Chapter 2:
The next week Nick, Hailey, Catherine, and Sara walked into the break room to find Grissom looking through a case file. He looked up as they entered the room. He shuffled papers around and found the case slips. "Nick, DB found in a sewage tank. Maintenance guy went to see what the clog was about and found it. It's still under so you'll have to get in there and fish it out." Hailey did a silent laughter and stuck her tongue out at him, teasing that he would have to go in sewage. Grissom however caught this. "Hailey, you're certified in diving. You go with him." He smiled handing her the slip. She grumbled and sank lower into her chair.
"Whose laughing now?" Nick teased.
"Shut it." She snapped playfully.
"Ok, ok. Catherine you're with me, someone torched a mini mart. The owner managed to escape but we still need to process. Sara, there was a home invasion. Man who lived there was shot, and the brother came over found him and called it in." He paused and looked around. "Has anyone seen Warrick?" Hailey shook her head and looked at Nick, who also had no clue. "Alright, well get going then." Everyone took off except for Sarah.
"Grissom, I want to work a case with Nick. I think that our skills put together would help benefit a case."
Grissom looked at her. Was it possible that she was telling the truth, or did she like Nick? He knew that Hailey and her didn't get along very well, maybe she wanted to stir thing up for them. "We'll see when the next cases come in." He said.
"Alright, thanks."
Hailey had showered at the lab when she and Nick came back. She sniffed herself, and as much as she tried, she still smelled. She marched into Grissom's office and saw Sara there. "Do you know where Grissom is?" She asked.
"He's still out in field."
"Ok, thanks." Hailey turned to leave.
"Just to let you know, you smell." She said in a snotty tone.
"I can smell myself." She left the office, wondering why Sara was in his office, no one should be in his office when he's not there. She got passed it and walked into the morgue. The body was laid out on the table and David and Nick had masks over their faces trying to block out the smell. Hailey slipped her own mask on and looked down at the body. She thought about the smell, and then the fact that she was in a large vat of raw sewage and she almost lost it. Her arm flew up to mouth and she suppressed the urge to vomit. David had scraped off some of the sewage and found a bullet hole. Hailey had wished that this guy just passed out and fell in and drowned but his lungs were clear, meaning that he was killed and then dumped. "It's gonna be a long night." She said and the two men nodded in agreement.
Hailey went to her apartment after shift. She stayed in the shower for over an hour and finally got the stench out of her skin. She stood in front of her mirror with a towel wrapped around her. She combed out her hair and smelled it. there were two options she though of. She either got the smell out or get used to it. She hoped it was the first one. She changed into boxers and a t shirt and crawled into bed.
Hailey woke up the next morning, put on her getting ready mix cd, and went through her daily routine. She dressed in a little black halter dress that she new Nick loved. She put a light blue button up shirt, black pants, and her black heeled boots in a bag so she could change when she got to work. 'Today is a special day.' she thought to her self. "Happy Birthday." she said to herself in the mirror. She finished curling her hair and applied her makeup. The door bell rang and .
She opened the door and saw Nicky standing there in black pants, the black shoes she loved, and an olive green button up shirt, tucked in and complete with a black belt. "Happy Birthday." He said coming in and giving her a passionate kiss.
"You keep that up and we might not make it to dinner." She said catching her breath.
"Is there a problem with that?" He said with a devilish look in his eyes.
"Hey, you're the one who made the reservations."
Nick had a look of regret on his face. "I know."
She smiled at him and put her flowers in water and then took his arm as the went down to his Tahoe.
They went to a casual fancy restaurant and had dinner. At the end of the meal Nick paid for dinner and they left for the lab. Nick pushed a number on his cell, pressed send, waited a few seconds then hung up. He smiled to himself knowing that Hailey didn't see what he was doing.
When they arrived Nick got a page. "We have to meet Griss in the break room for assignments."
"Ok, let me just go change first." She said walking to the locker room.
"You can change after, you know how he is if someone's late." Nick said coming up with a quick lie. They rounded the corner and Hailey looked into the break room. It was completely dark when he opened the doors, and flipped the lights on.
"SURPRISE!" everyone yelled.
She grabbed her chest as her breathing went back to normal. "God, give me heart failure why don't you." She joked.
Nick sneaked up and gave her a kiss. "Happy Birthday, baby." He placed a tiara on top of her head.
She looked around the room, that was littered with balloons, and saw almost everyone she worked with. Gil, Catherine, Warrick, and Greg were there, and even Doc. Robbins, David, Bobby D, and Archie showed up. There was a huge vanilla icing cake sitting in the middle of the table. It was decorated with confetti, ribbons, and little red, yellow, and blue balloons. She read the cake, 'Happy Birthday Guido! Hailey!' (the guido crossed out) she laughed at Grissom's idea of a joke. They sang happy birthday and then cut the cake.