He'd had one hell of a morning, to say the least.
The ME's office had been even busier than usual that week, and yesterday he'd only just scraped through a double shift. Doing three fairly long autopsies in the space of sixteen hours was tiring enough, but using the small amount of time he'd had between them to squeeze in some training for the new interns had left him completely exhausted by the end of it. Thankfully though, the subway ride back home never took too long, and he hadn't been that pleased to walk through the front door in a while. The sound of his eldest daughter's voice on the answering machine had left him with a much needed smile on his face, and he made a mental note to call her back when he got up, as he was supposed to be working the afternoon shift from lunchtime.
However, right as he was drifting off into what he hoped would be a peaceful sleep at around midnight, his cell phone, which he'd left sitting on the nightstand, had started to vibrate. He'd managed to groggily roll over and grab it, expecting screen to be lit up with either one of his daughters' names, but instead the words "MAC TAYLOR" glaring at him in the darkness. Yawning, he hit the answer button and pressed the phone to his ear.
A little over five minutes later, he was out of bed and sleepily grabbing a shirt and pants out of the closet. He preferred to go into and come home from work in street clothes anyway, leaving his scrubs in his locker. Mac had only briefly explained what they'd got over the phone from one of the crime scenes, but two victims had reportedly been found across opposite sides of town and upon further examination were believed to be connected in some way. Both of the bodies were about to be taken over to the ME's office, so he'd told Mac that he could be there within half an hour.
As soon as he was dressed and ready to go again, he grabbed his cell, keys, and wallet and headed out. It had felt like he had only been at home for a few minutes, and it was obvious that he'd need several cups of coffee to get himself through the day. He picked up a cup from his usual street vendor on his way to the subway station, finishing it as the train reached his stop. The only small comfort to him as he walked out of the subway and back onto the street was the feeling of the cool, late night breeze gently hitting him. It wasn't too late for most of the city, so there were still crowds spilling out of bars, groups of people trickling past him, laughing and talking excitedly to one another. This was one of the things he loved about living here; even though his work involved working on people who had had their life taken away from them, it still meant that he walked out of the office every day and appreciated watching people get on with their lives in places as simple as the street, or the coffee cart around the corner.
Soon enough, he had got into the elevator at work, heading up to the ME's office. He'd known that Mac's team would all still be at the crime scenes, and it was going to be a couple of hours yet before they even got back to the lab, let alone came down for a report on his findings. When the elevator doors finally opened, he had stepped out and going straight to the locker room, quickly getting changed into his navy blue scrubs. He'd walked past autopsy on his way through, noticing that two of the interns were still in and talking quietly to one another, and one of the two bodies had been placed upon a table ready for him. Putting his street clothes and bag into his locker, he'd then washed his hands and moved across the hallway into autopsy.
Unsurprisingly, it had been only a little quieter in there than it was when he'd left just under two hours beforehand, some of his colleagues still working on autopsy reports and the other necessary paperwork needed to go with it. Beckoning the conversing interns to come over, he'd put his glasses and a pair of gloves on. Together, the three of them had begun to collect any trace evidence on the first victim's body, the interns taking it up to the lab together ready for Mac and the team after he'd signed the appropriate form. No sooner had they walked out the door, the second body arrived and he'd helped place it onto the next table, repeating the process and getting one of his assistants to take it upstairs, along with the clothes from both victims.
The next nine hours had passed by in a complete blur. He'd managed to complete the autopsy on the first body, but it had taken a whole lot longer than he'd expected. By the time it hit 4am, tiredness had begun to slowly creep up on him, the coffee that he'd drank on his way in slowly wearing off and combined with the little sleep that he'd gotten all week so far, irritation had begun to seep into him. The autopsy was a lot more complicated than usual as well, and he had constantly had to keep changing his notes to keep up with everything that he was finding. He put in the final stitch into the incision he'd made at around half past five, only stopping to make and attempt to drink another cup of coffee before starting the autopsy on the second victim.
Autopsy was unusually quiet at that point. He'd sent the majority of his assistants and both interns home at 1am, the rest of them working the late shift finishing up and leaving as he had started drinking his coffee, as those on the early came in at six. Taking that half an hour break between those shifts hadn't proven to be a good idea, as he'd wound up spending at least half of it cleaning up the table he'd been working on, and the area in which someone had managed to spill something on the floor not too far away from where he'd stood.
Eventually, he'd started the second autopsy just after everyone on the early shift came in, and as he'd expected, it turned out to be equally as long-winded and complicated as the previous one. He felt his stress levels shooting up the further into it he got, but at around nine Mac arrived, providing him with the company that he felt like he'd needed.
"You look as tired as I feel," the younger man had remarked upon first sight of him, smiling. "What've you got?"
Fortunately, he'd already found plenty of proof to support Mac's theory that both victims were connected despite the second autopsy being not quite finished and he'd carefully explained the details. Mac remained there for a few minutes, listening, before returning upstairs to the lab with the promise that he'd come back down later on. Somehow, seeing his friend had made him feel a lot better than he had done when he'd first got in all those hours ago, that his lack of sleep had almost been worthwhile. Armed with a smile on his face and a new pair of gloves on, he'd set to work again, completing the autopsy an hour and a half later.
He was still waiting on tox to come back, so he'd started the autopsy reports and not too long after that, he'd found his concentration slipping and his mind beginning to wander. He desperately needed some fresh air too, so he'd grabbed his coat, went out and bought his third coffee of the day. Thankful for finally being able to stretch his legs, he'd come back in, gone into his office and picked up a book on the way down to autopsy. It had been quite a while since he'd brushed up on his autopsy procedure, he wanted to confirm something that he'd found, plus he'd needed something to get his mind on track again so that he could finish up the autopsy reports for Mac to see. With that in mind, he'd settled down on top of one of the free tables, sitting cross-legged with the book in his lap.
It didn't take long at all for him to get lost in the book in front of him. It felt as though everything around him had fallen away as he blocked out the sounds of his colleagues working either side of him, his attention entirely focussed upon finding what he needed and taking in as much information as he possibly could. Everything felt right and he gradually became more and more relaxed with every page he read, the stress of working that double shift the day before and having being there for ten hours this morning melt away.
That was, until a familiar voice coming from right behind him made him jump, losing his concentration.
"Thought you weren't supposed to be reading on the job." Mac joked, grinning at him.
"Ah, well.." He started, placing his book down behind him, then jumped down off the table. "I was just confirming something. Let me show you what I've found.."