Disclaimer: I don't own CSI no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Post ep for 3x21 What Schemes May Come. Unbeta'd as usual
Making it Work
Dr. Peyton Discroll worked with dead people for a living, and she often thought she had seen everything from the poorer slums of London to those seedy areas of New York. But today….today was beyond comprehension. Today had caused her to doubt every thing she stood for everything she knew. She didn't want to think; she just wanted to sleep, but as the hot spray of her shower hit she leaned against the tile and thought. About hibernation and resurrection and how people did not come back from the dead as much as we might have wished and yes even prayed that they wood.
Shutting her eyes against the memories she began to recite the British royalty beginning with William the Conqueror. Finishing her shower quickly, she didn't bother doing anything but getting into pajamas and falling into bed. She didn't want to think about today anymore. She had seen the science and seen how it played out; she knew she had done nothing wrong. Still, it hurt to think about.
She awoke refreshed and with a clearer mind. There was still something bugging her about the last shift. She ran through it in her mind in a detached sort of way as she got out the ingredients to make her self a simple omelet.
She had pronounced the body and looked for the sings that they were all trained for. There was no question there. In the eye of science he had looked dead. Then they had stolen the body and Mac had been….
…Over protective and annoying. And it had made her mad, but she had let him do it because she understood. Understood that he was as protective of the people on the team as she was of her ME's or former ME's and she was aware that she was coming to be considered one of the team. She also understood that he cared and that he would always feel the pangs of guilt of not being able to protect Claire. And because she understood she couldn't stay mad. She could not fault him for one of the very things that made him Mac.
Later she had almost cried, cried with relief that he understood that he didn't tell her she had made a mistake, or even that she was only doing her job. He had only in his quiet way acknowledged that it was tough and squeezed her hand.
A knock interrupted her thoughts and she was greeted with a bouquet of flowers. Smiling and thanking the young delivery boy she placed the vase of yellow English roses on the kitchen tabled and tipped him well. It was only after she was back inside that she looked at the card.
Simply because I can –Mac
It was then that Peyton knew. She took her eggs off the burner and picked up her tea and one of the roses from the vase. She knew the other thing that was different. She set the tea on her coffee table and twirled the flower between her fingers studying it. She smiled softly.
It was Mac. He was making this work.