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: Hope y'all enjoyed the fluff….It's back to the trial now! This is a short, but necessary chapter! I am actually posting this early (I hadn't planned on posting this until tomorrow) but seeing as I forgot that I'll be out of town this weekend and not have access to the internet very much, I'm posting it early. I'll try to post another chapter on either Saturday or Sunday (I'll be at my parent's house that night, so I'll have an internet connection), but if things change, it will be late Sunday night before I get a chance to update with chapter 47. I'm also going to use this weekend to finish the final chapter and work on the DL story that I am writing, so I might be able to begin to post that as soon as next week! As always, please, please, please R&R! My muse loves the attention!

Chapter 46.

Fabricating Evidence

The whole team decided to get to the courthouse early on Monday morning. As a result, they arrived a little before eight in the morning. Cory showed everyone the courtroom and as soon as O'Reilly came in, she introduced them.

Mac looked pleased when he was introduced. "Counselor O'Reilly. Pleasure to meet you. I watched the Tony Montebello case and you were extremely efficient. Good job at putting him away."

O'Reilly smiled. "Thank you. It was very satisfying to see him behind bars. I'm looking forward to hearing all y'all's testimony."

They decided to take the extra time and go over everyone's testimony one more time. Cory looked at O'Reilly. "Counselor? I'd like to ask you a question. What did y'all find on the supposed tape?"

O'Reilly grinned like the Cheshire cat. "It's a complete forgery. I can't wait to show it to the judge."

(9 am)

The team settled on the first row behind the prosecution after Judge Owens came in.

"Court is now in session. I trust that the weekend was long enough for the prosecution to go over the evidence?"

O'Reilly stood up. "Yes, Your Honor. My forensics team discovered that the tape could not have been genuine. There were discrepancies in the background noise. If you like, I will demonstrate." Judge Owens motioned for him to continue.

"As you can see, we have broken up the tape into five parts. The first part has the background noise normal to that in an office. This next section has parts showing similarities to being in a car. The other three sections all have different outside background noises." He put a tape player on the table in front of him. "Here is the tape played without the actual words, just with the background noise." He hit play and the courtroom was shocked to here the backgrounds change so much during the thirty second tape.

Judge Owens got a stony look on his face. He turned his gaze to the defense table. "Ms. Marquez. Did you even examine the tape for authenticity before trying to present it as evidence?" She did not respond, but a blush crept up her cheeks. "I will give you one warning. If you are found fabricating evidence again, I will have you disbarred. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Your Honor."

"Now, did you have any more questions for Special Agent Reid?"

"No, Your Honor."

"Fine. Prosecution, you may call your next witness."

Timothy O'Reilly stood up. "The prosecution calls Detective Mac Taylor to the stand."

Mac stood up and walked to the stand. He sat down after swearing to tell the truth.

"Detective Taylor, can you please describe to me how you and your team became acquainted with Special Agent Reid?"

Mac went through his testimony, leaving nothing out. The defense did not have any cross examinations questions for him.

Both Danny and Flack's testimonies went just as smooth before lunch. When the judge called the recess for lunch, Cory was relieved. Hearing about the different cases over was wearing heavily on her nerves. Her only consolation was that this part of the trial would be over soon. From the list of witnesses that she had seen for the defense, their testimony was going to take at least two weeks.

She walked up to Stella and Lindsay. "How would y'all like to go shopping for lunch?"

Both women agreed and they left the men to their own devices. Cory took them to the main street, to wander the shops there. Both women were impressed with the variety of stores.

While Stella was in a store that sold Texas based products, Cory pulled Lindsay aside. "Linds. When are you going to tell everyone about you and Flack? It's killing me trying not to let something slip to Danny."

Lindsay smiled. "I don't know. We've decided to push back the wedding to next summer, and I still haven't told my family. I promise that I will tell everyone as soon as I tell my family. It's just nice, ya know. Keeping it a secret."

Cory rolled her eyes. "Okay. Mum's the word. If I slip and tell Danny, it's all your fault though." Cory stopped talking as she saw Stella walk out of the store with a Stetson on her head. "Oh my. She looks pretty good in that."

Lindsay turned around and laughed. "You're right. She does. Now we can all three wear our cowboy hats!"

Stella walked up to them. "Whadda ya think?"

Lindsay answered for the both of them. "It looks great on you."

"Thanks. I've been wanting to get one for a while, but they are so expensive in New York! I can't believe how much cheaper things are here!"

"Tell me about it. That's one good thing about living in the DFW metroplex. The cost of living is so much cheaper! If you ladies are done shopping, how 'bout we get a bite to eat? I'm starving."

Both women agreed with Cory and she led them to a small Italian café.

After lunch, the women proceeded back to the courthouse. They stopped at their cars to drop off their purchases.

Back in the courtroom all four men watched as the women walked back in talking and giggling. Danny looked at Flack. "This can't be good. Do ya think we were the main topic of conversation?"

Flack just nodded his head. "Gawd, I hope not."

Mac and Hawkes just shook their heads. "This," Hawkes declared, "Is why I am single. What is it with women? Why do they do everything together?"

All three men turned to Mac. "Why are you looking at me? I have no idea."

Flack smiled. "You've been married Mac. We thought that you might be able to provide some insight into the female psyche."

