"Thank you Mr. Grissom" she replied.
"So what exactly do you plan to do here?" Grissom asked.
"Take a look at the abduction points, drop sites, and Scully will probably take a look at the bodies" Mulder responded.
Grissom nodded and replied,
"You have your twenty four hours, so if you don't mind, I need to continue my work on this case."
Grissom went back to studying his case files, and the agents took the hint and left the office. When they had left he sighed, leaning back in his chair. This wasn't going to be easy. What was the lab going to think when they heard about this? He got up and walked down the hall. In the break room, the team was sitting together, bouncing around ideas for the case.
"Hey boss" Greg greeted him, obviously on break from the lab.
"Grissom is it true that the feds are getting involved with this case?" Sara asked.
Gil nodded.
"Griss, I heard a rumour from Brass, that these agents specialize in the paranormal. What's that all about?" Warrick asked.
"The paranormal? You mean aliens? Are they going to investigate that?" Greg questioned excitedly.
"Not exactly Greg. They're here for twenty four hours to compare some of their cases to this one. They have had at least one with similar markings to ours. The cases they deal with are unexplained" Grissom tried to explain.
"You're kidding right? And you're letting them work this case?" Sara said.
"I really don't have a choice" Grissom replied.
Sara shook her head and turned back to her case file.
"So they're going to be around here looking at what we've got right?" Catherine asked.
"Yes, and even though what they are investigating may seem odd, I expect that you all will treat them with respect as investigators. Is that clear?" Grissom stated.
The team nodded. They talked for a bit, trying to piece together the case, and eventually broke off to look at separate areas and new ideas.
Nick and Sara sat in the evidence room, with the little evidence from the case spread in front of them, when someone entered the room.
"I'm Agent Mulder with the FBI" he said, flashing his badge.
"Grissom warned us that the feds were coming" Sara muttered, not wanting anything to do with what this man had to offer. She didn't want this case and the lab to be degraded any more than it had been already with the talk of the paranormal.
"I'm Nick Stokes, this is Sara Sidle."
Nick introduced himself, figuring he would give the agent the benefit of the doubt, as any insight into the case would be a help.
"Is this the evidence for the disappearance case?" Mulder asked.
Nick nodded.
"Mind if I take a look?"
"Go right ahead, you have the authority" Sara said, almost bitterly. Nick shot her a look. He wondered why she was being so hostile towards Agent Mulder.
Mulder took in the evidence laid out on the table. There were pictures of the women and the markings, with pictures of their head injuries as well. There were photos of the crime scenes and drop sites, and samples of the clothing the women had worn. Mulder pulled out his folder and took out photos of markings from some of his previous cases.
"What are those?" Nick asked.
"Cases my partner and I have worked on that share similar markings on bodies to your case."
Mulder handed Nick the photos, and the men compared them.
"Agent Mulder, Grissom told me that you work with cases that deal with the paranormal? Is that correct?" Sara asked, breaking the silence. She still couldn't believe that Grissom had even fathomed the idea of letting this agent and his partner work this case. As a scientist she had thought he would have known better, and as the supervisor of the top lab in the country, thought about the situation some more before allowing it. She wondered why he didn't fight letting the agents come.
"Yes it is."
"So you think this case has something to do with the paranormal then?" retorted Sara.
"It may. The markings on the body suggest it does, but it has yet to be determined."
"You're serious?" she said, thinking this man was insane.
Mulder nodded, as Nick smiled.
"Well Sara, didn't you try to prove a spontaneous human combustion case awhile back?" Nick teased.
Sara shot Nick a look of death, but Mulder didn't seem to notice, instead he replied,
"Really? Did you prove it?"
Sara glared back at Nick. She was going to kill him later for that comment. She thought everyone had forgotten about her theory. Really she had only wanted to prove something scientifically, that everyone thought couldn't be proven.
"No, it was just a theory. It was disproved" she said coldly.
"That's to bad."
"Well based on your cases, do any relate to this one?" Nick asked, turning his attention away from Sara.
"Possibly. I want to see what my partner finds on the body then discuss our findings, and then we'll see."
"How long have you and your partner been working on stuff like this?" questioned Nick, who was somewhat interested.
