Chapter 3
((Hey, hey, all my fans!! XD I love saying that. Anyway, hi everyone, finally updating! Hope everyone had a marvellous Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate. Hanukkah…Kwanzaa…whatever…anyway, gotta write now…))
It had been just a little more than a week since Amanda's first day, and Greg still hadn't learned much about her or her past. If he mentioned it, even casually, she'd clam up, pretending to be totally absorbed in whatever she was doing, whether it was processing DNA or reading a magazine.
Amanda, however, had learned lots about her new partner. In fact, it was usually hard to get Greg to shut up, he always had his little tidbits, quotes or obscure facts that he had altered and loved to put into the most random of situations. She liked it, actually; it made the day a bit less tedious.
She'd also gotten to know a little bit about her other co-workers, although she felt as if they weren't warming up to her at all. Especially Warrick, who she'd tried to talk to a couple times, just to be friendly, and he'd brushed her off, never making eye contact, and she was getting the distinct feeling that what Greg had said had not been entirely accurate.
However, she didn't bring it up, not wanting to sound like a complainer. They'd warm up eventually, and in any case, she always had Greg to put her in an absolutely wonderful mood. It was amazing the power he had to make her laugh, no matter how down she was. For example, her fourth day of working there, she'd come in downright miserable. Her tires had been stolen, right from her car, so she'd had to walk to work, since she didn't know where the bus stops were yet. Halfway to work it had started to rain, and she'd gotten soaked, and to top it all off, a car had splashed mud all over her brand new outfit. Screaming insults at the offending car hadn't really done much except given her a sore throat, which only added to her miseries.
She'd trudged into the lab ten minutes late, resulting in Grissom giving her a small telling-off, and, after dumping her soaked purse into her locker, she had sighed, knowing that she had no time to shower, and that her outfit was totally ruined for the day, with mud all over it.
The second she'd walked in, Greg, seeing her outfit, her depressed face, and hearing her hoarse voice, had immediately set to work cheering her up, although he nearly got them both in trouble. He used his computer to put various members of the CSI team in humorous outfits. For instance, he put Grissom in a frilly pink dress, which had done it for her. They'd laughed for a full five minutes, and nearly got caught by Grissom himself, but Greg managed to close the screen in time.
Today, however, she was in a good mood, and Greg's services were not needed. Not that he didn't make her laugh anyway, but this time he didn't do it on purpose. For some reason, everything seemed twice as funny when she was around Greg, although she only noticed it subconsciously, and it never entered her waking thoughts.
The night was relatively light, since there had so far been only one DNA sample to process, and Greg had taken it, although she'd offered to. That left the rest of the night for them to just sit back and chat, in a relaxed atmosphere, and the easy familiarity that they'd already developed. Eventually, Sara walked in to get the sample from Greg, interrupting the conversation rather abruptly. Knowing that there was no point trying to engage Sara in conversation when she was hot on the trail in a case, Mandy remained quiet, spinning slowly back and forth in her chair.
As Sara walked out, Greg watched her, and he smiled softly before turning back to Mandy. "Hey Mandy?" He asked and she looked up. "Do you think Sara would ever go out with me?" As he asked this, something deep inside her seemed to collapse, and she couldn't answer for a moment.
"Of course, why wouldn't she?" She said, finally, sounding sincere despite the fact that she was still trying to figure out why she felt so sad all of a sudden. "I mean, you're funny, you're smart, you're charming, gentle, sweet…" She immediately clammed up, knowing that she had better shut up now before she got carried away. "I mean, she's got all reason to, I bet…I bet she would." She nodded, smiling a bit and Greg looked exhilarated.
"Awesome…maybe I'll ask her tomorrow..." He was leaning back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling, obviously day-dreaming about what his date with Sara would be like. Mandy sighed, feeling rather sad all of a sudden. What, did you think he liked you? Just because he makes you laugh and cheers you up, doesn't mean he likes you that way…he was just being a good friend. She started doodling on a blank piece of paper, drawing stars and random squiggles, until Greg came back from his day-dream.
"Yup, I am definitely going to ask her tomorrow…" He said, grinning widely at her, obviously expecting her to share in his happiness, which she tried to do, smiling weakly before standing up. She suddenly felt the need to be alone.
