Hi all! I thought I'd try my hand at writing for my all-time favourite crime show. I've been watching CSI since 2003 and have watched seasons 1-13 about once a every 18 months (coincidentally timing it so that by the time I finish the last season I own, the newest one is just released on DVD). I am, of course, up to date with season 15.

I love CSI for the stories. Each week a new puzzle to solve. The shipping, for me, is just the added bonus. So, if there's no hints at romantic pairings in an episode, I'm not discouraged because that's not what CSI is about for me.

That said, I am a Morganders fan. Have been since they were first introduced in that cringe-worthy first meeting. Greg is such a dork, I love him. I've never shipped a pairing so hard in CSI as I have with Morganders. I also prefer Snickers to GSR (maybe that's why I'm desensitised to any lack of ship moments).

So, as a gift to Morganders fans, while we wait for the next episode in mid-February, I thought I'd post my first CSI fic. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to this story. Except the computer I'm writing it on. I'm just borrowing the characters to make them dance for my (and hopefully your) amusement. Watch the show!

Innocence in the Backseat

Premise: Morgan has just finished an exhausting shift in which she solved a double murder. On her way home during the hot day, she stops at a grocery store, only to discover a baby in the back seat of a car. Morganders. Part 1 of 2.

Posted: February 2, 2015.

With an exhale that was part way between a groan and a sigh, Morgan Brody rested her head on her hands as she gripped the steering wheel of her car. She was tired. Exhausted. Bone-achingly weary. Even her hair – up in a high ponytail – felt sore. What had started as a seemingly natural death case 48 hours ago then snowballed into a double homicide.

With everyone already on other cases or in court, Morgan had only DB as the other CSI on the case. It had been a harrowing double shift but as a result, a man – who thought he'd gotten away with two murders that had been disguised as naturals – was now behind bars.

She was grateful and willing to go home at her supervisor's suggestion but she needed to stop for essentials at the shops first. She was sitting in her driver's seat, trying to psyche herself up into opening the door into the horrendous heat of Vegas' heat wave.

"Morgan Brody," she berated herself. "It is less than 50 steps from your car to the front of the supermarket. Get out. The sooner you get in there, the sooner you can be home."

That internal argument put forward, she dragged herself from her car and trudged towards the shopping centre. Weaving through the few cars in the parking lot, Morgan made her way to the air-conditioned building.

Her progress was arrested by the sound of a crying baby. The tone of the cries made her wary. Three cars over, the cries were coming from a seemingly unoccupied car. Dread blossoming in her chest, she rushed to the car, exhaustion forgotten. A quick inspection of the shabby car revealed a baby pink in the face with heat while squalling unbuckled and unsafe in the back seat.

Morgan wrenched at the car door and swore to find it locked. She ran back to her car, dialling in 911 as she went.

"This is CSI Morgan Brody," she called into her phone, giving the address of the supermarket. "I've found a baby abandoned in a backseat."

She called her location into the phone as she took a tire iron to the back window furthest away from the baby. Unlocking the car and wrenching the door open, she quickly – and yet with extreme tenderness – pulled the baby from the car jogged into the air-conditioned supermarket, screaming for water.

The shoppers in the relatively empty store crowded around Morgan and the baby. Looking down at the baby in her arms, Morgan studied the squirming baby. Taking proffered water, she sprinkled it on the infant to cool him down. Blowing on his face and pressing him closer to her chest, she crooned softly to the baby.

Morgan's gentle singing calmed the baby enough for him to turn his brown eyes on hers. She continued to care and sing to the baby until scant minutes later, the sound of police and ambulance sirens could be heard, soon followed by the entrance of law enforcement and paramedics.

The paramedics took the baby from her arms and he squealed and squirmed, reaching out to Morgan. Looking into the baby's little crying face, she offered to hold him while the paramedics checked him over. She spoke to the police officer and the day shift CSI as the paramedics worked or rapidly calming baby in her arms.

Once the formalities were over and the CSI got to work on the abandoned car, Morgan and the baby were off to the hospital.

Sitting on her hospital bed, arms now devoid of the abandoned baby, Morgan felt her adrenaline waning and her exhaustion return. She refused to lie down, lest she fall asleep waiting for the CSI to come and collect her jacket for trace.

To keep herself awake, she called her dad to let him know what was going on and he offered to have a police officer pick her up. "Thanks dad, but I want to find out how the baby is and who would be cruel enough to do this. I'm heading back to the office after this. I'll catch a ride with the CSI that comes to process me."

"If you say so M, I just don't want you run ragged, you just closed a double homicide."

"I'll be fine dad. Okay, I have to go, there's the doctor and I want to speak to him. Love you too."

She jumped off the bed and hung up as she walked over to the doctor. When she asked, he said she could see the baby and told her the CSI was with him. She was relieved to hear the baby was in good health overall.

"He mustn't have been left in the car long. You certainly saved his life Ms Brody, any longer and he would have died."

