Chapter 4

"Trust me when I say you don't wanna live here," Greg said, as they walked into the kitchen.
"But its the nicest place we've seen all day," Phoebe pointed out.
"You ever wonder why a place this big is going so cheap?" She shook her head, "Ok," he began, turning her round, "See that wall, nice new paint right… its cause there's some guys brain matter splattered underneath."
She sighed, "Greg, is there anywhere on this list that's not an old crime scene?" she asked, holding the piece of paper up.
He took it from her hands, scanning over the list, "Nope… nope…" he muttered to himself, "That ones not… oh wait… no, sorry it is… okay, there are 5 on there that aren't.. well not that I know of," he told her, handing back the list.
She looked down, there were only 10 on the list in the first place, and they'd already been to 4, "Okay, well we won't go to those ones, agreed?"
"Agreed," he nodded.

"Well, this is defiantly a great neighbourhood," Greg assured her, as he pulled his car into the parking lot of the apartment complex.
"Was that sarcastic?" she questioned, unbuckling her seatbelt.
"No… maybe a little exaggerated…" he began as he opened the door.
Phoebe got out the passenger side, and closed the door, walking towards the entrance, "But I wouldn't be going to tons of crime scenes at my neighbours?"
He laughed, "No, seriously… I live in this neighbourhood, it's a good one," he assured her.
"You live round here?"
He nodded, "Bout 3 blocks that way," he pointed.
She smiled, as the two headed in to greet the landlord.

20 minutes later they were stood in the living room, "What do you think?" Phoebe asked Greg.
"Well, I really like it, but I'm not the one that would be living here… what do you think?"
"I think… its perfect," she smiled, "I just wanted to see what you thought first."
He gave a small laugh, "Well, I really do like it," he promised.
She looked down at the paper in her hands, the price was within her range, and it was close to the lab, and best of all, it was available now, so she could move in straight away.
"So, are you interested?" the landlord asked.
She looked at Greg, "It's up to you," he reminded her.
She turned to the landlord, "When can I move in?" she smiled.

"Man I can't wait to move in!" Phoebe sounded excited, "Get out of that damn hotel room."
"Yeah, I can imagine it's not the greatest place to stay," Greg returned as he pulled out his keys, listening to the beep as he opened the car.
"Let's go get something to eat, I'm starving," she said as they approached the door, she paused, looking across at Greg over the car, "Oh that is if you want to… I mean, if you're not busy," she blushed a little, slightly embarrassed.
He smiled at her, "Sure that sounds like a plan."

"Thanks for today," Phoebe told Greg, as the waiter placed their food in front of them. They were sat opposite each other in a diner not far from the apartment.
"I'm glad I could help," he smiled.
"Well, you helped me finally find somewhere to live, so it was more then helpful," she assured him.
"Well, we couldn't have you living in a hotel room for much longer," he reminded her.
She nodded her head, "You can say that again."

