Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the CSI franchise. I play with the characters but unfortunately I can't keep them. Otherwise, I'd have a few of them chained to a bed in my non-existent basement and you should be glad I don't own it because I'd add so many hook ups that they would have to change its name to Grey's Anatomy j/k.
A/N: Were you frustrated by the interruption? If I was the one reading it, I would be XD Not that I'm sure that Hodges would have actually confessed. I don't think he sees himself as worthy of Morgan. He thinks he is too old and too cynical and jaded. I would like to give him a whack on the head so he stopped undermining himself. I hope Morgan can convince him that his sarcastic personality and his goodness make him very attractive before it's just too late. I'm ranting, aren't I? XD I was re-reading the last two chapters just now before writing this one and it was super depressing the massive number of typos and errors that had escaped my previous editing *sighs*
Thanks again for reading, reviewing, following and favouriting this fanfic! I wouldn't find the will to write otherwise. This week some IRL friends might be reading this and that's mighty embarrassing but it also makes my heart warm so I dedicate this chapter to all of my friends who've made it this far!
Hodges' POV
That, he hadn't been expecting and his mind debated between feeling exasperated about her recklessness or admiring her dedication. Truthfully he should have already known she wasn't going to stay put because she wouldn't be Morgan otherwise. He sighed internally like a long suffering parent with a mischievous child. But then he heard her chuckle at his expression and it made him feel that being a jester would be the best job in the world if it was on her court. What a random and creepy thought to have. Was he sure he wasn't the one who had hit his head?
-"Here, have your stuff"- he said picking it up from the chair besides her bed- "Should I even bother to tell you that leaving the hospital against the doctor's orders is one of the stupidest ideas you've ever had and your dad is going to kill us both if he finds out?"- he inquired.
-"You aren't going to change my mind and you know it so you can help me get out of here and accompany me to the Lab or I can wait until you're gone, sign the voluntary discharge and get a taxi by myself"- what a devilish, no, scratch that, what an impish smile she had while she not-so-subtly manipulated him into accepting.
-"Okay, okay. You've convinced me"- he said after sighing loudly- "I'm so dead when Conrad finds out"- he thought to himself.
-"Don't be melodramatic"- she chastised him about the sighing- "I'm going to change now so if you don't mind"- she signalled for him to turn around and she started to untie the knots that secured her hospital gown.
David turned his back to her quickly barely containing the impulse to just get out of the room where he would be out of danger. That was a childish impulse, it's not like he was a horny adolescent who was going to try to take a peek at her body.
Still it seemed like the seconds were dragging their feet like rebellious teenagers on their way to a boring ceremony and he couldn't completely ignore that a beautiful woman he desired was completely nude behind him. His traitorous mind didn't doubt to provide him with an abundant supply of images of her and his imagination filled the gaps. He felt himself beginning to blush and something more down below as he thought about how Morgan's body would feel flush against him, the warmth seeping from her as he clutched her tightly in his embrace, bothering that soft skin until it got red and ache-y with need.
He stopped himself right then and there feeling even worse than if he was a peeping tom. He tried somewhat successfully to think of something disgusting like human remains or having to eat a very nasty and full of germs spoilt mayonnaise (Salmonella could be very dangerous!) to kill off his hard on.
-"Hey, you can look now"- she informed him but he still took a few seconds of breathing in and out before doing it.
-"Well, that took you long enough. Let's go".
Morgan's POV
She couldn't deny she had felt a certain amount of satisfaction at bewildering her friend but after asking him to turn around she had felt a little self conscious changing in the same room as him after so many mind-fucking dreams. She thought that it was only the difficulty of untying those damn little knots with her scratched hands that had prevented her from dwelling too much on the issue. She would have preferred to die on the spot than relive her fantasies in that situation.
After signing all the necessary documents to the opposition of Dr. McKay, they stopped a taxi to the Lab. Hodges helped her get inside and she found it funny that he seemed to be trying to help her while at the same time trying to touch her as little as possible. Maybe changing in the same room as him had been too much for the poor man. She felt the irrepressible need to tease him a bit so she inched closer to him in the seat.
-"Where are you going lads?"- a sixty something year old man asked them.
