Dear Readers,
I am going to have to be a little rude and ask for at least 10 reviews before I can continue. They can be criticisms too, reviews don't have to be good things. I am doing nanowrimo in November and need feedback on things. If you do not know, nanowrimo is a month-long writing contest. I am so excited for it. If I am going to do both fan fiction and that, I will need your support. I love writing CSI and I know — I hope — you love reading .
P.S This story is going to be a pain in the ass for you to read until it clicks and then it'll all make sense and you'll go "oh!"
~Katy
~8~
It took a while for technical services to silence the music, but they were only successful because, yet again, they disconnected the servers. Catherine ordered that all computers be restored to factory settings. Luckily, any important information had been backed-up. Sara and Gil debated, and it was decided that she would take the kids back to the hotel and he would stay and assist if he could. Emily was reluctant to leave her new Texan friend, but after Nick promised that they'd hang out sometime, she left with her mother.
The first thing Gil did was access any information that the city still had on Syd Goggle and Paul Milander. Most of the evidence, because the cases had been closed, had been destroyed. Luckily, he was able to gather enough leftover photos, testimonies, and rely on his own memory. Since Greg had been a lab tech at the time, he congregated with Nick and Catherine to recall what they remembered.
"I remember that you almost lost your job during the strip stangler incident," Catherine pointed out.
"Let me rephrase my question then," Gil said. "Does anyone recall anything related to the case?"
"I remember that the semen wasn't his," Nick said. "He um… collected it."
Grissom wrote something in marker on the glass board. "Okay, look up that name and see if we can contact this man," he said. "Maybe our copycat is forgetting a few things. This could be our step-up."
"So what did Milander and Goggle have in common. They were both males… that's about it," Catherine said.
"They both had a front seat in their own crime scenes," Nick said. "We questioned Milander and he even played with us. Syd claimed to be a witness and even talked to Grissom."
"And Goggle had a copycat of his own," Gil added.
"Didn't Agent Culpepper use Sara as bait?" Nick asked.
Gil snapped the cap back on the magic marker. " Yeah and I wanted to give him a real big piece of my mind over that," he said, tossing the marker onto the table.
Catherine raised her eyebrows. "You didn't?" she asked. "If I recall, you had a few choice words."
"That was me holding back," Gil said with a smirk.
~8~
"I wish Nick wouldn't leave," Morgan said. "I like having him around."
Greg set down the evidence he had been working with and turned to her. "You think he is funnier than me, don't you?" he asked.
Morgan shrugged. "He's not exactly funny," she said. "He feels like… a brother."
"Oh," Greg said as he lowered his eyes. "Like me?"
Morgan pursed her lips and turned. Though men found her attractive, she considered herself a nerd. And, as a nerd, flirting was not a strong suit
"You are most definitely not my brother," she said as she left.
~8~
"When is Daddy coming back?" Emily asked as she jumped up and down on the queen-sized bed.
"Well, Daddy just called," Sara explained as she laid a freshly changed Ethan on his back in the playpen. "And I think he said something about a spinach pizza."
"Yum!" Emily shouted. "I love that!"
"Emmy, let's be quiet," Sara said quietly as she lifted the little girl off the bed and set her on her feet. "Ethan is sleeping."
Emily scampered over to look into the playpen. "Why does he sleep so much?" she whispered.
"Cause he's a newborn," Sara replied, as she ushered the little girl away from the pen. "Their brains need to develop."
"Did I sleep a lot when I was a newborn?"
"Yes, you did."
"Is that why I am so curious?"
"Maybe so."
"If we don't like Ethan can we take him back to the hospital?"
"No, Daddy and I want to keep him. Just like we kept you."
"But what if I don't like him?"
"Do you like him?"
Emily shrugged. "He's okay," she said as she walked over to sit by her mother.
The door to the room opened and Gil stepped in holding a pizza box. Emily leaped off the bed and raced towards her father. He had just enough time to put the box on the table before she collided into his legs.
"Look at you!" he said as he lifted her up. "You have your pajamas on. Are you ready for bed?"
Emily shook her head and snuggled into his neck. "No, I'm not sleepy. I guess we can watch the news," she said.
Sara walked over to the small table and they all sat down to eat. "Well, we won't make you watch the news," she chuckled. "Maybe after you eat, you'll get more tired."
Emily shook her head, her brown ponytail flopping back and forth as she did. "Nope, I'm not," she said. "I have no school tomorrow. I can stay up allll night long."
~8~
After a few slices of pizza, Emily fell into a deep sleep. The couch in the room folded out into a bed, so Sara made the bed up and laid the little girl down.
"Thank God we didn't have to watch the news," Gil joked as he settled onto the queen-sized bed. "I'm sorry I wasn't around much today."
"We were just fine," Sara replied as looked in the playpen at Ethan. "I bet we can get a couple hours of sleep if we pass out right now."
Gil chuckled as she climbed onto the bed and into his arms. He hugged her tightly to him and planted a kiss in her hair.
"Do you know what Nick mentioned today?" he asked her in whisper.
Sara shook her head and yawned. "What?" she asked.
"That time you were used as bait for the Strip Strangler," he replied. "I never really told you what I had been thinking that day."
Sara turned her neck to look up at him. "That you wanted to take me right there in the store," she said dramatically as she kissed him.
He gave her a wicked grin. "A gentlemen never tells those things," he joked. "I was thinking that I wanted to protect you. It is weird to say this now, but … that was the night I knew that if I were to ever marry anyone, then it would be you."
"Ohhh," Sara sighed with a smile. "For you, that's saying quite a lot. I love you too. In that moment, I was embarrassed that I had my wallet stolen. I really wanted to make you proud of me."
"Baby, I was… am proud of you," he said. "that's one reason I asked you to come to Las Vegas. I was impressed with you. I trusted you."
"One?" Sara asked, raising an eyebrow. "What was the other?"
Gil chuckled. "A gentleman never tells those things," he joked as he began to whisper lovingly into her ear.
~8~
Hello all, submit to me your thoughts and feelings ( about the story... not life).