Mac looked at them in disbelief. "You think being married gives you an insight to the female psyche? You guys are in so much trouble."

The women walked up at that. Cory turned to Hawkes, Lindsay and Stella. "Are y'all ready to testify?"

All three shook their heads, but refrained from talking as the court was called order.

The afternoon went much as the morning had gone. All three of the CSI's testimonies were given very little cross examination. Finally five o'clock came and the court was in recess until the following day.

As the group walked out of the courtroom, Cory tried hard not to think about what was going to happen. Danny had to go home. He'd used his personal time and it was time for him to leave.

Cory felt her mood drop as she got in the car. "Hey, Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"When does your plane leave?"

"Midnight."

Cory nodded her head, trying to clamp down on her emotions. "Oh. Danny? I'm going to miss you. I…I love you. Thank you so much for being here for me this last week. I don't know if I could have made it through this without you."

Danny felt his emotions whelm up inside of him. Even with that, he managed to smile. "Bella? If I've learned anything about you in the last eight months, it's that you are strong. I have no fear that you could have handled this on your own. I was just being selfish. I wanted to spend more time with you."

Cory smiled. "I want to spend time with you, too. I'm just not looking forward to you leaving. I wish you could stay here forever."

Danny laughed. "And I wish that you would come home with me, where you belong."

Cory felt emotion wash over her. She decided to break the tension and end the way the conversation was going. "'If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.' That statement is so true Danny. We have to accept that our lives are leading us in different directions now. It's not fair, but it's life."

By this time, they were back at Cory's house. The both agreed just to make the most of the time they had left.

(10 pm)

The group walked into DFW Airport to begin their check-in process. After checked in, Flack and Lindsay walked over to a group of chairs in the terminal. They sat down and quietly began a discussion.

"Don, all I'm saying is that we should tell our families. Then we need to tell the team. I'm tired of keeping this in. I want people to know!"

Flack put his arm around Lindsay. "Babe, I know. I thought we agreed to tell everyone during the holidays. We'll tell our families during Thanksgiving and then the team during Christmas. I think we should stick with that plan. That way the trial is not distracting everyone."

Lindsay nodded. "You're right. It will give Danny some time to recover from losing Cory."

Flack looked thoughtful. "Do you think she'll move to New York?"

Lindsay sighed. "I have no clue. I know she loves him, but she is so gun-shy. It may take a grand gesture on Danny's part to get her to make a decision."

Flack looked down at her, with love in his eyes. "At least we don't have to worry about that!"

Both of them looked over to where Cory and Danny were sitting. They seemed to be in a deep discussion. Then they looked to where Hawkes, Mac and Stella were sitting. "You know something, Don"

"What?"

"Hawkes needs a woman."

Flack laughed. "I think he can manage on his own. I noticed that even though he doesn't date much, when he does, the women are gorgeous!"

Lindsay laughed. "Yeah, they are. What do you think he does to get them? Just say, 'Hi, I'm a doctor?' I still think that Mac and Stella need to let their guard down. Just say what they feel."

Flack looked down at her. "Why do you want to play matchmaker all the sudden?"

Lindsay bit her lip. "I think it's because I'm so happy." Flack just rolled his eyes.

Cory looked at her watch. "Well. It's almost time." Cory started to hum softly under her breath. "So kiss me and smile for me/Tell me that you'll wait for me/Hold me like you'll never let me go….I'm a leaving, on a jet plane/I don't know when I'll be back again/Oh babe, I hate to go... "

Danny sat motionless as she sang the song. Then the announcement for boarding came on. He just grabbed her and kissed her passionately. When he lifted his head, he looked deep into Cory's eyes. "Cory, bella. Ciao, mi amore. Ti amo." He saw the tears come to her eyes, so he picked up his carryon bag and walked to go board the plane.

Cory watched as he left her sight. "Good-bye, my love. I'll never forget you."

A/N: So if you didn't guess, the song is "Leaving on a Jet Plane"...I still don't own it...Damn.

the little corinthian- How could I forget Warrick! D'Oh! (hitting my head with the palm of my hand). You're right, he has great eyes! Oh, Flack will keep practicing even when back in New York. He doesn't like losing and Cory kicked his butt! I'm sorry I had to bring everyone down with this mopey sadness!

john-the-geek- It's a rest both before and after the storm! If you lived in a pool, then you would be all wrinkly all of the time and then Cory would never give you the time day! Just don't turn into a prune and you'll be okay with her. The South has that way with turning people into gentlemen! I hope he keep's it up after he moves back to NY. Thank you for the compliment! I try to draw everyone into the story, so that they feel like they are part of it. Glad to know that it is working!

chili-peppers- Glad you like the fact that she kicks ass at pool...just don't ask her to bowl (she doesn't do that very well). There are a total of 51 chapters so, excluding this chapter there are five chapters I have left to post.( :( )Although, 51 is probably going to be long enough for two chapters, so it'll be a bonus. (Let's just say that I am writing 51 right now and am at almost 2000 words and I'm not even halfway done!) You will get your wish. I'm going to write a sequel, although since I'll be writing this as I start back to school, if I update once a week, that will be a lot.

pnkrckprncss- Welcome to the gutter...You have many friends here, including my beta, princessg, Axellia, and The Little Corinthian...We are thinking about having a party...who do you want to invite? I hope that the final five chapter's are up to your standards!