Petite Poppy - thank you! I spent so long worrying over it, that's such a relief to hear!

Madison Bellow - I have had a week from hell - and it's not even related to the chapter! I think I may drop you a line after! It had me in tears when I wrote it (:s)

Vanessa.J - I think I owe a few more moments, I'll be honest. lol, I still owe a wedding.

Alana Xavier1 - thank you. And if you ever want to chat, feel free to email me! I hope you're alright!

meadow567 - lol, thank you. I think they needed one!

Thoren - I'm mean with making you wait, aren't I? I'll try to get better (:s)

sparkyCSI - You've reminded me about Robin... I got so involved in the chapters I sent you that I kinda forgot about him. Oops.

ambercsiny - I went off the theory of that's what I'd want to say/hear!

demolished-soul - You're right. But sometimes you can't tell them - because they're married! And then it's too late (:c)

Trizzy - There won't be wedding bells for a while. God, over 200 chapters and not a single wedding. Wow, I suck! I guess I shall have to deliver you fluff! And I'm glad I got Lily right.

Right, I don't know where to start. Actually, the best place would be with the biggest thanks you could possibly imagine for the support with the last chapter. I'm not exaggerating when I say it really took me over six weeks to write! So, from the bottom of my heart - thank you.

Next up, I have big thanks to Sparky. This weekend I bombarded her with chapters and she got them back to me so quickly!

Finally, we have spoilers for 4x21: Hostage.

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 213: There trouble everywhere, it's all around

Taylor awoke feeling like she'd only just gone to bed. That wasn't far from the truth. They had decided that they were catching a red-eye back to New York, and whilst Flack had fallen asleep almost instantly, Taylor had, quite frankly, been too terrified to sleep. Her hands still ached from where she had been gripping the arms of the chair. The grey light was barely breaking through the curtains and she knew it was earlier than normal. She was even surprised to find that Flack was already awake and watching her sleep. 'You're up early,' she muttered, grumpy at the fact he was again watching her sleep.

'I have to be to catch you sleeping,' he grinned at her.

Taylor scowled. 'You know I hate that,' she pointed out, poking her tongue out at him.

Flack just shrugged, still grinning like an idiot.

Taylor propped herself up with an elbow so she could look over his shoulder at the bright red digital display of the clock. 'Don, it's barely six am. Why in God's name are you up at this time? You're not at work until ten.'

Flack's face fell slightly. 'I could be up early because I'm excited.'

'Excited about what?' Taylor asked him with a yawn.

'You really don't remember?' he asked her, his face falling further.

Taylor frowned, her forehead creasing up as she tried to think. She knew exactly what he was excited about. 'Nope,' she shook her head. 'You're going to have to give me a clue.'

'What's the date?'

'March the something or other?'

Flack sighed.

'Oh!' Taylor exclaimed. 'I'm sorry. How could I forget?'

'You remembered?' His eyes suddenly lit up like a child who had come downstairs on Christmas morning to discover that Santa had been and he'd been a very good boy.

Taylor kept her face straight, feeling slightly cruel. Slightly. 'It's the day you get a new partner, isn't it.'

Flack stared at her. 'Yeah,' he sighed, flatly. 'That's right.'

'Well good luck with that,' she yawned before flopping back into the pillows.

There was suddenly a flash of hope in Flack's eyes. 'Do you have anything exciting planned today?'

'Nope,' Taylor yawned. 'Work. Although, I do need to go to the bank before I go in. I need to make sure I have the right amount of funds in my account before the money comes out for my car,' she explained before giving an excited squeal. 'My new car comes at the end of this week!'

'You don't have anything else planned?' Flack pressed.

Taylor sighed. 'I supposed I should tackle that pile of laundry as well.' She sat upright. 'I may as well go and jump in the shower,' she informed him, quickly pecking him on the sheet before she escaped from the bed.

She was just pulling the door to the bathroom closed behind her when she heard Flack mutter 'happy birthday to you, too,' under his breath. With a sly smile, she shut the door.

---

'You haven't forgotten, have you?' Taylor asked before Danny could even say hello.

'Forgotten what?'

Taylor switched the phone to her other ear and frowned. 'About Don's birthday?'

'Taylor!' Danny groaned. 'That's what I mean: it was a play on words.'

'Sorry, Danny,' she sighed. 'I just want everything to go right tonight.'

'Don't worry. The table is booked for twelve people at eight o'clock. I'll get Don to come out for a couple of beers and you guys can surprise him there,' Danny reassured her, repeating her plan back to her.

'Twelve people?'

'Yeah, well I figured we may as well invite his new partner and there's then a couple of extra seats in case someone else appears.'

'Thanks, Danny,' Taylor sighed as she crossed the street. She hadn't been lying when she told Flack she needed to go to the bank – she really did need to check her funds for her car, and as her editor was turning into (or evidently, already was) a bitch, she was going to do it before work. She pushed open the large glass doors and strode in, shivering slightly at the cool interior as she joined the end of the line to see a teller. 'Look Danny, I'm at the bank now. I'll give you a call later to finalize everything.'

