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 Cavo (from the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack).

Chapter 34.

Let it Go

Mac was sitting at his desk; he had just finished reading the early diaries of Laquandra Harring. He had smiled as he read her childhood dreams. She had wanted to be a lawyer—a defense lawyer to be exact. She had been on her way. The diary that he had just finished reading was from the eighth grade. She had been fully realizing what she needed to do to make her dreams come true. She had been excited about the upcoming school year where she was going to be taking some leadership courses, a perk allotted to her since she had a perfect 4.0 GPA. The school recognized the fact that she wanted to make something of her life and a very astute teacher was trying to make that happen.

When he began to read the diary from her freshman year, Mac noticed that it began in the same tone as the previous diary. She was understandably excited about starting high school. In October, her guidance counselor advised her that community service would make a huge difference when applying to colleges, so she decided to volunteer at a homeless shelter in her neighborhood.

Mac noticed a change in tone around the end of October. Laquandra had been volunteering in the shelter for a couple of weeks when she met a man by the name of Tang Lan. Her diary revealed the fact that she had felt a connection to him. He had a similar background to her, oldest of three children with parents that worked two jobs each to support their family. She had begun to talk with him. At first, Mac noticed, she was just concerned about his mental state. He was irrational at some points, showing a deep hate for the government. He blamed the government for his current state of unemployment. As Laquandra wrote, "Tang seems to blame the federal government for taking his job away. I've talked with him about it and discovered that his job was outsourced overseas. He was the only working to support his wife, children and his parents."

It seemed like the closer that Laquandra got to Tang, the angrier she got at the government as well. But, with that anger came a sense of purpose as well. She made it her priority to help Tang find a job.

Mac had to admit, she was brilliant. She had organized what scant resources the shelter offered and by Christmastime, Tang had gotten a job at the Port Authority. Mac smiled at the childish enthusiasm that had permeated that entry in the diary. It made him realize that she was in fact just a child, not the semi-adult that she had been acting as. Her diary calmed down somewhat from that point. She kept in contact with Tang, but since he was employed, they did not see each other anymore and she began to revert back to her sunny outlook on life.

Sighing, thinking that he was running down a dead end, he almost missed one of the final entries. She was talking about how she was going to a school sponsored leadership seminar in upstate New York. That peaked his interest again, since they had hypothesized that the seminars were how Etienne had contacted the students. With a renewed vigor, he began to read again.

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When Cory awoke, she felt like there was a jackhammer in her head, trying to get out. She groaned softly as she opened her eyes, grateful that it was still dark outside. She wondered briefly how she had gotten home, but her fuzzy memories of the previous night finally produced a picture of Danny kneeling before her in Ray's. She groaned again, a little louder this time, as she rolled over in Danny's arms to look at the clock. Three a.m.

She sighed as her mind began to work and she knew that she would not be going back to sleep anytime soon. She rolled back over, to lie on her back, still cradled in Danny's arms, his closeness giving her comfort. Wincing as her head began to pound again; she realized that she was well and truly hung over. Huh, this is an experience, she thought. I wonder if I can make it to the bathroom to get some ibuprofen.

Before she could make her thought into reality, Danny shifted beside her, tightening his told. "You okay," he murmured, his voice gravelly with sleep.

"Other than the jackhammer in my brain?" she whispered back. "I'm fine. Feeling a bit stupid at the moment."

Danny chuckled. "That comes with being plastered, Cor," he told her as he sat up. "Be right back."

Cory looked at him, his face visible in the moonlight. "What?"

Danny just smiled as he went into the bathroom. Cory shut her eyes as the light made her head explode in pain again. When she felt the light go off, she opened her eyes up and found Danny beside her, a glass of water in one hand and two pills in the other. She accepted the medication without a word and just smiled gratefully as she swallowed them. "Thanks."

Danny took the glass of water and put it on the nightstand. "I forgot your patented cure for preventing a hangover," he said chuckling.

"I was really out of it last night. Things are kinda fuzzy," Cory confessed.

"Yeah, I kinda got that," Danny responded wryly. "Greg said you were muttering to yourself in French. What got you so pissed off?" Danny deliberately didn't tell her that she had explained part of it, wanting to know the full story.

"My new boss. The British bitch," Cory began. As concisely as possible, she explained the full story to him.

Danny felt anger growing as Cory described the encounter with Kate. He was in awe about how Cory had kept her temper in check, especially since he knew how much stress she had been under recently. Hell, she had even snapped at him a couple of times. "I'm impressed that you didn't bite her head off," he said quietly as she finished her story.

Cory just shook her head. "I couldn't. I think that she's right. I am way too emotionally involved with catching Etienne. I think she's right about that. I've focused so much on him that I've lost focus on the big picture."

Danny cupped her cheeks gently. "Cory, you are very passionate about your work, but you could have not prevented the school shootings. You did not have the information needed to prevent that," he told her forcefully, staring into her eyes. "I won't deny that you are emotionally involved in Etienne. How could you not be? He tried to kill your mother! But you are a good agent; you are not disorganized at all. You are the most organized person that I know. Don't believe the crap that she is telling you. Capice?"

Cory felt a tear roll down from the outer corner of her eye and Danny wiped it away with his thumb. She smiled a little. "Yeah. What in the hell did I do to deserve you, mon chere?"

Danny just leaned in and kissed her softly. He moaned as she returned the kiss ardently, both reveling in the intimate contact. Danny groaned as her hands began to move across his body, causing fire to shoot through his veins. "God, I've missed you," he murmured before lowering her to the bed to reacquaint himself with her body.

