Hey :)
Nobody faint! An update from me! Amazing! Well, not exactly an update since it's a new story, but I can promise that this story won't be abandonned as it's finished. From now on, I'l only upload stories which I've completed as I hate leaving them unfinished and leaving you all hanging on.
Anyway, this is a series of oneshots mostly linked to Grissom and Cassy (whom you are about to meet). It's mostly pre-series excenpt for the last couple. Vaguley AU. Enjoy :)
Christina x
XOXOXOX
"Do you hear that?" Grissom asked.
"Hear what?" Danny Harper frowned, carefully placing the fibre he'd just found into an evidence bag.
"Crying," Grissom replied, looking around.
"Probably nothing man," Danny shrugged. "Some kid down the street. Forget it." Grissom ignored him and began to walk away, leaving their bludgeoned vic and the path, crossing the grass towards the sound of the crying. "Where are you going?" Danny hollered. "I can't process this scene by myself! Gil. Gil!"
Grissom ignored his partner, concentrating wholly on following the sound of the crying. It was a child crying, that much he was sure. Too high pitched to be an adult. The closer he got, he realised it was a baby, a young baby. He followed the sound, until he came to the top of a bank, leading down to another of the park's gravel pathways. Negotiating his way down, Grissom jumped off the wall onto the path. At this time in the morning the path was deserted, it was too early even for dog walkers and joggers. He leaned behind a bench and carefully lifted out the screaming bundle. Carefully, he pulled back the blanket and was faced by a red faced, screaming baby girl.
"Hey there," Grissom said soothingly, jiggling the little girl. He wondered how long she'd been lying there screaming, waiting for someone to come. The white cotton blanket was standard hospital issue, but was now starting to look grubby. The outside of the blanket was cold, but the girl still felt warm. Still, Grissom knew she would have to be checked out for pnemonia.
By now she'd stopped screaming, comforted by the fact that someone was holding and talking to her. She looked up at him with tear filled brown eyes. Grissom smiled, she was a beautiful girl. Whoever had left her there had obviously not planned on anyone finding her on time as nothing had been left with her, no bag, no bottles, no note, and no birth certificate.
"Let's go see how Danny's getting on," he said to her.
"Took you long enough," Danny called, glancing up and noticing his partner walking back across the grass. "I've already finished processing the scene, the vic's on her way back and I bet my record for thoroughly processing a crime scene." He stood up as Grissom approached, noticing for the first time the baby in his arms. "What's that?" he frowned.
"It's a baby."
"I can see that Griss, what are you doing with it?"
"She, and I found her. She was the one crying."
"You found her?"
"Behind a bench."
"Someone just left a kid behind a bench? In the middle of the night?" Danny asked incredulously. "She can't be more than a couple of weeks, if that. Unbelievable. People really make me sick sometimes."
"Take a sample of her DNA and run it when you get back to the lab," Grissom said. "Check it against our victim. I have a hunch they're related."
"Will do," Danny replied, taking a cheek swab from the baby girl. "Where are you going?"
"The hospital," he replied. "We don't know exactly how long she's been out here, I want to get her checked out. I'll see you back at the lab."
"And if Ecklie asks, what do I tell him?"
"Tell him the truth."
XOXOXOX
"Mr Grissom?" the nurse, who'd introduced herself to him as Leah, called.
"Yeah?" he replied, standing.
"Through here," Leah smiled. He followed her from the ER waiting room to one of the treatment rooms, where a doctor waited with the baby girl.
"She's fine," the doctor said. "A little cold from being left out all night and hungry."
"Would you like me to arrange a bottle to feed her with or do you have?" Leah asked.
"That would be great," Grissom replied.
"I'll get one arranged from the maternity ward right away," she smiled. "One moment."
While he waited, Grissom watched the little girl. Although she didn't smile, there seemed to be some flash of recognition and she stopped squirming quite so much. Grissom carefully rubbed her tiny hand with one finger until she latched onto it, wrapping her fingers tightly around it. He smiled.
"Here we are," Leah said, re-entering the room. "One bottle. Are you happy to feed her?"
