Red eye promises
November 2006
"Hello." Jenna reached over and grabbed the phone with her free hand.
"Killer," hissed the voice on the other end. Jenna bit back a groan, it was another crank caller. They called at least three times a day and if they didn't answer they left foul messages on the answering machine. The inquest was next week and they callers seemed to have stepped it up a notch. Greg had stopped answering the phone and he unplugged the answering machine. Jenna on the other hand just answered to shut them up; this was the fifth one today and she had decided that this was going to get a piece of her mind.
"Your man is nothing but a kid killer."
"You know I'm a little disappointed in this call," said Jenna cutting up carrots for a salad.
"What?!" The caller seemed shocked that she was talking back.
"It's just that I've heard this little speech like five times this week and it's only Wednesday. I mean are you guys all in a club and you share your little harassment messages." Greg came into the kitchen and gave her a look and eyed the phone.
"Bitch you think this is funny?" said the caller. Jenna grabbed a cooked chicken breast and kept talking.
"Oh yes this is comical and yet it's a little sad that the only way you can get it up is by calling my house and being an asshole."
"Hang up the phone," said Greg.
"Bitch."
"Yeah why don't you come and say it to my face," said Jenna hanging up.
"What the hell was that about?" asked Greg, Jenna tossed the chicken into the salad and shrugged.
"It was nothing."
"Don't do that anymore," said Greg taking a tone with her.
"Do what?"
"You know what I'm talking about. Don't screw with the creeps, who call here, I'm serious!" Jenna just rolled her eyes.
"They're cowards." She slammed the salad down on the table and went to get the bowls and Greg was on her heels.
"Don't give them a reason to step it up than." God Greg didn't think it was possible to be so pissed off with her. He wished that she would take this seriously, he had heard from the other CSI's about people who didn't take a crank caller seriously, pissed them off and the person ended up in a ditch twenty miles outside of town.
"I'm not going to let a bunch of heavy breathing; insult spouting, low life punks decide what I can and cannot do." She went to set the table and Greg grabbed her shoulders and made her look at him.
"I'm serious, all it could take is one shitty remark to set them off and it goes from phone calls to being in your face. Promise me you'll just hang up next time."
"Fine I'll hang up! Here I'll even do you one better." She walked over and unplugged the phone from the wall. "There problem solved." She sat down and started having dinner. Greg was wondering if this was how Catherine felt when she took Lindsey down to the morgue and showed her what happens to girls who hitchhike in Vegas. He honestly didn't know what to do to make her understand how serious he was about this. He sat down across from her and started eating dinner.
"I'm calling the phone company tomorrow and having the number changed." Jenna rolled her eyes, but kept eating.
"What!" snapped Greg glaring at her.
"It's like rolling over and saying they win, that's why." He sighed and sat his fork down and took her hand. He knew what the real issue was, it was the fact that she couldn't do anything about what was going on. Jenna had always been a fighter for everything she had and for the people she cared about and he knew that not being to do anything to control what was going on was pissing her off and he had a feeling that telling her what to do was pissing her off even more.
"Jen…I just, I'm tired of this." I'm tired of the calls, I'm tired of reporters, and I'm tired of fighting with you.
"I know, me too." They finished dinner in silence and Jenna started doing dishes while Greg made his lunch for work, he was getting ready to leave when she spoke up.
"Um, I know that things have been well, shitty, to say the least for the last couple of weeks and I was thinking that maybe after the inquest is over and things settle down how would you feel about skipping town for awhile? No phone, no work, just us."
"I'll have to ask Grissom for the time off and see what he says."
"Try for the weeks during Christmas and New Years, so I can ditch and not feel bad for leaving my workers alone." Greg gave her a kiss.
"Let's just wait and see. I'll see you in the morning."
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Maybe a vacation wouldn't be such a bad idea, thought Greg collecting evidence from an arson that happened at a sex offender house and two boys in the neighborhood were also missing. He collected a gas can from the seat of the car, took photos of it and bagged it. It sloshed when he picked it up, there was still gas in the can. Nick thought the fire jumped from the car to the house, the gas can in the front proved that Nick was right. Greg took it into one of the processing labs and thought about what Jenna had suggested.