'Drew, everything is finalized. Stop worrying, do what you have to do, and I'll see you tonight,' he told her before he hung up.

Taylor pulled the phone away from her ear and as she was glancing down at the display, someone ripped it from her hand. Before she could shout her objections, there was a loud crack.

'EVERYONE DOWN ON THE GROUND!'

As Taylor realized the crack was actually a gun being fired, she dropped to the ground, as ordered, trying not to panic as she tried to work out if she had just been shot. The screams echoed around the room as others dropped to the floor.

'I SAID GET DOWN!'

As she came to the conclusion she was physically fine and not bleeding, she peeked up at the man who was storming over to one of the tellers. 'Get down on the floor,' he demanded. He turned around and spotted Taylor peering up at him. 'Get your head down,' he snarled at her, flashing the gun in her direction.

Taylor didn't need to be asked twice. Her head went down and her eyes squeezed shut as she prayed for help.

It seemed to take an eternity of nothing happening very quickly before she could hear the sirens outside.

The man swore.

Minutes later, a phone started to ring.

The man began pacing up and down, continually swearing as he raked his hands (and the gun) over his head. Finally, after no reprieve from the ringing, he stormed over to the phone. 'What?' he demanded. He listened to what was being said. 'I'll tell you what I want. I want an unmarked police car and no press. And, and somebody from crime scene.' There was another pause. 'Fine.' And with that, he hung up.

---

After another eternity, there was a knocking and the man hurried away. Wondering if he was leaving, Taylor hesitantly lifted her head to see. He hadn't – he was just heading for the emergency exit. Minutes later, he reappeared, someone with him.

Taylor's heart leapt – she had never been so happy to see Mac Taylor, ever! He was busy taking in the scene as he was led over to an open vault door. She frowned at that – she hadn't even realized he'd managed to get it open.

The man distracted her from her thoughts. 'He's in there,' he told Mac, using his gun to point in the vault.

Taylor tried to crane her neck to see what he was pointing at, but she couldn't see anything from her angle other than the top halves of Mac and the man holding them hostage.

'You know the deal,' Mac told him.

The man nodded and hurried over to the security guard. 'Up,' he ordered, practically yanking him to his feet.

As he was half dragged to the door, pleading with him not to kill him, Taylor ignored him, trying to catch Mac's attention by using only her eyes. In reality it didn't work. But, with trained eyes taking in the room and its occupants, he found her anyway. He gave her a completely startled look and then with a quick glance at their captor, mouthed, 'what are you doing here?'

Taylor shrugged, looked over her shoulder and then mouthed back, 'banking.' He couldn't seriously think that she'd gone in there for any other reason? She didn't get chance to ponder the question, because the man was back. Quickly, she ducked her head.

'One around your ankle and the other around the bag,' the man said.

Taylor glanced up in time to see him throw something at Mac, who had moved back into the vault.

'You expect me to believe you didn't kill him?' Mac asked him.

'I didn't,' he told him. 'This man was dead before I got here. Now prove it.'

Mac nodded and started taking pictures – Taylor could see the periodic flashing, as well as make out the clicks. Aside from whimpering from the various hostages – and she really couldn't blame them – the bank was silent.

Finally, after another eternal time, as the man was hovering over his hostages, rather than Mac, Mac spoke up. 'I need to use a computer and send these crime scene photos back to the lab to be analyzed.'

Their captor stared at him. 'And how are photos of a dead guy gonna prove I'm innocent?'

'They're a permanent record of the crime scene in its original state. I can't process the body or have my team analyze evidence without this documentation.'

There was a long pause as the man clearly tried to see if Mac was trying to trick him or not. Finally he nodded his head at a terminal. 'Use this computer then. But no tricks. I'm watching.'

Taylor watched as Mac calmly walked over to the computer and stuck the memory card from the camera into the card reader. 'You got a name?' he asked.

'Joe,' Joe said.

Mac nodded. 'What's your real name?'

'All that you need to know is that it's Joe,' Joe informed him as his cell phone rang. He flicked it open. 'Yeah… What?... No… that's not – that's not true. That's not what happened. It's not what you think,' he said, pacing back and forth. 'Just calm down. I can hear you. You have to understand, I don't know what you think that you saw, but 'it's not what you think, okay.'

With Joe distracted, Taylor glanced over at Mac, her eyes wide. 'Mac?'

'It's gonna be alright,' he told her.

One of the men looked over. 'Are you a cop?'

Mac nodded.

'Then get us the hell outta here.'

'Please,' said the woman who had been just in front of Taylor in the line. 'I'm three months pregnant and I don't want to die.'

'No one's gonna die,' Taylor told her, her voice sounding a lot calmer than she knew she actually was.

'I don't care what you saw,' Joe cried. 'That's not what happened!' He hung up looking momentarily worried. As soon as he turned around, the worry was gone. 'Heads down,' he bellowed.

Mac looked over at him. 'I need to start processing the body.'

'Go ahead,' Joe told him. 'What?' he asked as Mac continued to stand and stare at him.

'If you want to get out of here tonight, I'm going to need some help.'

Joe shook his head. 'You're not bringing anyone else in here. I'm not that stupid.'

