Thoren (and Abby and Kilana!) - I'm glad to hear all three of you are enjoying it! Thank you!

sparkyCSI - sometimes, I really wish I knew how and why my mind works the way it does! I feel like I'm always building the tension sometimes, lol!

demolished-soul - Ha ha, trust me when I say, I am dealing with him once and for all! But yes, he still has a powerful reach.

laplandgurl - I wish I was in a house to do that. I'm now having cravings to decorate (yes, I'm strange!) Very much so, for Taylor, yet somehow, in my twisted mind, I see Flack pulling it off!

RK9 - I'm glad that lesson is learnt - it certainly is going to get a bit choppy! It wasn't Nixon! lol. And yeah, we are disapointed - but I don't want to give too much away for you!

meadow567 - please tell me I'm not the only one who can actually picture that?!

Madison Bellows - The plot bunnies of doom are more 'doomier' than normal. I'm forcing them to be nice! It's an uphill struggle.

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 175: I had hope, I believed, but I'm beginning to think I've been deceived

'Hello?' Taylor answered her phone sleepily as she rolled over.

'Taylor, it's Danny. Have you seen Louie?'

Taylor stared up at the ceiling and frowned. 'Danny, it's eight in the morning. What exactly do you think I would be doing to see Louie right now?'

Danny sighed. 'He hasn't turned up for work today and he missed his class last night.'

'I haven't seen since Halloween,' Taylor admitted. 'We kind of had an argument.'

'Really?'

'It wasn't anything important,' she told him, brushing it off. 'He probably went out and got drunk. He's probably sleeping off a hangover,' she offered.

There was another sigh. 'I hope you're right.'

Taylor yawned, hanging up the phone, and pulled herself into an upright position. Flack had taken Cordelia into school on his way into work, and Taylor had only planned on staying in bed for a little while longer anyway – the builders were due back to finish off the hole in the living room at nine.

They turned up early, for which Taylor was grateful. She'd been walking around the house and had decided she was going out and getting wallpaper and paint samples. She was tired of stripping faded wallpaper from the walls and sanding down woodwork. Admittedly, the house was beginning to smell better – less smokey and musty (although currently, it was dust and plaster that was assaulting her senses).

She pulled her hood up and stepped down the three steps to her door, and stopped, staring up and down the street for her car. Groaning, she headed back in and picked up an umbrella. Forty minutes later, she was walking towards Flack's desk. She sat down, sending water flying everywhere.

'It's still raining then,' Flack asked, as he wiped a few stray drops from his computer monitor.

'Yup,' Taylor nodded. 'I just hope the rain doesn't stick around as long as the heat did.'

Flack smiled. 'What's up? I thought you were stripping all day.'

Taylor cocked her head and gave him an amused smile.

'The walls, Tay,' he groaned.

Taylor laughed. 'I was going to, but I got bored. I'm getting blisters,' she told him, holding her hands up. 'I figured I'd hit Home Depot and check out their wallpaper.'

'Alright, and you came here first because you wanted to go the scenic route to what is effectively just around the corner?'

Taylor frowned. 'No, I came to pick the car up. I was gonna buy a lot more gloss whilst I was at it and I didn't want to struggle with it on the subway.'

Flack reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. 'Alright. But it there any reason in particular you didn't want to go in yours?'

Taylor caught the keys as he threw them to her. 'I was talking about mine,' she told him.

Flack shook his head. 'I took the SUV. Work car for work?' he shrugged.

'Well, where's my car?' she asked him.

Flack shrugged. 'Where you parked it.'

'It's not where I parked it,' she told him, slowly. 'I parked it in front of the skip and it certainly wasn't there when I walked out of the house this morning.'

Flack sat back in his chair looking thoughtful. 'Actually, I don't remember seeing it this morning when I left.'

Taylor's mouth dropped open. 'Are you kidding me?!' she exclaimed. 'Some bitch has stolen my car?'

Flack ran his hand through his hair before reaching for the phone. 'I'll give Landon a call.'

'Who is Landon?' Taylor asked him, still scowling over the fact her car was missing.

'Mate in robbery.'

'And why can't you handle this?' she asked him.

Flack sighed patiently. 'Tay, sweetheart, I'm a homicide detective. My workload is piled high as it is.'

'Oh,' Taylor pouted as she folded her arms tightly under her breasts.

Flack had barely hung up with Landon before his phone was ringing again. When he hung up for the second time, he looked apologetically over at Taylor. 'And that was a call out to a home invasion gone wrong in Queens,' he sighed. 'I think you're on your own this evening – Cordy is at Ruben's, remember.'

Taylor sighed. 'Well, it's not like I can go for a drive anymore,' she scowled.

Flack leant over and gave her a pat on the leg. 'You want me to walk with you to Robbery?'

Taylor shook her head. 'You get to Queens or I won't see you this evening.'

Taylor was walking back home after spending the best part of an hour with Landon Jenkins. He seemed like a good guy, but sadly didn't hold much hope for retrieving her car, especially with its lack of LoJack, but he did promise to call her if anything came up.

