Disclaimer: I am not Anthony Zuiker, Ann Donahue or Carol Mendelsohn. All the characters of CSI: NY are not mine…I'm just borrowing them for a little bit. I promise that I will put them back, exactly the way I found them when I'm done….Oh, Cory Reid is mine and I will take credit for anything she does. :)

A/N: Wow. This was a really long chapter! My muse was off and running with this one. It starts out fluffy, but ends up with angst, so be warned! As always, please R&R! The reviews keep my muse happy and creative! By the way, if you go to my story, The Good Stuff, it contains all the smut from this story! I'll try to let you know when there is a smut chapter and this happens to be the first!

Chapter 18.

Jealousy

Danny just stood at the bar, the bottle of beer hanging limply in his fingers. His heart had dropped when he caught sight of Cory dancing with the other man. The green eyed monster of jealousy awoke in him.

Stella followed Danny's gaze to see what he was looking at. Smiling when she realized it was Cory, she covered her laugh by taking another drink. At the same moment, Lindsay and Flack decided to come up for air.

Stella leaned close to Lindsay and said, "Hey. Let's go to the restroom for a minute."

Lindsay looked at Stella in confusion. Stella nodded to Danny and Lindsay smiled. "Okay. Hey, sweetie? Stella and I are going to go freshen up."

Flack nodded his head as the girls got up and made their way across the dance floor. It was only then that he noticed how distracted Danny was. "Messer. Earth to Messer? You okay?" Flack also followed Danny's gaze and saw Cory and a light went on in his head. Oh. I see what's wrong. Flack grabbed Danny's arm to bring him back to reality.

Danny shook his head. Shit. I've been such a fool. Why couldn't she feel that way about me? Danny turned and saw that Flack had ordered two more beers, even though they were only halfway done with the first.

"Man. You fell hard. Tell her how you feel and put yourself out of you're misery!"

Danny tried to deny it. "Don't know whatcha talkin' about, Flack."

Flack snorted. "Please. That may work with other people, but come on man. I've known you long enough not be able to tell when you're into someone." Danny still tried to deny what Flack was saying to him, so Flack gave up. "Whatever, man. You keep acting this way and you'll definitely lose her. Here. Have another beer."

--

Stella and Lindsay had grabbed Cory on the way to the restroom. Cory was confused. "What are you guys doing?"

Lindsay decided to break the news to her. "Danny's here."

"Messer's here? Is he stalking me?"

Stella looked at Cory. "I don't know, Cory. We just wanted to warn you before you saw him."

Cory shook her head, trying to suppress the anger she felt. "Thanks. I appreciate the warning. I'm going to go back to dancing. Maybe if I ignore him, he'll go away."

Lindsay looked at Cory. "Ya know. If you just tell him how you feel, he might back off."

Cory just stared at the mirror for a moment. "You're right. I need to come clean with him. Maybe I'll get a chance tonight." Cory got a twinkle in her eye. "But not before I enjoy dancing with some more guys. You guys up for more dancing?"

The girls started to walk out of the restroom when Stella stopped. "Hold up just a sec." She pulled out her cell phone which had been vibrating in her pocket. "Bonasera. Yeah. Be right there. Sorry guys. I have to go. DB on the subway. This was fun. We should do this more often." Stella started walking to the office to pick up her purse. "Bye!" she called over her shoulder.

Lindsay and Cory looked at each other. "That sucks. I guess it's just you and me now," Cory said.

"Yeah. Flack's here to. So maybe I'll get to dance with him."

Cory grinned slyly. "You know. When dancing to techno you can gauge how good someone is in bed by how they dance."

Lindsay blushed at the thought. "Really"

"Really."

"Now I really want to dance with Flack!"

Giggling the two made it back to the dance floor. Cory stopped and listened to the music a second. Jericho by the Prodigy was just starting. "Sorry, Linds. It's The Prodigy. I have to dance to this! Dance with me!"

Lindsay agreed and both women started dancing.

