CHAPTER TWO:

AN: Thanks for the reviews. I hope you'll like the next chapter

I'm sorry it took so long but I had to prepare for my exams and I still am…

awesomepossum, You are right: I wasn't clear about that: They don't know that the ex- boyfriend is the witness. He gave them another identity.

By the time Danny woke up Aiden had already left for work. She left him a note saying where he could find everything necessary to have breakfast. There wasn't much time to enjoy his breakfast. Mac had called and ordered him to process a crime scene with Aiden but he still needed to go home and change which made him utterly late. When he finally arrived Aiden had already processed a big part of the area and he just needed to check the victim in case she had missed something.

When Danny uncovered the body he froze and had a hard time not to vomit. Flack teased him with it but Aiden saw there was more to it. "Danny? Are you okay? Hey, look at me. What's wrong?" She asked him concerned. After 2 minutes of silence he enlightened his partner.

"That's uhm Stephanie." He said softly, but just loud enough for her to hear. "You mean the girl from last night?" He looked at her and nodded.

She let her hand rest on his shoulder and smiled comforting at him. "I'll process her, go home" Danny shook his head, saying he didn't want to go home. He wanted to know what happened to her and if he could have prevented it. He closely watched how Aiden took blond short hair, probably his, from the girl's sweater and how she removed some dirt from under her fingernails,…

In the mean time Mac arrived and was brought up to speed by detective Flack . Stella didn't think it would be a good idea to let Danny keep working the case, but Mac wanted to give him the chance to prove his competence in a case in which he's familiar with the victim.

"If there's anything call me and don't forget: you report to Aiden on this one." That were the last words Mac said to Danny before he went to his own crime scene uptown. Before Mac could reach his car Aiden stopped him, also asking him if maybe Danny should be removed of the case but Mac told Aiden the same thing, he told Stella. Plus he had full confidence in the younger CSI. She knew her boss didn't know the entire story and he didn't gave her the chance to tell them. Since he already lost much time, he told her they'd talk about it later and till then Danny was aloud to work the case.

And everything seemed to go well until Stephanie's ex- boyfriend came forward as a witness and gave a testimony, which turned Danny into a suspect. So Flack had no other choice but to go and interrogate his friend. Under normal circumstances he would have cuffed Danny but since he believed in his innocence, Flack just quietly asked to follow him to the station for a statement. After several hours Danny was released only to get suspended by Mac. Although he knew it was standard procedure it didn't make it less painful…

"Can I talk to you for a minute" Aiden looked up from her microscope to see an angry Mac standing in front of her. He was just back from the police station where he had followed the interrogation. Aiden took a deep breath and walked up to him. He started to talk in a raised voice "What were you thinking Aiden? Why didn't you tell me he was that involved?"

"Hey hey. I tried to tell you remember, you said it could wait and by the way he isn't that involved. He just knew the girl"

"He just knew the girl. We have a witness Aiden, that says Danny was last seen arguing with the victim." He said in a more calm voice. He rubbed his eyes and apologized to his co- worker. Then he asked "What have you got."

"The 5 hairs I found are of three different colors. One of them did match Danny's hair, which is normal since he was in her company, right." She asked hesitating, Mac nodded. "There were traces of garbage due to the dumpster she was found in. Just besides the hair, I couldn't find anything that could lead to Danny as her killer."

"Besides that and the guy's testimony. I'll go talk to him again." He made his way to the door then stopped & ordered Aiden to go and see Flack. She looked confused at the beginning but then she responded by saying nothing happened. Mac smiled and left searching for Stella.

"Stella ,I've been looking for you. I need you to take over the Stephanie Rossi case." Her happy face turned into a confused one. "I thought Aiden was handling the case."

"She is, but I want you to take the lead. Apparently Danny spent the night at her house after he got into a fight with the victim's ex- boyfriend. I would have taken her off the case if I wasn't short on personnel"

"Okay, no problem, have you got any luck with the boyfriend yet?"

"No, conveniently no one can tell me his identity. Her family says she's been single for as long as they can remember, her friends say the same thing. Still Aiden finds 5 short different hairs on her clothes. And according to Harper, she knew her attacker. Something is not right here Stella…"