CharmedMummy - I have a plan to encorporate the Third Watch firefighters, actually. Not a complete story line, bit I do intend on bringing them in, lol!

Trizzy - You are! It didn't start out this bumpy, but many alterations later, this is what happened! And yeah, you may be right on the other matter too (:p)

sparkyCSI - your suggestions did help! Thank you! (There will be some chapters sent to you soon, I hope. I'm exhausted!!

demolished-soul - I'm not 'killing' Maddy off! I kinda like having her around! I thought the episode was brilliant - probably one of my favs in the season.

meadow567 - is that anything like Theme Park? (and I may have just made the name of that game up! (:s))

Horatiofan101 - Don't worry about not reviewing - I'm feeling bad about not posting! And I can certainly appreciate the lack of time

RK9 - ah, I can't take the cookie - it took ages for me to update! Maddy may be in trouble... And I'm really sorry that it took so long for me to update!

Swede85 - I have decided, and the votes are swung in Lindsay's favour. Which surprised me, actually! Ok, I will not be mean to Stella, or I will face the consequences!

Volonta forte - I have no idea what happened with that email, I'm resending it. Stella on crutches is quite a funny idea, probably because she would do it! lol

There are spoilers for an episode, but I can't for the life of me remember which episode number it was - maybe 3x08, Consequences. And this chapter has been partially beta'd but I posted it before SparkyCSI could check the alterations I made - sorry hun, I figured that it would be weekend before I could post, otherwise!

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 128: Nobody believes me when I tell them that you're out of your mind

Taylor's head was reeling. How on earth could they drop that bombshell on her and then rip Maddy from her hands? So she went to the source.

'Hey Tay,' Flack greeted her as he put his phone down. He watched her sit down in the chair next to his desk. ' Taylor, is everything alright?'

Taylor frowned. 'I don't know. Maddy was telling me something, and then she disappeared.'

'I thought they bailed out on you all the time?'

'I think this was different,' Taylor sighed, still frowning.

'Is there anything I can do?' he asked her softly.

Taylor shook her head. 'Not really.' She took a deep breath. 'Can I ask you something?'

'Of course,' Flack responded instantly, still looking worried.

'I'm confused about this case,' she began.

Flack gave her a reassuring smile. 'We'll find Menlo.'

Taylor shook her head. 'It's not Menlo I'm worried about. It's the other guy.'

'Kym Tanaka.'

Taylor nodded.

'Look, I know they like to throw the science around, but black cocaine isn't that uncommon. I've come across it before.'

Taylor's heart sank. 'You have?' she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Flack nodded. 'Sure have. Just before I ended up in hospital from the bomb blast at the Daily. Drugs bust in Harlem.'

'Really?' Taylor asked, trying to remain bright. 'Who else was with you?'

'Couple of uniforms, Cruz and Truby,' he nodded his head in the direction of the two detectives he was talking about.

Both felt Taylor staring at them and looked up, giving her a confused smile. Taylor smiled back, before turning her attention back to Flack.

' Tay, are you alright?' Flack asked her. 'You've gone pale.'

'Can we go for a walk?' she asked.

Flack gave her a searching stare, but nodded.

-------------------------------------

'Are you going to tell me what's on your mind?' Flack asked as they began walking up Broadway.

Taylor stopped and grabbed Flack's hand. 'I have to tell you something. And you're not going to like it.'

Flack squeezed her hand. ' Taylor, baby, you can tell me anything,' he told her earnestly.

'God I hope so,' she muttered under her breath. 'Maddy disappeared because she told me something she shouldn't have.'

Flack arched an eyebrow. 'I thought she told you things she shouldn't all the time.'

'Don,' Taylor pleaded with him. 'Please.'

Flack nodded.

Taylor took a deep breath. 'She told me that you might be too involved in this case.'

Flack's eyes became a dark, stormy blue instantly, as he glared at her. 'Are you accusing me of murder?'

Taylor shook her head vigorously. 'God, no! But I think that one of the detectives who were on that bust with you might have.'

Flack didn't just drop her hand; he practically threw it back at her. 'So now Maddy is going around telling everyone that my colleagues, my friends are bent? Murderers?'

Taylor flinched at the venom in his voice, but stood her ground. 'Don, they found black cocaine on Tanaka.'

'And like I told you, black cocaine isn't exactly uncommon!' he roared at her.

'Yeah? And how many busts have you been on where black cocaine was involved?' Taylor shouted back at him, knowing as she did, that shouting wasn't the right way to go.

Flack took a step forward. 'More than I'm going to share with you.'