When was the last time I went on a vacation? It would be nice to be get away for awhile. Greg yawned, he hadn't slept again last night, and the nightmares were still vivid even after a month. He had slept a little better when Jenna was home with him the first couple of weeks, but after three weeks of nearly getting smacked when she tried to wake him up from a nightmare, she had started waiting till he was asleep and than sleep on the couch, and sadly it was something that continued even when they had days off together.
I miss her. Greg made himself focus on work and he showed Sara what he had found.
"A gas container," she said without surprise.
"Yeah I found it melted to the floor board."
"People are so predictable."
"Lucky for us." Greg placed the can under a fume hood and started to figure out the best way to get the gas out.
"What do you have in mind?" asked Sara.
"I think if we can get a clean sample of the gas than we can get some gas DNA and we can compare it to local stations and see if Carl Fisher bought the gas." Sara patted his head.
"Good job." She leaned over and turned on the CD player and turned it up loud. "So how are you?"
The
information is ravenous
The ticker tape feeds the mind
Looking
for a lost transmission
A heaven that we left behind
"Thinking about going on vacation after the inquest?"
"Really? Where?" asked Sara taking notes of the other items pulled from the car.
"Not sure, somewhere that isn't here." Sara looked at him.
"That bad huh?"
"It's just. If you weren't a CSI how would you deal with that we do?" asked Greg.
"I don't know, why do you ask?" Greg filled her in on the crank calls and how Jenna didn't seem to take them seriously and how freaked his was a about the inquest.
"Have you told Jenna this?" asked Sara.
"She tells me it's not my fault about what happened and it sets off a whole new round of fighting and well, Jenna and I never used to fight and now it's pretty much an every other day thing now." Sara went to say something when Grissom came in and clicked off the cd.
"Didn't we talk about this once before Greg?" said Grissom in his pissed off voice. Fucking hell what's next
"I'm the one who turned the music on," said Sara and Grissom gave her a look and Greg really wished that they had never started seeing each other or whatever it was they had going on he wasn't in the mood for it. Greg filled Grissom in on what he found and how he hoped to do a gas comparison with Hodges.
"They're only credible if you get a pure sample, otherwise there are too many variables."
"I know that Grissom, what I got never touched the fire so if we can match it to a station by a dye or chemical make-up we got him. I'm going to take this to Hodges." Greg left the lab feeling annoyed with Grissom and the more he thought about it that vacation was sounding better and better every second.
…………………………………………………………………………………
"The gas DNA panned out," said Greg after driving all over Vegas collecting gasoline, at least the lab was going to pay him back for this. Grissom looked shocked when Greg handed him the final report.
"It did?!" Grissom opened the file and started reading it.
"Yeah Hodges and I traced the gas back to a service station near Fisher's house, he bought sixteen gallons of gas and his car only holds fourteen and he paid for it with his ATM card, not the same as cash."
"Thanks Greg." Grissom took the file and headed into his office. Greg was happy that his shift was over and went to go and change.
"Oh Greggo, I have mail for you," said Judy at the front desk. Judy handed him a package and a message from Detective Vega that was marked as urgent. Greg sighed, he really didn't want to deal with another case. He headed to the locker room and opened the box and realized that he forget that he order this weeks ago for Jenna.
He made sure that no one else was in the locker room and opened it to make sure it was what he had ordered. He knew that with her working in a bakery, rings were really pointless and that she would worry about ruining it all the time, she told him the only reason she had worn the ring Andy had given her was to make him happy, but she had always been worried about losing it. Greg opened the box and examined the necklace, it was silver with an emerald set into a silver backing. Yeah, she was going to like this. He wasn't sure now though about going through with it, all they had done was snap at each other the last few weeks.
Hey they say it's for better or for worst and I think this should count as the worst and so far I haven't found my stuff piled up outside and flaming.
"Hey Greggo, what you playing with?" asked Nick. Greg stuffed the necklace in his pocket.
"Nothing," he lied.
