Delko'sGirl88 - Hey! Wow, thanks for reading - I know it can be a bit of a daunting task. Her dad's name was something of a coincidence - I had Jack O'Neill (Stargate) in mind with him, actually! I hope you catch up soon (and still like it!)

Madison Bellows - It was one of those moments whereby I was imagining what I would do it I was in that situation - except with me, there would be blood! lol I had much fun in London - I was sat in the last possible seat imaginable, but it was still ace!

ninjagurl512 - Hmmm, I think this might be another breather chapter for you too! Sorry to keep you waiting

sparkyCSI - You know, it's been so long since I wrote these chapters, I forget. And no, we're a little ways off yet!!

demolished-soul - No, that was about three episodes from now - Taxi. I'm not going to mess with that too much though!

Trizzy - Well, i think and even bigger, belated birthday wishes are in order! I have no idea where Riley came from, so to speak, but the muse seems to like her. And don't worry about Quinn - there will be no trouble there!

meadow567 - lol, she's still in London for a few more days, actually. I think the punishment was quite fair. I'd never have been as reserved!!

ambercsiny - It's alright, and I shall credit you properly too! My housemate's gran was a social worker (actually, most of her family are) and I spent a few hours listening to the horror stories. Sadly, it happens.

Alrighty, the lyrics belong to Miley Cyrus – it'll all make sense!

There are spoilers from 4x17; Like Water For Murder, and thanks to my beta - because she's ace!

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 220: Feels like, feels like your life changes

Taylor picked Cordelia up from school and took her to the library. The child was babbling excitedly about an upcoming Spelling Bee competition she had been entered in. Remembering how Taylor had won a couple when she had been in school brought a smile to her face, and so she had offered to take them to the library to get some books on the subject so that they could practice together.

Over some sandwiches, they camped out on the floor, practicing their spelling. As far as Taylor was concerned, and she admittedly didn't know what the competition was like, the eight year old was good.

By the time Flack arrived back from work around eight, spelling had been abandoned. Hannah Montana was on the background, but neither female was really watching it. Cordelia was lying on her stomach, drawing pictures of the new fish in the tank, whilst Taylor was sat in the middle of the couch, wrapped in a blanket, surrounded by pages and pages of notes and newspaper clippings (some of which had made their way to the floor). 'And how are my two favorite girls?' he asked, clearing a spot on the sofa next to Taylor and sitting down.

'What does my name mean?' Cordelia asked suddenly. Before either adult could give her an answer, Cordelia continued. 'Only Billy O'Brien said I was named after a character on Buffy, the Vampire Layer and it means easy. And I don't understand how I'm easy.'

Flack's eyes practically burst from his head, whilst Taylor's mouth dropped open.

'Who is Billy O'Brien?' Flack finally managed to ask.

'He's in the eighth grade,' Cordy told him solemnly. 'Am I easy?'

'You better hadn't be,' Flack spluttered.

Taylor slapped Flack's arm and shot him a glare. 'Sweetie, your mother loved a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Cordelia was her favorite character. And I can assure you your name doesn't mean easy.'

'What does it mean?' Cordelia pressed.

Taylor shrugged. 'I don't know. But we can find out.' She went and grabbed her laptop, opened the internet, and headed straight for Google. 'It means,' she smiled, reading the information. 'Of rare honesty.'

'Kinda fits,' Flack muttered, still fuming, and planning exactly what he was going to do when he laid his hands on Billy's neck…

'What does Don mean?' Coredlia asked, again interrupting his thoughts.

'World mighty,' Taylor replied after a few keystrokes.

'And what does that mean?' Cordelia asked, her eyes wide.

'That I have super powers and super strength,' he told her, flexing his muscles.

Cordelia eyed him skeptically. 'You don't look like a superhero.'

'Oh no?' He jumped over at her and picked her up, swirling her around. 'That's all part of my disguise,' he told her as Cordelia giggled hysterically. 'And now misses, it's time for you to get to bed.'

'You're really good with her,' Taylor told him after the child had dashed out of the door.

Flack shrugged. 'She makes it easy. Billy O'Brien, on the other hand…'

'Is in the eighth grade,' Taylor cut him off. 'Remember that, before you start running background checks and issuing warrants.'