Flack had been watching the women walk across the floor. He'd seen Stella leave a few moments earlier and from the way she was walking, she had to leave for work. He glanced over at Danny and noticed that he was on his fourth beer. "Danny. Don't cha think that ya might want to slow down on the drinking a little?" Danny just shrugged off his concern.

Flack again turned his attention to the dance floor. He noticed that Cory and Lindsay had stopped and then started dancing with each other. Ohhhh. That is so hot! I wonder if I should point them out to Danny. Why the hell not!

Danny felt Flack grab his arm and turned to tell Flack he was okay. "What?"

Flack rolled his eyes. "Look at the dance floor."

Danny just shook his head. "Why? So I can watch her throw herself at another man? I don't think so."

"Danny. Stop being an ass and look at the dance floor!" Danny turned around and almost groaned out load when he saw Cory and Lindsay dancing. There was barely any room in between them. Is Flack trying to kill me? This is like every man's fantasy come to life! Danny found that he could not tear his eyes away from the two women.

In the meantime, Cory had positioned herself on the dance floor so that she could look at Flack. "Lindsay. You should see the look on Flack's face. He looks like he's about to faint at the sight of us dancing!"

Lindsay continued dancing and moved a bit closer to Cory. "I want to see."

Cory started dancing so that they would turn around. "Move with me and I'll turn us around."

When they got turned and Lindsay saw the look of pure lust on his face, she almost melted. She had never expected any guy to look at her like that and the fact that it was Flack, made her melt. She glanced at Danny and realized he had the same look on his face, but he was looking at Cory.

"Don't look now, but Messer had the same look on his face. And he's looking at you."

Cory blushed at Lindsay's comment. Lindsay's next statement made her jealous.

"Oh. Flack's coming over here!" Both women tried to act nonchalant as they continued to dance.

Flack walked up behind Lindsay and started dancing with her, putting her in the middle of him and Cory. He smiled a little when he saw that Cory's eyes were closed and she was completely into the music. He put his hands on Lindsay's hips and slowly drew her back against him. Come on, Messer. Get a clue and come out here and dance with her. Flack kept silently urging Danny to grow a pair. Finally, much to his relief, Danny got up and started making his way over. He leaned down, so he could whisper into Lindsay's ear. "Don't look now, but Danny might actually be making a move!"

Lindsay looked up and saw Danny stop behind Cory and start dancing. She watched as he reached out to put his hands on her hips, smiled and leaned back into Flack.

Cory jumped a little as she felt hands on her hips and quickly looked over her shoulder. She felt pure desire flow through her veins as she saw the look in Danny's eyes. Deciding to just be herself for a moment she started to dance with him. As the song changed to Poison by The Prodigy, she turned around to face Danny and kept dancing.

Danny was in shock. She was not pushing away. In fact, she looked like she was enjoying herself. He gave himself over to the music and his desire.

The group danced for a couple more songs before the thirst finally became too strong. Cory was the first to leave the floor, walking up to the bar. The rest followed immediately.

Arianna walked over immediately. "You look like you're enjoying yourself tonight!"

"Strangely, I am. Can I get two more Cosmos and two beers for the guys?"

"Coming right up."

By the time the rest of the group had made it to the bar, Arianna had the drinks ready. Lindsay looked at Cory in thanks and quickly took a sip of her drink. Arianna also set down four glasses of water. One of which Cory drank immediately.

"Linds. Do you think we can go somewhere more private?" Flack asked Lindsay quietly.

Lindsay quickly looked into his eyes and nodded her head. She finished her drink and leaned over to Cory. "Flack and I are going to head out. You okay with that."

Cory was a little nervous to be left alone with Danny, but she saw the sparks that were flying between the couple and wondered how they had not burned down the club yet. "Go ahead. And Linds? Have fun!"

Lindsay blushed at her comment and quickly her and Flack left.

Danny was a little uncertain to where the couple was going but he was happy they were leaving. He wanted to spend more time with Cory. He was feeling a little light-headed, but he didn't know if it was from the alcohol or Cory's nearness.

