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, the trial continues! This is kinda a short chapter, but my muse felt it was necessary! Hope y'all enjoy! As always, please, please, please R&R! My muse loves the attention! And thank you to Screaming-Poetically for Tim, the ADA-obviously I don't own him:D

Chapter 44.

Badgering the Witness

Cory was nervous when she walked into the courtroom on Friday. This was her day to testify.

Danny picked up on her tension and looked down at her. "Are you going to be okay with testifying?"

Cory nodded her head. "I think so. I'm worried. It took me almost seven years to tell someone the whole story and now I have to tell a courtroom full of people." Cory shivered slightly.

Danny put his arm around her for comfort. He knew that she had refused to even look at Ortiz this week and now she was going to have to relieve the horror that she had been through. "I think that you'll do fine. Just realize that I am here for you."

Cory smiled, feeling relief at that thought. "Thanks, cherie. That helps more than you know."

Both sat down and waited for the trial to resume.

(Cory's testimony)

It was close to 11 am before Cory took the stand. She stood in the box while the bailiff came over to her.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you, God?"

"I do." Cory sat down.

Timothy O'Reilly came over to her. "Agent Reid. Will you please describe your relationship with the defendant?"

Cory drew a breath and proceeded to go over her history.

When O'Reilly had finished questioning her, the judge called a recess for lunch.

After lunch, the trial resumed with the cross examination from the defense.

The defense attorney, Elizabeth Marquez, had a smirk on her face as she began to question Cory.

"So, Agent Reid. How intimate was your relationship with the accused?"

Cory looked puzzled. "We were friends in high school. We got drunk one time and slept together. That was the extent of our relationship."

Elizabeth drew her eyebrows together. "Really? Isn't it true that you were in love with Carlos?"

"No. I liked him as a friend but that was the extent of my feelings."

"Okay. What did you talk with him about when you met him after college?"

"I'm sorry, what are you talking about?" Cory was confused.

"You met Carlos the summer after you graduated college. What did you talk about?"

Cory was confused about the relevance of that question since she had covered that with O'Reilly's questioning. O'Reilly was also confused. "Objection. The defense is asking questions that have already been answered. What is the relevance?"

"Sustained," said Judge Owens as he looked at Elizabeth. "Ms. Marquez, you are cautioned to show some relevance or drop this line of questioning."

"Trust me, Your Honor, I am about to show relevance." Elizabeth turned back to Cory.

"Agent Reid. Did you or did you not tell Carlos Ortiz when you met him before you became an FBI agent that you would do what you could to help him out?"

"What do you mean by help him out?"

"I mean that you would protect him from FBI probes."

"No, that's not true. How…"

Elizabeth cut her off. "You mean you don't remember that conversation?"

Cory felt her anger rising. "How can I recall a conversation that didn't happen?"

"So your memory if faulty?" Elizabeth was throwing the questions at Cory at a high rate of speed.

"Objection. Your honor, the defense is badgering the witness."

"Sustained. Counselor, do you have a point?"

"I do, Your Honor. I have a tape of the witness offering to help the defendant out with the FBI, Your Honor." Elizabeth picked up a tape recorder from the defenses' table.

"Objection, Your Honor. The defense has not made us aware of this bit of evidence."

Judge Owens narrowed his eyes at the defense. "Is this true, Counselor? I move to strike the evidence until the prosecution has had a chance to review it."

Elizabeth looked a little upset at that. "Fine. Let's move on to when you captured Ortiz. You stated that you allowed yourself to be captured by him. Why?"

Cory looked at her. "I knew that Ortiz had kidnapped Detective Messer. When Ortiz called me to meet him alone, I knew that this was my one chance to make sure that Detective Messer survived the experience."

"Why not call for backup?"

"Ortiz said that if I did not come alone, he would kill the detective. I felt that the risk was too great to endanger his life."

"How did you overcome Ortiz?"

"We were in the living room where Ortiz was about to kill the detective, when the guards were distracted by something." Cory was very careful not to mention ghosts. "I grabbed a knife that I had hidden in my boot and kicked the guard that was watching me."

"You just kicked him, you didn't do anything else?"

Cory laughed softly. "I didn't need to do anything else. I was wearing steel-toed boots and I kicked him in the groin. He dropped like a sack of potatoes."

Cory noticed that the courtroom chuckled at her bland statement. Elizabeth also noticed this and frowned at the loss of support for her side. She decided to change tactics.

"Tell me about the night that James Hogan was killed."

"What's there to tell?"

Judge Owens looked at Cory. "Agent Reid, I remind you that you are under oath."

"Sorry, Your Honor. I was contacted around 10 pm by James' supervisor. I knew that something bad had happened. That's all I know. I was not involved in processing the crime scene, since I was his fiancée."

"Isn't it true that you were relieved that he was dead?"

Cory felt all of the blood drain from her face. "What? No! I loved James. Why would I want him dead?"

"Isn't it true that Agent Hogan had just put you as the beneficiary on all of his financial documents? Did you or did you not inherit a great deal of money from him?"

"We were getting married. Of course I was his beneficiary. Just like he was my beneficiary."

"How much did you inherit?"

O'Reilly was fed up with the defense. He jumped up. "Objection! What is the relevance?"

"Sustained."

Elizabeth looked at the judge. "Your Honor, I am establishing a motive for Agent Reid to have ordered Ortiz to kill Agent Hogan."

Danny felt himself begin to jump up at the accusation, and then he saw the look in Cory's eyes. "Oh, shit. That stupid defense attorney is in for it!"

Cory channeled her anger. She felt her eyes grow cold. "Really? Why would I want to kill the man I was going to marry?"

