Summary: Hodges is having a bad day and Grissom busts him.
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine and if CBS wants to come after me, they can hook up with the Columbia Records and Tapes guy. He has been after my ass for years.
A/N: This is just a fluffy little piece that I know would never happen in real life. It is just a little fun at Hodges' expense. I would like to add that I now know more about Krazy Glue than I ever thought possible.
The prompt for this little story is LV Metro Event Code 429 - Indecent Exposure.
"Hold still." Wendy commanded, trying to remain composed and professional, which was proving to be nearly impossible. "How exactly did you do this again?" she asked with a grin while carefully cutting away Hodges' shirtsleeve, which was glued to the lab table.
Hodges let out a soft groan, wondering himself how he ended up in this mess. Running over the events from the past few minutes in his head, he still wasn't completely sure. One minute he was preparing to conduct an experiment involving cyanoacrylate and the next minute he was glued to, well, glued to everything. His shirtsleeve was stuck to the lab table and part of his left hand was glued to the base of the microscope. He had tried to make a run for it but failed and his left leg was stuck to the front of the table and his right leg was stuck to the stool. At some point he reached out and his right hand became stuck to the computer keyboard.
Wendy had cut away his shirt and moved down to untie his shoes so she could help Hodges out of his pants.
In his dreams, this scene had played out a thousand times, in a thousand different ways; most times it was with Wendy, some times Mandy, even once or twice Catherine, and once Catherine and Sara, but now, all he could think of was the old adage "be careful of what you wish for." Usually in his dreams, the object of his affection was, kneeling in front of him, tugging at his pants for a very different reason other than to rescue him from being Krazy Glued to lab equipment.
"Hodges," Wendy poked him playfully, trying to break the tension, knowing that he was mortified by the situation, "How did you end up like this?" she asked trying not to laugh while pointing to his glued appendages.
"Henry and I were working on an experiment involving cyanoacrylate,"
"Krazy Glue," Wendy interjected with a smirk. She stood up, shaking her head thinking that Hodges could never just give the easy answer. He was always testing you to see how much you knew.
"Yes, to the layman, Krazy Glue" Hodges started, becoming increasingly frustrated by the whole situation. "Henry and I were trying to chart the use of different accelerators, in this case toluidine, which would shorten the bonding time from minutes to seconds. It would be a great tool for the CSIs when fuming time sensitive pieces of evidence."
"Uh huh, so, where's Henry?" Wendy asked, scanning the room, now concerned that the other lab rat may be glued to something in the corner.
"He forgot his face shield and went to go get it' Hodges said, his face now a bright hot shade of red, completely embarrassed by his predicament as he kicked out of his pants.
"Which, you are lucky that you had yours on otherwise your eyelids would have been glued shut," Wendy added, while trying to decide the best way to get Hodges unstuck from the microscope and keyboard. The separation can be painful, and she didn't want to rip a layer of skin off making him look like an extra from a one of the Saw sequels.
Hodges, now naked except for his socks and boxer briefs, with one had still stuck to the base of the microscope and the other stuck to the computer keyboard. You could see the thoughts wheeling in her head. "So this still doesn't explain how you got like this," she said gesturing to his near naked state, as he was desperately trying to cover up with the keyboard.
In a quiet tone, embarrassed and a bit cold, Hodges said, "I was working on a variation of the dispersal method and well - let's just say I am an overachiever and it worked a little too well. Can we please hurry and get the rest of me unstuck before Grissom finds out?"
With the usual perfect timing of a bad day, Grissom walked into the trace lab to find Hodges close to naked with one hand grasping the microscope and the other uncomfortably placed on the computer keyboard.
"What is going on here?" Grissom asked abruptly. He was tired and in no mood for any lab rat shenanigans. He had been working doubles and triples since Sara left and if it weren't for Hank, he would never leave his office. The home that he shared with Sara reminded him too much of what he was missing, so throwing himself in his work was his only alternative to losing his mind.
Hodges was speechless. He was standing in front of his mentor, in his underwear. It was like every nightmare he ever had in college. Thankfully, Wendy piped in and said " there was a small miscalculation with the dispersal of cyanoacrylate and I was helping him, well, helping him get unstuck."
Looking around, Grissom said, "Well, some acetone will soften the cyanoacrylate and keep his skin intact if you're careful. Make sure you document this and I want a full report on my desk by the end of shift."
"Absolutely boss, absolutely," Hodges said, shaking his head so vigorously that he was going to give himself a splitting headache.
On his way out of the lab, Grissom turned back around and said "Be sure you call this in to Brass."
"Brass?" Wendy asked, completely confused by Grissom's request.
"Yes, " he said in a dead serious tone "tell him that we have a 429 in the lab" he said as he walked out, barely able to make it into the hall before chuckling to himself.
"A 429? What is that?' Hodges asked, worried that his day was going to get worse.
"A 429 is Indecent Exposure.' She answered laughing.
"Funny," Hodges groaned. "Very funny."
Thanks for reading!