Moving On
Disclaimer: I obviously still do not own the rights to CSI.
Chapter Seven
After about a month of living in Denver, Sara finally managed to find a decent apartment. It wasn't in downtown Denver because the apartments there were very expensive to live in and she didn't mind a short commute. She was pretty much able to get around Denver and some of the suburbs. For the most part, she was always with someone else who would drive or give her directions, but she knew how to get to most places in case she had to go by herself.
"Sidle, I hate to ask you to do this, especially with your friend coming into town tomorrow morning, but I need you to take a case up in Rocky Mountain National Park," Mayer told her, "I would send someone else, but everyone's already in the middle of a case. Park officials found the DB of a hiker. If you need someone to pick up your friend in case you're not back in time, I can see about that for you."
"Thanks," Sara took the assignment, "we'll see if I can get away from the case in time to get to DIA to pick up Nick."
"I wouldn't count on it," Mayer laughed, "that's a long drive. If you only stayed up there until the end of shift, you'd be back in town by late morning."
"Well, then if you wouldn't mind picking him up or having someone else pick him up, that'd be great. Do you think my cell phone will have service in the mountains?" Sara asked.
"Maybe, why?" Mayer asked.
"I thought I might want to call him and let him know that someone else will be picking him up. Can I trust you to take a key to apartment so he can get in when he gets here?" Sara asked teasingly.
"Sidle, you know you can trust me, what am I going to do? Break in and steal your textbooks?" Mayer joked, "don't forget I've seen the inside of your apartment."
"That's right," Sara smiled, "thanks Fred."
"No problem, Sara," Mayer watched her leave the lab, "oh by the way, I printed out Map Quest directions to the park for you. I know you haven't been up there yet."
"Thanks again," Sara grabbed the directions and headed to her car for the long drive into the mountains.
Once she was on the highway, Sara decided to call Nick and if he didn't answer, she could still leave him a message. The phone rang twice before the Texan answered sleepily.
"Hey Nicky, did I wake you?" Sara asked.
"Yeah," Nick yawned, "what's up?"
"I got a case in Rocky Mountain National Park, I may not be able to get back to Denver in time to pick you up. One of my co-workers will come get you and take you to my apartment, I gave them a spare key," Sara explained.
"Okay," Nick replied, "how will I know who's picking me up?" Nick asked.
"Uh…good point, I have no idea," Sara laughed, "I don't know I'll call my supervisor and he'll think of something. If worst comes to worst, they'll be holding up a sign with your name."
"I hate to cut this conversation short, but I have to get some sleep before I fly out there and there'll be plenty of time to talk when I get there," Nick told her.
"Sure, sorry to have woken you up. I would have called later, but I'm not sure if I have service in the mountains," Sara explained.
"See you tomorrow," Nick finished.
"Bye, enjoy your sleep," Sara hung up.
After a couple hours and a few wrong turns in the Park, Sara was able to find the crime scene. She came upon the body of a young man who appeared to have been shot in the head, then picked at by animals. The coroner on the scene informed her that the man had been dead for approximately 48 hours based on liver temperature. The first police on the scene had been instructed to take pictures before the coroner touched the body, and they were sending the pictures to the Denver crime lab.
Sara was allowed to collect any trace evidence from the body before it was hauled away. Except for a lone police officer, she was left alone to process the area however she pleased. The county had no crime lab of its own, hence the reason they called Denver in for help. Sara noted some footprints near the body leading toward a group of bushes.
Camera in tow, she made her way along the trail, stopping to take some pictures as she went. She knelt down in the bushes, noting some blood on the leaves. She took a picture and carefully reached into the branches where she surprisingly found a gun. She bagged it and continued to fan out from where the body had been found, hoping the killer had left some other evidence behind.
About three hours after she was supposed to have met Nick at the airport, Sara arrived back in Denver. She quickly logged in her evidence, turned a few samples to the DNA lab and checked out. Everyone else from the night shift was gone, so she figured someone had picked Nick up. She decided to call her apartment to see if Nick had gotten in okay.
"Hello," Nick answered.
"Nicky, you're here! Look, I just got back into town, I'll be there in about 15 minutes and we can go out to eat if you want," Sara offered.
"All right. Was your case interesting?" Nick asked.
"Not particularly," Sara said, "but enough about work, I'm excited to see you. It's only been a month, but it seems like it's been forever since I left Vegas."
"Tell me about it, why do you think I'm here?" Nick asked, "things are really different around the lab without you."
"I'm sure you'll tell me all about it when I get there. Traffic's crazy out here, so I better get off my phone," Sara said.
"Okay, I'll be seeing you soon," Nick hung up.
Sara was relieved that Nick had been picked up and taken to her apartment. She felt guilty for not being there to pick him up, but she was mostly excited to see her friend. She was really enjoying her new job and did not regret the decision, but it would be good to see one of her old friends. She didn't want to just put everyone behind her and forget them. Of course, as promised, Nick would never let her do so anyway.
About fifteen minutes after Sara had hung up with Nick, she reached her apartment.
"Sara!" Nick embraced her, "good to see you."
"Hey Nick," Sara smiled, "good to see you too."
"Well, I'm sorry, I better step aside and let you in your own apartment," Nick realized he had practically attacked her at the door.
"It's okay," Sara laughed, "so who picked you up?"
"Your supervisor I believe, Fred Mayer or something like that," Nick told her.
"Yeah that's him," Sara put her stuff down, "I didn't think he'd personally pick you up. When he assigned my case, he said he'd make sure someone picked you up. Can I get you something to drink?"
"Actually, I figured you'd want coffee, so I already made some. Sounds like your new supervisor is a real nice guy," Nick commented.
"He really is," Sara poured herself a cup of coffee, "thanks for the coffee Nick. How have things been in Vegas?"
"Pretty much the same. Oh, except Catherine and Warrick are 'secretly' dating," Nick laughed.
"Big secret if you know it," Sara shook her head, "I guess I should have seen that one coming."
"Yeah, I felt there was something between them for a while," Nick agreed, "Grissom and Greg are pretty much their usual selves."
"So Greg's annoying everyone and Grissom is keeping to himself?" Sara joked.
"Actually, yeah," Nick said, "I see them from time to time, but mostly we're so busy on our separate shifts we really don't get to hang out like we used to any more."
"Ever since Ecklie was promoted, things just fell apart around there," Sara sighed, "but hey, I'm happy in my new job. The people here have all been great to me. The city is really nice and even though I was only in the mountains briefly today for a case, I think they're beautiful."
"I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying things here," Nick smiled.
"Oh, I almost forgot, did you want to go out to eat?" Sara asked.
"I don't know, aren't you tired?" Nick inquired.
"I am a little bit, but since I have a couple days off, I don't need to sleep. You just got here and I'm sure you're hungry," Sara said, "because I know I am."
"All right, but if you fall asleep somewhere, we're in big trouble because I don't know anything about this city," Nick teased.
"Don't worry, what do you think the coffee was for?" Sara asked.
A/N: Yeah, I fell off the face of the Earth for a couple days…or perhaps I had writer's block…one of those is true, but I can't remember which now ;) With Spring Break over, I got pretty busy with classes again, but I didn't have anything to write as it was anyway. Don't worry, there's still much more to come in this story.