I don't own CSI or the characters, but I do own this computer.
This time of year was always the time that made the CSI crews feel like scum. On one hand, they craved something to do to break hours of boredom, on the other; they all realized that someone had to be dead for them to have something to do. It was spring, the time when hotels were at peak vacancy and people stayed indoors due to increased temperatures as summer neared. No one even thought about violence because, even during the graveyard shift the arid spring climate of the Nevada desert was almost unbearable. Sitting in the break room with coffee in hand, coffee she had snatched from Greg's not so private stash, Sara noted that dawn was breaking as she observed the lighting in the hallway. She continued to sip "her" coffee in silence for a few moments.
"WHOA!" A certain lab rat turned field mouse skidded into the doorway of the break room like an over zealous puppy. After him came Nick and Catherine.
"What was that about, Greggo?" Sara asked, looking amused but sound rather groggy and extremely fatigued. She remembered an incident a few years ago, which ended with Greg asking Nick if he wanted a Valium for her. It was true; she was by no means a morning person. This time, however, she found his over energetic attitude a refreshing escape from the monotonous boredom of a slow shift.
"Oh, nothing." Greg replied, "I'm just happy that in five minutes I'll only be on call and I won't actually have to find something to do in a crime lab full of volatile chemicals and guns." Greg grinned devilishly as everyone nodded agreements to his comment.
"So, while we're still on the clock, does anyone know what today is?" Greg said, his head was an intricate mass of grinding gears and Catherine, Nick, and Sara could all see them turning in his eyes.
"Saturday?" Catherine half replied and half asked, wondering what he was thinking.
"April 1st" Sara said, eyeing Greg suspiciously, also wondering the same thing.
"And what's special about today?" Greg asked with a mischievous grin playing on his lips.
"Is it someone's…birth…day? Oh, God! Wendy!" Nick rushed out of the break room realizing that he had forgotten Wendy's birthday several days earlier. As he ran out, Catherine and Sara caught a glimpse of a "kick me" sign on his back and they both turned to see Greg grinning like a psychotic Cheshire Cat (In my Opinion the cat already looks psychotic.)
"It's April Fool's Day" Sara said flatly, finding it extremely difficult to contain her urge to laugh, both at Nick and at Greg's smile.
"Right you are, it's April Fool's Day, and we're going to play some pranks, Catherine, are you in or out, if you're out, you'll be a victim." Greg asked dragging the last word out in a singsong voice and pointing his finger dramatically.
"Oh, I'm in, I've never told anyone but I loved to prank people in my younger days. What did you have in mind?" Catherine asked, her eyes lighting up with nostalgia as years of past pranks were brought back.
"Well, right now I'm working on Grissom. I have a problem though, I do stuff with his bugs every year, and he'll be expecting it. We've got to do something different." Greg sighed, propping his feet up on the table
"I have an idea," Sara spoke up, "he ordered an iguana two weeks ago and I saw it in the mail room earlier, we could take the real iguana and replace it with a toy." Sara explained, and so one after another, the trio came up with elaborate schemes for each of their co-workers until the entire crime lab was in a panic and they just sat back and watch the mayhem.
Wendy was chasing Nick, kicking him. They had waited for Nick to shower in the locker room, then they took a plain white shirt and cheap jeans and glued kick me signs all over them, and apparently Wendy was indeed peeved about her forgotten birthday and was taking full advantage of them.
Doc Roberts was next, they had taken all of his surgical instruments and replaced them with everything from sporks, plastic utensils, and straws. He was perhaps the angriest person in the hallway, accusing anyone who crossed his path of taking his tools.
Then Warrick, they put viagra in Warrick's vitamins. He just wandered amid the chaos with his hands covering his crotch and a shade of red on his cheeks that came very close to looking like a tomato.
By far, Sara's suggestion about the iguana was the best, Grissom was running around screaming the iguana's name when he hadn't even seen it yet, and perhaps even funnier, he appeared to expect a response. By this time, Greg was on the floor, howling with laughter, Sara was doubled over, gasping for breath, and Catherine was clutching the doorframe with tears in her eyes from her fits of laughter.
