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 This chapter title belongs to Genesis (initally) but the version I'm thinking of is by Disturbed. Thanks so much to my beta's...Aphina and Axellia! Any mistakes left over are mine and mine alone!

Chapter 33.

Land of Confusion

Danny watched Cory, after everyone had left. "Bella? You okay?"

Cory smiled at him. "Yeah. I relived some old memories this morning." She turned, knowing that she needed to talk to him about his. "Do me a favor? Make some hot chocolate and meet me on the balcony."

Danny raised his eyebrows, knowing that she hated the cold, but realizing that by going onto the balcony, it made it easier for her to talk. "Alright." He busied himself, making the drink and grabbed a big flannel blanket out of the closet.

By the time that he was done, Cory was back in the living room, dressed in a sweat suit. She grabbed her hat, jacket and scarf. Danny handed her the hot chocolate and grabbed his hat, jacket and gloves.

Danny held the door open for her. Once outside, he settled on the lounger and pulled Cory down beside him. Quickly he wrapped the blanket around them. "What's up?" he asked her quietly.

Cory sipped the hot chocolate before deciding to answer. "I realized something today," she said just as quietly.

Danny detected the hint of fear in her voice and wrapped his arms around her. "What?"

Cory smiled wryly. "I'm terrified of getting married." She stopped. "Okay. Not of getting married, but having a marriage ceremony. What if Ortiz comes after me again?"

Danny held her in his arms. God, she's shaking like a leaf. Danny grabbed her mug and quickly set it on the ground beside his. "Bella. I can't guarantee that Ortiz won't try anything, but I can guarantee that I will be careful and on the lookout for something. We at least know about the threat."

Cory sniffed. "I know, but I still have this really bad feeling." She looked into Danny's blue eyes, immediately feeling a little safer. "Will you just hold me for a bit?"

Danny smiled as he lightly kissed her forehead, tightening his hold on her. He looked up at the sky, trying to order his thoughts. He knew that she was scared, and didn't blame her, but didn't want her to slip back into her shell. He smiled as he felt her snuggle against him, automatically seeking his warmth. Once he was sure she was fast asleep, he picked her up and carried her to bed.

Cory walked along the street, towards the subway. She deftly moved around the small snowdrift that had built up on sidewalk. Just as she got to the entrance to the subway, she noticed the panicked people running up the stairs. "What's going on?" she asked an older man who was gasping for breath.

"Bomb," he managed.

Cory felt a ball of lead drop into her stomach. "Alright! Everyone clear this area, NOW!" she screamed. "FBI! Everyone clear the area!" She watched as people began to run away from the street. Nodding to herself, she pulled out her cell phone can called it in.

She had just hung up the phone when she saw the little girl, about two, standing on the top of the stairs. She began to run towards her as the ground began to shake underneath her feet. Just as she reached the girl, she saw the fireball traveling up the stairs.

Her instincts kicked in and she grabbed the girl, pulling her down on the ground with her, covering her small body with her own. She felt the heat bearing down on her and smelt the acrid smell of burning hair. After what felt like an eternity she got up gingerly. She knelt down and checked the girl for injuries.

"My baby! Where's my baby?!" a panicked female voice yelled.

Cory looked up and saw the woman, who was looking for a child. She looked down at the little girl, wondering if the woman was the girl's mother. The little girl looked up at her and Cory was struck by a sense of familiarity.

"Oh! Thank you! You found my baby," the woman's voice addressed Cory.

Cory looked at the woman, realizing that the woman looked exactly like her mother. "She's your daughter?"

"Yes. My only one, at least for now," the woman said patting her extended belly. "Her name is Corrine and I'm Alexis. How can I thank you for saving her?"

Cory just nodded her head in shock. "Just part of the job, ma'am," she said, thankful for the screeching of sirens pulling up.

Cory awoke with a start, pulling out of Danny's arms. She shook her head in confusion, the images from the dream still vivid in her mind. She felt Danny stir a little behind her, and quickly got out of bed so she did not wake him up.

Walking into the living room, she grabbed the blanket off the couch and wrapped it around herself. Just as she sat down, she felt the temperature in the room drop. She looked up, expecting only to see Armando, but CC was with him as well.

CC smiled at her. "Congratulations on your engagement."

Cory raised her eyebrows. "Thanks, but why are you here? Is this about the dream that I just had?"

CC nodded slightly, but Armando was the one who answered. "Yes and no," he said. "We are here to give you a slight warning. Things are about to get interesting."