The older man then gave her a congratulatory clap on the shoulder and took her to the room where the baby was sniffling and squirming. Morgan moved to his side and watched as the CSI took a swab. Soon after, he did the same to her and took her jacket and scrapings from under her nails.

Morgan made polite conversation with the CSI she'd seen in the halls but most of her focus was on the baby. Once he gave her permission to touch the baby, she was by his side and running a hand through his soft sandy brown hair. The baby boy quietened down and looked at Morgan, giving her a bright smile, which she returned.

"Don't worry, we'll find out who did this to you," she said.

"The doctor said he's about a year old," the other CSI said as he packed away his evidence. "No ID, obviously. So for now, he's a John Doe. Are you ready to head back?"

"Can we wait a few minutes? I want to make sure Child Services gets here."

The CSI nodded and said he'd put his evidence in his car and wait for her. Morgan didn't have to wait long for the Child Services worker to get there. After a short conversation in which the worker promised to keep Morgan in the loop about the baby, Morgan headed down to find her ride.

After getting the dayshift supervisor's permission to be part of the case, Morgan found her CSI and asked him about the progress.

"His prints aren't in the system and neither is his DNA, so he's not been reported missing," he said.

"That implicated the parents, doesn't it? You don't report your baby missing if you're the one abandoning him."

The CSI nodded his agreement. "I was just about to process the car. How about you do up front so we avoid anything that could harm us in court."

Down in the garage, Morgan dusted the front doors and steering wheel, getting numerous partials and prints. She found no forms of identification in the glove box but did find a rotting sandwich.

"I'll assume some of the prints on the door handle here are yours, but any others could be our guy's," the CSI said. "And I've got some stains. That's disgusting, leaving this baby alone on a backseat in what I think is evidence of sex. We'll compare the baby's DNA to anything we find in the car, see if we can find a link."

Morgan lifted her head from the mobile fingerprint analysis device. "No luck on the prints, they're not in the system."

Her sentence was truncated by a loud yawn, to which the CSI smiled. "How about I take the samples to DNA and follow up on the car's registration, and you go get a coffee. You must be running on fumes."

"That sounds good."

In the break room, Morgan poured herself a coffee and a litany of soft curses fell from her lips when she – in her exhaustion – spilled it on her shirt. She fought the urge to cry and abandoned her drink to head for the locker room where she knew she had a spare shirt.

Once she sat on the bench in the locker room, she felt what little energy she had leave her body and her shoulders sagged. She stared at her open locker, telling herself to close it and get back to work. Morgan closed her eyes and breathed slowly, trying to regain energy enough to stand.

She wasn't aware of her teeter sideways and was asleep before her head hit the bench.

That was how Greg Sanders found her two minutes later. He – like Sara – was on call for court and decided waiting it out at work was better than sitting on a bench outside the courthouse. He smiled, pleased with his decision, as he took in the sight of Morgan Brody asleep awkwardly on the bench.

Walking over to her, he squatted down nearer her napping level and watched her sleeping face for a moment. Then, concern trumped fascination over her uncomfortable position and he gently shook her awake.

"Wakey-wakey sleeping beauty. That can't be comfortable."

Morgan's tired eyes cracked open at the familiar voice and smiled sleepily at the goofy grin of Greg Sanders not too far away. Pushing herself up, she rubbed her eyes and sighed.

"What are you still doing here Morgan, shift finished hours ago and I heard through the grapevine –"

"Hodges?"

"Hodges," he nodded. "Said that you and Russell closed a double homicide. Go home."

"I can't," she said.

She explained to Greg about what happened on her way home. She fumed aloud about the horror of leaving an innocent child alone in a back seat during the middle of a heat wave. Before she knew it, her exhaustion and her ease in Greg's presence caused furious tears to stream down her face, which she wiped away furiously.

It wasn't until Greg gently pushed down on her shoulder and passed her a new cup of coffee that she realised they'd walked from the locker room to the break room. He had guided her to one of the small couches and the softness of the leather beneath her made her tired all over again.

Greg sat down next to her, turning his body towards her with a concerned look on his face. His hand was still gently gripping her shoulder and his other hand came up to take a tentative hold of her coffee, lest she spill it.

Morgan continued to wipe at her eyes, shaking her head slightly to try and dispel the tears. "I'm just so angry and so damn tired. Who could do this to little Johnny?"

Greg tilted his head. "Johnny?"

Morgan blinked up at him, her eyes still watery. "Oh, I didn't realise I'd started calling him that in my head. Because he's still a John Doe. I guess Johnny suited him better than John. It's slightly more personal."

Greg nodded in agreement and a comfortable silence settled between them. Morgan couldn't help the corners of her lips lifting into a smile. She liked this about her relationship with Greg, they didn't need to always be talking, they could just sit in each other's presence.

Even with Hodges – her best friend – there was a need to fill the silence. With Greg, she was at ease.

So it was his presence, his warm hands on her shoulder and hand, the scent of the coffee and the comfort of the couch that caused her eyes to droop closed.

Greg frowned. "How long has it been since you've slept?"

