DISCLAIMER: Not mine.
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Gil stood stock still, in shock. The last time he had seen Jacob had not been good. They had exchanged words, and Grissom had lost his temper. Something brushed his arm and he came out of his trance long enough to catch Maddy before she could confront her attacker.
"You—you—I'll—I—you," Maddy sputtered. Gil pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her, ignoring whatever Jacob started to say, knowing he had to get Maddy someplace safe.
He looked up and saw Sara standing in the doorway to his office. He said, "Madeline, go with Sara. Go into my office and wait." Sara took hold of Madeline and forcefully ushered her into Gil's office, then shut the door and drew the blinds.
Knowing she was taken care of, he turned to Nick who was still screaming. He placed a hand on Nick's shoulder, but Nick kept yelling, all his energy focused on killing the scum in front of him. He glanced at Vartann, then raised his voice slightly, "Nicky!" Nick stopped and gasped for breath, as he seemed to see Grissom for the first time. "Nick, you're not helping any. Go cool down. When you're ready, come find me." Grissom glanced at Vartann, who seemed to now be holding Nick up as all the fight went out of him. Nick nodded, wiping his brow. He looked at Vartann and nodded. Vartann let him go and he started down the hallway with Vartann close by. Nick stopped and turned around, which caused the large crowd to stop. The detective placed a hand on Nick's shoulder, keeping him in check as Nick pointed at the lanky scientist, "This isn't over, Haste. We're going to get you." His piece said, he turned and let Vartann escort him down the hall and out of sight.
Ecklie announced his presence by shooing the crowd away, "If you want to keep your jobs, get out of here, now!"
Grissom kept his head lowered as he seethed quietly in anger, knowing he could not blow up in front of the lab's entire staff. When the crowd dwindled down to Brass, a couple of uniformed officers, Ecklie, himself, and Haste, Grissom looked up at Ecklie, "Conrad, please leave."
"No, Gil. I have just as much vested interest in Madeline's welfare as you do," Ecklie argued stepped beside Grissom to face Haste.
Looking at him confused, Grissom finally shook his head and turned to his former mentor, "Jacob."
"It's good to see you again, Gil. You've made quite the name for yourself," Haste commented, as if catching up with an old friend.
"I wish I could say the same, Jacob. It seems your son took after you more than you first admitted," Gil said, in a low voice, looking him in the eye.
Haste shook his head, "You can't believe what that lying tramp has been saying. These officers told me she was making up lies again. I came along willingly, just ask them. I want to get this straightened and maybe we can get that poor girl some help."
"The only help that poor girl needs is help getting you behind bars," Gil stalked towards the older man, his voice getting slightly louder with each word. Brass placed a hand on Gil's shoulder. He shrugged it off and said to his good friend, "Don't worry, I wouldn't dignify…him…with physical violence," turning back to Haste he continued, "he deserves to be sent to a prison where they show scum like him what it feels like to be brutally raped, where he gets foreign objects shoved so far up his rectum, he wishes he were dead, where someone makes him his personal bitch, and where the guards don't give a damn." With that said, Grissom turned to head back to his office, throwing over his shoulder, "Jim, please take him elsewhere. I'm not sure how long he will survive in this building." He then opened the door to his office. When he went to shut it, he was stopped. Gil spun around and found Conrad Ecklie had stopped the door from swinging shut behind him. Ecklie nodded to Gil's office. Grissom wasn't up to arguing with his boss, as he didn't really feel like losing his job anytime soon, so he entered and let Ecklie shut the door behind the both of them.
While Grissom took several deep breaths and attempted to calm himself, Ecklie looked at the sofa where Sara sat with her arm around Maddy. He knelt down in front of them and asked, "Are you okay, Madeline?"
"I will be," she didn't look him in the eye. Sara looked over Ecklie's head as Grissom watched Ecklie interact with Maddy, questions in her eyes. He shrugged.
Grissom sat on the other side of Maddy on the sofa, "Honey, are you really okay?"
When she looked up, Grissom and Ecklie both saw the tears streaking down her face. At that point, she realized that she was effectively blocked in. She stood, knocking Ecklie on his butt, and stepped around him, walking to the glass terrarium that housed Grissom's tarantula, she watched the hairy arachnid crawl around his enclosed space, wrapping her arms around herself. Grissom stood to follow her, but was stopped by Sara's low voice, "Leave her, Gris." He turned back to Sara, pain evident in his face. "She needs to regroup. Here, you and he, are acting like she's going to break. Give her time to get herself together," Sara said as she gestured to him and to Ecklie, who had now picked himself up off the floor and was seated in Grissom's desk chair that was still by the sofa.
Not knowing what else to do, Gil sat back down and turned to Ecklie, "Why do you two know each other so well?"
Ecklie ran a finger around his collar as he looked at the floor. Grissom gave him the time he needed to formulate an answer. He finally looked up at Grissom and said, "Madeline saved my job."