Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters nor do I profit when I make the characters, especially Nick and Sara, dance in my head.
A/N Chapter six is up… Don't like it? Please do tell. (This is my first fan fiction)
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Nick and Sara were aboard Samuel Johanson's plane. They were on their way to Boston but they stopped first in New York. After thirty five minutes, they will land.
Nick was seated besides Sara, awake, but Sara was leaning on his shoulders, asleep. Mr. Johanson was across them, reading the paper. He offered them coffee but both Nick and Sara declined. That was an hour ago.
"Mr. Johanson, there's a call for you." Said his secretary. He excused himself and went to the cockpit. He didn't want to wake up Sara.
"Sir, are they a couple?" asked his secretary, Eileen. Samuel Johanson treats her like his sister and she was grateful for his kindness. But for the sake of formality, she calls him sir.
"I think they're in a state of denial." He replied as he took the call. After talking for fifteen minutes, the pilot told them that they will land in about five minutes. Mr. Johanson told Eileen to sit already and he hurried to his seat.
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BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Nick and Sara were with the Campbell's, Christianna and Shane's grandparents. They arrived before lunchtime and were received warmly by the elderly couple. The CSI's observed that Mr. and Mrs. Campbell both have a Scottish accent and fond of dogs. Mr. Johanson already left for his business meeting and the Campbell's asked them to stay for lunch before going to the campus to ask some questions. They have so many stories about their grandchildren and their 'misdeeds' when they were kids.
"Ever since she was a little girl, Chris was already interested in what happens inside people's mind." Mrs. Campbell said as Evelyn, their companion, gave them their desserts.
"So that's why she took a double major in Psychology and Cultural Anthropology" said Nick as he took a bite of the apple pie which Mrs. Campbell made herself.
"You must be so proud of your grandchildren; they have entered a very good school. Shane's already a lawyer and Christianna's graduating." Sara added.
"Oh Yes. They are nice children but unfortunately have evil tempers when unleashed." Mr. Campbell replied. He thought for a while and continued,
"Oh, I remembered, Chris called an hour before you arrived. She told me, to tell you to check where she keeps the 'ones who got away' or as she put it 'those who escaped justice's claws'. It's a corkboard in her room shaped like a-."
"Fish?" Sara asked. She remembered Grissom's 'fish board' a corkboard shaped like a fish where he places all the suspects who 'got away'
Grandfather Campbell thought for a while. "No, I think it was shaped like a cow. But she does have another corkboard shaped like a fish."
"It's in her room, next to your room" Grandfather Campbell said to Sara.
"Mike doesn't know what the 'ones who got away' means. But I think it will really help you." Said his wife.
"Thank you sir, ma'm. We'll check it before we go." Nick replied. He liked Mrs. Campbell's pie.
After dessert, they went to their rooms to get the things they needed. But as Nick said, they first went to Christianna's room to check her 'cow board'.
"She's really tidy, you know?" Nick thought, aloud as he went towards Sara. She found the corkboard. "Find anything?" he asked as Sara began to uncork the pieces of paper.
"Yeah. Mug shots of…" Sara stopped. She took the pictures and continued "Jeremy Ericsson and Elliot Mc Mann.
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Catherine was reading a copy of the police report Shane had and part of the police report Christianna had. She was doing her overtime before shift since Lindsey went home from school early. It also means that she has time to have dinner with her daughter too.
Since Sara checked the police reports first, Catherine had no problem spotting the altered parts for the young woman had already made marks and highlighted them. But Sara was not yet finished and because she's in Boston, Grissom asked Catherine to finish it.
After reading a few lines in the report, Catherine noticed the difference in the writing styles of the authors. Christianna said that she was helped by a colleague and that she was asked to keep the copy of the original report. 'So, it might be possible that the person who altered the original report might have just copied it so that he can write another report that was completely opposite from the first one.' She thought and continued reading.
