Jackson is my original character, but I don't own CSI.
I've had this idea for a while. I wondered what might happen if Greg bumped into Chandra Moore, the would-be DNA person from the season 5 premiere. Now that Greg's a competent CSI...and since he has Jackson...I wondered how their meeting would go. Plus, with everything that's happened since season 5, I wondered how Chandra would react. Anyway, enough rambling! Here's what I came up with. Hope you all enjoy...and please review!
Greg Sanders wouldn't say he enjoyed going to a forensics conference, but he liked that it was in Vegas. He wouldn't have to miss work, and, more importantly, he wouldn't leave his son Jackson. So he happily attended a lecture before heading to lunch in a restaurant at the hotel. He was about to call his wife Morgan to see if she and Jackson wanted to meet him for lunch when a woman looking at texts on her phone bumped into him.
"Oh!" She said. "I'm sorry. I wasn't..." She looked at Greg and smiled slightly. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
Greg smiled in surprise when he recognized Chandra Moore, who almost came to work in DNA when he first went out in the field. "It's Chandra, right?"
"Yeah," Chandra said with a smile. Recognition crossed her face. "Oh, you're Greg...uh..."
"Sanders."
"Right," Chandra said with a laugh. "You work with the crime lab."
"Yeah, I'm a CSI."
Chandra blushed slightly, remembering coming to the Las Vegas Crime Lab to be the new DNA tech only to leave after a stressful first night at work. She remembered Greg being so hopeful to be out in the field...and the look of disappointment on his face when she told him she'd quit.
"I-I'm sorry," Chandra said after a few moments. "I didn't handle the job well."
Greg smiled softly. "Well...it sucked that you left so quickly." Chandra pursed her lips together and nodded. "But..." Greg continued. "A new DNA tech came on board the next week. And she worked out really well. I mean, she left a year later, but she worked really well with everyone. I thought you would." Greg hadn't meant for that to sound so harsh.
Chandra nodded. "It was a culture shock...coming from Connecticut to Vegas, the number two crime lab in the country. But I am glad to see you doing okay."
"Yeah," Greg said with a soft smile. "I'm a CSI Three now, have been for a while."
"Oh," Chandra said with a smile. "That's good, really."
"Yeah."
Chandra smiled, then tentatively asked, "How's everything at the lab?"
Greg sighed quietly. "There were some rough patches."
"I heard about Warrick Brown," Chandra said as she looked away. She remembered the handsome CSI fondly.
"Yeah," Greg said with a soft sigh. "We hired a new CSI," he smiled softly thinking of his son's biological mother. Sighing, he said, "Grissom...you remember him?"
"Oh, yeah," Chandra said with a soft smile, thinking of her first meeting with the CSI.
"He left shortly after."
"O-oh," Chandra said. "Is that when, uh..."
Greg nodded. "Ray Langston was hired."
"I heard about the whole Dick And Jane Killer."
"Yeah," Greg said with a nod. "But things are really better now. A new head CSI came to the team about four years ago. Catherine...uh, did you meet Catherine Willows?"
Chandra nodded, thinking of how rushed Catherine was when they first met. "Yeah."
"She's with the FBI now."
Chandra's eyes widened. "Wow. Really?"
"Yeah," Greg said. "And we hired two other CSIs. Nick and Sara are still there."
Chandra thought for a moment. "Nick...he was the first CSI I met. And Sara...she was the one in the locker room?"
Greg smiled softly, thinking of when he first hoped to be a true CSI. "Yeah."
"Well," Chandra said with a sigh, "It looks like you did well." She winced when she realized how lame that sounded.
Greg nodded and sighed softly. "I have. We have a great team now. And I'm doing okay. I'm married to another CSI."
"Oh?" Chandra asked with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah." Greg's smile widened when he thought of his son. "I have a son, too. Jackson."
Chandra smiled. "Oh, really?"
Greg smiled wider. "Yeah, he's six. He's amazing."
Chandra smiled a bit wider. "That's really great. He must be very proud of you."
"I'm very proud of him," Greg said with a warm smile.
Chandra smiled and nodded. Tentatively, she said, "I am so sorry for just...quitting the way I did."
Greg nodded. "I was hurt. I mean, I wanted to get out in the field."
"I know, and I handled things wrong."
