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 Thanks to both Aphina and Axellia for betaing this! Okay. For some reason, starting with this chapter, a lot of my titles come from songs. I thank the wonderful Disturbed for it.

Chapter 28.

Down with the Sickness

When Cory got home that night, she felt like she was walking on air. She kept looking down at the shiny ring on her finger. "Danny?"

"Hmm, bella?"

"How did you know what kind of ring I wanted? It's perfect."

Danny smiled. "I'm just good that way."

Cory rolled her eyes, but smiled at him anyway. Then she felt her phone vibrate. "Reid."

"Cory? Oh my God! That was so romantic! Please tell Danny that he has set the bar very high for any man that wants to propose now."

Cory smiled. "Okay, Nic. I will. How are you, Henry and the kids?"

"Okay. I'm just so jealous right now. That was so romantic!"

Cory laughed. "Yeah, it was. I can't stop smiling."

"Good. I'm going to let you go, so you can thank him properly now. Talk to you later!"

Cory hung up with Nicole. "You have a fan," she said to Danny. "Oh yeah. You've set the bar really high for every other man who wants to propose."

Danny laughed as he drew her into his arms. "Only the best for you. Ti amo."

"Je t'aime avec tout mon couer," she replied as she leaned in for a kiss.

The next day, when Cory walked into headquarters, she was greeted by a heartbroken Andrew. She looked at him when he greeted her. "What's wrong?"

"You're getting married."

"Um. Yeah. That's what you generally do when you love someone and they love you back."

Andrew sighed. "I know, but I was hoping that…" he trailed off.

Cory looked at him in resignation. "You were hoping that I'd break up with Danny and go out with you?" She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Andrew, as flattered as I am, you are way too young for me. You're only twenty-three. You have your whole life ahead of you. You don't need to be with someone like me. I'd chew you up and spit you out. Danny's my match in every way. He's not afraid to yell at me when I yell at him. Understand?"

Andrew still looked crestfallen, but he realized that it was a futile attempt. Forcing a smile back on his face he said, "Okay. I'm still going to flirt with you though. If it doesn't work out with him, I'm always here for you."

Cory rolled her eyes as she laughed. "I'll keep that in mind." She walked past him and into the elevator.

At the crime lab, Danny was grinning ear to ear as he walked in. The first person he saw was Lindsay, who immediately enveloped him in a bear hug. "Congratulations! That was so romantic. I can't believe you managed to keep that a secret!"

Danny grinned like the Cheshire cat. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve, Montana. You should know that." He turned from her when he heard Stella call out his name.

"Daniel James Messer!" Stella said, grinning. "Why didn't you tell us? Huh? Can you not let us in when you're going to do something so hugely romantic?"

Danny cringed at his full name, but saw from the look on Stella's face that she was just joking with him. "Stel? Why did you have to middle name me?"

Stella laughed. "Just to see your reaction. Congratulations."

"Thanks. Can I maybe get to my office now?"

Both women laughed and let him continue on to his office. Once there, he started checking up on his cases, but was interrupted by Flack. "So, Mr. Romantic. You just had to show all of us up, didn't ya?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Okay, Mr. I Proposed On Top of The Empire State Building." Danny shot Flack a look.

Flack raised his hands. "Okay. I have no room to talk. So?"

Danny looked confused. "So, what?"

"How good was the sex last night?"

Danny just threw his pen at Flack. "Why are you here? Go away! Go very far away!"

Flack laughed, but complied with Danny's request. "Damn. Am I going to have to put up with this all day?"

"Put up with what?" asked Mac from the doorway.

"Getting ribbed for the proposal."

"Probably, but not from me. We have a case. Drug bust with a fatality on the docks. You up for it?"

"To get me out of here, yeah! Who am I with?"

"Hawkes."

Danny nodded and grabbed his case as he walked past Mac. "Ya got it boss."

Danny and Hawkes arrived at the crime scene at the same time as Angell.

"Hey, Hawkes. Hey, Mr. Let's Propose at the Giants Game."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Well if it isn't the Angell of Death. Whadda ya got?"

Angell rolled her eyes accordingly at the nickname Danny had come up with. "Major drug bust, fuelled by a tip from the FBI. Turned into a firefight, two officers hit, one critically, one bad guy killed. Don't know who killed him. Could have been one of ours or one of theirs. That's why you're here."

