DISCLAIMER:Don't own anything associated with the show… I just like playing with the characters in it from time to time. Dance Monkeys! Dance!
RATING: M - Mature (language, sexual situations, adult subject matter)
PAIRINGS: GSR & Yo!Bling pre-established in previous fics of this timeline.
SPOILERS: Sequel to "Displacement", "Transitions" and "Vicissitudes" - Number 5 in the Discovery Series
SUMMARY: Sometimes, the best way the deal with the changes all around you is to stop fighting and evolve in response to them. GSR/Yo!Bling/Nick-OC

A/N: Things are gonna start heatin' up now. :D Also, I will attempt to keep things rolling along smoothly, but as of Monday... I am gainfully employed again. :D Wish me luck!

REVIEWS: Reviews are the way I know if people are enjoying the work or not. So, if you leave one, THANKS! And if not, I hope you found at least a little something to brighten your day, and thanks for taking the time to read.

Chapter 14
21:00 – 2007.01.15
CSI Lab: Reception

Judy was tidying up the reception counter again. She was beginning to think the swing shift receptionist was messing up her area on purpose. It was hard for her to believe one person could possibly be that disorganized and still keep her job.

Just when she was about to put away the last thing that had been left out, the new trainee for the weekend job came up with a few message slips in her hand. "Judy? I just found these in the outbox. What should I do with them?"

Judy's face went white when she saw the familiar pink sheets of paper. Messages at CSI were not something to be taken lightly; they could be as vital as someone's life. So, to have found even one message mislaid was a mistake of epic proportions, but five meant the whole lab could be in jeopardy. "I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!"

As Nick was about to walk past the reception desk he was shocked by Judy's outburst. She was not a woman given to shouting, so he figured it had to be important. "Trouble?"

She spun in Nick's direction upon hearing his voice. "There will be!" She took a deep breath with her eyes closed for a moment, in order to regain her composure. "Sorry… We just found a bunch of messages the swing shift receptionist misplaced. I just hope it's nothing too import-" She stopped upon reading the first two messages. They were both for Nick, and neither one was properly filled out, or sounded too happy. When she looked at the name of the person who left them, she found a bastardized version of a name she instantly recognized and cringed. "Oh Nick… I am soooo sorry."

"What's the matter?" Nick looked confused as Judy handed him two of the message slips. When he looked down at the first message, he cringed as well.

"I'm gonna take care of the receptionist problem… I promise." Nick shook his head as he walked into the lab and Judy hung her head in frustration. As she looked back up, she turned to her trainee and said, "So, didn't you say you wanted to work more than just weekends?"

CSI GSR CSI GSR CSI GSR CSI GSR CSI GSR CSI GSR CSI GSR CSI GSR

Nick hitched up his backpack onto his left shoulder again and shook his head as he walked to the Evidence Vault. If he was going to make the call, he knew he would need a little privacy. As he rounded the corner and entered the room, he looked at his watch and sighed. If a decent receptionist had taken the message, they would have sent it through to dispatch for them to call Nick and give him the urgent message, but this one let the messages pile up since three o'clock that afternoon.

He noticed some hash marks on the second message, and could only assume that meant she probably called back that many times, and the receptionist had been too lazy to take the information down again. And as badly as he had mangled the woman's name the first time he met her, the receptionist tripled the damage on the first message and then did an even worse job on the second one. If he had not recognized the woman's phone number, he never would have known who the message was from in the first place.

Pressing the numbers on his phone, Nick took in a deep breath before hitting the send button. This is not gonna be good.

"IT'S ABOUT FUCKING TIME!" And true to his prediction, she was not happy. "Do you people even understand the concept of urgent? Call me back right away? ASAP? For Christ's sake how the hell do you get anything done around there?"

