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: Ok guys…more about Cory's past and some interesting info here about other people from her past…as always, R&R! the more reviews that come in, the faster my muse is making me write! Remember the challenge! If I up to a total of 100 reviews with this chapter, whoever writes the 100th review will get a special mention in my story as a character! Only 9 reviews to go! Y'all can do it! (i'm just a review slut...:p)

Chapter 20.

Echo

The ride to the crime seen was silent. Cory was staring out the window lost in her thoughts while Lindsay and Danny seemed to realize that now was not the time for conversation.

Cory was looking at the buildings flash by but was not really seeing them. She knew that she needed to apologize to Danny for being such a bitch to him, but she hated having to apologize at all.

When they got to the crime scene, Danny went up first after Lindsay had given him a look. He just silently took his case and walked away, still shaken by seeing Cory awoken by an obvious nightmare about a guy.

Lindsay on the other hand, wanted to make sure that Cory was okay. "Are you alright?"

Cory just looked at Lindsay. "I'll be fine."

Lindsay admired the strength that Cory was trying to portray. "You were having a nightmare about James' death, weren't you? And it isn't the first time."

Cory nodded her head. "Yeah. It's a reoccurring nightmare that I had every night the first year after he was killed. I've come to terms with it for the most part, but occasionally…" Cory just grinned wryly as she trialed off.

Lindsay understood. "Let's go on up." Lindsay grabbed her case and the two women walked into the apartment building.

Meanwhile, Danny was already upstairs, beginning to process the scene. He looked at the Caucasian man and something began to bother him. "Mac. I think I've seen this guy before. Maybe he was in the pictures that Cory showed us, but I definitely recognize him from somewhere."

Danny heard Lindsay and Cory coming up the hall. "I'll ask Cory when she gets in."

Danny looked up as the women walked into the room. "Cory. I've seen this guy in a photo somewhere. Was it one of the surveillance photos?"

Danny watched as Cory looked at the bodies and as soon as the blood began to drain out of her face he was beside her side. He caught her body as she passed out. "Damn it. Now I know where I've seen this guy before. He was in a photo that Cory has on her fridge." He picked her up easily and at Mac's okay, walked outside with her.

Once he got down the stairs, Cory started to wake up. He looked at her. "You okay, Cory?" Cory just shook her head no. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Cory drew a deep breath and tried to talk. "No…not right now. Can you put me down, please?"

When Danny set her down gently, Cory sat on the curb and put her head in her hands. Cory looked at Danny. "Danny. I'll stay right here, but go do your job. I promise, I'll tell all y'all everything."

"You better." Danny turned to walk back into the apartment, his heart still in his throat from watching Cory pass out.

Cory watched Danny walk away, feeling the depression set in. "I can't do this again. I can't go through this rollercoaster of emotions." As she sat on the curb, she saw that one of the officers was smoking. Sighing, she got up and went over to him. "Can I bum one?" The officer nodded and handed her the cigarette and lighter. She drew a deep drag from the cigarette and almost sighed in relief. "I'll only smoke this one. How long has it been? 3 years since I quit smoking? I knew I had a breaking point that would start me smoking again and I guess that this is it."

When Danny got back to the apartment, Lindsay immediately began to question him. "How is she? Does she need to talk? Should I go down there?"

Danny put up is hands to mock trying to keep her away from him. "Whoa. Back up, Montana! She was awake by the time I got outside. She promised to stay there and tell us the whole story back at the lab. I for one want to get this scene processed and get back to the lab."

Mac nodded his agreement. "I agree. Let's see if we can get this wrapped up."

(A few hours later, the crime lab)

Cory sat in the break room, staring at a cup of coffee. She watched silently as the whole team filing in. Mac looked at her expectantly.

"I guess I owe y'all an explanation."

She looked up to see all the team, except Lindsay, looking at her expectantly. She inhaled and decided to just jump into the story.

"I know Carlos Ortiz. We went to high school together." The group gasped in unison at that. Cory was surprised that her ears didn't pop from the loss of air pressure. "We were…close."

Danny decided to voice his thoughts. "How close?"

"We were intimate." Cory rushed on. "It was just one time…we were drunk. Stupidest mistake that I ever made. Anyway, moving on. He started getting into the gang life. I knew that I didn't want any part of that so…we drifted apart."

Cory looked down at her hands, trying to get the courage to go on. Sighing she picked up the story once again. "So after I graduated college, I got a job at the Bureau. One of the cases I was assigned to was Mala Suerte. I was tracking down the money sources."

Cory looked at Lindsay who encouraged her to continue. "To make a long story short, I met a great man. James. We feel in love and he proposed." Danny felt an unexpected surge of jealousy go through his system. Then his brain kicked in and he thought about the picture on her fridge. "The day…" Cory trailed off, unable to continue. She looked helplessly at Lindsay.

