Precious Things by SLynn
Spoilers: Up to 'Nesting Dolls'
Rating: R for violence and disturbing content.
Disclaimer: Not mine – well, some are mine, just not the ones you recognize.
Thanks and such at the bottom!
Chapter 11: Series
There wasn't a lot that Vice Principal Terrance Amos could tell them. Then again, they weren't really there for that. They had a warrant for and needed access to Emily Harris and Cynthia Haas' lockers.
It was disappointing to learn that Emily Harris hadn't been to school in so long that her locker had been emptied months ago, but Cynthia Haas' had not.
"So her parents haven't been by yet to pick this up?" Nick asked the man as he used the master key to open it for them.
"No, they haven't," he returned with a sigh, "Ms. Haas' parents were less then involved in her life. I'll leave you two to this."
Mr. Amos was off again leaving Nick and Greg to do their jobs.
"Looks pretty typical," Nick commented as he shifted through the contents. "Books, binder, jacket. I'm not sure any of this is going to help."
"Mr. Sanders?" a voice came from behind catching them both off guard.
Greg turned and looked and then smiled at the nervous girl in front of him.
"Hi Jaime. I didn't know you went to school here."
Jaime Hutchinson, Betty from across the street's daughter, stood in front of him awkwardly. They'd talked several times in passing since the time she'd broken into his house, but she'd never approached him before, not without Betty right beside her that is.
"Yeah," she said with a nod, clutching her books in front of her.
Greg noticed three other girls about ten feet away trying to look as if they weren't looking.
"Are you here because of Cynthia?" she asked, suddenly losing the part of her voice that always sounded like a giggle. She sounded suddenly adult like. Serious even and maybe sad.
"We are," Greg said evenly, "Did you know her?"
"We were in homeroom together, but we didn't really hang out. She was nice but I think she had problems."
"How come?"
"Well," Jaime continued, looking around conspiratorially, "she was always getting called into the counselor's office. Things like that. And the last few months, she just didn't seem to care what she looked like. Cynthia use to dress really nice but…"
Jaime didn't seem to know how to finish it off but that there had been a change in Cynthia Haas was evident.
"What's the guidance counselor's name?"
"Ms. Blanchard."
"Thanks Jaime," Greg said offering her a smile. She really wasn't a bad kid, just seemed to have her own problems. He was definitely not in a position to judge her for that considering all of his own. "You've been a big help. Tell your mom I said hi."
"I will," she said smiling back before turning to rejoin her friends.
"Get anything," Greg asked Nick now who had already finished and shut the locker.
"Couple notebooks that look interesting, not much else."
Greg nodded, it was something at least.
"What to go check out that guidance counselor?" Nick asked next.
Again Greg nodded. He didn't really feel like sleeping anyway.
Sara got to the lab that night at seven slightly agitated.
"You didn't come home," she said after finding Greg and Nick in one of the smaller conference rooms, several notebooks and folders open in front of them.
Greg looked up at her, looked at the clock and then looked back to her.
"I didn't realize it was so late."
Nick seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"Did either of you sleep today?" she asked now.
She could tell looking at them they hadn't.
"Maybe we should take a break," Nick said standing up and stretching. "I'm going to go see if Amy is here yet."
Greg nodded and rubbed his eyes. They'd been busy. Ms. Blanchard, the school's counselor had given them so much information that it was mind boggling. She'd let them have copies of both girls records and needless to say they were immense. Neither Emily Harris nor Cynthia Haas had been exemplary students. Emily was apparently a drug user and sometimes vandal before she dropped out and Cynthia had been borderline suicidal.
"Why don't you just go home?" Sara asked standing behind him and rubbing his shoulders.
Greg titled his head back to look at her with a smile on his face.
"You are always trying to get me into bed."
"I'm serious," she returned. "You look dead on your feet."
"I'm not standing."
"It's an expression Greg."
"Okay," Greg said reluctantly standing and moving away from her touch. "I'll go get a few…"
"Greg, Sara" Warrick interrupted from the doorway. "Good, you're both here. Grissom wants us all in his office now."
"Did he say what for?" Sara asked.
"No, just to hurry," Warrick answered. "Have you seen Nick?"
"Try DNA," Greg replied.
Warrick nodded and was off.
"Guess my nap is going to have to wait," Greg said as he headed towards the door.
Holding it open so that Sara could walk out first, they left the room. As they walked down the hall several of the techs they knew passed them in the opposite direction.
"Change of venue," Jacqui said as she walked past them, "We're heading for the conference room."
Greg and Sara stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked back at her confused.
"Come on guys," Nick said passing them as well.
Reluctantly they turned and followed. From what Warrick had said they'd assumed it was an investigators only meeting. Now it seemed the whole shift would be there. Early even.
Greg and Sara crowded into the conference room, squeezing in by Jacqui and Nick.
"Where's Amy?" Greg asked.
"Talking with Griss," Nick returned.
Soon they both came in and Grissom moved to the front to address the room.
