A/N: VincesDirtyGirl: I ended it there because the chapter was already over 2,000 words, Simone isn't ready for the sex yet, despite always turning Nick on at random times and points throughout the chapter, and they've only been dating for a week. They didn't do anything. THey basically just slept. PS: Your review name makes me laugh.
Grissom, Nick, Simone and Sara all got out of the Tahoe, Nick with a camera, and Simone wirh one boot in her hand, hopping as she put it on.
"Hey," Sara greeted Brass.
"Here's what I know so far," Brass began as Simone caught up, bracing herself on Nicks strong forearm to keep herself upright. "Victim was a well dressed woman, young, black. She's at Desert Palms hospital, multiple gun shot wounds to the head, possible sexual assult." Everyone looked to Simone at those words. They didn't seem to phase her. "Doctor has her at death iminant."
"Sara and Simone, I want you at the hospital to process the victim. Sexual Assult kit, hairs, fibers, the works." Grissom ordered. Simone nodded and kissed Nick on the cheek, as Sara started to complain.
"Right now? I thought I'd help you guys with the scene?"
"Evidence won't last long at the ER, Sara." Simone told her.
"Walk in the park guys."
"So let's go take a walk, Sare. See you, Tex, Bossman. They got in the car and drove to the hospital. Simone had gone silent halfway through the ride, and Sara didn't mind too much. They were both just lost in their thoughts.
They walked right up to the detective they were working with.
"Hey," Sara greeted. Simone was trailing behind her.
"Hey," He responded.
"You get any ID on her?"
"No, she's a Jane Doe." He glanced back into the victim's room. "She's got two bullets lodged into her brain and the Doctors can't get it out without killing her."
"Alright," Sara sighed. They made their way into the room, the Detective had the nurse shut the door behind her.
"Sara?" Simone called quietly. The brunette looked up at her expectantly. "She's married. Or recently divorced."
There was a band of discoloration on her left ring finger.
Sara took the womans hand and sighed.
"She's warm."
Simone nodded.
"They all feel different, Sara. The bones, different than the corpses, the corpses different than the living."
Sara looked from Simone to the woman, then turned to the detective.
"Uh, Evans?" He looked up at her. "We're going to need a little privacy."
"Right," He nodded and left the room, smiling at Simone as he did so. They were friends, they'd worked together before.
Simone and Sara each took one side as they began the evidence collection in silence.
They got down to the bottom, and Sara took the metal instrument that needed to be used for the assult kit.
"I never really liked this part of the exam. These things are always freezing." Sara told their Jane Doe. Simone had started talking to her half way through the collection, and Sara followed suit.
Simone took the instrument from Sara.
"Catherine does-" She cut herself off by cupping the metal in her hands and blowing on it. Then she handed it back. "Okay,"
They started back to work again.
CSICSICSICSI
Nick was taking pictures and doing his work, all the while worrying how his Simone was taking this possible rape case.
"Cartrige casings. They don't look like hunters, either." He snapped another photo. "Man, I wonder how Simone is doing with this case. Griss, are you sure it was such a good idea, sending her off with only Sara? Sara hasn't been there for one of her meltdowns."
"If Simone has a meltdown she'll call you or Greg or Catherine. Give her a little credit, Nick. Now come get a shot of this," Grissom had lifted a rock to reveal what he though was- "It looks like a belt loop."
Nick walked over.
"Well it couldn't havee been there long, with all the elements."
"Brass, was the victim wearing denim?" Grissom turned to his old friend.
"Silk or lace, something like that. Definately not denim."
Nick snapped a few more pictures.
"Simone wears lace." He knew this from the times he had happened to come across her in the locker room.
"Which is why you like lace, Nick, yes, we know. There's a good chance this is our suspect's...I'm gonna use scent pads." He took off for the Tahoe.
Nick paused, looked at Grissom, and then at Brass before standing.
"SCENT PADS?"
"K-9 voodoo." Brass commented dryly.
"Simone taught me about them. Dogs have a sense of smell that's about 40 times more acute than a humans. A dog's nose is packed with dense rolls of membranes that absorb oder. Stretched out these membranes extend about a third the length of the dogs body. The membranes in a human nose? About the size of a postage stamp." Nick had been approaching Grissom throughout this explaination. The scent pad machine was huge.
"It looks like a giant dust buster." Nick chuckled.
"Similar. You place the absorbant pad into the chamber. Then you run the machine over the suspected item. Then you take the pads, seal it in an envalope, and freeze it."
Yeah," Nick thought he was getting the idea. "Yeah, then when you pull them out, we know enough about this denim guy to find a proximal location."
"Except there's a caveat."
"Mind explaining that caveat?" Brass sighed.
"Later. Hopefully the girls are making some progress."
CSICSICSICSI
Sara was going through the evidence once more, to make sure they had everything. Something fell out of Jane Doe's clothes, and Simone looked up from the notes she was taking.
