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 Aphina and Axellia for the beta!

Chapter 53.

Winter Wonderland

Saturday dawned cold and bright. Danny let Cory sleep in late; she obviously needed it since she had woken up the night before from the same nightmare. He got up before her and spent a couple of minutes just watching her sleep. He remembered that she wanted to have some uninterrupted time to get ready for the Policeman's Ball that night, so when he walked into the kitchen he called Flack.

He smiled when Flack picked up. "Flack, man. The girls want some time to get ready this afternoon. Wanna shoot some hoops?"

Flack cleared his throat. "Sure. Not a problem. Meet you at two?"

"Yeah. See you then," Danny said as he hung up. He looked around the kitchen and decided to make waffles for breakfast.

Cory woke up to the smell of waffles. She stretched and felt her smile fade as the dream came back to her again. Shaking her head, she ran her fingers through her hair, trying to figure out what the dream meant. She looked at the clock as she grabbed a hair tie off the nightstand. It was ten a.m. She grabbed her flannel robe and padded into kitchen while pulling her hair back into a pony tail. "Mornin'," she muttered while yawning.

Danny turned around and smiled. "Good morning. You look so cute when you are sleepy-eyed."

Cory just shook her head as she grabbed a Dr. Pepper out of the fridge. Popping the tab, she took a long drink before answering him. "Whatever, Messer. Breakfast looks good."

Danny gave her a saucy wink while setting the plates on the table. "Listen. Flack and I are going to shoot some hoops around two. I figured that will give you girls enough time to get ready. I'll get ready at Flack's."

Cory looked at him, stunned. "You sure?" At his nod yes, she got up from the table and threw herself into his arms. "You are the best fiancé ever! I promise, the wait will be worth it." She paused before changing the subject. "So, what's going on with your dead Santa? Find out his ID yet?"

Danny shook his head. "Not yet. No hits in either AFIS or CODIS. No match to his description in missing persons."

Cory looked at him. "Yikes. That sucks. Do you know cause of death yet?"

Danny started to laugh. "You're not going to believe it."

"Try me."

"He was killed by a candy cane."

"What?!" Cory asked, stunned.

"Yeah. It's a new designer drug. This one was actually administered through a real candy cane, though."

"Ok," Cory said in between giggles. "Now I've heard everything."

Danny shook his head. "I know what you mean. I couldn't stop laughing when it all came together."

Cory continued to giggle while she took a bite of the waffles.

When Danny left at one-thirty, Cory sat down at her laptop. She quickly began to type a list of what needed to be done for their wedding. First on her list was to find a church, caterer, florist and photographer. She pursed her lips for a moment and decided to ask Stella if Georgie would be willing to design the dresses. Smiling, she began to organize her thoughts into a spreadsheet.

Two hours later, Cory stood and stretched to pop the tension out of her neck, smiling as she felt a sense of accomplishment. She looked at the clock, noticing that she had enough time to take a long, hot bath before she needed to get dressed.

She had just gotten out of the bath when the doorbell rang. Wrapping herself in her robe, she padded to the door and looked out the peephole. She smiled when she saw Lindsay and Taylor standing outside of her door. She threw the door open and smiled when she saw that they were carrying their dresses and bags full of various accessories.

"Hey," she said with a smile. "Y'all ready to get ready?"

Both girls grinned. "Yup," Taylor said with a grin. "We have make-up, jewelry and various hair products. You don't by any chance have a straightening iron, do you?"

Cory nodded. "Of course. So I take it you want to go straight and sleek?"

Taylor smiled. "Yeah. How are you going?"

Cory pursed her lips for a moment. "Well, since it's already wet, I think I'm just going to leave it curly. I don't have the patience the dry it and then straighten it." She turned to Lindsay. "What about you, Linds?"

Lindsay tilted her head to the side while wrapping one strand of her just past shoulder length hair around one of her fingers. "I'm thinking a French twist," she said.

Cory nodded as she led them towards her bathroom. "I have two bathrooms. The guest and the master. I have a vanity table in my bedroom, so y'all can fight over the bathrooms."

Thirty minutes later, she was done with her hair and thought for a moment. "Hey, Linds. How's the food at one of these things?"

Lindsay stuck her head out of the master bathroom. "Pretty good, actually. I was surprised last year."

Cory smiled. "Good. Then I don't have to eat beforehand like I had to last year at the FBI's function."

Lindsay giggled. "I hate when you have to do that. But you should be okay."

Cory nodded as she began to apply her make-up.

Lindsay looked at her. "Which clasp should I put in?" she asked holding up two different pieces of hair jewelry.

Cory studied the two different clasps. "Huh. I think the tiny blue and white butterfly would be perfect."

