Aphina - I've wanted to do a cross over with CC for a while, and this story arc seemed like the perfect opportunity. I just wonder now if I made the right choice!

Bmangaka - I can honestly say I'm jealous - where did you go? LOL, I don't think even Danny could pull of a vest that color!

Madison Bellows - If I had my way, I'd be back out there tomorrow. Alas, I think the earliest point is going to be May next year when my BFF gets married! But life is good (I love my temp job!) How about with you?

Carrie Michelle - I'm not sure at the moment, although knowing me, the guys will be back in some way. My soft spot is actually for Vera!

ambercsiny - lol, I'm glad you liked. Have you sent me something recently that I've missed or have you been busy?

Brown-Eyed Girl 75 - Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying, and I hope everything went alright with the ENT, and that "things" have calmed down somewhat with you!

demolished-soul - I will second you on that!

RK9 - Yeah, he's from Cold Case, but he also appeared in CSI:NY - he was the detective who came to investigate Stella when her blood turned up in a cold case.

Trizzy - I'm behind on this series too - I think I'm nearly at the end of S3. I'm glad you don't like her editor! I don't either! Maybe we should start a petition, because, when you watch shows like Supernatural and Smallville, it's OBVIOUS that the writers read FF (what with the amount of refering to it!)

sparkyCSI - It's taken me long enough to get the resolution to you. I don't know why it was so hard to write. Or maybe I do - maybe it was a little "too close to home"!

meadow567 - Sorry to keep you waiting (and the next chapter is far from short - that I promise!!)

Vanessa.J - I'm glad you liked, and I'm also glad you posted. I'm always willing to bounce ideas around if you like!

joy1791 - I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. It's about Langston, isn't it! Jeeze, let Greg have some more airtime. Even Catherine has taken a back seat.

Nienna Tinehtele - It does suck, but it makes it much more fun for me! lol.

Well, thanks of course, go to my beta - sparkyCSI!

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 211: Ghosts to see, cases to solve

Taylor, Flack and Charlotte followed Valens, Rush and Vera into the basement of the precinct to be led through shelves and shelves of nothing but boxes as far as the eye could see.

'What are all of these?' Taylor asked, staring up at the boxes. They were stacked two high per shelf and went all the way to the ceiling.

'Unsolved cases,' Valens shrugged.

Taylor's mouth dropped open. 'All of these boxes are people whose murders haven't been solved?'

'Yeah,' Lily agreed.

'But there's so many!' Taylor exclaimed.

'They go back to the turn of the nineteenth century,' Scotty explained in an attempt to make her feel a little better. 'There are some where there's just no evidence,' he said as he pulled one of the boxes of the shelves.

'Most of them will never be solved,' Lily told her. 'Some are just waiting for a new scientific breakthrough. Others need a just need a break in the case. And when that happens, we're here.'

Flack, who was standing behind Taylor sighed and put his hands on her shoulders. 'You should see them in New York,' he muttered into her ear.

She wasn't sure if he was trying to make her feel better or just state a fact. But it solidified one thought. 'Well let's make this one less unsolved murder,' she said, determinedly.

'You mean it?' Charlotte asked her.

'Well let's get this upstairs and refresh ourselves on the case,' Vera declared, taking the box out of Scotty's hands and heading back for the stairs. He led them back to the office they had been in previously and started pulling out various statements and evidence from the box. Wordlessly, Taylor took the main case file and headed for the large windows where she paced back and forth, seemingly muttering to herself.

'Is she always like that?' Lily asked Flack.

Flack gave a small nod. 'She's got her mind set on this one,' he told her.

'She's not going to walk off with that, is she?' Vera asked, watching her pace.

Flack shook his head. 'No. She's not going anywhere. Don't worry.'

'You say you're both homicide?' Vera asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion as he continued to watch Taylor.

Valens cleared his throat. 'If she's got the case file, do you want to fill us in on what you remember about the case?'

Flack kept his face neutral as Vera looked between the two of them, but inside he was frowning – what exactly did Valens know?'

---

Taylor squinted as she read the documents, wishing that she hadn't left her glasses in the hotel room with the rest of her carry-on luggage. 'It says here that you're from New York originally.'

Charlotte shrugged. 'I guess that explains why I ended up there to find you.'

'And you got a job at a club called Blue whilst you were studying. Not that it matters, but is it a strip club?'

Charlotte shrugged. 'I can't remember. I just remember lots of little green lights. And sliding buttons.'

