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: Still with the drama here. Thanks everyone who is reviewing! These chapters have been hard to write (first of all, I don't like them fighting and second, it drawing to the close of the story and my muse and I don't want it to end!). As always, please, please, please R&R! My muse loves the attention!

Chapter 37.

Cold Shoulder

Danny was still sitting on the barstool four hours later. He was nursing a beer since the bartender had cut him off. He felt someone sit down next to him and looked up to see Stella looking at him. "Whadda ya want, Stella?"

Stella shook her head in disappointment. "Danny, what are you doing? Sitting here in the middle of the day, getting drunk? Spill it."

Danny looked at Stella, fighting the urge to tell her everything.

Stella stared Danny deep in the eyes. "Come on, Danny. You've got to let it out. There is so much pain in your eyes. Come on, just tell me." She kept up the silent soliloquy in her head, mentally trying to get him to break down.

Finally, Danny folded. In a quiet voice he told Stella what had happened on the roof.

Stella listened to Danny. When he was done with the story, she muttered under her breath. "Εσείς ηλίθιος διανοητικώς καθυστερημένος! Γιατί η κόλαση εσείς θα έλεγε αυτή σε την; Ατομα! Είστε όλοι όμοιο!"

Danny looked confused. "What?"

Stella shook her head. "You don't want to know. Danny, why did you say that to her?"

"I don't want her to hurt herself. Stella, I really…." Danny trailed off before he could make the confession.

"Ah, Danny. She wasn't trying to hurt herself. She was trying to deal with the pain. Everyone deals with pain in their own way. You tend to lash out at people. I bury myself in work. Cory obviously wanted to be by herself. You should have left when she told you she wanted to be alone."

"But…"

Stella cut Danny off. "No buts, Danny. Damn! Why are men so stupid and insensitive! Really, Danny. Think about. Really stop and think about what you said to her. Put that in combination with what Ortiz had just said in the interrogation. I know you're not dumb, figure it out." Stella was exasperated with Danny.

Danny was to drunk to try to even think. "Are you talkin' in some secret woman code? I don't get it, Stella."

Stella rolled her eyes. "Come on, Danny. Let me pour you into a cab and get you home. Maybe you can figure it out, tomorrow." Stella guided Danny out of the bar and saw him safely home.

(The next day)

When Danny woke up the next day, he had a slight hangover. He groaned when he thought about what had happened. "Smooth, Messer. Real smooth. Why was she so pissed off that I asked if she was okay?"

Danny lay in bed, thinking about the conversation on the roof and his subsequent conversation with Stella. "Stella said that men were stupid and insensitive. What did she mean? I was just trying to protect her! I just want her to be happy. Damn it. I wish I had killed Ortiz. Then he wouldn't have caused this fight!"

After 15 frustrating minutes of trying to figure Cory out, Danny gave up. He got up and took a shower. He got dressed and decided to go to the crime lab to see if Mac would let him work on something.

(Cory's apartment)

When Cory woke up, she felt the depression that she had been fighting come to the forefront. "Why did Danny do that? Granted, I should not have snapped at him like I did, but Hell! I wanted to be left alone. Did he really think that by some miracle that I would want to talk after what Ortiz had said to me? Whatever. It's best that this happened. Now I don't have to worry about hurting him when I leave for Dallas."

Cory sighed unhappily as she got ready for work. The only bright spot in her day was that she was going to interrogate Travis. She was looking forward to it.

(Crime Lab)

When Danny walked into the crime lab, he felt like he had a purpose. He immediately went to Mac's office to try to beg to be let to work on something. "Please let Mac be in!" He was in luck.

Mac looked up at Danny when he walked into his office. "Danny? What are you doing here? You have another three days off before coming back to work."

Danny looked at Mac. "Please, Mac. There's gotta be something that I can do. I'm going stir-crazy at home."

Mac looked at Danny again. When he responded, he had a sympathetic gleam in his eyes. "Danny, you know I can't. Just because you and Cory had a fight, I can't put you back to work. Department rules."

Danny looked at Mac in shock. "How did you know?"

