Summary:Four months after Nick and Sara found each other, a life-altering, career-changing opportunity presents itself at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. Will this chance bring the Graveyard shift closer together, or tear them apart?
Author's Note:Yay! Volume II is up! I just want to warn you guys this may be updated slowly until the weekends, 'cuz I don't get home from school until 5pm (then again, I could play hookie a couple days hahaha) Anyways: I suggest that all of you who don't feel comfortable with N/S pairing stay away. I also suggest you read Volume I: The Nascencybefore reading this story – it might help explain stuff a little bit!
Disclaimer:No, I do not own CSI stuff. I do own Anisha, Maile, Dylan, All of Nick's family, Haylie and her family, and all the other characters you don't realize, k?
Rating:PG-13
Request:Read and review!
"Good evening, Mr. Grissom," Tina, the receptionist, greeted him as he walked off of the elevator onto the floor.
"Good evening, Tina," Grissom replied, walking down the deserted hallways. It was only ten o'clock – hardly anyone on the graveyard shift had arrived yet. Grissom always showed up early – much to the displeasure of his beautiful wife, Catherine, and their two children, Lindsey and Dylan. Grissom smiled as he pictured all three of them. They were his life; his entire world revolved around them.
Grissom walked down the hall with the case files in one hand and a take-out coffee from Diner 12, a local café that all the members of the graveyard shift loved.
He entered his office, flipping on the lights and moving to the desk. He placed the case files on its immaculate surface, and flipped on his CD player. He settled in his chair and paused to listen to the soothing sound of Tchaikovsky. He let out a breath as he sorted through his messages and went about looking over the case files – he had to decide who was getting what, and he only had forty-five minutes to do
so.
"Did you guys see the Superbowl?" Warrick asked as Greg worked on making another batch of coffee, and Nick sat on the couch.
"Definitely," Nick said, "Sara would not sit still!"
"Why not?" Greg questioned as he filled the filter and looked over his shoulder.
"Sara loves the New England Patriots," Nick informed them, and Warrick laughed.
"She must have lovedthat game, then."
"Why does she like the Pats? She's from San Fran!"
"Greg, are you really that naïve? She went to school is Massachusetts."
"The heart of New England," Nick replied.
Warrick poured a cup of the fresh coffee and sat down at the table, "Ever been there Nicky?"
"No," Nick replied, "But Sara insisted that if we ever get the chance, she'd take me to see a Patriots game in Foxboro."
"Sweet deal," Warrick said, as Greg took a seat across from him, "I wouldn't mind seeing a game in Massachusetts. I had a buddy in college who was from Manchester, New Hampshire."
"No kidding," Greg said, "I had an ex-girlfriend who was from Bellows Falls, Vermont."
"Now Nicky has a girlfriend who lived in Massachusetts."
Nick just shrugged as the woman in conversation entered the room.
"Hey guys," Sara greeted them as she smiled at her friends and winked at Nick.
"Hey Sara, we were just talking about you," Greg said as Nick stood and hugged his girlfriend.
Sara unwrapped her arms from around Nick's neck and said, "Uh oh. It better have been good, or you three are in trouble."
"No, it was good," Warrick assured her, "We were just talking about the Superbowl."
"No way," Sara said, "That was the most stressful game of my entire life."
The three men laughed, "I'll bet," Greg said, "Now if you're a Patriots fan, you've got to have a jersey at least."
"Duh," Sara replied, rolling her eyes.
Nick laughed, "Sara's got three jerseys, a sweatshirt, a hat and a flag."
The two other men laughed hysterically, utterly tickled at the extravagance of the woman in front of them.
"Which jerseys?" Warrick questioned when he'd managed to control his laughter.
"Tom Brady, Teddy Bruschi, and Adam Vinatieri."
"Only the best," Nick replied with a grin.
"Case files," Grissom announced as he entered the break room to see the younger CSIs. He noticed how empty the room seemed without Catherine. They had decided that until Dylan was old enough to drink formula, Catherine would stay at home. It was tight, considering there were only four CSIs, including himself, on crime scenes, but they were managing.
"Warrick, you and Nick are on a robbery in Dellvista Heights. Most recent of six houses."
"Dayshift had the others, right?"
"Right," Grissom replied as he handed the case file to the tallest CSI, who saluted and made his way out of the break room, Nick following.
"Greg, you stay in the lab and hold down the fort."
"Aye aye, captain," Greg replied as he left the break room.
Grissom looked at the girl he nearly called daughter, "You're with me on a murder on the Strip."