The anger flew from Taylor as quickly as it appeared. 'Don, I'm coming straight to you, I'm telling you what Maddy told me.'

'Well, it's all a bunch of bull,' he told her – the anger was still coursing through his veins. 'Maybe you should just sit down and decipher the clue that the ghost gave you, rather than jump to the worst possible assumption.'

Taylor stepped back, feeling like she had been slapped. 'What?'

'You heard me,' Flack told her coldly. 'You're not exactly brilliant at working out what all these clues mean, are you?'

Taylor stared open mouthed at him.

'And maybe you should learn to take more stock in the living. Cruz and Truby are good cops, good men. I think I trust something with a pulse. At least you know they're real.' He turned and began storming away.

Taylor stared at his retreating back in confusion, before taking off after him. 'Don,' she shouted as she weaved through the crowds (even though she wasn't really seeing them). 'Don!'

He stopped and turned so suddenly that Taylor practically ran into him. 'What, Taylor? You want to accuse me of something else now?'

'I'm not accusing you of anything,' Taylor told him. 'I just wanted to give you a heads-up before Mac got on the case.'

'The only way Mac's going to get on the case is if you go running to him,' he told her icily.

'I'm not going to say anything,' Taylor told him. 'And I swear to God, I hope I'm wrong.'

'You are wrong, Taylor. Very wrong.' He turned and headed back to the station.

This time, Taylor watched him go. It wasn't until he was gone from sight that she realised that she was crying.

-------------------------------------------

Taylor wandered morosely through the lab. Maddy still hadn't appeared, she couldn't find anyone other than Mac, (and she wasn't about to spill her guts to him!) and Adam, who again, she wasn't thrilled at the prospect of sharing with. He told her that Lindsay had disappeared to the canteen for a coffee, so Taylor, needing to talk, decided to find her.

She found Lindsay pouring over a file in the canteen a while later. 'Mind if I join you?'

She just got a glare back in return.

Taylor frowned and took a seat opposite anyway. 'Look, I'm sorry.'

'Sure you are,' Lindsay muttered.

'Alright, I'm not,' Taylor shrugged. 'I'm not trying to tread on any toes here – I'm just trying to help.'

'Help? By doing what? By sticking your nose in and getting in the way?'

Taylor stared at her, confused at the bitterness in her voice. Surely Flack hadn't said anything?? 'I didn't think I was in anybody's way. I'm really not doing more than speculating.'

Lindsay scoffed. 'Speculating? You're telling him everything will be alright and to move on.'

No, she was still upset about the ghost. 'That's generally what I'm supposed to do. Although I shouted at him today, rather than tell him things are fine.'

Lindsay narrowed her eyes. 'Do you think that could be because he's now temporarily deaf?'

Taylor's forehead wrinkled up as she tried to think about the ghost – sure, he was still wearing his helmet, but she wouldn't go so far as to call him deaf. 'I shouted at him for watching me climb out of the shower.'

'Well that's just great,' Lindsay cried, slamming her hand on the table. 'Does Flack know?'

Taylor frowned. 'About what?'

'About what?' Lindsay repeated. 'About him watching you shower.'

'I don't think he was watching me shower, but no; I haven't had a chance to tell him yet,' Taylor frowned. 'It's not like he could do anything anyway.'

'Other than punch him?' Lindsay suggested angrily.

'Well I suppose he could try, but he'd probably miss.'

'What? With that fat head? I highly doubt it!'

'Well, I was going for the fact the Don can't see ghosts,' Taylor frowned at her in confusion.

Lindsay glared at her. 'Funny, but I'm not about to murder Danny. However tempting that may be.'

'Danny?' Taylor cried incredulously. 'What the hell has Danny got to do with anything?'

'Because he's the one that leapt straight onto that tramp you set him up with.'

It took a second for the penny to drop and Taylor to realise that they were having two separate conversations. 'Look, I came here because I thought you were annoyed about the ghosts. I'm not apologising for setting Danny up with Nixon – who's not a tramp, for the record – and if you must know, I was trying to do that for your benefit anyway.'

'Yeah, I can see that,' Lindsay responded dryly.

'You know what, Lindsay? I don't care. He's happy now. He's not hiding the fact he's in a relationship, and she's not hiding anything from him. Maybe if you'd have been honest with him, he'd be slightly deaf from the Keith Urban concert you'd taken him to instead.' Taylor got to her feet. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a UFO to look for, and a friend to find.' She turned on her heel and walked away, pausing briefly only to smile at Mac who was making his way over to the table Lindsay was still occupying.

