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: Okay. Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed! Here's the next chapter!!! Many thanks to Aphina and Axellia for the beta. I don't own the chapter title either. That belongs to The Supremes (it was the theme song from China Beach).

Chapter 16.

Reflections

When Danny got home, he was disgusted. Still shocked by the lengths that Misty went to catch the man responsible for her half-brother's death, he wanted nothing more than to grab a beer and put the day behind him. Glancing at the clock, he knew that he had hours before Cory actually got home, so he settled on the couch, the beer bottle dangling between his fingers.

He glanced at the coffee table, intrigued by the papers strewn across the glass surface, so he set the beer down and began to look at the papers. A smile crossed his face as he found Cory's to-do list for the wedding. His eyebrow rose as he realized that she had been hard at work. She had checked off the flowers, stationary, and bridal party gifts off of the list. He smiled as he read the little note next to the cake, food and church lines. Ask Danny what he wants.

He chuckled while he shook his head. I don't care as long as I get to say 'I do' to you, bella. Thoughtfully, he checked over her notes and decided to surprise her. Thankfully, his fiancée was one of the most organized people he'd ever met. Buried underneath the papers, he found her wedding planner. Inside, were all her notes from the various parts of the ceremony.

He looked at the notes for the various churches that they'd visited. He vaguely remembered the venues and with her notes to guide him, he searched his memory for his recollections. The first one on the list, he recalled, was a huge church. Alexis had been ecstatic at first sight of the church, but Cory and him as both felt it was too big. As Cory put it, she had planned a five hundred guest wedding and wanted their union to be more intimate.

He scanned the list for the church that they had visited last. It was a small Protestant church that he knew that Cory had been drawn to. He finally found the name on the bottom of the list and withdrew his cell phone. Quickly dialing the number next to the name, he made contact with the minister and found that the sanctuary would hold around one hundred people. Smiling, he thanked the man and made his own note on the page.

He continued to go through the list, wanting to help Cory out as much as possible, until his exhaustion finally caught up with him. Yawning, he finally decided to take a nap around two, making sure to leave the notes on the wedding on the top of papers that Cory had left around.

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Cory was staring at the envelope on her desk in disbelief. "You have got to be freakin' kidding me!" she muttered in exasperation. "This looks exactly like the other notes from the 'school shooter' case."

Lydia looked at her, shaking her head in disbelief as well. "Why don't these guys either put up or shut up? You know, it's like in a Bond movie, the bad guys feels the need to go into this long monologue about why they have defeated Bond." Cory looked at Lydia with an eyebrow raised as the other woman continued, "You know that in the end, Bond ends up escaping and kicking some serious bad guy butt!"

Cory started laughing. "Okay. Who are you and what have you done with Lydia? That sounds like something that I would say!" She continued chuckling as she opened the envelope, her brow furrowing almost immediately. "Okay. Here's the latest: Thousands talk, few act. Welcome to the new regime."

Lydia bit her lip. "I'm calling Derek. I think he needs to hear this."

"Hear what?" Morgan asked from the doorway.

Both women looked up as he walked into the room. "New note from the school shooter thing," Cory responded as she held up the note for him to look at. "But, personally, I think this was written by a different person. The tone of it is different."

Morgan quickly scanned the simple note. "Off hand, I'd say you're right," he told Cory. "I'll fax this over to my team and see what they think."

Cory just nodded as she sighed. "Good, because I really don't need anything else on my plate right now. I mean, I have this thing with Etienne, the fireworks case—which is going nowhere fast—and I'm trying to plan a wedding!" she almost whined.

Lydia smiled as she looked at her. "You okay?"

"I'm just tired and Danny and I aren't getting to see much of other. That's the frustrating part and I know that with both of our jobs it's gonna be like this, but still."

Morgan looked at the two women, obviously confused, but not wanting to intrude. He cleared his throat slightly. "So, I'll get this to the lab," he finally said, making a hasty exit.

Lydia looked at the redhead for a moment. "You sure you're okay?" she asked in a worried tone.

Cory just smiled softly. "I'll be fine. I just need things to calm down a bit for a while. Let me regroup."

Lydia nodded, understanding her frustration. "Okay. I'll catch up with you later."

Cory smiled, feeling a little bit better after her tirade. "Thanks. I think I'm going to check with Port Authority again to see if they've found anything else."

Lydia just gave her a finger wave as she walked out of the office to find Morgan waiting for her at her desk. "Hey. I thought you left?"

Morgan just smiled. "Nope. I called Hotch and faxed over the note. He promised to have Rossi look at it, so I'm free for now. But, I have to go back there tomorrow. We're going to be going out on a case tomorrow."

Lydia felt her heart drop. "Oh," she said as she bit her lip. "Is that offer for dinner still open?"

Morgan studied her, knowing that something was going on. "Sure. Pick you up at seven at your place?"

Lydia shook her head. "Pick me up at my parents. I'm staying there for a while," she admitted while raising her hand. "Don't ask. We can talk about it tonight."