Nick grabbed the bridge of his nose and fought the urge to yell back. One of them needed to remain calm if anything was going to be accomplished, and if their past experiences had proven anything to him, it was not going to be the Doc. "Look, I understand… I just walked into the lab and our night shift receptionist found the messages buried by the previous one. As soon as I got them, I called. And I'm sorry for it bein' so late, and all, but I figured it was better than waitin' it out 'til mornin'."

"Damn right! You would've gotten voice mail. In fact, another half hour and you wouldn't have gotten me tonight." Her voice was still aggravated, but Nick could tell she had calmed down a little.

Processing what she said, Nick deduced that she must have been on her way to the research site. "Is everything okay out at the site?" He decided that showing concern for her work would be the ideal way to distract her from her anger.

"What? Oh, no… Everything's fine at the site. I just needed to get out of town to get some work done." He heard the pause in her voice and figured she must have been taking a breath. "Which is why I have been calling you… I've been fielding calls, non-stop since the moment you told that sniveling, self-centered, self-important, moronic freak of an ADA I would testify in his fucking grand jury trial. I DO NOT have the time for this kind of shit. I have a huge report due in Washington in a few weeks and I CANNOT spend every waking moment answering that imbecile's insipid questions."

Nick heaved a deep sigh, understanding her aggravation in dealing with Sinclair. The man could worry the bronze off a statue. "I know the guy is a little…enthusiastic about his-"

"He's not enthusiastic, Nick… He's a fucking idiot! And I swear to God, if that asshole doesn't leave me the fuck alone, I'm going to be in D.C. for the next three months! Then he can see how his precious fucking case pans out." Nick could tell she was ramping up once again, and he knew that sometimes it was just better to let the fire burn out before stepping into dangerous territory. "I have been studying in this field since he was still downing beers through a tube at the frat house, and I DO NOT appreciate some fucking asshat condescending to me about concepts and theories that I freaking discovered and proved!"

"He didn't?" Nick shook his head as he chuckled at the Doc's rant.

"He most certainly did! Mealy mouthed little rodent can eat shit and die for all I care." Nick could not help but laugh at the situation. However, he did try to keep the Doc from hearing him. When she stopped talking all of a sudden, he knew he had failed. "Are you laughing at me?"

"No! Not you… I'm just feelin' a little sorry for Sinclair right about now. I can only imagine how bad you went off on him. Maybe I should check up on him to see how much tail he's got left." Nick heard another pause and then the Doc's quiet laughter.

"Would that be the voice of experience I hear?" That time Nick laughed outright. "Okay… Message received. But I'm still going to hide out at the site for a few days. I've got to put a dent in this report if I'm gonna waste a couple days testifying in this stupid grand jury thing."

"No problem… Look, I'll talk to Sinclair and get this whole thing cleared up, okay?" Nick did his best to smooth her ruffled feathers.

"Yeah, that's fine. If anything changes before I get back, just get me a message through the ranger station, okay?" He was happy to hear that she had finally reached the reasonable stage.

"Sounds cool... Just enjoy the time out there and I'll square everything away back here."

"Thanks… I really appreciate your help with this mess." Just when he thought she was going to end the call she had one more surprise for him. "Hey, how's your niece doing?"

"Neeley… Ah, yeah, she's fine. Just put her on a plane back to Texas this afternoon."

"Did she have a good time on her visit?" Nick was surprised that the Doc was taking the time to ask him about her, but he had to admit that he found the interest intriguing.

"Yeah, she did. As a matter of fact, the folks at the lab want her to come back this summer and take a real internship. And I wouldn't mind havin' her around either. We were pretty close when she was growing up, but since I came to Vegas, it's been kinda hard to keep close." Nick wondered why he shared that last part, but it felt so natural to open up like that, that he just let it go.

"Well, it sounds like you both got a lot out of that trip." Nick thought that would finally be the end of the conversation, but then she said, "If she makes it back out this way, you should have her give me a call and I can arrange a visit out to the site… If she wants, that is."

It took a moment for Nick to regain the ability to speak after that shock. "Um… Yeah, I'm sure she'd like that. She'd like that a lot… Thanks, Doc."