Disclaimers: Not mine
Spoilers: Nope
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SACRIFICES
(Chapter 4 - A Puzzling Sacrifice)
"Hey Nicky."
Nick turned around at the familiar voice, "Catherine? Hey!"
Catherine let out a soft chuckle, the first since she had began work as 'Day-shift Supervisor' a few days ago, and hugged an eager Nick.
"Why are you still here? Your shift ended an hour ago." Nick pulled away, checking his watch, "Not that I'm not happy to see you or anything." He quickly added with a smile.
"Paperwork." She answered simply, prompting a sympathetic look from Nick. "And I thought maybe I'd be able to catch you for a few minutes before you headed out into the field."
"I still can't believe you took over for Ecklie."
"Me neither, actually." Catherine shook her head, "I've wanted this for so long, it's almost surreal having it now."
"How's day shift treating you?"
"They're good people. Not quite as good as night shift, of course, but I'm happy to say Ecklie hasn't rubbed off on them like I had expected."
"That's good."
"Mmhmm...I heard about your little disagreement with Grissom."
"It was nothing." He shrugged, looking away like a little boy expecting a tongue-lashing from his mother.
"Nick, I don't want my departure to be the cause of any rifts within the team. No matter what Grissom says or how he acts, the four of you are a team."
"Well it used to be that the *five* of us were a team."
"I'm still in the same lab."
"That's what Grissom said."
"It's the truth."
"I don't get it. I just don't get it! How can the both of you act as if this means nothing? Yeah, you're right, we are a team. But I thought we were also more than that." He paused, sighing, "I thought we were a family."
"We still are, Nick."
"Then how you could just leave like this?"
Before Catherine could answer, Warrick walked in, giving both of them worried looks. "Hey...everything alright here?" He walked over to Catherine and gave her a hug, "Hey Cath."
"Hey Warrick. Yeah, everything's fine. Your shift's starting soon so I better get outta your way. I'll see you two soon." She gave Nick one last look before heading out the door.
"Nick man, you gotta stop doing this."
"Doing what? Trying to get our team back together?" Nick angrily snapped back.
"No, trying to force Grissom and Catherine to deal with something they both obviously don't want to deal with. Can't you see what's happening? This was never about it being a good opportunity for Catherine to climb the lab ladder. It's about two people who don't want to face each other. Catherine could've stayed just now but she wanted to get outta here to avoid Grissom."
"So we're just supposed to stand around and let their emotional issues destroy our team?"
"We still have a team. But if you keep pushing this, we won't."
"I can't believe this. Grissom's a smart guy. He's smarter than anyone I've ever known! Why would he make such a stupid choice?"
"Because he thinks it was a sacrifice worth making."
"Why?"
Warrick shrugged, "I don't know. I don't think anyone knows except him."
*To be continued*