"This was a good idea." Sara said, pulling Greg off the floor and recovering from her laughing fit.
"Come on!" Greg said, pulling Sara out the door and running to his Denali
"So, where are we going?" Sara asked, curiously, wondering what her best friend could have in mind.
"You'll see when we get there." Greg said with a grin as he continued to drive toward the residential area of Las Vegas, the sounds of one of his various mix CDs blasting through the Denali's advanced sound system. Soon they were both jamming to the sounds of all the best rockers from the past thirty years. Greg eventually stopped his car in a high-end neighborhood complete with green, perfectly trimmed grass, shrubs, and tall, thick, trees. He casually stepped out of the car and walked over to the biggest house, motioning for Sara to follow, and she did. Once on the man's front porch, Sara asked,
"So, we're here and I still don't see anything. What were you going to show me?" Sara asked, beginning to grow just a little impatient with her Greggo. To her question, Greg simply replied with a wide grin and said "this!" reaching up and ringing the doorbell and ducking behind some bushes before Sara could act. Sara heard footsteps coming and quickly reached for her badge, drawing it out and holding it up as the door opened.
The man who opened the door was an ancient old crow, to put it lightly, and he wasn't any less grumpy.
"I didn't do it!" he boomed, about to slam the door on Sara, but she caught it and smiled awkwardly at the man.
"I didn't say you did anything sir. Anyway, my name is Sara Sidle, I'm with the crime lab and I just wanted to know if you've seen this man." She said, pulling out a picture of Greg that she just happened to be carrying that day and showing it to the man.
"We have reason to believe he may be dead." Sara said, emphasizing the last part with a deadly glare in Greg's direction, making sure that the old man couldn't see.
"No, I haven't seen that scrawny kid…ever. Now, get off my property unless you have a search warrant." The old man glared venomously at Sara, but she stood her ground and turned her back to leave then added as an afterthought,
"If you're ever a suspect, don't ever say 'I didn't do it'. It's our first clue that you're guilty." Sara said, leaving the man to contemplate this as she strode toward Greg.
"Sara, it's called Ding-Dong-DITCH. You're supposed to make the bell go "ding-dong" and then "ditch" the door step." Greg said laughing nervously and backing away from Sara. "That was a great save though." He added, continuing to back away, not seeing the ditch behind him.
Greg's screams mixed with Sara's laughs as he fell into a very deep and moist ditch, indicating that it was freshly dug.
"This is what I like to call push the ding-dong in a ditch." Sara joked, grinning broadly down at a shocked Greg. Suddenly there was movement in the ditch, it was a mass of black insects and Greg didn't seem too happy.
"AH! COCKROACHES! GET ME OUT OF HERE, SARA!" Greg screamed in a shrill, high-pitched voice that Sara didn't even know he had. She grabbed his outstretched arm and pulled him to her level. She helped him get the remaining cockroaches off and headed to the car.
"Greg, wait." Sara said, with a tone of urgency, Greg turned in anticipation, praying that she would do what he hoped she would, but she just wiped dirt off of his face.
Sara was neither blind nor an idiot, she knew just as well as the entire lab how Greg felt about her, and she had to admit that she felt the same, despite her pride. She just wasn't sure if she was ready to risk a friendship if they didn't work. As they rode in silence to Sara's apartment, she thought about this, and weight the pros and cons. Her conclusion was that the good would out weigh the bad, now she just needed to put that theory to the test.
When they got to her door and the door was open, she stopped Greg from leaving, holding the front of his shirt suggestively.
"I can't remember the last time I laughed like I did today…Ding-Dong." Sara said, whispering the last part in his ear and kissing him, full on the mouth. It was a short kiss but it sent her message. Those three words that have more meaning than any other phrase when said together. "I love you." So as they went their separate ways for the day and thought about that moment, it was clear that on this April Fool's Day, Greg truly did have the last laugh.
Well, that's it. Please read and review. For those of you who have been reading Shocker, I am still working on it, I've just been to busy with school to update.