Chapter 6
"Maaaandy…yoohoo…wakey wakey…" Came a voice drifting into her subconscious and she snorted a bit, opening her eyes sleepily, blinking up at the familiar face that swam in and out of focus. "What are you doing here?" The voice asked again as he saw that she was awake.
"Wha?" Mandy answered, her voice muffled in the cushion of her pillow. Or…a pillow. Why was her mattress so hard all of a sudden? Better question, what was Greg doing in her house? Sitting up to ask him this, she looked around and realised she wasn't even at her house, but in the lab, and somehow her head had ended up on a pillow, on the counter. "What's going on?" Amanda asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes a bit to clear the sleep out of them.
"I was just about to ask you that. Decided to take up residence in the lab?" Greg asked, laughing a bit at her confused look. "Seriously, what are you still doing here?" He asked, looking concerned as he looked at the dark circles under eyes that had seen very little sleep the past week.
"I had to stay overtime…lots of evidence to process…I was about to go home when Ecklie shoved me with some more stuff to do, so – oh crap, Ecklie's stuff, I fell asleep before I finished it, he's going to kill me!" She stood up, only to find the DNA samples she'd been testing weren't in the machine and started looking frantically around before Greg stopped her.
"Woah, woah, calm down…I finished up your samples and gave them to Ecklie. Are you saying you've been here 24 hours straight without a break or sleep? When did you fall asleep?" He asked, and she blinked, trying to remember the last time she remembered. She'd put the samples in the machine, and glanced at her watch to approximate what time it would be done, then put her head down to wait…that was nine o'clock at night.
"Nine-ish…" She muttered, provoking a gasp from Greg. "Why? What time is it?" She asked, glancing at her watch to see that it was only ten thirty, which meant she'd only had an hour and a half of sleep. In fact, for the past week, she'd only had about four hours of sleep in total, what with either overtime or stress keeping her up until the late hours.
Looking at the dark circles under Mandy's eyes, and the mussed-up look of her hair and clothes, Greg made a decision and collected up her stuff. "Mandy, you're going home. You need the night off, you're over-working yourself." He said, and she blinked at him, then started to protest, but was cut off. "No buts, you are going home. I'll tell Grissom, you need a night off. Go home. Sleep a bit. You look like death, and I don't think that will instil a lot of confidence into anyone. Besides, the party is in only a few days, you don't want to get sick and miss it, do you?" Giving up, Mandy took her stuff, and smiled weakly.
"Thanks Greg, I guess I could use some rest…" Mandy said and gave him a light kiss on the cheek, which was way short of what she wanted from him, but it was all she could do while she knew he was involved with Sara. "Goodnight…I'll see you tomorrow." She said, smiling as she carried her stuff towards the locker room, keeping it on even as Sara walked past her. Greg had finally coaxed a name out of her for someone to take her to dance and she'd just said a random co-worker named Trent, knowing him as a nice guy, so she smiled and waved at him as she passed, and he grinned and waved back. He wasn't Greg, but since Greg was unavailable…he was good enough, she supposed, though she felt guilty about taking a guy she didn't have any interest in to the party.
Climbing into her car, which had finally been returned to her, she started her drive home, burdened with the thought of the party in a few days. There was also the reminder that she had to buy a present for Warrick for Secret Santa, plus go to Catherine's house three hours before the actual party to help decorate and set-up. Plus, on top of all of that, she didn't even have an outfit for the party yet, and was on a tight budget.
Letting out her air in a long breath, she pulled into her driveway, practically hearing her bed calling her name. God, she was exhausted, Greg was right…as always…sighing, she shook her head, climbing out and heading towards her home.
