Hair
Romance. Pre-slash.
Something's bothering Greg but what is it?
Spoiler: In Precious Metals, Greg says he wants to work in the field.
This story takes place right after Gil's operation in 'Inside the Box.'
"… and the DNA is a perfect match," Greg said, handing a report to Sara.
"Great," she said, then smiled at him, "You broke the case."
Greg smiled back, then glanced at Grissom, who was making a check on his clipboard.
They were in the conference room, doing a quick review of their current cases. Catherine, Nick and Warrick had already had their turn, and as their DNA expert, Greg had had something to say about each of their cases, too.
Grissom looked up from his clipboard.
"Thanks, Greg." He said, then he glanced around, "Ok, that's it then. Keep me posted on any new developments. As for tonight," he added, picking a sheet of paper from the table, "I've got a new case for -" he paused.
Greg saw the four CSIs turn their eyes on Grissom as if he were about to announce the winner of some big prize.
"Warrick," Grissom finally said, handing him the sheet. "Home B and E. Take Nick." His cell phone rang then, and Grissom immediately took the call.
"Castañeda Avenue," Warrick said, reading the address from the sheet. "I know the place."
"I'm driving," Nick announced, and he was quick to pick the car keys resting in front of Warrick.
Greg smiled at this. Nick liked his coworkers, but sometimes he resented being the secondary investigator in a case. Driving was a small victory for him.
Catherine and Sara rose too, but they went their separate ways; Sara had an autopsy, and Catherine had a field case.
The meeting over, Greg started picking up his reports. He'd prepared a separate file for each of the cases, and they were strewn all over the table.
He was ready to go back to his lab, when Grissom looked up.
"Greg? We've got a DB in the desert," he said as he pocketed his cell phone, "You're coming with me."
Greg hesitated.
"Right now?"
"Yeah," Grissom said, glancing at his watch and then making a note on his clipboard.
Greg cleared his throat.
"Gee, I…I'm not sure I can make it, tonight, Grissom."
Grissom didn't look up.
"What do you mean you can't make it?"
"Well, I've got those DNA samples from Warrick's shooting case -"
Grissom cut the explanation short.
"You'll take care of those later," he said dismissively. He rose and turned to the door, only to stop when he noticed that Greg hadn't moved, "What?" he asked impatiently.
"Well," Greg hesitated. "I also got Catherine's blood samples, and the gloves from the -"
"They will be there when we come back," Grissom said in a slightly patronizing tone, "Right now we've got a dead body that's decomposing as we speak. That cannot wait.
"Come on," he said, softening his tone a little. There was a gleam in his eyes as he added, "This will be your introduction to Forensic Entomology 101. You're gonna have a lot of fun with it."
Greg walked to the door, but his reluctance wasn't lost on Grissom.
"Greg? What happened to your enthusiasm?"
"Nothing," Greg muttered defensively. "I just thought I'd do some of this tonight," he said, pointedly glancing at the files under his arm. "You guys can be pretty demanding sometimes, you know."
"Well, if anybody gives you a hard time, just tell them to talk to the boss."
And he put a certain emphasis in the word 'boss'
Greg got the message: The boss was ordering him to take a case, not asking if he wanted to.
Greg nodded briefly.
"I'll meet you in the parking lot in a minute," he said, "I'll just take the reports back to the lab."
TBC