A FEW MINUTES LATER
"Hey Cath, need any help?" Warrick asked. He strolled in and took the seat beside her.
"No, thanks. I'm about to finish anyway." She replied. Catherine smiled. She then saw a pink teddy bear on top of the table appeared when Warrick went in.
"Who's this for?" Catherine asked.
Warrick looked at the teddy bear and replied. "For Lindsey. I can't come and watch her tomorrow so I decided that I'll just give her a gift to make up for not coming." Warrick said, casually.
"If you keep on giving her gifts whenever you can't accept her invitation, she'll just ask for presents and not invite you." Catherine joked.
"Nick's worse you know. Giving her candies or gifts whenever he sees her." Warrick said making the bear dance. "I bet he'll be bringing gifts for Lindsey from Boston." He added.
Catherine, who is now finished with the reports, shook her head. "Nick's with Sara. She'll stop him." Warrick smiled at Catherine's remark.
"Nick's going to charm Sara to go with him to buy presents for us. Knowing Sara's going to refuse, he's going to bug her until Sara gives in." Warrick said, grinning to the dancing, pink, girly bear.
Catherine noticed this and asked "What's so funny?"
"You have no idea, have you?" Warrick asked.
"Idea of what?" she asked again
"Nick has a crush on Sara and Sara doesn't know." He replied.
Catherine thought for a while, "I know that Sara doesn't know that Nick has a crush on her… but I thought that phase of Nick's was over. Like, what? Three years ago?"
"Three years?" Warrick asked, dumbfounded.
"No, what I meant was, Nick was smitten with Sara when she first came here. I guess he found her cute. I think he's over that phase." Catherine said. When she looked at Warrick's still surprised face, she asked "It's not over yet, is it?"
"The phase? No, not yet, apparently." He replied.
"How did you figure that out? That Nick has a crush on Sara, I mean?" Catherine asked, rearranging the reports.
"He has one framed picture of Sara along with his' sister's pictures. He told me that he took it when they were in a convention together. I poked around more and he admitted it. He then told me the uncut version of the 'talk' with his father. The deleted part that he didn't tell Sara. Wanna get some coffee?" Warrick asked.
"If we're talking about this, no, the building has ears. So, what did he say?" Catherine asked.
"That his father really liked Sara and that his son should tell his "girlfriend" that he loves her. He told me that his dad didn't want him to 'let that girl go away'" Warrick said. While she's listening, Catherine's eyes saw Greg and Archie looking their way, as if eavesdropping.
"I think we should get that coffee." She said, motioning discreetly to Warrick, Greg and Archie.
"OKay. So… about the report?"
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BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
"So, Detective Pierce, How long have you been in Massachusetts?" Nick asked. He was striking a friendly conversation with the officer who will accompany them when they start questioning some people. Thank God the detective wasn't a stiff guy.
"I've lived here since I was a kid. How long have you been in Vegas?" he asked.
"About five years. I'm from Dallas." Nick replied.
"What about your pretty partner?" Detective Pierce asked. He sounded sincere.
Sara looked at the detective and replied. "About three years. I'm from California. But I studied here." Sara said, referring to Harvard and paused, "Did you know Christianna Johanson well?" she asked
"You studied here?" he asked. When Sara nodded. He then proceeded to answer her question.
"Not personally. But she's quite a bundle of energy. She has a playful personality and doesn't really show her bad temper until after an incident in which one of the suspected men, a muscular brute and also a chauvinist, told her that she's a naïve little girl who isn't good at her job." He chuckled at the memory.
"What happened?" Nick asked, curious.
"Johanson grabbed his collar and hurled the guy to the wall like a piece of paper. She grabbed his neck and told him that if he said anything chauvinistic to any women in the halls of the building he might look for his balls in his throat. The guy admitted to everything that was accused of him. He also implicated three more people in the murder. But two of them bailed out. We can't do anything about it." He replied. Nick and Sara looked at each other, eyebrows raised.