-Back at the lab-
Greg put one hand up to his cheek, smiling slightly and watching Mandy's retreating back until it was gone, whispering an almost hoarse "Goodnight" which hadn't even been heard. Dazed about something, but not sure what, he shook his head solemnly, taking a seat at the lab table, spinning, lazily doodling on a blank piece of paper. It was a few seconds before he realised he'd drawn a heart and half of Mandy's name and quickly scribbled it out, looking around frantically, sure that Sara had seen. Shaking his head more violently, he scratched his forehead, wondering what was with him.
Mandy was put (temporarily) out of his mind as Sara appeared in the doorway, and he smiled warmly. "Hey Sar, what's up?" He relished being able to call her Sar. She'd never let him before…before…before Mandy came along and changed everything. He reminded himself, and pondered why the sudden hang-up over Mandy. It was just gratitude, that's all…
"What's up is that I've been convinced to help decorate Catherine's house, and you have to come with me." She said, coming over and twirling a strand of his hair around her finger as she perched on the arm of his chair. Mandy will be decorating at Catherine's house too…said a sly little voice in his head, which he found difficult to ignore.
"Sure, I'd love to help…tell Cath that she can count on me!" He said enthusiastically and she smiled a wide gap-toothed grin and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Not the cheek Mandy had kissed, and now he had something to compare…not that he would of course.
"Great, I've got to go now, I'll talk to you later!" She said, and hurried off to get her assignments, leaving Greg grinning, Mandy now settled in the back of his mind for later contemplation.
-Night of the Party-
Mandy had a bag holding her outfit over her shoulder as she parked her car in the driveway of Catherine's home, almost as nervous as when she'd had her first day of being a CSI. Hopefully today was going to be more hospitable than that day. Walking up to the door, she rang the doorbell, shifting uneasily, hoping that this was the right house, that some stranger was not going to answer the door. Suddenly the door opens, and for a moment, she thought that the door was possessed, before she noticed the little blonde head poking out from behind it. Looked like a mini-Catherine. Smiling at her, she kneeled so that she was at her level, and she started to talk.
"Are you here to help Mommy decorate the house? 'Cause she said there were people coming over to help her turn this hell - " "Lindsay!" A shocked and obviously embarrassed voice came from farther in and Catherine quickly came over, with a towel wrapped around her, and her hair wet, and clamped a hand over her daughter's mouth. "Hey Mandy, you're right on time, come on in. Linds, will you be a sweetie and show Amanda to the party room while Mommy gets dressed?" Lindsay nodded and took Amanda's hand, pulling her gently along, and Mandy grinned at Catherine, who was shaking her head and smiling, giving Linds retreating back one of those frustrated yet adoring looks that only a mother can give.
"Is your name Amanda?" Lindsay asked, and Mandy nodded. "That's a really pretty name. You're really pretty too. I'm Lindsay." Mandy, trying to keep up with Lindsay's childish rambling, smiled and nodded.
"Why thank you Lindsay…you know, Lindsay is a really pretty name. I bet you, that you grow up to be a really beautiful young lady." She'd never been the best with kids, but she gave it her best shot and it seemed to please Lindsay, who started swivelling her hips a bit. Mandy had to stifle a laugh, knowing that Lindsay would go from happy-go-lucky to piping angry at a moment's notice. Most kids did.
"This is the party room." She said, and Mandy looked around the large empty room that would be more than enough to fit all the nightshift and the DJ. "That's the decorating stuff, right there." Lindsay continued, pointing to a bag, which Mandy saw, upon closer inspection, was full of green and red. Green and red streamers, green and red balloons, and lots of holly and mistletoe.
"Wow, you're mom went all-out…" She said to Lindsay, who had followed her over to the table. Glancing around, she could see that the DJ had already been and gone, having set up his table on a small up-raised platform, with lots of CDs to play. The snack table was sitting against one wall, just waiting for lots of punch and food to be put on it. Glancing down at the innocent blue eyes staring up at her, Mandy smiled. "Hey Linds, you want to help me start decorating?" She asked and was rewarded with an excited squeal and violent nods. Cute kid.
