A Time to Heal

Disclaimer: I am not Anthony Zuiker, Ann Donahue or Carol Mendelsohn. All the

characters of CSI: NY are not mine…I’m just borrowing them for a little bit. I promise that

I will put them back, exactly the way I found them when I’m done….Oh, Cory Reid is mine and

I will take credit for anything she does. :^)

A/N: Okay, time line wise this is in the early part of September, and it is

Friday. As always, please, please, please R&R!! My muse loves the attention!!! Oh, I

don’t own the chapter title either….It belongs to Peter, Paul and Mary!!! Also, you might

want to have a box of tissues nearby!! (Just warning you!)

Chapter 40.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Danny woke up when he heard the shower start. He opened his eyes and ran his hand over

Cory’s side of the bed. He realized that the sheets were cool, like she had not been lying

there for a while. Confused, he sat up and waited for her to finish the shower.

Cory took a long hot shower. She was tired, but the shower was helping her to wake up. She

sighed as she shampooed her hair, watching the foam wash down the drain. After about twenty

minutes, she got out of the shower and got dressed.

She put on a little make-up and combed out her hair, to prevent tangles. After she was

done, she put all of her make-up and lotions in her toiletries bag, but left a bar of soap

out for Danny.

When she walked out of the bathroom, she was surprised to see Danny sitting up in bed.

“Hey, baby.”

“Bella? You were gone when I woke up.”

Cory smiled. “Sorry, I had to get ready to leave.”

“I know. I woke up when the shower started, but the sheets were cold. Did you get any

sleep?”

“No. I couldn’t sleep. So I went and worked on my laptop. I didn’t want to wake you up

since you have to work today.”

“You could have woken me up, I would have been fine.”

Cory just smiled. “You’d better grab the shower. We need to leave in about 45 minutes so I

can get to the airport early. I have to check in and make sure that the air marshal knows

that I am on the flight.”

Danny nodded and got up to take a shower.

While he was getting ready, she made a final walk through of the apartment, to make sure

that she had not left anything behind. She packed up her laptop and then took out her

service weapon and disassembled it. She put the gun in its carrying case just as Danny

walked out of the bathroom. He was dressed in a suit without a tie. “You ready?” she

asked.

Danny nodded and helped her gather her luggage and they left for the airport.

(LaGuardia Airport)

Cory didn’t have any difficulties checking in. She met with the air marshal, who was glad

to have her presence on the plane with him. She settled into a chair in the departure area

to wait for the plane to board.

Danny sat next to her. He put his arm on the back of her chair. Cory laid her head on his

shoulder and closed her eyes. They still had about an hour before the plane left.

Fifteen minutes before the plane was scheduled to begin boarding, Danny cleared his throat.

“Bella?”

“Hum?” Cory muttered sleepily.

“I’m really going to miss you.”

Cory looked up and got lost in Danny’s azure eyes. “Me, too.”

Danny reached into his pocket. “I have a present for you.”

“What?” She gasped as Danny drew a jewelry box out of his pocket.

Danny looked a little embarrassed. “I got this for you as a forgiveness gift, since I was

such an insensitive ass.” He handed her the box.

With shaking fingers, she opened it and gasped in surprise. Inside was an intricately

carved jade dragon on a silver chain. “Danny! This is gorgeous.” She studied it even

more. “This is so thoughtful, chere. Why a dragon?”

“I remembered your tattoo. I was in Chinatown a week or so ago and I saw it and I knew that

I had to buy it for you.”

Cory felt tears well up in her eyes. “That is so sweet. Will you put it on me?” She

turned and lifted her hair out of the way as Danny fastened the necklace around her neck.

“That reminds me. I have a present for you.” Cory dropped her hair, leaned over and opened

her purse. She withdrew the CD and letter. “Don’t open this until you are in the car on

the way back to the city.”

“But I hate waiting to open presents!”

Cory rolled her eyes, laughing. “Trust me on this.” Cory looked up when the airport

personnel announced that the plane was beginning to board. “Danny?”

Danny stood up with her and quickly drew her into his arms. “Corrine Reid, I love you.

Don’t ever forget that.”

Cory felt the tears threatening. “Daniel Messer, I love you, too.”

Danny took her face in his hands and slowly lowered his head. Cory threw her arms around

him as she let herself become lost in the kiss. The kiss was movie perfect in its

intensity. When they broke apart, both where short of breath.

Cory decided to leave it at that. She grabbed her purse, laptop and carryon and went to

board the plane.

Danny just stood watching her retreating back, one hand in his pocket and the other holding

the CD and letter. He was choked up with emotion. He stood by the window until the plane

taxied down the runway, preparing for takeoff.

Cory walked to the gateway, trying not to begin crying. As she was walking away, her heart

began to shatter. “I am so stupid for leaving him! But…” Cory’s thought trailed

off as she handed the agent her ticket. When she finally settled in her window seat, she

took a deep breath and looked out the window, lost in thought. She never even realized that

the tears she had worked so hard to stop were flowing down her cheeks.

