In a World They Forgot

The Passion's There So It's Got To Be Right

Time passed and the team became kind of like a family to me. Grissom was almost the father that I never had, guiding me when I struggled and helping me to learn from the mistakes that I made. He was patient and considerate, willing to answer any questions I may have; I couldn’t think of a better man for his job. It was rare to have someone in his position who wasn’t bossy and looked down their nose at you if something wasn’t processed when he wanted it or if you made a mistake with a witness. There was a lot of work to learn and know off by heart at such a young age and despite our dirty work, we were humans working long hours; slip ups were bound to occur.

I adored the morning when we all got pancakes for ‘supper’ before we went home to bed. It was a chance to relax, to forget about the crimes and the villains in the city and truly immerse ourselves in life; life away from the graveyard shift and the horrors that we saw. In fact, we were becoming regulars at the pancake house. It seemed that other members of the team also enjoyed the new company to ease away potential nightmares before we headed our separate ways. Nick always knew the right thing to say after a stressful night and I knew I could rely on him to cheer me up and stop blaming myself when a shift was unfruitful. However, he could also be downright annoying when he wanted to be and I had hit the tall, bulky Texan over the head almost as much as I had Greg.

Greg. That boy was another story. He had been an amazing friend to me. He was the one who stayed with me when I took a case badly. He looked after me when I was stressed out, overworked and exhausted. He kept me going when I wanted to give up and beyond the playful banter, the races around the lab and the revenge plots that we never carried out, our relationship as partners grew stronger with each passing shift. There was more to it than that though. With every hug that we shared and every time that I rested my tired head on his shoulder for a power nap during break, my heart skipped a beat.

I’d not had a crush since high school and I didn’t quite believe that this was what I felt right now. I hadn’t shared a bond quite like the one I had with Greg with anyone for years, so everything was daunting. There were days when I’d remind myself that I was just a friend and that these feelings were just part of that friendship. Then, there were other days, where I’d find my heart fluttering and getting nervous when we shared a microscope to check the evidence.

We were a team, and I often found myself lying awake at night reminding myself that it was just my head playing tricks on me, that the chemistry I shared with Greg was nothing more than a deep, understanding friendship in which we brought each other coffee whenever we ventured out of the haven our of lab.

It was hard, confusing and inappropriate, but my heart seemed to have fixed itself on him and logic had no chance of winning this battle.

It was a Saturday night and business at the morgue was booming; the body count seemed to be piling up tonight, all with various causes of death. Some were suicide, some were accidental deaths and some were murder; the kind we could really sink our macabre teeth into.

I'd already been sent to a scene as soon as the shift had started; I hadn’t even stepped into the lab before Grissom almost mowed me down, case and jacket in his hands ready for me. Me and Greg had just finished processing a second one when Grissom gave us directions for a third murder scene. We quickly returned to the lab to almost literally throw the found evidence at Archie and Hodges before we replaced our used swabs for sterile ones and topped up the print powders and the luminol bottles; it was surprising just how much of the stuff you went through on a busy night in Vegas when a lot of people lived in luxury homes or cluttered apartments.

"Don't murderers ever take a night off?" I asked rubbing my neck, trying to rid it of the kink that I had gained from stooping up and down all evening.

"Maybe if we ask nicely they might." Greg said as he turned up the narrow street where the scene was. The neighbourhood looked like it was the friendly type where neighbours knew neighbours and all the children played together after school was out for the day. The only thing that was out of place was the police tape and the solitary police car that remained outside the victim’s house.

"We'll write them a letter when we get a spare moment." I mumbled, craning my sore neck to try and spot Brass in the darkness.

I hopped out of the van and walked ahead to talk to Brass about this murder whilst Greg got the cases out for us both to take into the house.

"I'm sorry guys, but I'm going to have to leave you. I have to go to a shootout scene where Nick and Catherine are." Brass said pushing some notes into my hand and leaving without another word. I blinked as the car drove down the street and only came back to my senses when Greg nudged my side, holding the case out to me.

I looked around the kitchen we stood in where the middle aged woman was lying in a pool of blood, an apple not far from her hand.

"Goes to show, you can be as healthy as you like but when you're time is up, it's up." I sighed.

“An apple a day does not keep a killer away.” Greg joked darkly, stepping carefully over the blood stained tiles and lifting the camera up from his case. "Damn!" I turned around from the unit that I was combing over with the UV light to see what the problem was.

“What have you done now?” I asked, wondering why he was tapping the back of the camera with rubber clad fingers.

“Battery is dead. I left the spare in the back of the van.” He sighed, letting the piece of technology hang loosely around his neck.

"I'll go and get it." I offered with a soft smile, putting the torch down and climbing carefully from the kitchen, avoiding the blood and the evidence that was scattered.

Outside, it was quiet, the police tape fluttering in the slight breeze. I approached the van and noticed the back door was open slightly. My eyebrows furrowed and I hesitated on my approach to it, reaching out carefully. It was unlike Greg not to lock it...