Madison Bellows - I wondered about using Flack Snr as IAB, but at this point, I went past caring! I just hope it plays out alright!

sparkyCSI - I'd like to say she's with me, but I think I've just scared my two off (I'm in a foul mood.) Maybe the Vodka/Red Bull, SoCo/Lemonade combo will bring them back! Hang on... did I read that right? Snow?!

demolished-soul - I'm about to pile it on Taylor. My muses have taken me down a dark road - it took a lot of convincing for there to be some fluff in there!

meadow567 - Hahaha, don't worry too much about the episode, I've been manipulating it again (:s)

miss wizzard of oz - Yeah, and there's going to be a third! I really do need to sit the muses down and have a firm word... if I could find them!

laplamdgurl - The only problem I have is work - there's no such thing as a social life in my books, sadly. (:c) I'm trying to get back into a regulary updating pattern, but everytime I try, I end up working another 60 hour week!

Aphina - Bless Taylor, she's so scatty sometimes! I think she had to be on the outside - it's not like she and Flack Snr have a great relationship!

Spoilers are still the same, and the thanks to my beta continue to grow!

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 160: You Start To Freeze As Horror Looks You Right Between The Eyes

Taylor was outside taking a deep breath when the ghost appeared again, this time accompanied by Aiden. Taylor stared at Aiden suspiciously, and then held her broken arm up. 'It's already in a cast. Or should I be worried about breaking something else?'

'Huh?' Aiden asked.

'Where's Maddy?'

'Oh,' Aiden muttered, drawing out the word. 'No, we swapped.'

Taylor's face fell. 'I haven't seen Maddy move anything for months. That doesn't fill me with comfort.'

Aiden grinned. 'Nah, no ghostly bad guys. She just wants to sit with Sheldon.'

Taylor sighed. 'She's really got it bad, hasn't she,' she muttered, more of a statement than a question.

Aiden nodded. 'Him and Johnny Depp. But as Johnny isn't facing life imprisonment, he's been knocked back to second place.'

'He's not going to stop.'

Taylor looked over at the ghost who was staring mournfully at her and studied him. Aside from the blue and white stripy boxers, the only thing he seemed to be wearing was a silver ring. And not on his wedding finger.

'Okay,' she told him. 'But only because Flack's dad is in with Sheldon so I can't talk to him.'

Taylor headed where she should have done the first time – to the morgue. She spotted her dead ghost instantly, but as Sid was removing blood from his insides with a ladle, she decided that for the time being, fresh air was more important. Taylor walked straight past and outside to the loading bay where she found Louie leaning against a wall, smoking.

'Want one?' he offered her, seeing how she was staring at the smouldering item.

Taylor leant back against the wall. 'If there was ever a time to start, I'd be getting close. But I'm not at that point yet.'

'First me, then Marty. Now the doc.'

Taylor looked sideways at him. 'First Maddy, the Aiden, then you and Danny. Don gets blown up, Stella gets run down, Lindsay's case back home, Sassone, someone tries to rob my house, Cordelia turns up, Marty gets arrested. And now the doc.'

Louie turned. 'How are you not smoking?'

'No time?' Taylor shrugged.

'I need the number of your shrink,' he laughed.

Taylor smiled. 'There isn't one.'

Louie suddenly stopped laughing. 'Sassone? Are you still seeing him?'

Taylor frowned. 'I only visited him twice.'

'Taylor, you shouldn't have seen him the first time.'

'Louie, he's behind bars. Where he's staying for a long time. What can he do from there?'

'You just don't get it, do you?' he snapped, throwing his half finished cigarette down on the floor. 'Sassone is dangerous. Regardless of where he is. And he's not some dumbass criminal. He's smart, Taylor. He remembers everything.'

'I'm not scared of him,' Taylor told him. 'Like you are,' she added, glaring at him with her hands on her hips.

'Well you should be,' he glared back.

The pair stood glaring at each other until a van pulled backed into the loading bay. 'Hey Louie, got another one for ya,' the driver told him, pulling the door open.

With a final glare at Louie, Taylor spun on her heel, back into the lab.

This time Stella was with Sid, who had thankfully finished the autopsy on her ghost's body. 'Hi'ya Taylor,' Stella smiled at her. 'You here for Hawkes?'

Taylor sighed and pointed to the dead guy in front of her.

'You know the victim?' Sid asked, surprised.

Taylor froze. She'd forgotten that Sid didn't know. Thankfully, she was saved by Louie. He walked through wheeling a gurney with a dead blonde upon it.

Stella looked up, looking mortified. Sid, whose back was to Louie, turned. 'They'll get the guy who did it,' he told Stella

'I know they will, Sid,' Stella responded.

Taylor frowned. 'I'm missing something, aren't I?'

'That's the girl they're saying Sheldon shot.'

'Oh,' Taylor said, still frowning. She looked up as Peyton walked over.

'Aren't you performing the autopsy?' Stella asked her.

Peyton shook her head. 'Conflict of interest. Both Sid and I worked with Sheldon when he was an ME.'

'And who's that guy?' Taylor asked, referring to the man who was hovering over the dead girl with a scalpel.