Sara picked the small pendant up, and brought it under the light, so that the two of them could see it.
"Saint Catherine." Simone noted.
"She studied science." Sara sat in the seat next to Simone, and they both faced Jane Doe.
"She was tough. And very outspoken."
"Went against the emporer himself."
"She chewed him out for persecuting Christians, and it took him...two or three tries to execute her."
"She never gave up. She was brave." Sara sighed. She opened up the woman's hand and placed the pendant inside. "You hold on to this."
"This shouldn't have hapened to you. It shouldn't have to happen to anybody." Simone wiped her eyes on her shoulder, catching sight of Grissom as she did so. "I promise to find out who did this." She stood and walked over to Grissom. "Hey."
"Hey." He smiled softly. Sara just stayed with Jane.
"Sexual assult kit is ready to process." She told him. She whiped her eyes again. She wouldn't have a meltdown. Not here. Not while she was working.
"How's it look, Sara?" Grissom's eyes drifted to the woman who was now standing hehind Simone.
"We'll see." She cleared her throat. "She's um- she's really-"
"She's evidence." Grissom told them.
Simone knew this, she'd been evidence when it happened to her.
Sara however, rolled her eyes and turned away.
"Sara," Grissom called her back.
"Yeah?" She snapped.
"If you try and chase two Rabbits, you're going to end up loosing them both."
CSICSICSICSI
"Hey, guys," Nick pulled his head up from Simone's shoulder. "This North Vegas shooting with the same casings as our Jane Doe's?" He was reading from a file sitting in Simone's lap.
"Mmhm?" Grissom looked up from his own file.
"It was gang related. Homicide never found the shooter."
"It's almost impossible in gang neighborhoods," Simone leaned her head back so she could look at him. "Nobody wants to talk. People are afraid."
"Let's see if we have any evidence that's not attriuted to the victim," Grissom ordered.
Sara looked at Grissom with wide eyes, before going to the bag on her left.
"Here you go!" She handed him the hat that had been in the bag.
"Snake backs!" Nick lay his head back down, still watching Grissom.
"Gang shooters mark their kills by throwing down their hats." Simone closed her eyes.
"How do you know so much about this?" Nick laughed.
"I read a lot." She deadpanned. "It's an Anthropological quirk of territoriality. Like a cat, spraying on a bush." Sara took the hat from Grissom.
"It cuts out the opposition of who's responsible." Nick said.
"Sombody wore this hat a lot. The sweatband can give us DNA."
"And we can compare it to the samples we collected off of Jane, at the hospial." Simone nodded.
"Jane?" Grissom echoed.
"Doe. Our "Death-Iminant?" Sara looked at him like he was stupid.
"First name basis, girls?" Nick tightened his arms around his girlfriend.
"Hey, I always go first name basis!" Simone shrugged. She kissed Nick on the throat and fought her way out of his arms. "We'll be in DNA."
Sara grabbed the hat and walked out with her.
They got the DNA to Greg, and headed over to check Missing Persons reports. Sara was humming One Way or Another. Simone joined in.
"Hey!" Grissom walked in, inturrupting them.
"Any luck on 23rd street?" Simone asked.
"Broke in my new shoes. That's about it. What did the lab say?"
"The DNA in the ball cap is a match to the semen we found in our Jane Doe," Sara reported. "But CODIS hasn't kicked out a name."
"So you're both just looking at Missing Persons reports?"
"It's the least we can do to find out who she is, Grissom," Simone's voice left no room for arguments. "We cant find her shooter through his DNA or through the belt loop. What's the harm."
"Sara...Do you have any diversions?" Grissom asked. He knew Simone got as many day's off as she needed, and she had Nick. But Sara... Poor Sara.
"Do I what?" Sara didn't look up from the computer.
"You max out on overtime every month, you go home and listen to your police scanner," Sara turned to glare at him. "You read forensic text books."
"Yeah," Sara nodded.
Grissom sighed and sat down between the girls.
"Look. Everyday we meet people on the worst day of their lives. Everyone who's ever had any time on this job knows that you have to have a diversion. In order to cope with what we see. What do you do for fun?"
"I chase rabbits." Sara responded. "And I read crime books and I listen to the scanner."
"You need something outside of law enforcement. Catherine has her kid, you know? I sometimes ride rollar coasters. Simone has Greg and Nick and they go out to dinner all the time. They don't bring up the crime scenes, or the lab. They distract each other. What do you do?"
"Nothing."
"What do you like?"
"I don't like anything." Sara snapped.
"You gotta find something to like."
Simone bit her lip. She new the rest of this speech.
"Sara, you can't get too close to the victims," Grissom sighed.
"She's special," Sara protested. "To me. I can't help it."
"Sara, if you don't find something, they'll all become special, and you'll burn out." He stood to leave. When he got to the door, they were still sitting there, Sara still sifting through the reports. "Sara..."
"Okay," She snapped. "I'm almost done I have to log out."
Grissom stared at her before figuring Simone would take over when it got too bad, and leaving.
