Title: Everyone has Emotions

Rating: PG13
Summary: He didn't show his emotion to anyone after 'the incident.' But to her, he was willing to let it all out. And when it came out, so did a couple more things.

"Have you noticed it, Aiden?" David Hodges asked. Aiden was one of the few people who saw David Hodges' nice side, because she knew exactly what to say to him when his rude side came out. "Sanders has been acting all skittish since the scene you guys were at today..." he noted, a smidgen of a grin in his voice.

Ignoring the grin, she paid more attention to the substance of the statement. Of course she noticed it. How could she not. And it was natural for him to be skittish. It's not every day you get shot at. It comes with the job, yes, but Greg was still getting used to fieldwork. She flashed him a glare, signifying for him to shut up before she shut him up, and held her hand out. "Just give me the results and shut it, Hodges," she stated simply. "He was freaked. Hell, I was freaked, too. He didn't even have a gun. Lay off him. He's a normal human being. He was scared," she looked at the paper in front of her, trying to take her mind from the experience, too. She was just as scared as Greg...and she didn't have a gun either. "So, what am I looking at, here?"

Hodges, somewhat shocked by her whirlwind of shouts, simply answered her question. "Burnt Sienna foundation. The cheap stuff..." he merely stated and watched Aiden's reaction. "And there was lead dust in his stomach, too. Here..." he seemed a little shocked, as he did every time she threw his attitude back in his face. He respected her, the way she reacted to him, so he eased up.

Aiden nodded in response and waved goodbye to Hodges. "Ease up on Greg, okay? You'd be scared, too," she said sweetly. She never stayed mad for long. Not even at Hodges—as mad as he made her sometimes. "Later, Hodges..." she spoke as she closed the door behind her.

She paged Grissom, then headed down the hall, only pausing for a second to brief Sara on the situation. After that she headed straight to see Greg. Since they'd been shot at that night, she'd barely had a chance to talk to him, and she needed to. She needed to be sure he was okay. She saw him, meditating over a microscope, and even as she opened the door, he jumped a little. "Greg?" she asked, putting him at ease a bit.

He raised his head and nodded in her direction. "Hey, Aiden. What's up?" he asked, relieved that it wasn't someone else, to grill him about why he was so skittish, and how lucky he was he didn't get shot. She was the only one he wanted to open up to, anyway.
She shrugged and sat down beside him. "For one, I have the results on our vic's stomach contents and on that foreign substance on your print. But more importantly..." she pushed the results down the table and met his eye. "I wanted to see if you were all right. You were pretty freaked out. Not that I don't understand, but I just wanted to be sure you were...you know...feeling all right."

He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. "As all right as I can feel, I guess. I'll get over it..." he leaned against his hand and put his elbow on the table. "It was just scary. And when I saw Hodges he kinda made fun of me because of it..."

She shrugged and put her hand on his forearm. "As if he wouldn't have been scared, Greg. He'd probably have shit his pants..." she winked and squeezed his arm supportively. "I was scared, too, Greg..." she let go of his arm and locked eyes with him. "What matters is that we're all okay. Believe me, Greg...I don't think any less of you. I noticed that, even though you didn't have a gun, you still pushed me behind you..." she turned a little pink in the cheeks and let a small smile cross her face.
He turned even deeper pink and nodded. "Of course I did..." he touched her hand as it lay on the table. "I'd sooner get hurt than let anyone hurt you, Aiden..." he swallowed back a huge lump of nervousness in his throat. Had he really just said that? He hadn't meant to.

She didn't read too much into it. After all, they were best friends, and friends laid the cards down for one another a lot. "I'd do the same for you, Greg..." she grinned slightly. She wondered if he'd noticed that she'd clutched to him tightly when he put her behind him, or that she'd buried her face in his back. He made her feel safe, and she needed it more than ever right then. "You're my one sanity in this lab, and it's a good thing I have you around..."