"Sorry to call you all in early," he began, "Most of you have worked on the Harris and Haas case. As of right now it is the top priority for this lab. There is going to be a press conference in an hour and I wanted to remind everyone here that there is no discussing this case, or any other case, outside of this building. I want everyone working on this. Again this is our top priority."
Everyone had been completely silent throughout and it seemed as if Grissom was done. Slowly they all got to their feet, shuffling out again. The reality was there wasn't anything to be done yet, but they all had a feeling that was about to change.
Knowing there had to be more, the investigators all stayed back.
"Wait," Grissom called out, "David, Amy. I'm going to need you two to stick around."
Hodges held the door back open for Amy who gave him and then Grissom a weird kind of smile before sitting back down near Nick. Hodges just shut the door and stood near the exit.
"We've got two more bodies," Grissom informed them. "One of them looks to be recent, same MO as our last two found in the Southern Highlands section of town. The other is older, much older. The basic description is right but we won't be certain they're related until we gather the evidence."
Amy was the only one in the room who looked uncomfortable. She was still trying to figure out why she was there still.
"Now," Grissom continued, "the only evidence we have so far has been trace and DNA. I'll be going out with Nick and Greg to the Highlands. David is coming with us. Catherine, you take Warrick, Sara and Amy with you to the second scene."
Grissom handed Catherine the folder with the information she needed and they were all ready to go.
Almost.
Amy had hardly been able to catch her breath since Grissom had said she was going out with them. To an actual scene.
She felt a little sick.
"You okay?" Nick asked hanging back a minute with her as everyone else left.
She didn't answer, just looked at him with an odd expression. Nick knew Amy had a problem with actual bodies and actual blood. Working in the lab was sterile and made it easy for her to not picture the victims. To not face them.
"You can tell him you know," he said putting a hand on her shoulder, "Griss will understand."
"No," Amy said shaking her head, "I can do this. I can. I'll just bring a barf bag or something."
"It might not be so bad," Nick said as he walked with her to the door, "Sara will be there and if it's really an older scene then it might be skeletal."
"I'm not sure if that helps," she admitted.
Nick opened the door to find Greg and Sara waiting for them.
"Come on Amy," Sara said taking her gently by the arm, "Let's get you some field clothes."
Amy gave her a weak smile before saying goodbye to Nick. As they headed down the hall Greg turned to him.
"Is she okay?"
"Yeah, she will be," Nick answered but he didn't sound certain.
He was worried. Nick didn't want Amy to be embarrassed or upset by anything she might see out there. Or anything she might do. He knew she had no desire to be in the field. None. This wasn't going to be an easy night for her and he wished he could do more.
"Are we going to be?" Greg asked half-serious as they headed towards the locker room. "I mean no sleep and Hodges. I feel like I'm being punished."
"It'll be fine," Nick assured him. "Griss will be there, he's not nearly as snarky when Griss is around."
"Yeah just ten times his usual kiss ass self."
"Well," Nick said with a shrug, "just play nice. We've got a job to do. Ignore him."
Greg nodded and opened his locker to change shirts and retrieve his jacket. Tonight was going to be just another long night in a series of long nights.
He really wasn't sure how much more he could take.
A/N: Thanks to everyone still reading and a big thanks to everyone still reviewing! It's been hard to stay motivated with this one for some reason, but knowing your out there and still interested helps a lot!
jewelbaby – sorry, I can't say who is getting married, it's a secret!
white rose01 – I've recently grown to love Hodges and I can't figure out why this one feels a lot more up and down then the others did, I think that's why I'm having a harder time with it. It feels off balance, but that was kind of what I was going for, just not for me too!
Fwe – thanks! Dr Jennings is very persuasive when she wants to be, no more firings in my fics… at least not of Greg
Kelly – happy to oblige, thanks for reading!
Emmithar – I think I'm going to ease up on Greg and share the angst, well I'm going to try at least I don't think I could give him cancer again, that would be bad I think, even if I'm not really happy with how this one is turning out, the scene with Ecklie made this all worth writing!
Tripp3235 – thanks again for all your help with this one and 'Search' and all my others btw! hee hee, yeah, talk to Ecklie – I had so much fun writing that. :P I have no idea where my new love of Hodges is taking me, honestly it's just there and will not go away!
GottaGetGreg – as you may guess from this chapter, we haven't seen the last of Betty and her brood
BeyondMyStar – review when you can and if you can:) I worked really hard on the dream sequence and glad you liked it the 'your mom' line was my favorite! I knew Dr Jennings wasn't very likable, but it's kind of her personality. She's one of those you have to know them first people who are kind of abrasive… I thought turning her loose on Ecklie would be fun and it was!
veryevil – Betty, the neighbor everyone loves. :) I think sleep deprivation is the worse, I've gone two days once without sleeping and it was bad… really bad. I'm trying to update regularly, but for some reason it hasn't been as easy lately.
Trish – yeah! Another Greg/Sara shipper is born. :) I'm fairly well addicted to them myself. I've recently discovered I pretty much ship wherever Greg is involved.
Sorry these aren't more in-depth! Next time, I promise. Thanks again for taking the time to review!
