Madison Bellows - Thank you! And I'm glad i've still got it after all these chapters - and there will be more with Flack's partner!

Trizzy - Oh, hell no. They are getting married. Just not yet. Although I have just read one of those 'true stories' where a couple remained engaged for thirty years...

sparkyCSI - lol, I still don't remember what I added, but at least whatever it was worked!

ambercsiny - lol, I may have gotten a little carried away with that, but I was going for Stella strong's convictions for catching the bad guy (:s)

ninjagurl512 - Hey! Thank you, and welcome! i'm glad you stuck it out!! I'll try not to keep the updates too far apart for you

miss wizard of oz - Glad you're back and caught up - you have been missed. I thought it was the natural progression, so hopefully it will bring something different to the table

Vanessa.J - lol, you're a good judge of character! And she certainly would have people after her - I think that some of them might not even be in the show!

demolished-soul - That's cool. You can't have too much left now, right? I hope they're going alright for you. There are a few 'key' episodes I have yet to include, but they're coming

meadow567 - She does need a slap. Maybe I do to - get them straight again! Are you playing match-maker already?

Hailey Lebeau - there had to be something good come out of working for Nancy, lol!

righto, thanks to my awesome beta, and warnings for spoilers. What episode was it? Oh, yeah, Like Murder For Water: 4x17

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 218: Who's got a match? I've got the petrol to set it too!

'I can't believe you haven't set a date,' Maddy exclaimed as she watched Taylor pull on her shoes a couple of days later.

'How many times do we have to have this conversation, Maddy?' Taylor sighed. 'Like I told Don, I love him, and I want to be with him, but I can't marry him. Not until I'm myself again. I want to be the person he fell in love with, and if I can't be that person, then I want to make sure he loves the person I've become.'

Maddy pulled a face. 'What? Neurotic?'

Taylor shrugged. 'If that's what I am, then yes.'

Maddy rolled her eyes. 'Let's change that to insane.' She folded her arms and gazed at Taylor. 'Tay, as your best friend, I feel I can tell you this: if you don't get your act together, you're going to lose him.'

Taylor glanced up at the ghost and sighed. 'I know. I do,' she said, seeing Maddy's disbelieving look. 'And I don't know when I became so insecure, but I'm working on it, Mads.'

'Are you ready?' Flack asked, appearing in the doorway. 'Are we going to have to wait until later?' he asked, spotting Maddy.

Taylor shook her head. 'I am not waiting another day to get my car,' she told him. 'Maddy just stopped by to say hi. She's going now,' she added, giving Maddy a pointed stare.

'Aw, come on!' Maddy objected. 'Aiden's busy with Erik.'

'And I'm busy getting a new car. Go bug Hawkes.'

'Hawkes?' asked Flack, an eyebrow raised in amusement as Maddy disappeared.

Taylor nodded. 'She has the unhealthiest crush on him. And she can't stand the fact he's seeing Izzie, nor that Izzie looks like she does.'

'That's cute,' Flack grinned.

'That's pathetic,' Taylor rolled her eyes. 'Come on, I want my baby.'

---

'You bought that?' Marty asked her, his jaw hanging open as he stared at her car.

It was a pre-owned 2007 Shelby Mustang GT5000 in blue, with two fat white racing stripes over the hood, roof and trunk.

'I always wanted a Mustang,' Taylor shrugged. 'And this one called to me.'

'I thought you would have gone for another classic like the GTO.'

Taylor shook her head. 'I only had it for a favor to Chris. I was planning on getting a Mustang then anyway. And I swear to God, if someone tries to drive this into the Hudson, they'd best still be in the car when they pull it out. Otherwise, they're going to be sorry.'

'Wow, someone's bitter,' Marty mumbled.

Taylor turned on him. 'GTO – Hudson. GTO – Hudson – Louie in the trunk,' she snarled at him. 'Explain how I'm not supposed to be bitter.'

Marty held his hands up. 'Alright. Point taken.'

'It's best to let it be,' Flack muttered at him. 'I tried to convince her to buy a hybrid Fusion.'

'Would you have a Fusion?' Taylor asked him.

'I have a Tahoe,' he said, pointing at the large black vehicle.

'That's not what I asked,' Taylor pointed out.

'No, I wouldn't have a Fusion,' Flack rolled his eyes. 'I like my trucks, I'd have had Highlander. Or the CSI Avalanches are quite nice. So no, I wouldn't have had a Fusion, but I wouldn't have had a Ford, nor a Mustang.'

'And that's why this is my baby and not yours,' Taylor said, patting the blue car.

'You normally stroke random cars?' Lindsay asked her getting out of her own car.

'This isn't a random car,' Taylor informed her. 'This is my baby.'

Lindsay cocked her head. 'Wow,' she mouthed.

Taylor turned to Flack and Marty. 'Are you two disappearing about now?'

'Anxious to get rid of us?' Flack teased.

'Look, if you want to come in and discuss baby showers, then by all means, come join us,' Taylor offered.

Flack pulled a face. 'Yeah, fine, we're going.' He looked expectantly at Taylor.

