Serial

A/N: This is my first CSI fic and I'm working really hard on getting the characters right. Please, if I screw up too much let me know. Also, there is a made up in this story, and while some things may seem to deal mostly with her, I'm going to include them all. This also takes place after Bloodlines and may become merged with some of the new episodes. I'll post a warning for new episode sensitive chapters.

Disclaimer: If I owned them, I wouldn't be worried about not doing the characters the justice they deserve.

Summary: A young woman soon discovers that her visit home and need to start new is threatened by a ghost from her recent past. Her presence causes a couple disruptions, but how will the team deal when one of their own becomes a target for a serial killer. G/S eventually, Gr/OC later


Chapter 2- Introductions, Tension, and explanations

Slowly opening her eyes, Gillian blinked a few times to clear her sleep muddled mind. She sighed as a smiled formed on her lips, remembering she was safe, sound and home. She slowly sat up on the small couch as she ran her hands through her messy from sleep hair. Looking around she noticed the office was just like it was when she fell asleep. "Well, I wasn't woken by someone shaking me, so Gris didn't get back yet." She said out loud to herself as she checked her watch. Seeing that she had only been asleep for a half hour shocked her, that nap was the more restful and relaxing then any of the nights she had spent hours sleeping in the past year or two.

Smirking she stood and stretched. "The wonders of being home." She answered herself softly. Looking down at her shirt she quickly brushed her hands against the soft cotton. She had long been singing the praises of wrinkle-free oxford shirts, and looking at herself in the reflection of one of the many glass cases she did it again mentally. She quickly pulled her travel brush from her purse and ran it through her long hair a couple times, replacing it when she deemed herself presentable once more. Making sure she had her badge and visitor pass around her neck, she headed to the door.

She left the office and walked back to the break room. She figured something to drink and a snack would help kill the time as she waited for the team to get back. 'Maybe I'll find a magazine I haven't read yet.' She mused to herself as she walked. She opened the door to the break room absently lost in her thoughts, but stopped short hearing a sudden silence in the room. She shook her head slightly as she looked around the room. The two guys from the crime scene and a dark haired female were sitting off to the side, all starring at her in silence.

Gillian's eyes quickly ticked over each person as her mind pieced together the puzzle of their identities. Taking in the two guys first, she took in the differences in their appearance and make up. The one she placed as Nick Stokes was the one standing against the counter holding the coffee mug in his right hand. Warrick Brown is the one sitting at the table across from the other female. Looking over the female, she instantly knew this was the famous Sara Sidle. She had seen a younger picture of her from when Grissom had given the lecture and workshop at Harvard. She was older now, but she still looked like the girl in the old photo.

Gilly smiled brightly wondering over their silence. "Hi." She said hiding her nervousness of being so openly studied by the three. To buy herself some time, Gilly crouched down on her hunches as she opened the small refrigerator. Looking around she took a few deep breaths before pulling out a bottle of water. Standing slowly, she turned to face the still quiet CSIs. "I should introduce myself." She said forcing a smile to her lips for a moment before continuing. "I'm Gillian Collins. I'm an associate of Grissom's from New York." She told them evasively.

Nick seemed to be the one to snap out of his shock first. "I'm Nick Stokes." He told her holding out his hand. Gilly shook it as she moved to the hand Warrick was holding out to her. "Warrick Brown." She nodded as she turned to Sara, who smiled at her, but Gilly could see the underlying questions in her eyes. "Sara Sidle."

Gilly smiled as she pulled out the chair at the end of the table. She sat down as she twisted open the bottle of water and looked questioningly between Nick and Warrick. "I know you guys are smart, so out with the questions burning your brain." She addressed them with a smile as she held in her laughter at the shocked look that fell over both faces. As the two stayed quiet for a few seconds, Gilly turned to face Sara. "It's either, A) They know they've seen me before, but can't place me, B) That they know where they've seen me before and are just trying to figure which questions to ask that won't get them beaten by me or by Detective Brass, or C) They've been struck by lightening and we missed it." She said giving Sara a smirk.

Sara couldn't help laughing. "I think it might be D) They're only used to me and Catherine being that ballsy."

Gilly smiled brightly at Sara as Nick started making a bit of a sputtering noise. The two girls looked towards Nick, but were stopped from making a comment as Catherine walked into the room. Speaking as she read from the file in her hands, Catherine hadn't looked up as she moved across the room to the coffee maker on auto pilot. "I got the background on the Clark's." She said as she continued to read as she made her mug of coffee. "Grissom should be in soon, someone parked in his spot, so he's trying to find out who."