As they ate they sat talking, and after a while the conversation turned to work. "So," Phoebe began, "What made you want to move out the lab?"
"Oh, I guess I just needed a change of scene… I mean don't get me wrong I loved working in the lab, but I just felt like my world was so small in there, I remember helping Grissom on a case once, I got to go out in the field for the first time and I just remember feeling like out there was big y'know," he explained.
She nodded, "I know what you mean," she took a sip from her drink, "Its like you get to see the whole picture when you go out there."
"Exactly," he nodded.
"So, were you a science buff at school?" she smiled.
He gave a small laugh, "Yeah… actually, my parents started me at school a year early," he confessed.
She raised her eyebrows "Wow, I'm impressed."
"Really?" he asked, "Most people tell me I must be some sort of super geek," he admitted.
"They're probably just jealous of you because you're more intelligent then them," she grinned.
"That why you didn't say it huh?" he joked.
She blushed, "I'm not that intelligent," he raised his eyebrows as if to reply but she cut him off, "So your not from Vegas right?" she asked.
He smirked, "Good cover up."
Phoebe looked at him, as she too raised an eyebrow, "You're not from Vegas right?" she asked more forcefully.
He gave a small laugh to himself, before finally answering her question "Nope," he shook his head, "Santa Gabrial, California," he told her.
"Really? I went to school in California," Phoebe said.
"That's a long way from Chicago," he noted, taking a sip of his drink.
"Yeah, I know, but I felt like the move would do me good, and I needed some sunshine," she joked, "Besides, Stanford was one of the best places I looked at." At this comment Greg almost choked on his drink.
"You went to Stanford?" he questioned.
She looked at him slightly confused by his outburst, "Uh, yeah… why?"
"I went to Stanford," he explained.
"What! Really?" she exclaimed.
"Yeah," he nodded, "Man that's just crazy, I mean of all the schools in the country," he said.
"I know, how weird, you a frat boy or a dorm guy?" she asked.
"I was a frat boy," he said proudly, "Phi Beta Kappa."
"I was a Delta Gamma girl," she told him.
He raised his eyebrows, "Really?" he asked, with a knowing smile.
"Hey, what's that look for?"
"Oh nothing… I just dated a few Delta Gammas in my time… they had a bit of a reputation…"
"Wait that was before my time" she tried.
He laughed, "That was you time,"
"Well, I uh…" she tried to protest, but could tell from the look on his face that he would never buy it, "I was a good girl at college," she tried.
"That what you used to tell your parents?" he teased. She opened her mouth, but closed it again. Greg laughed, "Don't even try to deny it."
"Ok… I'll admit I had fun at college, but it's not like I slept around."
"Sure you didn't, you just partied and drunk like the rest of us," she nodded, "And probably had a lot of group sex," he continued.
"Hey," she began, smacking him playfully on the arm, "Don't you dare be going spreading rumours about me Greg Sanders!"
"I wouldn't… even if it was true," he smiled playfully.
"Hey, I'll have you know I was still a virgin when I left college," she found herself confessing.
He smiled, "I believe you, thousands wouldn't, but I do."
She gave a small laugh and was about to say something when the sound of a phone ringing interrupted. She knew it wasn't hers as her ring was different, and watched as Greg pulled his phone from his pocket, he looked at the screen frowning slightly, before looking over at Phoebe, "Sorry," he said, giving her an apologetic look, before answering the phone.
"Hello… uh hi… actually, I can't make it, sorry… yeah maybe…ok sure… bye," he finished, closing his phone, slipping it back in his pocket.
"I'm not keeping you from something am I?" she asked, hoping she hadn't ruined plans by going to lunch.
"Oh, no… just a uh friend, wanted to meet up," he said.
"Well if you wanted to go I wouldn't mind," she told him.
He smiled, "Nah, I'd rather stay here."
She smiled, feeling herself blush ever so slightly, "Uh, thank you."

It was a few days later and Phoebe had just arrived at work, she'd had to go over to the storage space where she had been keeping all her furniture to sort out some stuff about the move and was an hour late, but knowing she was going to be late she'd spoken to Grissom and he'd assured her it was ok.
As she arrived she'd found Grissom who'd told her she was working with Greg, Nick and Warrick, who he'd last seen in the evidence room, which is where she was headed now.