"Sure," Grissom replied, surprised.
"If not, I can get one of the other nurses to do it."
"No it's fine. Thank you."
Once Leah left, Grissom carefully picked up the girl again, making sure she was comfortable before picking up the bottle. He'd never done this before, but how hard could it be? Besides, she was probably starving. Who knew when the last time she had been fed was. While he watched her, Grissom wondered again who would leave their child, their baby, their newborn baby, in a park in the middle of the night to die. It hinted to him that they hoped she would be found, but then logic kicked in again. It was on a back path, one of the least used ones, away from the edge of the park. They wanted her to suffer.
XOXOXOX
"Harper!" Ecklie called, leaning out of his office.
"Count to three and turn around," Danny whispered. He managed to plaster a smile on his face. "Yeah?"
"Where's Grissom?" Ecklie asked.
"Hospital, found a baby near the scene, been left there all night," Danny replied. "Wanted to make sure she was okay. Griss thinks the two are conected. I'm going to run the DNA now to see if our vic is related to the baby."
"Right, let's see if we have a match," Danny said, closing the lab doors behind him. It was how he worked, shut off, private and talking to himself. "Jane Doe's DNA... Now if that can run, see if we get a match... Meanwhile, I will see if Jane Doe and baby Jane Doe are mother and daughter..." While he waited, Danny drummed his finger on the desk. "And we have results! Interesting..."
"You know they say talking to yourself is the first sign of madness."
Danny spun round in his chair in surprise. He hadn't even heard the door open.
"Yeah, so what sign are you at then Griss?" he asked. Then he noticed his partner was still holding the baby girl. "How is she?"
"Fine," Grissom replied. "Asleep now she's had something to eat. Hospital provided a bottle for her and I picked some more stuff on the way back."
Danny raised an eyebrow. This was not the Grissom he knew and teased.
"You do know we're supposed to call social services, right?"
"I will, after we find out who she is."
"Well, I've kinda already done that," Danny continued. "She's our vic's daughter." The computer dinged. "And we have a DNA match on our vic. Hold on... Lara Reynolds. Charged for being in possetion of heroin."
"Next of kin?"
"None listed. I'll go see if any of the blood on Lara Reynolds' body didn't belong to her. Maybe it'll be that simple?"
"Danny, it's never that simple."
"I know. It would be nice if it was though, just once. Griss, we have to call social services you know?"
"I know."
"Hey doc," Danny said, entering autopsy.
"Morning Danny," Al replied. "Here about our Jane Doe?"
"Yeah. She's not a Jane Doe anymore doc. Her name's Lara Reynolds. What can you tell me?"
"Besides the obvious?"
"Including the obvious," Danny grinned. "Things may not be what they seem," he added in a bad halloween voice.
"Multiple blows from both punches and kicks, but the blow that killed her was to the back of the neck with a hard object, probably a rock. It broke one of her vertibrae, paralysing her. Then she was left to die."
"Looks like that kid got off easy then," Danny said, his eyes taking in the multiple contusions across Lara Reynolds' body.
"What kid?" Al asked.
"Griss found a baby near the crime scene," he explained. "Took a DNA swab and matched it to our vic, she's Reynolds' kid. She was just left under a bench to die."
"Is she alright?"
"Yeah, Griss took her to the hospital. He seems kinda...attached."
"Grissom?"
"Yeah. It's wierd. Got any DNA from our attacker then?"
"Swabbed some of the blows made by fists. It's your job to see if it's her blood or not."
"Indeed it is," Danny agreed.
XOXOXOX
He didn't know why it bothered him so much, but it did. This was him they were talking about, he never got emotionally involved. He prided himself on it. So what the hell was different this time? Because the truth was, pure and simply, that Grissom had not wanted to let that little girl go. He had of course, because it was his job to solve not crimes, not babysit abandonned children. That was social services' job.
"Yes! Yes, yes yes, yes!"