"I'll be right back…I've got to use the little girl's room…" She said, trying to be light, which ended up sounding rather flat, and then she left before he could get a chance to answer. She pushed into the washroom, leaning on the sink, staring in the mirror at herself. What's the matter with me? Why does this make me so upset? So he's going to ask Sara out on a date ,big deal… Sighing, she massaged her forehead a bit, leaning her elbows on the counter. She sat there like that for maybe five minutes, then stood up, going to head back towards the lab, a smile plastered on her face, even if it wasn't real.
She managed to make it through the rest of the day, mostly because Greg had picked up that she was sad about something, and of course, administered his favourite cure: Make you laugh until your sides hurt and you get teary. It worked for the most part, since she shoved whatever was making her sad to the back of her mind until later, when she could think about it fully. Her car still didn't have tires, they wouldn't come in until at least a few weeks, which meant she had to ride the bus. She was seriously angry at whoever it was who had stolen her tires. Unfortunately, it obviously wasn't a big enough crime for anyone to pay it that much attention for more than a couple days.
As she walked out of the lab, she sighed, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She was tired, having had a stressful night. As soon as she'd come back, both Grissom and Warrick had appeared with a lot of experiments for them to conduct, plus they were pressuring them to finish quickly, which she hated, and she'd been busy right up until the end of her shift, and she'd even had to work about ten minutes overtime. Finally finished, she had left, only to remember that she still had to walk about ten minutes down a dark street to get to the bus stop.
Sighing, she started her walk, keeping a tight clasp on her purse, sure that at any time someone was going to leap at her from the shadows. Cars passed every so often, and she was a bit paranoid that one of them was going to stop and someone was going to leap out and kidnap her. So it was that she nearly had a heart attack when someone called to her from a passing car.
"Mandy! Hey, Mandy!" She turned, having recognized the voice, to see Greg waving at her from the driver's seat of his car, which had just slowed down alongside her to match her quick walking speed. "You shouldn't be walking along here alone, it's dangerous…come on, hop in, I'll give you a lift home." She smiled weakly at him, although it was rather forced, and thought for a moment before finally hopping in to the passenger seat.
"Thanks." She murmured, feeling really uncomfortable for the first time since she'd met Greg. "Pineview Crescent" She muttered, and he smiled at her, making her heart do an inexplicable jump up into her throat, and she cleared her throat, smiling back at him.
"You should have told me your car isn't running yet, you can't walk along this road every day, do you have any idea how dangerous this road is? You could be kidnapped, you could be mugged, hell, you could be murdered. You know what, I'm going to drive you home every day until your car is fixed, am I clear?" He said, sounding almost like a parent, and she raised an eyebrow at him. "What? I'm serious, do you have any idea how many murders have taken place along this road? Well, a lot!"
"I appreciate that you're looking out for me, Greg, but won't it be out of your way to drive me home everyday?" She asked tentatively, not wanting to lose the opportunity to not take the bus anymore. "My new tires won't be in for a couple weeks…" She trailed off, seeing that Greg was nodding fervently.
"It's fine, stop worrying." He said, and she laughed. "What?"
"Me worrying? You're the one who just gave me a lecture about walking down dark streets at night!" She said, smiling at him, and before he could protest, she added. "And I really appreciate it…it's nice to know somebody's worried about me…"
Greg smiled, shrugging, and she quickly pointed out her street before he missed it. As they pulled into her driveway, she climbed out, but didn't close the door right away, wrestling with an inner thought. "Hey, Greg?" She said, and when he looked at her, she opened her mouth to ask if he wanted to come in, but then closed her mouth again, saying something completely different. "Thanks a lot…see you tomorrow…" She said finally, and then smiled, closing the door behind her and walking up to her door, waving and he waved back before backing out of her driveway and heading off to his own house, anticipating asking Sara out tomorrow, but for some reason feeling less excited then before. He couldn't figure out why, so he pushed it to the back of his mind and started singing along to a song he found on the radio.
((Fini! Yup, this is the next chapter in my little story. And if things are moving too fast, someone please tell me? I'm still new at this writing thing…))
