GRRRR! This is now my THIRD attempt at writing review responses because my internet/computer/me aren't working right!

sparkyCSI - I'm just about all in with the important stuff... minus the rabbits! Need a shed build first! I know what you mean about Cory - i feel the same way too! And I'm so going to take you up on that offer!

laplandgurl - Yeah, I'm thankful that I can still pay my bills, even if I'm still in the same working situation! I'm looking forward to writing some mischief with Maddy - although I have to find the time first! (:s)

demolished-soul - Is that in this fic or the show (should I be worried??) Thinks are going to work out for Cory - I feel too bad for her to let it lie like that!

AngelicStars - I feel honored! I'm glad you've enjoyed it. Despite everything, I'm still into that ship (I've already written parts of the wedding!)

meadow567 - I know how you feel - mine was a long time coming. Are you due any soon?

EvaFlack01 - I was wondering about that - I thought it time to clear it up. But I've had that idea in my head for a very long time! Dunno where it came from though! The chapter had me smirking - and I wouldn't object to any of the guys turning up on my doorstep dressed as a cowboy.. or just turning up...!

RK9 - I know, but I'm a sucker for happily ever afters! My first ship was DL although I will read anything except DnA!

I'm trying something different here, so bear with me – the muses found me!

Thanks to my wonderful beta, sparkyCSI!

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 189: Woke up this morning with this feeling inside me that I can't explain

The wind howling around outside the window was what woke Taylor up. She rolled over, reached for the alarm clock, and then sent that crashing to the floor. Seconds later, there was the sound of footsteps running upstairs, followed by Marty crashing into her room.

'Marty!' Taylor yelped, yanking her covers up over her shoulders.

'What happened?' Marty asked, looking around, as though expecting someone to be in there with her.

'I knocked my alarm off,' Taylor told him, pointing at the incriminating object. 'What the hell are you doing here?'

Marty gave her a pointed look and cleared his throat. 'Where are you staying?' he said, imitating Taylor. 'I need a favour. I want to cook a Thanksgiving meal for everyone and I need you to make sure I don't kill anyone in the process. And where are you staying?'

Taylor glared at him. 'So if you came around to help, why didn't you wake me up? And where are Don and Cordelia?'

Marty shrugged. 'Flack said you hadn't been sleeping recently. Still, by the way?' he asked her, cocking his head.

Taylor groaned, pulling herself out of her bed and grabbing her robe. 'Yeah, still,' she muttered as she tied it around her. 'So where is my fiancé?'

Marty looked at her in disbelief. 'Taylor, why am I round here?'

'To teach me to cook.'

Marty frowned. 'I think the deal was to save everyone else. I'm not sure I promised delivering a miracle.'

'So where are they?' Taylor asked, ignoring Marty as she headed downstairs and into the kitchen.

Marty shook his head as he flicked on the small TV set.

'Macy's Parade!' Taylor exclaimed as she watched the pre-parade build up. 'Oh, do you think I could get there in time?' she asked him excitedly as she watched several men wrestle with the giant pikachu inflatable, before a gust of wind sent it upwards into the air. 'There's a pokemon loose over New York!'

Marty gave a frustrated grunt and turned Taylor by her shoulders to face the enormous turkey on the side.

'Holy crap,' Taylor muttered. 'Will that even fit in the oven?'

'Flack checked it before he bought it,' Marty told her. 'And you need to get dressed because this needs to get in the oven if it's going to be ready by the time everyone gets here this afternoon.'

Taylor arched an eyebrow. 'Couldn't you do it?'

'I thought you wanted me to teach you how to cook?' Marty asked her.

'I thought you couldn't perform miracles?' Taylor retorted.

'Go get dressed,' Marty chided her, ushering her out of the kitchen.

Taylor headed back to her bedroom and pulled a pair of combats out of her wardrobe. She pulled them on and stuck her hands in the pockets as she contemplated what top to put on with it. Her fingers closed around something small and she pulled it out, finding the small silver dime Mama Severina had given her a while back. Since being given the necklace from Dean, she wore that instead.

With a small smile, she place the dime anklet on her dresser and grabbed a band, tying her hair back, before pulling a vest top out and pulling that on and heading back downstairs.

After being shown what to do with the turkey, Marty stuck his head in the fridge and began pulling out various vegetables and other ingredients.

'A chef I am not, but surely if we start cooking them now, they're going to be mush by the time it comes to eating them.'