Danny walked to his car deep in thought. “Why did I let her go? She’s taking my heart

with her.” When he got into his car, he opened up the present and realized that it was

a mix CD. He put it into his CD player and listened as the first song came on. He realized

that it was the song that she had sung when he dared her to sing Karaoke. Smiling he opened

the envelope.

“My darling,

I sit here at two o’clock in the morning, on the night before I leave, making this CD for

you. I want you to know how much you mean to me. The first song, the song that I sang that

night of the bet, is called “My Immortal.” It’s about the pain of losing someone close to

you. That’s how I felt when I met you. The next song is “Broken.” That is truly how I

feel when you are not around. You make me whole. You are the one person that completes me.

The next song is the song that I think of when I think of our relationship. It’s called

“Bring Me to Life.” You did, mon chere. I was dead when I met you. I was still so caught

up over the death of James that I had let part of myself just fade away. You brought me

back to life and for that you have my eternal gratitude. The rest of the songs are love

songs, I know. It’s sappy, but I wanted you to have something to remember me by. By the

way, I included “That’s Amore” just because I think if fits!

Please darling, every time you hear one of these songs, think of me. I promise that I will

do the same. I don’t know how many ways I can say this…Ti amo. Je t’aime avec tout mon

couer. Tu es ma vie. Je laisse une partie de mon coeur avec vous. Sil vous plait, soin de

prise de lui. That means that I love you with all of my heart. You are my life. I am

leaving a part of my heart with you. Please take care of it.

I will always love you.

Cory.

P.S. Here is my best friend’s phone number. Her name is Nicole. If you ever need to reach

me and can’t, call her. She will always know how to reach me.” Cory had written the

number below the post script.

Danny sniffed as the emotion of what she had just said to him washed over him. He listened

appreciatively to the CD as he made his way to the crime lab.

(Dallas)

When the plane to Dallas landed, Cory had just woken up. She smiled at the stewardess as

she had gently woken her up. “Thank you.”

When she disembarked from the plane, she saw Nicole waiting for her. Nicole took one look

at her and grabbed her in a hug. “That bad, huh?”

“How do you know what I’m thinking?”

Nicole rolled her eyes. “Hum. Let me see, we’ve been best friends for twenty years? Come

on, Cor. I know what it’s like.”

Cory nodded. “Yeah. It was bad, Nic. I’m leaving a part of my heart behind in New York. I

think that I love him more than James. I feel guilty about that. I know that James gave me

permission to move on, but still. It’s hard.”

“I know, sweetie. Here, I have the perfect medicine for you. I brought my SUV, the kids

are with Henry and we are going to go riding. You know the time alone with your horses will

soothe you.”

Cory smiled. “Thank you. You always know just what to do when I’m depressed.”

Nicole help Cory gather her luggage and they left DFW International airport.

An hour later, after breakfast, they had arrived at the stables where Cory boarded her

horses. She walked in and waved hello to one of the stable hands. “Pete! How are you?”

Pete smiled. “Just fine. Your horses are doing wonderful. Do you want me to saddle them

up for you?”

Cory looked at Nicole. “You can saddle Delilah for Nicole and I’ll saddle Sampson, myself.

It’s been a while since I’ve ridden.”

Cory followed Pete into the tack room and grabbed her saddle. She walked cautiously into

Sampson's stall. “Hey, beautiful boy. I’ve missed you.” Sampson snorted and the craned his neck around to see her better. “Hey, baby.” She took the currycomb that she had grabbed and gave him a quick brush down. Then she saddled him carefully and made sure to adjust the stirrups. “All done. You ready to go, beautiful boy?” Cory led the horse out of the stall and into the corral. She saw Nicole sitting on Delilah already and quickly mounted. “You ready, Nic?”

“Yeah. Let’s go!” Both girls set off at a trot and made their way around the corral to go

into the pasture. The farm had about thirty acres of riding trails to exercise the horses

on. Cory chose her normal path that lead to a small stream that ran through the farm. Once

clear of all the buildings she leaned over Sampson’s neck and whispered into his ear, “Let’s

go.” She nudged him into a gallop that left Nicole and Delilah in the dust.

Cory laughed as the wind swept her hair back from her face. She didn’t gallop him for long,

not wanting to lose Nicole. After a few minutes of letting him have his head, she pulled

gently back on the reins to slow him to a walk.

A few minutes later, Nicole caught up. “Feel better now?”

Cory was smiling broadly. “Definitely. God, I missed being able to do this. I missed you,

Henry, the kids, Mom and Dad. Plus, the Mexican food up there?” Cory rolled her eyes.

“I’m going to Mi Hacienda today. Want to come?”

Nicole raised her eyebrows. “You have to ask? Of course!”

By this time, they had reached the stream. Cory got off Sampson, to let him drink a little

water after his hard run. She decided to sit by the stream. Nicole got off to join them.

Since both horses were trained to be ground tied, they didn’t have to worry about them

wandering off.

Nicole decided to bring up the subject. “Cor? What happened in New York? With you, with

Ortiz, with Danny? Please, talk to me.”

Cory had known that this was coming. “Well, it all started…” Cory began to tell the story,

in the peace of the country.