-------------------------------------------

Taylor was lost in thought, pacing up and down one of the corridors she wasn't seeing properly as she wore track marks into the floor. She had tried calling Maddy, Aiden, even Tanaka, but the only response she had gained was strange looks off the random passing lab techs.

Now, she was replaying the conversation she had had with Maddy, trying to work out if she had misunderstood it – that Flack was right. But no matter how many times she thought about it, she hadn't. She was growing more frustrated with everything when her phone rang, breaking her out of her thoughts.

She glanced down at the caller ID. 'Hi Don.'

'Where are you?' he demanded.

Taylor glanced down the corridor. 'By the interview rooms on the eleventh floor. What do you need?'

'Stay there.'

Taylor sighed into the dial tone and slipped the phone back into her pocket.

It didn't take long for him to find her. When he did, he pushed open the door to one of the interview rooms, waiting for Taylor to walk in.

Taylor shot him a puzzled look, but walked in and around to the other side of the table where she stood, waiting patiently for him to speak. Taylor winced as Flack slammed the door behind him, before dumping a slightly squished, half-eaten hot dog in front of him. 'You told him?!'

Taylor took a deep breath and sat down. 'Just so I know we're having the same conversation, told who?' she asked wearily, hoping that she wasn't on the same wavelength.

'Mac!' Flack shouted at her, slamming his fist on the table.

Taylor flinched. 'I haven't told anyone. I promised you I wouldn't.'

'Really? Then tell me why Mac had the audacity to question my guys, to question me, over a drug bust. And then he tells me he's asking as a friend! ' he asked her as he began pacing around the room.

Taylor took a breath. 'Could it be because Mac came to the same conclusion, by himself, that I tried to tell you earlier?'

'That black cocaine they found traces of at the crime scene?'

Taylor nodded, watching his eyebrows disappear into his hairline with his indignation.

'I knew it! I knew you'd tell him.'

Taylor stared sadly at him. 'Don, I didn't tell him.'

'Well, apparently, the only cocaine with that exact chemical make up was confiscated by my team in a bust a few months back, and then destroyed. So do you want to tell me why Mac now has the nerve to question me as to whether or not all of it was handed in? He may as well have hauled me into an interrogation room.'

'What? Like you hauled me into one?' Taylor asked him, arching an eyebrow. She pushed her chair back, scraping it across the floor. She started to rise to her feet but Flack was there pushing her back down. 'Don, back in the lab, he told Lindsay to run the chemical make up of that cocaine against anything else in the system,' Taylor told him. He was heading in the right direction of scaring her. 'Was he accusing you?'

'He may as well have been,' Flack told her. 'It was my team, and they were my guys. My guys are the good guys. He must have ballsed up that test because his results are wrong.'

Taylor bit her lip. She and Mac had had a few run-ins recently, but if there was something she was sure of, he would have double checked, triple checked, those results. 'What did you tell him?' she asked, rather than voicing the thoughts.

'I told him I'd save him a little bit of time. None of my guys took a thing. The same thing I told you.'

'And what did he say to that?'

'He demanded my memo book off me – I was the recorder on scene that day – as a friend, of course,' Flack added bitterly.

'Are you going to give it to him?' Taylor asked, knowing she was treading on dangerous ground.

'Of course I'm not going to give it him!' Flack exclaimed. 'He has no right to ask me for that, like you had no right to tell Mac the crazy idea you concocted.'

'Don, I didn't tell him,' Taylor told him, trying to push the lump in the back of her throat away. 'And I'm beginning to wish to hell, I hadn't told you. But has it crossed your mind that maybe we're both right?

Flack's eyes narrowed. 'Are you siding with Mac?'

'I didn't realise there were sides,' she told him, her voice remaining calm. 'I was merely suggesting that you find proof that he, Maddy and I are wrong. Surely that can't be too hard to disprove the three of us,' she muttered, somewhat sarcastically.

Flack glared at her.

'You know what, Flack? Screw this. I'm not going to continue to defend my actions when I shouldn't have to. And I'm not a suspect. The next time you want to ask me something, you can do it somewhere other than an interrogation room. At least Mac had the decency to do that for you.' Taylor rose back to her feet and stormed past Flack, out of the room, and slammed the door behind her.

I looked at my diary yesterday. I've worked 29 day in a row (and I won't get a day off now until sunday) and, well, last week was a 90 hour week - the others in that time frame have all been above 40 too. Thankfully, the hours should be dropping back down to normal, so I should be able to post a little more consistently soon!