Title: You're the One
Summary: Greg hires Nina to be the new lab tech and Grissom upgrades Greg to CSI Level One. His first case has to do with a nine year old boy who was sexually abused and then murdered.
Notes: Here's the second Episode. I'm trying to keep up maybe an update of every two days because of work and time and money. Wait... money doesn't have anything to do with this so we'll just forget that.
Chapter Four: You're a God
You're a God
And I am not
And I just thought
That you would know
You're a God
And I am not
And I just thought
I'd let you go
-- Vertical Horizon "You're a God"
Greg, Nick, and Nina's Apartment—Sunday April 11—10:00 am
Greg awoke to someone gently rubbing his back. He opened his bleary eyes to discover Nina sitting on the edge of his bed. A plate of mostly bacon with a side of scrambled eggs sat on his nightstand.
"You were dreaming—again." Nina told him softly in response to his questioning glance.
"Thanks," he told her sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his dry eyes. She smoothed imaginary wrinkles out of the sheets and began to make squiggles and circle patterns with her finger tips.
"What was it about?" she asked cautiously.
"Nothing," he said sharply. She flinched, but he pretended not to notice.
"You know Greg," she said softly trying to placate him, "everything's going to be okay." Greg's eyes filled with fire and he stared at her disbelievingly at first.
"Everything is not going to be okay! You didn't see the way that news tore up that family. He was nine years old Nina. If we do solve this case and things go back to normal around the lab that family will never be the same. Everyday that mother will wake up, go downstairs to fix breakfast, and realize there's one less place to set and one less mouth to feed. The grandmother of the second victim will see no reason to live anymore because the center of her universe was ripped away from her just like everyone else in her family. The brother of that little girl will blame himself for the rest of his life because he told her to leave him alone while he hung out with his friends. And that's just the families. What about the friends? What about those two little boys that were there when their friend was abducted? They'll think all their lives if only I'd done something. You don't know what it's like to lose the person you love the most in the world!" he shouted at her. For a minute all she could do was stare. Then, as calmly as she could, she stood up from the bed and began to leave the room. Greg realized what he had said a little too late and sighed, "Nina I-" he began, but she cut him off.
"You aren't the only one who had to go through the pain of losing someone Greg. And while I might not know what it's like to lose a living child I do know what it's like to lose the center of your universe. I know that sometimes it hurts so much you can't breathe and you can't move and you think nothing could be worse and death would be a blessing because the pain would go away. But I also know that life goes on. And no matter how bitter and cold hearted that sounds it's the truth."
"Life doesn't go on for everyone." At his words she turned to face him and the pain in her eyes scared him.
"Yes, it does."
Five Hours Later or 3:00 pm
Cassandra sat at the table picking the crust off her peanut butter and honey sandwich. She ate the crust and sat the heart of the sandwich down on her paper plate as she reached for her glass of milk.
"Hurry up and finish eating. I've got to leave soon honey." Nina told Cassandra walking into the kitchen. She had yet to pull her waist length hair up into the usually messy bun she wore at the nape of her neck.
"Will my hair ever be as long as yours?" Cassandra wondered through a mouthful of gooey peanut butter. She took a gulp of milk to get the excess peanut butter from the roof of her mouth as she awaited her mother's answer.
"If you want it to." She replied hurriedly. She cleaned up the small mess Cassie had left in her wake as her daughter finished her sandwich.
"Ready." Cassandra proclaimed proudly as she dropped her dishes into the sink carelessly.
"Ready for what?" Nick asked coming into the kitchen and ruffling Cassie's neatly combed hair.
"To go to the babysitters." Nina explained grabbing Cassandra's backpack from the counter and handing it to her. The young girl slung it over her shoulder and tapped her foot as she waited impatiently for her mother.
"I thought Marie and Shawn were busy tonight."
"That's why God invented last-minute babysitters." Nina began to usher Cassandra out of the kitchen when Nick grabbed Nina's arm roughly. He had visibly paled and Nina regarded him cautiously. "Nick?"
"She can come to the lab with us." He said guarding any evidence of what might be wrong.
"That's a last resort. Besides this is easier. He lives on the ground floor."
"He?"
"Yes, he. Nick is everything okay? What's wrong?" she asked worriedly giving Cassandra a small shove indicating for her to leave the room. She slipped out without a sound and waited on the couch, humming a song she had heard earlier on the radio.
"Do you know this man? Is he someone you trust? You can't just hire the first babysitter that comes a long." Nick whispered harshly.
"Hey, guess what Nick? I've been a mother for almost ten years now. I happen to think I've gotten pretty good at it." There was a long tense silence before Nick responded.
"Do you know him?" he asked her once again his hand still gripping her forearm forcefully.
"I've met him a couple of times. He helped save Cassandra from that man the other night and he's willing to watch her tonight while I'm at work."
"You can't just leave her with some stranger."
"Well when you become her mother you can decide, but until then it's up to me." Nina wrenched her arm out of Nick's grasp. "Let's go Cassandra."
Derek Brenner's Apartment—Sunday April 11—3:25 pm
"Thanks again for watching her on such short notice." Nina said as she handed over a small, white medicine bag. "Just make sure she gets her shot before bed and she knows better than to eat sweets so don't let her con you into giving her any."
"It's no problem. My father was a diabetic so I'm used to it." Derek smiled at her and set the bag on the kitchen counter. Nina looked passed him to Cassandra who sat on the floor absorbed in some action movie that was on.
"Her bed time is nine and I'll be by to pick her up around three-thirty or four. Are you sure that's okay?"