Mac gave him a little smile. "You have the look that all men have when they've done something stupid and have no idea what that was. You want to talk about it?"

Danny just shook his head no. "Naw. I think I'll try to find something else to occupy my time."

Danny turned in resignation and walked out of the lab. "Maybe I just go apologize to Cory. Although, I still have no idea why!"

(FBI Headquarters)

Cory sat at her desk, reviewing some of the files and pictures that they had recovered from Ortiz's apartment. She was looking for a reason that Travis had become a traitor. She was still pouring over the data when there was a knock at her door. She looked up and smiled at Agent Michaels as he walked in. "Hi. Is it that time already?"

Agent Michaels nodded. "Yeah. Are you ready to interrogate him?"

Cory nodded. "Yes. That's for changing the time from yesterday. I don't think that I would have handled it very well."

"I understand. Ortiz got under your skin. I'm just very impressed that you were able to keep your calm for as long as you did."

"Thanks. Although afterwards…I just lost it. I'm ready. Let's go break Travis."

(Interrogation room)

Cory walked into the interrogation room, calm and collected. Agent Michaels followed her. "So Travis. Did you want to wait for your attorney?"

Travis looked at her. "No. I'm fine."

Cory nodded her head. "Let's begin." She sat down. "Start from the beginning. How did Ortiz contact you?"

Travis looked at his hands. "It was two years ago. I had just been selected to head the New York investigation into Mala Suerte. Two months after I started, I got an email. In that email were surveillance photos of my family." Travis paused.

Cory nodded understandingly. "Okay. I can see that receiving that probably freaked you out a little. Why not try and find out who sent the email?"

Travis looked back up at her. "The email said that if anyone found out, they would kill my entire family."

Cory nodded again. "What did they want you to do?"

"The email left instructions for me to meet someone at a warehouse in the meat packing district. So I went. When I got there, I found Ortiz waiting for me. He bound me, hand and foot to a chair. Then he graphically told me what he would do to my family if I refused to work with him."

Cory closed her eyes. "Continue."

Travis took a deep breath. "I couldn't let my family be hurt, so I agreed to give him information."

Cory perked up at this. She knew from the evidence that she had gathered that Travis was doing a lot more than giving Ortiz information. She decided to let the story unfold. "What kind of information?"

"Locations of raids. Names of undercover agents. Information on you."

Cory looked up confused. "Information on me? Why? I wasn't even in New York at that time."

Travis nodded. "I know. At first, it was just stuff like whether or not you were still on the investigation. Then it became….darker. He wanted me to give him your personal habits. I told him no. I couldn't do it. First of all, I had no idea of what type of info I could get on an agent that was fifteenhundred miles away. So he made me give him a list of name of agents in Dallas." Withthat he drew in a breath.

Corytried to stay calm. "So, there is a mole in Dallas, too? I want that list of names."

Travis smiled. "Sorry, I don't remember any of them."

Cory felt her eyes frost over. "Trust me. You'll remember them. But by all means carry on with your story. When's the first time you killed someone for him?"

Travis looked surprised. "How?"

It was Cory's turn to smile. "How did I know? Travis, I'm not stupid. Plus, Ortiz has tapes and pictures of you killing people. You haven't answered my question."

Travis looked at her. "The first time was the first undercover agent we put in the field. Ortiz told me that if I didn't kill him, then he would torture my wife while I watched. I felt…trapped. I didn't know what to do. I tried desperately to think of a way out of the situation, but since I'd already told him who the agent was…I had no choice. It was the most difficult thing that I'd ever done. I can still see the look in his eyes as he died. I felt like pond scum."

Cory sat there, processing the information. "You should feel like pond scum. What you did was inexcusable."

Travis nodded. "I know."

Cory's furrowed her brow as his words sunk in. "You said the first time. What about the second?"

"It was the same situation. This time it was easier. I knew that if I did it fast I would deal with it better."

Cory removed some pictures from the folders. "I can understand about the agents. But what about these five men? Why did you kill them?" She laid the pictures of the dead men from the human slave case in front of Travis.