Feeling unable to handle the crowds on the subway, Taylor had decided to walk home, even if it was drizzling still.

'Taylor?'

Taylor turned, curious as to who had called her name. It was a tall man with a large nose, blue eyes, and thinning black hair. 'Craig?' she asked, surprised.

'You look well,' he told her, joining her.

Taylor smiled in shock. 'So do you,' she lied. Craig had been her first boyfriend from freshman year at college, and back then, he had seemed gorgeous. She didn't know if it was the fact so many years had passed, that first love had clouded her memory, the fact she was spoilt with someone as attractive as Flack, or a combination of all three, but he was not as good looking as she remembered. In fact, he was looking really weathered.

'I know you're lying,' he smiled. 'I can still tell.'

'Sorry,' she apologized uncomfortably.

'Look, I have to be somewhere, but are you free this evening?' he asked her. 'Let's have dinner and catch up.'

Taylor thought about it. Flack was at work, Cordelia was at Ruben's, and the only thing she had planned was scraping wallpaper whilst she sulked over a stolen car. 'Sure,' she said, taking a breath. 'Why not?'

Craig beamed. 'Meet me at Chez Cherry's on 42nd.'

Taylor nodded.

Craig leant over, enveloping her in a hug. 'I've missed you,' he told her.

Taylor pulled away and gave him a small smile. 'What time?'

'Seven,' he told her.

'I'll see you later,' she said.

Craig beamed. 'I look forward to it.'

Wearily, Taylor climbed the few steps to her front door and pushed it open. She was greeted almost immediately by the builders who were on a coffee break (and one she suspected, that wasn't the first of the hour.)

'We're almost done,' the foreman told her.

'That's good,' Taylor smiled, gratefully. She wasn't sure if she could handle the men in her apartment for much longer that day. 'I'll be upstairs stripping wallpaper again,' she told him with a sigh.

'Oh yeah,' the foreman called out after her. 'The two decorators are already up there.'

Taylor paused on the stairs. 'Decorators?'

'Two guys. One really tall one. They said they were here to do the master bedroom.'

'Oh,' Taylor responded, forcing a smile. 'You guys still got a few minutes on your break?'

The foreman nodded. 'There's not a problem, is there?'

Taylor continued to force the smile as she shook her head. 'No, not at all.' She continued up the stairs, only pausing at the top to grab a hammer from the toolbox that had been left on the windowsill at the top of the stairs, and headed towards her bedroom, the hammer held out like a weapon.

Cautiously, she pushed open the door, ready to scream for help, ready to use the hammer as a weapon. 'What the hell are you doing?' she demanded as she walked in spotting one man hunched over an unpacked box, routing through, the other man having vanished in her closet.

The man who had been engrossed in the box leapt to his feet. 'Taylor!' he exclaimed, the relief evident in his voice.

'Sam?' Taylor asked, barely able to formulate a better response due to her surprise.

'Hi Taylor,' Dean greeted her cheerily as he stepped out of the doorway.

'Wh… wh… wha…' Taylor stammered as she tried to string a sentence together.

'You weren't going to whack us with that were you?' Dean asked as he extracted the hammer from her hands.

As soon as her hand was empty, Taylor found her voice. 'WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?!' she bellowed as she thumped Dean's arm as hard as she could. 'MY CLOSET… MY THINGS?!'

There was a sound somewhat reminiscent to a heard of stampeding animals, and had Taylor been a witness to the situation, would have found it somewhat comical as the foreman and several men all but fell through the door, wielding various tools as weapons. 'Are you alright, Miss,' the foreman asked.

Taylor pulled her head away from Dean's chest – as the door had opened, he had pulled her away to stop her from being trampled, and consequently, she was now being held in his arms.

'Sorry, we were just playing a trick on our sister,' Sam quickly told them.

As quick as anything, Dean nodded and ruffled the top of Taylor's head with his fist. 'She's too easy to wind up.'

Taylor yanked herself away. 'Yeah, my brothers,' she agreed through gritted teeth, before punching Dean's arm again. 'Ever the jokers.'

'So long as you're alright,' the foreman told her, lowering the spanner he had armed himself with.

Taylor took a deep breath. 'Look, thanks, but you guys can go,' she told him. 'I need to catch up with my brothers.'

'We still need to plaster over the brick work,' he told her.

Taylor shook her head. 'It's alright. I can do that'

The foreman looked at her doubtfully. 'It's not an easy job,' he informed her. 'If you don't do it right, it will crack.'

Taylor nodded. 'I'm fine with it, don't worry,' she told him as she ushered them out.

When they finally left, she whirled around, hands on hips, and glared at the two Winchester brothers. 'What in God's name are you doing sneaking through my belongings?' she demanded.

'Taylor,' Sam started in his soothing voice, hands held up as if to show he was no threat. 'I think that maybe we should sit down and talk.'

'I think talking would be a good start,' Taylor agreed. 'So spill. What are you doing in my bedroom, and I swear to God, if there is anything remotely kinky about it, I will be going and getting that hammer back,' she sniped at them.

Dean swallowed and looked at Sam. 'You can explain this one.'

Yeah, they're back...!