'I bet he's still a toe-rag,' Flack grumbled, settling back down in the gap on the sofa he had created. 'And you're the one that wanted to run a fifteen year old over.'

'Did Mac go for the punishment?' Taylor asked, pushing her laptop to the side.

Flack nodded. 'He quite liked the idea. She starts next week,' he frowned.

'What?' Taylor asked him.

Flack sighed. 'You know, I left there a while ago, and Riley was still there. Angell was watching her.'

Taylor glanced over at the clock. 'Hang on, I left you both about six hours ago. She's still there after six hours?'

Flack nodded sadly. 'There are too many kids and not enough Social Workers.'

'But the woman was at the station. Why couldn't she take her then?'

Flack shook his head. 'I don't know. Frankly, it was a miracle she was there at all. We normally wait hours for someone to arrive for an interview.'

Taylor sighed and settled against Flack's side. 'Any luck with the finding the realtors' killers?'

Flack's mouth twitched up into a grin. 'How do you feel about chocolate underwear?'

'Not very practical,' Taylor shrugged.

Flack laughed. 'It's not supposed to be practical, Tay.'

---

Taylor awoke, her eyes suddenly wide open, as she sensed that there was someone standing in the room. It took her a couple of seconds to realize it was only Cordelia tugging at her duvet. 'Cordy?' she questioned, flicking the lamp on. 'What's the matter, sweetie?'

'I can't sleep,' Cordelia whispered, her eyes wide with fright.

'What's happened?'

'I think there's something in my closet,' she whispered.

Taylor frowned and pulled herself into a sitting position. 'Cordy, there's nothing in your closet,' she told her reassuringly.

'It's a monster,' Cordy whimpered.

Taylor gave her a smile and pulled her onto the bed beside her. 'I promise you that there's nothing in that closet,' she told her, wanting desperately to tell her that there was no such thing as monsters, but reluctant to lie to her. 'You just had a bad dream.'

Cordy shook her head. 'It wasn't a dream.'

'You want me to check the closet with you?' she asked her.

Again, Cordelia shook her head. 'No, I want Uncle Don to.'

Taylor glanced over at the sleeping body next to her. 'You sure I can't help you?'

'I want Uncle Don to protect me like he protects you,' Cordelia told her solemnly. 'You're not scared because you have him.'

'You have him too,' Taylor pointed out.

'But he doesn't sleep in my bed to keep me safe,' Cordelia retorted, on the verge of tears.

'You're right,' Taylor told her, her heart melting. She leant over and shook Flack's shoulder.

'Wassup?' he asked sleepily, his eyes half closed.

'I think you need to check under Cordy's bed,' she told him.

His left eye cracked open another quarter inch. 'Huh?'

Taylor nodded her head in the child's direction.

Flack yawned and leant himself up on his elbow to peer over Taylor at the small girl, clutching to the foot of her teddy bear. 'What's up, Worm?'

'There's a monster in my closet,' she whispered.

Flack yawned and pulled back the covers, swinging his feet over the end of his bed. He quickly ran his hand over his face, and headed for the door, placing his hands gently on Cordelia's shoulders to usher her back to her room.

Lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, Taylor could hear everything.

There was a quiet crack as Flack bent down, his knees cracking. 'See, there's nothing under there.'

'It wasn't under there anyway,' Cordelia told him.

There was another crack as Flack got to his feet and padded over the floor to the closet, the floorboards creaking in the middle of the room. There was a soft click as a door opened. 'Nothing over here, either.'

'Are you sure?'

'Come on, Worm. You get into bed.'

'Uncle Don?' Cordelia questioned, over the sound of her climbing into bed.

There was a louder creaking sound – Flack sitting on the end of the bed. 'Yeah?'

'Will you sing me a song?'

Taylor bit back a smile as Flack hurried down the stairs – the eighth and eleventh groaning under his weight, before the groans were repeated in the reverse order.

He quickly strummed his fingers over the strings. 'Which song do you want?'

'The one about the caterpillar.'