Grissom stuck him head into the lab Danny was working in.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"We have a match!" Danny replied gleefully, spinning continuosly on his chair, arms raised above his head. Grissom grabbed the chair, stopping when Danny was facing him once more. "We have a match," Danny repeated.
"To what?"
"Blood from Lara Reynolds' wounds that is not hers. It belongs to one Mr Jason Archer which means he has just become prime suspect number one!" Then Danny pushed the chair back out of Grissom's reach and began spinning again.
"Grievous bodily harm... Possetion of heroin... Possetion of PCP... Grand larceny..." Grissom read.
"That possetion of heroin charge, from the same time as Lara Reynolds," Danny called from mid spin. "So as a precaution I ran Archer's DNA aghainst the baby's. Paternal match."
"Good job Danny," Grissom called, leaving him to spin in joy.
"Hey Griss, man, wait up!" Danny called, leaping off the still spinning chair, grabbing onto the table as his legs attempted to go in two different directions.
XOXOXOX
"Do you think it would be wrong if I slapped Archer?" Danny asked.
"Yeah," Grissom replied.
"Even after he ditched his kid in the park then murdered the mother of his child?"
"Yeah," Grissom repeated.
"Dang that sucks."
"You want to slap someone, become a boxer."
"I would, but I have this thing about pain," Danny replied. "I don't like it."
Detective Tadero ignored the banter of the two CSIs, knocking loudly on the door.
"I think Archer needs the number of a good handyman," Danny observed, taking in the peeling door and windows, one of which was boarded up. "You think I could pass on my cousin's number? Cause he just started this business which-"
"No," Grissom interupted.
"Kidding Griss. Well, kinda."
The door creaked open, and a bleary eyed face appeared.
"Yeah?"
"Wow, nobody light a match," Danny muttered, waving his hand as the vodka fumes assaulted their senses.
"Jason Archer?" Tadero asked.
"He left."
'When?"
"Yesterday."
"You sure?"
"Yeah I'm sure."
"And you are...?"
"His room mate."
"Name."
"Ricky. Ricky Murino."
"Well Ricky, think you can let us in?"
"No," Ricky replied.
"Actually, you don't have a choice," Tadero said. "Because we have a warrant which grants us access to Jason Archer's home and possesions."
"I think I'm getting drunk on fumes," Danny commented fifteen minutes later, as he and Grissom worked their way through Jason Archer's worldly possesions. "Woah, Griss, found something." Danny stood up and negotiated his way through the junk scattered across the floorboards to where Grissom was working on the other end of the continuous pile. "Jason and Lara," he said, handing Grissom the photo he'd found.
"Bag it," Grissom replied. Danny resisted the urge to make a face. Since they'd arrived Grissom had been even more untalkative than usual. The truth was, Grissom couldn't stop thinking about the baby girl, and what would have happened if she'd been brought back here instead of being abandonned in the park. Earlier he'd been so convinced abandonning her had been cruel but now he wasn't so sure. It would have been terrifying for a girl so tiny, in this place with it's harsh smells and strange noises and only yelling or violence likely to come her way if she cried. He was emotionally involved in this case, whether he liked it or not, and for the record, he didn't. He also had an overwealming desire to see the little girl again.
Trying to distract himself, Grissom picked up a black notebook and began flicking through it. He slowed, forwning, and began to read each page.
Donna Marquis
25
$90
Ashleigh Waterson
19
$105
Mia Harron
16
$130
Then came the piece de resistence as far as the case was concerned.
Lara Reynolds
21
$150
"Danny," he called.
"What?" his partner replied, picking up items of clothing that had been left on the floor between his thumb and middle finger, keeping them at an arms length.
"Jason Archer wasn't Lara Reynolds' boyfriend."
"No?"
"He was her pimp. According to Archer's little black book, the price of Lara Reynolds was $150."
Danny let out a low whistle. "That's a lot of money."
"Highest price I've found so far. If she was pregnant, he was loosing money by the day."
"So why didn't he make her get an abortion?"
"Money, money money," Grissom replied.
"It's a rich man's world," Danny sang.
XOXOXOX
Grissom left Danny back at the lab then drove to the hospital.
