The Lead CSI
A/N: After Eleven Angry Jurors, and the ensuing debate, I felt the need to write about what I think could happen if Nick gets the promotion (which it appears he probably will).
It's my belief that he will get it, but since we all know it's just a plot device to further the GSR, it'll all work out in the end. This story, though, is only about the promotion and one aspect of the consequences it could bring, so don't look for any resolutions in GSR here. That may be another story G. There could, I suppose, be a part two in the works.
Spoilers: The episodes referred to here that haven't aired are Butterflied and…well, I guess just Butterflied.
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.
"Congratulations, Nick," Sara Sidle forced herself to smile.
"Thanks, but, uh, you know you deserved this." Nick answered, trying to cut through the awkwardness in the break room. Shift would start shortly, and it was best to get this out of the way.
"So did you."
In the three hours since Director Cavallo had called her with the news that the Lead CSI position had been given to Nick Stokes, Sara had gone through a staggering array of emotions. She was genuinely happy for Nick; he was her friend, always there when she needed him, and a decent CSI. She wouldn't begrudge him a little success. But she knew that she was a better CSI, the only one on the shift to have avoided major mistakes. She had performed exemplary work over the last three years. She didn't really need the back-patting a promotion entails, but certainly she could have used the raise in pay. Most of her conflicted emotions swirled around the man who'd been most influential in Nick's promotion over her—Grissom.
Sara knew that there was no possible way Grissom could have been objective in his decision. Was he simply over-compensating in an attempt to avoid favoritism? Or was he being intentionally spiteful? No, no, she reasoned, Grissom would never play a game like that. Was it possible that he truly believed that Nick was the best candidate for the job? Did he doubt her skills as an investigator? Surely three years of outstanding evaluations hadn't been a lie. Then there was the issue of their relationship, or lack of one. She had heard him speak beautiful, poetic words about her, words that had touched her heart. She cared very deeply for him, and knew now that he had deep feelings for her, and yet still they were no closer to being together than they ever had been.
A month passed with Sara still not sure how to feel. She felt more and more strongly that Grissom's decision had been unfair, but knew that it wouldn't be possible for her to speak her mind without appearing petty and bitter. Be a doormat or be a bitch…nice choices, she thought glumly. Talk about a rock and a hard place. She had thumbed thoughtfully through the letters she received from recruiters for other labs. The lab in Seattle had offered her a supervisory position. It was now becoming all the more tempting. There was little hope for resolution here. She was unhappy with the status quo, but unable to change it. She loved Nick like a brother, but taking direction from a sycophant was a bitter pill to swallow.
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"…It's a potentially controversial case, so be very careful," Grissom finished giving Warrick and Catherine their assignment as the trio entered the break room.
"Ah, you're both here," Grissom turned to Nick and Sara. "Got a DB for you two in a house outside of town. I have a some paperwork to catch up on, but I'll be around the lab if anyone needs me."
Sara put the Denali into "park", shut off the engine and pocketed the keys. She had left the lab before Nick so that he could meet with Grissom about the Lead CSI duties for the week. As she photographed the woman's bloodied body sprawled out on the bed, Nick arrived. They were both relieved at how easily they had slipped back into their comfortable old friendship. A rock-paper-scissors game had decided who would process the bedroom and who would work the outside perimeter of the house. Sara won, so Nick had to go out into the cold drizzle. Both CSIs knew it wouldn't take long, anyway; the light rain would have quickly destroyed most evidence.
By the time David had come, packed up the body and left, Nick was back inside helping Sara process the rest of the house. Sara was combing the carpet under the bed for hair or fibers when Nick stuck his head in the bedroom door, "I wonder where she got this." He held up a small porcelain figurine in the shape of an owl. "I've been collecting owls for year, but I've never seen this one before."
"Owls? You are a chick magnet, Nicky," Sara laughed teasingly.
"That's all right, scoff if you want, but the ladies do dig this," he put his fist to his chest playfully and disappeared again.
Having replaced the owl to it's home on the shelf, Nick returned, "Hey, I'm gonna head back to the lab and start running what we've got. You're almost done, right?"
"Um, yeah," Sara replied. "Maybe ten or fifteen more minutes."
"Okay, I'll see you in bit."
Nick zipped his jacket as he stepped outside. Mercifully, the drizzle had stopped, though the air was still quite cool. He saw the officer assigned to the crime scene sitting on the hood of his car, an expression of misery on his face. Nick put on his best Texas smile and addressed the officer, "What's up...um…Harris?" he read the policeman's badge.
