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, here's some more fluff! As always, please, please, please R&R! My muse loves the attention!

Chapter 45.

Welcome to Texas

When Danny woke up the next morning, Cory was not beside him. He got out of bed slowly then walked around the house to see if she was in there. He found her in the kitchen. "Bella? Why are you up?"

Cory looked up from the list she was writing on the counter. "Hey, baby. I'm writing a store list. Everyone is coming into town today, so I want to have a get together here. To do that, I need to get supplies."

"How long have you been up?"

"I got up about seven, so about two hours. Do you want to go to the store with me?"

Danny got a look of his face that clearly said that going to the grocery store was not a thing that he wanted to do. "Do I have to?"

Cory rolled her eyes, with a smile on her face. "Nope. I am capable of going to the store on my own. How 'bout this. I'll go to the store and you hang out in my game room. Just don't break into my liquor cabinet!"

Danny nodded his agreement and Cory left.

A couple of hours later, Cory was back from the store. Danny looked on in shock as the amount of groceries that she had bought. "Are you planning on feeding an army?"

"No. I figured that everyone would be here for lunch and dinner, plus snacks…It's a lot of food!"

"So what's for lunch?"

Cory laughed. "Always thinking with your stomach. I got steaks and chicken for the grill. I'm going to bake potatoes on the coals and of course I have vegetables! For now, just munch on something. Oh. Nicole and Henry should be here soon. She's going to help me get everything ready."

Just as Cory finished her statement, she heard the front door open. With a smile, she called out, "Friend or Foe?"

"What do you want me to be today?" Nicole called out from the living room.

Cory giggled. "Friend!"

Nicole walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Danny. Then that's what I'll be today. I am at your service. Whatcha want me to do?"

Cory refrained from answering as she saw Henry walk in behind Nicole. "Henry, why don't you and Danny go into the game room?"

Danny walked over giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Wanna get rid of me already?"

Cory rolled her eyes. "Do you want to work or play?"

Danny opened his eyes wide. "Oh, definitely play. I'll leave you lovely ladies alone to work wonders in the kitchen."

Danny and Henry walked out of the kitchen. Nicole looked at her. "What time will everyone be here?"

"Well, their plane was supposed to land at 10am. Lindsay called me about 10:30 when they actually landed. I told her to have everyone here about two. So we have two hours to get everything ready. Remind me to start the grill in about thirty minutes."

Cory went over to her cabinets and pulled out four platters. She set them on the counter. "Let's see. I want one platter of meats, one of cheeses, one of veggies and one of fruit. What do you want to make?"

Nicole scrunched her nose as she thought about it. "I'll take the meat and the cheese. I just can't make the veggie or the fruit trays as pretty as you can!"

Cory rolled her eyes. "Whatever! But, I'll do it."

Thirty minutes later, they were almost finished. Cory took a break and went to light both of her grills. She had a huge grill that she was going to cook the meat on. The small grill that she had used when she cooked for Danny was going to be used to cook the potatoes. Once the goals were going, she walked back in to the kitchen.

Nicole had finished her trays and had begun to open the bags of chips. Cory finished the fruit tray that she was working on and put it in the fridge.

"Nic? Will you make the salsa while I make the cream cheese dip?"

Nicole smiled. "Of course. I love making salsa."

The women continued to putter around the kitchen, finishing their preparations. Finally about 1 pm they were done. Cory prepared the potatoes to be baked and wrapped them in foil. She went outside and put them on the coals to bake.

Then they joined the guys in the game room. Cory however, did not stop working. She walked over to the bar, to make sure that it was fully stocked with liquors and mixers. Satisfied with what she found, she finally sat down.

"Bella? What time is everyone coming over? I'm hungry!"

"When are you not hungry? They'll be here in about an hour."

An hour later, the doorbell rang, much to Danny's delight. Cory was giggling as she opened the door. "Hey guys!"

Lindsay grabbed Cory in a hug. "Your house is amazing!"

Stella was next. Her hug was a bit more subdued than Lindsay's but none the less warm. "She's right, the house is gorgeous."

Flack, Mac and Hawkes all gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

She led everyone into the game room and quickly introductions were made. Cory looked at everyone. "So is everyone hungry?" At their nods yes, both Nicole and Cory left the room to put the meat on the grill to cook.

Stella and Lindsay followed them. Lindsay looked out at her backyard. "This is amazing. I love your yard. Your pool is huge!"

Cory smiled. "Thanks. It's my one indulgence. Y'all did bring your swimsuits, right?"

Stella looked at Cory. "I brought it, but I have to say, I'm really not sure about the swimming thing."

Cory smiled. "Look. It's fairly warm today and my pool is heated. You'll be fine."

Cory finished putting the meat on and then turned to the women. "I'm going to change, anyone else want to?" All the women agreed and went to change. Cory was wearing the purple bikini, Lindsay a green bikini, Nicole a black bikini and Stella a red bikini. Cory looked at Stella in surprise. "Wow, Stella! You look amazing!"

Each woman put on shorts and a T-shirt on over the suits. Cory went back outside to check and turn the meat.

Thirty minutes later, the meat was done and Cory called everyone outside to eat. "You have your choice of steak or chicken."

Everyone grabbed plates and loaded up on food.

After they were done eating, they sat around a little before everyone decided to swim. Cory and Nicole were the first to jump in. Flack and Hawkes looked on in interest as they began to disrobe, revealing their swimsuits. Flack leaned over to Danny and whispered into his ear, "Dude. She's hot! You are so lucky."

While Flack was making that statement, Lindsay decided to jump in too. "You're one to talk, man." Danny nodded with his head and watched Flack's jaw drop as he saw Lindsay's suit. "Damn."