He gave him the address as he tried to make himself one with the door to escape her approach. She didn't try to get closer to him. Teasing him was one thing but torturing him so much that he jumped out of a running car was quite another.
She settled into her seat as the radio started to play "She keeps me warm" by Mary Lambert. The easy repetitive rhythm of the song seemed to make Hodges calmer because he visibly relaxed and stopped trying to fuse himself with the door. The lyrics were simple but very sweet and she kept refraining the urge to caress the hand that Hodges had hanging by his side. She was sure he would jump if she tried.
They just stayed side by side in silent companionship until they got to the Lab where each of them parted to continue their work.
Today wasn't her lucky day for sure but she felt her luck was changing when she managed to find Finn and Mitchell together in the first examination room she entered.
-"Hey. Glad to see you out and about. The hospital staff couldn't put up with you anymore and they decided to release you, didn't they?"- Finn was beaming at her while she tried to pull her leg.
-"Hello Brody. I hope you are feeling better?"- his tone seemed to imply he was wondering why they had released her so soon.
-"Hi guys. Don't worry, I'm completely fine"- she said omitting her voluntary discharge.
-"Well, in that case we have news that are quite incredible"- Finn seemed very eager to tell her.
-"Yes, a judge approved our request and we gained access to the confidential files of Martin Atkins. He used to be a cop".
-"A cop?"- she wasn't expecting that.
-"Yes, he worked in an undercover drug unit mission. We managed to talk to some of his superiors and his partner is coming to the Station"- they had been working diligently during the time she'd spent in the hospital- "He was working an Ireland drug ring led by the MacAuliffe Family of south-west Munster in Chicago. His superiors have told me that they got three strong convictions out of the information he got but that later, after the operation had ended, he decided to quit the force because of the psychological trauma he'd accrued during the undercover stint".
-"And then he changed his name and moved to Las Vegas where he go married and had a daughter"- concluded Finn.
-"Why did he change his name? Was it because he feared retaliation or was there something else?"- that was the question that was on their three minds and she was just voicing it out loud.
-"I just hope the interview with his old partner will give us more information"- Mitchell didn't seem too convinced- "If we could just get our hands on that slimy assassin cop".
-"You still believe he is the killer one hundred percent?"- she was curious.
-"Yes, I do and I promised the parents of the little boy, Colin Addams, that I would do everything in my hand to find him and bring him to justice"- he was pretty solemn as he said it.
She couldn't imagine how hard it could be to lose a son and in such a cruel way. Her own father had been too close to having to identify her corpse. She wanted to get to work soon and just concentrate on that.
-"Morgan, would you mind going to check how is Archie doing and go around to Henry's too?"- asked Finn- "I just need to write down all the new information to see if I can get anything else out of it".
-"Sure, I'm going right now"- she quickly acquiesced- "Bye Mitchell" - she wished him luck with catching Martin but she was less and less convinced he was the culprit.
-"Hey Archie!"- she greeted the usually hyper tech.
-"Hi... oh God. what happen to your face?"- he might be the only person in the Lab who hadn't found out about her ordeal.
-"I just really wanted the last piece of pizza. You don't want to see how the other one ended"- she deadpanned him.
-"Seriously, did something happen to you? I've been watching all the ATM footage of the last week of your case non-stop"- he sounded worried.
-"It really is nothing. I just got a small concussion from the suspect in our case. I'm good as new"- she reassured him- "Now, what do you have for me?"
-"In the past week I've seen the same vehicle parked during a long period of time on three occasions. Last night two men got out of it and entered the building".
-"Does any of them match the description of the suspect? Is one of them a big dark haired thug?" -She bombarded him with questions- "Is there footage of them leaving with the girl?"
-"Easy there"- he tried to slow down the avalanche of inquiries- "One of them might match the description of Martin Clegane but it was dark and the car blocked most of the image so even my uncle Lin could match the description. The other one seems to fit the description you just gave me. Look"- he said showing her the enlarge imaged quite distorted by the zooming of someone who looked like the large man that had escaped on the Harley- "You already know that the ATM cam only works when someone is taking out money and unluckily nobody was there when they got out. I imagine they waited until the street was empty before leaving".
-"Can you get anything else out of it?"- she was running out of hope.
