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 The song title belongs to The Silence. Okay, I'm going to be completly horrible to Cory, but don't hate me! Many thanks to Aphina and Axellia for betaing!!

Chapter 52.

Broken Nightmare

Cory had been back to work for four days and was frustrated at her lack of progress of finding her mother. She sighed, going over all the information she had again, but coming to a dead end. "I don't get it, Lydia. We know that they left, in a yacht, from Nice, but why can't we find were they are now? It's not like they can stay at sea forever."

Lydia looked at her. It was evident that Cory was losing sleep over her missing mother, but she couldn't do anything to help her. "They can't, but unless they have some place that they are refueling." Lydia stopped and thought for a moment. "Wait. They can stay at sea for as long as they like as long as they have fuel and supplies, right?"

Cory looked at Lydia, not sure where she was going. "Yeah. I'd assume so."

"Montoya is a real hands on person. He micromanages his cartel. There is no way in hell he's going to stay out of touch for an extended period of time." Lydia jumped up and rushed towards her office. Cory sensing where she was going was right behind her. "So all we have to do is see if we can find any yachts that are making a lot of satellite calls!"

"Because there is basically no cellular coverage unless you're near the land. And if he was near the land, he's more likely to be caught!" Cory finished excitedly.

Lydia nodded her head. "You're reading my mind," she said with a smile. Quickly she pulled up some data, looking for any discrepancies. "Well," she said with a frown, "at first glance, I don't see anything out of the ordinary. But why don't you email Alistair and see if Interpol can find anything."

Cory nodded. "I think I'll do that," she said before settling down in a chair in front of Lydia. She grew quiet as her mind jumped into overdrive.

"So, are you ready the Policeman's Ball?" Lydia asked with a smirk, trying to distract Cory from her obvious thoughts. "I am now after our little trip to Georgie. I love my dress."

Cory nodded. "I know. I can't believe the dresses that we have. They are gorgeous and I know Danny's going to die when he sees me," she ended with an excited grin. "This is the most daring dress that I've ever worn. Have you gotten your shoes yet?"

Lydia nodded. "Yeah. I got some red stiletto pumps. What about you?"

"Silver sandals," Cory sighed. "Well, this is not contacting Alistair and we have a new case to work."

"New case? Aren't we working on your mom's case?"

Cory rolled her eyes. "Unfortunately, since the abduction took place outside of the US and we have no conclusive evidence that she is back in the US, there's nothing we can do. The only way that we will get assigned the case is if we can prove she is back in the United States."

"That's just wrong," Lydia stated.

"I understand though. Really, we can't do anything right now. I'll call a meeting for tomorrow morning to go over the new case." Cory shook her head. "I'd better go. It's almost five and I promised Danny I'd been home before six," she said with some irritation in her voice.

"He's just worried about you, Cory."

Cory sighed as she stood in the doorframe. "I know, it just gets old. But, I'll live with it," she said as she walked out of the office.

Danny was staring down at this crime scene is disbelief. "You've gotta be joking," he muttered under his breath.

"About what?" Lindsay asked, coming up from behind him.

As a response, Danny just gestured down at the body lying in front of them. "Santa."

Lindsay looked down at the dead man on the street, who was dressed up like Santa, complete with a naughty and nice list sticking out of his pocket. Danny quickly took pictures of the body and then bent over to retrieve the list, written on parchment. He looked at the list, seeing that it was detailed with full names.

Shaking his head, he bagged the list and began to search for a cause of death. He turned the body slightly, noting that the man's beard looked real. Unable to stop himself, he pulled it slightly and found that it was indeed real. "Okay. This is just too weird."

"What's that Messer?" Lindsay said from the other side of the body where she was taking swabs of something for trace.

"His beard is real and I see some type of animal hair on him," Danny muttered back.

Lindsay just laughed at him. "You are too much, Messer. Santa Claus is not a real person. Do you see sign of what might have killed him?"

Danny shook his head. "Nope. No visible wounds or blood. Looks like Sid will have to help us out on this one." He shook his head again and went back to gathering evidence.

