AN: Just want to do a bit of PR lol, please check out my prequel story Concrete Jungle, you'll find it in my list of stories or in the list of CSI: Miami / CSI: NY crossovers. Please, please, please tell me what you think!
"Erin video call for you."
The young blonde looked up at Adam with dreary eyes, they'd been working through the entire night and it was now almost 1:00 AM. Who would be calling her at this time of night?
She sighed, rubbing her hand over her face, "Thanks Adam," she got up out of the lounge room chair she'd been power-napping in and walked into the AV lab, noticing the face on the screen, "what are you doing up so late?"
"I couldn't sleep, besides I haven't heard from you since you left."
Erin smirked, "I'm sorry baby, I've been so busy."
Ryan chuckled, "Yeah I can see that. You have circles under your eyes as dark as charcoal."
She nodded, "I don't doubt it. How are you calling the lab from home?"
"Dad gave me the video link so I could call you. He's also been worried."
"There's nothing to worry about. We haven't found Madeline yet and we're still looking through evidence with a dead end straight ahead of us."
Her husband gave her a sympathetic nod, "Do you want me to let you go back to work?"
She glanced over at the lab where everyone was still working, "I think they can manage without me for a few minutes. Besides, I miss you."
He smiled, "I miss you too, hon. When are you coming back to Miami?"
Erin rested her head on her hand, "At this rate? I'll be home by Friday."
"I've got something!" Adam called from the other room, rushing into the AV lab, "Erin! I've got something big here."
She turned to her friend, "Be right there," she looked back at the computer, "get some sleep babe I'll call you in the morning."
"Alright, love you."
"Love you, too," she logged off and turned back to Adam, "What is it?"
He sighed, "OK so I ran the biologicals we found that belong to Madeline Briggs, turns out she's pregnant."
Erin was shocked, "That's great, but doesn't get us any closer to finding her."
Adam smiled, "Here's the brilliant part. Steele must be injecting her with hormones to keep the baby healthy, sooner or later he has to refill a prescription."
She grinned, finally their first lead, "Adam I could kiss you."
He froze, his face turning red, "I uh, well it was-"
Erin laughed, "Breathe, Adam," she walked out of the AV lab and rushed over to Langston, "Did you hear?"
The Las Vegas investigator nodded, "Yes."
"I'm gonna call Mac, we gotta start searching every drug store," she pulled out her cell phone and dialed her friend's number.
Two cups of coffeee and a stale bagel later, Erin was sitting next to Adam in the AV lab looking through security feeds.
"Where do you think he'd be?" the young man asked her, noticing the intense look on her face.
She sighed, sipping her third coffee, "I don't know Adam, but he's gotta be here somewhere."
The young woman hadn't noticed Mac enter the room, until she felt a hand on her shoulder, "Why don't you get some rest? You've been up for the past four days straight, it's not good for you."
Erin nodded, shrugging off his hand, "I'm fine, Mac, I'm just gonna run down to Sid and see if he gathered anything else from our vic," she stood, eager to get out of the tension-filled room, and walked down the hall toward the stairs.
"Erin," she turned to see Hawkes walking toward her, "you OK?"
She smiled, "Yeah, Sheldon I'm fine, why?"
He shrugged, "I don't know you look a little pale."
The young woman chuckled, "Dr. Hawkes to the rescue, huh? I'm fine, trust me," she pat his shoulder before turning back to the stairs and climbing down them two at a time. Erin was surprised to find the morgue practically empty, except for Sid, which also relieved her, "Sid."
"Erin! What can I do for you?" he smiled kindly, taking off his glasses.
She smiled back, "I just need a sex kit."
Sid was confused, "On our vic here?"
Erin shook her head, "No, I need one for my kit, I'm out."
The ME seemed skeptical, but he'd never questioned her before, so he walked over to the large cabinet on the wall and took out a sex kit for her, "There you go."
She nodded, "Thanks Sid," she smiled one more time before leaving the morgue and rushing to the most secluded women's restroom there was in the entire lab.
Mac glanced at the screen, then his watch; Erin had been gone for almost twenty-five minutes, something he found rather odd since a visit to Sid didn't ever take that long. He looked around, then noticed Sid walking down the hallway, "Sid," he called out to the ME, who glanced in his direction and headed toward him.
"Mac? Something you need?"
The New York detective nodded, "Yeah, where's Erin I thought she was with you?"
Sid's face took on a confused expression, "She came down to get a sex kit from me about twenty mintues ago, that's it."
Now Mac was confused, "A sex kit?"
"She said she needed one for her kit, she was out."
Mac nodded, "Thanks," he walked out of the lab and began his search for the Miami CSI, not finding her anywhere on the first floor or the morgue, so he searched for Lindsey instead, "Lindsey have you seen Erin?"
The young woman nodded, "Yeah she's been in DNA for the past ten mintues, why?"
He sighed, "Thank you," quickly walking by her to the DNA lab, finding Erin typing away at one of the analyzing stations, "Where have you been?"
Erin looked up at him, "Mac?"
"You disappeared twenty-five minutes ago," he stated, his expression hard yet worried.
She sighed, "I went downstairs to get a sex kit from Sid for my kit, then I came here to run another test on the biologicals to see if I could narrow down the properties of the hormone, maybe get a specific maker and see if any drug stores have a prescription requesting it."
Mac stared at her, "You've been here this entire time?"
Erin nodded, "Yes, Mac, it's not rocket science," she walked around to the printer, tucking the kit results deeper beneath the pile of papers before handing him the test results she'd run not a moment before he walked in, "It's a common pregnancy hormone and yet when I ran it through pharmaceuticals there were no prescriptions."
He read the paper quickly, "Well we'll keep our eyes on the security feeds, see if we get a hit that way."
"OK," she turned back to the computer, deleting the records of her sex kit analysis. When she was sure Mac was back in the AV lab, she removed the test results from their hiding place and read them over quickly, her face turning ghost-white. How? When? Then she remembered: drinks, the car, home, her bedroom. Now there was even more confusion: she was pregnant, and she had no clue who the father was. Slowly she walked over to the paper shredder, placing the paper through, her eyes watching the pieces of paper fall into the trash bin, her worries growing with each shred. She could always pull up DNA profiles from Ryan and Mac and run them against the sex kit, but then she'd be in here for even longer and she'd have to come up with another excuse. No, she'd just act like nothing was wrong, and later on she'd take care of figuring it out.
Erin removed the lab coat she was wearing and walked over to the AV lab, "Anything yet?"
Adam nodded, "We got a hit on Casey Steele in Brooklyn, Flack and Danny are headed that way now."
She glanced over at Mac, "What are we going to do?"
"Wait and see if they catch him, if not, we plan our next move," he stated, and by looking at her, he could tell immediately that something was wrong, "are you sure you don't want to go rest?"
Erin ignored the question, looking at the security footage, "That's a prescription he's picking up. How is that possible I found no record of it."
Adam zoomed in, "Because after three days the records clear themselves, that prescription was requested three days ago."
She sighed, sitting down in the chair beside Adam, "Of course."
Mac watched her intently, looking from the young woman to the DNA lab; what had she been working on in there?
"We lost him, Mac," Danny's voice projected into the AV lab.
Erin rubbed her hand over her face, "Alright, do you have the car?"
"Yeah, but no Madeline Briggs," Flack stated.
"That's alright, Erin and I will be down to process the car," Mac stated, tapping her shoulder, "C'mon."
She nodded, getting up and following him out of the lab and down to the parking lot, all the while her mind swimming with questions and feared answers.
AN: Reviews make me happy! :)