The story has been stewing in my mind for quite a while, so I'm finally writing it down before I forget about it… again. Well, I'm fairly new to the CSI world so bear with me if there are any mistakes and feel free to correct me. Mind you, I say correct me, not tear my story apart and completely destroy me.
Constructive criticism and suggestions are welcome, but flames will be ignored and might be spat back. Just saying. Now, without further ado (how fancy), I give you 'Unlikely Beginnings'!
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI… if I did, things would have turned out very differently.
~C~S~I~
Riley Adams found that the Clark County crime lab was often pretty quiet at six in the morning. Therefore, when she heard angry shouting coming from the break room, it was quite alarming. Deciding she had done enough paperwork for the night, Riley abandoned it and decided to head for the break room to get some coffee and find out what all the noise was.
When she entered, she found Josephine Pacelli yelling in Italian and chasing after a laughing Nick Stokes, who seemed to be holding a notebook in his hands. Catherine Willows was sitting at a table on the side, watching them with an amused smile on her face and sipping her coffee.
Riley shook her head and headed towards the coffee machine, grinning at the antics of her colleagues. When she first started working here, she noticed how close the two of them were.
Even when they weren't working on the same case, they were in sync with each other. They seemed to know what the other needed, but also how to push each others' buttons. Of course, it was never anything serious and Riley found it very amusing to watch.
Riley noticed a piece of paper on the ground and picked it up. She turned it over and found herself looking at a picture. It was of a young Josie lying down on a hospital bed with a black eyes and bruises blooming on her face. She was grimacing into the camera, but her blue eyes held a twinkle of amusement. One hand was in her sandy blonde hair, trying to untangle it while her other hand was holding her abdomen.
"What have you got there?" Catherine asked her, looking over her shoulder to look at the picture. Catherine's eyes widened. "Where'd you get that?"
"I found it on the floor," Riley answered, confused.
"Josie, I didn't know you still had this," Catherine said, turning to said CSI, who had ended up on the floor on top of Nick, trying to wrestle the notebook out of his hands.
Josie and Nick stopped for a moment, both of them looking at Catherine, ignoring the looks they were getting from Riley and Catherine.
"Still had what?" Josie asked. Taking advantage of his lack of concentration, she snatched her notebook out of Nick's hands before standing up and looking at the picture held in Catherine's hands. "Where'd you get that? It's supposed to be in – oh."
She had been flipping through her notebook as she had been saying that before realizing the photo had fallen out as they were running around the break room.
"You actually kept that?" Nick said, surprised.
"Since its right in front of you, that much is obvious," Josie replied drily. "I have to admit, you couldn't have picked a worse time to take a picture, Stokes."
Riley eyed the photo, taking note of Josie's injuries. "What happened?"
"A kidnapping, torture and a bullet to the gut, if I'm not wrong," Josie answered, almost casually. "It happened years ago. It's a long story."
"I've got time," Riley answered immediately. It was obvious she was curious to find out what had happened. From all her experience working with Josie, she knew the older CSI would not usually allow something to happen to her.
"Well, if you say so," Josie said, shrugging. "But we need to start from the beginning. To when Nick and I met, to be exact."
Josie sat down at the table at the side, next to Catherine, and looked at the picture she had taken out of Riley's hands. Nick and Riley sat in the chairs opposite and Riley cradled her cup of coffee.
"It was about eleven years ago…" Josie recounted.
Josephine Pacelli entered the Clark County crime lab. She looked at her new workplace, wondering if she had done the right thing by moving to Las Vegas. She immediately shook those thoughts away. It was too late for her to go back to Seattle. She had burned all her bridges with a vengeance. Even if she hadn't, she didn't have anything for her there.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and headed towards the receptionist – a brunette with a cheerful smile.
"I'm looking for Gil Grissom," Josie told the receptionist, looking at the slip of paper that had the words 'Gil Grissom' written in a neat scrawl and added, "I'm Josephine Pacelli, the transfer from Seattle."
"It's down the hall. The office right at the end," she replied, pointing down the hallway.
Josie thanked her and made her way to the end of the hall. There was a wooden door with a plaque reading 'Gil Grissom' on it. She knocked on the door, entering when she heard a voice telling her to come in.
Entering the office, she noticed labeled jars of animal parts and fetal pigs around the office. At the desk was her new boss, Dr Gil Grissom. He motioned for her to sit down and she sat down.