Marty nodded. 'True, but we're going to prepare them now so I don't miss much of the game.'

'The game? You're abandoning me?'

'Where has your head been recently, Drew?' Marty asked her. 'Maybe you do need to go see someone.'

'Not you too!' Taylor exclaimed.

Marty shrugged. 'Not a clue what you're on about. But it's actually a good idea, considering you're not sleeping. And Louie. And-'

'I went to see someone,' Taylor told him. 'He was a joke.'

Marty looked at her in surprise. 'Look, maybe you should see someone else. You know, the precinct-'

'That's it – you and Don are forbidden from talking to each other. I am not seeing a departmental shrink.'

'I don't think they like being called shrinks.'

'Marty, what am I doing with these cranberries?' Taylor snapped.

Marty eyed her warily before handing a bottle of port over.

'I think it's a little too early to be drinking,' she told him icily.

'It's for the cranberries,' Marty informed her.

With a glare, Taylor grabbed the bottle and began pouring the port into the bowl with the cranberries in.

'Not that much!' Marty yelled, grabbing the bottle back.

Taylor looked down at the bowl. 'That's too much?'

Marty inhaled deeply. 'I think it might be advisable not to let Cordy eat them, at any rate. She'll be drunk after a mouthful.'

Taylor bit her lip, trying to stop the smile. 'Ooops.'

--

'So who's your money on, pipsqueak?' Marty asked Cordelia, pulling her up on the couch between him and Danny.

'The Cowboys,' Cordelia told him.

'Whoa, whoa, whoa!' Danny exclaimed, mortified. 'How can you pick Texas over New York?' he turned to Flack. 'What are you teaching this girl?'

'Cordy, tell them what I told you earlier,' Flack sighed.

'The Cowboys are a bunch of cowboys. They don't know their heads from their asses-'

Hawkes, Danny and Marty burst out laughing as Flack virtually flew across the living room to clamp his hand over her mouth. 'Don't you let Taylor hear you say that word or I'll be in trouble!'

'So why the Dallas Cowboys?' Hawkes asked her as soon as Flack had removed his hand.

'Because Ruben supports the Jets,' Cordelia told them simply.

Taylor cleared her throat from the doorway. 'You men are not watching football all day. You can watch Green Bay, and then it's time to eat.'

'Tay, trust me, you're better off letting them watch the football,' Stella told them.

'But the turkey will be ready when the Jets game starts.'

'It's alright,' Cordelia told her. 'We can order the takeaway to arrive for half time.'

'Takeaway?' Taylor questioned.

Cordelia nodded solemnly. 'I don't like burnt turkey.'

'I am not going to burn the turkey!' Taylor exclaimed earning a roomful of laughter.

--

'Why do the women always end up in the kitchen whilst the men watch the football with the beer?' Angell moaned.

Brie laughed and pulled out a beer from the fridge, handing it over. 'You can complain, or you could go watch the game with me?'

Angell grinned. 'I like the second option,' she told her as they headed into the living room, leaving Taylor, Lindsay, Stella and Peyton in the kitchen.

'So I have something to give you both,' Lindsay said awkwardly.

Stella and Taylor looked at each other before looking at Lindsay. 'What?'

Lindsay bit her lip before sticking her hand into her purse and pulling out to crisp, cream envelopes, the writing embossed in gold.

'What's this?' Taylor asked, ripping it open. She pulled out a small card, a pink silk dress decorating the front of it, Will You Be My Bridesmaid underneath.

'You're getting married?!' Taylor exclaimed, her mouth flapping open and closed.

'To who?' both Peyton and Stella asked.

'Danny,' Lindsay muttered, going red.

'But you two…' Stella trailed off, staring at the card.

'The answer is yes,' Taylor told her, wrapping her arms around Lindsay, who was beginning to look a little uncomfortable. 'When is the wedding?'

Lindsay flashed her a grateful smile. 'May 10th.' She frowned. 'Unless you and Flack are thinking of that date?'

Taylor shook her head. 'We agreed sometime next winter.'

Lindsay smiled and turned to Stella, staring expectantly at her.

'Oh,' Stella said. 'Oh, yes. Um, I think I'm going to have to say no.'

Taylor stared at Stella in disbelief. 'What?'

Stella smiled. 'It's nothing personal, Linds, but I don't think you're going to want an eight and a half month pregnant woman as your bridesmaid.'

'She wasn't asking an eight and a half month pregnant woman to be her bridesmaid,' Taylor told her.

