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: Okay. More drama here...Sorry, that's the way the story is going! As always, please, please, please R&R! My muse loves the attention! Also, I am putting together a Cory and Danny song mix...you're suggestions are very welcome! Just put your suggestions your review or you can PM me! Also, remember that the contest is still going on. Whoever writes review number 200 (excluding Axellia), I will add to the story for at least 1 chapter!

Chapter 36.

Why did you do it?

Cory got up the next morning, feeling better after her talk with Danny the previous night. She and Danny had stayed up until the early hours of the morning talking. She finally convinced him to go home about 2 am. She knew that there was still a trying day ahead for her, but her talk with Danny had helped her to understand how to control her feelings.

She got ready for work and went to her office. When she got there, she checked her messages. One was from Lydia. She wanted to check to make sure that Cory was okay. The next one was from Agent Michaels. He was calling to confirm the time for Cory's interrogation with Travis and Ortiz. Ortiz's interrogation was scheduled for 10 am and Travis' for 3 pm.

Grabbing a drink, Cory decided to prepare for both interrogations.

(10 am)

Cory stood outside the interrogation room, trying to calm her nerves. She had envisioned every single scenario that she could think of for what Ortiz could say to her. She watched him through the two-way glass as he sat there, alone. She felt someone walk up behind her and was surprised to see Flack and Danny standing there.

"What are y'all doing here?"

Flack looked at her. "We're here to see if you can get any info about the murder of the human slave suspects. Plus…" Flack broke off looking at Danny.

Danny looked at him. "Plus, we want to support you and make sure that you do not do anything stupid, like trying to kill him."

Cory smiled. "Don't worry about that. My anger has cooled considerably." Danny and Flack looked confused. "What? I've learned that the cooler my anger gets, the more control I have. The more control I have, the more I can use that to break him."

Flack and Danny just looked at each other and shrugged, not even trying to understand the female psyche. They turned as Agent Michaels walked up.

Agent Michaels looked at Cory. "Are you ready to do this?"

Cory nodded. "Bring him on."

They both walked into the room. Cory dropped a couple of file folders on the table. They were full of pictures. Jim had worked a double shift, organizing all the pictures. The folders held pictures from the murders of James, Armando and Michael.

"So, Ortiz. You only want to talk to me. Fine. Let's talk." Cory put a tape recorder down on the table and turned it on. "Do you wish to have an attorney present during questioning?"

Ortiz looked at Cory. "Oh, chica. What a way to start a conversation. How are you doing, mi amor?"

Cory just looked at him, keeping a tight rein on her anger. "Just answer the question. Do you or do you not want an attorney present during questioning?"

"Chica…"

Cory felt the ice build in her eyes. "Don't, chica, me. Answer the question. If you don't, I'm outta here."

Ortiz realized that she wasn't going to budge. "Fine. I don't need an attorney. But I'm not talking to you with him in the room." Ortiz nodded his head towards Agent Michaels.

Cory looked over her shoulder at Agent Michaels. "It's alright. You can go."

Agent Michaels looked at her, with concern in his eyes. "You sure?"

Cory shook her head. "Yeah. I'll be fine."

With her assurance, Agent Michael left the room to join Flack and Danny behind the glass.

Cory turned her attention back to Ortiz. "So do you want to confess?"

Ortiz looked her up and down. "You don't look like a priest."

Cory matched his sarcasm. "Funny. So, why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Damn it. Channel the anger. Don't let him see that he affects you." Cory almost ground her teeth in frustration. "You sit there accused of the murder of three people, one of them an FBI agent and attempted murder of two others. Are you trying to deny it or admit to it?"

"Admit to what?"

Cory took a breath. "Did you or did you not kill James Hogan, Michael Hogan and Armando De la Cruz?"

"No comment."

"Really. Fine. Let me comment for you." Cory withdrew the pictures of the dead bodies of the three men. "Let's start with Michael and Armando. Now I have a pretty good idea of why they were killed. Interrupt me if I'm wrong. Armando joins the gang two years ago. He works his way up through the ranks, proving himself a loyal member of the gang. Eventually, you notice him. You make him your right hand man. How am I doing so far?"

Ortiz just glared at her. "Anyway, so one day you get suspicious of him. He's around the computers too much. He leaves and is out of reach for a couple of hours each week. You have him followed. Where you find out that he is giving the information to an unknown person, information so important that it can and will be used against you to convict you of unspeakable crimes. And he's just giving it away to the enemy."

Cory smiled as she saw Ortiz getting angry. "So you follow him to a meeting. He hands the information over to a man that looks exactly like the man you had killed years before. You lose it. You and other members of your gang decide to kill him and the man who he gave the information to."

Ortiz looked at her. "That's an interesting bedtime story. But it's not true."

Cory smiled. "Really. Then this video tape that I found in your apartment showing the murder is just a work of fiction, huh? Just afilm that you are trying to win an Oscar with?"

Ortiz realized that he was in trouble. "You little bitch." The words were spoken softly, menacingly.

Cory raised her eyebrows. "Would you like to repeat that for the record?"