Lindsay nodded, letting her know silently that she would continue for her. "The day before their wedding, Ortiz killed him. Same signature as the human slavers."

Danny looked up in shock. "I thought James was the guy in the picture that we just found dead? But if he's been dead for seven years, I guess not. Who the hell was that in the picture?"

Cory drew a deep breath and continued with the story. "The signature started with James. I was taken off the case since I was too involved." Cory paused again and glanced down at her hands again. "It took me almost two years to start putting it behind me, but I did. I started dating again and…he was killed by Ortiz, as well."

Stella gasped. "That's horrible."

Cory kept looking at her hands. She didn't want to look into anyone's eyes and see the sympathy. This was why she didn't want to tell anyone about her past for fear that they would look at her differently.

After Cory was silent for a couple of minutes, Mac spoke up. "This doesn't explain why you fainted at the crime scene. What's going on with you?"

Cory got up and started pacing. "I know. It's just hard, Mac. I've never admitted a lot of this to anyone before." Cory looked down at her hands, which were shaking, before continuing. "I know both of those men. But I have a question, Mac. You said that you had found Ortiz's right hand man? How did you know that? We don't even have a picture of him…just a name."

Mac nodded and decided to fill her in on the information found at the crime scene. "We found a note taped to the door. It said 'Those who ascend to my right hand should be above suspicion. Any suspicion will cause you to fall from grace.' I assumed this to mean that the Hispanic guy that was murdered was his right hand man. Do you have any theories on that?"

"I would think that you read it right. It certainly sounds like something that he was say. That just leaves me very confused. Like I said, I know both of those men."

Hawkes looked at her. "You do?"

Cory felt herself begin to tear up again. She took a slow breath, trying to calm herself. "Yeah. That's why I reacted so strongly…" She took another slow breath trying to prevent the tears from flowing down her face. "The Hispanic man's name is Armando De La Cruz, but he's not a gang banger…at least not when I knew him. He was James' best friend."

Mac decided to probe for some more information. "How long has it been since you've talked to him?"

"About three years. It was the anniversary of James' death." Cory shuddered visibly at the memory. Danny started to move toward her, but stopped himself at the last second, remembering her declaration that she didn't want anything to do with him outside of work.

"Wait. You said that you knew both of them. Who is the other guy?" Stella asked.

Cory closed her eyes, feeling her throat close up at the memory of the sight. "His name is Michael. Michael Hogan…" Lindsay looked up in surprise. Cory felt her breath catch in her throat. "He's…he's…he's James's twin brother." Cory felt her control slip at this moment; the tears began to flow down her face.

Both Stella and Lindsay walked over to her, wrapping her in their arms. Stella shot a look to the guys and at the nod of her head they left the room. "It'll be okay, Cory. It's okay," Stella murmured.

Lindsay murmured the same things while rubbing her back. "God. This was the worst thing that could happen to her after telling me everything last night. Although on the bright side, from the way Danny was looking at her, his feelings are deep."

Once Cory brought herself back under control she looked up at the two women. "Thank you." She glanced in to room again and noticed that they were the only ones in there. "Where did the guys go?"

Stella smiled and said, "I thought that you might want some privacy so I had them leave. I take is James and Michael were identical twins?"

Cory just nodded her head.

"That explains why you fainted. It was like losing him all over again, wasn't it?" Stella continued.

"Yeah. It was like the last seven years had not even happened and I was back in that dark hole of despair. Stell, Linds, I can't go through that again. I barely made it through the first time."

Lindsay sat down next to her. "That's why you keep pushing Danny away, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I don't think I would survive if I got involved with someone again and Ortiz killed them."

Stella continued to gently probe Cory for more information and when she was done, she ordered Lindsay to take her home.

Meanwhile, the guys had retreated to Mac's office. "Hawkes, I want you to help Sid and Marty with the bodies. Get any and all trace off of them that you can. Danny, I want you to begin running background checks on the two men. Cory said that she hadn't talked to De La Cruz in three years. Let's find out what's been going on with him."

Flack looked up. "I'll see if any of my informants have any useful information."

The three men went to leave the office, but Mac's voice had them turning. "Remember, gentlemen. Try to be sensitive to Cory's feelings. I can't even begin to imagine what she's going through right now."

The three men nodded their agreement and left his office. Mac sat down at his desk and stared unseeingly at it. Part of him was angry that Cory had not told him the truth when she had given him the pictures of Danny. The other part understood that she was trying to put the past behind her.

He was still sitting at his desk, lost in thought when Stella walked into his office. "Mac. Hey, Mac!"

"Sorry, I was thinking. What?"

"I sent Lindsay to take Cory home. She's emotionally exhausted and is not going to do herself any good if she stays here. It will bring back too many memories."