This time it was a giggle that Taylor choked back. Although still obsessed with High School Musical, Cordelia's latest obsession was Hannah Montana. She'd been watching the film that afternoon. The giggle disappeared as Flack started playing the right chords and singing.

'You tucked me in, turned out the light
Kept me safe and sound at night
Little girls depend on things like that

Brushed my teeth and combed my hair
Had to drive me everywhere
You were always there when I looked back

You had to do it all alone
Make a living, make a home
Must have been as hard as it could be

And when I couldn't sleep at night
Scared things wouldn't turn out right
You would hold my hand and sing to me

Caterpillar in the tree
How you wonder who you'll be
Can't go far but you can always dream

Wish you may and wish you might
Don't you worry, hold on tight
I promise you there will come a day
Butterfly fly away'

Her mouth was still hanging open when Flack returned to their bed. 'What?' he asked her after he had slipped under the covers.

'How on earth do you know the words to Hannah Montana?'

Flack shrugged. 'I heard Cordelia play it and I wanted to know what it was. She leant me the CD to copy. It's in the truck.'

Taylor didn't think her mouth could fall any further open. 'Hannah Montana?'

Even in the dark, Flack's flushing was obvious. 'I like the song, so sue me.'

'How about you sing it to me?'

This time it was Flack's turn to look dubious. 'You like Hannah Montana?'

Taylor shrugged. 'I'd just like to hear you sing.'

Flack snuggled down further into the bed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. 'Soon,' he promised. He shifted slightly and rubbed his feet up and down her legs.

Taylor let out a squeal and tried to push him away. 'Don! Your feet are freezing.'

'So is the floor,' he pointed out, trying to worm his toes between her bare calves. 'But you're not.'

'I am now,' she grumbled.

'Oh, you love me really,' he murmured, pressing his lips against her hair. 'All six foot two of me.'

'I don't know about the last couple of inches,' Taylor frowned. 'But I do love the rest of you.'

'How much?'

'With everything I am,' Taylor told him simply. She glanced up. 'What's the matter, Don?'

'Nothing,' he replied hurriedly.

'The look on your face doesn't say nothing.'

Flack inhaled deeply. 'I keep thinking about Riley.'

Taylor blinked. 'Well you can stop thinking about her. She's fifteen!'

Flack scowled at her. 'Taylor. I'm not thinking her about her like that!'

'Then what?'

He sighed and brought his arm up and under his head. 'She's still waiting at the station. According to Angell, she's fast asleep with her head on my desk.'

Taylor glanced over at the glowing green numbers on the clock. 'Don, it's two am.'

Flack nodded. 'You said something earlier: that you didn't want her to get lost in the system. I read her file. Before she was eleven, she was excelling at school, and then her dad got killed in a bodega shooting. She's been bounding about from care home to foster family for four years.'

'What about her mother?' Taylor asked.

'Left her when she was a baby.'

'What are you thinking?' she asked him suspiciously.

'We have a spare room,' he admitted. 'Two when Cordy isn't staying.'

Taylor sat upright and looked down at Flack, her eyes wide. 'What?'

Flack shuffled and then he too sat up. 'Would having her here be such a bad thing? At least until Social Services can place her properly?'

'Are you being serious?' she asked him disbelief. 'She stole my car and you want her to live under the same roof as Cordelia?'

Flack frowned. "Cordy stays with us a couple of times a month. I don't think she's a bad kid, Tay.'

Taylor shook her head. 'No, Don,' she told him firmly. 'She's not staying here.'

Flack sighed and lay back in the bed. 'It was just a suggestion.'

'I'm sorry,' she apologized. 'But I don't trust her, and regardless of how often Cordy stays here, it's still not fair to her. And I'm not letting her within a hundred feet of my car or car keys. Or my jewelry-'

'I get the picture,' Flack cut her off. 'I'll chase up Social Services tomorrow.'

---

Taylor was in the shower, singing along to the Ting Tings, when she almost fell out of it at the sound of Maddy clearing her throat. "For crying out loud, Maddy!' she yelped, reaching for the towel and wrapping it around her still soapy body. 'We have got to develop some kind of boundary with you guys.'

'Yeah,' Maddy grinned wickedly. 'We're not around when you and Donnie Boy are having some "alone time",' she explained, her fingers making air quotation marks.

