Disclaimer: In no way or hope do I own CSI. I just rant and rave and write about it.
Summary: Some of our favorite CSIs go to talk at Career Day. And meet some surprising teens that remind them of something.
"Grissom, what I don't understand is why I have to go to this damn career day?"
"Sara, Ecklie is making me take you and Catherine. It's not like I'm going to enjoy be around teenagers who won't even care about what we're saying."
"Where is Catherine anyways?"
"Dropping Lindsey off at school, which coincidentally is the high school we happen to be going to"
"So you mean we'll be having fun with a bunch of people Lindsey's age. And we all know how well Lindsey's been listening lately"
"First off, you complaining is not getting you out of going. Second off, give it a little chance. Third, we won't be talking to the freshmen class, which is Lindsey's class. We'll be having fun talking to sophomores."
"I'll try. But only because you said to. So how long will we be spending at this high school?"
"Until they say we can go Sara. Now quit complaining or you'll be the one talking with these glorious high school students you love"
The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes. Things had been awkward between them lately. They had recently decided to end things between them romantically. Neither of them regretted this split though. It was new leaf for both of them and they were going to make the most of it, after they were done with the awful career day.
"So how much longer until we get there?"
"We're here. See, there's Catherine now."
The two pulled up to the high school. Across the front of the school were the words Clarkson High School. Under that was a red, white, and blue banner saying "Home of the Generals". Sara watched all of the teens enter the school. As she watched, three of them caught her eye. But before she could say anything, Grissom spoke.
"Ok, Sara. A few ground rules. No scaring the teens. No making fun of them. And most of all, no talking like they understand what you mean. That means explaining all different scientific terms."
"I've got it Grissom." She turned around to find the teens to discover they were gone again. Grissom and Sara left the car and went over to meet up with Catherine who was still with Lindsey.
"Mom, most importantly, no talking or mentioning me. I just started this school and I don't want to be known as the freak whose mom came to career day. Tell whoever is with you to do this too. My reputation is important. Now I'm going to leave you to go find my friends. Do not even think about following me. Bye Mom."
Lindsey ran off towards the school as Grissom and Sara reached the area Catherine was at. They all turned to look at Lindsey approach a group of girls.
"So, are we ready for career day?" Catherine asked.
"Let's just get this over with." Sara grumbled.
Sara began to walk towards the school doors. Catherine and Grissom stared after her.
"So, she's excited about doing this." Catherine remarked sarcastically.
"Just go."
Catherine and Grissom walked towards the door and entered through to the jungle known as high school. They checked in through the office and were led to the auditorium where they found Sara getting ready.
"So, when do the sophomores arrive?" Grissom asked.
"Around 9:10. That's about thirty-five minutes after the first bell rings here." replied Sara.
"How do you know this?" Catherine asked.
"They just told me about a minute before you entered."
"Oh" Catherine and Grissom replied in unison.
The conversation was then interrupted by a loud bell that rang three times. The three of them began to work on a presentation of some sorts. Not really knowing what to say or knowing what the sophomores would know, they decided to talk about analyzing blood spatter and materials. Also covered would be different types of weapons and whatever the hell else they wanted to.
It hit 9:00 and sophomores started to fill the auditorium. They looked all different and kind of frightened the three forensic investigators who were definitely not frightened easily.
"Wow. I wonder how many of these kids would actually listen to us." Grissom wondered.
"That's not important. It's to reach the kids who actually care about forensic science." Catherine answered.
"But everyone should be interested."
"Not everyone is like us Gil."
While Catherine and Grissom were arguing over whether anyone would listen or not, Sara was watching the rest of the teens enter. To her, they all looked like kids who just didn't want to be there and were just happy to get out of class, something she never enjoyed when she was in school. And then something caught her eye. She saw three teens enter the auditorium, the same three that she had seen enter the school earlier. There was just something about them that reminded Sara of someone or some people. She just couldn't think of who.
"Sara! Get over here!" Grissom yelled at her.
"Coming!" Sara answered. But she looked back at the three one more time. They were talking and laughing about something. She then stepped up on stage.
The assistant principal stepped on stage. The kids got quiet quickly.
"We are very pleased today to have many different careers represented here. Hopefully, something interests you. Some careers represented here today are news journalists, restaurant owners…."