Morgan just nodded. "Okay, Mami. Whatever you want." He reached out and brushed a strand of her hair aside. "I'll see you at seven.

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When Cory finally left for the day, her frustration at the lack of progress in most of her life was still with her. Downtrodden, she made her way back to her apartment, the long subway ride giving her little solace.

As she walked in the apartment door, she noticed Danny's keys and badge on the hall table and smiled happily. God, I'm glad that he's home! We have hardly had any time together these last few weeks. Her keys and badge joined his and then she locked up her guns in the gun safe in the hall closet. As she moved into the living room, she realized that it was too quiet in the apartment for Danny to still be awake, so she paused by the couch, debating on whether or not to continue to work on the wedding plans.

Making her decision, she kicked off her shoes under the coffee table and picked up the scattered papers that she had left that morning, noticing that they were in a different order. Curious, she glanced at the top ones and her eyes opened wide when she realized that Danny had made notes for her. Feeling giddy, she quickly pulled up her spreadsheet on her laptop and entered his choices into her planner.

That only took her a couple of minutes and when she looked at her checklist, she realized that the only things left had to do with their attire. Hmm, I really need to get with Georgie to see what he has in mind. I'd love for him to do all my dresses for the wedding. For Mom as well, she mused. Quickly, she typed in her notes as she thought about her planned colors for the wedding. Her dress was going to be a soft ivory, so that it didn't clash horribly with her red hair and she was thinking about putting all the women in green. Dark emerald, for sure. That will look good on everyone. I'll email Stella and see if she and Lindsay want to go see Georgie. Of course, I'll have to get Beth, Mom and Nicole up here. I trust Georgie enough to choose a dress that will flatter all of them.

She worked for a little more, sending emails to everyone to see if she could coordinate everyone sometime in August or September, after Lindsay had the baby. She figured that would be a nice outing for them, if Lindsay was feeling stressed with the baby and give her a break. When she finally looked at the clock, she was stunned to see that it was almost ten. Yawning, she decided to call it a night and walked into the bedroom, to find Danny sprawled out across the bed, still dressed in his work clothes—minus shoes.

Shaking her head, she quietly walked to her dresser to pull out her favorite Cowboy's jersey—at the moment it was number 82, Jason Whitten. She figured that he called out to her the most, since he was such a tough player. As quietly as possible, she slipped into the clothes and then debated on whether or not to wake up Danny, so he could change. After a moment, she decided to leave him be, since he probably needed the sleep, she pulled down the sheets on her side of bed and slipped unobtrusively into the bed, trying not to wake him up.

Danny felt the dip in the bed as he half dozed and smirked. Raising his head, he took note of his fiancée and raised his head. "Hey," he murmured sleepily. "What time is it?"

Cory jumped a little, not expecting him to be awake. "About ten. Did I wake you?"

Danny shook his head, smothering a yawn. "Nah, I was just drifting. Did you get my present?"

Cory smiled happily as she turned to look at him, his sleepy eyes and disheveled hair making him look sexy. Reaching out her hand, she ran it through his hair before responding. "The wedding plans? Yeah. Thank you," she murmured right back, scooting closer to him.

Danny took the hint and moved over, gathering her into his arms. "I saw all that you had to do and I know that we've not seen each other for an extended period of time over the last couple of weeks, so I thought I'd help."

Cory smiled as she chastely kissed him. "You did, trust me. I've had a rotten day and when I saw that, it's like a weight was lifted off me." She looked into his eyes, seeing the love and concern shining in them. "Nothing like that," she quickly reassured him. "It's just the fireworks case is going nowhere, this whole thing with Etienne is pissing me the hell off and I'm getting notes from some random person threatening a school shooting. But, I have no hard evidence on that so there's nothing I can do. Then I found out today that Lydia is breaking up with Hawkes!"

Danny lifted his head in shock. "What?!"

Cory sighed. "She has some unresolved feelings for her ex, who is helping us with a case, and decided she needed a break to sort things out. She didn't want to hurt him."

"Wow. That's…wow," Danny responded.

"I know," Cory sighed before snuggling into him. "But, I don't want to think about that anymore," she breathed as she began to run her hands up and down his body.

Danny quickly caught her drift and covered her mouth with his own, his body awakening to her touch and soon neither of them was thinking about anything else but each other.

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Lydia was chewing nervously on her thumbnail waiting for Morgan to arrive. She felt like a horde of butterflies had decided to take residence in her stomach and occasionally would place her hand over her stomach to try to calm her nerves. In her mind, she knew that she had not reason to be nervous since they had dated for so long, but her heart wouldn't listen to her.

Finally, when there was a knock on the door, she hurried to get it, grabbing her bag on the way. When she opened the door, she found Morgan waiting for her, in a nice pair of slacks and shirt. She smiled at him as she locked the door behind her. "You want to go to Julio's?" she asked, naming their favorite Mexican restaurant that they used to frequent.

"I could go for Mexican," he responded, grasping her elbow lightly as they walked to the car. He opened the door for her and then slid in his side for the drive. They drove silently—him because he wasn't sure what to say at the sudden turn of events and her because she was so nervous about what she was doing.