Cory finished her drink and leaned to Danny. "Thanks for the dance Messer. I'm going to go out there again." She got up and left to go back to the dance floor.

Danny just sat there in shock. She's walking away from me? What the hell just happened? Danny just ordered another beer in hopes that it would explain what just happened to him.

--

About an hour later, Cory was finally winding down her night. She was dancing with Chad again. "No Chad. I will not go home with you. Don't you ever get tired of asking?"

Chad gave her a smile. "No. I hope that one time you'll slip up and say yes!"

Cory laughed at that. "Not gonna happy, sweetie. Sorry! Look, I'd better go. I'm exhausted. It's been a really long day."

Chad leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. "That's okay, babe. I'll see you later."

Danny had witnessed the kiss to Cory's cheek and decided that he'd had enough. He quickly went to finish is beer as he saw Cory walking back up to the bar.

"Hey, Messer. I'm goin' home. You staying?"

Danny shook his head no and tried to get up as the world started spinning out of control.

Cory looked at Danny a little concerned. "Are you alright?" She grabbed his arm to steady him. "Arianna. How much has he had to drink?"

Arianna looked at him and thought for a second. "Six, seven beers. I think?"

Cory swore creatively, earning a disbelieving look from Danny. "Come on Danny. Let me get you home. You are going to have one HELL of a hangover tomorrow."

Danny allowed her to lead him out of the club.

--

Cory was worried as she led a very complacent Danny up the stairs to his apartment. Silently she took his keys and opened the door.

Danny was in a haze, not quite sure of where he was. "Where am I?"

Cory sighed patiently. "You're at home, Danny. Do you think that you can get undressed without passing out?"

Somehow the only part of that statement that Danny heard was the word undressed. "Sure baby, I can undress you." He leaned down to kiss Cory but she gently pushed in back.

"Not me, Danny. Can you undress yourself?"

"What's the fun in that?" He again tried to kiss her.

Cory was getting frustrated. She rolled her eyes and pushed Danny back with more force than necessary. In his drunken state, it caused him to fall on the couch. "Sorry. You okay?"

Danny shook his head to clear it and felt his anger rising. This was nothing like what he had planned. "No. I'm not okay. I'm confused here. I thought that…" he trailed off.

Cory's mind had no problem picking up where Danny had trailed off. "Oh. You thought a couple of drinks and I'd fall into your waiting arms. Whatever!"

"Come on, Cory. You've been teasing me all night."

Cory's eyes opened wide at that comment. She felt something snap in her. "Look, Danny. I'm not sending you any signals here." Danny put his hand up to stop the flow of words, but she just continued. "I didn't ask you to show up tonight. You came of your own free will."

"Not yet."

Cory's jaw dropped at what Danny had just said. "Whoa. Stop. Rewind. What the hell did you just say? Wait. Wait. I don't wanna to know. You know what Messer. You're an ass."

"Come on. You've been throwing yourself at guys like a slut all night. What's the matter? Am I not good enough for you?" He grabbed her arm.

Cory felt her blood pressure skyrocket at the fury she was feeling. She shook his arm off. "Danny. You're drunk. I am not talking to you about this right now." She turned to leave the apartment.

Danny grabbed her arm again to stop her from leaving. "Don't leave. You're mine…please don't leave me."

The next thing that he knew, he was lying on his back after she had turned and punched him with a good right hook. "Don't EVER do that again, Messer. And for the record, I'm not a piece of property. No one owns me. Good-night." Cory walked out of the apartment.

--

The next morning, Danny woke up on the floor of his apartment, not remembering anything that had happened the previous night. Why do I hurt all over? Wearily he dragged himself into the bathroom to take a shower. As he glanced at himself in the mirror, he realized that he had a black eye. What happened last night? He hoped that Flack would be able to fill in the blanks. Rubbing his hands over his face in weariness, he got into the shower to get ready for work.

--

When Cory woke up she was still upset with Danny. Logically her mind told her that he was drunk and not responsible for his words, but the other ninety-nine percent of her brain disagreed, vehemently. She was glad that she didn't have to face him, and then she remembered that she had left her laptop at the lab. Damn. I'll have to go and pick it up before Monday. Groaning in frustration, she turned over to go back to sleep.