"What time is it?"

That caused him to frown deeper. "Noon-ish."

Morgan sighed, her eyes closing. "I had a few hours sleep yesterday morning while I was waiting for results on my case. Before that, my last proper sleep was the day before that before I picked up the case."

"You've had what, three hours sleep in the last 55 hours? Morgan!" his exclamation wasn't loud, but the emphasis on his concern was easily deciphered.

Morgan hummed lightly, her eyes still closed. Greg watched her for a minute and noticed when her body swayed. He gently took the coffee from her hands and didn't do anything to stop her as she leant forward to rest her head against his shoulder.

Putting the coffee on the small table next to the couch, he shifted the hand on her shoulder to her other shoulder, so his arm was encircling her. He could feel her breath on his neck and he didn't resist the urge to rest his chin on her head.

Greg enjoyed their embrace for a minute before he gently pulled away from her and guided her into a lying down position on the couch. As he stood, he heard her phone ring and hesitated for only a moment before he reached into her pocket to pull it out.

"Morgan's phone, Greg Sanders speaking," he answered, speaking softly so as not to wake the phone's owner.

"Sanders? Where's Brody, we're working this abandoned kid case together."

Greg recognised the voice as a dayshift CSI he'd seen around the halls during many cases that'd kept him well passed the end of his own shift. "She's having a coffee and taking a break, she's still here after a double shift. Is it important, should I wake her?"

"No, I was calling to let her know there were two DNA samples in the car. One came back to missing woman Kelly Donald and she had 13 alleles in common with the kid Brody found. She was reported missing last year from Desert Palm after she gave birth. Last known address is with her husband and the file says he's the one that realised she was missing from her hospital room.

"I've called his work but he's on a flight back from Washington on business. I've left a message for him to come in. The other DNA came back to Yancey "Yankee" Pritchard, he's a known drug dealer and the car's also registered to him. I'll come find Brody when either the husband or Pritchard comes in."

"Sounds good. Morgan's in the break room when you do need her."

Greg hung up the phone and decided the break room was a good a place as any to wait for the call to let him know when he was needed in court. He picked Morgan's untouched coffee and claimed it as his own. Settling into a seat at the table with a good view of Morgan's sleeping form, Greg cracked open one of the files relating to the case he was needed in court for.

Greg acted as Morgan's protector for the next four hours, shushing people that wandered into the break room. He had a short conversation with Ecklie, who was planning a press conference for 7pm news about Johnny Doe.

Ecklie carefully sat down on the edge of Morgan's couch, gently brushing away some hair that had fallen over her face. Greg watched on enviously because he'd been longing to do the same thing for two hours, since the hair had fallen over her face.

If they'd not been at work and had their relationship/flirtationship been more defined as to where they stood, he wouldn't have resisted the urge.

After Ecklie left and 5pm arrived, Greg realised court was over for the day. He decided his evening was better spent with Morgan and her case, so he rushed to get changed out of his suit and into more practical work clothes. He was relieved Morgan was still there and sleeping 10 minutes later when he returned.

He made a cup of coffee and set it down on the small table next to Morgan's couch, deliberating whether he should let her sleep on or wake her. He was spared further deliberation when the CSI Morgan had been working with came in.

He informed Greg that police had picked up Yancey "Yankee" Pritchard – the owner of the car the Donald baby was left in – and was bringing him in. He then proceeded to explain that as his shift was over and he was heading home and since Morgan was staying, she could take over.

His team had groomed him so, but Greg could never fathom leaving in the middle of such an important case, especially since it involved a child. The graveyard shift Level 3 CSI waved off the deserting dayshift CSI and moved over to where Morgan was sleeping.

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty. Morgan?" he shook her gently. "They found the owner of the car and they're bringing him in."

Morgan was awake and alert very quickly. She brushed down her bed head, a look Greg found incredibly endearing. He passed her the coffee he'd made her and explained how he was her new partner on the case.

She beamed, an action that brought a goofy smile to his own face. "Dream team working together."

Greg playfully offered her his arm. "May I escort you to PD?"

"You may." As she looped her arm through his, she caught sight of the time on her watch. "5.20pm? Greg! I was asleep for ages! Why didn't you wake me?"

"There was nothing needed doing and you needed sleep, Morgan."

"But I could have – "

"No, Morgan. If you're going to work on this case, you need to be able to running on more than a few hours sleep.

"Plus," he said, opening a door for her. "You looked very cute."

I hope you enjoyed part 1. The second part should be finished by the end of the work week. I have a busy week of work and when you've been typing on a computer all day, the last thing you want to do is come home and do more writing. But watching CSI while writing CSI certainly helps get the creative juices flowing.

Also, you may have noticed the story's name on the website doesn't match the name of this two-shot. This is because I plan to make this a central place to upload all Morganders fics in one place. Thus Case Identifiers on the outside, stories named separately on the inside.

Leave a review if you feel so inclined, please. Words nourish a writer's soul.

- Wandering Wonderer