Taylor blinked. 'After just informing me that you'd never have bought a Mustang, you think I'm gonna let you drive this? Dream on!'

Marty laughed. 'Come on, your Tahoe's fine,' he said patting him on the back.

'They seem to be getting on better,' Lindsay laughed as they headed inside.

Taylor nodded. 'They spent the last few days bonding over a video game.'

'Yeah, about that,' Lindsay rolled her eyes. 'Danny wants one now. It doesn't matter that he has a Wii and an Xbox.'

Taylor laughed. 'At least you know what to get him for your wedding gift.'

Lindsay arched and eyebrow. 'You think I'm gonna buy him a games console? I have better uses for his fingers.

'I'm sure you do.'

---

They finished their plans for Stella's surprise baby shower and Lindsay had gotten called away to a scene, leaving Taylor to get some housework done. She was in the middle of a giant pile of laundry when Flack and Marty returned home, much later that evening

'You're in?' Flack asked in surprise.

'I never left,' Taylor shrugged.

'Then where's your car?'

Taylor could feel the blood drain from her face. 'You're kidding, aren't you?' she leapt to her feet and dashed outside into the rain. He hadn't been joking. Her Mustang was nowhere in sight. 'Please tell me you're playing a prank,' she asked as she stared across the street to where her car should have been.

Behind her, Flack was already on the phone reporting the car as stolen.

'I've had that a day,' she cried, turning to Marty. 'And they've taken your Porsche as well!' she realized.

'I sold it.'

'My Mustang?' Taylor asked in alarm.

Marty shook his head. 'My Porsche. It went a couple of weeks ago – haven't you noticed?'

Taylor thought about it. She hadn't. 'No. Why did you sell it?'

Marty shrugged. 'I couldn't afford it. The ER doesn't pay nearly as well as the ME's office.' He pointed at a beat up Taurus. 'That's mine.'

'Oh,' Taylor frowned. She turned to Flack. 'Don, my car's been stolen,' she wailed.

'Grace is on her way over with Mac,' he told her, leading her back inside. 'When did Lindsay leave?'

'A couple of hours ago?' she shrugged.

'Well it's obviously been stolen in the past two hours, because Lindsay would have noticed if it wasn't there. That's good,' he added. 'They can't have gotten that far.'

'I swear to God,' Taylor growled. 'When I get my hands on the little punk who stole this, I'm going to get my car and run it over him. And then I'm going to stick it in reverse and do it again.'

'Or, rather, you're going to let Mac and Grace hand it over to the courts.'

'What? So he can get a fine and a suspended sentence? I think not,' she grumbled, allowing Flack to push her onto the couch.

Mac arrived a half hour later, accompanied by Flack's partner. Taylor watched from the window as Mac processed the scene and Grace knocked on the surrounding doors. They were out there for ages, but as Mac pointed out, there were few witnesses, and the rain had washed away what evidence there was.

Taylor growled and headed upstairs.

---

The following morning, she was in a worse mood, especially when she spotted Maddy and another ghost at the bottom of her bed. She still saw the ghosts everywhere, but short of taking an impromptu trip upstate to reunite Robin with his father, the ghost she saw on the streets didn't speak to her, unless she got their attention by staring at them. So a murder victim at the bottom of her bed came as a bit of a shock.

The ghost was dripping water everywhere, though getting nothing wet. There were strands of seaweed dangling off her, but more importantly, it looked like something had taken a couple of bites out of her and she was missing her right hand.

Taylor's stomach churned. She scrambled out of bed and ran to the bathroom, only just getting her head down the bowl in time.

'Taylor?' Flack appeared in the doorway, looking concerned. 'Who has Maddy brought you?' he squatted down next to her and brushed her hair out of her face.

'I don't know,' Taylor admitted. 'But I'd hazard a guess that Jaws got to her.'

Flack looked to the spot next to Maddy, and although he couldn't see the ghost, sighed. 'I'd best get dressed then. I'm at work anyway.'

'You have to stop him because he's not going to be able to stop himself,' the ghost told her.

---

'You have got to be kidding me!' Taylor cried.

Her weekend was getting progressively worse.

They were in Flack's truck, heading to the precinct, heading down Broadway, stuck in traffic. And on one of the billboards was a giant picture of Taylor. The picture was slightly more revealing than the last one had been. But that wasn't Taylor's issue. It was the caption that went with it. Taylor Turner: Reporting the Crime with an Insider Advantage. On the other side of the poster, with a much smaller picture, was Reed, Bringing you the news online, as it happens.

'Mac is going to kill me,' she groaned.

'Yeah, probably,' Flack agreed.

'Don!' she objected. 'That's not helping in the slightest.'

He laughed, but reached for his phone that had started ringing. 'Flack… Yeah, I'm on my way.' He turned to Taylor. 'We found your body.'

It had washed up on the beach not far from Coney Island and had been discovered by a couple who had been out for a little fun in the early morning surf. Taylor shivered. It was the end of March and they wanted to go frolicking in the sea? She followed Flack down the beach to the body, joining Mac who had also just arrived.

'Mac,' Taylor called.