"You guys almost done in there?" Harris asked anxiously. Not waiting for a reply, "My wife just called…she's having the baby. Our first."
"Hey, congratulations! Don't worry, labor takes forever, especially the first one. My sister was in labor for thirty-one hours with her first."
"Just the same," Officer Harris continued, "I don't want to miss a thing. Could you guys hurry?"
"Hey, it's cool, man. You know what?" a solution came to Nick. "We are almost done. You go ahead and take off. Go meet that baby!"
"Great, man! Thanks! You CSI guys are all right." Officer Harris and Lead CSI Stokes both drove away from the small house on the rural road.
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Nick wound through the maze of hallways comprising the crime lab. Nope, not in Trace. Nope, not in DNA. Nope, not in Ballistics. He couldn't imagine why she'd be in Ballistics anyway; their victim had been stabbed and beaten, but it never hurt to check. Heading for QD, he bumped into Grissom. "Sorry, Griss…Hey, have you seen Sara?"
"I thought she was working with you."
"Yeah, I left her at the scene. She should only have been about fifteen minutes behind me, but I've been back for an hour," Nick explained. "I wonder where she's hiding."
"Maybe you should try calling her."
Nick whipped out his cellular telephone and dialed Sara's number. After the tenth unanswered ring, he hung up. "No answer. If the phone was off, the voice mail would pick up," he puzzled.
Grissom felt a lump rising in his throat. She's fine, Gil, she's fine, he reassured himself. "Call the officer at the scene, Nick. Ask him when she left."
"Oh," Nick suddenly began to feel he'd made a grave error. "He wouldn't know."
"He wouldn't know?"
"No, I, uh, I released him when I left."
"You released him?"
"Yeah, his wife's having a baby."
"Nick, did you let Sara know she was alone so she could be on her guard?"
"No, oh God, I didn't think of it," the Lead CSI's voice was now tinged with panic.
Grissom abruptly turned away from Nick and moved briskly down the hall in the opposite direction. "Brass!" he called down an intersecting corridor. "Let's go!"
"Call me when you find her!" Nick's plea went unheard as Grissom and Brass were already out the door of the building.
"She's fine, Gil," Brass tried to soothe his friend. "She's a tough cookie."
"Then why isn't she answering?" Gil was attempting again to reach Sara on her cellular.
"Maybe the ringer got turned down. Maybe it's on vibrate. Who knows? Odds are, everything's fine."
Although Brass had made a radio appeal for any nearby officer to proceed to the scene, he and Grissom turned out to be the closest. They would arrive first. Brass pulled up next to the Denali Sara had driven.
Grissom was out of the car before he could even shut off the engine. "Gil! Wait!" Brass caught up with him. "I'm the cop, remember? I go in first." Grissom nodded and took a deep breath as Jim Brass entered the house with his gun drawn. Grissom drew his own weapon and followed. It didn't take long to survey the small dwelling. Brass headed for the bedroom. Moments later, Grissom heard the beep beep of Brass dialing his phone. "Yeah, this is Captain Brass. I need an ambulance to 117 Rainbow Highway. 444! That's right, officer down!"
Grissom rushed into the room and felt the blood drain from his face as he saw her there, sprawled on the bed like the earlier victim had been. She was bleeding from stab wounds to her chest and abdomen, but she was alive. Numbly, Grissom took off his jacket and held pressure to her wounds. Brass had another call to make, "Catherine, get everyone and come to 117 Rainbow Highway. We found Sara…yes, she's unconscious but I think she'll be okay…he's, um" he glanced at Grissom, "he's about how you'd expect…okay, see you in ten."
Gil tried to position Sara's body in a way that appeared more comfortable to him and found himself speaking softly to her, "It's okay, Honey. Everything's going to be okay." He breathed a tremendous sigh of relief when he heard the siren of the ambulance. Focused completely on Sara, he hadn't thought to look at the paramedics until he heard a voice say, "Oh my God, it's Sara."
"You know her?" the other EMT asked.
"Yeah," Hank Peddigrew replied.
The medics worked quickly and ably to stabilize Sara and get her on the stretcher. As they rolled up to the ambulance, Grissom grabbed Hank's arm, "You take care of her."
"I will."
"Oh God," Nick moaned as he, Catherine and Warrick stepped out of their Denali. Grissom turned to Catherine.
"Go with her. We need…"Grissom had difficulty speaking the words. "We need a…an exam."