Travis smiled an evil smile. "That was for fun."

"For fun? Killing five men is fun for you? What ever happened to bowling, pool, playing poker? What changed you from a normal person into a killer?" Cory was struggling to keep her calm.

Travis' eyes bore into hers. "Have you ever killed someone?" Cory shook her head, no. "It's an amazing rush. You're playing God. You have the power to decide who lives and who dies. It's….addictive. Stronger than any drug you can buy. All it took was a couple of times and I was hooked. After that, Ortiz no longer had to threaten my family. He had me."

Cory looked at her former boss, unable to comprehend how much he had changed from the man she knew. He was like Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The difference was night and day. She shook her head in amazement. "Who are you? How did you go from a loyal FBI agent to a psychopathic killer?"

Travis just laughed. "Maybe I was always this way, but in denial. Ortiz just set my true personality free."

Cory gathered the pictures back up. "This interview is over." With a jerk of her head, she motioned for the other agent to escort Travis back to his cell.

When he was gone, Agent Michaels turned to her. "You handled that very well. You realize that you just got him to confess to seven murders, right?"

Cory sighed wearily. "Yeah. It doesn't give me any pleasure, though. I don't understand. You become a cop to uphold law and order. Why become the bad guy? How did all of the psychological exams that the Bureau administers to potential candidates miss that?"

Agent Michaels looked at her. "Psychological profiles can only get you so far. He was hired on way before the exams were perfected. Don't beat yourself up over it. You can't change the past."

Cory smiled a little at that. "I know. Doesn't mean that I don't want to try to."

Agent Michaels laughed as he left the room. Cory gathered the files and followed him out, going to her office.

When she got to her office, she saw Danny standing there. "What do you want, Danny?"

Danny looked at her, a little uncomfortable. "I want to apologize."

Cory's heart leapt that the thought. She raised her eyebrows. "Apologize for what?"

Danny shifted on his feet, a little uncomfortable. "Um. For whatever I did that made you mad?"

"He doesn't know? He hasn't….Men!" Cory's heart fell back into her chest. "You don't know why you're apologizing? Just leave, Danny. I don't want to talk to you right now."

Danny started to get angry. He was trying to make things right and she just blew him off. "You know what? Never mind. I take my apology back. You obviously don't want this relationship to work. Look. I don't know what crawled up your ass and bit you, but I ain't takin' this anymore."

"You know what, Danny. If you can't even figure out what made me mad, then I don't want to be in a relationship with you. Just leave. Please, just leave."

This time Danny complied with her request, storming out of her office muttering under his breath in Italian.

Cory watched him go, her heart breaking into a million pieces.

A/N:

Translation of the Greek: You stupid moron! Why the hell would you say that to her? Men! You are all alike!

the little corinthian- I think that it's more than just a relationship issue...It's an emotional one. Neither one of them are really good about letting people in for obvious reasons and they have instictively been on their best behavior to keep one another happy. I picture Stella grabbing Danny by the ear and frog marching him to Cory's to apologize! (LOL).

chili-peppers- I'm glad you liked! It was really fun to write (although I had to envision something that made me mad to get the tone right!). So far, my muse is letting me stick with the plan and eventually they will make up (both will eat some major crow).

stargazr- Glad to see you back! At least you've kept up with the story :D My bf (and beta) was the one who convinced me to have them fight. I knew it was necessary, but I was having probs since I really did not want them to fight. But with the way it worked out, it's been better for the story! The something else is coming (I won't say what chapter, but you will have to use your imagination, since I'm not able to write smut very well!).

pnkrckprncss- This is one of my fav chapter's too! (18 and 19 are my other fav's). She will definately handle Travis better...She had a long time to build up so much resentment to Ortiz so that was part of the issue with him. I'm glad I'm not predictable. I hate that. I really like to surprise my readers once in a while. Be forwarned. I start back to college on Aug. 28, so any additional stories will be few and far between until winter break. (probably once or twice a month, depending on what part of the semester I'm in. Definately a couple of weeks before finals...There will be probably no stories).