Finally, they arrived at the hole in the wall eatery and after seated Morgan looked at Lydia expectantly. "So, what's going on?" he prompted her.

Lydia looked at her hands nervously. "I broke up with Sheldon," she muttered quietly.

Morgan nodded his head. "I kinda figured that, Mami," he replied. "I just can't figure out why."

Lydia sighed as she finally looked at him, her eyes filled with confusion. "Because I still have feelings for you, Derek. And I didn't want to hurt Sheldon that way. He deserves better than a woman who isn't wholly committed to him."

Morgan smiled. "I thought you hated me."

Lydia shrugged. "There for a long time I did." She smiled softly as she shook her head. "I was willing to marry you, Derek, but you just couldn't commit and I took that as a sign as you really didn't want me that way."

"What changed?" he probed.

"I don't know," she said on an exhale. "Maybe I did. Coming back here to New York has opened my eyes. I mean, I see how much Cory and her fiancé Danny have been through just to get to the engagement. Hell, both of them have almost been killed and Cory told me that she just wants them to make it to the wedding. It made me realize that as a couple, you have to work through your issues together—especially if you want the relationship to survive—and I don't think that we did that."

Morgan nodded as he took a drink of his beer. "I kept so much from you. I thought that you were too good for me."

Lydia raised an eyebrow. "Never. If anything, you're too good for me."

Morgan shook his head. "No. When you left, you really opened my eyes. I started seeing a counselor, to try to get over things that had happened to me in my past. It was in one of those sessions that I realized that I hadn't put all of myself in the relationship and that was why if failed. It wasn't fair to you. You were the one person that I should have been able to let my walls down with, but I was too stubborn to do that." He looked her in the eyes. "So, what do you want to do now?'

Lydia pondered his question for a moment, her heart racing. "I think that we need to start over, only it's going to be more difficult since I live here and you are still in Virginia." He nodded as she continued, "But Derek? This can't be like last time. If you want to try again, then we both have to commit fully to this."

Morgan smiled as he reached across the table to twine his fingers with hers. "I totally agree. So, let's take the slowly and see where we end up, okay?"

Lydia smiled as his thumb stroked the back of her hand, the feeling familiar, but at the same time new and exciting. "Okay. I think I can handle that," she agreed as they both decided to order without ever looking at the menu.

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Hawkes sighed as he unlocked his apartment door. As he walked into the bedroom, he noticed that Lydia's clothes were gone and shook his head. I don't get it. I thought she felt the same thing as I did, he thought as he walked to his dresser. He opened the top room and looked at the ring box nestled in with his socks. He had been planning to propose the following week. He had done a lot of thinking in the hospital, in between the visits from the team, and knew that she had been telling the truth. He admired her for that; not many women would willing admit to the man that she had told she was in love with that she didn't know if she was in love.

As much as it had hurt, he knew that if they ended up staying apart, she had done him a favor. He sighed again as he sat on the bed, wondering where his life was going to go from here. He finally stood, intent on getting back to work, so he could distract and prepare himself for the possibility that Lydia was not coming back. Grabbing his keys, he left to go to the lab, to get back into the swing of things.

When he got to the lab, all way quiet, so he made is way into Mac's office, unsurprised to see his boss sitting at his desk. "Hey Mac, is there anything that needs to be caught up on?"

Mac looked up, surprised to see him there. "Sheldon, you just got out of the hospital. What are you doing here?"

Hawkes sighed and gave him a brief synopsis of what had happened. "I just need something to do while I sort out my feelings and since the doctor said that I need to take a few days rest before I start running again, I thought of work."

Mac nodded. "I understand. There are a few cases backed up that you could do the lab work on, but all and all, it's quiet right now. Closing your case was the main focus for the last couple of days."

"You found out what happened?" Hawkes asked curiously.

Mac just nodded and filled him in. When he was done he gestured at the door. "Go, take your mind off of things, but don't let your thoughts compromise the evidence," he cautioned.

Hawkes nodded. "I won't, boss. Thanks," he uttered gratefully as he made his escape into the lab, determined to keep his mind too occupied to think about his personal life going to hell.

AN: Ok. So what'd y'all think? Work is kicking my butt right now (mandatory 10 hours of OT and it's not looking promising!) so updates may be a little scattered until I can find the time to actually sit down and write. :p but Please review and tell me what you think!

Axellia - Sheldon accepts your virtual hug with a smile. I somehow think someone out there is better for him and I have a very vague idea of who I might pair him up with. My lips are sealed for now, since I'm not sure I'm going to do that! I'm trying to type faster, but exhaustion is setting in! I'm really going to finish 18 this weekend and at least get it to you. I have so many ideas right now! That being said, I want you to type faster too!

Soccer - No worries. My life is insanely busy right now, so I understand! So...another boy? Good for them!

Maddy - I'm trying not to hold anyone on for very long, but since I don't have much prewritten, it's kinda hard. Just don't have so much fun in NOLA that you end up in jail like Lindsay in your story! That would suck!