"I'm Josephine Pacelli," she said, holding her hand out for him to shake it. "You can call me Josie."
"Welcome to the Clark County crime lab," he replied, shaking her hand firmly.
"It's good to be here, sir."
"Please, call me Grissom. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to need some blood."
Josie's eyes widened. "Blood?"
"Yes. Only a pint or two," he replied, taking out the equipment required to draw blood. "Standard procedure."
"Uh… okay…" she said, sticking out her arm. He drew the blood quickly and she was quickly patched up.
"Catherine Willows will be showing you how we do things here at Vegas," he said, motioning to a strawberry blonde woman who was standing at the side. Josie stood and shook the woman's hand.
"Welcome to Vegas," Catherine said, a warm smile on her face. "I'd show you around the lab and introduce to the team, but most of them are at their scenes and we have our own crime scene to attend to."
"I've been itching to get back to work. I just didn't think it'd be this soon," Josie said, giving the older woman a brief smile.
"Welcome to Sin City."
/*\/*\/*\
Josie ducked under the crime scene tape, following behind Catherine. She had her CSI kit in hand and her new badge and piece on her hip, along with the CSI windbreaker she was wearing. It almost felt like Seattle, except for the tiny fact that it was a lot cooler in Vegas at night.
They entered the house and went up the stairs towards one of the bedrooms. In the middle of the bed, there was a girl that looked about twenty lying on the bed. She could have been sleeping if it weren't for the knife sticking out of her heart.
Josie's head tilted to the side as she sighed sadly. The vic couldn't have been any older than she was, yet she was going to be another body on the coroner's slab. No matter how many times she saw that, she still couldn't help the brief wave of grief that swept over her.
"Catherine, what do we – " she heard a voice say and Josie turned around. "You're not Catherine."
No shit, Sherlock, Josie thought, barely repressing the urge to roll her eyes. "Obviously not," she answered sarcastically. Well, between the two comments, that one was less scathing. "I'm Josie Pacelli." She stuck out her hand.
He shook her hand, looking at her suspiciously. "Nick Stokes."
"I'm the transfer from Seattle," she added.
"Ah… the newbie."
"I resent that! I spent four years at the Seattle crime lab," she replied, bristling slightly. She didn't want to be treated like a rookie after having to endure a year of that back when she really was a rookie. She wasn't green and didn't want to be treated like she was.
"Well, you're not in Seattle anymore," he drawled, his Texan accent prominent.
"I'm still a CSI. A CSI who happens to have experience."
"Are you implying I don't have experience?"
"No, not implying. I'm saying you don't have experience. Or at least, not as much experience as I do."
"Well, it doesn't matter who has more experience," he said, walking towards the body. "It seems like a suicide."
"Well, it's not."
Nick's eyebrow rose. "Why do you say that?"
"The angle the blade is being pushed in is pretty awkward for her to do it herself. It's a homicide," Josie explained slowly, pointing to the knife.
"Right," Nick scoffed, crossing his arms.
"You don't believe me? Well, wait and see, Stokes. I'm gonna show you that I'm right."
As Nick opened his mouth to reply, Catherine walked in, immediately noticing the tension between the two CSIs.
Oh boy, Catherine thought as she looked at them scowling at each other. "Nick, I see you've met our newest CSI."
"Unfortunately," he muttered under his breath.
Josie glared at him from where she was kneeling in front of her kit, getting out her gloves and putting them on. With her camera around her neck, Josie began taking photos of the body.
Nick and Catherine searched the room for evidence. Occasionally, Josie could be seen pausing for a moment and staring sadly at the body. As soon as she was done, she took a closer look at the knife handle before taking out her fingerprint dust and fingerprint brush. She sprinkled some dust onto the handle and brushed it, revealing some partial prints.
Josie smirked. One of the prints was facing towards the blade, indicating that it was thrust into the woman's chest by another person.
"I got some partials," Josie called out. "And one of the prints was facing the blade while four others were facing the opposite side." She smirked at Stokes.
He grumbled under his breath. It was obvious he didn't really like being wrong, and being corrected by the new girl couldn't have felt that good either.
"Well, this just turned from a suicide to a homicide," Catherine said as they looked down at the body.
~C~S~I~
So, there you go! The first chapter. Review and tell me what you think, yeah?
~Alex