Taylor frowned. 'Okay, it looks like that was your night job, and your day job was working in a library. A librarian by day and a stripper by night. Interesting.'

'I don't remember that,' Charlotte shrugged. 'But as I don't remember anything to the contrary, I guess that's possibly true.' She glanced down at the clothes she was wearing. 'But I don't look like I'm a stripper.'

Taylor shrugged. 'I figure most strippers would change before walking home. Otherwise it would get a little chilly.'

'That's a fair point,' Charlotte conceded as Taylor returned her nose to the folder.

'They questioned someone called Rich Clarke. The owner of the club, but he had an alibi... he was waiting with the staff for a taxi.' She glanced up at the ghost, who had changed. She looked the same, yet, she looked different. Almost... more alive, if that was possible.

'I know that name,' Charlotte said. 'And it's important to me.'

'They also questioned his wife. But they cleared her too. Although it doesn't say why.'

Charlotte frowned. 'I don't remember, Taylor. I just know that Rich was important.'

'It looks like you still had your ID in your pocket, and a couple of dollars in change.'

Charlotte looked blankly at her. 'Is that important?'

'I don't know,' Taylor muttered, thoughtfully. 'There's no sign of sexual assault, so that wasn't the motive, and unless you're missing a purse, it doesn't look like robbery was a motive either. There were no real suspects, and yet a knife in the back feels personal.' She glanced up at the ghost. 'Who did you piss off?'

Charlotte hiked her arms onto her hips. 'Don't you think I'd tell you if I knew that? I don't remember anything.'

'You alright?' Flack asked her as he joined her side.

'Just discussing the case,' Taylor told him.

'So were we,' Vera told her as he, Valens and Lily also joined them. 'Only we do it with other people.'

'Yeah,' Taylor blushed. 'I just work better when I talk to myself, and it's easier to do that when you're not with another living soul.'

Lily gave her a searching look. 'We're going to go back to Blue.'

'But we're going to get something to eat first,' Flack added, misreading Taylor's expression.

----

Taylor could hear the music pouring out of the club before they had walked around the corner. And for some reason palms were sweaty and her pulse was racing.

'This is it,' Charlotte said, jumping up and down excitedly. 'I know this place!'

'Welcome to Blue,' Vera muttered, stepping in front of them, and leading the way past the queue to the bouncers at the door. 'We're here to see the manager,' he said, flashing his badge.

The bouncer eyed the IDs and nodded. He tipped his head, pushed a button on the mic on his jacket collar and spoke quietly. His hand went to his ear as he listened to the response and nodded. He turned back to the detectives. 'He won't be a minute,' he informed them before turning his attention back to the line in front of him.

'You alright?' Flack muttered to Taylor as they waited.

Taylor gave him a small nod. 'Just cold.'

'This DJ is awful,' Charlotte was telling her. 'I bet I could do a better job than this.'

'Detectives?' A man emerged from the club, dressed in a navy blue suit and a smile on his face. 'Can I help you?'

'We're after the Club Manager,' Vera told him.

'That's me. Nile Jones,' he introduced himself.

'We're actually after Richard Clarke,' Lily told him.

Nile shook his head. 'I'm the Bar Manager and licensee this evening. Rich still owns the club but he hasn't stepped foot in here for... years. Not since his divorce went through, at least.' He frowned. 'That must be a good ten years ago now.'

'Do you have an address for him?' Valens asked, pulling out his notebook.

'He's living by the river,' Nile told him as he reeled off an address. 'You know, you guys are welcome to come in, if you want. Free of charge, of course.'

Lily glanced at her watch. 'It is getting late. You guys want to call it a night and continue tomorrow morning?'

'You guys go ahead. I'm gonna go get some beauty sleep,' Vera told them.

'We'll wake you up in a decade then,' Valens quipped, earning himself a clip around the side of the head before Vera walked off.

'Come on!' Charlotte exclaimed excitedly, walking through several people and into the club.

Flack looked down at Taylor who simply shrugged at him. He turned to the Philadelphia detectives and brushed his arm out, indicating to go ahead, and followed them into the club.

'This place has changed,' Charlotte declared as she reappeared behind Taylor.

Taylor looked around the place. It was filling up nicely, but currently was just full enough that one could look around the place and see more than a mass of bodies. The place had a feeling of being underwater. All the wall and floor lights gave off a blue hue, short of the lights and lasers on the dance floor. It looked like the walls were blue too, highlighted with silver. There were two long bars on either side of the room closest to the entrance, and each were made of glass, the bubbles being pumped in them reflecting across the room.