He looked up and walked over. 'We still haven't found your car,' he told her.

Taylor shook her head. 'No, it's not about that,' she told him. 'It's the latest publicity from the Daily. I swear I had nothing to do with the caption, and I certainly wouldn't consider my relation with Flack, or any of you CSIs, as insider information.'

Mac stopped and turned to face her. 'Taylor, I don't believe in the ghosts, but I do believe that I can trust you to keep certain information out of the headlines. You've had ample opportunity to do so in the past and you haven't. Just don't let me down.'

Taylor stared at him then hurriedly nodded. 'I won't Mac.'

Flack walked back up the sand to join them. 'So, you remember that shark that washed up on Rockaway last year? Well this one had a little company with him.'

'Is there any ID on the victim?' Mac asked him.

'Not yet,' Flack replied. 'I've got my guys canvassing the locals and I've put a call into missing persons.'

'Who found him?' asked Hawkes, who was already at the body.

'The Abercrombie Twins over there,' he pointed at a couple sat on some rocks.

Hawkes dropped down next to the body. 'Looks like her hand was the appetizer,' he held it up for them to see.

Taylor looked away. She'd already seen that one that morning and didn't want to look at it any more than was completely necessary.

Mac looked over at the shark. 'Shark attack victim. Looks like a job for Chief Brody, not my forensics team.'

Flack nodded. 'That's what I thought, but Taylor had a visitor this morning.'

Mac sighed. 'I was just telling Taylor I still haven't changed my opinions on ghosts, Flack.'

Flack shrugged. 'Nope, didn't expect you had, and I don't expect you will. Which is why you should have a look at her neck.' He glanced down at Hawkes, who had moved up to the top section of the victim's body. 'Take a real good look, Doc.'

'Strangulation marks, peticial hemorrhaging in the eyes.'

Flack grinned. 'So, what kind of shark strangles his meal before he takes a bite?'

Mac nodded. 'Alright, you have my attention.' He turned to Taylor. 'I still don't believe in ghosts.'

Taylor sighed. 'I know.'

She stood back and watched whilst the team set to work. Flack moved over to the crowds to help with the ID, leaving Taylor to watch Hawkes and Mac.

'Taylor, if you're going to insist on staying, you're going to have to step back behind the tape,' Mac told her. 'I still haven't changed my mind on your appearances at crime scenes. We have procedure to follow.'

Taylor nodded and ducked behind the tape, watching Hawkes photograph the body whilst Mac focused on the shark. After a while, Hawkes wandered over. 'You see her ghost?'

Taylor nodded.

'Alright, this is what I know. A severed femoral artery, major tissue damage and massive blood loss; all post mortem injuries.'

'Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that a shark would attack someone and then wash up on the beach a few mere feet away?'

Hawkes nodded. 'It's one of many things that don't make sense. There's very little evidence consistant with her being a floater.'

'Meaning she was strangled in the water?'

'More like she was strangled and tossed to the shark while she was still warm.'

Taylor frowned, seemingly staring into space, but was actually staring at the ghost of the victim.

'Taylor?'

Taylor looked at Hawkes, brushing the hair that the wind was making dance over her eyes, to one side. 'I think I've seen her before. But I don't know where.'

'You know her?' Hawkes asked.

'Yes,' Taylor muttered slowly. 'But I don't know where from.' She sighed and glanced over at Mac. 'Who's that?'

Hawkes shrugged. 'I've never seen her before.'

'Rust colored spots.'

The wind was blowing the conversation to them.

'Sand Tiger shark. I went on a cage dive in the Bahamas and saw one up close, very much alive,' the woman who had joined Mac was explaining. She looked to be in her forties, with hair a very similar color to the rust spots she was referring to on the shark.

'What are you doing here, Quinn?' Mac asked, rising to his feet. 'Jersey Crime Lab too boring for you?'

'I'm still a criminalist there,' Quinn told him. 'But every other month I inspect labs for the forensics board. It's been five years since yours has been reaccredited.'

'Our review isn't scheduled for another couple of weeks.'

'Everything got moved up,' Quinn explained. 'It was felt, after the past couple of months in particular, that your procedures and protocols should be checked.'

'It was felt by whom?' Mac asked her.

Quinn gave him a patient smile. 'There was a report filed by an SSA Reid a few months back. We've been keeping an eye on things, but there's now the suspicion that someone is leaking information to the press. This means, for the next couple of days I'll be monitoring protocol and evaluating your team's techniques. Then I'll file a report. Don't worry Mac. I'll stay out of the way. I know you. I know you do things by the book. I'm just going to quietly observe.'

Mac laughed.

'What's so funny?'

'I've never known you do anything quietly.'

Taylor looked at Hawkes. 'Crap,' she muttered. 'This is going to be interesting.'

THE CSI:NY FANFICTION AWARDS, 2009

I don't think there are any words that can describe how I feel right now. I am completely honoured and humbled. There has been some incredible competition this year, and I never expected the results. It still hasn't registered as to how much you guys like this story, and Taylor! So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. And if you like this story so much, I'll keep going with it. So, this story is for all of you that voted. Thank you!!!