"Alright, you're going to take this end of the streamer and I'm going to take this end and we're going to stretch it all the way across the floor, alright?" Mandy said, and Lindsay nodded, grabbing the end of the bright red streamer and dashing off, and nearly ripping the streamer. Rolling her eyes, but smiling, Mandy pulled the other end so that the entire roll was stretched out across the massive expanse of floor. Then they pulled the green roll across as well and twisted the two together. Pulling a huge ladder across the floor, she put Lindsay in charge of handing her pieces of masking tape as she reached up high and taped the twisted pieces of streamer to the ceiling, letting pieces droop down nicely. Grinning at Lindsay, they high-fived each other when they were finished.
"Nice job, partner." Mandy said, and Lindsay laughed. Picking up a piece of mistletoe, Mandy looked around for somewhere to put it, then glanced at Lindsay and grinned, dangling the leaves over her, making puckering noises. "Kissy Kissy!" Lindsay squealed and soon Mandy was chasing her around the room, and just as she caught her and was swinging her around with Lindsay giving high-pitched squeals of glee, there was the sound of a throat being cleared from the door. Turning, with Lindsay upside down in her arms, Mandy grinned sheepishly at Catherine, whose eyebrow was raised, then carefully set Lindsay down right side up.
"I see you two have been having fun…" Catherine said, but couldn't keep the stern look on her face as she looked at Lindsay and heard her giggles. "Alright, we've got to get down to the business. I finally convinced Sara to come and help too, but she only agreed if Greg would come, so they should be here any minute…" Mandy cleared her throat suddenly, and started hanging up mistletoe in various places as the doorbell rang, heart pounding in her chest. She hadn't expected to have to listen to Greg and Sara giggling until the party started, and now she had to live with an aching heart for an extra three hours. Sighing, she was once again up on the ladder, taping more streamers that criss-crossed the first ones by the time Sara and Greg made their way into the party room.
They were holding hands, and laughing, looking at each other lovingly, and Mandy, though she knew they were there, did a very convincing job of pretending she hadn't noticed them, perching on tip toes to reach the highest point of the ceiling, teetering a bit. Greg, looking up from Sara, trying to make it casual, frowned.
"Hey Mandy, be careful…that ladder isn't very sturdy…" He said, and she glanced down and gave a genuine smile at his concern as he walked over and put two hands on the bottom of the ladder to make sure Mandy didn't fall. Sara, upon Catherine's instruction, starting hanging up mistletoe, and Mandy, since she now had Greg standing below her, instructed him to hand her the various pieces of the streamer to stick to the ceiling.
Greg watched her, while glancing over at Sara every so often, trying not to check either of them out…too obviously anyway. Hey, just because he was attached didn't mean he couldn't look. He was checking Catherine out a bit too, but not as much as Sara and Mandy. Plus, he had the extra distraction of Lindsay, who kept talking to him, and he smiled and answered her childish questions, while making sure to hold the ladder steady for Mandy.
Once Mandy was finished, she started to climb down the ladder, holding the masking tape in one hand, and was surprised when strong hands curled around her waist and hoisted her down neatly just as she was about to lose her balance. "There you go, Mandy, don't want you to break your arm just a few hours before the party, now do we?" He said, grinning as he carefully moved the ladder out of the way, making Mandy's heart jump a couple times before he headed over to Sara and her heart sank to the bottom of her shoes. Picking up a box of ornaments, she started decorating a tree that stood in the corner.
About ten minutes later, Catherine appeared in the doorway, looking stunning in a black, tight-fitting evening dress, with her hair done up so that curls fell from the curly mass to her shoulders. "Mandy and Sara, you need to get into your outfits, so come on." Mandy got up reluctantly, grabbing her bag, and said a quick bye to Greg, who grinned, anticipating what Mandy…SARA! What Sara was going to look like in her outfit.
