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!

Chapter 60.

Last Resort

Lydia sighed tiredly. She'd been running on fumes, only sleeping two or three hours a night, since she had gotten to Spain. Finally when it looked like they had a break, Spanish laws were making it difficult for them to get a warrant to raid the house. To top all of that off, the last time she'd talked with Cory, she had sounded really depressed and she wasn't sure what she would do if they didn't find her mom.

Finally, they got the call. The judge had signed off on the warrant. Excited, she strapped herself into the protective gear and checked her gun. Nodding to her contact on the Spanish force, she told him that she was ready. The man just nodded and they stormed into the house. Only to find it abandoned. "Damn it!" she exclaimed in her anger.

She turned to the man and began to fire off in rapid Spanish. "See? This is why we needed to get this done as soon as possible! It took five days to get this warrant! In those five days, they've managed to evade us!" She took a breath and was about to continue her tirade, when Alistair pulled her aside.

"Agent Sanchez, control your anger," he said calmly. "I know that you are frustrated, but yelling at the poor man will not help the situation any."

Lydia felt the anger drain out of her at his logic. "I know, but I don't know how much more Cory can take. I feel like she is teetering on the brink of a true depression."

Alistair nodded. "I understand your concern, but by the looks of the house, they have been gone for a while." He sighed. "It is as I feared. I found them too late and Montoya has left Spain. I can feel that in my bones."

"So, what do we do?" Lydia asked. "I've been here for two weeks. Missed both Christmas and New Years, only to go home empty handed?" She paused for a second. "It's not that I'm upset with missing my family and friends, but I am really worried about her, Alistair."

Alistair nodded. "Give me a couple of days. Stay here and let's see if I can get a lead on where they are."

Lydia nodded. "That's fair. In that case, I'm going back to the hotel and going to sleep."

Two days later, Lydia was sipping a drink at the bar when Alistair walked up to her. She noticed the glint in his eyes. "You found them?" she asked, trying not to get her hopes up.

"It's possible. I think they might be in Portugal. Willing to travel a bit more?"

Lydia smiled. "Of course. When do we leave?"

"Three hours."

"Let me call Cory and I'll be ready to go," Lydia stated before returning to her room to pack and make her phone call.

Alexis felt Montoya's tight grip on her arm, preventing her from escaping in the busy airport. He'd already told her that if she tried to get away, he would hunt down her entire family and eliminate them. She wasn't willing to take the risk, so she followed him complacently.

She looked around tiredly, her eyes slightly blurry from lack of sleep. They had been traveling for close to twenty-four hours and she was exhausted. She couldn't even appreciate the myriad of people surrounding them. She was to the point that she wasn't even sure what country they were in. Over the previous two weeks, since Christmas, they had been to Tangier, France and Monaco. She sighed as Montoya led her out of the airport and into yet another car.

Cory stared down at her cell phone after Lydia had hung up. Emotions were choking her, and she felt like the darkness had gotten even closer. Closing her eyes she remembered Lydia's words. "We were too late to catch them in Spain, but we have a lead in Portugal, so we're heading out there. Keep your chin up. We'll find her, Cory. I promise."

Cory shook her head before lying down on the couch trying to catch the sleep that was eluding her. Every since she had broken down in her office, she felt like she was walking on eggshells around Danny. He was trying to be supportive and short of throwing him out of the apartment, there wasn't a way to get him to leave her.

As she closed her eyes, she felt the exhaustion catch up with her and within moments, she was fast asleep.

Cory stretched luxuriously in the bed, enjoying the decadence of sleeping in. She smiled when the door opened and Danny walked in, carrying breakfast. "Good morning, Mr. Messer," she said softly.

"Good morning, Mrs. Messer. Gawd, I can't believe we are really married," he said with a smirk.

Cory laughed. "I know. It seems so silly that we put this off for so long."

Danny smiled back before raising the tray up slightly. "You hungry?"

Cory got a twinkle in her eyes. "Not for food," she said impishly and was immediately rewarded by Danny putting the tray on the dresser and jumping into bed with her. Lord, his hands are magic, she thought before becoming distracted by a small noise. "Danny?" she said, grabbing his wandering hands and bringing them to a halt. "Wait, I heard something."

Danny stopped immediately, before grabbing his pajama pants from the floor. "I'll go investigate."

Cory quickly followed him out of the bed. "Wait, I'll come with you," she said grabbing her robe and the Glock out of her bedside table. She shook her head as Danny walked out of the room without her or his gun. Just as she put her clip in shots rang out.

Her heart was in her throat as she rushed out of the bedroom, to find Danny lying in a pool of his own blood, with Montoya standing over him. Her mind shut down as her body reacted instinctively. She fired two shots, both straight into Montoya's heart before rushing to Danny's side.

"Danny? Danny? Can you hear me?" she pleaded as she felt for a pulse that wasn't there. Quickly she began CPR, trying to breathe life back into his body. "No! You can't do this to me!" she screamed as she continued the chest compressions.