Cory nodded in her understanding. "So what about my dream? Why did I dream that I was the little girl?"

CC sighed at this. "I can't tell you that. All I can tell you is ask your mom about Alejandro."

Cory shook her head, not sure if she had heard her aunt correctly. "Who's that?"

CC shook her head. "Just ask her about Alejandro," she said as she and Armando disappeared.

Cory shook her head in disbelief as she looked at the clock. The dial read four-fifteen a.m. Well, I guess I'm not getting any more sleep tonight.

She sighed as she booted up her computer. She pulled up her email and noticed an email from Cruz. As she read it, she realized that he wanted a meeting with her at nine this morning. She quickly typed her reply and started to make plans.

When Danny awoke, he noticed that Cory's side of the bed was empty and the sheets were cool. Confused, he got up and walked into the living room, noticing that it was a little past eight. He saw a note taped to the fridge.

"Danny,

I had to go to work. I'll be back ASAP. I love, you.

Cory"

Sighing, he made himself some coffee and got ready for his shift.

When he walked into the crime lab, he noticed that it was very busy. As he was walking to his office, he heard Mac call his name. He turned around to wait for him to catch up with him. "What's up, Mac?"

Mac shook his head. "DB at Saks. It's not pretty. Stella is waiting for you at the car."

"Alright." Danny shook his head as he walked quickly to his office to grab his kit. When he got to the car, he smiled as he saw Stella waiting somewhat impatiently.

"Danny? What took you so long?"

"I had to grab my kit."

When they got to the crime scene, Stella looked on in regret. "You know. I could be here today. I could be one of the nameless shoppers looking for a bargain."

Danny laughed. "Right, Stel. I know that you hate crowds when it comes to shopping. I'd bet that you are already done Christmas shopping for everyone. Hell, the presents are probably wrapped!"

Stella laughed. "You're almost right. I still haven't gotten anything for Mac. I have no clue what to get him." She turned towards the body of the woman. "Is it me or does she look like she was trampled?"

Danny took her hint and looked down at the body. "Yeah, it does. So what time did the store open?"

Stella answered instantly, "Seven."

Danny shook his head as he began to look for trace around the body. "Crazy women and shopping," he muttered under his breath. He noticed a small syringe on the floor; it had rolled underneath the display at the front of the store. He picked it up and quickly bagged it. "Hey, Stella! Look what I found," he called as he held up the evidence baggy.

Stella looked at it. "Well, looks like an accidental death can be ruled out."

Danny shrugged. "We'll know more when…" he trailed off as he saw Marty walk up. "When Marty get here."

Marty smiled. "Looking for me?"

Stella smiled at him. "Just give me a COD on the vic, Marty."

Marty quickly processed the body. "Preliminary, I saw that she was crushed to death. But I'll have to get her back to the morgue and do an autopsy to be sure," he said as he began to place her in a body bag.

Stella looked around. "The store is getting us their surveillance footage, so I guess we're done here for now."

Danny looked up and nodded. "Let's get back to the lab."

Meanwhile, across town, Cory was having a covert meeting with Cruz. She watched as he made his way towards her, randomly. "Cruz," she muttered softly. "What do you have for me?"

Ovidio looked around, making sure that he wasn't being spied upon. "Met with Montoya."

Cory tried to contain her surprise. "He's in New York?"

Ovidio shook his head. "No. They have a high tech communications center on the docks. It rivals ours. He wants me to be an informant for you. But pass you bad information. I don't like this, Agent Reid. He knew exactly who you were. He wants me to kill you."

Cory shrugged. "That's not a big surprise, but I do want to know why he wants me dead."

Ovidio shrugged. "He wouldn't tell me. What should I do?"

Cory drew in a breath. "For now, play his game. Give me false info. He won't give you too much bad info, especially if I'm supposed to believe you, so we'll take if from there."

Ovidio nodded. "Okay. I should go."

Cory bit her lip as she watched him walk away, still confused from all the information that she had gotten that morning. Glancing at her phone, she knew that her mother would be awake. Quickly she dialed the number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mom. It's Cory."

"Good morning, sweetheart. How was your Thanksgiving?"

Cory smiled. "It was good. Listen, I had a really strange dream last night. I need to ask you a question."

"Shoot."

"Who's Alejandro?"

Fifteen hundred miles away, Alexis felt her heart clench at the mention of that name. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. What was that?" she temporized.