Greg, Warrick and Nick were stood round the table in the evidence room going over the evidence they'd recovered from their scene, a shooting at a club leaving 5 dead. As they were going though the various items the conversation began to drift from the evidence.
"Hey, Greg… what happened with that girl, what was her name?" Nick began.
"Claire," Warrick cut in.
"Yeah, that was it, didn't you say you were gonna see her on your day off?" Nick questioned.
Greg looked up from the bottle he'd been looking at, "Oh… um, yeah, I cancelled it," he said quietly.
"Why man?" Nick was surprised.
"Yeah, she was fine," Warrick added.
Greg just shrugged in response, not looking at them, "Are we missing something?" Nick continued, glancing at Warrick.
"Maybe I'm just not interested anymore," Greg muttered, still not looking up from what he was doing.
"Is this the same guy that last week was dying to tell us how damn hot this chic was," Warrick spoke up.
Nick glanced back at Greg before a sly smile came across his face, "This hasn't got anything to do with the new chic has it?"
At this comment Greg looked up, "What… no…"
Warrick laughed, "Hey man, I think you're right."
"Aww, Greggo got a case of the Phoebe Jeebies," Nick teased.
"Listen guys, she's a nice girl, but I don't know her that well, I mean she only started last week," he tried.
"Nah man, Nicks right, you definitely got the Phoebe Jeebies," Warrick mocked, taking Nicks phrase.
"Whatever guys," he mumbled.
The two guys laughed, but stopped as soon as they spotted Phoebe head into the room. She stopped in the doorway, noticing the hush that taken over as soon as she'd arrived, "So, you guys talking bout the new girl?" she only half joked.
"Oh, no," Nick smiled, "We were just talking about… Grissom…" he lied.
She frowned, "Uh, ok…" she began, as she stepped in the room, she glanced at Greg, who was staring intently at what he was doing and noticed he looked slightly flushed. "Uh, I just saw him, he said I'm with you guys," she explained.
"Cool, we got a lot of evidence to go through," Warrick told her.
"Ok," she nodded, sitting down.
Nick gave her the details of the case and what they'd found at the scene, once he'd explained she began to go over the stuff with them, she noticed Greg hadn't said anything to her since she'd arrived.
"Hey Greg," she smiled.
"Hi Pheebs," he returned.
She couldn't help but notice he'd called her Pheebs and smiled to herself, it was a nickname all her friends and family used and it was nice to hear someone else use it, "Oh, I got some good news," she told him.
He looked up, "Yeah?"
"Yeah, I spoke to the landlord, and I had to sort some stuff out with the movers and that tonight… but I can move in tomorrow," she grinned.
"Hey that's cool," he replied, retuning the smile.
"I know, I can't wait."

"Ok, so I've taken the substance you guys recovered over to Hodges, as well as the shirt with the discolouration…" Phoebe began, as she entered the evidence room, where the guys were now processing their evidence for prints," And is it just me," she continued, "or does Hodges really not like me?"
The guys all laughed, "Its not just you," began Nick.
"Yeah, he doesn't like anyone," Warrick continued.
"Oh, ok, well I guess that makes me feel slightly better," she reasoned.
"Hey," they heard a voice from the doorway, and all looked up, "Officer Jerk off, what are you doing here?" Nick asked rudely.
"Its Merkoff," he corrected again.
This time round Nick just grinned, "I know."
Warrick laughed, Phoebe was staring at him angrily, he looked at her, before looking across at Greg, "Sanders… so it's true, they let you out the lab?" he questioned.
Greg looked at him, he, like the others didn't like this guy, he was always a complete jerk at crime scenes and had always delighted in calling Greg as many science geeky names he could think of when he saw him, "Yeah," he replied shortly.
"Well I guess they got fed up of you in the lab, Mr know it all science freak."
"Hey man, back off," Nick spoke up before Greg had the chance to.
"Chris shut up, you wanna talk to me then fine, stop being such a jerk," Phoebe spoke to him for the first time, as she walked past him out into the corridor, hoping he would follow. He gave the guys one last smug look before following her.
"Oh my god," Greg spoke up once he'd gone, "That's Chris?"
"How the hell does Phoebe know him?" Warrick questioned.
Greg looked across to the two guys, "He's Phoebe's ex," he explained.
"What?" Warrick and Nick questioned simultaneously.
"Phoebe dated him?" Warrick was amazed that a guy like him could ever get a girl like her.
"Not just dated, they were engaged," Greg told them.
"My god you can't be serious." Nick muttered shaking his head unbelievingly.

"Chris what are you doing?" Phoebe was angry, "This is where I work! You can't just come round to talk to me!"
"Well what else am I meant to do, you changed your phone number, I don't know where you're staying," he pressed.
"There's a reason for that Chris," she replied.
"Come on Phoebe, I told you I'm sorry, can't we at least talk this over," he tried.
"How many times do I need to tell you I don't want to talk, we're over, end of story,"
"But Phoebe… I miss you," he told her quietly.
"Miss me! You should have thought of that before you started screwing around behind my back… and I know it's been going on the whole time I was in Chicago!" she cursed.
"How do you… did that bitch talk to you, did she tell you that?" he shot back.
She shook her head slowly, "No Chris… you just did," she sighed, now knowing that what she thought, had been true all along.
He sighed, annoyed that she'd caught him out, "Listen…"
"No, you listen" she cut him off, "You need to realise that it doesn't matter what you say or what you do, there's no way I'm ever gonna forgive you," she turned to walk away, but stopped briefly, turning back to him, "And don't come here again," she finished, before finally walking away, heading back into the evidence room.