In the observation room, Flack stood in shock. "How is she staying so calm?"

Danny looked at him. "We had a long talk last night. She understands that Ortiz is going to try to break her, force her to commit an error and get off on a technicality. I convinced her that it would be better for her to stay calm."

Agent Michaels nodded at Danny's comment. "You're right. He thinks that he can rattle her enough to get out of the rather messy situation he is in. You know that we found videos of all three of those murders. Each video shows Ortiz killing each man. He's toast. No jury in the world is going to let him walk. This is just the difference between life in prison and the death penalty."

Flack nodded in agreement, turning his attention back to the interrogation.

Cory was still reining in her anger. "So, I'm a bitch. Is that what pisses you off the most? Or is the fact that I'm not your bitch. Why me? Why are you so intent on killing anyone close to me?

Ortiz snarled in his rage. "Your mine. You made yourself mine when we made love. I was your first. You belong to me."

"Huh. I've never heard that before. This is not the dark ages, Carlos. Men don't own women anymore. Oh, and by the way. We didn't make love. We had sex. Big difference. So is that why you had to kill James. Because I was in love with him. Or was because I had sex with him."

Ortiz snapped at her calm accusation and jumped up. "You are the whore of Babylon. You don't deserve anyone to ever touch you. He was just an infidel who didn't deserve to live."

Cory clenched her fists, trying to keep from punching him. "Again, you don't own me. You have no right to decide who touches me."

Ortiz sat back down. "I have nothing more to say to you."

Cory gathered the pictures and put them back in the folders. "Fine." She got up and prepared to leave. "One more thing, Carlos. I have enough evidence to convict you for James' murder. You will be put on trial in Texas. Do you know what we do with people on death row in Texas?"

Ortiz just looked at her.

"We get them off of death row by executing them. I do have an offer for you."

Ortiz looked at her in suspicion. "What? You're not going to pursue death?"

Cory smirked. "Oh, no. We will pursue the death penalty. Here's the offer. How long do you want to wait to die? You see…I'm very good friends with the Hogan's. They are very well connected in the Texas government. If I'm so inclined, I might be able to convince them to give you more time to think about your transgressions. If you give me the name of your suppliers, I'll see what I can do." Cory turned and started to walk out of the room after dropping that bombshell.

"He begged for his life."

The sound of Ortiz's voice stopped Cory in her tracks. Danny watched as all the color drained out of Cory's face. She turned to Ortiz, her voice deadly. "What?"

"James. He begged for his life. All he could talk about was how he wanted to live to protect you from me."

Cory walked back to the table and sat down, in shock. "Why are you telling me this?"

"You wanted me to talk about it, why not. If you truly have the video, then it doesn't matter. Do you want to know how we got into his apartment? How easy it was to subdue him. How much pleasure I got from slowly torturing him?"

"You bastard. You're just playing games with me. I'm through."

"I've got her where I want her." Ortiz smiled as he saw that she was rattled. "I don't think so. You want to know. Inside, there's a little voice in your head that just wants to know what happened. You want to know why? There was no reason."

Cory sat there. Her mind was completely blank.

"He was a fighter. He fought death until it won. Of everyone I've seen die, his death took the longest. But he wouldn't stop talking! Dios! All he could talk about was you and how hurt you would be. I'm glad I stopped him from marrying you. I saved you from the biggest mistake of your life."

Something snapped inside of Cory at that comment. "You son of a bitch!" she snarled as she stood up. She slapped her hands on the table as she leaned over it. "The biggest mistake of my life was sleeping with you, you arrogant ass. I'm going to really enjoy watching you die." Cory spun around and stormed out of the room.

She ignored everyone outside of the room as she walked quickly to the elevator. Danny turned and followed her.

Agent Michaels looked at Flack. "I think I'll reschedule Agent Miller's interrogation for tomorrow." Flack nodded in agreement.

(Roof)

When Danny finally caught up with Cory she was standing by the railing looking out at the city.

"Bella? Are you okay?"

Cory didn't move. Her voice was quiet as she responded. "Do you know how tired I am of people asking me that? For the last seven years, when something happens with Ortiz that's the first thing people ask. Why the hell would I not be okay? Huh? I'm not breakable, I can put up with anything that he can dish out."

Danny looked at her back confused. "It was just a question. You don't have to bite my head off."

Cory turned, the rage simmering in her eyes. "Look, Messer. I don't want to deal with this right now. I just want to be alone." Cory drew a pack of cigarettes out her pocket.

Danny watched in shock as she lit a cigarette and took a long drag. "What the hell do you think your doing?"

Cory almost sneered. "Smoking. You got a problem with that?"

Danny felt himself becoming angry. "Yeah. Why are you doing this?"

"Because I want to. It makes me feel better."

Danny just shook his head. "Ah, hell no." He grabbed the cigarettes from her hand. "You will not smoke."

Cory stepped back a second. "Excuse me?"

"No, I won't excuse you. You're being stupid. I will not let you smoke. Ain't gonna happen."