The male staff, bar the bouncers, were all wearing tight blue t-shirts and jeans, whilst the female staff were all parading around in blue bikinis.

'If I'd have known this place was like this, I'd have been in here more often,' Scotty announced as a waitress in a bikini and skirt walked past with a tray of drinks.

'No, it wasn't like this,' Charlotte said sadly. 'The bars used to be full of fish. And I never wore a bikini.' She cocked her head and stared at the DJ. 'And you know what? I definitely could do a better job than the DJ.'

'You want something to drink?' Valens shouted at her over the music.

Taylor barely heard him as the restricted feeling returned. For some reason, trying to get air was proving difficult.

'Excuse me,' someone yelled at her as they bumped into her shoulder.

For a minute, Taylor was unable to move. And then her brain and feet connected and she hurried out of the club and into the cold night air, past the line, and to a quiet spot just up the road where she leant against the wall, clutching at her side as she tried to quell the churning in her stomach.

'Taylor?' Flack was there, crouching down in front of her, blue eyes dark with concern.

'I can't be in there,' she gasped at him.

'Hey,' Flack muttered gently, pulling his jacket off and wrapping it around the shivering woman, pulling her to him. 'You don't have to be.'

'I'm sorry,' she mumbled into his shoulder.

'You don't have to apologize,' he told her firmly. 'Come on. Let's get you back to the hotel.'

---

'I don't know what happened,' Taylor whispered. She was wrapped in one of the hotel's complimentary bath robes, nursing a cup of coffee Flack had made for her (only because she wanted something warm to hold and somewhere along the lines, had found the smell of coffee to be reassuring), curled up in a chair, staring out of the window.

'You freaked out, Taylor,' Flack told her. He was sat on the bed, legs stretched out in front of him, watching Taylor.

'Yeah, but I don't know why,' she sighed.

'The last memory of a club that you have, is being taken from one,' he shrugged. 'I'm not surprised.'

'I'm sorry,' Taylor apologized as a tear streaked down her cheek.

'Hey!' Flack scrambled off the bed and over to her side. 'What are you apologizing for?'

'For being so weak,' Taylor confessed.

Flack plucked the coffee mug out of her hands and set it on the floor. 'Taylor, you went through one hell of an ordeal, and frankly I was beginning to worry that you were coping a little too well,' he told her as he grasped her hands in his and played with her engagement ring.

'But I let you down.'

'Tay, you did nothing of the sort. I saw what they put you through, and you were so brave.'

Taylor stared at him in bewilderment. 'How did you see?'

'There was a web link into the room you were being held in,' Flack admitted.

Taylor softly shook her head. 'I don't remember much of it.'

'Maybe that's a good thing,' Flack pointed out.

'I don't know,' Taylor told him. 'Maybe it's not.'

Flack gave her a smile, his left hand rising to gently stroke her cheek. 'I love you, Taylor.'

'I love you too,' she told him, returning the smile.

'You know, we haven't really talked about this,' Flack said, picking up her left hand and showing the ring to which he was referring. 'We still need to set a date.'

Taylor sighed, pulling her hand free to stare at her ring. 'Can't we just stay engaged for a while?' She looked up to see Flack frowning at her. 'I want to get married to you, I do. It's just,' she sighed. 'I don't know who I am at the minute. I don't even know if I'm the same person I was anymore. And I just want to make sure that you love the new person I've become.'

Flack gave her a sad smile. 'Taylor, my love for you is unconditional. And it's going to stay that way. I promise you that. But if you're not ready, we can wait. I didn't want to put any pressure on you. I just thought talking about our wedding might take your mind off things. But I can think of other things to keep you occupied,' he told her with a cheeky grin.

He rose on his knees and pressed his lips against hers, his tongue teasing at her lips until she allowed him entry. But as his hands made their way to the tie on her robe, she tensed up, jerking back and slipping past him to her feet.

'Taylor?'

'I… Sorry,' she mumbled. I just can't do this with a ghost in the room,' she mumbled, slipping into bed and pulling the covers up over her.

Still in his position on the floor, Flack watched her movements carefully, wondering, if she was going to be alright, and if the ghosts were ever going to leave them alone.

Sorry to keep y'all waiting on a chapter! That darn thing called real life got in the way. That and the fact that this and the next chapter (in particular) have been sooooo hard to write - you'll understand when you read 213 (213? Have I really written that many chapters??) Well, thank you all, for continuing to read, review, add this fic as your fav/on alert - y'all keep me going!!