Title: Trial and Error
Author: HermioneSparta
Disclaimer: The characters and canon situations in the following story belon to Anthony E. Zuiker. I am not making any money from the publishing or writing of this story.
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This was where they could help break the case. They didn't do the field work like the others. They didn't collect the evidence, sometimes risking life and limb for the precious items. They didn't interrogate suspects or piece together the puzzles of their partial confessions.
No...what they did was much easier, some would say.
After all, their hands never got dirty. They never had to draw a weapon unless in the shooting range, and even then, it was only if they chose to.
What they did may have been physically easier, but it was just as much as mental challenge.
The scientific method, something all middle school students learned, was the basis of their work. And although some would argue that their world was akin to a math equation, they would disagree.
Theirs was a constant experiment, one filled with trail and error.
I am not speaking of the lab, where she pulls apart the genetic signature of all things on the earth and where he tries to match the chemical make-up of any physical item to that of known science.
No, this work I speak of...this experiment they run... It has little to do with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. In fact, the few things in common between the Lab and them is that they work there, and they have friends who work there.
It is these lack of tethers to their job which keeps them separate. When they run into each other in the store, or at one of the many mini-game places in the town of gambling, they can greet each other like friends rather than colleagues.
Their experiment began when the field team invited the Lab crew to their usual dinner/breakfast after a long shift. Before she could even ask, he passed her the heavy container of sugar. Her startled gaze met his and she smiled, a soft "thank you" falling from her lips. His face and neck burned with a slight flush as his heart skipped a beat, but he pretend everything was normal and returned to his meal.
As with any good experiment, they asked a question: could their unusual friendship be something more? Neither spoke of their question, but they began the background information. During the Star-Trek case, they both felt they'd reached the point where they could continue on. They had enough information about one another to prove they at least had friendship...as unconventional as it was.
Next came the hypothesis. Scientists to the core, they took their time in developing this part of the experiment. Like any test they ran in the Lab, their experiment could be contaminated if rushed. Neither would risk such a volatile and irreparable outcome.
It was decided that their hypothesis was that their unusual friendship could develop into...more.
Then came the question which almost ended everything before it had begun: how could they test such a thing? Emotions were not arranged like a Periodic Table, there were no instruments to measure them with. Logic meant very little when the heart was involved.
It was decided, after much deliberation during their isolation from one another, that this hypothesis would be tested in the same way potential lovers examined one another: through social interaction.
Otherwise know as dates.
When the words fell from her lips, she watched his eyes become wide with shock. She was asking him to attend a public event with her? Why?
Her answer was simple: she didn't want to go alone.
He answered so quickly she had to hide a smile. Who knew he, the most egoistic person in the LVPD, would be so enthusiastic about something which required him to be polite to her?
Their first date was bumper cars on their mutual day off. They ate sugary confections while speculating aloud if they multi-colored cotton candy would react with some chemicals in the lab. When silence fell between them at mentioning the taboo of work, they continued to walk through the fair. It wasn't until they passed a fortune teller that they began to speak once more, their words laced with laughter. The woman dressed in scarves and bangles let them breech the subject of science without involving their work.
So well went their first outing, they decided to continue with their test. They decided against another outdoor activity and, after much argument, found a compromise: a theater between their homes was showing a Star-Trek marathon in honor of the series' anniversary.
She didn't pull away when his hand found hers while reaching for the popcorn; he didn't protest when she pried his hand open to take the last of the gummy bears (because he hadn't shared a single one, she told him when he later asked).
After the nine-hour marathon, exhausted yet so very exhilarated, they drove home in their separate vehicles. They spent several days examining their data. After a week of polite chit-chat at work, he asked her out to dinner.
Days later, she took him to a concert which had been sold out months ago.
Who knew she had such connections?
Their colleagues noticed but made no comment as their banter became more flirtatious, their bodies brushing more often than not. Over a couple of months, they continued their testing in various situations which could be regarded as romantic. Three months into their experiment, she decided it was time to analyze their results.
So far, trial and error had proven useful. Neither was perfect and they sometimes (usually) got on one another's nerves. He stepped on her ipod and she ate all his pistachios. He put his cat food in her locker, which was next to his, and she grabbed his car keys. Their accidents led to arguments which continued until neither knew what they were arguing about, and once it was all said and done, they'd go out for ice cream.
She found that he was reluctant to make the first move; he deduced she was waiting for him to speak. They were compatible, both found, and had enough differences that they wouldn't become monotonous. They were similar enough that they could do things together without feeling forced. But now, the question was...what did this mean?
It meant that she told him during their next drive-in movie date that while it wasn't love, she did like him. It meant that he responded by wrapping an arm around her shoulder and asking her if she wanted to "keep being his social partner, just more exclusively".
They found that over time, their hypothesis was true; their friendship evolved. After the one year anniversary of their first date, she proposed marriage.
Six months after her proposal, he "kidnapped" her and took her to the Star Trek attraction where they were married by Captain Kirk. She became Wendy Hodges at two in the morning. He, having mistaken one of her jokes for a serious suggestion, became David Simms at two-o-one in the morning.
Eight months after their marriage, he searched several rooms in their house before finding her in bathroom, clutching a white stick.
Two and a half years after their son was born, she left the Lab to work at a local law enforcement school.
Five years after that, he decided to become a CSI; there was only so long he could stand the rotation of lab techs who were hired to replace his wife but never stayed more than a month.
Nearly twenty years later, they finally told their son the truth (after years of begging) of how their relationship began.
He didn't believe them when they said it was all trial and error.
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THE END