Cory recognized that her mother was trying to evade the question. "Don't try to distract me, Mom. Who is Alejandro?" Cory heard her mother sigh.

"Who told you about him, dear?"

"That's not important, Mom. Please, just tell me the truth." Cory leaned against the wall of the alley; her gut telling her she was not going to like the answer.

"He's the man that I had an affair with, sweetheart."

"You had an affair!" Cory yelled into the phone. "Why in the hell would you sleep around on the man you're in love with!"

"Cory, please listen to me. I didn't get the choice on whom I was to marry. Your grandparents arranged my marriage to Harold when I was six months old."

"But you and Daddy were in love. I saw that."

"By the time you were old enough, yes, I had fallen in love with your father."

Cory stared down at the ground in shock. "What happened?"

Alexis sighed again. "When we got married, we were essentially strangers. I hated just sitting around the house every day, so I went to work in a diner. That's were I met Alejandro. He had just arrived in town and we flirted."

Cory felt her anger rising. "So you just decided, hey, let's sleep with the first guy that flirts with you?"

Alexis felt the sting of Cory's anger and tried to remain calm. "No. Nothing happened for about a month. Then, I fell in love with him."

Cory fought down the urge to hang up on her mother, something telling her that she needed to hear the entire story. "Go on," she said in a clipped tone.

"He was in town for a year. He had finally convinced me to leave Harold and run away to Paris with him, but then…" she trailed off.

"What?"

"I got pregnant with you. I told him that I couldn't leave Harold. That he was too kind of a man for me to keep a child away from him. And I broke it off. I cried for three months after he had left."

Cory felt the energy sap out of her body. "Whose daughter am I, Mom?" she asked in trepidation.

"I'm pretty sure that you are Harold's daughter. I never had unprotected sex with Alejandro. That's why I couldn't leave with him."

Something inside of Cory snapped at that moment. "I'm sorry. I can't deal with this. I gotta go," she said as she hung up the call, leaning back against the wall and fighting off the tears of confusion.

Alexis listened to the dial tone in her hear, knowing that her oldest daughter was extremely angry at her. She has the right to be angry with me. But, damn it! I'm not going to apologize for my actions. I told her the truth! She carefully put the phone down; knowing that while she had told her the truth, she hadn't told her the whole truth.

AN: So? Anyone hate me yet for screwing with Cory's sense of security? I can promise, the drama is just starting! Oh...Btw...I will be going back and adding a bit to chapter 29. I'm going to add something about my 'Boys whippin' up on the Giants on Nov 11!!!! (GO COWBOYS!!!!)

magic munchies - 157! Danka (How many different languages, can we do this in:p) I'm glad that you like the MS fluffyness. I can't wait to write the smut for that one (note to self...update The Good Stuff sometime soon). I can speak a little Spanish (I do live in Texas and it rubs off on ya), I speak more French, but I also have a smattering of Italian and German to my vocab. (I love languages!) I'm gonna keep trying to add in the different couples, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to send them along!

soccer-bitch - I've lived here my whole life. I like watching flames, but nothing beats a good "thunder boomer" (basically it's a huge supercell thundertorm with the most amazing lightning). The other thing I like to watch is the clouds when we're in a tornado watch or warning. It's the most amazing thing to see them moving like someone is stirring them. I weird, I know! It's been so long since my senior prom that I don't remember the weather, but unfortunately if you're here and it's 110, no where is cool! I'm glad you liked the chapter!

CSI junkie - Thanks! I really wanted to highlight the couples in that chapter, I've been very lax in everyone but Danny and Cory's relationship! Of course the girls got it off! They think in advance, but they have to work Christmas...hmm. Maybe I'll have the guys cook Xmas dinner. I'm pretty much on a weekly update schedule, so you'll get a fix each week!

Mauradingknight - I'm glad that you started reading! Which story did you think she was a side character in? I'm glad that you love Cory, I'll admit, she's very close to my heart (of course, I'm been writing her for 18 months now...I feel like she's part of me, now!). I'm happy that you like Gotham's Heroes, too. We three are having so much fun writing it, but we can't seem to get our schedules to match right now! Hopefully, we'll have the next chapter up in a week or so. :D

Aphina - Thanksgiving is Nov 22 this year (that's Thursday...whoo-hoo, 2 days off next week!!!) I'm happy that I made you laugh. I see all of them as one big family!

Note to: mj and brainDamage - I still miss y'all!!!