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Mac laid the final diary down, shaking his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe the complete change in personality that Laquandra had gone under. How could her family not see the change? He knew that her parents were busy people, but unless she was really good at fooling people, they had to have seen something. Shaking his head, he tried to wrap his mind around the case again, but was interrupted by the phone. "Taylor," he answered.

"Mac? Did you really just spend the entire night at the lab again?" Stella's amused voice asked him.

Mac glanced at the clock, amazed to find that it was after seven a.m. "I guess I did," he answered in amusement. "Sorry, Stel. I really didn't think that I've been here that long."

Stella just laughed. "That's okay. I understand, really I do. This case is bothering you and you're just trying to figure it out. I'll bring breakfast."

"Thanks, Stel," he said in gratitude before hanging up the phone. He looked down at the notepad that he had been writing on. It was filled with interesting bits of information. Most importantly, two names. Two names that he knew had to be important to solving the case. Tang Lan and Fredrico Martelli. Fredrico was the one that Laquandra had mentioned meeting at the leadership seminar and from her writings she seemed to look up to him.

Deciding to let his thoughts simmer, he stood up and stretched out his muscles. He decided to take a shower and change before relieving the night shift supervisor and catching up on his cases. He made a mental note to call Cory and see if either she or Lydia had some insight into exactly who these two men could possibly be.

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By the time Cory had gotten to work, her headache was a memory. After her talk with Danny, she had felt her emotions calm down enough to logically analyze the information that Kate had given her. She knew that she was going to have to prove herself to the Brit, but she was confident that she could handle the task. On her way in, after picking up her car from Ray's, she had taken a step back and realized that she had overlooked some pretty damning evidence.

She was still mentally slapping herself upside the head when she walked into the office. "Lydia? Can you come into my office, please," she asked pleasantly, all trace of the emotional wreck she had been gone.

Lydia glanced at Cory, not knowing what was going on, and nodded. "Give me a sec and I'm all yours," she said with a smile.

Cory smiled as she walked her office and sat down. She started her computer and was just pulling up her research when Lydia walked in with a concerned look on her face.

"Okay, Cory," the other woman started. "When you left yesterday, you were beyond upset. I've never seen you so mad. What happened?"

Cory shrugged. "I had a long talk with Danny, and I think that I've overlooked something. Remember a couple of months ago I was tracking the gang activity?" Lydia nodded. "Well, I totally forgot all about that with everything that has gone on. I was thinking this morning and that popped into my head. Everything that I've learned about Etienne points to the fact that he wants to plan a massive attack. What better way than to try to gain control of all the gangs?"

Lydia sat back. "You're right. On both counts. If you want to gain a foothold, you have to get the locals on your side."

"Exactly. I think that is what Etienne is doing. Luke mentioned that he is a little OCD. He likes to test run things. Three times before the actual attack. And he has to have a local base. Flying in that many people would raise red flags."

Lydia nodded while she made notes. "Why don't I get with the other field offices and see if anyone else has seen the kind of numbers we have?"

"While you do that, I'm going to make sure that Luke is settled in to his new home, at least for now," Cory continued. She picked up the phone as Lydia exited the room and quickly called Sing Sing. Happily, she learned that he was settling in fine in solitary confinement, so she let the warden know when she planned on coming to interview him some more. As soon as she hung up the phone, it rang again. "Reid," she answered.

"Hey, Cory. It's Mac. Good to have you back in the country."

Cory smiled. "It's good to be back in the country," she returned. "What can I do for you?"

"The mother of one of the school shooters found her diaries. I've just finished reading them and wanted to know if you recognize either of these names. Tang Lan or Fredrico Martelli," Mac asked.

Cory almost jumped in shock. "I actually know both of them," she said in surprise. "Tang Lan was someone that Lydia and I interviewed in connection to the shooting case, but couldn't get any evidence on him. And Fredrico Martelli is an alias of Etienne."

"Really," Mac stated dryly. "Then you might want to take a look at this. Maybe with this information we can make a case. I'm going to go pick Tang up for questioning. Would you like to join me?"

Cory thought carefully about it. "As much I'd like to, I've got some things up in the air at the moment. Maybe I can be at the questioning. I only want to observe, though. If I didn't get anything out of him before, I don't think that I'll get anything out of him now."

"I can arrange that. I'll let you know when we pick him up. Then you can meet me at the station for the questioning," Mac assured her.

"Okay. Thanks, Mac. I'll talk to you soon," Cory told him. Once she had hung up, she realized that she was making a step in the right direction. After all, the success of a leader is determined by how well she delegates, she thought with a smile.

AN: I just realized how long it's been since I updated! I'm so sorry. Real life has been overwhelming, but I think I may be back on track. :p I'm going to try to starting posting once a week again!

Axellia - So we are both avoiding the internet, lol. I agree about Ryan; he's just what is needed to give a break in the drama. Yes, you got Cory to Yorkshire and she may go back someday! You know, it's been so long since we've seen Maka, that I'm not sure where I stand on her either. Hmmm....must borrow CSI: NY from my best friend. I actually think I like Kate. She's a strong character and in the end....Anyway, I'm uber excited about CM, too. Hopefully, I'll have another chap for you in a couple of days. :)

Soccer - Yes she is. I actually am giving Cory her first hangover. I think it was well deserved. :D