A couple of hours later, Danny and Lindsay were processing the evidence found on the street. Danny was studying the animal hair found on the body, while Lindsay was running the other trace for any DNA that might be present.

Just as she was processing another swab, this time from under Santa's nails, Danny started to laugh. She looked at him, an eyebrow raised, as he was bent over with laughing. "Danny? You okay?"

Danny took a deep breath. "Yeah. I'm fine. But I did identify the animal hair found on Santa."

"What is it?" Lindsay asked.

"Rangifer tarandus. Reindeer hair."

It was Lindsay's turn to lose her power of speech as her mouth opened and closed a couple of times. Finally, she managed, "You're kidding."

Danny shook his head, still laughing. "Nope. I gotta tell you Montana. I think we have the real Santa Claus in here."

Lindsay just shook her head as they were paged. "That's Sid. Maybe he has cause of death, 'cause we've got nothing up here."

Laughing the pair made their way down to the morgue. Danny followed Lindsay in and looked at Sid. "Tell me some good news here Sid. Was it a natural cause of death?"

Sid shook his head as he snapped his glasses back into place. "Not by a long shot. While there are no outward defensive wounds, Santa was in excellent health. All of his organs were intact with very little signs of a derogatory lifestyle. However, for his last meal, you'll get a kick out of this. Milk and cookies."

Danny snorted. "Really?"

Lindsay giggled. "Is his hair and beard real?"

Sid nodded. "Very much so. I must say, he is impeccably groomed." He unsnapped his glasses. "I sent some of his blood to Tox to run a screen on it. I am assuming at this point, he was poisoned."

Danny and Lindsay nodded, taking with them the fingerprints that gotten from the corpse, so hopefully they could identify the man. Once back upstairs, Danny glanced at the clock. "Montana, can you believe it's after six? We were off the clock an hour ago."

Lindsay smiled. "Yeah. Let's log all of this and hit it fresh tomorrow."

An hour later, Cory was walking into her dark apartment. Shaking her head, she flipped on the lights and sank down on the couch. No matter what she was doing, her mind kept going over where Montoya would take her mom. It was driving her crazy. Admitting to herself, she knew that she was becoming obsessed with Montoya, which is why she didn't mind taking on the new case. Intellectually, she knew that if she was obsessed, she would make mistakes that could have some dire consequences.

Hearing a key in the lock, she looked over her shoulder as Danny walked in. "Hey," she said softly. "How was your day?"

Danny shook his head in bewilderment as he dropped his keys on the table by the door and stowed his gun in the closet. "I have one dead Santa."

Cory looked at him, a puzzled expression on her face. "Huh?"

"Yup. Dead Santa on the street. Don't have an ID yet, but he was in excellent health," he commented as he sank on the couch.

"Really. Sounds more interesting than my day. I have a new case, which Agent Michaels assigned to my team today." She pulled a face.

Danny looked at her carefully, worried that she was beginning to obsess over Montoya. "That's to be expected, sweetheart. Your mom is kinda out of your jurisdiction right now."

Cory sighed heavily. "I know. It's just frustrating. I should be able to go after her, but my hands are ties. The most I can do is share all of my information with Alistair and hopefully he can track her down."

Danny just drew her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. "They'll find her, bella. Of that, I am certain," he said trying to comfort her.

"Thanks," Cory breathed. "Wanna watch a movie?"

"What movie do you have in mind?"

Cory smirked. "I'll give you a choice. Transformers or The Bourne Ultimatum."

Danny groaned. "Do I have to choose?" He noticed her look. "Okay. Fine. We both have to work tomorrow, so…Transformers."

Cory grinned as she hit play on the DVD player and the movie started. She saw the look on Danny's face. "Yes, chere, I really do know you that well," she smirked as she settled back into his arms.

Cory looked around the small warehouse she was in, not recognizing anything. She walked carefully, trying to find a way out. Once she had made a complete circuit of the building, she noticed a small door beside her. Intrigued, she opened the door and walked in.

Quietly, she closed the door and scanned the dimly lit room. There was a bare light bulb hanging in the center of the room, casting shadows everywhere. Her heels clicked loudly on the floor as she walked around the room, barren of everything except for a wooden chair. Shaking her head in confusion she began to walk towards the door, to exit, when it opened and a group of people entered.

