Thanks for the reviews and alerts. I'm happy you liked the beginning of the story, so here I come with the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the CBS show CSI:NY, I only own my OC Amy Scott.
"So, are you going to tell me now what brings you here? Chief Sinclair wasn't really helpful with his cryptic clues, so somehow I'm thinking that I have to come to you for the answer I'm seeking," Mac said, turning to Amy, who was walking next to him.
She didn't answer, she just smiled at him. But it was not a welcoming and friendly smile, Mac had to admit. Her smile seemed to have a sly notion about it. Her whole aura seemed to imply that something secretive was surrounding this girl. Mac loved riddles, mysteries and secrets and he wanted to solve hers. As they arrived at the elevator that was to bring them up to the 35th floor of the building, where the New York City crime lab was situated, she pushed the button and turned towards Mac. She hadn't given him an answer to his question yet and she knew that she couldn't put it off any longer.
"As to your question what brings me here – let's say that Chief Sinclair owed me a favour," she cryptically replied.
"So that's all I'm going to get?" Mac wanted to know.
"For now, yes," Amy answered and walked into the elevator, pushing the button to the 35th floor.
While standing in the elevator with Mac, Amy wasn't sure how much longer she could keep up the image of the self-possessed and secretive young lady. There was a war fought deep inside her and she wasn't quite sure which side would be winning the battle – the one side that voted for the truth or the one that voted for keeping it all hidden and safe. Amy sighed.
Mac heard Amy's sigh and turned towards her. "Nervous?" he asked, raising his left eyebrow.
"Not at all," Amy answered, showing how self-composed she could really be. She had to admit to herself that she was indeed nervous to meet the New York team. They had no idea she was coming and in front of them, she had to play cool, just as she had to do with Detective Taylor. She didn't want anyone to find out the real reason she was here, not yet anyway. It might come to the point where she couldn't really hide it anymore, but for now she was just Amy Scott, 25 years old and from London, here because Sinclair owed her a favour. That this was not strictly true, she wouldn't tell them. It was enough that she knew.
The elevator doors slid open as they reached their destination and she looked aside to Detective Taylor. "Want to meet your new team?" he asked her. Amy nodded. She knew that he was suspicious of her and that he was determined to find out who she really was and what she was doing here. She knew that she had covered her tracks and that he wouldn't find anything that would point him in the right direction. But Amy also knew that Taylor was a fox. He was incredibly intelligent and she was sure that he wouldn't let go until he had all the answers he wanted. Amy silently prayed that her plan would work out. She wasn't so convinced of her own plan, seeing as she had to make it in the course of two hours and it was a completely spontaneous idea.
Mac led her along the hallway, allowing Amy to take a closer look at her surroundings. Every office or lab was walled in by glass, making it transparent to the outside. This lab and none of its members had anything to hide, they were comfortable with showing their work and lives to anyone who dared enter. Amy had to be careful in surroundings like this. Mac showed her to one of the conference rooms where four people were standing, bent over some folders.
Mac opened the door and everyone turned around to see who was entering the room. "Everyone, may I introduce Detective Amy Scott. She's from London and she will be joining the team today," Mac announced.
Amy saw the looks on all the faces and could see shock, bewilderment and confusion.
"Mac, why didn't you tell us beforehand that you hired someone new?' the curly-haired woman wanted to know. Amy had had a brief chance to talk to Sinclair about the team and she concluded that this must be Detective Stella Bonasera. Greek and Italian roots, Sinclair had mentioned – something Amy could see in the woman's eyes, face and hair. He had also mentioned something about a troubled childhood, but this was of no concern to Amy. She had no intention of getting attached to the team or to any of its individual members. She was here on a mission and would follow its course straight to the finish line.
"Stella, to be honest, I didn't even know about Detective Scott till…" Mac looked down on his watch and continued: "…fifteen minutes ago. This is Chief Sinclair's idea." Mac looked at Stella and she raised her eyebrows, obviously as confused as Mac himself.
One of the three men that had been in the room with Stella immediately approached Amy and took her hand to shake it. "Dr. Sheldon Hawkes. Nice to meet you, Amy. Can we call you Amy?" he asked.
Amy nodded and took a closer look at the coloured man standing in front of her. He smiled at her and tried to make her feel at ease in this more than awkward situation. She estimated that he was in his mid-thirties and she had to admit that the glasses he was wearing made him look incredibly smart. She, of course, had yet to find out whether he really was.
"Hi there," said the second guy. He had somewhat ginger hair and a beard. He seemed to be the archetype of the nutty professor, Amy thought. "I'm Adam Ross, the go-to guy in the lab. I generally take care of everything," he introduced himself.
Amy shook his hand and replied: "So you're the dogsbody here?"
Adam looked at her, puzzled and asked: "I am what exactly?"
"The lab's dogsbody," Amy answered. She then remembered that she was in America now and that Americans might have a problem with understanding British colloquial terms. She searched her own mental dictionary for the right word when the third man in the room came to her rescue.
"I think she means dog robber, buddy. Meaning you basically do anything you're asked to do," he said, addressing Adam. "Hi, I'm Danny Messer, nice to have you here, Miss Briton."
"I hope that won't become my new nickname," Amy answered, taking his ready hand to shake it.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Danny has a tendency to nickname you after where you come from. I'm only saying 'Montana'," Hawkes said, smiling and winking at Danny.
