Chapter Seven: Grandmaster

Oh Cinderella, they aren't sluts like you
Beautiful garbage, beautiful dresses
Can you stand up or will you just fall down?

Hole – Celebrity Skin

The lounge area was spacious and well decorated, everything in the room was either custom made or vintage, exactly what Mia expected from the sort of person who would and could shell out four million for an apartment overlooking the city. There were tasteful paintings littering the walls, and dainty halogen lights over saw everything.

"So who called it in?" she asked addressing Danny and Stella as they conferred by the red velvet sofa on the opposite side of the room.

Danny raised his head, his eyes lingering on her before he pushed his glasses up his face. It was Stella who eventually answered.

"Personal assistant found her, claims she was already dead when she found her."

"We saw you in the paper with the Mayor's son, you two getting a little cozy now?" Danny teased as Mia stepped toward them.

"It was sprung on me." Mia stated dismissively, gazing out of the French windows at the body in the pool.

Danny crossed his arms over his chest grinning.

"Ah, your mother pulled another one of those." He chuckled shaking his head.

"Am I missing something?" Stella inquired.

Mia rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, before meeting Stella's gaze.

"My mother kind of has a habit…She basically sets me up with guys…"

Danny interrupted Mia.

"Only the wealthiest bachelors in the city." He input.

Mia glared at him.

"What?" Danny shrugged, "You've got to give her the full story. What she isn't telling you is that she other basically arranges to meet her somewhere and when Mia turns up there's usually one of these young studs waiting for her, isn't there Mia?"

Danny nudged her with his body, Mia responded by elbowing him in the side.

"Your mother sounds like a piece of work." Stella remarked, raising her eyebrows.

"You can't pick your family." Mia responded before following Stella outside to the edge of the pool.

"Debra Gayle, isn't she that big time designer?" Danny asked his voice more serious.

"And big time bitch from what I've heard." Mia replied, staring down at the corpse.

Danny turned his head towards her intrigued.

"You work for this broad?"

Mia shook her head.

"I've heard a few things on the circuit. From the sounds of it she's a psycho, she goes through personal assistant like nobody's business." She informed them shaking her head.

"And she's supposed to be the next Donna Karan." Stella remarked dryly.

Debra Gayle was lying flat on her back beside the pool, her palms were tilted upwards, her dark hair plastered to her skull from the water. She was clad in a stylish black bathing suit, one of her own designs.

Stella took out the camera while Danny and Mia retrieve their flash lights, letting the thin yellow beams trail over the body.

"She's got an abrasion on her forehead." Stella stated, pointing it out to Mia, before looking up at Danny. "See if you can find the point of impact, there may be some blood."

Danny began the search, his eyes flitting over everything and everywhere, taking in the information at hand.

"No signs of struggle," he remarked before crouching down at the pool's edge. "Got a broken finger nail."

He held it up as Mia held out a small evidence envelope for him to out it in.

"So how did your date go with the politician?" Danny asked, in a low tone while they worked.

Mia bowed her head closer to his.

"He's decided to run for Mayor when his father steps down this summer. We could be New York's power couple, with my money and his connections. He could give me the world. Same old." Mia finished sealing the evidence bag and signing it.

"My dates usually start with chicken wings and the Mets." Danny informed her.

Mia put the back of her hand to her mouth to stifle her giggle.

"You're such a liar, when we were dating you took me out to nice places." She reminded him, the two of them were crouched own side by side. Their arms were almost touching. Danny turned his head to face her, finding himself in close proximity to her lips.

"Even nice places sell chicken wings, besides I was trying to impress you." Danny returned, the grin slid from Mia's face.

She was suddenly more serious and subdued.

"I hate that."

"Hate what?"

"That you felt like you had to impress me."

Danny shrugged.

"You telling me that you're a fan of chicken wings now?" Danny teased dispelling the tension.

Mia found herself snorting.

"For the right guy, I would eat chicken wings." She informed him.

"I think I've got the Vic's cell phone here." Stella called out.

Mia rose to her feet so she was a little way behind the other CSI, as Stella crouched on the very edge of the pool looking down. Mia kicked off her shoes, at the same time shrugging off her jacket. Stella turned to stare at her.

"What are you doing?" Stella asked, rising to her feet to confront the young woman as 'Mia rolled up her sleeves.

"Danny said you make all the newbies do this. You know the whole dumpster diving and pool thing. You guys haze us by making us do this… Kinda like a sorority." Mia beamed as she took of her socks.

Stella's eyes narrowed at Danny who was trying to repress the laughter that was threatening to overwhelm him.

"Stop." Stella demanded, causing Mia to freeze. Stella put her hand to her head.

"Dumpster dives I'm all for but jumping in pools? You're going to contaminate our crime scene."

"I thought…" Mia turned to glare at Danny, an unimpressed expression on her features.

"I'll get you for this Messer."

"Looking forward to it Amelia." Danny winked before they set off back to work.


The break room was quiet as Mia sat up in the chair, her eyes were already burning from weariness. Her mail was clasped between her hands, she'd had time to drop by her place before getting the call. Time was running away with her, her body was tired, hell she was exhausted.

The cup of coffee next to her was still steaming, her eyes slipped to it eagerly. Hell she'd been living on a caffeine diet the last few weeks anyway. She sipped from it before flicking through her mail.