He nodded and grinned a little. "You're mine, too..." he told her simply. He had noticed that she'd clutched onto him. It was the one thing to keep his mind from his fear, if only for a second. He was glad to make her feel secure. If he could make her feel half of what she made him feel, he was a success. "So, what's in the folder?" he asked, only half listening as she went into the details of the lead dust and the cheep burnt sienna foundation. He was too wrapped up in that same wavy strand of hair, falling in front of her eyes again, and making him want to do things he normally wouldn't do in the lab. But, he was violently snapped back into reality all in one fateful second.

"...and that brings me to the bad news..." she looked him in the eye. "I really hate to be a buzz-kill, but, Greg...we have to go back to the scene...back to that neighborhood. Brass already has a suspect in custody, and it checks out. She lives in that neighborhood, right by where the bin was found..."

He sighed and nodded, looking at the floor nervously. "Well, at least we have a uniform with us, huh? Let's go..." he told her, still nervous, but knowing she was too, took the road of bravery.

On the way back to the lab, Aiden was unusually quiet. It usually took a lot to quiet her, but she looked as though she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. They had, after all, just come back from a scene where they'd gotten shot at, but there was more to it than that. "What's up, Aiden?" he asked her, reaching over the shifter and squeezing her knee supportively. "You're quiet..."
She raised her head and met Greg's eye. "Eh, nothin'...just thinking..." she simply stated, smiling softly at him. He was such a good friend. "Don't worry about it..." she looked back out the window. The problem wasn't that they'd been shot at. Yeah, it had scared her, but fear was one thing. Sadness and sympathy were an entirely different one. Seeing those boys locked in that basement, starving to death slowly...it killed her. She wanted to cry. She was choking back tears, though. Greg didn't need her crying and freaking out. He was dealing with his own emotions and fear at that point. The fear of being shot at was enough for him. He didn't need any of her drama.

But, being Greg, he wasn't going to leave it at that. As they pulled into the lab, before Aiden could reach for the door handle, he put a hand on her shoulder. "Aiden. Look, it's me. I know you. I know it's not nothin', okay? With you, it's never nothin'. Just tell me...it'll help."

Aiden loved that about Greg. She loved how he saw right through her. "It's those boys. What they went through? I couldn't imagine starving. I think it would have to be the scariest experience ever..." she explained to him as she met his eye again.
He nodded and put his hand on hers gently. "It's all right, Aiden...they're okay now, and the hooker is going to jail. Probably for life..." he told her, hoping to bring some sort of comfort and relief to those beautiful green eyes. "They'll be all right..."

She nodded, acknowledging that his attempt got through. "I know. It's just horrible and scary to think that someone could do that to their own relative..." she eyed Greg's hand on hers.

He nodded in agreement and watched her eyes as she turned her attention back to him. "Yeah. I know what you mean. But dealing with people like that...it comes with the job, right?" he asked. God, he loved those eyes. Those deep green eyes...he feel into them every time he looked at them.
She leaned back against the seat, leaning her head back and sighing. "It brings you back to your kid-like 'I want to end world hunger' wishes..." she spoke gently, feeling hot tears playing at the corners of her eyes, but blinking them back. "And then you realize, 'hey, I'm 29 and I'm a realist. I can't end world hunger! All I can do is put away the assholes after the fact...'" she frowned. "Sorry. I guess I'm in kind of a 'what's it all for' mood..." she met his eyes again.

He shrugged and smiled compassionately. "Everyone has those times. But think...if it wasn't for us, people like 'Devine' in there would get away constantly..." he reminded her, noting silently that his hand was still on hers, but not pointing it out, so she didn't make him move.

She smiled softly. "I guess I just need to be reminded once in awhile. Thanks, Greg. Somehow, you always know what to say to make me feel better..." she grinned as his eyes met hers, and they just stared for a minute.

Had things not went as they did, they probably would have kissed in the car right then, but they never got the chance. As they sat, eyes locked on one another, faces inches apart, Greg's beeper went off, shocking them both back into reality. Aiden cursed the beeper in her head, as Greg shook his head quickly and reached for it, showing Aiden an apologetic look. "It's Grissom. I have to take it..." he took his cell phone out.

But, as much as she wanted the kiss to play out, she wasn't about to complain. Maybe they could pick up where they left off later on. She'd get the kiss eventually. She hoped.