Chapter Two

Hodges POV

"Head like a hole, black as your soul. I'd rather die than give you control. Bow down before the one you serve, you're going to get what you deserve. Bow down before the one you serve, you're going to get what you deserve."

'There's the old Greg.' I thought to myself as the loud music thrummed in my ears and made me wince. I saw Grissom stomping towards the source of the music: Greg's lab. I could tell that he wasn't that angry, though, I noticed the relief in in his eyes that Greg was acting like he used to. 'I'm glad too, I was almost starting to miss the pain his music causes my ears.'

"Whatcha got for me, Hodges?"

I turned in my chair, "Ah, Catherine. Well, you were right, there were 20 grams of lead in your vic."

Catherine blinked at me for a moment, "Wow, Hodges, I'm impressed. No sarcasm, no self-congratulations, just the answer I was looking for? I'm shocked."

I rolled my eyes at her, "I can be humble when I want to be."

She snorted, "Yeah, right."

"Don't you have something to investigate?"

"There's the Hodges we all know and love!"

I smirked at her and turned back to my work and the music suddenly stopped.

"Have you analyzed my victim's blood yet?"

"Yes, there were 20 grams of lead in his system."

Grissom nodded, "Good, I'll go tell Catherine."

"Oh, I already told her."

"You what?"

"You weren't here so I told Catherine the results."

"I've been here the whole time."

"Catherine told me you were at a crime scene."

"I've been here, David, in my office."

I shrugged, "Oh."

"Next time I want you to page me," Grissom said, giving me a look before leaving.

"Annoying the boss again?"

I knew who that was without even looking, "No, Saunders, that's your forte."

I heard him laugh behind me, "So you heard, huh?"

"The whole floor heard," I said, not looking away from my work.

"Ha! Well, I, uh, wanted to, uh- talk to you about something. See, when I went home I got to thinking and uh-."

"What are you rambling about, Saunders?" I asked, turning, "I've got work to do you know."

He took a deep breath and I rolled my eyes at his flare for the dramatic, "I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, showing me that he was embarrassed, "For yesterday. You helped me figure some things out."

"I did?"

"Yeah. I've decided that I want to be a CSI."

I raised my eyebrows at him, "While I'd love to take credit for it, how'd I help you?"

"You know when you said that I could've died, but I didn't? Well, you got me thinking: if I had died, what would I have accomplished in my lifetime? Sure, I would have been a lab tech to some of the best CSIs in the country, but that's all. I'd always hoped that one day I'd become one, but I thought that I'd have time to do it later. But life can sometimes be short, especially in this place, so I thought to myself: why wait? So now here I am, ready to start training to be a CSI."

I blinked at him, then started clapping slowly, "I think that's the most mature thing I've ever heard you say."

He laughed, the tension gone from his body, "Thanks a lot."

I glanced at the clock, "Oh, you're very welcome. And I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm on break," I said, walking past him, "And I'm serious, you may not be as dumb as I thought you were," I finished, ruffling his hair.

"Hey!" he said indignantly, "your messing up my hair!"

"On the other hand," I murmured, just loud enough for him to hear, "maybe you are."

"Hey, Hodges?" Greg said, his voice a little hesitant.

"Yes?" I responded, rolling my eyes, 'What now?'

"You…you wanna hang out sometime?"

"Uh…" that wasn't what I expected, "sure."

"Good," he said, and I could feel his smile, "I'll let you get to your break then."

"Oh, thanks so much," I responded.

"Don't you take anything seriously?"

"I'm always serious, Greg."

"Okay, David."

I smiled wryly at him, as he laughed, no, giggled, in a way only he could. I turned and headed into the break room where Warrick and Archie were sitting. Archie had his head in his hands and Warrick was just watching him sadly from across the table. I raised my eyebrows at Warrick, asking a silent 'What's wrong with him?' He apparently got my message because he nodded for me to sit and began to explain.

"You know that case Sara and I were working on? The one with the two murdered kids?"

"Yeah," I said, "I remember. The killers tortured them right?"

Warrick nodded, "We got a warrant to search our lead suspect's house and we found some home movies. We gave them to Archie and he started at the beginning of the tapes like we told him to. Those were mostly fine, just teenage pranks and drunken parties and birthday parties and stuff like that. But the older ones were," Warrick paused and rubbed his forehead, "were videos of the kids being tortured. There was four and a half hours of them being hurt and, finally, killed. Archie had to watch all of it and by the time we got back to the suspects house, he had left. Now he's on the run and Archie thinks that if he had started at the later tapes we would have been able to catch the killer."

"Archie," I said, laying a hand on his shoulder, "you were just following their instructions, it's not your fault."

"I know, but those kids, oh god, it was horrible…"

I began rubbing his back soothingly, I'd never envied Archie's job, I knew it was hard on him, having to watch murder, child pornography, rape, exorcists, and such. Archie was such a sweet man and he had grown on me and we had become friends. The Asian man had a tendency to get emotionally involved in some of the cases he saw.

"I know as soon as I close my eyes I'm going to see their faces," he said.

"Why don't you sleep at my house tonight?" I asked, an idea forming in my head.

"What?" He asked, looking up at me from his hands, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it'll be fun. Greg's going to be coming over anyway," I shrugged, "we'll keep your mind off work."

"Greg?" Archie said, startled.

"That's what I said."

"I don't want to be a burden-"

"You won't be," I interrupted, "I'll see you after-"

Warrick's beeper sounded.

"I have to go, 419 at a slot machine," Warrick said, patting Archie's shoulder as he left the break room.

"Yeah, I've got to go too, my break's over. See ya, Arch."

I left the room and as soon as was out of his sight I headed over to Greg's lab. He was, thankfully, in it.

"Hey, Greg," I said, entering, "You want to come over to my house tonight?"

"You finally work up the courage to ask me out?" Greg asked, waggling his eyebrows suggest fully at me.

I thwacked him on the back of his head, "In your dreams. Archie had a tough night so I told him that you and him could come over to my house and relax."

"Oh," Greg responded.

"While I am so enjoying this conversation, I really have to get back to work, so are you in or not?"

"I'm in."

"Fantastic."

"Bye, Hodgey."

"Don't call me that."

Greg just stuck his tongue out at me.