'No,' Peyton agreed. 'She was asking a two month pregnant woman to be the bridesmaid.'

'Huh?' Taylor asked. And then the penny dropped. 'Oh my god! Congratulations,' she squealed jumping on Stella.

'Easy on the pregnant lady,' Stella told her, grinning madly.

'Does that mean you're getting married too?' Peyton asked.

Stella shook her head. 'Keanu and I broke up.'

'Why?' Lindsay asked, her mouth hanging open.

Stella smiled softly. 'Don't get me wrong; I want this baby,' she told them, her hands on her stomach. 'But he wasn't planned. And Keanu wasn't ready for a baby.'

Taylor snatched her apron off from over her head and flung it on the side. 'When I get my hands on him-'

'Taylor, it's fine,' Stella told her. 'Well, it's not. But I'm going to be alright.'

'Of course you are,' Peyton told her. 'You've got us.'

Stella gave her a surprised look and nodded. 'Thank you. I-' she frowned as her cell phone began ringing. 'Excuse me,' she muttered, heading into the hall.

She was barely out when Flack came in. 'Mac just called. I've got to go in.'

'But it's Thanksgiving,' Taylor pouted. 'I thought you were off.'

Flack walked over and gave her a quick kiss. 'I have to take this one, Tay.'

Taylor looked up, meeting his eyes, and nodded. 'Alright. We'll try to hold off eating.'

'You got a call too?' Stella asked.

Flack nodded.

'Let's go then,' she sighed as the two of them left.

'Your boyfriend has really got to learn to take a damn vacation,' Taylor grumbled to Peyton as she pulled the apron back on.

'Tell me about it,' Peyton responded.

--

They left the food until after the second game had finished but there was still no sign of Flack and Stella returning so Taylor served the food. Despite the fact that it was actually really good, Taylor couldn't find herself enjoying herself.

By eleven, everyone had gone, except Marty who had fallen asleep in the spare (undecorated, really being used for storage) bedroom, and Cordelia was tucked up in bed. Taylor sat down with her both the home phone and her cell phone on the coffee table in front of her, and switched on the TV.

She was still awake at nearly six the next morning when Flack walked in looking dreadful.

'What happened?' Taylor asked – she had dashed to the front door the second she had heard the key turn in the lock.

Flack sighed. 'Mac killed someone. A suspect.'

Taylor pulled him into the living room and seated him on the couch. 'But you've shot someone before, and so has Stella. And I think Danny has too.'

Flack shook his head. 'He didn't shoot them, Tay. It was Clay Dobson.'

'Who is Clay Dobson?' Taylor asked him.

Flack leant back into the couch and shut his eyes. 'You remember Truby?'

Taylor nodded.

'When Truby got arrested, the scumbags he'd arrested went to town – their lawyers had a field day. Dobson was one of them. He was released a few weeks back.'

'Right,' Taylor said carefully. 'But I don't understand why Mac would kill him.'

Flack sighed, opening his eyes. 'He was like a man possessed. All Mac wanted today, was to get Dobson.'

Taylor licked her lips. 'But why?'

'I got called out this morning, about four am. Kids had been playing around on Coney Island and they found a body wrapped in saran wrap.' He ran his hand over his face. 'When Sid removed it, he discovered that she had had her eyelids cut off.'

'I still don't get it,' Taylor muttered.

'Removing the eyelids was Dobson's MO. We found another girl, still alive, and she identified Dobson. Mac took off after him, I took off after Mac,' Flack's head sunk into his hands. 'I found them on the roof, just in time to see Mac shoot him.'

Taylor gently placed her hand on his shoulder. 'Are you sure? Could it be self-defense?'

Flack sighed, shaking his head. 'No. He was cuffed.'

'Are you sure?' she asked, blinking in disbelief.

Flack raised his head. 'I arrested Mac, Taylor. I arrested Mac Taylor because he pushed a cuffed suspect off the roof of a building.'

'Don,' Taylor sighed.

Flack looked at her looking completely lost. 'Tay, if I hadn't have given Mac my book, Truby wouldn't have been arrested and Dobson would still be in prison.'

'Don,' Taylor started again. 'Mac would have just subpoenaed your notebook anyway. And we would still be sat here.'

Flack rose to his feet. 'I'm going out.'

'Where?' Taylor asked him.

'Out,' Flack replied as the front door shut behind him.

'Mac a murderer?' Taylor muttered, shaking her head.