Cory squinted in the dim light to be able to see who was coming in, but was unable to make out any shapes. She listened to the voice, not understanding what was being said. The voices were speaking in Spanish. Then one voice rang out in English. "Enough! What the boss doesn't know won't hurt him."

Cory watched as a woman was bound to the chair, only seeing the back of her head. She walked around to see her face and gasped in horror. It was her mom. "Mom," she said, shaking.

Two men approached her, awakening her with some rough slaps to the face. Alexis came to and glared at the men. "Insolent pigs. Montoya will kill you for assaulting me," she spat at them.

One man stepped forward and Alexis glared at him. "Etienne. What the hell do you think you're doing? Montoya is very possessive when it comes to me. He'll kill you for touching me."

"Madame," he said calmly. "All of that is already taken care of. As far as he knows, you tried to escape and we are simply trying to capture you. Now, you are going to give me some information or I shall kill you," he said brandishing a knife.

Cory felt ice drop into her gut as Alexis shot Etienne a look that clearly said what he could do with knife. Even in this tough situation, Cory had to smile at the audacity that her mother was showing.

"Tell me about your daughter, the FBI agent," Etienne began.

Cory as well as her mother looked at him in confusion. "What?" Alexis asked.

"Your daughter, the one that Montoya tried so unsuccessfully to kill. Tell me about her. What are her weaknesses, how can I convince her to help me?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"Help you do what?"

"Destroy America, what else?" he returned smugly.

Alexis' eyes opened wide and then she spat in his face. "Go to hell, you French pig."

"Who said I was French?" Etienne backhanded her before holding the knife to her neck. "Tell me or I take your life," he whispered in her ear.

Alexis shook her head. "I'd rather die than help you," she said in between clenched teeth.

Cory turned her head as the knife moved, blood squirting from the severed artery.

Danny jumped when Cory screamed and sat up abruptly. "Bella? Cory? What's wrong?" he asked holding the trembling woman in his arms. "You're shaking like a leaf?"

Cory just looked at him, overwhelmed by fear, tears running freely down her face. "I—I think I just had a vision. I think my mom's in danger."

"I thought Montoya wouldn't hurt her?" Danny asked confused.

"I don't think it's Montoya who is going to hurt her," Cory said, burying her head in Danny's neck, trying to stop shaking.

AN: Okay. Don't hate me! I know I am the queen of the cliffhanger with this story!! To give y'all an update. I am working 55 hours a week right now, but I have managed to write a couple of chaps this weekend, so I've got up to 60 written!

Soccer-Bitch - Wow, from SD to Indiana! That's a climate change!! Good luck with the dogs!! I don't get sick very often. My new doctor actually asked me when the last time I had been to the doctor had been and I couldn't remember. Honestly I think it's been close to 7 years! I'm glad you liked the chapter!

CSI junkie - She's back (at least for a bit)! For some reason, whenever I get really busy at work, she returns with a vengence. I think it has something to do with working out the stress, but I just don't have the time to write! Don't worry about rereading...I reveal in this chapter who the next villian is! (smirking...Isn't Etienne completly evil?) I hope your project went well and if you do become a forensic scientist (I actually want to be a forensic accountant if I can ever graduate college) then I may come to you for story ideas!!

Aphina - Thanks! I do try to keep everyone on an even keel. I want the readers to feel connected to Cory, so that y'all experience the same things she does! You're right, that chapter does hint at E, but this one blows his "cover". I'm going to put C to work on writing my summary once I pin down a rough outline for the sequel!!

Maddy - Oh, yes. They are out there and I shudder when I read one of their stories!! It is fairly difficult to go from heavy to light and then I jump right back into the heavy here, but if it wasn't for Aphina and Axellia, I won't do it as well! (:p)

Axellia - Yes, you really were gone for a long time! I missed you!! May the rabbits not eat the cable cord again! Take your time with the R&R, I think I might be only posting once a week for a while until work calms down! Yippee for time off!! I like Mac and Jack together, too. They play off of each other nicely! (:D)

Note to MauraudingKnight - The vision is for you, since you asked!!