow her. Grisdale had a hold of Connors kept pulling her further back into the club. He didn't notice the shadows following them. She was thankful for that. If they blew this then she couldn't do much for a while. Kiss her vacation good bye as well. As far as Grisdale was concerned Connors was just another free ride. While as far as Connors was concerned , in only a matter of minutes he was really about to get a free ride and a free pair of bracelets.

However she missed something that Messer and Flack hadn't. A glint, almost a tiny flash from something metal that Grisdale was trying to reach for in his back pocket. Messer couldn't be sure what it was, but something told him that he knew that she wasn't just the random girl that came up wanting to screw around with him. He pointed to Flack to go to the left. They split off. Flack went off to the left to move in front of the couple, to prevent them from leaving the back way. Messer continued to follow her from behind. Watched Grisdale as he took her into a corner and pressed her against the wall.

Messer watched for a moment from about twenty feet away. Their hands intertwined, he could see them talking, over what he really didn't care. He saw Grisdale's hand moved back to his pocket again. He pressed his lips to Connors before moving them to her ear and saying something else to her. It was then that Messer saw her eyes grow wide in terror. In a flash he began to approach them but the mess of bodies made it difficult. He saw the knife get pulled from the pocket but instead of stabbing her Grisdale smashed her body against the wall. An outcry escaped her lips at the sudden burst of pain.

Grisdale's hand went to her stomach and pressed against it harshly. She cried out again as blood began to slowly ooze from the wound she had from before. Grisdale gave a smirk. Connors eyes went wider than anyone probably could have thought possible. Her hand turned into a fist and she connected with his right eye. The hit didn't take much out of him though. He grabbed her wrist and held it tightly as he brought the knife up behind him. Connors still hadn't seen the blade.

"Stop!" Messer shouted at him and moved to grab Grisdale. The shout got Grisdale's attention briefly and he turned to look at Messer. "NYPD!"

The fact Messer would shout at them meant something more than a beating for her. Connors looked down and caught the glint of the blade. Grisdale moved to stab her and she grabbed his wrists with both of hers. She knew that he was much stronger than she was but at least she could prevent some force of the blow that was soon to come. Her grasp forced the knife to the side and the blade struck her in the side. It wasn't far in her side. Merely a flesh wound. She brought her knee up and nailed him in the groin. She shoved him backwards, the knife came out of her flesh with a disgusting sound. She gave a tiny yelp as it and she turned towards the door. Flack stood in her way, his gun raised at her. She stopped moving in her tracks when she saw him. She didn't see what was about to happen to her.

Grisdale looked at Messer who was still having trouble getting to him. He turned and brought the knife up diagonally up her back. She cried out as the blood squirted from the wound and she fell forward into Flack. He grabbed her and helped her stay standing while Messer grabbed Grisdale. Connors maneuvered out of Flack's arms so he could help cuff Grisdale. Connors began to run out the back door.

"Get Connors!" Flack yelled at him as he held onto Grisdale.

Messer nodded and bolted for the door. He looked down at the ground trying to follow the blood trail that she had left behind. He pulled his gun and slowly made his way into the alley way. It wouldn't help him that it was now pouring rain and thundering as well. He turned the corner and saw a figure jogging away to his right. He jogged up to her, lightly touching her shoulder. Thunder clapped over head just as she turned at Messer's touch on her shoulder.

"Connors?" He questioned her. She began to back away from him. He looked down at his hand and saw it was bathed in red that was beginning to wash away in the rain."Natasha Connors?"

"Please just leave me alone." She told him shyly. She was still planning her role and trying to get away with it. This time her accent was southern. Why she was stillpretending likehe didn't know who she actually was he'd loved to know."I didn't do anything. I just tripped coming out of the club."

He pointed to her side where she had first been stabbed. "You're bleeding all over. You didn't get that just from tripping. So you also are lying." She didn't answer him. She looked towards the ground. "Natasha my name s Danny Messer I'm with CSI..."

"With who?" Someone else yelled down the alley coming in the direction of sirens.

Connors' eyes went wide and she grabbed Messer's wrist and yanked him into a dark corner next to the doorway of the club. She muttered several curses under her breath as she pushed his coat out of the way. He gave her a confused look as she continued to look under his jacket. "Please tell me you are Natasha Connors."

"Shut up!" She hissed at him. She yanked his gun from his holster and took the safety off. She pressed her back against the wall as she cocked the gun. "Why the hell can't you damn CSI's ever stay in you're shitty little labs?"

"Viccy?" Braker's voice rang down the alley. "Viccy is that you doll?"

She looked up at Messer and shook her head. She raised up the gun. "Thanks for the loan. Follow me and I'll shoot you." She told him then bolted down the opposite end of the alley. Opposite of where the voice had come from.

"Viccy!" Braker shouted again. "Stop dammit!" Messer heard another gun cock and he heard Braker shout again. "I said stop now!"

The gun that he carried went off and Messer watched red liquid explode from Connors' left shoulder. She cried out softly as the bullet connected wither shoulder. The collision of the bullet to her body made her fall, her face connecting with the concrete as she tried to break her fall with her hands. Unsuccessfully for her sake. She looked back at Braker as he began to move towards her. She raised up Messer's gun and shot in his direction. She wasn't trying to kill him. Well..she wanted to for all the crap she had been put through to get enough on him to put him away for a very long time. The sound of him crying out in pain made her cringe. She watched as he made his way out of the alley and away from the scene.

Messer couldn't stand by now and watch a cop get shot. He couldn't move though. If he did at the moment of the shooting he'd risk her exposure and him ending up a casualty. Of either Braker or Connors. When he was sure Braker was gone he bolted for her. She began to stand up on her own.