"Good morning sir," the nurse at reception in the maternity ward said brightly. "How can I help?"
"Hi, my name's Gil Grissom," he replied. "I'm with the Las Vegas crime lab. I was wondering if you had any record of a birth, a week or two ago. I don't have the baby's name but her parents were Lara Reynolds and Jason Archer." He showed her the picture Danny had found at Archer's.
"Oh I remember them," the nurse replied. "Kinda hard to forget. She was screaming like anything, not that that's unusual. What was unusual was that he was screaming back."
"I hate you for this! Why are you making me do this?"
"Me? I never even wanted this in the first place! If you'd told me sooner I could've delt with it!"
"What happened?" Grissom asked.
"Well the baby was born and she discharged herself. We tried to make her stay, the baby was two weeks early, but she insisted. There was nothing we could do."
"Thank you," Grissom smiled. "You don't happen to remember the baby's name?"
"She wasn't given one, at least not while she was here."
XOXOXOX
"Sticky substance exuded by certain acacia trees," Danny read, staring at his crossword puzzle.
"Gum arabic," Grissom replied.
"Just once I'd like to get through one of these without you giving me the answers," Danny complained before writing gum arabic in three across.
"Did you know the answer?" Grissom asked.
"That's not the point!" Danny shouted, making the lab techs in the break room look up worriedly.
"Sorry to break up this party," Ecklie said, entering the break room. "But I have bad news. Jason Archer's disappeared."
"What?" Danny exclaimed. "You do know that's physically impossible."
"There's a BOLO out, and all airports have been alerted but that's all we can do," Ecklie continued giving Danny a dirty look. "I'm sorry Gil, case is over."
XOXOXOX
"Mr Grissom," Shona Morrison said in surprise. She'd met the CSI two weeks ago when he'd found a baby abandonned in the park, she'd since learned that the baby's mother was murdered close by and her father was the murderer and had not yet been found. Shona had been a social worker for eight years, since she was twenty, and she never ceased to be amazed at how heartless people could be.
"Ms Morrison," Grissom said, shaking her hand.
"Please, call me Shona. Ms Morrison makes me feel old!" she joked.
"Shona then," Grissom smiled.
"What can I do for you Mr Grissom?" Shona asked, sitting down again. "I was under the impression that the case was over?"
"I'm not here in a professional capacity," Grissom replied. "I'm here personally. How would I go about arranging an adoption?"
Shona raised her eyebrows, taking a sip from her lukewarm mug of coffee.
"Adoption?" she repeated. "Well, I would have to assess your suitibility... there's a number of conditions have to be met... Why?"
"I'm interested in adopting the baby girl I found two weeks ago."
"I guessed that much Mr Grissom. To be honest, personally, I think you would be a prime candidate. However, social services won't look at it that way. High stress job...long hours...dangerous situations on occasion. It's unlikely you would be approved."
"I would request a transfer to the night shift," Grissom explained. "Work at night, be with her during the day."
"And when exactly are you planning on sleeping?"
"When she's at school."
"You've thought this all out, haven't you?" Shona smiled.
"For two weeks."
"I'll see what I can do."
XOXOXOX
When Shona had said that she would see what she would do, she meant that she would do everything in her power to see that that baby girl went to Grissom. He would deny it till the cows came home, but he was obviously smitten and Shona could read him like a book.
So she arranged the home visits and, in the place of family interviews, spoke to Danny and Doc Robbins. She filled out the necessary forms and wrote glowing recommendations. When the court date arrived she stood up and strongly recommended that Mr Grissom would make an excellent father. Then they waited anxiously for the judge's verdict. She granted custody.
XOXOXOX
Twenty eight days after he'd handed her over to social services,the baby girl was handed back to Grissom.
"I think she recognises you," Shona smiled, pleased that everything seemed to be working out. "Have you decided on a name for her? We've been calling her baby Jane Doe. She was never given a name."
"Cassandra," Grissom replied. "After the princess of Troy."
"Cassandra Grissom. I think it suits her."