Sara noticed the three again. Within the group was two girls and one boy. She noticed at the mention of restaurant owner, one of the girls slumped down in her seat.
"…and crime scene investigators. So please give a warm hand in welcoming our first speakers, the owners of The Oak Tree, Oakland's and various other restaurants, Kathleen and Daniel Oaks."
The kids clapped for about 30 seconds and then the speeches began. Sara noticed the same girl who had slumped down in her chair was now covering her face with her hands. The other two had slumped down in their chairs and looked away from the stage. She didn't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the kids knew the speaker and obviously didn't want anyone to know that.
Meanwhile, Catherine was looking around the auditorium also. She looked over at Sara and noticed that she was looking at some of the kids. Right away, she noticed the kids Sara was observing. They were obviously embarrassed by the speakers. She couldn't imagine though how they really felt because this had never happened to her when she was their age. Her attention focused back to the principal as he came onto the stage after the Oaks were done.
"Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Oaks. Next up we have three crime scene investigators from the Las Vegas Crime Lab. So give big Generals welcome to Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle."
The three CSIs stepped up to the microphone. The kids again clapped for about 30 seconds and then got a bored look on their faces.
"Hello. My name is Gil Grissom and I work at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. Here with me is Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle…" Each woman raised their hand at the mention of their name. "…and we're here to talk about what being a CSI entails. First up is Catherine talking about blood spatter evidence."
Catherine approached the microphone warily. She thought she would at least be going second, considering Grissom would probably want to talk first.
"Hello. As said before, I'm Catherine Willows and my specialty at the Lab is blood spatter analysis. We can tell a lot about how a person died or events leading up to a death from blood spatter. The spatters can be…"
Sara drifted off a bit from listening to Catherine. She knew all of this already. It's not like she needed to learn about blood spatter evidence. Her eyes drifted off to the three kids again. She noticed they were looking at something. It was a piece of paper. One of the girls was drawing on the paper something while the other two looked at the drawing. She didn't know what could be so fascinating about a piece of paper when they could be listening to Catherine talk about blood spatter.
Damn it! she thought to herself. I'm really setting an example by not listening to Catherine at all. Shows how great a career day speakers she was.
"…and that is how blood spatter helps. But it's not the only thing. Material analysis helps solve cases too. And here to talk about it is my fellow CSI, Sara Sidle."
Sara panicked. She didn't know what she was going to say about material analysis. She thought to herself Damn it Grissom for making me do this!
" Hi. I'm Sara Sidle and a specialty of mine is material analysis. Anything can give clues about the victim or the suspect. To be sure that all evidence is gathered, a crime scene is checked thoroughly. Each piece of evidence…."
Grissom was, of course, paying attention. But he couldn't help but notice the three kids that Catherine and Sara were staring at earlier. He didn't get what was so special about them. He also didn't understand why the women were staring at these kids. They were nothing special. Just your average teenagers not caring about what adults are saying.
"…so in conclusion, materials really help a person understand how a case can be solved and a victim is given justice. Last up is my supervisor and a person I've known for a long time. He is one of about 15 entomologists in the United States. So here to talk about … uh.. something is Gil Grissom."
Catherine had zoned out during Sara's talk and not really ever going to pay attention to Grissom. What she was paying attention to was the three kids. She noticed them laughing as Sara was introducing Grissom. One of the girls was laughing and pointing at the other two. What that was about, who knows? All Catherine hoped for was to get out of this high school quickly. She hoped that the rest of the speakers would finish quickly and she could get out of there.
"….that is the end of our presentation. Thank you."
They walked back to their seats where they just didn't care about the rest of the careers because they had a career. After what seemed like an eternity though, finally the last presentation was given.
"I would like to thank all of these hard workers for taking time out of their schedule to be here. Now in a few moments, after they go to the gym, we will let all of you sophomores go explore these careers and see what you like. So go have fun." said proudly by the assistant principal.
"Damn it! Grissom, you never said we had to talk to them one on one about this." Catherine whispered.
"Really Grissom! We have other things to do."
"I don't care. You two are staying!"
They continued to argue into the gym until they got to a table for them. They then sat and waited, praying that it wouldn't last long.
