Dew of God
Nick was bored but then again swing shift was always a bit slow and it certainly didn't help when the majority of the shift was going to be paperwork. It made today seem like it was slower than ever. He glanced over towards his friend Warrick and saw that he was about the same and up to his eyeballs in paperwork regarding that money scheme he closed. Looking at his own work, he sighed quietly and went back to work.
"Not so glamorous huh?"
Nick looked up at Warrick and grinned. They could both agree on that. "The not so glorious but still a vital part of criminal investigation."
Warrick was chuckling, "You've been hanging out with Parker for too long."
"Can't help it," Nick replied, "She has a way of making a trash run seem like fun."
"That's Parker." Warrick leaned back in his chair and went back to his report.
They didn't get very far when Nick noticed something. He leaned over and saw what it was and motioned with his hand, "Hey Rick. Take a look at this. Looks like another one."
Warrick leaned over just in time to see their friend and partner Sage walking and looking like she was hearing but not listening. There was a good reason for it. The person who was talking to her was none other than Conrad Ecklie. "Looks like you're right. Wonder what it's about this time?"
"Probably the whole developing her new team. I swear Ecklie bit off more than he could chew when he did that," Nick replied shaking his head slightly.
It really was no secret that Sage was waging a war with Ecklie and she fought dirty. She knew how to play the game in terms of office politics and more often she had Ecklie giving in or after a major debate she conceded. Many suspected it was in retaliation for splitting up the team. Those that knew her best knew otherwise and it had nothing to do with shift reassignment. Nick and Warrick both knew that it was going to be… interesting… when Ecklie pulled Sage and made her a supervisor of the behavioral analysis unit, claiming that they needed to make the best use of her talents aka degrees and that was to profile.
That started a series of battles that were rather ridiculous on some cases but others, a show of major annoyance. The issue with the furniture for her office was funny since Ecklie thought she was going to bankrupt the crime lab. In the end, she got what she wanted and that was after showing him how low cost it really was. He took a two week sabbatical from other debates after that and left her alone. Other times were budgets and her shift hours. She was primarily swing but on call for graveyard but she made a modified swing shift so as not to suffer burnout.
"Well he made the mistake of trying to burn her out."
They watched as Ecklie talked to her all the way to her office. From their angle, they couldn't see much but when the door closed, they couldn't get any more than that. The rest was up to speculation. Nick was the first to say something, "Must be a budget thing or an requisition."
"Overtime," Warrick countered as he went back to reading.
"FBI," Nick mused.
"FBI?"
"Remember our first? She really was pissed with Culpepper."
Warrick scoffed a bit at that. "Culpepper could piss anybody off. Besides she's done work for them before. The sheriff loaned her out and she came back right when we had that fast racked case with that movie star."
"Got me on that one but it's still viable. Thing is Ecklie's poking at her with a stick and stirring up the fact that she likes being one of us. Playing clean and dirty with the office politics is punishment." Nick had been moving his pen while in thought and talking it through. It ended up with him pointing the tip at Warrick before he went back to work.
"Clean and dirty? That's an oxymoron."
"Playing the game but not stooping to the real dirty tricks used."
"Meaning she's the nice guy and they usually finish last."
"Not this time, man," Nick disagreed with a slight smile. It grew wider when Warrick agreed with him. They both agreed that their Southern hurricane was a force to be reckoned with and yet most everyone at the lab, especially the techs, liked her and respected her. The cops thought her to be a geek with a gun albeit a deadly one. "It's that Southern charm."
"The one you don't have?"
It would have started a friendly banter when they were interrupted by the very person they were talking about, "Now I know this battle ain't getting started without me."
Warrick and Nick couldn't help but laugh at the deliberate way Sage stressed her accent. It was something she did when she was being funny in a scolding way. Warrick replied, "Now come on Parker. You know we always wait for the Southern hurricane."
Sage smiled at that. "Glad to see that I make some sort of impact." She motioned behind her. "Seeing as you two aren't busy I'd like to introduce you to someone."
Warrick and Nick had been laughing at their joke when they turned to see that Sage wasn't alone. She was with a young and tall woman with sable brown hair, hazel green eyes and olive skin and looked like a wide eyed college student; like she wasn't sure of what to make of the people in the room. She and Sage were identical in that they wore blouses rolled up to the elbow and slacks. The new girl had a lighter color on for the blouse but both looked like they could be related.
Sage was amused by the look on their faces. "Well I see that got your attention. Anyway I just want to you meet Talia. She's just joined my team."
Both CSIs stood up to shake hands. Warrick went first, "Warrick Brown."
"Nick Stokes."
"Talia Abrams," the girl replied, shaking each of their hands. "I look forward to working with you if the schedule allows."
Nick looked over at Sage and asked, "So that was what Ecklie was talking at you?"
"The usual and mostly why I didn't get the memo about hiring another CSI for my team," Sage replied with a shrug. "I got it. Didn't mean that I was going to be timely about it. Talia was agreeable to coming over after her guest lecture series at Georgetown. So I put off paperwork until then."
"And in the process provided some entertainment," Warrick added.
"Always glad to serve," Sage replied. She looked at Talia and noticed something and filed it away for later. "So Talia, now that you've met Nick and Warrick, how about I finish this grand tour. Can't have Ecklie say I'm not doing my job now." She cast a wink at her friends.
"That would be delightful," Talia replied, her European accent contrasting sharply with Sage's southern one.
Sage led the way out and began on the grand tour of the lab with her newest CSI leaving Warrick and Nick to go back to finishing their paperwork. As Warrick sat down, he couldn't help but comment, "Parker knows how to pick them."
Nick noticed the look Warrick had for Talia Abrams. "I think she might be out of your league, bro." He was grinning at Warrick.
"Nah. She's cool like Parker. I wonder how long she'll last."
"Wanna bet on it that she'll stick around?"
Warrick looked at Sage showing Talia the DNA lab. They seemed to be getting along with each other but considering what happened when Greg was trying to get out into the field… He looked at Nick and replied, "I'll bet ya she won't last the night."
Nick grinned at that. "I bet she won't quit."
"You're on."
Both CSIs shook their hands. Suddenly the paperwork before them didn't seem so boring after all. This was going to be an interesting shift.
A/N: Looks like a new CSI joined the crew and brought some respite to the boring day with paperwork. Warrick and Nick meet Sage's new 'student'. Enjoy.