Title : Choices - Chapter 1: Day shift
Summary : By intervening on a crime scene, Greg saves a life and makes a choice that will turn his life upside down in more ways than one. Because Greg is my favourite character in the CSI show and I think he deserves more love and happiness. Love and fluff with a dash of angst for good measure. Eventually Greg/OFC. Can be considered as AU.
Rating : T
Characters: Greg Sanders, Gil Grissom, Sara Sidle, Nick Stokes, Warrick Brown, Catherine Willows, Lindsey Willows, Dr Albert Robbins, Dr David Philips, Original characters (Cassandra Fisher, Anna Sanders, Dr Melinda Travis, Lucy Travis).
Pairing : Greg/OFC, Gil/Sara
Genres: Alternate universe/romance/angst.
Warnings: Violence (nothing really graphic), swearing, sexual situation, possible OOC.
Spoilers: Set after season 7 and "Fannysmackin" but before season 9 (no main character death). AU after that.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes : Special thanks to my wonderful beta reader smuffly. This is my first venture into the CSI fandom, so don't be too hard on me. I'm new at it and have missed a lot of episodes (the French broadcast is more than erratic :(). I'm not really used to US slang and technical words, so I hope it won't be too ridiculous.
CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI
Greg parked near the crime scene and waited for the dust kicked up by the Denali to fall back before getting out of the car.
The sun was already high in the sky. It reflected harshly on the ochre earth of the desert and Greg slipped on his sun glasses before facing the sweltering heat.
As with any new case, a shiver ran down his spine at the sight of the yellow tape and he wondered if he would ever get rid of the sick feeling he felt every time he arrived at a crime scene.
He didn't know exactly what to expect. An outbreak of gastroenteritis had wreaked havoc on the day shift and Ecklie had only warned him the night before that his day off had been cancelled since he had been requisitioned to lend them an extra hand. A second call on his cell phone that morning, just before he came to the lab, had given him instructions to go straight to a newly built housing estate at the edge of the desert for a double homicide. There had been no elaboration.
He heaved a deep sigh and went to get his kit from the trunk of the car. Out of the corner of his eye, he briefly assessed the scene.
The yellow tape surrounded a brand new house at the end of an alley, its back to the desert. It was flanked by two other houses that were not yet finished. The land around the building was still fallow and judging by the absence of onlookers, its occupants were probably amongst the first residents who had settled in the area.
A district still in progress, with few neighbours ; a cul-de-sac with little traffic : the ideal conditions for a murderer to act safely .
He locked the doors of the Denali and headed to the house.
The turmoil reigning around the place didn't hint at anything good. Oddly, the ambulance was still there and the number of patrol cars parked nearby was significantly higher than the normal average for a simple homicide.
A glance at the CSI logo on Greg's waistcoat and his case was enough for the cop in charge of the perimeter to hold up the tape with a short nod. No badge was necessary.
Greg ducked under the tape and thanked him with a similar nod.
Getting closer, he caught sight of a familiar figure dressed in white and crowned with a strawberry blond mane. She leaned over a body that lay with its face against the ground in the middle of the street, right in front of the house. He immediately recognized the Chief Medical Examiner of the day shift, Dr. Melinda Travis, and his mood lightened substantially.
Usually, she didn't intervene on the crime scenes and left it to her assistants, but given the circumstances, everyone had been called to the rescue. After all, crime had no respect for sick leave.
Although they didn't know each other well and they had only had a few opportunities to work together in the past, Greg liked Dr. Travis, whom everyone simply called Doc or Mel, depending on the degree of intimacy that she had with them.
After a successful career in the ER for almost ten years, some family necessities had led her to succeed Dr Spencer a year and a half earlier, when he had finally retired after twenty five years of good and loyal service.
Unlike some of her colleagues, he had never seen her being arrogant or condescending. She was always friendly and polite with the scientific teams and also showed a perfect intransigence with regard to the respect for the victims. This trait, that had allowed her, over time, to gain the sympathy of most of the people with whom she worked, had also earned her some hostility, especially in the ranks of the police, where jokes about the dead were customary, and some old-timers didn't take well to being told off by a woman, particularly a woman younger than themselves. Not that it seemed to upset her, though. Nothing ever seemed to upset her and it was somehow… restful.
"Hi, Doc."
She raised her eyes at him and a warm smile lit up her freckled face. "Hey, Greg! Sorry about your day off. I hope you hadn't planned something."
He pulled a face and shrugged noncommittally. "Nothing important. But I'd have enjoyed the rare chance to sleep late."
She chuckled and shook her head. "Tell me about it."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Captain Jim Brass coming out of the house and heading towards them.
"Sanders," Brass greeted him.
"Hey, Brass. What've we got?" he asked him, unable to stop staring at the dead woman lying on the pavement in front of him, dressed only in light pink pyjamas.
Brass glanced at his notes whilst Greg crouched beside the corpse, took his camera from his case and started to take pictures of the body.
"Robert and Kayla Fisher. Moved directly from Reno three weeks ago, after the husband got a promotion as manager of the local branch of Biomedics, a company specializing in the treatment of cancer. The wife had apparently got a job as HR manager of a casino and should have started next week." He winced. "They didn't even have time to unpack all the boxes."
"Where's the husband?" Greg asked, raising his head.
Brass nodded towards the house behind him.
"In the entrance, with a bullet lodged in his chest. Unlike his wife, he didn't even have time to try and escape from his murderer."
Greg pointed at the paramedics in the distance. "Why are they still there?"
"Their daughter, Cassie, is missing."
"How old?"
"Three years old."
Greg cringed inwardly. He hated cases involving children. He'd have happily gone through ten dumpsters rather than have to work on a missing child case.
Brass carried on. "Amber alert is activated and our men are going through the area with a fine-tooth comb, but so far, no trace of her. K9 unit is expected at any minute."
"You think perhaps our killer took her with him?" Greg asked.
Brass shrugged but didn't answer. They both knew that the chances of finding her alive were more than thin, given the circumstances.
"Who found the bodies?"
"Rebecca Flanders, the babysitter. She came to take Cassie to school. When she found Mrs Fisher lying in the middle of the street with two bullets in her back, she turned on her heel and called the police," he explained, nodding slightly in the direction of the body.
Greg looked down at the victim then raised his eyes towards Doctor Travis, who was proceeding to retrieve her thermometer from Mrs Fisher's liver.
"I'd say time of death was about three or four hours ago," she told them, pushing away a cowlick with the back of her gloved hand. "As for the husband, he was killed by a .45 caliber. Death was instantaneous."
She stood up, dusted her jeans and donned her sunglasses.
"I think I'll be able to give you my report by the end of the afternoon. Tell me when I can remove the bodies." She took her leave of them and headed to her car.
In turn, Greg slowly unfolded his long frame and headed for the house with Brass, hoping he would find something that would help them to track down Cassie Fisher, preferably alive, or at least to catch the murderer of her parents.
To be continued