Issues by SLynn
Disclaimer: I own only the thoughts in my head and the characters you don't recognize.
Chapter 7: Reviews
It was well after the end of their shift but Catherine and Warrick were still at work. They'd gotten the paperwork all together and in order and the office manager had just arrived. It was their first trip into Dr. Laura Sanchez's office.
"Where should we start?" Warrick asked.
"Well, try the desk first. An appointment book maybe? I'm going for the filing cabinets."
During the course of the night they'd grown more relaxed with each other. It had been tense at first, Warrick thought she'd overreacted. But Warrick didn't know the things Catherine did. Things like how strongly Ecklie had resisted Greg's promotion in the first place. The man wasn't stupid; Greg was a hard worker and an excellent tech. He hadn't wanted to loose him where he thought he'd needed him more. Where Ecklie had more control over him.
"Found a list of patients," Catherine called from across the room.
"Well, I've got the appointment book. It's a start."
"We're going to need all of this," Catherine said, indicating the filing cabinets. "Only way were going to find out who fits the profile."
Warrick said nothing. He'd read the profile and had just been glad Greg had a witness to his whereabouts. They were likely looking for a manic-depressive, mid-twenties to forties, white male with a good understanding of criminology. The best part was that the guy, whoever he was, probably hadn't been in therapy long and had recently undergone a stressful change in life. The profiler might as well have added that his last name was Sanders and that the killer had hair dye fetish.
Of course profilers had been wrong before.
Greg couldn't have done this. Warrick hard a hard time believing anyone could have done this. The body had been clean, washed clean in the bathtub. The guy had taken the time to run bleach down the drain after the fact. Near as they could tell, he'd even vacuumed. And it had been personal; cause of death had been strangulation. It didn't get any more personal then that. He'd only cut her throat well after she'd died, strictly for effect. Not to mention the little love note carved into her stomach.
"Got everything you need?" Catherine asked, joining him at the desk.
"Yeah, what's that?"
"A few files to start with. Her most recent sessions."
"Not Greg's."
Catherine said nothing.
"Cath," he started, "come on. He's not a suspect."
"He fits the profile Warrick. We have too, just to rule him out."
"He has an alibi."
"And they've been lying to all of us for months."
Warrick said nothing. There was no point; she was taking it no matter what he said.
The next few days passed slowly. Everyone did all they could to help prepare Greg for the review board, but he was still nervous. Sara and he went over what they'd say if asked about their relationship. As far as anyone needed to know it had only been going on the last three months seriously. In a way, that was true. It had only been since then that they'd pretty much given up the pretense of living in separate apartments. Sara still had her own place; she just hadn't seen it in that long. Neither was comfortable lying, they just really hoped it didn't come up.
The day before the board was to meet Greg found out some disturbing news. He wasn't the only one being called forward. They were talking to practically the whole shift. Almost everyone he worked with was going to go in there to discuss how erratic his behavior was. It was scary. Most people, Jacqui, Archie and the like, he knew what to expect. They'd be behind him. But not everyone was his friend. Hodges in particular walked around the night before with a sickening smile.
The day of, they talked to everyone in the main conference room. Greg didn't have to be there until three, but showed up just as they initially got underway at one. On Grissom's advice he'd worn his only suit. On Catherine's, Sara stayed behind until she was called. Their involvement was out in the open now but there was no need to flaunt it.
Most people stayed in five to ten minutes. Short and to the point he guessed. The first person to stay longer was Hodges. He'd gone inside and hadn't come out for just over half an hour.
Amy was the last lab tech in. She too was gone longer, but Greg was more positive about what she had to say. After she came back out, twenty minutes later, they asked in Doc Robins. He gave Greg a friendly pat on the shoulder as Amy walked up.
"Well?" he asked. He hadn't had the nerve to approach anyone else.
"Oh Greg," she said rolling her eyes.
"That bad?"
"Worse. They've really got it in for you. They asked me all sorts of questions; I hardly know what I said."
"Hey," Nick said, coming up from behind Amy to talk with them both.