-"I think I can get a plate number but it's going to take a good while. Cleaning the image is a pretty slow process you know"- he seemed to be regretful he couldn't offer more to help find the girl.
-"Yes, I know but thanks a lot. This is really going to help"- they would have something to work with soon. That was great news- "Have you told Officer Mitchell?"
-"I was just about to call him"- he admitted.
-"Well, then I'm not going to keep entertaining you"- she made her goodbyes- "Page me as soon as you get anything on the License Plate Number"
-"Okay. Try to not get whacked on the head again"- he told her.
-"I'll try"- she said chuckling.
The visit to Henry didn't provide anything useful as the DNA was still in the middle of the process and Henry reminded her he couldn't rush the DNA polymerasa and she of course had to agree. They had a DNA sample of Martin Atkins now from his time as a cop so they would finally be able to compare it with the unknown samples they had gotten from the fingernails of Jennifer's mother Vanessa and of Colin.
She exited the DNA quarters and pressed her forehead against the glass to cool it. Greg happened to pass by in that precise moment.
-"Hey, how are you doing?"- oh, that question again- "Do you have a headache? Are you sure you should be out of the hospital so soon?"
-"I'm okay Greg. It's just that this is a pretty hard case"- Greg was always looking after everybody in the Lab so she didn't want to worry him.
-"That's good to hear but if you aren't feeling completely al right, just tell me and I'll drive you myself to the hospital".
-"Thanks Greg. I'll do"- she smiled at him thankful for the offer although the more pig-headed part of her brain completed the sentence with "over my dead body" because she really wanted to find Jennifer before anything bad happened to her and time was running out.
-"Take care Morgan"- and with that he entered Henry's Lab.
She decided to go see if Hodges had something for her although she knew it was really unlikely and she just wanted to chat with him for a bit and clear her head.
Hodges' POV
-"So you are telling me that he was an undercover cop that changed again his identity and maybe a drug Family chased him here to make him pay for sending some of its members to prison?"- it sounded a little far-fetched when said out loud.
-"I know it sounds like an over elaborated tale but there's more. It seems like Martin Atkins was fighting with one of the killers. Maybe he was one of his contacts from those days. Maybe he didn't even know he was involved in the murder and kidnapping for sure"- she seemed to be having trouble fitting all the information and impressions she'd gathered together.
-"This is looking more and more like that episode of Castle in which there's that spy game or maybe like the one with the Mafia"- he wondered aloud.
-"You are a fan of Castle?"- she asked with curiosity.
-"Of course not. My mother loves the actor that plays Richard Castle so I've watched one episode or two when I was over for dinner"- he tried to minimize his guilty pleasure secret.
She stared at him.
-"Okay, more like a season or two and then I had to know what had happened to Becket's mother and well... yeah I'm a fan, happy?"- he reluctantly admitted.
-"Was that so hard?"- she lightly teased him- "You've never been ashamed of your nerdy interest and now you try to hide something to what most people wouldn't give a second thought?"- she smiled- "Sometimes you are flabbergasting".
He didn't know if he should feel flattered or insulted so he picked the former.
-"Thank you"- he comically puffed out like a proud peacock in order to get an smile from her.
-"Don't be silly"- she laughed at his mock preening.
She had entered the room kind of low of morale and depressed and she now was laughing and happy. He still felt he should never pursue a relationship with her. He was too old, too much of a jerk and a complete emotional mess. He saw the world like a place where people screwed one another constantly. He was never going to be good enough for her as a partner but he had just proved that he could be the good friend that pulled her up when she was feeling down and that was all he thought he could ask for.
A/N: Well, what did you think about today's chappie? There was more interaction between our protagonists for sure. Was it interesting? credible? too corny? Do you want to kick Hodges for being such a Dobby Downer? What do you think about the case? I admit that I'm a total perv and that I enjoy putting my characters in uncomfortable situations. Such fun! (this last joke will only be understood by fans of the TV series Miranda). Anyway, please tell me what you thought in a review in that box just below. I'm really looking forward to reading what you think because it's the only way I'm going to improve and I want to! As I'm not posting before then, I want to wish you Happy holidays! Season's Greetings my dear readers!
PS: Sorry for posting so late. I took too long to write. My complete fault.
