Chapter 2/?: Back To You – Molly's POV (Title inspired by an John Mayer song)
I had done it again. Back to my old attitude, which I always got with Archie. Whenever I was around him, the walls just came up, and they couldn't be broken down. Sure, he seemed nice enough, but you know what? I knew that deep down that he was just like every other guy in the universe. He was no different. Or, maybe I set my standards too high? No. This was ARCHIE we were talking about, after all. Still, no matter how I tried, lately, my mind always went back to him somehow or another.
I had actually acknowledged that he had talent at what he did. And worst of all, the walls had disappeared for more than two seconds. I had gotten him curious about my worst fear. I sighed, and approached Warrick and Catherine with the disc. "Archie just confirmed our terrible suspicion…" I explained. Catherine and I exchanged horrified looks, and all Warrick could do was shake his head. "I swear, sometimes, I just want to…" I could feel the heat rising to my face as I spoke.
"Moll, calm down. We've almost caught him, and he's going to go where he deserves to go…" Catherine placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.
Warrick gave me a quick nod, to signify that he agreed with Catherine. "Really, I bet he'll be in an orange jumpsuit before the month is over-…"
I interrupted Warrick. "No," I shook my head, and then looked at him, as he looked almost to be anticipating what I was about to say. "He deserves to go to hell. He's lucky, if you ask me…" Seeing by the loon on Warrick's face that I had confirmed his suspicions, I looked back to Catherine.
Catherine flashed me a quick motherly smile. "Molly…" she started; only to be interrupted by my not so gentle tone.
"No, not right now, Cath…" I snapped a little more than I may have wanted to. I loved Catherine like a mother, really I did, but it was just that I really didn't need any words of wisdom at that point in time. I needed to be with someone who understood me. "Can you and Warrick please go tell Brass? I need to go talk to Sara for a minute…" My tone softened a little bit, as I handed her the disc.
Sara knew exactly what I went through. She had been through it too. Ever since I had opened up to her, she was like my older sister. I could always count on her when I needed a shoulder to cry on.
Catherine looked at Warrick, and then back to me. "Sure…" was all she could say. I think Catherine got the gist of it all, but she just didn't want to pry too much, and ask. She took her hand from Warrick's and gave me a hug. "We'll call you later, and tell you what happened, Moll…"
I grinned a little. "See ya, guys…" I nodded a quick goodbye to Catherine and Warrick, then, without waiting for a reply, headed to the break room, to see if anyone had seen Sara. Luckily for me, though, I didn't have to look too hard. Sara was sitting on the couch in the break room, looking over a file. "Sar?" I asked, walking into the room. I was so grateful that she was there. Without her friendship, I would probably be a lost cause.
"Hey, Moll…what's up?" she asked, looking up from her folder. "Uh oh, what happened?" she sighed, seeing by the look on my face that something was seriously wrong.
"Well, nothing bad, really. A case I was on just kinda reminded me of…you know?" I asked, not really wanting to delve into the subject too deep. "You remember, the…" I paused. I hated how I could barely say the word.
"Yeah, I know what you're talking about…" Sara sat up, and made room for me on the couch next to her. "Who was the perp?" she asked, suddenly interested.
"Well, Archie and I found reasonable evidence, in the form of a tape, to make the girl's father our prime suspect…" I held tears back. Sara was my best friend, and I still didn't feel comfortable enough to let my guard down for even a nanosecond. "Sara, it's all too familiar!"
"Molly," she hugged me. She was the only one I'd allow to get close enough to comfort me, when I got into one of my moods. "I knew I should have tried to talk Grissom put Nick on that case or something, instead of you," she shook her head. She had tried profusely to convince me that my working that case was a bad idea, but I wouldn't hear it. I didn't want personal affairs to interfere with work.
"No, you know how I feel about that, Sara," I shook my head, and cleared a lump from my throat. "I'll be fine, I just needed to talk," I explained, lying through my teeth. I could tell by the look on Sara's face that she was going to have me removed from that case, sooner than I would have liked. Honestly, though, I was kind of grateful. I didn't think I could handle facing that poor girl's father without smashing his teeth in. "And thank you for what I know you're going to do."
Sara obviously didn't expect me to thank her, because her jaw almost hit the floor. But after a couple seconds of thinking, she caught on to why I was thanking her. "No problem, Molly. I'll see if Griss will put you on the casino heist…"
"Again?" I asked, honestly shocked that casino security success was so low these days. "Damn, when are these people going to give up?" I scoffed a little, trying to rebuild the wall around my heart.
"When we've put them all in jail?" Sara asked with a shrug, and smiled quickly at me. "I'll come find you when I get an answer from Griss…" she said as she left the break room.
Before I knew it, or, should I say, the second Sara left the room, my mind was back to Archie again. On any normal day, I would have though of what had happened to me years ago, but today, I thought of how I had almost let everything slip out to Archie. How could I have been so stupid? I let out a huge sigh, and stood up to find Greg. I could always count on Greg Sanders when I needed a quick laugh. I wondered what he was up to today. But when I left the lab, it wasn't Greg I saw. And who I saw actually made me smile more than Greg could.
~~
Back to you, it always comes around, back to you.
I tried to forget you, I tried to stay away, but it's too late .
Over you, I'm never over, over you…something about you.
It's just the way you move, the way you move me.
I'm so good at forgetting, and I quit ever game I play.
But forgive me, love; I can't turn and walk away, this way.
~~ 'Back to You' – John Mayer ~~