Disclaimer: I obviously do not own CSI: NY. I just own my car, my laptop and my crazy muse who seems to want to write 4 different stories at a time. I also do own any characters that you do not recognize. You can borrow them if you ask permission first!

A/N: Here's the next chappie!! Thanks to all who reviewed. As always, please R&R. My muse loves the attention. :D

Chapter 25.

The Hunt Begins

Nearly two months had passed since Cory had awoken in the hospital. During that time, she was subjected to much physical and mental therapy. After making weekly visits to a psychiatrist, she was finally cleared to go back to work.

When she rose from bed that morning, Danny looked at her in speculation. "Are you sure that you're ready to go back? You don't have to work, you know."

Cory smiled. "I know. But it's time. Frasier's trial is in the next month and Mom is ready to go home. I'm feeling a million times better and I'm bored at just staying at home. Plus, I need to catch Montoya. I have this feeling that time is running out. He's planning something."

Danny nodded, knowing to trust her feelings. "Awight. Just be careful. I almost lost you once." He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss.

Cory felt any remaining tension in her body leave with that kiss. When it ended, she walked into the bathroom to get ready for work.

At nine a.m. Cory walked into the FBI building, much to the surprise of Andrew. "Cory!" he called. "You're back at work. How are you feeling?"

Cory smiled at the younger man, who for once did not try to hit on her. "I'm ready to be back. How have things been here?"

Andrew got a familiar twinkle in his eye. "Ya know, boring without you. You always brighten my day."

Cory laughed as she rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Go back to work, Andrew."

"Yes, ma'am."

Cory walked past him to the elevators and when she arrived on her floor was astonished to find a welcome back party. She looked at Lydia, who just smiled. "You deserve it."

"Lydia," she said. "You didn't have to. I just want to get back to work."

Lydia brushed her aside. "Sure, I know that, but you deserve this. The team hasn't been the same without you." Lydia enveloped her in a hug. "Welcome back," she whispered.

Cory smiled as she brushed some tears away. She turned to her friends and colleagues and said, "Okay. I know y'all are happy to have me back. So we need to conclude this quickly so that we can get back to work. Crime doesn't stop."

The rest of the department knew the truth in her words and they quickly decided to end the party to go back to their respective investigations. Once she had made it to her office, she called Lydia in for a conference. "So," she began once Lydia was seated. "What's the status on our investigations?"

Lydia began to list everything that had happened in the previous two months.

Meanwhile, at the crime lab, Danny was hard at work trying to match a fingerprint from a crime scene. He was working quickly, with a smile on his face.

Lindsay walked in, noting his lighthearted mood and sat down next to him. "So, I take it that Cory went back to work?"

Danny smiled. "Yup. Gawd, Montana. I've never been so happy. The last two months have been so rough. I still don't know how she survived it. Especially when the doctor told her that it would be very difficult for her to have children."

Lindsay thought for a moment. "I think a lot of it has to do with you, Messer. You were her rock. Plus, with Frasier behind bars, that took a lot of stress away from her."

Danny shrugged, just as the computer beeped. "Aw, look at that. I found a match to my fingerprint. Let's see now, name: Daniel Craven. If you'll excuse me, I've gotta go find Flack."

Lindsay raised her eyebrows. "He's out on a call. DB on 78th with Mac and Hawkes." She went to say more, but suddenly her stomach lurched. She got up out of her chair and dashed to the bathroom, just in time since her breakfast decided to make reappearance.

Danny watched Lindsay's flight from the room with some concern. Quickly, he got up to follow her. When he saw her go into the women's restroom, he decided to recruit Stella to help him. "Stella!" he called as she got out of the elevator.

"What's wrong, Danny?" she asked, noting his look of concern.

"Lindsay just ran into the bathroom. Can you check to see if she's alright?"

Stella nodded. "Sure." Stella quickly walked in, to find Lindsay rinsing out her mouth. "You okay, Linds?"

Lindsay looked at Stella in the mirror. "I'm not sure. I've been sick at my stomach for the past week. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. It's weird. I'm not running a fever or anything."

Stella raised her eyebrows, a smile on her face. "Is it possible that you're pregnant?"

The blood drained out of Lindsay's face at the revelation. "Shit." She closed her eyes briefly, trying to remember the last time that she'd had her cycle. "It's been three weeks since Aunt Flo paid a visit. It's possible." She looked at Stella, panic in her eyes. "God, Stella. What am I going to do?"

Stella, sensing her distress, put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Well, first of all, we'll go to a pharmacy and get a home pregnancy test. Then, when you go to the doctor tomorrow, have them run a blood test. It'll be alright."

Lindsay calmed at her friend's wise words. "Okay. I just have to make it through the day. That's it."

Stella smiled. "Danny's worried about you. He sent me in here. What do you want to tell him?"

Lindsay thought for a moment and looked at Stella. "Food poisoning. Definitely. I don't want Don to suspect anything until I know for sure."

Stella laughed. "I understand."

Lindsay laughed as she walked out of the restroom with Stella, only to find Danny standing there looking concerned. "I'm fine, Messer. My breakfast didn't agree with me."

Danny looked a little mollified. "Awight. Flack will kill me if you get sick on him. I'm just looking out for my hide."

Lindsay rolled her eyes as she walked past him. "Go catch your killer, Messer."