"All right," Sara replied, standing up and following her boss out of the room.
"This is the cleanest robbery we've ever seen," Brass informed the two young CSIs as they stood in front of a very large Victorian mansion, a solid wrought iron gate running around the property. The house was white with black shutters, flower boxes under every window. The cobblestone path led up to two very large cherry-wooden doors. Everything looked in place – not one single blade of emerald green grass bent.
"Any visible disturbances?" Warrick asked, looking at the security system on the stone pillar next to the gate, and then looking at the four-story house.
"Not so much as a scuff mark on the marble floor," Brass said as they walked down the path to the front doors. Warrick noticed another security system on the side of the house beside the door.
"Were the security systems breached?" Nick questioned, apparently thinking exactly what Warrick was.
"No. The homeowners came home and realized most of their smaller, more expensive possessions were gone."
"Figures," Nick commented, "The smaller stuff is worth more."
"Thanks,
Brass," Warrick said as he and Nick commenced searching for clues.
"I'm going to dust the gate for
fingerprints," Nick announced as he left the house and walked back the way they
came.
Warrick looking at the door handle and impulsively pulled out his fingerprint powder and brush. He had a feeling there would be no fingerprints; if the thief got in and out without setting off the alarm systems, there probably weren't any fingerprints.
As he had suspected, there weren't. He couldn't say he was disappointed; he'd expected as much.
Nick didn't have any luck either. The gate was clean for prints, and there were no visible footprints on the property. He didn't give up hope, though. Such a perfect criminal couldn't have gone through such a large house without making at least one mistake.
A search that lasted another hour resulted in only a hair and a partial fingerprint.
"It's not much," Warrick commented, "But it's a start."
"One gunshot wound to the left side," Grissom noted as they looked at the body of…
"Twenty-six year old David Simmons," Brass replied as he looked at the man's wallet.
"If it's only one gunshot wound, where did all of this blood come from?" Sara asked, motioning to the puddle surrounding the man's head.
"It looks like a deep gash wound in the back of the head," Grissom noted as they took samples of…
"Hay," Sara said, picking up a few pieces with tweezers and placing them in a small tube, "And some gray fibers."
"Those gray fibers could have been from the interior of the vehicle used to move him," Grissom said, "There is no way he was killed here," Grissom said, motioning at the four blocks of sidewalk they had roped off.
Sara nodded, "Someone would have seen it."
The two CSIs finished up, leaving the body to the coroner and heading back to the lab to have Greg process the evidence they had collected.
"Well, this is hay," Greg informed Grissom and Sara half an hour after they had given him the evidence.
"What about the gray fibers?" Sara asked.
"Interior of a vehicle," Greg said, "But there is nothing else I can tell you about it."
"Can you tell if they match this van?" Grissom asked, producing a photo that had matched the tire treads they'd found.
"I can try," Greg said, as he took the photo and turned away.
"Thanks, Greg," Sara replied as she and Grissom left the lab and headed to see Brass.
"Anything?" Warrick asked Greg as he and Nick entered the Trace lab before shift ended.
Greg swirled around in his chair, a frown on his face, "Hair didn't have the follicle, so there was no DNA I could get from it, and the partial didn't get any hits off of AFIS."
"Damn it," Warrick swore, "Thanks anyway, Greg."
"No problemo," Greg said as he swirled back around to continue working on Grissom and Sara's evidence.
"Are you coming to breakfast?" Nick asked as he and Sara stood in the parking lot, Warrick already leaving for Diner 12.
Sara squinted her eyes, pondering her decision, "No, I don't think I will. I'm exhausted, so I think I'm going to go home and get some sleep."
Nick looked slightly disappointed, so Sara tried to make amends by pressing her lips to his for a moment, both revering in the release of being able to kiss each other for the first time that night.
Nick gave her a gentle smile after they'd broke apart.
"I'll see you later," Sara told him as they stepped apart, both heading in different directions, but their hearts in the same place.
"So you're saying I have to choose?" he asked.
"Yes, by the end of the month."
"That's only two weeks away!"
"We'll need the name by the twenty-eighth."
He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, "One of them has to go?"
"Yes. One of your CSIs is leaving."
A/N:Awww…so sweet, but then DUN DUN DUN! Someone's gotta go!
Next Chapter:Gil and Catherine talk about Lindsey, Sara checks her messages and does some thinking, Warrick meets a girl, AND we find out about that lil bit at the end! Read and review, or I may cry. Nah, I won't cry. No, I'm pretty sure I'll cry. But if I cry I'm a baby… whatever just review!