Cory felt her face go hot and cold and her rage broke free. "You're not going to let me smoke? Not like you can stop me. You don't own me, Messer. You have no say on what I can and will do." Cory was shouting now. "I am not a child, not a pet, not a slave. I answer to no one but myself. You got that! If you can't deal with a woman with a mind of her own, there's the door. Just leave!"

Danny was furious now. "Fine! If I walk out that door, I'm gone for good. It's over once that door closes."

"Fine. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!"

"Whatever." Danny threw the pack of cigarettes at her and stalked off the roof as Cory watched him leave.

Danny walked down to the floor where Flack was on. He was cursing in Italian as he walked up to Flack and Agent Michaels. "Let's go, Flack. We're outta here."

Flack looked at Danny in confusion. "What?"

"I'm leaving. You coming or not?"

Flack followed Danny out of the building. He chose not to speak as they got into the car. "You wanna tell me what happened?"

"Nope. Drop me off at Ray's."

Flack looked at Danny with concern. "What the hell happened with you and Cory?"

"I told you, man. I don't want to talk about it. Discussion closed."

Flack just shook his head and let Danny out of the car. "Fine. Just make sure you can make you're way home."

Danny walked into Ray's and up to the bar. He looked at the bartender. "Give me a shot of tequila." The bartender put the shot down and Danny started to get seriously drunk.

Flack continued on his way back to the station, but decided to stop at the crime lab instead. When he got there, he hunted for Stella and found her in the break room, drinking some coffee.

"Stella! Just the person I was looking for. I need your help."

Stella looked at Flack, a little nervous. "What can I do to help you?"

Flack sat down next to her. "I think Danny and Cory had a fight. He's at Ray's right now, getting drunk."

Stella looked at him. "What was the fight about?"

Flack shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea. The interrogation with Ortiz ended badly. Cory walked out of the room and ignored everyone. Danny followed her. When he came back about 15 minutes later, he was muttering under his breath in Italian and insisted that we leave. I tried to get him to talk, but he did not want to. Then he insisted on me dropping him off at Ray's. Can you go and talk to him?"

Stella nodded. "Sure. I can't leave for a couple of hours though. I still have some evidence that I am working on processing for a new case. I'm sure that he will still be there."

Flack sighed. He felt better knowing that Stella would look after Danny.

(FBI Headquarters)

When Cory finally came down from the roof, she had calmed down a little. She was still upset with Danny, but she did not want to kill him anymore. She found Agent Michaels waiting for her in her office.

"I took the liberty of moving Travis's interrogation to tomorrow. I figured that it would not be best for it to be today."

Cory nodded. "I understand. With the way I feel right now, I would probably try to physically harm him. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'm also going to tell you to go home. It's been a rough day and I think you need to unwind."

Cory bristled a little at the suggestion. "I'm fine, really. I can still help process the evidence."

Agent Michaels nodded his head. "No. That was not a suggestion, it was an order. Go home. Try to do something that will keep you from thinking about Ortiz. I don't care what, although I do ask that if you go drinking, don't come in with a hangover."

Cory smiled a little at that. "I don't get hangovers. But I will leave. Lydia called me earlier and asked if I was doing okay. She wanted to take me out tonight. I'll call her and see if we can go to the movies."

Cory called Lydia and they both decided to go see a comedy. She grabbed her purse and walked out of her office.

A/N: (ducks out of the way at various objects and insults being hurled at me) Please don't kill me, okay? The fight had to come...I mean they've been on an emotional rollarcoaster for a couple of days now and the effects are just starting to be felt! I am curious to see what everyone thought about the fight!

the little corinthian- Okay, I'm jealous that you have a DVD recorder! I've got about 11 episodes on VHS tapes, that I am loaning to my bf since she doesn't get CBS very well...He is very attractive when he cries! Glad you liked!

chili-peppers- DL is my favorite, too. I just can't seem to write them right now. I like the fact that they were bonding before this chapter! But what can I sayw, life and emotions intruded on the perfect moment. I hope I'm not making you wait too long!

pnkrckprncss- You're Spidey sense must be working overtime if you saw this coming! Am I getting that predictable? True, what falls apart hopefully will come back to life with lots and lots of fluff! I definately will continue to write. I'm probably going to write another oneshot about when Flack met Lindsay. Then I'm going to try to write some DL fic's. The offer for a good idea for a sequel to this story still stands!

axellia- don't worry about it! I know how hard you've been working (both actual and on you're story), so I completely understand. Yes you can hug Flack! He is a sweetie! Cory received your cyber-hug and thanks you for it! And yeah, the photos? Definately one of the creepiest parts of the story. What can I say? I like my villians smart and insane! That makes them fun to write(:D)

note to stargazr, bluenose, kasmith101---haven't seen y'all in a while and I miss all y'alls reviews!

note to screaming-poetically-- i finally thought of the perfect song for your fm radio song mix...She Blinded Me with Science by Thomas Dolby! I think that it is just perfect since Lindsay is a scienctist and Flack isn't! (lol) Sorry, I just heard the song the other day and it's been stuck in my head since then!