CSICSICSICSI
"Pamela Adler. You can stop now, Sara." Simone gestured to the result she had just gotten to. She had pushed Sara out of the chair to go get coffee about half an hour ago.
Sara hopped out of her seat and read the report.
"You were shopping!" She exclaimed. "...Pamela..."
CSICSICSICSI
"Grissom told you to keep us out, didn't he?" Sara crossed her arms.
"Yeah." Nick nodded. He wrapped his arms around Simone. "You okay?"
"We'll talk about it later, Nick." Simone closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
"Were you wearing those pants the other night?" Grissom asked the boy in his teens.
"What, these jeans? What's it to you."
"Hmm. SIMONE." He called out to the glass. Simone once again weasled her way out of Nick's protective hold and made her way into the interrogation room, putting on latex gloves as she went. "They're missing a belt loop. I find that interesting."
"Put the scrubs on," Simone grabbed them from Brass and tossed them onto the table.
"I know the law. He doesn't have to do anything unless a judge says to." Tony Thorpe's mother slid the scrubs back.
"That's why Tony's volunteering." Simone tossed the scrubs back onto the table. "Aren't you Tony?"
"Sure, whatever. I got nothing to hide. The detectives say she aiin't even dead." He tossed his jeans on the table.
"That's true." Simone began folding the jeans. "However, if Ms. Adler dies within the next year and a day, it's murder."
"Is this some kinf of trick?" Mrs. Thorpe asked.
"No, Ma'am." Brass shook his head, handing Simone a brown paper evidnec bag.
"It's the law." Simone smirked. "We're working this case as a murder."
"At least for the next year and a day, and even then I'm still a juvie. Until then how bout you and me hook up, cuz you been causing me a little problem, Mama."
"Emphasis on the little, Tony. Sorry, I have myself a bigger man." She opened the door to reveal Nick standing there, ready to enter. "A much bigger man."
She pushed lightly on Nick's Chest to get him moving.
CSICSICSICSI
Sara was singing One Way or Another again. Simone chuckled and joined in.
"Hey girls, did anyone ever tell you you have good singing voices?"
"You, every day." Simone smiled at him. He smirked and leaned down to capture her lips in a kiss.
"Only if you like the sound of nails on a chalk-board."
"Sara, you aren't that bad. We hear you all the time. No one's ever told you?"
"It's a habit," She turned around to face the couple. "I don't even realize I'm doing it. Do you have the belt loop from the crime scene lined up yet, Nick?"
"Yeah, yeah take a look." Nick and Simone moved so Sara could see.
"Fit's like a glove," She smirked.
"Let's go tell the boss." Simone sighed.
"You go. I have something to do, first."
"Hey, if you go near that Thorpe kid-" Nick warned.
"Excuse me?"
"I'm just saying."
"Sara," Simone sighed. "We'll catch him. Nick is saying that if you go after him, we'll loose him, and he'll go free. There's a possibility he'll go after Pamela again now that he knows she's still alive."
"It's something else." Sara promised. Simone nodded. She took Nick by the arm and gestured to the door.
"Come on."
CSICSICSICSI
"My beautiful Darling sister!" Greg sat on top of Simone while Nick was cooking in the kitchen. "How did you fair without me, my dear?"
"Oh, my dear brother, 'Twas positivly dreadful. Nay, you shall never believe how horrible the other DNA anaylisists are! Never shall I ever be the one to volunteer to give the DNA when you aren't there. NEVER!"
"Okay you two," Nick chuckled. "Greg, get your scrawny ass off of my girlfriend.
"She was my cussion before she was your girlfriend, Stokes! Find your own."
"Greg, I'm armed."
"Okay, okay, jeez I'm getting up!" Greg grabbed Dallas off the ground and walked into his room, plate of food in his other hand. "CSI's These days. God."
Simone laughed and sat up.
"You did good with this case, babe."
"Obviously not." Simone sighed. Nick rolled his eyes and picked up their plates, jerking his head to the basement/Simone's bedroom door.
"What's wrong?" He sighed dramatically as he fell onto the black and white floral bed spread.
"I don't know. It was my first actual rape case since mine." Simone sat on her knees next to Nick and sat him up, sliding behind him. She began to work the knots out of his tense muscles, kissing his neck every so often. "You know, I don't think it would be so bad now, to try."
"Try?" Nick echoed.
"Sex." Simone responded. Nick made an 'Ahh' sound.
"Let me decide, baby." Nick told her. "If you wanna try, we'll try, but you gotta give me time to decide the perfect time."
"Alright," Simone agreed. She knew he'd make it special for her. Knew for a fact he wouldn't force her.
"I want you to eat, okay? And get some sleep," Nick turned around and kissed he deeply. "I want you."
"I want you, too." She smirked. "That tight Texan ass of yours."
Nick groaned.
"I love it when you talk dirty." He kissed her one last time, took the burger off his plate, and bid her good bye.