Disclaimer: I don't own CSI NY. :) I know I don't usually butt in with episodic stories such as these, there are SO MANY others who have written a post story that deals with this so much better. Only this wouldn't go away, I had to get it out of my head. There is no offense intended.
Ring, ring. Hearing the ring and feeling the vibration of his phone in his pants, Adam quickly grabbed it while leaving, not wanting to disturb the lab anymore today.
Looking at the screen he doesn't recognize the number or the area code. "504? I hope it isn't Danny using the computer to disguise his phone so he could make more lightsaber jokes," Adam sighs. "Hello, Adam Ross."
"Hey, Adam! How are you doing, spider monkey?" Stella smirks into the phone, taking a pause in eating her dinner.
"Spider monkey?" Adam questions. "Okay, who spilled the beans, Mac, Flack, or Danny?"
"Spider monkey, as in flying from behind the dumpster and landing on the killer who had a loaded GUN! You're head should be examined for that alone, and never mind who it was, Luuuke." Stella continues teasing, having fun with the conversation.
"That really narrows it down. I'll get to Flack sooner or later," Adam asks rolling his eyes. "Why are you calling?"
"I'm calling to see if you're alright. You are alright?" Stella asks, concern sharpening her eyes. "I also wanted to know what is happening to my favorite Lab Tech, the one who used to be so nice, polite, and jittery. You're not the one who usually bites the heads off of the new people. That is left up to Danny, it can't have been about the case."
"Why couldn't it have been about the case? I may see dead people all the time but its in photos or in abstract ways. I...I connected with her for a brief moment," Adam tells her remembering her eyes, and the eyes of a long ago crush. "I heard her laugh and now its just gone...I couldn't save her. I needed to do something."
"You did," Stella sighs closing her eyes briefly, elbows leaning against her kitchen counter her free hand holding her forehead, "you helped by making sure that man won't hurt anyone else. You can't do that, if you make the evidence we collect, useless. To take short cuts like that only puts the entire lab in danger."
"But you-," Adam is cut off
"Yes, yes, I know. I've come very close to the line Adam, but it isn't worth it if you are hurting the ones you love in the process," Stella admits painfully, recalling the look of hurt and anger in Mac's eyes when she told him about her involvement with the coins.
"It's just not the same anymore," Adam admits, running his free hand through his red hair exhausted by the day and past events.
"What's not the same? The lab? Oh please, man up Adam!" Stella forcefully tells him. Adam starts at the words that just came out of her mouth. What? Do I have to be called that by every woman in the lab, he thinks.
"People come and go, just because I'm not there physically doesn't mean that I'm not there in spirit." Taking another bite of her antipasto she continues, "Jo hasn't replaced me, like Lindsay didn't replace Aiden on the team. The lab is big enough for everyone who comes through it doors. Besides, isn't it a bit hypocritical of you to think like that? You were hired after Chad left. So..."
"I get it, I get it," Adam blushes, exhaling loudly. "I needed that, Stella. Thanks."
"Anytime, my friend. Now go home, get some rest for the next few days, catch up on some Supernatural, and come back with your head screwed on right, you hear me? Because I would hate for my first visit home to be kicking your ass around the block." Adam hearing her voice smiling into the phone, while unlocking his car door.
"Yeah, I hear you. It was good talking to you. Don't become a stranger, okay?" He smiles.
"Never! Even with this distance, it looks like you guys STILL need me to keep you all in line" She tells him walking over to her running computer and sitting down, her dinner forgotten.
"We'll always need you. Bye!"
"Bye, Adam." She ends the call, when Mac's face pops up on her monitor.
"So how did the call go?" He asks leaning back in his chair at home.
"He's upset but otherwise okay. Go easy on him when he gets back, or you will have me to answer to." Sternly giving him the eye.
"Okay, oh mighty Darth Vader!" Holding up his hands chuckling.
"Darth Vader? More like Empress, slave. If only the lab knew, what a closet Star Wars geek you really are." Stella smirks into the webcam.
The end.
Short, but I liked it, and I hope that you did too. I'm not bashing on anyone in here, I just wanted to point out how many people have come and gone through the CSI NY Crime Lab halls. Just because they are gone, DOES NOT mean they are forgotten. Or that if you like one person you can't like another. And Stella will always be needed to keep them in line. :D Thank you for taking the time to read this. :)