Sara watched as the two men talked and realized in disgust that Nick was actually entertaining the ideas this agent was presenting. Sara had had enough. She got up and left the room.
"She ok?" Mulder asked.
"Just stubborn" Nick replied.
Sara pushed open the door to Grissom's office. He looked up as she entered the room.
"Can I help you?" he asked her.
"I just met Agent Mulder. He's in the evidence room."
"And…" Grissom said as he looked over his glasses at her.
"This is ridiculous Grissom! Aliens? The paranormal? You can't be serious about having these agents here."
"Sara, as I said before, I really have no choice when it comes to the FBI. If they want in on a case, I have to let them."
"Do you want them here?"
"No, not particularly. But if they do happen to bring new insight into this case, then their help is appreciated."
"What insight are they going to bring? Grissom, everyone is going to mock us for this!"
"We've been mocked before. I think we can handle this" Grissom replied calmly.
"Seriously, who dedicates their work to studying the paranormal? Does this guy have no life?"
"'Judge not lest ye be judged'" Grissom simply replied.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Well you do spend a lot of time here Sara, work does seem to be your life."
Sara scoffed at him.
"I do happen to remember you mentioning for me to get a life, then as I remember I did try and get one, only to have you calling me in on my days off. Then, well, let's not even get into how I tried to get you involved in my life, but that didn't work. And what do you do Grissom? It seems that you too spend a lot of time here, or with your bugs."
Grissom took off his glasses and stared at Sara.
"I don't think this is the time nor place to be discussing this."
"It's never the right time or place to discuss this. In fact, I think you still don't know what to do about it. You're going to be one lonely man with only his bugs and no life if you don't change you know."
With that, Sara walked out of the office, nearly colliding with Agent Scully who was waiting in the hall. Sara brushed passed her without a word.
Grissom sat in his office, still shocked at Sara's words. It was true, he had never quite figured out how to act upon this. He had been debating in his mind ever since she had asked him out how to deal with it. He cared for her, but his position at work didn't allow him to act on his feelings. Yet there was part of him that wanted to throw caution to the wind and have a relationship with the woman he loved. He didn't know what to do now anymore than when she had first confronted him. His thoughts were interrupted by a quiet knock on his door.
"Come in" he muttered.
He looked up as the door opened and was surprised to see the red headed FBI agent standing in his office.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Mr. Grissom, I'm sorry to bother you but I have some autopsy results that I would like to share with you. Is this a good time?" she asked hesitantly.
"It's fine. I'm sorry, what was your name again?"
"Dana Scully"
"So what did you find?"
Scully opened up her files and handed Grissom some papers.
"Dr. Robbins and I reviewed the tox screens for both victims and both came back positive for a date rape drug that wasn't picked up the first time."
Grissom put on his glasses and reviewed the papers he had been handed. His eyes widened as he read, and realized this could be their break in the case.
"Did you send this to trace?" he questioned.
Scully nodded.
"I want to find out where this is made, or where you can find out how to make it, and then maybe that will lead to who did this. Did you share this information with your partner yet Agent Scully?"
"No, my partner is around here somewhere. I would think he is still trying to prove that this case is paranormal."
"You don't share the same view as your partner then?"
"Agent Mulder can be a bit eccentric at times about his work. This is one of those cases. I honestly don't think this case has anything to do with our line of work, but he dragged me here to look anyways" Scully sighed.
"Have you told him your views on the case yet?"
"Yes, but we were half way here before I realized what we were doing. He knows what I think now."
"So your at odds with him?"
Scully nodded again.
Grissom couldn't help but think of his situation with Sara. She was mad at him, and Agent Scully was mad at her partner. It was almost an ironic situation.
"It's not like we haven't argued about cases before. We'll get over it" Scully explained.
"Well I hope you do. I am going to go to the lab and see what they have to say about this drug" Grissom replied, getting up.
"Ok, I am going to go find my partner then. See if I can convince him that this is a normal case" Scully joked, as she too got up.
Ok, so I know this story has been horribly neglected but school is murder. Finally have some time to work on it, only to develop some serious writers block. My muse comes and goes. I think I have an idea of where I want to go with this story, so hopefully more will be posted soon. Please read and review, I really appreciate feedback!