Amy wasn't even going to try to understand the inside jokes in this team as she wasn't prepared to stay long enough to get acquainted with all of them. She wanted to be out of here very quickly, she had a job to get back to.
"So, do you have one of those really cute little British accents?" Adam asked, smiling at her.
"I don't know, judge for yourself," Amy answered, trying to put as much of her London accent into the short phrase as possible. Adam nodded, smiled and seemed quite content with the answer he had gotten.
"Ok, back to work everyone," Mac said, turning around to leave the conference room. "The guys will tell you all you need to know about the case," he said to Amy. Turning to Stella, he asked: "Stella, a word?" He beckoned for Stella to follow him and she did so, leaving the room with one last smile to Amy.
Now Amy was left alone with the other three crime lab employees and she was eager to solve the case at hand.
"Ok, Mac, what is going on?" Stella wanted to know as she followed her supervisor and friend into his office.
"I really don't know, Stella. Sinclair just threw this at me without any proper explanation and he seems to think that this is alright. I know he's my boss, so I have to follow his orders, but he's mistaken when he thinks that I'm not going to get back at him for this." Mac sat down at his desk and turned towards his computer, eagerly starting to click and type.
"What are you doing now, Mac?" Stella wanted to know.
Without looking up at her, Mac answered: "Well, seeing as I have no references of this girl, have no idea who she is and what she is doing here, I'm doing the only thing I can do."
"And that would be?"
"I'm going to google her."
Meanwhile in the conference room.
Danny was standing behind Amy, who had sat down next to Hawkes as he told her everything they knew so far. Danny didn't know what to think of this new girl, who had just come in here without any proper explanation. Even Mac had no idea what she was doing here and seeing as Danny only trusted Chief Sinclair as far as he could throw him, his gut feeling told him that something was up.
Amy was just holding the crime scene photos in her hand and listened attentively to what Hawkes said, when Danny's cell started ringing. He took a look at the caller ID and smiled.
"I'll be right back, my beautiful wife's calling," and with that he had already left the room. "Hello, sweetheart, why are you up at this untimely hour of the day?" Danny asked Lindsay, looking at his watch, which said that it was 5am.
"Our little girl couldn't sleep because her daddy left us," Lindsay answered.
Danny could imagine how Lindsay was sitting on the bed, a smile on her face, holding their little daughter in her arms. "Sorry I had to go, but this is a big case, and a cruel one on top. Mac really needs all the hands he could get, even if there are now more than there ever were," Danny answered.
"Alright, Mister Cryptic, do I have to know what you're talking about?"
"Chief Sinclair hired a new CSI, from London. Mac had no idea."
"Okay, go back. What? Why would he do that?"
"Mac himself has no idea." Danny shook his head as he was standing in the hallway, looking first back into the conference room and at Amy and after that he looked over to Mac's office where he could see Mac talking to Stella. "I don't know, Linds, something tells me that this is not right, that she is not right. Something's up. Call me paranoid, but this whole thing stinks."
"I would never call you paranoid, you know that," Lindsay answered. "I trust your feelings, they have always been right. I actually quite like those gut feelings of yours."
"Yeah, do you?" Danny smiled.
"I do. They have brought you to Montana when I needed you the most," Lindsay answered, with so much warmth in her voice that Danny shivered. He still couldn't believe that this wonderful woman had agreed to marry him. Their wedding day had been the best of his life, closely followed by the day two weeks ago when their daughter had been born.
"You know, not all my gut feelings are right," Danny started.
"Oh, you mean the one about us getting a boy?" Lindsay teased. "True, with that one you have been far off. But back to the matters at hand, do you think Mac needs me to come in as well? I could call your mum to take the baby."
"I don't think you need to come in, but I will ask Mac and should he want you here, I'll give you a call. But you two should really try to get back to sleep now. I'll make sure to stop by later with chocolate cake."
"Oh, please don't," Lindsay groaned.
"But I thought you liked the chocolate cake from the shop round the corner of my old apartment?" Danny inquired.
"I did while I was pregnant. And I had so much of that stuff that I really can't eat another piece for the next ten years!" Lindsay answered and made Danny laugh.
"Alright, fine. Either way, I will stop by later. Now go back to sleep. Oh, and Lindsay? I love you, baby."
"I love you, too, Danny," Lindsay answered and hung up.
Mac and Stella met Danny in the hallway as they were on their way back into the conference room.
"Lindsay wants to know whether you need her hands with this case as well, Mac," Danny asked.
"That won't be necessary for now, Danny. I think we've got it all covered," Mac answered.
"I heard you two have finally decided on a name," Stella said to Danny.
"Yes, we have, but we want to tell you together, so you'll have to wait a little longer, I'm afraid," Danny teased.
The three of them came back into the conference room just as Hawkes and Adam were finished briefing Amy.
"So, Detective Scott, how about summing everything up for us? And after that I'm sure that Adam needs your help and expertise in the lab," Mac said, obviously testing Amy.
His internet researches must have come up clean, Amy thought, now he tries to find out what I can by treating me like any other rookie on the job. He's trying to find my weaknesses, but I won't let him find any, Amy swore to herself. So she just smiled at him, took a deep breath and started on the summary.
Next chapter - Don and Amy will finally get to meet! So, stay tuned. :)