'Then this could take a while,' Mac shrugged.

Joe raked a hand over his cropped hair and looked around. His eyes fell on Taylor. 'You.'

Taylor looked up.

'I know you. Your face used to be all over the city.'

Taylor nodded. The old publicity had eventually been replaced (although there was still the odd bench with her face on it) and she'd been hoping that Joe wouldn't recognize her.

Joe swore. 'I said no press.'

Taylor swallowed, feeling like there was something large lodged in her throat. 'I came in to do my banking,' she stammered at him. 'I swear.'

Joe swore again. 'I want you up here where I can keep an eye on you.' He looked at Mac. 'Looks like you got your help,' he informed him as he yanked Taylor to her feet and pushed her over to Mac.

She stumbled slightly and Mac caught her. 'I need you to comb through the victim's hair. Can you do that?'

Taylor nodded and took the comb and sheet of paper Mac fished out of his kit, her hands shaking. He led her over to the body, and she stepped over the blood to crouch down by the body's head. Mac followed her and picked up one of his hands.

'What are you looking for?' Joe asked, watching them from the doorway of the vault.

Mac looked up. 'Foreign DNA: Evidence left behind by his attacker,' he held up the hand he had been taking scrapings from underneath the fingernails. 'This man has defensive wounds. Indicates there was a struggle. How long you been married?' he asked, nodding at Joe's hand. 'I was married once. Nice to have someone who cares about you.'

Joe laughed darkly. 'You think you're gonna get into my head, detective? Is that it? Bring up my wife, tell me how much she loves me and that I shouldn't be doing this?'

Mac shrugged. 'All I'm thinking is that if you didn't kill this man, then maybe all of this could still work out in your favor.'

'No,' Joe disagreed. 'It'll work out. If you do your job correctly, it'll work out.'

Taylor shot Mac a look as Joe's phone rang again. He just shook his head at her.

'Where's my police car?' Joe demanded. 'I can still see the media, and I know you've got one in here…' he glared over at Taylor who whitened. 'That woman who was on the posters… I don't care what her name is…' He scowled. 'Well let's hope the kids are outta the room when I start tossing bodies in your direction, and I'll be starting with her.… '

Taylor could feel her stomach turn over and suddenly, combing a dead guy's hair was a very difficult task. Mac's hand appeared over hers, feeling warm and safe. She looked up into Mac's grey eyes.

'You're going to be fine,' he told her. 'I promise.'

Taylor nodded, unable to speak.

Mac got to his feet as Joe hung up the phone. 'Joe?'

'What now?' Joe snapped.

'I need to test you for gun shot residue.'

'How's that work?'

Mac help up the small contained. 'I collect with one of these and a positive result tells me that you've fired your gun recently.'

Joe just shrugged at him. 'Don't waste your time. I did.'

'Was that the only time you fired your weapon?' Mac asked.

'That's right. One shot. Up there,' he pointed to the ceiling and the small hole in it.

Mac looked between the hole and the body. 'This could have been an accident.'

'No,' Joe said venomously, waving his gun at them. 'It wasn't an accident. I'm not gonna let you pin his murder on me.'

Mac held his hands out. 'Calm down, Joe. No one's doing that.'

'You think I don't know what's going on out there?' Joe shot at him. 'Your friends are out there trying to figure out a way to get in here without killing a lot of innocent people. They don't give a damn about me. They think I'm a murderer. And you know what that means? It means they're gonna put a bullet in me the first chance they get. That's why I'm not leaving here until you prove that I didn't pull the trigger. And if I'm not leaving, nobody's leaving.'

Mac took a breath. 'Well, then get me a CT scanner.'

Joe's eyes narrowed suspiciously. 'What's that?'

'It's kind of a lie detector for scientists. It will allow me to look inside the body and tell me if you're telling the truth,' Mac explained.

---

Somehow, in under half an hour, no less, a CT scanner found its boxed-up way into the bank, along with some bottles of water.

'Well, get to work,' Joe said, looking expectantly at Mac.

Mac pointed down to the chain on around his ankle. 'It's going to be a little hard with this bag slowing me down.

'Well that's too bad.'

Mac just shrugged at him. 'The faster we get this done, the sooner you get what you want. It's up to you.'

Joe stared at him for a few moments before throwing the keys at him. Mac caught them and calmly unlocked his restraints. He then looked at the crate. 'I'm going to need some help getting this out of here.'

Joe glared at him. 'And what do you think she is?' he asked, using his gun to point at Taylor. 'Decoration.'

Taylor hurried over and caught Mac's eye. 'I, uh, I don't think I'm going to be able to lift this,' she told Joe.

Joe scowled and toed a guy on the floor. 'You. Go help them.'

The man hurried over.

'Where do you keep the surveillance tapes?' he asked him in a low voice.

'They're recorded to a hard drive in the manager's office.,' the guy explained as he helped them unload the equipment. As soon as the scanner was in the vault, the man hurried back to his original position on the floor, eyeing Joe warily as he moved past him. Joe nodded his head at Taylor and she quickly darted over to a spot with the other hostages.

Good luck to all of you with exams and essays and such! I know it's getting to that time of year for most!