"What kind of questions?" Greg asked. He wanted to be ready for this and now he felt he wasn't.
"They wanted me to compare your work in the field to your work in the lab. How am I supposed to do that? I've never been in the field."
"What else?" Nick asked, not liking the sound of that.
"General health stuff. How he looked? How he acted?" Amy continued.
Greg thanked her for doing her best, not sure if what she'd said had hurt or helped and continued to wait and watch.
After Doc Robins came the team. Catherine went first, followed by Nick, Warrick and then Sara. Grissom, actually on the board, had assumedly said all he could already in his defense. The real surprise had been Dr. Tracey showing up. Apparently Grissom had called her, told her the situation and asked her to come down and maybe shed some light on Greg's diagnosis.
Greg didn't know it but her testimony helped the most. Having been in regular contact with Dr. Sanchez, she knew exactly what Greg was being treated for and why. Yes, he had mild bipolar tendencies, but these tendencies would not have surfaced had it not been for his chemotherapy treatment. His moods were typically manic, not depressive. All this meant was that his highs, his good moods, were generally a lot better then most peoples. She did admit that his depressions, although fewer then the average person treated with bipolar, were expected to be the same. Worse then most peoples. She felt that he was in no way suicidal or even dangerous. Greg, she assured them, was only meant to be on anti-depressants until his cancer went into remission. In short, there was nothing preventing him from doing his job.
Greg had gone last.
He only recognized three faces before him, and at the moment he could only name two of them. Grissom and Ecklie. Greg sat down and tried not to do any of the things he mostly did when he was nervous like bite his lips or bounce his feet, he just held his hands in front of him. His knuckles were white from the effort.
"Mr. Sanders, thank you for joining us. This shouldn't take too much longer."
They'd been right. It hadn't taken long, no more then ten minutes. They'd confirmed from him he was in therapy and why. Asked a few questions about how he felt his training had gone. Let him give his explanation of why he hadn't brought forward the issue sooner and that was it. If anything, the lack of questions made him feel worse. Like they'd already decided his fate.
They'd dismissed him quickly and asked him to wait outside. Sara was waiting for him, eager to know how it had gone. His face told her a lot.
"Maybe Dr. Tracey convinced them," she said hopefully, sitting beside him and holding his hand.
"I don't think Clarence Darrow could convince them."
"Greg."
"Seriously, where am I going to find work as a chemist in Vegas that isn't in the crime lab?"
"You're getting a bit ahead of yourself now. You don't know…"
But what he didn't know, he was about to find out. They were ready for him. Already. It just reconfirmed his view that they'd already decided long before now.
"Good luck," she said squeezing his hand once before he stood to go.
Greg reentered the room and sat down without being asked. He only looked for one person, Grissom. Usually unreadable, but not now. Grissom looked angry. Greg knew it was bad.
He hardly heard them speaking. It almost sounded like the teachers in Charlie Brown cartoons. Greg found he really only caught every third or fourth word of what was said, but he understood it fine.
"Wah wah wah… valued employee. Wah wah wah… health issues. Wah wah wah… lack of respect. Wah wah wah… promoted too soon."
It came down to the fact that the board felt he couldn't do his job. They thought he lacked the maturity and responsibility needed to perform as a CSI in the field, evident in his antics he'd become infamous for. However, they did have value for the work. They knew he was talented and didn't want to lose him entirely. He was being demoted and moved to day shift. The board felt this was best for everyone, especially considering his health concerns.
The bright side, if there was one, was that it might not be permanent. They'd review his file in six months time. If his cancer really did go into remission and as Dr. Tracey had said he could successfully be removed off of the anti-depressants without incident they'd consider reinstating him to CSI Level One again.
Greg left the room feeling completely dejected. Again, Sara didn't have to ask, she could see it in his eyes. Immediately, she thought the worse.
"They didn't?" she asked shocked.
"No," he answered as if reading her mind. "I haven't been fired. In a way it's almost worse."
"How could it be worse?"
"I'm reporting to Ecklie now."