Bill, invitation, invitation, junk mail. There was a letter that was handwritten and addressed to her. Curious she tore it open and smiled as she read he name signed at the bottom. She knew the child hadn't written it herself. At age eight in Africa, Zara couldn't really read or write, but with sponsorship, she had clean water and now she was going to be starting school, along with every single child in her village.

Project Africa had started two years ago on a modeling shoot in Zimbabwe, when one of the models, Dominique decided she wanted to visit the village she was brought up in. The two of them ended up embarking on the four hour journey to the village, and what Mia saw there, she knew she would never forget. She thought she saw poverty here in New York, but it was nothing compared to the villages in Zimbabwe. Dominique's village wasn't a bad as some of the others hey passed but what she had seen haunted her.

Conditions had gotten better since Dominique had left but the two of the left wanting to make a better life for these people. It was Dominique that had come up with the idea of a school. It was Mia who pushed forward the fund-raiser back in NY. Between the two of them they'd raised enough money for the school and a little more.

Dominique dropped out of the modeling business and The Project became a registered charity that she ran full time. For the past two years the fund-raiser was successful, between the two of them the charity was thriving. Dominique went back to Africa at least once a year now, helping out the kids and some of the local villages the best she could. She'd always send Mia updates on the children that they helped; it was her way of keeping Mia involved, despite the fact that she was the silent partner of the business.

Mia sighed folding the letter up and jamming it back in the envelope; it was something to put away for safe keeping.

"You look exhausted." Stella stated form the pen doorway causing Mia to start.

She gathered up the rest of her mail and slipped it back into her bag before answering. "Just a little tired." she told the other woman taking a sip of her coffee.

"Not getting much time at home?" Stella questioned, nodding at Mia's hand bag.

Mia shrugged.

"I'm pretty busy." she returned.

Stella dropped into the seat across from her.

"Look you can tell me to shut my mouth if you think I'm butting in but I feel like you've been distracted a lot recently." Stella commented.

"What do you mean?" Mia's head jerked up in dismay.

Stella leaned forward, resting her weight on her elbows.

"When you do this job, the commitment has to be one hundred percent. I feel like your only giving it apart of yourself, like it's a part time job."

"I work full time hours." Mia pointed out.

"I know… I just mean you always seem to have other stuff on your mind. I always see you rushing out and then rushing back in when there's a call out. Do you ever sleep? Do you ever have time to yourself?" Stella asked.

Mia bowed her head, wrapping her hands around the coffee mug.

"As I said, it's a busy life." Mia responded..

"I've seen you, you know. You're always in the society pages. The parties, the boys… I think you need to sit down and think what you really want. You're burning the candle at both ends and at some point, you're gonna burn out and I really don't wanna see that happen to you Mia. You're bright and you have the potential to go the distance in this job." Stella told her, her hands clasped together.

Mia rubbed her face with her palms.

"Is this something I'm going to get fired over?" she asked peeking through her fingers.

To her surprise Stella let out a laugh, her hand reaching across the table and taking Mia's as their eyes met.

"All I'm trying to say is, it's ok to have a social life, but you need to slow down. You can't live in both worlds any more. If Mac catches you looking like this…He's gonna send you home. You need to tone down your reputation, it reflects badly on the lab if one of their CSI's is a party girl." Stella input as Mia pulled her hand away.

"I'll try to be discreet." Mia offered.

"You need to be the best. Mac accepted you because of your own merits. You need to prove he's not making a mistake." Stella advised.

Mia put her head in her hands, rubbing her eyes.

"You need to stand up to your mother at some point Mia." Stella said quietly.

Mia's eyes rose to meet Stella's. She didn't ask how the other woman knew, but she accepted that she did.

"I do stand up to her, she's just very, very pushy, and she's not very happy with me at the moment. She'd rather I'd be doing modeling or married than actually doing a job worth while."

"Why did you pick CSI?"

"At first it didn't matter, my dad said the only way he was letting me in to law enforcement was if I promised to use my degree, and CSI was an easier option. But now…" Mia ran her hands thorough her hair. "Now it all means something, there's that rush you get when you put all the pieces together, when you lock up one of those bastards. Giving people closure… It's something they deserve and to be the one that helps them, it really gives me something Stella. I need to know that I can help people."

"You've just got to figure out what's more important, your new life… Or your old one." Stella said heading towards the door.

"I'll think about that Stella." she promised.

The older woman to paused in the door way.

"Just don't burn out before you make a choice Mia."

And with that she was gone.


Hey! I just wanna say a special thanks to sparkycsi for helping me out and betaing.

Thank you to all my reviewers! I hope you enjoy the next few chapters!

Spanky: Hey, I'm glad you like he Danny/Mia pairing, now that you mention it it's true about the whole forbidden love thing. I'm not sure about the whole Sam/ Flack pairing I may try her with someone else.

Blue Eyed: lol I'm not sure about Mia and Flack, it's one of those we're gonna have to see what happens things. I'm glad you like what's going on. Thanks for the review.

Mjels: Hey, I'm glad you're loving this. Thanks for your review.

Mustlovecat: lol the ending took me by surprise to, but what the char wants the char wants. I think it's going to be an interesting thing to see too, and \i can't wait to see Mia's development. Thanks for your review!

Supernatural: lol It was an interesting case, but I have to admit I hate the whole Grandmaster side of the case, despite the fact I get that's what the ep is based on. I'm glad you like it. Thanks for the review.

Sparky: Cool I've got your new chapter and I will get around to reading it. Lol I know they just seem to gel really well.