After forever, the teenagers were finally let into the gym. Quickly spotted in the crowd by the CSIs were the three teens heading towards the restaurant owner's table.
"Do you see those three kids?"
"Yeah"
"There's just something about them that's so familiar."
"Doubt they'll come to our table."
They looked at the three talking a little more with restaurant owners and then left the table. The three began to walk towards the table the CSIs were sitting at. The three stopped at the table.
"Hello" the CSIs said in unison.
"Hi, you're the CSIs right?" one of the girls asked.
"Yes, why?" Sara asked.
"Because we want to get into forensics when we're older." the other girl answered.
"Oh. What are your names? And don't be afraid to answer. It's not like we'll look up your background information." Catherine asked.
"Well, I'm Leah Oaks." one of the girls answered. Leah had brown hair with waves running through it. She had brown eyes, almost the color of cocoa. She wasn't too terribly tall but seem to make up for it with intelligence.
"I'm Marie Birchen." the other girl answered. Marie had blond hair with brown streaks throughout. She had ocean blue eyes. Also like Leah, she wasn't tall but also seemed very bright for her age.
"I'm Carter Oaken." the boy answered. Carter had brownish-blond hair. He, like Leah, had brown eyes but were hidden behind glasses. He, like the girls, wasn't tall but looked extremely intelligent.
"Nice to meet you. I think you heard our names enough if you were paying attention." Grissom said.
"Oh, we were. It was the most interesting career day we've ever been forced to go to." Leah answered.
"But we saw you with a piece of paper. I think it was Leah that was drawing on said piece of paper." Sara said.
Leah pulled out the piece of paper. She opened the piece of paper up and showed it to the CSIs.
"She was drawing a crime scene. It's a game we like to play to learn to solve cases. We were trying to guess cause of death and time of death. Carter and I haven't quite figured it out yet though." Marie answered.
"Oh, well that's not bad. That's actually interesting." Catherine said.
"It is. Unless Leah draws it because we can never figure it out." Carter complained.
"I'll tell you cause of death. But just this once, OK?" Leah responded.
The two nodded. She showed the two the piece of paper again.
"Cause of death is by a makeshift guillotine. You should've known that Marie. We just learned that in French class." Leah said.
"Oh" Carter and Marie replied in unison.
"What I also noticed was Marie laughing at Leah and Carter while Sara was introducing Grissom." Catherine said.
"About that. It's because of how Sara introduced Grissom is how Leah talks about Carter. Kind of flirty and just giving all sorts of detail" Marie explained.
"What an interesting observation." Sara replied, not knowing what else to say.
"Anyways, there are actually…" Carter started.
"NO!!! CARTER! Don't even finish that!" Leah and Marie shouted in unison.
"There are actually various colors of finger print dust that aren't the color black. Hey, I hear Rock Star by Nickelback. I've got to go find it and turn it up!" Carter ran off in search of the music.
"My worst nightmare has happened. Grissom and Greg in one person." Sara joked.
"Sorry about that. He's kind of weird and crazy but that's why Leah can't help but fall for him." Marie laughed.
"That's ok. It happens all the time." Grissom said.
"SOS! I must dance!" Marie shouted out of nowhere. She began dancing off to the sound of the music, while Catherine watched, clearly impressed with Marie's moves.
"My friends are just a little crazy….OK, very crazy. But I love them anyways." Leah explained.
"Now, why were you over at the restaurant table?" Sara asked.
"Do you all notice everything? Anyways, they're my parents. I had to say hi to them real quick." Leah replied.
"I see. I understand what it's like to be a parent and have a kid at school." Catherine responded.
"Really? Who is…Greyhounds! I have to go look. I'm a little bit of an activist for saving them from being raced and treated horribly. Bye!" Leah ran off towards the greyhound table.
"I've finally realized who they remind me of." Sara said out of nowhere.
"Who?" Catherine and Grissom asked at the same time.
"Us. Think about it. Leah's like me. Marie's like Catherine. And Carter, he's like Grissom and Greg in one person."
"You're right. I think we just talked to the next generation of us." Grissom said.
"Good luck to them. Hopefully, they can stop the spastic thing though." Catherine laughed.
They all laughed and wondered really what the next generation of CSIs could be in the hands of these kids.
Please R&R. You know you want to!