A/N: I don't own any recognized entity, including (but not limited to) CSI, CBS, or "Broken" by Lindsay Haun, which is the song at the end of the chapter. There are about five more chapters and an epilogue after this, so please, review if you wanna hear what's going on. Any questions, please comment or PM me. :D Enjoy, and please review.
Solving the Crime
I sit in Wendy's lab, twiddling my thumbs. She sighs, looking at me. "Don't you have someone else to annoy?" she snaps.
"Nope," I reply, smiling brightly at her.
"Go away."
"I'm not Nick, you know. You don't have to hate me."
"You're annoying me, Greg."
"I'm just sitting here."
"You're happy."
"I'm not happy, I'm bored. And you're crabby."
"I'm sorry."
"Still mad at Nick?"
"Yes."
"Wendy, dear, get over it. He didn't mean it."
"How do you know?" I sigh.
"He's a good guy."
"I don't get why he hates my boyfriend. Why he always has to fight him."
"I don't either, but cut him some slack. Hodges isn't the easiest person to get along with." She sighs.
"Either way. The two are like oil and water, and I don't get it."
"Something's just aren't meant to be understood." She shrugs, sighing.
"I guess that's pretty true." The machine beeps, and the printer spits out the results sheet. She glances at them, then looks up at me. "Results from the kit- positive spermacide. I bet you had a good idea about that, because contusions appeared consensual. Fingernail scrapings came back with seven alleles in common with Robert Bloom. XY means…"
"Rob's father, brother, or son." She nods, and I take the results from her. "Thanks, Wendy."
"No problem." I walk out, meeting up with the others in the layout room.
"So, DNA kicked out seven common alleles between Rob and the scrapings under Sofia's fingernails," I tell them. "Rob's father, brother, son."
"Well, Rob's father died three years ago," Nick says.
"He doesn't have any kids," Sara says.
"So, we're looking at the brother," Catherine says.
"Devon Bloom," Warrick says, reading from a file. "Work card at Shimmer, he's a bouncer. Prints are on file and at the scene."
"Okay, so… Devon Bloom," I say. "What did he have against Rob and Sofia?"
"Have Brass track him down and bring him in," Grissom says.
"I'm on it," Nick says, walking out of the layout room.
"What about the bat at the scene?" Catherine asks.
"DNA matches Sofia and Rob," Warrick says. "Wendy got the results earlier."
"Prints?" Sara asks.
"Match to Devon."
"Ten to one, this guy's the attacker."
"Well, we'll see," Grissom says. "I'm going to head over to PD."
"Brass is bringin' the guy in," Nick says, walking back in. "I'm headin' over there with you." The pair leaves the layout room, and Catherine and Warrick head over to the morgue to visit Doc. Sara looks at me, the only other person left in the layout room now.
"Happy Fourth of July," she retorts. I chuckle bitterly.
"Yeah," I reply, sitting at the table. She sits next to me after closing the door.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Fine. You?" She shrugs.
"I flipped on Catherine in the car."
"Well, judging from the fact you two aren't at each other's throats, I'd say it helped more than hurt." She chuckles.
"Yeah, I guess." I sigh, closing my eyes. "You sure you're alright?"
"Yeah. I'm just tired."
"Long night last night?"
"Yeah. Emily wasn't one for sleeping last night. She finally crashed late and didn't wake up until we got to Hodges's."
"Oh, so she woke up in time for the party?"
"Yeah. And Daddy didn't get to sleep."
"Take a nap in the break room."
"I'm on the clock."
"So? I've taken naps while on the clock." I arch my eyebrows.
"Really?"
"Well, Grissom knew that I've been having issues, so…"
"Right. Well, all I need is a cup of coffee and I'll be good." She smiles.
"Well, let's get you to the break room," she says, wrapping her arm around my shoulders.
"Whatever you say, Mommy," I reply tiredly.
"You hate infantilism jokes, yet you always crack them."
"You're acting maternal. Sorry." She shrugs.
"Yeah, I guess I do sometimes." I stand up, and the two of us walk to the break room.
"Should we go to PD too?"
"Half the lab's already there."
"Why not join them? Not much else is goin' on tonight."
"Oh, don't say that. Because the second you do, five cases roll in and the entire shift's pissed they didn't get their holiday."
"They didn't as it is."
"Yeah. Can't predict this, though. I'm just hoping we caught the jackass."
"Yeah, I hope so too." We sit in the break room, drinking the swill they pass off as coffee. "Do they, like, get this crap in bulk?" I ask her. She laughs.
"Probably," she replies.
"God, this is disgusting."
"Then don't drink it."
"I have to. I need it." She shakes her head.
"Then don't complain." I pout.
"But you like me complaining."
"Not really. I think you're whining is your least endearing quality." I arch my eyebrows.
"Endearing?"
"Oh, be quiet, you." I grin, and she shakes her head. "Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?" I ask, feigning innocence.
"You know like what," she replies, half-grumbling. I smile.
"Someone's testy." She sticks her tongue out at me. "Is that a promise or a threat?"
"Hmm… both." I blush slightly. "For a man with a kid, sex jokes make you extremely uncomfortable."
"It's not the jokes, babe. It's the one making the jokes." She chuckles. "So, shall we head to PD?"
"Works for me, I guess." We head over to the station as Brass, Grissom, and Nick enter the interview room with Devon Bloom. Sara and I head into the observation room, where Catherine and Warrick join us. We watch as the interview begins.
"We found your fingerprints at the residence of Sofia Curtis," Grissom says.
"So?" Devon asks. "My brother lives there too. I was visiting him."
"Is that how your fingerprints ended up on the baseball bat that was used to bash up Sofia Curtis and your brother?" Brass asks.
"My bro and I hit balls all the time."
"Yours were the only prints on the bat," Grissom says.
"So? Dude coulda used gloves when he killed my brother."
"You know, Devon, fingerprints aren't the only thing you left behind," Nick says. "DNA is an interestin' thin. The DNA we recovered from under Sofia's fingernails has seven alleles in common with Rob. Now, that means it's from a first degree relative- parent, sibling, child. XY chromosomes indicate male DNA. Dad's dead, Rob has no kids, so that leaves a brother. You're the only brother he's got."
"Yeah, okay," Devon says. "I did it, alright? I admit it."
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to."
"What did they do to you?"
"It wasn't her, it was him. He's been an ass to me my entire life. The whole big brother thing. I wanted to be like him, and he hated me. So I wanted him to suffer the way I'd suffered."
"I think there was more to it than that."
"What do you know?"
"Dad's dead, so we checked into that," Brass says. "Car accident, no foul play. Mom died years before Dad, so you thought things should've been split between you and your brother. Only Dad's will gave you nothing and your brother everything unless your brother died first. I bet that pissed you off. So you kill your brother, thinking you'll get the inheritance you felt you were cheated out of. Except your brother lives with his girlfriend, so she has to go too."
"There's only one problem, Devon," Nick says. "Sofia's still alive. You failed." Devon shrugs.
"Never meant to kill her," he tells Nick coolly. "Had to hurt her all the same. If you're gonna arrest me, do it. Stop with the foreplay."
"Fine," Brass says. "You're under arrest for the murder of Robert Bloom and the attempted murder of Sofia Curtis."
I know what you're going throughDon't let it beat you up
Hittin' walls and getting scars
Only makes you who you are
Only makes you who you are