Game Over

TEASER: Nick and the crew deal with unwarranted teasing in the lab. Response to the 6-20-05 Unbound Improv Challenge.

RATING: T for language and violence.

SPOILERS: Through Season 5, especially "Grave Danger".

DISCLAIMERS: I'd much rather live in the world where not only are they mine, but I also have the wealth to prove it and keep it that way. Either that or in their world and have any of the main men. Maybe not so much Greg. Hmm . . .

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Reviews appreciated, not posted elsewhere, and I repeat my assertion that George Eads deserves an Emmy nomination for his performance in "Grave Danger". First and last lines given, 1000 word limit for the story itself; according to MS Word 2003, I made it with ONE word to spare.

CSI CSI CSI

"Good Lord, not again!" Nick stood in the doorway of the locker room, looking at the ant farm on a small stand in front of his locker. "Damn it, this is the fourth day in a row."

Warrick clapped Nick's shoulder. "Man, I think you should tell Catherine and Grissom this time. That's harassment."

Nick scrubbed his short hair with both hands. "What are the odds someone goofed and left evidence?"

"I'll get my kit."

Nick and Warrick worked on the scene until Catherine paged them to meet her for a mass casualty. They arrived in Nick's truck just as Grissom and Sara arrived in her truck, Catherine and Greg arrived in their cars, and Doc Robbins came with David in the coroner's van.

The fire captain in charge told them it would be an hour or more before the scene was safe. "It was 80 Japanese high schoolers and 20 chaperones," he added. "The eyewitnesses say no one got off the buses before they went up in flames.

Catherine nodded back toward the shaded picnic area of the rest stop. "No sense standing out here baking now."

No one missed the way Grissom's hand shot out blindly for Sara's, though they didn't look at each other as they walked toward the shelter. The others exchanged smiles but no comments at the romantic gesture with. It wasn't worth the cold shoulder from Grissom.

They sat in silence for a while before Nick sighed and ran his hand over his head before he spoke. "While we're waiting, can I enlist your help?"

The others focused on him, nodding and murmuring their assent.

"The second day I was back, I found a box of dirt in my locker. I just laughed it off and let it go. The next day, someone left a fan in the front seat of my truck at the end of shift. Yesterday, my base kit was wired with a light that came on when I opened it. This afternoon, there was an ant farm in front of my locker." Nick's face tightened into a fierce grimace. "I don't mind being teased, but this is cruelty."

Sara put her arm around Nick's shoulder. Greg slid closer on the bench, as though he could protect his friend with his mere presence.

Grissom spoke. "Any idea who's doing it?"

Warrick shook his head. "Nothing direct, but we have a short list of likely suspects."

"Starting with Hodges?" Catherine smirked.

"Yes." Nick and Warrick exchanged grins, then Nick told the group what the two had just thought. "Can we sting him?"

"Sting who?" Brass slid onto the bench next to Catherine.

Nick scowled. "Someone has been harassing me and Hodges is the prime suspect."

"The obsequious lab tech? Is he smart enough to do it without leaving evidence?"

Warrick nodded. "Not a fingerprint, hair, or errant epithelial, at least today."

"It's not Hodges, then." Despite his new status as a CSI, Greg still despised the tech.

The group worked on a plan for more than an hour, putting the finishing touches on it just as the fire captain came to announce that they could begin work on the horrific scene.

Because of the mass casualty incident, three days passed before shifts were back to normal and Operation Pitfall could commence. Nick wouldn't have his truck today – he needed to get some work done anyway – so if anything would be done, it would be to his locker.

Grissom, Sara, and Greg set the trap during their thankfully quiet shift by using the locking room as a training scene for Greg's upcoming proficiency tests. They coated Nick's locker with the same invisible and semi-permanent UV ink used by many nightclubs as hand stamps. They also set a small tin of extra fine green fluorescent/magnetic fingerprint powder inside the locker and installed a small fan that would start when the locker was opened, blowing the powder over the clothes and skin of the perpetrator. It, too, had staying power.

All they could do after that was wait for Nick's call confirming a hit, then prepare for the cross-over of shifts by asking all of night shift to arrive a half hour early for a briefing. Catherine, for her part, called all of swing shift back to the lab for that same briefing.

The grumbling had already started when Catherine, Nick, and Warrick walked in with Grissom, Sara, Greg, David, Doc Robbins, and Brass. The grumbling got worse when the gathered staff realized they were in for something unpleasant.

Nick started. "I went through hell last month. I would not wish what I went through on anyone, even the person or persons responsible for five cruel practical jokes in the past two weeks. Today's showing of a DVD of me trapped in that damned box constitutes felony harassment, and I have a warrant for the arrest of the perpetrator right here." He held up a piece of paper. "All it needs is a name."

"That's where we come in." Brass stepped forward. "We're going to turn out the lights now and light this place up with some good old fashioned black lights. One or two of you will glow. One or two of you will come with me."

The main lights went out as the team went around the room turning on the array of black lights. In a moment, the culprits' hair began to glow green as their fingers and wrists turned a sickly yellow.

"That explains why there was no evidence," Sara said, looking at the two.

Nick growled. "Hodges I expected. Sofia surprises me."

Grissom and Catherine exchanged shrugs. "They're all yours, Jim," she said.

"Can I process them?" Greg sounded like a teen asking for the keys to his parents' car.

Grissom chuckled. "Go to it, Greg."

Brass led Hodges and Curtis out in handcuffs. Nick stood by the door, overwhelmed by the sympathy and friendship expressed by his coworkers as one by one they filed out of the room.