'You know what?' Taylor asked, glaring at her. 'We're editing that. If I'm naked, or Don's naked, you're not coming anywhere near!'

'None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.' The two ghosts said together.

Taylor frowned, trying to remember something from the Sunday School classes her mother insisted she attend. 'Okay, I'm drawing a blank,' she told them as her phone rang. She hurried back into her bedroom and grabbed the phone, glancing at the screen. 'Hi Reed.'

'Taylor, we've been scooped.'

Taylor glanced over at the ghosts. 'Huh?

'The New York Weekly has only gone and scooped us – they're saying it's a serial killer.'

'That's not a scoop,' Taylor muttered, not thinking about what she was saying. 'I knew that.'

'We're not the only ones,' the ghost of Chrissy informed her.

'What?! Reed blurted out angrily.

Taylor gave the ghost a puzzled look. Had Reed just heard that?

'If you knew it was a serial killer, why didn't you say something, Taylor?'

Taylor sighed. 'Reed, by the time I knew that, the deadline for the morning edition had been and gone.'

'Yes, but mine hadn't,' he told her. 'If you'd have told me, we could have got that in the blog.'

Taylor exhaled softly. 'Sorry, Reed. I'll remember that for next time,' she muttered as he ended the call.

---

After dropping Cordelia off at school, Taylor headed into the precinct, ready to share the latest development with Flack. She stopped short when she realized that Riley was still sitting at the desk, only now she was nibbling at a powdered donut whilst he was on the phone.

Taylor glanced at her watch. It was already gone nine.

'Mornin'' Angell greeted her.

'Hey, Jess, has that kid been here all night?' she asked her.

Angell nodded. 'Yup. We've both been calling periodically, but they've not sent anyone. It's a shame, because she doesn't seem like a bad kid.'

Taylor sighed. 'I'll be back later,' she told the detective as she retreated from the room.

She headed up to the crime lab, looking for Stella. She found her, in her office, snowed under piles of paper. 'You look bored,' she commented.

Stella looked up and nodded. 'I realized all of you were right. I'm having a baby, and really, I've not been taking care of us. So I've taken us out of the lab, away from the chemicals. Though, knowing my luck, boredom also has a detrimental effect on the baby. So, what's up?'

Taylor came in and sat down on the leather chair. 'Stell, have they found a third body?'

Stella looked at her in surprise, although it was quickly replaced with a look of understanding. 'Ghost?'

'Kinda,' Taylor nodded. 'The two girls have told me that they're not the only ones, which leads me to believe there is at least someone else. But their ghost has yet to appear.'

'Quinn found a third victim,' Stella told her. 'From three months ago. He washed up on the Jersey shoreline.'

Taylor nodded at the paperwork. 'You got a location in there?'

'Why?' Stella asked her suspiciously.

Taylor shrugged. 'Might as well go round him up.'

Stella frowned at her. 'Don't you normally want to get arid of the ghosts? Not collect more?'

'True,' Taylor admitted, crossing her legs. 'But I think he might help. And besides, I bet you could do with getting out of here?'

Stella nodded. 'Yes. But I get the feeling that's just a ruse to talk to me about something?'

Taylor stared in disbelief. 'How do you do that?'

'Detective?' Stella shrugged, grinning.

'That's an excuse, not a reason,' she muttered. 'But I'm driving. The glass has been replaced, and it's time I had some fun and saw just how fast my baby can go.'

Stella shot her a disapproving look. 'You are aware that there are speed limits you have to abide by, don't you? And speeding equals an increase chance of serious harm. Don't forget, I'm pregnant!'

Taylor laughed. 'How could I?'

Well I won't bore you with the details, but I will apologise for the delay in updating. I have had a manic few weeks, the higlights of which consist of messed up relationship and no more job (again!). Ah well, in the words of Kanye - what don't kill you will only make you stronger.

Thanks for all your wonderful reviews, the alert adds and the fav adds, and just the general hits in general. I know my trials and tribulations are nothing compared to what some of you are going through and I'm just happy that y'all keep on reading. So seriously, thank you! And I'll try not to keep you waiting too long for the next update!! Much Love! xx