Cory sighed as Lydia finally got her up to date. "Okay, so the rest of the cases are going good, except for Montoya."

Lydia nodded. "Yeah. It's like he's gone underground since Frasier was arrested. Absolutely no chatter whatsoever," Lydia growled in her frustration. "To top it all off, Frasier will not give us any info on him."

Cory nodded. "It's frustrating. Have we been able to see if we can get someone into the organization?"

"Well," Lydia began. "I have an idea for someone that I want to try to get undercover, but I wanted to run it past you first."

Cory drew her eyebrows together. "Okay. I'm not sure I like the sound of that."

Lydia sighed. "The person that I want to send is Ovidio Cruz."

Cory thought for a moment. "Isn't he the one that was suspected of roughing up suspects?"

Lydia nodded. "Yeah. I think that he would make a convincing gang member, though."

Cory looked at her. "Let me think about it, review his file and I'll get back to you."

Lydia nodded then glanced down at her watch. "Okay. I have to go. I'm meeting Sheldon for lunch."

Cory nodded and watched as she walked out. Cory sighed and quickly made a request to have Cruz's personnel file sent to her.

When Stella was getting ready to leave for the day, she grabbed Lindsay. "Come on, Linds. I talked to Mac and told him that since we are not swamped, then you could take off early to help me with a special project."

Lindsay looked at her in confusion. "Huh?"

Stella rolled her eyes. "Remember what we talked about this morning?"

"Yeah," Lindsay said and then it dawned on her what Stella was talking about. "Oh! Okay, I'm back on planet earth now. Okay. Let me finish this and then we can leave."

Thirty minutes later, they were standing in the pharmacy, trying to decide on which test to take. Stella finally took the lead. "Get these two. That way, you have a backup!"

Lindsay laughed and did as she was told. After she had paid the cashier, Stella drove them to her apartment. "I figured that you might want to do this here so that Don won't suspect anything."

Lindsay looked at her gratefully. "Thanks."

An hour later, Lindsay was staring down at both tests in her hand. "Two lines. That means I'm pregnant, right?"

Stella looked at the younger woman. "Yeah. How do you feel about it?"

"I think I'm in shock right now. I don't know what to feel. Wow."

Stella patted her on the back. "You'll be okay. I know that Don's excited about being a father one day. He wants to be a good role model."

Lindsay smiled faintly. "I know. We've discussed that we both want kids, three to be specific, but I'm not sure I'm ready."

"Lindsay, you'll be a great mom. Don't worry about it. This was meant to be!"

Lindsay nodded. "Okay. I think that I'm not going to tell Don until I get the results from the doctor."

Stella nodded. "Sure. Now, go home and get some rest."

Lindsay stood up and decided to take her advice.

About five o'clock that afternoon, Cory called both Lydia and Agent Cruz into her office. When Agent Cruz arrived, she motioned for him to shut the door. He did so and looked at her in confusion.

"Agent Cruz, I've been reviewing your records. Agent Sanchez and I have a proposition for you."

"Okay. What is it?"

"Are you familiar with the Los Dios drug cartel?" Lydia asked.

"I've heard of them."

Cory took up the thread from there. "We would like you to go undercover and try to unearth some evidence against its leader, Javier Montoya. This will be a very risky operation. He is based in Columbia and very, very suspicious." Cory sighed. "I will warn you, that if you do go undercover and something goes wrong, I can't guarantee that we will be able to extract you from the situation."

Lydia looked at Cory, knowing that she was thinking that she was sending the agent to his death. "We'll do everything that we can, but it might be impossible. This is a voluntary assignment. You can refuse it and no harm will come of that refusal."

Agent Cruz looked at both women. "I understand. I need some time to think about this. Can I get back to you within the next couple of days?"

Cory nodded. "That would be fine. You may go."

Agent Cruz left her office and Cory looked at Lydia. "I don't like this. It's a necessary evil, but I hate knowingly having to put someone in danger. It goes against everything that I hold dear."

Lydia nodded in her understanding. "I know, but like you said, it's a necessary evil."

Cory sighed again and looked out her window, praying that if Agent Cruz accepted, no harm would come to him.

AN: I have no idea where the FlackLindsay part of this chapter came from! Hope y'all enjoyed!

Jen - Here's some FlackLindsay! Hope you enjoyed. There should be more coming for that ship soon. Thanks for the review!

brainDamage - Arn't you glad you continued reading? Honestly, I thought about really killing her there (it would solve so many problems, but at the same time create so many more) but I didn't have it in me. I still don't see an end in sight, so your good for at least another 10 or 15 chapters. :D

Aphina - Yeah...Danny just needed to be yelled at there. I love Cory's mom, even with what I've got in store for her! (she's not dying anytime soon)

CSI junkie - Thank you! I had been rereading a couple of chapters for inspiration and I felt like Cory was becoming a Mary Sue, so my muse decided to shake things up a bit! I'm glad you enjoyed! How's school going?

Axellia - I can't believe you thought that when I had told you that I was going to do that, but I didn't have the heart to kill her! It would have made the story really interesting if I had killed her! As mentioned, send the plot bunnies my way. My muse is pissed at me for working 50 hours last week!!! I did send you 30, now I'm trying to get inspiration for 31!