Back at the lab, some people are working on the shooting. Melanie comes and checks on her jewelry, it's all there, but it is not released to her yet, because it is evidence. Ballistics is testing the two guns from Ed Spring's house. They run them to see if they get any hits. They do, and everyone is stunned. They were used in the school shooting.

Grissom and Brass are in the interrogation room with Ed and his attorney. In the viewing room, Nick, Greg, Sara, Warrick, Melanie, Catherine, Sophia, and several others are watching. Catherine is leaning against Warrick, and his arms are around her.

"Would you mind explaining how your gun was used in a school shooting today?" Brass began.

"I can explain all of this," he starts to say, but his attorney interrupts.

"You don't have to speak."

"I'm not going down for a crime I didn't commit! Listen, I stole the jewelry; that's what I do. I don't kill people though, especially not kids!"

"Calm down Mr. Spring. Explain to us then, what happened." Grissom says calmly.

"I was exchanging the jewels for drugs, my dealer didn't want to give me what I thought was fair. I mean, those jewels were real. They had to be worth a few thou, and he didn't want to give me anywhere near that.

So I told him I'd go elsewhere. He wasn't happy about that, so he had one of his guys hold me, while he took my guns and he gave one to his other guy. The school was across the street.

So he says, 'Let this be a lesson to you, if you ever threaten to leave again, this will be you.' And they opened fire. When they finished, they shoved the guns back into my pockets and told me to go.

So I ran home. Then I went home and got as drunk as possible to forget it all. You guys came, as I was sobering up, because I didn't have any liquor left."

"Can you give us names?" Brass questions.

"Yes."

"Good. One more question, how did you know about her jewelry?" Grissom asks.

"We used to date, but she refused to continue our relationship if I continued to use. So she broke it off. I didn't do it to hurt her; she's a nice girl. She was too good for me. I just did it for the cash."

Grissom nods slowly.

Ed is taken by a police officer and led out in handcuffs. Brass and Grissom both follow. Those who were in the observation room, start to come out. Catherine looks much more relieved than she did before. Warrick and Catherine head off together, and the rest of the group starts to walk away.

Melanie however, rushes towards Ed, with tears in her eyes.

"Wait," she says.

He turns around and looks at her. "I forgive you. I wish you would have just asked, I could have gotten you help."

"I know. But it wouldn't have been right. I should have though, it would have prevented the deaths of those kids."

She nods, and then he is led off. Grissom goes over to her, and he gently places a hand on her shoulder. She smiles faintly at the gesture. The only other ones who see this exchange are Sara and Brass.

Brass gives Gil a questioning look, and he mouths, "My daughter."

Brass nods knowingly, he remembers how his relationship with his own daughter Ellie is. Then they each head off their own ways.


A few days later.

Sara, Greg, Nick, Sophia, Catherine, Warrick, and Lindsey are in the break room. Lindsey is recovering fairly well, but when she is ready to return to school, she will go to a private one in a better part of the city.

Catherine and Warrick are dating, so they are fairly close together in the room. They are all playing a game. Then Melanie and Grissom enter, they are both grinning.

"Hey guys, I'd like to introduce you to someone. This is Melanie, Mel; she has just been hired to work as a forensic artist. That means she may have the opportunity to work with any of us. Some of you may recognize that she was robbed several days ago, whish is part of the events that happened to Lindsey. Mel is also my daughter."

The guys are all surprised. The females aren't, because they all already knew about her being Gil's daughter. Then they all start welcoming her, and the two of them join the game. All of them are laughing and smiling.


That's the end of this section, thanks for reading.

The story will continue though, in Trials of Life: part 3, Amanda.

It's about a serial killer, and one of the CSI's lives is put in danger, so read it please, it's going to be good.

Thanks for reading and reviewing, I really appreciate it.