"What about you?" she asked gently. "You should go with her, too."
"No. I'm needed here more," his words were determined, but he was internally unsure about the best course of action. He really wanted to be there for her, but would she want him there? They had barely spoken for quite a long time now. Maybe the best way for him to help her was to find the bastard who did this to her. Catherine opened the driver door of the Denali. "Catherine?"
"Yeah?"
"Keep me posted."
"Will do," the blonde smiled reassuringly.
Nick's despair was evident as he approached Grissom, "Grissom, I screwed up. I'm so sorry."
"I can't deal with this right now, Nick. We have two crime scenes superimposed here."
Warrick, Nick and Grissom worked in somber silence. They collected evidence suggesting that the original perpetrator had returned to the scene and stabbed Sara. He would have had to have remained on the scene long enough for her to lose consciousness, or she would have been able to call for help for herself. As they climbed into the SUV to return to the lab, Grissom's cell phone rang. "Grissom," he answered anxiously, praying it was Catherine with news about Sara's condition. It was.
"Gil, I have some good news and some better news."
"Thank you."
"She's going to be okay, Gil. You guys got to her in time. She's in surgery now, and she's getting a hell of a lot of blood transfused, but she's gonna be fine."
"That's great, Catherine, thank you."
"I'm not sure if this is the good news or the better news,
but Gil?"
"Yes?"
"No sign of sexual assault."
Grissom exhaled. "Thanks again, Catherine. We're heading back to the lab now. Did they say when she can have visitors?"
"Not yet, no. I'll talk to you later."
"All right. Bye." Grissom closed his phone and his eyes, silently thanking God.
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Sara's recovery progressed smoothly. AFIS had provided the investigators with a name to go with the fingerprints Sara collected at the scene and the man was arrested and charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder. Sara tried to repeatedly to reassure Nick, insisting that she forgave his error. Grissom's visits to her hospital room were always kept brief, and she sensed he had more on his mind than he was willing to impart.
Gil was unable to quell the guilt that ate away at his conscience. When he recommended Nick for the position, he genuinely felt he was doing the right thing; now, however, Nick's shortcomings were glaringly obvious. He was a good enough CSI, but his need to be everybody's friend had nearly cost a co-worker her life. Gil sympathized with the young man. Nick had meant no harm and carried a heavy burden of guilt. Grissom knew it was he who had put Nick in a position he'd been ill-equipped to handle.
"Grissom," he answered into the offending phone.
"Grissom, it's Robert Cavallo. Do you have a minute? I have a couple of questions I need to ask you."
"Your office?"
"That'll do."
The first thing Grissom noticed upon entering the lab director's office was that two files lay on the desk. Moving closer, he saw that they were personnel files: Nicholas M. Stokes and Sara Sidle. "Have a seat," Cavallo instructed him.
"What's this about?" Gil asked cautiously.
"I'm trying really hard to give you the benefit of the doubt, Grissom, because you know these people much better than I do. But I have a few questions."
"And they are?"
"I didn't put much into this Lead CSI thing. I basically just followed your recommendation. Now that I'm actually sitting here and reading these files, I don't get it. What made you recommend Stokes?"
"I felt at the time that Nick Stokes had better people skills."
"So? The position is for Lead CSI, not Lead Spokesperson."
"The Lead CSI has to deal with the public."
"All of the CSIs have to deal with the public. I'm not getting this. Is there something about Sidle I should know? Something that's not in her personnel file? Because what I'm seeing is eval after eval with words like 'outstanding' written all over them, the best solve rate in the building, and no significant mistakes."
"That's correct."
"Now I look at Stokes' file, and it's a different story. Evals are 'satisfactory', solve rate is average…let's see, mislabeled evidence in the Havilland trial, a suspect in the murder of his hooker girlfriend a couple of years ago…" Cavallo shook his head.
"He was cleared in that."
"It still doesn't indicate the best judgment."
"Obviously, in hindsight, it was a mistake to recommend Nick. Sara would have been a better choice," Grissom conceded.
"Well, she'll get it now," Cavallo informed him. "I've already told Stokes. He actually seemed relieved. He didn't like having to make decisions."
Grissom left the director's office feeling no better than when he had arrived. He felt bad for Nick. He felt bad for Sara. He felt bad for himself. He resolved to himself that he would have to finally face his feelings for Sara, since denying them was obviously not working. His attraction to her colored every decision he made, every thought he had. The time had come to deal with it constructively. He zipped up his jacket and headed for the hospital.
The End