"Whatever, hey Vega is tearing the place apart trying to find you."
"Do you know what for?"
"Nope, I would I just talk to him and get it over with." Greg put what he needed in his locker and went to find Vega. Vega was waiting for him by the front desk and looking worried.
"Hey, what's up?" asked Greg.
"Greg, I need you to come with me right away," A black guy was being hauled in booking and was yelling the whole time, his white shirt was covered with something red.
"Bitch told me to come say it to her face!" They got the guy into booking and Vega looked at Greg.
"I need you to come with me to Desert Palms, Jenna's waiting for you."
"Whoa wait back up a second, what happened why is she at Desert Palms?" asked Greg feeling his heart fall into his stomach.
"That asshole we just brought in threw red paint in her eyes while she was at work. I figure it was better you hear it from me, than from day shift who's working the scene right now. CSI Tate is with her right now and I've been assigned to her case. Follow me there?" Greg nodded and headed to the parking garage and was torn between being pissed at the guy who did this to her and worry about her.
God let her be ok
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
Greg found Jenna sitting in one of the screened off treatment rooms in her jeans and a hospital gown. Her hair was streaked with dried red paint, but one of the nurses had cleaned up her face and had wrapped her eyes in gauze. A doctor was finishing up with her.
"You're very lucky it was non toxic or else we could have been looking at vision loss. Here are your eye drops, three drops, each eye every six hours to clear up any irritation. You can remove the gauze in the tomorrow morning, no bright light until than, and give your eyes a rest. If you have any trouble seeing anything after two days, I want you to come and see me ASAP."
"Ok," said Jenna. The doctor left and Greg sat down next to Jenna.
"Jen," she turned her head to the sound of his voice.
"Greg?" God he had hated it when he couldn't see and he took her hand.
"Yeah it's me." He looked at Tate, she was younger than Greg and had just moved here from Utah and he started questioning her about what she collected.
"Relax Sanders I got lots of pictures, I bagged her shirt, got some hair samples with the paint in it and paint from the bakery, plus ten eye witness who saw everything. Plus they caught the guy and he's singing to high heaven that he did it."
"Greg it's alright, I'm fine." He started to stammer.
"I call being in the hospital and having paint thrown in your eyes the opposite of being fine!" Jenna went to say something when Vega walked in.
"Hello, I'm Detective Vega…I think we might have met at a Christmas party last year?"
"You did a really good impression of Ricky Martin."
"Can we cut the pleasantries and get to what happened?" asked Greg. Greg knew if Jenna was blind she would be glaring at him and Vega gave him a look.
"Can you tell us what happened?"
"I was in the kitchen, designing some orders, when Megan who was working front of house came in the back and told me someone wanted to see me up front."
"Didn't seem odd?" asked Tate.
"No, we get walk in's all the time and people ask to speak to me first. So I headed out and she pointed to a guy who was looking at a display, he had his back turned."
"Can you remember what he looks like?" asked Tate.
"Tall, black…I think he had some braids. Jeans, white shirt, I think he may have been holding a jacket. Um, I went up to him and asked him what he wanted, he asked if I was me and I said yeah and the next thing I remember is a mouth full of paint."
"Your manager Ofilia says that he called you a 'bitch' and he told us that you told him to come say it to your face." Greg looked at Vega and than back a Jenna.
"Well go on, tell him about last night," said Greg.
"We've been getting this crank calls and I lost my temper with one of them who called me a bitch and I told him to come and say it to my face." Vega looked shocked.
"That wasn't a very bright thing to do."
"Well I was pissed and really considering that he's been crank calling the house I didn't think he had the balls to confront me in person. And hind sight is twenty/twenty so if you and Greg are done reading me the riot act, I want to go home. Oh when can I get my necklace back?" Tate held up the bag that had the necklace Greg had given her when they started dating back in college and it was covered in paint.
"We'll see," said Tate. "I know you night shift guys don't like day shift, but relax I got everything and this guy will serve some time even if I have to haul him there myself." She picked up the bags and headed out. Vega closed his notebook.