Mac couldn't keep his eyes off Stella as she revealed her swimsuit. Both Cory and Lindsay saw the look on his face and giggled. Lindsay looked at Cory. "He has it so bad! I wonder if he'll ever break down and ask her out."

Cory shrugged. "I don't know. I hope so, for both of their sanity." Both women decided to change the topic as Stella swam over to them. "Cory. This is so amazing."

"What can I say? I love to swim, so I get to swim a lot with the pool. The only time I don't swim is when it's raining or when it's really cold outside. The cold part is like two days out of the year."

Stella and Lindsay laughed. Nicole swam over to them, just as the men came out of the house, dressed in their swimming trunks. "So. How do y'all work with such hot men around?"

Lindsay laughed. "It can be a little distracting! But we've learned to ignore it for the most part."

Nicole raised her eyebrows. "Really." She was about to say more when both Flack and Danny did cannonballs into the pool, soaking them. That set off a huge splashing war that the girls won.

"We give! We give!" both of the men shouted.

"That's what I thought! Don't mess with us." Stella was laughing as she said that. "We will always beat you at this."

Everyone laughed and calmed down to do some serious relaxing.

(7 pm)

After an afternoon of swimming, the group was tired. When they were walking back in, Flack turned to Cory. "I saw your pool table. You play?"

Cory smirked. "A little. I'm not very good." Both Danny and Nicole shot Cory looks at that statement. Danny's look was one of confusion, but Nicole's was one of conspiracy.

"Really? Maybe we can play a game?"

"Sure. You can rack them up."

Cory watched as Flack racked them up. He broke them and called solids. Cory watched on as Flack sunk three balls consecutively.

Flack looked at Cory. "I'll give her a chance at least. I know I could clear the table now, but what the hell." He tried a nearly impossible shot and groaned as the ball just kissed the corner pocket.

Cory smiled. She knew what he had done, going for that shot. "Hum. He's trying to throw me a bone. He could have easily cleared the table. I guess I'll get to show him something."

Cory had the smirk back on her face as she leaned over the table. Flack watched in amazement as she quickly cleared the table and then sunk the eight ball.

Flack looked at her. "What the hell was that? I thought you said you weren't any good?"

Cory winked at him. "So I lied. Danny told me that you never lose when you are playing and I have to admit, it was too good of a challenge to pass up."

Flack turned to Danny as the rest of the group laughed. "You knew about this, Messer?"

Danny held up his hands. "I had no idea that she was planning on playin' ya until she said that she wasn't good. I have to admit, it was fun to see you lose. Besides, she beat me four out of seven games."

"Sorry, Flack. I had to. By the way, when you rack 'em up on my pool table, make sure you do it right."

Flack drew his eyebrows together. "What do you mean? I racked 'em right!"

Cory rolled her eyes. "Nope. Let me show you how to really rack them."

Cory turned to the table and quickly had a tournament rack set up. "This is how the balls are supposed to be racked. When ever we play, they need to be racked like this. Do you want a rematch?"

"Of course! You can break."

A couple of hours later, Flack sighed. "Okay! You win! You are really good. I've never lost so many games! How?"

Cory smiled and decided to go easy on him. "First, I used to play on the on the juvenile circuit. Second, I keep in practice. I'll teach you."

The group watched as Cory set up the pool table. She took two balls at a time and placed them, barely touching each other, in a straight line in front of each pocket. The final three balls, she placed where the rack normally goes in a triangle. "It's called fifteen balls in fifteen shots. The break doesn't count. Watch and learn."

Cory broke the balls and managed to sink two balls on the break. "Nic? Will you keep count?"

Nicole nodded. "Sure." She counted off the shots as Cory sank ball after ball. Finally, she lined up the final shot. Cory banked the ball into the corner pocket as Nicole said, "Eleven."

Cory smiled. "I'm off a little. Usually, I do it in ten. Let me set it up for you and you can try. It's not as easy as it looks."

Flack got a smug look on his face. "We'll see about that."

Cory kept count as Flack sank the balls. "Final count. Eighteen."

Flack shook his head. "I don't get it."

"Flack? Don't beat yourself up over this. It takes a lot of practice."

"Practice, huh? Let me try again."

Cory nodded, set up the table again and turned to spend some much needed time with her friends.

A/N:

john-the-geek- Glad you liked the image of Danny on a horse. If he spends a whole lotta time in Texas, he definately learn how to treat Cory right! Of course I've written more chapters! I'll upload them when it's time! ( :-p ) I'm glad I could take you down memory lane!---As I said before, great insight to why she curses in French (she is a paradox!). I still hold by the rule that when you cuss in French it doesn't sound like you are cussing at all! (lol) Glad you've kept up. :D

the little corinthian- My mind was down there so much that I decided to buy a house in the gutter! Cool idea for a part...I know just who to invite (Let's see, Danny, Flack, Greg, Nick, Eric (Miami), Martin (WaT), Danny (WaT), Charlie (Numb3rs), Don (Numb3rs)...the list just goes on and on!). I was a little shocked with the down right dirtiness that the defense displayed when I wrote it...Have no clue where that idea came from! Glad you like and I hope that you got some sleep!

chili-peppers- My muse thanks you! She does have a lot of self control (until she walked out of the courtroom). Hopefully there will be a lot less drama for her in the future! Don't worry about the chapter's. I'm updated fairly regularly right now since I'm almost finished writing it!

pnkrckprncss- My evil defense attorney was a hit! Yeah! (Don't worry-she'll get what's coming to her)...Italian is very romantic, but still not as romantic as French-there is a reason they call it the language of love!

screaming-poetically- I'm glad I did Tim justice! I'm glad you liked it...Everyone seemed to hate the defense attorney (which was the point!). That's the reason that I can't cuss in Spanish here. Everyone speaks Spanish here! And I agree, you are amazing to have come up with this amazing character!