Innocent Until Proven Guilty [CSI: New York Alternate Universe]

"You're not listening to me!" Politics is a hard game. That was a given fact. The DA residing over the case was an absolute... Well, there isn't a pleasant word for it, and they did say that if you didn't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

But this was his career... No, his life as he knew it, that was at stake here. He was a smothered flame in the eye of the court - another bad cop about to be taken out by the system they were supposed to be serving. But he was innocent, and that old rule of 'innocent until proven guilty' wasn't be practiced, and it was way too obvious to just shrug it off.

Yes, Mac Taylor could take care of himself. No, she wasn't giving him a choice this time. He'd already given himself a harder time than the rest of the world was giving him and the first thing he needed to do was stop digging. If he wouldn't do it by himself, she would have to do it for him. If he wouldn't listen, and the City wouldn't listen... She'd have to make them. She wasn't letting him go down for a murder that wasn't committed in the first place.

Dobson jumped. That was Mac's word. Sure, it was circumstantial at best, but couldn't she say the same to them? As far as Stella was concerned, it was circumstantial against circumstantial, and no one would let him tell his story straight. They always had to cut in. That was a system she wasn't going to tolerate.

[CSI: New York Alternative Universe with spoilers/based off of Season 3 episode "... Comes Around"] [Picked as a winner for the Fanfic Friday Alternative Universe Competition! ~ Thanks guys!]