"Natasha!" He called out as he made his way to her. Thunder clapped over head and she turned to look at him as he ran up to her. Her hand was over her shoulder. She turned to look at him. Her eyes looked glazed over. The amount of pain she was in was terrible. Before Messer made it to her she collapsed to the ground. He grabbed her right before she completely fell over. Her hand went to a cut over her eyebrow. The blood trailed into her eyes thanks to the rain. He heard someone come out into the alley. He looked up and saw Flack. "Get the paramedics!" He shouted at him then looked back down at Connors. "Stay with me."

"Danny I only got nicked." She informed him with a low growl. She began to cough hard, a trickle of blood began to come from the corner of her lip. Her tongue rain across her lip. "Why.." She began then looked down at her torso. Grisdale had gotten her worse that she had thought. Her eyes stared up at Messer and shook her head. "It's nothing."

"You've been stabbed and shot and you're claiming that it's nothing?" He asked her. She began to cough again. He held her by her right shoulder. "Flack I need those paramedics!" He shouted again taking his jacket off and pressing it on her shoulder and another part on her torso stab wound. She shook her head at him. "Either you're going to see the ER or we can arrest you. Take you're pick."

"Arrest me?" She questioned him with a chuckle. "For what?"

"The murder of a uniformed cop."

"Oh really?" She smirked off, the red blood trickled down her chin. "Of who you?"

"No," He stated with a chuckle."Natasha Connors actually."

She gave a laugh then a cough. "You're..you're arresting me for killing myself."

"Shut up before you kill yourself talkin'." He told her as the paramedics ran up to him and Connors. "Shot onceand at least twostab wounds!" He shouted at them.

"Doctor Hector Nikolai." She told them with a sigh.Hector Nikolai was her doctorthat she saw anytime when she was injured beyond anything that she could take care of.She looked over at Messer. "I won't talk." She told him. "Not until this is over."

"You don't have a choice."

"Suddenly going deaf thanks to someone yelling my ear."

He shook his head at her as the paramedics took her away. He watched her be taken away as Flack walked up to him. "Mac's gonna meet us at the hospital." He told him. He shut his cell phone and looked at the pools of blood mixing with rain water. It was a lot of blood for only a stab. He hadn't been informed that she had been shot as well. "Did she get shot?"

Messer rolled his eyes at Flacks question. He began to look for his gun. She still had it. "Dammit." He muttered. "She's got my gun." He told him as he stood up. "Let's get to the hospital. Hopeful she still doesn't feel the need to kill me."

Taylor stood in the ER. Connors had been in for a little over a half an hour. Messer and Flack stood in the waiting room. They couldn't go in until the doctors said she could stand seeing visitors. Which for her would be never if she had her way. A doctor walked out to them. He was removing his gloves which were covered in Connors' blood and probably a donors as well. He stopped beside Taylor. "It's a good thing you didn't let her go off on her own." He told him as he looked over at Messer. "She would have died from loss of blood if it wasn't for you calling her in."

"How long until she's vertical again?" Messer asked.

"Since I know who she is," The doctor began handing Taylor a card. "She'll be out of her within the next five hours."

Taylor raised an eyebrow. "Five hours? Isn't that a little early for someone who's been shot?"

"And it is Miss Connors as well so no." The doctor told him. "She tells me she doesn't want to see anybody but with you being here and the fact she knows you're here..go in and see her."

Taylor nodded to him. He walked past the doctor and into the recovery room. Connors was sitting up, her eyes partially shut, but not all the way so she saw Taylor enter the room and shut the door behind him. Her eyes opened wider to look at him. "Miss Connors, I'm Detective..."

"Mac Taylor." She finished for him rather hoarsely. "CSI." She shook her head."Why the hell can't you damn CSIs just stay the hell out of shit that doesn't involve you?"

"It does though." He told her as he walked up to the bed. "We have evidence that places you at an apartment at the time of several murders. I need to know what happened."

"To what exclude me from the suspects?"

"Yes. But to also catch the killer."

"I know who the murderer was." She informed him with a groan. "It was Nick Braker..he's part of the Brooklyn Hawkers. Calls himself the only one with a legitimate job." She looked away from him and finished her statement: "Nothing legitimate about him."

She looked down at her hands. Something about the way she was acting seemed wrong. "Natasha, did he ever sexually assault you?"

"He tried." She told him with a sigh. "Oh the asshole tried. I slipped him some drugs so he'd only think he screwed me. When he passed out I left. Often for several hours. I'm running three cases at once. I had to be somewhere every moment of the day." She gave an annoyed growl at him. "Now. I've helped you so why don't youget the hell away from me and please stay there."

She glared at him and he shook his head. "I can't do that." He told her with a soft sigh. "You know I can't do that either." His beeper began to go off and he looked down at it Hawkes. He looked back up at her. When he got paged by Hawkes he knew he had to head to the morgue. "I have to go." He informed her putting the beeper back in his pocket. "I'll be back in an hour or two."

"I won't be here." She told him with an annoyed growl. He began to turn towards the door when she said that but stopped when he heard her say that. "Don't think your two little Hardy Boys out there will stop me either."

He walked out of the room without a reply to her comment. He would be amazed if she left before he had returned. The number of wounds that she hadn't had treated not including the two she had sustained at the club were numerous. Mostly from beatings and such things from the looks of it. He walked past Flack and Messer, pointing at them to stay put. They needed her for this case. She knew everything whether she liked to admit it or not. She had given them a name so they could bring him in. But not yet. They still needed more information. And she couldn't leave the hospital without giving them that information. Or could she?

A:N: As usually please no flames, I just had surgery so I really don't feel like any. Please review though. I love reviews. And vicaden too. Once again thanks to Little Wing, 72NewYorker525, YumaWolf, and dopeyidiot for their great reviews. I love them keep them coming!