Mac smiled warmly at Stella, she always knew what to do in times like these. He knew that he was not very good at handling emotions. "Stella and I work so well together. She's good at everything I'm not." Mac stopped his train of thought, knowing where it was leading and he felt that he was not ready for that kind of relationship. "Thanks, Stella. You always know what to do."

Stella felt a rush of her happiness at Mac's words. "No problem. I just hope that we can catch this guy. I don't know if Cory will be able to take anymore emotional blows without breaking down."

Stella turned around and walked out of the office, going to find Danny.

"Hey, Danny. What are you working on?"

Danny looked up from the computer where he had been staring at the screen, lost in thought. "I'm looking into the two men's histories. Cory said that she had not talked to Armando in three years. I want to find out what happened three years ago to cause him to break contact. Also it's really strange that he was obviously connected to Mala Suerte now. That doesn't make sense with the history that Cory gave us."

Stella nodded. "I'll run the history on Michael Hogan. I talked to Cory a little more after you guys left the room and it's been two years since she's talked to him. She said that it was a little strange. They had always met every year on the anniversary of James' death, but two years ago she lost contact with him. She said that it was like he dropped off the face of the planet. She was worried, but when she contacted his family, they said that he called them regularly. She thought that marking James' death had become too painful for him and that's why he cut off contact." With that Stella sat down at the other computer and began to run a background check.

(A few hours later, Flack's Apartment)

Flack had just gotten out of the shower when he heard a knock on his apartment door. With just a towel on, he walked to the door and looked through the peephole. Grinning he pulled the door open when he saw that it was Lindsay.

"Hey, babe. Whatcha doin' here?"

Lindsay looked at Flack's still wet bare chest and almost forgot why she had come by. "Um…I came by to talk to you about Danny."

Flack was a little disappointed. "Messer? Why?"

Lindsay was still staring at Flack, trying to organize her thoughts. "Um. Can you put some clothes on?" Lindsay started giggling. "I can't seem to keep coherent thoughts in my head with you in nothing but a towel."

Flack started to laugh at that, tempted to just stay the way he was. He realized that there was something in her voice that told him that this was going to be a serious conversation.

Lindsay breathed a sigh of relief when Flack returned fully clothed. He sat next to her on the couch and put his arm around her. "What's going on with Messer?"

Lindsay laid her head on his shoulder. "You really need to talk to him. After we left Trance on Friday…he was a complete ass to Cory! He obviously got really drunk and jealous. He called her a slut and said that she was his... That's how he got the black eye. She punched him out."

Flack opened his eyes in surprise. "She's the one that gave him the shiner? Damn. Remind me never to get on her bad side! Why do I need to talk with him?"

"He doesn't remember what he said. Think about it, Don. Something that she did not tell you was that at the second murder, Ortiz wrote in the victim's blood that she was a slut and the she was his. Think about it. Danny said the same thing. It mirrored what Ortiz wrote in blood at the second murder. Can you blame her for snapping?"

Flack thought about it. "Damn. Messer is usually a little more…suave than that with the ladies. You're right. I'll talk to him and set him straight, as soon as possible. Can we change subjects?" Flack began to move his hand up Lindsay's arm. When his hand got to her chin, he gently lifted it and lowered his head to kiss her.

When Lindsay was finally able to think coherently again, she almost purred in satisfaction. "Sure we can change topics. What did you have in mind?"

Flack's answer was to claim her lips again as he began to unbutton her shirt.

A/N:

tylerhiltongroupie53-i glad you liked her back story. like i said before, that is the first chapter that i completed. i'm glad that i finally got to post it! i'm glad that you caught on to the the history before i posted this!

axellia-i'm glad that i could surprise you! i hope that you keep trying to figure out where the story is going..i know for a fact there are still a couple of major plot twists coming! i posted this early, just for you! but seriously, i won't be able to update until Saturday night...i've got plans tomorrow, so... :( don't you just love Monty Python trains of thought? i'm so going to have to go watch Holy Grail again! now repeat after me...i will not hyperventilate while waiting for another chapter...i promise, it will definately be Saturday night at the latest when i update next!

the little corinthian-vacation? what's that? i haven't had one in years...hope your vacation was great! yes, that is still considered a hug...but stand in line! i'm first! ;D i understand being hungry! i think i was when i was writing the chappie and thus...good food!

chili-peppers-i love it when you review in welsh! (i so need to learn it, but you are teaching me slowly. i only speak a smattering of french and of course english!)

kasmith101-i'm glad you like her deep dark secrets...i hope that explains to everyone why she keeps blowing hot and cold when it comes to danny.

bluenose-thank you! yeah...you have to admit, she was kinda being a bitch and poor danny was clueless! she should have been more honest with him about ortiz and she definately should have told him about the pictures.