Danny shook his head. "What do you want to take Hawkes? Biologicals or shell casings?"

Hawkes looked at Danny and smiled. "It's a pretty even number of both, so have fun with the shell casings."

Danny nodded and went to process the scene.

An hour later, Danny and Hawkes had finished processing the scene. Danny sighed wearily. "Man, that was lot of shell casings. We're going to have to do a lot of comparison to the weapons that were seized."

Angell walked over. "It looks like the team did capture everyone that was involved in the shooting. How long will it take you to figure out who shot who?"

"It's going to be a while." Danny looked at Hawkes, who was packing his kit back up. "We're going to go back to the lab. I'll call you if we find anything." Angell nodded and walked away.

Back at the lab, Danny immediately went to the ballistics lab and began to test fire all the guns. He was about halfway through when Angell walked in, a steel glint in her eyes. "One of the cops died," she growled.

Danny looked at her in surprise. "Damn. Did you get the bullet? From the vic's?"

Angell nodded, to upset to talk. She just handed him three evidence bags.

Danny nodded, understanding her anger. "I'll get to work trying to match the bullets to guns. I'll call you when I know anything."

Angell nodded as she walked out.

Danny looked back at the guns and resumed his test firing of the remaining guns. After two hours, he was done. Quickly, he retrieved the bullets from the victims and began the comparison. A fourth of the way in, he decided to take a break, his eyes were beginning to hurt from the strain. Moving his glasses up to rest on his forehead, he rubbed them tiredly.

This was the position that Mac found him in. "Tired, Danny?"

Danny looked up and quickly started to get back to work. "A little. It's just all the bullets! I had to test fire about forty guns and now I'm going through the bullets to try to find the matches to the bullets that killed both the copy and the gun runner. I think I might be cross eyed by the time I finish this."

Mac smiled. "Why don't you knock off? Log all the evidence and pick it back up in the morning, when you're fresh."

Danny considered it. "Naw. I want to finish it up tonight. I'm after a cop killer, Mac."

Mac nodded, understanding Danny's drive.

Several hours later, Danny grinned as he got a match. "Bingo!" He quickly compared the gun that the bullet matched to the log of who they were confiscated from. Smiling, he dialed his phone. "Angell. It's Danny. I got a match to the gun that killed the cop. It was confiscated from Ignacio Sastro Zubizaretta."

"Damn it! He just made bail. I'll go and pick him up."

Feeling in a much better mood, Danny finished logging all the evidence and decided to go home.

AN: Hmmm...This can't be good, can it? Sorry guys, my muse and I had a fight about the chapter I was writing, resulting in her running away. If anyone finds her (green and purple Chinese dragon that answers to the name of Lexi. Can be lured with Dr. Pepper or Red Bull) can you please direct her home? Anyway, I'm trying to get the writer's block to go away, so the chapters may be a little lax until I get that done. Go read Gotham's Heroes!! I know that y'all will like it.

Aphina - Yes, our OC's are all grown up now. (crying) That's okay. I have a great idea for a Hawkes/Lydia centric story that I may write after I finish this one. She's a fairly underdeveloped character, so it'll be great to write her story. I think I'm done with Cory for a bit (except for joint stories with y'all) for a while.

brainDamage - I'm glad you liked it. I was amazed when I wrote it.

CSI junkie - That's normally my reason, too. Most times writing, but lately it's mostly been reading since my muse disappeared. I'm loving Cruz's character. Of course, I do have insider info where that's going (just be prepared for chapter 30) but I'm trying to overrule my muse (who wants to kill him off). I can't wait to see what I can do with his character. If he lives, I might do a story with just him.

debbs - I don't mean to kill you with anticipation, but I did check...chapter 31 is complete fm radio fluff. (:D) I hope you continue to read it while it gets posted! I love getting feedback.

mj - Hey! Glad you liked. I liked the last line, too. I figured that if you just got engaged to the man of your dreams you aren't going to realize anything that is going on while you are kissing him! I liked that chapter. But I love chapter 30 more. I almost can't wait to post that one. Give some really great info in it.

Note to Axellia--Hun. When you actually get a chance to get caught up on your sleep and your stories..I miss talking to you!!!