"I'll admit it was hard..." Greg rolled his eyes, remembering seeing Nick and Warrick taking a bet and shrugging after Chandra stormed out. "But I got out in the field. And I love my job. I worked hard to get where I am. And things are good. I have my family and my CSI family."
Chandra smiled softly and nodded. "I am sorry for...for leaving. But I am glad you are doing well. I guess everything worked out."
"Yeah," Greg said. "So how are you?"
"Good," Chandra said. "I'm still in Connecticut, they have a great lab. And I'm seeing a CSI there."
"That's good," Greg said with a soft smile.
"Yeah. And..."
"What?" Greg asked.
Chandra sighed deeply. "Well...I know it may sound stupid, especially since... But I've been thinking of taking the CSI field test."
"Really?" Greg asked with raised eyebrows.
"Well...yes. I mean, I love DNA. But...well, I just wonder..."
Greg smiled thoughtfully, remembering his early days in the lab and how he wanted to be a CSI. He really loved his work. "Well, if you decide to, I hope you like it."
Chandra smiled thoughtfully. "Yeah. I am sorry I just quit when you wanted to be a CSI, though."
"I am a CSI," Greg said. "And, yeah, it sucked. But I'm good. And things are good with the lab now."
"That's good," Chandra said with a smile.
Just then, Greg's cell phone chimed. He looked and smiled when he saw the text from Morgan. Chandra raised her eyebrows. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah," Greg replied. "My wife and son are meeting me for lunch."
"Oh," Chandra said with a smile.
As Greg was about to reply, Jackson rushed up to greet him. "Hi, daddy!"
"Hey!" Greg lifted his son into his arms for a hug.
Chandra couldn't help but smile at the man she remembered as a newbie CSI with his son. She'd always wondered what happened to Greg after she abruptly left. Now, seeing him as a CSI and dad, she knew everything worked out.
Greg smiled softly at Chandra watching him and Jackson. "Jacks, look." He adjusted Jackson in his arms to see Chandra. "This is someone I worked with in the lab about ten years ago. This is Chandra."
"Hi," Jackson said.
"Hi," Chandra said with a smile.
"Are you a scientist?" Jackson asked.
Chandra smiled. "Yeah. I worked with your dad for a short time."
Greg smiled hesitantly as Jackson said, "Oh, cool! My daddy is a good scientist."
"Yes, he is," Chandra said with a thoughtful smile. "I really am glad things worked out for you."
"Thank you," Greg said with a soft smile.
"Well, I-I better go," Chandra said. "My boyfriend wants me to meet him for lunch. But it really was great seeing you again."
"You too."
"Nice to meet you, too," Chandra said as she smiled at Jackson.
"Bye-bye," Jackson said with a smile as Chandra left.
As Chandra left, Greg smiled thoughtfully. He thought of how eager he was to get in the field as a young CSI and how so much had happened since then. Now, holding his beautiful son, Greg knew he was in a really good place.
Chandra was looking down at her phone and texting as Morgan came around the corner. Chandra walked into Morgan and said, "Excuse me! Sorry!"
"It's okay!" Morgan said. She smiled as the woman nodded and walked away.
Greg shook his head and smiled. Morgan walked up to her family. "Everything okay?"
"Mama, she worked with daddy," Jackson said.
Morgan raised her eyebrows as Greg said, "You remember I told you about my would-be DNA replacement who quit on her first day?"
"Oh, yeah," Morgan said as she nodded. "She was a bit tightly wound."
Greg sighed. "Well, yeah. And I was sad she left. But then Mia...Jacks you remember meeting her at the bookstore a couple of years ago? She brought you the Curious George doll?"
"Oh, yeah! She nice!"
Greg and Morgan smiled. "She came to work so I could be a CSI," Greg explained with a smile.
"Oh!" Jackson said. "You a good CSI daddy!"
"Yes, you are," Morgan said with a smile.
Greg smiled at his family. After Chandra left, he wondered if he'd ever be a CSI. But then he became one. And with everything that happened in the years since, Greg loved his job and knew he had his CSI family and his wife and son.
"Thank you," Greg said as he kissed Jackson's cheek. Kissing Morgan's cheek, he said, "I love you both."
"We love you," Jackson and Morgan said.
"An' we gonna have lunch!" Jackson happily said.
Putting his son down and taking his hand, Greg smiled warmly. "That is a great idea."
The End.