'That's Doctor Cardini. He is one of the best pathologists in the state.' She turned to Stella. ' Unfortunately, Stella, I'm going to have to ask you leave whilst he examines the body.'

Stella's mouth dropped open, outraged. 'What? First the brass kicks us off the case, and now this? What's next? Are we going to be banned from our own building?'

Peyton sighed, but met Stella's gaze head on. 'This isn't a request from the brass. I'm the one asking that you leave. I don't want there to be any question of the integrity of the autopsy.'

Stella's eyes narrowed as she glared at the ME. 'Peyton, what exactly do you think I'm going to do?'

Whilst Peyton looked clearly uncomfortable under Stella's glare, she stood her ground until Stella apologised.

'I'm sorry. Of course.' Stella looked at the male ME. 'Uh, are we done here Sid?

Sid nodded, handing over a baggie. 'Trace from our John Doe.'

Taylor stood there, watching Stella leave. Behind her, Peyton cleared her throat. Taylor looked up. 'Me? But I don't even work here.'

Peyton gave her a pointed look.

'Yeah, good point,' she muttered, and hurried off after Stella.

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

'How's Cordelia settling in?' Stella asked her as they rode the elevator up.

'What exactly happened, Stell?' Taylor blurted out. 'First I hear Sheldon held up a store, and now it's murder.'

'Taylor, that's about as much as we know,' Stella sighed. 'But what we also know, that IAB doesn't, is that Sheldon didn't do it.'

Taylor groaned. 'This is even more frustrating than usual. I feel so helpless. And the ghost isn't even the girl.'

'Kelly Jones.'

Taylor cocked her head. 'What have the Stereophonics got to do with this?'

Stella shook her head. 'Kelly Jones is the dead girl.'

The elevator pinged open and the pair walked out. 'Either way, she's not my ghost. And the ghost I've got is being more unuseful than usual.'

'Unuseful isn't a word,' Stella muttered as she spotted Danny and Lindsay outside a lab. She walked over, Taylor right behind her. 'What are you talking about?'

Lindsay nodded her head at something in the lab. 'Hawkes' clothes just tested positive for gun shot residue.'

'What?' Stella asked sharply.

'They were testing the cuff of his right sleeve.'

'And?' Taylor asked.

Stella sighed. 'That's consistent with firing a gun.'

Lindsay nodded. 'And he's right handed.'

Danny folded his arms. 'Alright, we know he didn't do it.'

'Of course he didn't,' Taylor agreed.

'Well you know he didn't do it, I know he didn't do it, but the trouble is now we have an eye witness and more importantly, the evidence that contradicts what we all think.'

Taylor frowned and headed towards the break room, where she poured herself a glass of water and wandered over to the window, staring down at the sun-bleached city below.

'He's in Rikers, you know,' Maddy told her softly.

Taylor glanced up and at Maddy's reflection in the glass. She looked really pale – even for a ghost, like she hadn't slept for a week (which left Taylor wondering if ghosts needed to sleep). 'Really?'

Maddy nodded. 'They refused him bail.'

Taylor took a breath. 'I'm going to see him. Let him know we're doing all that we can.'

Maddy smiled sadly. 'Taylor, we're not though. I'm dead. You're a journalist, the CSIs aren't allowed anywhere near and the actual cops are convinced he's guilty.'

'Stop talking like it's hopeless,' Taylor told her.

Maddy shrugged. 'Maybe it is.'

Taylor eyed her suspiciously. 'I thought you could see the future?'

'No,' Maddy corrected her. 'I can see some things that are going to happen, but after I told you about Don, they're not really in a trusting mood. And as for getting anything out of Aiden? That's about as likely as Wilbur learning to fly.'

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

'This is a load of BS,' Danny fumed from the passenger seat.

Taylor half turned. 'You're preaching to the choir,' she muttered in agreement. Danny had spotted her leaving, and when she told him where she was going, he had asked if he could ride shotgun.

'Stop!' Danny yelled suddenly.

Taylor slammed her brakes on and squealed to a halt as the car behind her narrowly missed rear-ending her. 'What the hell?' she yelled back over the blaring horn of the car behind.

'I've gotta go,' Danny barely explained as he leapt out of the car.

Taylor watched him go, mouth hanging open in amazement. As the horn of the car behind blared into life again, Taylor pulled away and continued her journey to the prison. Finally she was seated in front of Sheldon. 'How you holding up?' she asked him softly.

'Orange really isn't my colour,' he told her, forcing a weak smile.

'What happened, Sheldon?'

'Honestly? I don't know. All I know is that I left yours, headed up Broadway to the Park. I'm heading home, and the next think I know, I'm having handcuffs slapped on my wrists.'

Taylor sighed. 'Look, they're doing all that they can. We all are.'

'I didn't do it, Taylor.'

Taylor smiled. 'We know that.'

So, I know it's a little on the short side, but I have been having a truely lousy day - so much so, I am contemplating the SoCo! And I'm also wondering if I'm destined to stay trapped in Hell doing a job I don't like! Maybe tomorrow, after a day doing a job I like, I'll post another chapter!

Yes, I am off in search of Vodka for the Red Bull, and Lemonade for the SoCo... (:P)