Lindsay nodded and inserted the clasp into her hair before returning to the bathroom to apply her make-up.

Forty-five minutes later, all three women were ready and talking in the bedroom, when Cory heard the door open up.

"Bella?" Danny called out. "Are Taylor and Lindsay here?"

"Yep. Did you bring Marty and Flack with you?" she called back, making sure that he couldn't see her.

"Yeah."

"Go sit down on the couch and prepare yourselves," Cory shot back with a giggle.

A couple of minutes later, the three women walked out of the bedroom.

Danny, Flack and Marty turned around, all of them looking dashing in their tuxedos. Marty was the first to react as he walked over to Taylor. "Wow, Tay. You look so elegant. I don't think that I'm dressed up enough," he said softly brushing her hair behind her ear.

Taylor smiled in happiness as she leaned in for a kiss.

Flack walked over to Lindsay, handing her a rose. "I'm speechless," he said, his blue eyes darkening in desire.

Lindsay smiled softly, thankful that the she wasn't showing too much in the dress. "Thanks. You look so handsome," she returned.

Danny stared at Cory, his mouth open slightly in shock. He had never seen her in such a daring dress before. Cory smiled as she walked over to him and whispered in his ear, "You might want to close your mouth, chere, or something might fly down your throat."

Danny embraced her, bending down to kiss her neck slightly before whispering back, "Do we have to go?"

Cory laughed as she pulled away. "Yes, we need to." She turned to the rest of the group. "Y'all ready?"

At everyone's nods, the girls grabbed their bags and they walked out the door.

When the three couple arrived at the hotel, they noticed Mac, Stella, Hawkes and Lydia waiting outside of entrance for them. When Cory exited the limousine, she noticed that Mac couldn't keep his eyes off of Stella, who looked like a Greek goddess. She and Lindsay shared at looked at the couple.

After greeting each other, they walked into the ballroom, which was decorated like a winter wonderland. "Wow," Cory and Lydia breathed together.

Lydia turned to Hawkes. "They really went all out for this," she murmured in wonder.

Hawkes smiled at her, admiring the way the red dress made her even more exotic looking. "Yeah, they did. What do you say we find our table?" Lydia smiled as they walked around the room.

They finally found their table, in the front, not to far from Chief Sinclair's table. Hawkes smothered a sigh at their proximity to the Chief, but graciously pulled out Lydia's chair for her.

Within minutes, the rest of the group had arrived and they were sitting down. Cory cleared her throat and raised her glass for a toast. As the group quieted down, she grew serious. 'To the best damn team in the NYPD. Without y'all, I would have died and a bomb would have destroyed the subway. Thank y'all so much," she ended quietly.

The girls wiped tears away from their eyes as they clinked the glasses together. Even the guys seemed to be at a loss for words. Luckily, the waiter arrived at that moment with the food.

Several hours later, after the speeches, which Danny kept moaning about taking forever, the dance floor was opened up. Danny and Flack smiled as they drew Cory and Lindsay out onto the floor. They laughed as they danced through a number of songs, until Lindsay begged to go sit down because her ankles were swelling.

Danny drew Cory to him as a soft waltz came on. "Bella, ti amo he said softly, running his hands up her back.

Cory smiled up at him, feeling at ease for the first time in weeks. "I love you, too," she whispered as she laid her on his chest.

AN: Okay guys! My muse came back temporarily, so I'm giving y'all a bonus fluff chapter!!

Aphina - I was surprised when I wrote E that evil. That came out of left field!! How could you forget that I killed Santa!! You're the one that gave me the cause of death!

Maddy - I love the Santa subplot too. It was so much fun to write. I will warn you, that vision isn't getting resolved any time soon. It actually gets a bit worse for Cory. I think she's going to need major therapy when I get done with her!

MauraudingKnight - You're welcome. Unfortunately, now that I'm so busy, my muse is becoming very insistant! Maybe I'm just trying to work out the stress. I did work 110 hours in the last 2 weeks!

Soccer-Bitch - At least they'll be close to family. That sucks when you get stationed far away from family. It rained the majority of Saturday and it was in the forties. It was just depressing. I'm glad you liked the chapter!

Axellia - Wow...I'm going to try to respond to all the reviews! Yeah, you were pretty far behind! I like Lydia and I just need to come up with a story idea for her and Hawkes...That's true. Alexis is in deep!...I do love Danny taking care of her, but she's just tired of it. I love Blurry, too!...I needed a light chapter, especially with how bad it's going to get!...Yes, you can still write (which btw...I sent everything back!) but it sucks not being able to talk to you! I can't believe I killed Santa, too. But that was such a fun case to write...Speaking of which, now I want to watch Transforms, but I have to choose between Miracle and Twister tonight!