Cory awoke in a cold sweat. She shook her head, trying to clear the nightmare out of her head. She was trembling as she made her decision. I have to make Danny leave me. I can't let him die.

Danny sighed in resignation as he tapped out a set of numbers on his cell phone. "Hey, it's me. Can you meet me? I really need to talk to someone. Thanks," he said as he closed his phone and turned to walk out of the building.

Twenty minutes later, he was sitting in a small café, watching for the familiar black haired figure to arrive.

Taylor rushed to the table five minutes after Danny has sat down. "Hey, Danny. What's going on?"

Danny sighed as he looked at her. He was at the end of his rope and he didn't know what to do. He didn't want to talk to the rest of the team, so Taylor's offer to talk was a blessing. "I don't know, Tay. Cory keeps pulling away." He sighed again, not really comfortable talking about his feelings with her. "We've put off the wedding until we can find Alexis, but she doesn't even talk to me anymore. Seriously, we haven't said more than a few words to each other since Christmas. I don't know what to do anymore."

Taylor looked at him, concern for both of them shining in her eyes. "Have you tried talking to her about the dreams?"

Danny snorted. "Yeah, except she tells me that we have to break up because she keeps dreaming that I die and Montoya's the one that kills me!"

Taylor looked up in shock at that. "What? Does she think it's a vision?"

Danny nodded. "I think so."

Taylor just shook her head. "Listen, let me do some checking with Maddy and see if I can get any info. I'll give you a call a little later tonight," she said as she got up from the table to leave.

Taylor waited until she got home before calling out to Maddy. "Madeline! Get your pasty ghost butt down here, now!"

Her dead friend appeared quickly and looked at Taylor with a question in her eyes. "What's up chica?"

"What is going on with Cory?" Taylor asked bluntly.

Maddy blinked for a second before responding. "Honestly? I don't know."

Taylor shut her eyes. "Then I need to talk to Armando."

Maddy looked at her before nodding slowly. Within moments, Cory's dead friend was standing in her apartment.

"Taylor," he said with a question in his voice.

"Armando? Can you please tell me what's going on with Cory and her visions?"

Armando shook his head with a confused look on his face. "The ones about Alexis?"

Taylor shook her head. "No, the ones about Danny."

Armando looked at her. "What visions about Danny? She's not being sent visions about Danny. The only ones she's being sent are about Alexis and I can't release any information about that. That's for her to tell."

"No," Taylor said. "She's having visions about Danny being killed by Montoya. She's freaking out over it and they are about to cause their relationship to disintegrate."

"I promise you, she is not being sent those visions. I get shown every single vision that she gets, so if she has questions she can come to me." He shuddered slightly. "I wouldn't want to be getting those visions. Some of them are quite graphic."

Taylor looked at him, comprehension coming to her eyes. "I think I might understand," she started. "She almost died, then she gets kidnapped and Alexis off the radar. She's in a downward spiral and she jumping at shadows."

Armando nodded. "It's entirely possible. All she had to do was ask me, but she keeps ignoring me."

"Okay," Taylor said as she started to plan. "I'll talk with her. See if I can make her see the light. Thanks, Armando."

"No problem. Watch out for her, Taylor. It could be a rough couple of months," he said seriously before disappearing.

Maddy looked at Taylor, sensing that she had something up her sleeve. "So, what are you going to do?"

Taylor just smirked. "Just leave that to me," she stated with a smile.

AN: Aw, guys you make me feel so loved! As promised, here is the next chapter!

Soccer-Bitch - Having that much energy in the house, will sap yours! I'm good. We've really slowed down at work and I don't know what to do when I'm not working 55 hours a week! Top that off with the fact that my muse seems to be in Bora Bora, then I'm really bored! Glad you got caught up! Thanks!

Bec0512 - Thank you! Thanks are going to get pretty rough for her, but I have faith!

Aphina - This was actually pretty easy to write! I only have probs with the fluff chapters! I like seeing her break down and not listen to Danny and I love his reaction. But this is the calm before the storm!

debbs - I don't know where you've been, but I'm glad to see you back! Thanks. I actually wrote the final 3 chapters the same day, so there is a lot of continuity in them (chapters 62-64) and there's no FM in these final chapters, but I'll pick that back up with the sequel! Thanks!

SD - I delurked a reader! Woot! Thank you so much. I try really hard to make the OC's fit in because I don't want to mess with the whole reason that I love the show! I'm glad that my hard work is paying off!

CSI junkie - That continues until chapter 61, I think, but timeline wise it's a couple of months. What can I say, she's stubborn! I'm glad your theory was right...I didn't even plan on that until I had written the final chapter and I was like..wait! I can't drop that, it's the perfect thing!

katydid13 - You'll have to wait another chapter to find out who actually gets through to her (is it Danny or Taylor?), but one of them will eventually do it! Thanks!

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 is from Papa Roach. As always, I owe this wonderful story to my fab beta's Aphina and Axellia!