"Did their names happen to be Jeremy Ericsson and Elliot Mc Mann?" Sara asked
Detective Pierce thought for a while "Yes. How did you know? Johanson was so pissed about it. They're thugs of the president of BLS Company. Bracken and Johanson were so angry that the judge junked their case. They really had a strong case, you know? I don't know what happened. I heard that the report was changed. Is it true?" he asked.
"We're not in the liberty to discuss our current case. Sorry." Sara answered.
"Oh, that's OK. Oh, here we are, this is Johanson's dormitory. But she stays at her grandparent's house when it's snowing. She can't stand the frigid air of Harvard yard. She turns literally blue when she gets too cold." Pierce said. "Her room's in the second floor. It's where the curfew's a bit lenient." He said as they went upstairs.
'The guy's a chatterbox' Nick thought as he listened to Detective Pierce's natural gift for gab. He glanced at Sara's direction, expecting to see her face blank (whenever she prefer to not listen) but was surprised to see her listening.
"I don't really understand that girl. See, she's rich, why be a CSI?" Pierce continued.
Nick wasn't listening now. He was observing the dormitory's interiors and thinking how Christianna juggled her job and Harvard. 'She must be gifted with super powers.' He thought.
They now reached the room farthest the stairs. Detective Pierce knocked on the door. Then the CSI's, together with the detective heard footsteps going towards the door, unlocking and opening it.
"Jennifer Blake?" when a blonde girl with brown eyes opened the door.
"Yes?" She asked.
"I'm Detective Brian Pierce from the Boston Police Department. These are Nick Stokes and Sara Sidle from the Las Vegas Crime Lab. They would like to ask you a few questions" Detective Pierce said as he showed her his badge.
A bit puzzled, she said "Uhh… OK. Come in."
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"Is she OK? I mean, she'll defend her thesis this Friday. She might not be able to graduate if she'll not appear for that oral test." Jennifer said.
"Does she have any enemies that may want to hurt her or her brother?" Sara asked.
The girl thought for a while. "I don't think so. I mean, she's the sort of person that will not hold grudge on anybody. Unless they did something very bad to her or her family… she also knows how to control her temper. Because whenever Chris let's go of it-" she pauses, thinking for the right word, "-she's really, really scary. She has this super strength that can hurl big men to the wall and drag Burns-he's a classmate and a very big guy, out of the dorm."
Nick, who was taking down notes, asked "Can you describe Chris in terms of handling her work and school? Did anything suffer whenever she prioritizes the other?"
"No. I don't know where she gets her energy. But what I can tell you is that she's a perfectionist and very dedicated. They get her through with perfect grades and a promotion." The roommate said.
To Sara, it sounds that Jennifer is a bit jealous of her roommate. "She even goes to the sports hall to do some gymnastics. Uh… that's when she's angry or whenever she feels stressed out in school or her work."
Sara, who was walking towards a disorderly table serving as a study table, asked, "Are these yours?"
Jennifer looked at her and realized that Sara was talking about the diskettes "No. they're Chris'. She doesn't normally leave her things lying behind but, examinations are near. She's studying for her tests and preparing for her oral defense." She replied.
"Can we talk to the Burns guy?" Nick asked.
"Yeah. His name is Cole Andrew." she added, "he has a brother that lives with him. His name's also Cole."
"Do you know his address?" the detective asked.
"Uh, no. He's girlfriend knows but she's not here right now."
"Thank you for your help." Pierce said. To Sara and Nick, he said "We'd better get going"
"Thank you for your time, Ms. Blake." Nick said as they exited the room.
"No prob." She replied as she closed the door. The two investigators with the detective went down and went out the front door of the dorm.
"So, where to now?" asked Sara.
"The crime lab." Answered Detective Pierce. "It's just a couple of blocks from here. And Johanson's shift already started. You might find some answers there."
A/N chapter seven, coming soon…