"If I have anything else I need to ask you, I'll call." Vega left them and Greg sighed.
"Come on let's go home."
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
He fumed in silence all the way home, he was so pissed off at her.
I told her not to piss those guys off and she did and look where it got her.
Oh hold up, you're not victim blaming are you? One of the first thing that Greg had learned was you never blame the victim, it does matter what the case or what happened, the victim is never at fault. It didn't matter if it was a rape victim walking naked down Freemont Street it was never their fault. But still, hadn't he told her to be careful and not piss these guys off? They got to the apartment and Greg helped Jenna up the stairs and into the apartment.
"I can walk you know," teased Jenna setting on the couch, Greg started to pace, he couldn't sit still he was so pissed.
"What the hell were you thinking! God do you have any idea how lucky you are that it wasn't spray paint, or acid or some else that could have caused you to go blind. Christ Jenna, what if he had had a knife or gun, did you think of that?"
"I was trying not to, thank you for making me do that."
"Well maybe you should think about that the next time you decide to piss off a random stranger on the phone."
"Greg, my head hurts are we done."
"No, I'm not done, hell I haven't even started. Christ you could be dead right now, I'm changing the phone number and until the inquest is over I don't want working front of house." She stood up and started to fumble her way towards the bedroom. "Don't you walk away from me!"
"It seems to work for you and don't tell me how to run my business, I didn't tell you couldn't go back to the field after getting the shit beat out of you! " Greg let her go and he heard the bedroom door slam.
"Fine!" He walked out the apartment and slammed the door behind him.
………………………………………………………………………………………
Greg unlocked the apartment around six pm, the sun was already setting and the apartment was dark. He walked into the dark bedroom and saw Jenna lying on her side of the bed with her I-Pod in her ears and Gabriel curled up on her hip and he glared at Greg as if saying
Way to go dumbass. Greg laid down on the bed next her and Gabriel jumped off and went to the foot of the bed, watching Greg. He pulled one of the buds out of her ear and pushed the hair away from the ear.
"Can I listen too?" She shrugged and he put the bud in his ear and pulled her close.
Where'd you go? She said "Some days I feel like shit,
I
miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been
gone.
Some days
I wanna quit, and just be normal for a bit,"
I don't understand
why you have to always be gone,
I get along but the trips always
feel so long,
And, I find myself trying to stay by the
phone,
'Cause your voice always helps me to not feel so alone,
But
I feel like an idiot, workin' my day around the call,
But when I
pick up I don't have much to say,
So, I want you to know it's a
little fucked up,
That I'm stuck here waitin', at times
debatin',
Tellin' you that I've had it with you and your
career,
Me and the rest of the family here singing "Where'd
you go?"
He reached over her and turned the I-Pod off. "I'm sorry, that I yelled at you, it was shitty and that's probably an under statement. I just…I don't want to see you get hurt. I can't see my life without you and I don't want to." She rolled over and face him.
"I'm fine…trust me. I'm going to get hurt, that's life…I would just like it if the hurt wasn't from you." He nodded and took her hand.
"I thought about us going on that trip. I think it would be a really good idea, just us."
"Yeah?" She moved into his arms and put her head on his chest. He felt her start to melt into him and he realized that the last time they had been together was the night before his attack, almost six weeks ago. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace.
"Yeah, just us. You know I love you right."
"When I'm not being a pain in your ass."
"I love you even when you're being a pain in my ass. Jen, will you marry me?" Greg knew if her eyes weren't hidden they would be wide.
"Greg…"
"Just hear me out. I love you, I've always love you, you're it for me in this life and I know that I don't want to be with anyone else but you and…Jen just say yes please."
"Yes."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah I want to marry you." She gave him her left hand and he laughed.
"I got you a necklace instead of ring, because of your work." Greg moved her hair aside and hooked the chain on her neck. "I wish you could see it."
"It will be here tomorrow." Jenna pulled him into a kiss he had wanted for weeks and even with her eye patches on she was still beautiful.
The Information by Beck was the lab song used in the episode Burn Out
Where'd You Go? by Fort Minor was the I-Pod song