"I promise it's no problem. If it had been I wouldn't have offered to watch her." Nina smiled and visibly relaxed.
"Alright then, I better get going," she told him, "Cassie honey I'll see you in the morning."
"Bye mom." Cassandra replied airily with a wave of her hand. Her eyes remained glued to the picture in front of her. "Have fun." Nina told Derek before leaving.
Crime Lab—Sunday April 11—4:00pm
"Cutting it close aren't we Nina." Grissom reprimanded as she rushed into the lab.
"Sorry new babysitter." She told him breathlessly. Grabbing the evidence he handed her she got to work. "Hey Grissom," she said before he could leave, "were you ever able to find out what chrysolyte was?" Grissom winced and sighed.
"I haven't had anytime. I'll get to it as soon as I can." He told her sincerely.
"Don't worry. I'll probably have free time before you do."
"Well you might want to start your research with the bible. I'm beginning to think this might be religious like Greg theorized." Nina thanked him and Grissom left the lab.
He walked slowly to the break room, flipping through the folder in his hands.
"Hey Grissom, they've brought in a suspect. He works at the Wildlife Range and he wears a gold ring with a red X." Warrick said walking quickly toward Grissom.
"Get Nina so she can ID him."
Line-Up—Sunday April 11—4:26 pm
Nina stood behind the glass watching as the six men walked into the room. She studied each one intently even though she knew immediately the man who had attacked her and her daughter.
"Number four." She said as calmly as possible. Catherine put a reassuring arm on her shoulder and the two women showed a knowing look. "Cassie won't have to come in will she? I don't want to put her through that."
"It won't be necessary." Brass informed her, "your positive ID will be enough to hold him for awhile and we'll bring in the two boys to see if he's the same man."
"Thank you." Nina said shaking his hand, "I better get back to the lab, lots of tests to run." Nina excused herself and walked calmly to the bathroom. She splashed some cool water on her face and took a deep breath. Color slowly returned to her face and her hands stopped shaking. She took out her cell phone and called her daughter.
Crime Lab—Sunday April 11—10:12 pm
Nina sat at her computer with a black bible opened in her lap. She stared intently at the screen as she scrolled down the page. The new pieces of evidence from all the new suspects, including DNA and pieces of jewelry, lay forgotten.
It had been a slow night. There were no reports of missing children being found murdered in Arden. This fact had only fueled Nina's curiosity. So while Grissom sat in his office reading his bible and chatting with the Father from the local Catholic Church Nina surfed the web for faster answers. So far her research had been slightly helpful. She had discovered chrysolyte was another name for peridot. Grissom's hint had also been helpful and she was now searching the online bible for the word chrysolyte. She hit enter and hoped there weren't too many results. Her prayers were answered when the word only turned up once.
Nina grabbed everything she had printed, along with the highlighted verses in the bible and ran for the break room. "Hey," she said slightly winded, "I think I know what he's doing. If you don't catch him he'll keep killing children and leaving behind jewels. He won't stop until twelve children are dead. He thinks he's calling on God to bring on the end of the world. It's all right here," she threw down her bible, it was opened to page 1188, the Book of Revelations chapter 21. She had highlighted three of the verses and she read them aloud. "The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22 . If you don't stop him it'll get worse." Nina told them. Greg slid the bible across the table so he could look at it as though to reassure himself of everything she had just told them.
"But of the five kids that have been killed only three of them all had the gems in their mouths' you were talking about." Sara told her, "Is he using some other reference?" Nina shook her head and put the other papers she held in her hands on the table as well.
"Chalcedony is another name for bloodstone and sardonyx is another name for agate He used a red jasper gem. The red stone stands for justice and defense. People use it to right unjust situations. The sapphire gem promotes clarity and inspiration. The bloodstone is used for emotional purification. They all mean something and have something to do with how the children are laid out. The first boy that was killed was laid out in a pentagram, right?" Nick nodded, "Well, Sir Gawain, the nephew of King Arthur used the pentagram as his personal symbol. It stood for the five knightly things generosity, courtesy, chastity, chivalry, and piety."
"All right," Warrick said, "we know all the kids are nine and they go to the same school. Let's see if we can find anything else they might have in common that could tell us how he picks his victims and go from there." Nina left the room and let the four CSI's get to work. Content with being heard she went back to the lab and began eliminating suspects from the case. With each person she eliminated her spirits fell a little more. She was about to go get a cup of coffee when she came across the gold ring with a ruby X in the center. She took it out of its plastic bag, swabbed it and tested the sample against all of the blood samples collected from the victims. The last one she tested came up with a match. She grabbed the paper from the printer and raced down the hall.
"I've got a match." She told them all happily. "The ring you gave me it has blood on it and it's a match to the fifth victim. Didn't Doc Robbins say he found a bruise in the shape of an X?" Sara nodded. "There's a small ruby missing. Did he find anything on the bruise?" Nick jumped up.
"I don't know, but I'll go check and if he hasn't I'll make him double check." Nick was out of the room before anyone could utter a word. Warrick stood up as well.
"I'm going to go inform Brass of our findings and go with him to talk to the principal. Maybe we can get the school closed for a day or two and inform the parents to keep their children inside."
Notes: Sorry for the delay, but I had birthdays, including my own, and my brother went to Maine and I could go on forever with all my excuses. This was all I could get out of my brain right now. The next chapter will be up as fast as I can get it typed because it's already outlined and everything. Unlike this chapter was. Anyway please review. It keeps me going. Thanks!