"For money. The oldest reason in the world. So I ask you, how much did you inherit?"

"Objection!"

Judge Owens looked curious. "Overruled. Answer the question."

"4.2 million dollars."

Elizabeth smiled in triumph. "No more questions."

Judge Owens looked at O'Reilly. "Redirect?"

"Yes, Your Honor. I just have one question. Agent Reid, what did you do with the money you inherited from Agent Hogan?"

Cory looked at O'Reilly in relief. "I didn't need the money so I gave it all to charity. Half went to the Red Cross and the other half when to charities that helps to keep children out of gangs."

"Thank you, Agent Reid."

Judge Owens looked at her. "Thank you. You may step down. I call a recess until 9 am Monday morning. This will give the prosecution the weekend to look over the new evidence."

Cory stalked out of the courtroom. When Danny caught up to her, she looked ready to explode. "Bella? Let's go home."

Cory just nodded. When she got in the car, she was muttering under her breath in French. "Chienne stupide! Pourquoi l'enfer essayerait-elle de traîner mon nommé... MON NOMME... par la boue? Pense-t-elle vraiment que ceci descendra de son âne stupide d'un client? Comment l'enfer a-t-elle osé dire cela au sujet de moi?"

Danny listened to her tirade, smiling. Some of the words were similar enough to Italian that he had an idea of what she was saying.

"Bella, while it is very sexy when you speak French, I would love to know what you are saying!"

Cory laughed as Danny broke the tension. "Sorry. It's a habit. Since there are not a lot of people that speak French in Texas, I trained myself to curse in French, so no one would know what I was saying. I was just saying how the defense attorney was stupid for trying to drag my name through the mud."

Danny smirked. "I kinda picked up on that. What do you want to do tonight?"

"I definitely do not want to go out! How about pizza and beer and we can hang out in my game room? We can watch movies and maybe play pool."

"Sounds like a plan."

(Cory's house)

Cory had calmed down quite a bit after the pizza and wine that her and Danny had eaten. She walked into the game room and began to rack up the pool table. "Eight ball or nine ball?"

Danny watched in fascination as Cory began to set up the table. "Um. Eight ball." As Cory racked up the balls, in tournament formation, Danny looked on in shock. "How do you know how to do that?"

"What? Set up a tournament rack? I used to play a lot. I'm not as good as I used to be, but I still have some game. Do you want to break?"

Danny nodded yes, picked up a pool cue and broke the rack. He sunk both the 3 and the 14 ball on the break. Danny chose to play stripes.

"Okay. I'm Skittles." Cory smirked as she said that.

"You're what?"

"Skittles. You know, solids? It's a slang term for solids."

"Oh. And here I thought that it was just a candy."

Cory rolled her eyes. "Just shoot."

Danny leaned over the table and took a shot at the 15 ball. It just kissed the corner of the pocket but didn't go in.

"My turn!" Cory's eyes were twinkling as she leaned over the table. She cleanly shot the 6 ball in the pocket. She took a look at the table and decided to shoot a 4-2 combo. Both balls went in.

Danny looked on in shock. "Damn, she's good! I've got to have her play Flack. I've never seen him lose."

She missed the next shot at the 1 ball and it was Danny's turn. He quickly sunk the 9, 11 and 10 balls in that order. He decided to go for a difficult shot at the 12 ball, which was behind the 8 ball. He missed.

Cory smiled as she quickly cleared the table. "Eight ball, side pocket." Danny shook his head as she quickly sunk the ball.

Danny laughed. "Best two outta three?"

Several hours and six games of pool later, Danny conceded. "Okay. I give. You beat me four out of seven games! I definitely have to have you play Flack. You may be the one person that can beat him."

"Really? Flack plays pool? I love a challenge." Cory got a serious look on her face. "Danny? Thanks for taking my mind off of the trial today. I really needed that."

"No problem. Nothing's too good for my girl."

Cory blushed. "I'm your girl?"

Danny drew Cory to him. "Yeah. Ti amo, bella. Ti amo con tutto il mio cuore. Desidero che ho avuto il coraggio chiedervi di sposarlo." Danny lowered his head and kissed her.

A/N:

Translation of the French…

Stupid bitch! Why the hell would she try to drag my name...MY NAME...through the mud? Does she really think that this will get her stupid ass of a client off? How the hell did she dare to say that about me?

Translation of the Italian.

I love you, beautiful. I love you with all my heart. I wish I had the courage to ask you to marry me.

chili-peppers- Diolch! I'm glad you are beginning to think of her as canon...It's been an experience writing her (maybe someone from CBS will read this and I'll have a new job! Okay...I'm done dreaming now...) I think that her and Lindsay initially bonded over the fact they were both from out of state, but I love the fact that they are friends!

pnkrckprncss- Don't worry, the end is coming soon (at least for now). I have the final chapters planned out. There will be 51 total. I'm also writing a DL fic right now (that's going slow, since I'm putting so much energy into this!) The New York crew will be in town for chapters 45 and 46. Patience is something that you have to learn a little at a time (I'm probably one of the most patient people until you piss me off, then all bets are off!). I wish I spoke more French (I only remember a couple of cuss words in French, so I can't curse at myself).

screaming-poetically- Glad you liked the non-canon character (and who was it that gave me SO MUCH information on him:D) I hope I did him justice in this chapter (I remembered you said that he likes to argue.) There definately will be that underlying angst of will she move or not for a couple of chapters. I do already now what the decision in, so I hope everyone is happy with what my muse decided!

the little corinthian- Glad you like that mental image. None of them are ugly! I don't remember who much I went into how they looked, so your imagination will just have to work overtime on that one! (Would you like to join me in the gutter?)