Title: Before the Stethoscope
Author: ScullyAsTrinity
Rating: PG
Summary: A pre-Valentine's lunch in the lab. A little story, a little angst, with just a tad of fluff.
A/N: I have no idea what compelled me to write this. Maybe the way my nana used to captivate me with her stories about the "old days" and I just... just felt it was cute okay? OKAY!?! Right, now back to watching Buffy.
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"Greg" Nick asked, tossing a container of sweet and sour pork back onto the break room table.
Greg shook his head whilst shoving noodles into his mouth. "Never been."
"You?" Nick asked incredulously. "Mr. Ladies Man?"
"Hey, hey!" Greg defended. "Just because me likes the ladies doesn't mean I fall in love with all of em! Or any of them for that matter."
"Fair enough." Nick said, backing off of the young lab tech.
"What about you Doc? Who was your first love?" Catherine posed, the spirit of Valentine's Day having invaded the lunchtime conversation in the CSI breakroom.
The older man finished swallowing a mouthful of teryiaki. "You really wanna hear this?" He tossed his napkin down on the table and sat back.
Nick, Greg, and Catherine all nodded enthusiastically. "Because it's a long story."
"Oh! Storytime!" Catherine enthused, and they all sat back, waiting for the story to begin.
"It was after my accident." He indicated his legs, and both Nick and Greg leaned on the table, eager to hear the tale. Catherine, Warrick and Sara all sat at attention, listening intently. Grissom sat back in his chair, forensic journal in hand, glasses low on his nose. He was pretending not to listen but he was.
"It opened my eyes, being in the hospital for so long. Renewed vigor for life, I was so intent on mastering these damn things." He indicated the plastic crutches at his forearms. Greg laughed and nodded again. "So, seven months after the surgery I was finally mobile, able to walk about on my own, and I went back to school to finish where I left off. Damned if it wasn't one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do, but it was also the most rewarding. It occured to me, after I'd graduated, that I didn't have anywhere to... well... display the diploma, and believe me, I wanted to display that damn thing."
Catherine laughed and took a sip from her ginger ale, pushing aside her plate of Chinese food in favor of the story.
"So," Doc Robibn continued. "I spent two years building my clinic, a free clinic, in Baltimore. It was fantastic. I had an amazing staff, some of the best doctors in Baltimore were on staff there, and the people, god the people were just some of the most interesting characters you'd ever meet."
They all laughed at that. Even Grissom smiled.
"So, one day, a woman by the name of Andrea Gilbert walked into the office, she was looking for a job. Took me a moment to respond to her question-if we possibly needed a secrectary-because my jaw had hit the floor. She was gorgeous. Tall, long brown curly hair, and not a speck of makeup. Her coat was buttoned up to her chin from the cold, and she was wearing a pnk knit cap. I'd never seen anything so sweet in my life."
"Romantic." Catherine spoke, smiling warmly.
"Doc's been holding out on us." Sara chimed in laughing, fully transfixed by the older man's words.
Al smiled at her and winked, the continued. "So I asked to see her resume and she handed it over, rather nervously. She'd just gotten out of college, University of Marlyand, had a masters in English Literature. She wanted to be a teacher, but couldn't find any work close to home. Her mother had fallen ill and she was helping out around the house. So, I set her up with a desk and had Jeanie, the secrectary we already had, show her the ropes."
Al paused and took a bite of Kung Pao chicken. "Well, after awhile it became apparent that filing did not suit her. She was far too restless to sit behind a desk all day. So, I asked her if she'd like to work with me, train to be my assistant. The girl was so nervous, kept telling me she had no training, no teaching, and I told her I would teach her if she was willing to learn. She was more than eager, and she needed the money so..."
"Sly Doc, real sly." Warrick said, patting the man on the back, picking up his plate to indulge in a bit more Chinese.
"So we worked together for a good time, and by the second year, I simply couldn't ignore my feelings anymore. Two years and I'd fallen hard and kept my mouth shut about it the whole time. I mean, she was perfection to me, smart, beautiful, easy to get along with... she liked baseball and junk food."
They all nodded, leaning forward, engrossed in the older man's words. Grissom had even begun to listen attentively, having placed his journal on the table.
"She even taught me to roller skate. But," The doctor's voice dropped off sadly. "I was pushing forty and she'd just turned twenty-five. In my head, the math didn't make sense. Didn't really know what she's want in an old coot like me. So I ignored it, for a time, and we were friends, such wonderful friends, that for a time, it didn't matter. I didn't think that my feelings could grow any more, you know?"
They all nodded. "So three years in, a position opened up in North Carolina, they needed a professor and she was the top of her list. She told me she was leaving. Now by that time, the cost to run the practice was getting so high that I was working for nothing, and had to shut it down."
"That's so sad man." Nick said.
"I know, it was like I was watching my creation die. So, I closed the doors of the practice and began applying for positions at local hospitals. Nothing ever really enticed me, so I was home alot. Then, one day, Andrea called to say that she wanted to have lunch with me before she left. I was so depressed from losing both the practice and her that I almost said no."
"Almost right? You did say yes?" Sara piped up.
"I did, and went and saw her, one last time. And we talked about times passed, and she thanked me for allowing her to work with me. Thanked me for the experience. I thanked her back, and she wanted to know why I had done so." He pasued for a moment, lost in the annals of nostalgia. "God, seems like it happened yesterday."
"What next?" Greg asked, dangerously close to falling off of his chair.
"Well, she kissed me, straight on the lips, told me that she wished things could have happened differently. And I just sat there stunned as she left." The doctor shrugged, and sat back in his seat.
"What? That's it?!" Catherine exclaimed.
"You just let her leave, just like that?" Nick shouted, flabberghasted.
"She came back into the restaurant because she left her scarf..." The doc trailed off, all eyes glued on him.
"And, and?" Warrick asked, foregoing his masculinity to indulge in the romance of the story.
"And, well..." Doc Robbins grinned widely and reached into his lab jacket, extracting his wallet. He pulled out a picture and slid it across the table.
"Who's this, this is her?" Catherine said as all the CSI's sans Grissom gathered around to look at the picture.
"That's Andrea Gilbert, my wife."
Greg moved away from the table. "You married her? Your first love? That's awesome man. Gives me hope." He said, smacking his hand over his heart, sending the doctor a broad smile.
Grissom chose that moment to speak. "Annie is Andrea?" He asked, looking at his peer over the top of his glasses.
"One and the same." Doc Robbins said proudly, taking his picture back, slipping it into his wallet.
"Well she's beautiful Doc." Greg said, as everyone agreed. The doctor grinned back at them and readjusted himself in the chair. "So, Griss, you know his wife?" Greg pried, all eyes turning to their supervisor.
Grissom stood, pushing in his chair. He grabbed his journal. "Yes, and she's a very lovely woman." He said as he exited the room, leaving his CSI's to finish their discussion. He paused in the hall, backtracked and allowed his eyes to fall upon Sara, who was engaged in a story of her own, the others now listening to her.
He smiled softly and retreated to the serenity of his office.