Gilly nearly choked on the sip of water she had taken. "That would be me." She said as she quickly stood and gave Cath a half smile as the older woman looked at her in surprise. "I owe you a hug and time to chew me out in a bit." She told her as she placed her bottle of water on the table. "But, first, I'm going to go save that poor receptionist from Gris." She added as she quickly exited the break room.

Catherine kept looking at the door in shock. "Was that?" She asked softly.

"Um, Gillian Collins." Sara said as she watched Catherine closely. "Or rather, that's who she said she is."

Catherine looked over at Sara for a moment as a slow smile crossed her lips. "No, that's who she is. She's also the reason Grissom's been a bit more moody today."

Warrick finally spoke up from where he was watching the whole scene. "She was at the Clark's house tonight. Nick and I saw her talking to Brass. She hugged him." He finished with a shocked inflection in his voice as he looked to Nick for confirmation.

Nick nodded. "Yeah, then she left and Brass came over to us."

Catherine laughed softly. "Let me guess, Brass warned you from drawing any conclusions, right?" She asked raising an eyebrow at the two. "But you did anyway, and I'm about a hundred percent sure all those conclusions were wrong." She placed the file on the table. "Wanna see Gris get a surprise?" She asked with a slightly wicked grin.

All four quickly rushed from the break room and down the hall. They stopped at the end of the hallway as they noticed Gilly quickly hurrying up towards the reception area. They could see Grissom a little farther up looking through the reception window and talking with the woman there. They could hear his voice raise a bit, but it stopped sharply as Gilly finally spoke.

"Down boy." She called sharply as she walked closer to where Grissom stood. Grissom's head turned sharply at the new voice and he starred in shock as she walked closer. "I'm the mystery Parking Spot thief." She told him with a smirk and a wink as she stopped in front of him.

Grissom finally regained his motor functions and quickly moved across the small space between them and pulled her tightly to him. Hugging her tightly, he spun her a bit before setting her back on her feet. He looked down at her and smiled as his eyes quickly roamed over her face. "We will be talking later." He told her fondly as he raised his eyebrow at her. "But I'm glad you're here, Gilly."

Gilly smiled up at him. "I'm glad I'm here too." She said before wrapping her arms around his middle and hugging him tightly, again. She could feel him relax as his arms went around her again. One of his hands was gently stroking her hair as she felt a light pressure on the top of her head.

'This is where I belonged.' Gilly thought before she pulled back a bit hearing someone coughing gently down the hall. She laughed softly seeing Catherine standing there and farther down the hall Sara, Nick and Warrick stood, their shock was clear on their faces.

Gilly patted Grissom on the back a couple times, before extracting herself from his grip and moving to give Catherine a hug. Catherine pulled out of the hug and held Gilly's shoulders as she looked her over. "You've grown up so much." She said in awe, shaking her head in disbelief. "You should've visited more."

Gillian looked down at her feet for a moment as she nodded. Looking up she smiled sadly at Catherine as she shrugged. "I got stuck in a continuous loop of work. When the brick wall hit, I did some reevaluating." She leaned in to whisper in Catherine's ear. "I need to talk to Gris, but I'm hoping to be back for awhile." She told her with a smile as she felt Grissom come up behind her and place a hand on her shoulder.

Gilly and Catherine looked up at Grissom as he stood next to them. "We'll meet you in the break room. Get the samples to Greg."

Catherine nodded as Grissom started to lead Gilly back down the hall towards his office. The other CSIs watched as Grissom led the new girl to his office and once the door closed, they turned to Catherine. "What was that about?" Asked Sara in confusion looking back towards Grissom's office.

Catherine shook her head. She had a feeling of what some of that was about, but she noticed a fear that was underlying in Grissom's eyes when he looked down at Gilly. She couldn't figure out what that fear was from. "I'm not sure." She said softly as she also looked down the hall.


Gilly sat in one of the chairs across from Grissom's desk as he sat in his chair. She crossed and un crossed her legs as she waited for him to speak. He was just looking at her and ever since she was little it made her nervous when he got quiet. "I'm sorry." She said softly as she finally forced herself to look him in the eyes.

Raising his eye brows he looked at her confused. "Why are you sorry?" He asked her softly. "You called when you got pulled off the first investigation, but you didn't call after that? Is that why your sorry? Why don't you tell me why you didn't call, knowing I would be worried about you?"