As she walked back in the room she could see the guys had been watching her, "You ok Pheebs?" Greg was the first to ask.
She smiled at him, "I'm fine… thanks, I uh, I'm really sorry about him, he never used to be such an asshole, I just… I'm sorry," she finished, looking down at the ground briefly, before looking back up at the guys.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Warrick spoke up.
"Yeah, it's not your fault," Nick added, "we've all dated some psycho's in the past right," he joked.
She gave a small laugh, "Thanks guys."
"Hey I got a match," Greg spoke up, looking up from the computer screen to the others, "The print from the broken wine bottle… belongs to Steve Masters…"
"Wait, isn't that the owner?" Nick question.
"Yeah, who said he never goes to the club," Warrick added.
"Then how did his print get on that bottle," Phoebe spoke up.
"Exactly," Warrick said.
"I'll go call Brass," Nick said, heading out the room.

Warrick and Greg had gone with Brass to talk to Steve Masters while Nick and Phoebe had headed to ballistics, where Bobby had paged Nick.
"Hey Bobby," Nick greeted as he headed into the lab.
"Hi Nick… Phoebe," Bobby smiled at the two.
"Hey," Phoebe replied.
"So what have you got for us?" Nick questioned.
"Well I can tell you all your bullets are full metal jackets, coated primarily with teflon," he told them.
"Cop killer," Nick nodded quietly.
"Yeah, gotta mean business with that type of ammunition," Phoebe added.
Bobby nodded "and they come from a .44 magnum handgun," he finished.
"What about markings?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, the striations are a lot harder to see on the full metal jacket then say the softer lead bullets, but I got enough to tell you these bullets all came from the same gun," Bobby explained.
"So we're looking for one guy," Nick spoke.
"Any hits through IBIS?" Phoebe asked hopefully.
"Nope, sorry guys," he shook his head.
"Ok, thanks Bobby," Nick smiled, as he and Phoebe headed out the lab.
"Bye," she called before leaving.

"Looks like we're pulling another double guys," Nick said, as he looked down at his watch.
The case was keeping them busy, once Warrick and Greg had spoken to the club owner they'd managed to get a warrant to search his home. Nick had gone over there with Warrick while Phoebe and Greg had returned to the scene to look through his office.
By the time they'd all returned to the lab it was nearing 10am, and they still had to process the new evidence they'd recovered.

It was 1pm by the time the four of them were stood in the locker room, "Man, I can't believe we gotta be back here in a few hours," Nick complained, pulling a clean shirt from his locker.
"I know, it feels like I'm never home," Warrick added, as he slammed his locker shut, "I'll see you guys tonight," he told them, as he headed out. They called their goodbyes, and shortly after Nick too left, leaving Phoebe alone with Greg.
She yawned, the last thing she felt like doing was having to move herself into her apartment.
"Hey, you still gonna move into the apartment today?" Greg asked her, remembering she'd told him she was meant to be.
She nodded, stifling another yawn, "Yeah… sucks, but gotta be done."
"You working tonight?" he asked.
Another nod, "Uh huh,"
"When are you gonna sleep?" he questioned.
She shrugged, "I probably won't, but I have to get moved in today," she told him, as she grabbed her bag from out her locker closing the door.
Greg stared at her, "Pheebs…"
"I'll be fine… I've pulled in longer shifts before…"
"But…" he began, but could tell that it wouldn't matter what he said, "You want a hand?"
She gave a small smile, "Thank you Greg… but I can't let you do that, you should go home and get some sleep."
"I don't mind," he continued.
"And I believe you… but I can't let you spend your few hours off helping me," she replied. Greg looked down, slightly deflated, Phoebe sighed, "Man you don't give in do you… Ok, if you really want to," she gave in.
He broke out into a broad smile, "See that wasn't that hard was it."
She rolled her eyes, "Whatever," she muttered as the two headed out the room.