--

When Danny got to work, he immediately looked for Flack. He found him in the break room. "Hey, Flack. What happened last night?"

Flack turned and was shocked to see that Danny was sporting a black eye. "What happened to you?"

"I don't know. I was hopin' that you could tell me."

"I don't know, man. Last I saw you, you and Cory were having drinks at the bar." Flack quickly filled Danny in on some of the higher points of the night. "I'd ask Cory if I were you."

"Thanks, man." Danny pulled out his cell phone and dialed Cory. "Come on. Pick up. Hey, Feebie. It's Danny. Listen. I don't remember much of last night, so I was hoping that you could help fill in some blanks. Call me when you get this message."

Danny hung up the phone and got to work.

Around six o'clock that night, Cory decided it would be safe to go to the lab to get her computer. She figured that Danny would have already left by then.

When she got there, she went into the lab where she and Lindsay had been working. Lindsay was in there. "Hey, Linds. So…spill. What happened when you and Flack left last night? Do you and him…." Cory looked at her, pleading with her eyes to give her the scoop.

Lindsay blushed. "Yeah. I just couldn't control myself after all the dancing."

"So…how was it?"

Lindsay groaned. "Wow…just…I don't have words. I've never felt that fulfilled in my entire life!" The two continued to talk. Lindsay decided to change the subject. "How'd Danny get a black eye?"

Cory looked away quickly, trying to hide her anger. "I don't want to talk about that right now. Look, I just came to get my laptop. I figured that Danny would be gone by now. So I'd better go."

"But, Cory. Danny's still here. He's working until eight tonight."

Cory just closed her eyes. When she opened them, she saw Danny looking at her through the glass. "I gotta go, Linds. We'll talk later."

Lindsay watched as Cory tried to make a hasty exit, but Danny stopped her. "Hey Feebie. Can you help me fill in some blanks from last night? Like how I got a black eye?"

Cory tried to ignore Danny but he was persistent. "Danny. I really don't think you want to talk to me right now."

Danny looked at her confused. "No. We're going to talk. I know I missing something and you're going to help me fill it in."

Cory just sighed. "Fine. Let's go to the roof. I don't think you want everyone to hear what happened."

The elevator ride up to the roof seemed to take an eternity. When they got up there, Cory walked to the wall and looked out over the city.

"Look, Danny. I'm going to say this once. So pay attention. What you did last night was inexcusable."

"What did I do?"

"Don't play that game with me. I didn't ask you to go to the club last night. Hell, I flat out told you that I didn't want you to be there! But ya followed me anyway. While we're on that subject…when I say that it's a girl's night out. I mean it. Girls only."

Danny was growing more and more confused. He obviously knew that something had happened, but it didn't look like Cory was going to tell him what. He was growing angry. All he wanted to know was what had happened. "Look. I don't know what crawled up your ass and bit you to cause you to be so pissed, but lay off. All I want to know is what happened last night."

Cory felt the control on her temper slip. "Ya know what. Screw you, Messer! Just leave me alone. I never want to see you again, unless we're working on a case. You got that Detective? Is that a clear enough signal for you?"

Danny felt his temper break, too. "I don't have to take his. Fine. You don't want to tell me what happened, then screw you too! I'm outta here." With that, Danny made his way back to the door to go inside and Cory fought the urge to take off her shoe and throw it at him.

axellia-I know...I love that tune, too! I was actually listening to a dance mix I made when I wrote both these chapters, so all of the music in them, I own and dance to! If Flack manages to "detect" your number, will you have him pass mine onto Danny? He needs some much luvin' after this chapter! Hope you liked the dirty dancing and the fireworks!

tylerhiltongroupie53-oh, yeah. the tattoo will definately come back to distract Danny some more!

chili-peppers-I glad that I can brighten your day! It makes mine to get reviews!

Which on the topic of reviews...only 3 for this chapter? I feel crushed! ( :p )