Gilly took a deep breath. "I didn't call when Mick was killed because the only common link between Eric and Mick was me. We didn't know how the killer knew I knew them or how the killer was picking his victims. I was worried that it was by my phone records or something. I didn't want to draw you or anyone else to the killers attention. I haven't talked to anyone, not even Aunt Janet."

Grissom nodded. "I know that. Janet called yesterday telling me you missed you weekly call, so you better call her in the morning."

"I will." Gilly interjected quickly. "After Mac called and told me the guy was dead, I put in for a couple weeks vacation and called the airport. I got in a couple hours ago."

"So your just here on vacation?" Grissom asked gently covering his own worry.

Gilly shook her head. "I started checking job listings when they found Eric. The cases in New York have been getting worse, and I haven't been sleeping that great so I started looking for a lab job." She took a deep breath as she stood and moved over to the tarantula's tank. "When Eric was killed, I could only think of coming home. After I called you, I started looking for something closer. A couple days ago the listing came up for here. So when the killer was dead, I headed here." She turned back to him with a sad smile. "I'm here to apply for the Lab Tech job, that is if you think it would ok for me to work here."

Grissom stood and moved to her gathering her in his arms again. "It's more then ok, Gillian." He spoke into her hair as he stroked her hair, again. "You've always been welcome here."

Gillian nodded into his chest, but she refused to move away. Over the years she had pushed him away to make her own mark in the world and now only a few people know how much a part of her life the Great Gil Grissom really is. "I know I was...I am." She started softly. "I just.." She sighed as she pulled back a bit and looked up at him when he looked down at her, she continued. "You know I went to New York for my Masters, I kinda also went to start over."

She noticed the hurt slip into his eyes and quickly shook her head. "All my life you've been there for me. You kept me interested in school when the normal classes bored me to tears. You played those mystery games and puzzles with me. You were the only one that could get to me when my dad died. Not to mention you actually disrupted your life and actually welcomed a fifteen year old into it when mom died. You never failed to teach me something when I showed an interest. You took me under your wing and taught me more about forensics and life then any of my professors ever could. I've always learned so much from you and I'm eternally grateful for everything you've ever done for me, but I needed to make my own path." She smiled slightly. "I've realized that no matter where I go you're my family. I made my own path and now, it's lead me back home."

She looked down for a moment again, speaking quickly not giving him a chance to interrupt. "I've just always been worried about being compared to you, being accused of you giving me special treatment because I'm kinda like a daughter to you. That's why I went to New York. I don't want to be treated differently because I was raised partly by you."

Grissom stayed quiet for a while as he absorbed and thought about everything she had just admitted. He had done that a bit when she was younger. She had a spot on the team saved for her once she finished school, but she chose to stay in New York. Now, she wanted to come back, but she didn't want a spot on the team. "If you take the lab job, you'll still be under me, but I can't see anyway someone could argue with your credits and claim favoritism. Are you sure that is what you want?" He asked as he lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes.

"Yeah." She nodded. "I need a break from the hands on aspect of the job. Taking the Lab Tech job will give me a nice break and not to mention put all that costly schooling to work." She told him with a smile.

Grissom laughed softly. "Well, we can't let my hard earned money go to waste." She gaped at him and hit him gently on the shoulder. "I paid half of it." She said in mock outrage.

Grissom held his hands up in surrender. "Ok, ok. I won't start talking about pay back. Why don't I take you around and introduce you to everyone? Brass is bound to stop by at some point, and I know he'd like to see you."

Gilly nodded as she ducked away from him. "He would, but I've already seen him." She said as she moved to her purse and started quickly digging through it. "I called here first, but you weren't here to pick up. So then I called dispatch and Connie's still there, can you believe it? Anyway, she told me where you were, so I headed over there and met up with Brass. I was talking to him as you came out and talked to Nick and Warrick and set them up checking the perimeter and then watched you go back inside." She looked up and smiled at his shocked face. "You even walked to the SUV and didn't notice me, but Nick and Warrick did." She teased with a smile.

Grissom narrowed his eyes at her. "No. I repeat No dating the team." He sternly told her wagging a finger at him.

Gilly raised an eyebrow at him. "I refuse to even acknowledge that you said that. It's not a fair rule, for the simple fact that you never know where you might find your heart's desire, therefore you can't place restrictions on the possibilities."

Grissom stared at her in shock as she closed up her purse and slipped her keys into her pocket. She headed towards the door and stopped after she opened it to look back at him. "I know you like your bugs, but close your mouth or Cookie might think your trying to get all his food." She said laughing as he snapped his jaw closed.

"I'll make a food run so I'll take orders as you introduce me." She told him heading out the door as he started walking towards her.

TBC