Well, I won't go into all the details about how they got dressed, or how they put on their make-up, I'll just give you the final result, which, despite Mandy's personal thoughts of herself, were stunning. Trent, who was supposed to be waiting for her at the door, was going to be blown away. Greg certainly was as he saw Sara and Mandy make their way down the stairs, chatting with each other. Mandy had managed to forgive Sara (in her own mind), knowing that it wasn't her fault.
Sara was dressed in a red dress that dropped to her ankles, with a tantalising slit that showed off her long legs, ended with dark blue high-heels. Her hair had been straightened and framed her face, where dark red lipstick and dark eyeshadow gave her the perfect air of mystery.
Mandy was equally gorgeous with a dark, midnight-blue dress that clung to her form, accentuating her curves nicely, ending just above her black, jewel-studded one-inch heeled sandals, with straps that went up her ankle a bit. Her bare shoulders had a midnight-blue shawl draped on them, and her hair had been pulled back by two sparkling pins and curled so that it fell down her bare back, which extended to just above her waist. Her make-up was equally mysterious, and the few men that were already there stared at the two women in awe, including Nick and Warrick, who had decided to be the bachelors of the evening, with no dates.
Greg helped Sara down the last step, smiling at her. "You look…gorgeous." He breathed, and Sara flushed, smiling her trademark gap-toothed grin. Mandy, knowing that Trent should be waiting by the door, walked over, heels clicking. There he was, looking nice in a handsome suit and he seemed shocked for a moment when he saw her, then extended his arm, grinning, and she took it, strolling out to the dance floor with him.
The evening passed wonderfully, and she was whirled around the dance floor by practically everyone she knew. Nick and Warrick, both blown away by how well she cleaned up, took turns dancing with her, though she saved most of the dances for her date, knowing that it was rude not to. Greg and Sara were dancing together for every dance, but she tried to ignore them, laughing and flipping her hair. The dance was nearly done, and Trent excused himself to 'use the facilities', while she stood at the punch bowl, sipping a drink. It was a slow dance, and she watched the couples dancing slowly around the dance floor, most of them perfectly fitted together (with the exception of some of the less-graceful men, who were stepping on their partner's toes). Even Grissom was dancing with…Sara? What? If Grissom was dancing with Sara then where was…
As if answering her question, a finger tapped her shoulder, and she turned to see Greg grinning at her. "May I have this dance, fair maiden?" He asked, and she smiled and nodded, and he took her hand, taking her out to the dance floor, putting one hand on her waist and holding her hand with the other. Although Mandy wasn't the best dancer, everything seemed to flow when she had Greg holding her steady.
"What about Sara? Won't she mind?" Mandy asked teasingly, and Greg grinned, shaking his head and shrugging as they went around the dance floor smoothly, being careful not to bump into any couples. Nick and Warrick had found themselves partners, Mandy noticed, and smiled to herself as she saw how pained they looked, trying not to step on their partner's toes.
"Nah, we agreed that we'd have one dance with other people. What about Trent? Is he going to mind?" Greg asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively, and she smacked his arm lightly, making him laugh.
"I don't think he'll mind, he just went to…use…" Her eyes widened as she looked over Greg's shoulder. She could see Trent, standing in the doorway, kissing some other girl she didn't know. Then he walked off, his hand around that girl's waist, obviously leaving. Greg's mouth dropped open as he followed her eyes and saw Trent's retreating figure and he looked at Mandy, who's mouth had closed, and she had a semi-angry, semi-upset look on her face. She didn't really care that he was leaving, she didn't like him that much anyway, but he hadn't even tried to find her, just left. The bastard.
"Ouch…that bites, Mandy, I'm so sorry…" Greg said in her ear, bringing her back to the present and she shrugged. "I'll teach him a lesson." Greg said solemnly, nodding and a mischievous sparkle in his eyes, which made her smile despite herself, and, to her disappointment, the song ended, and he pulled away, giving a flourishing bow before going to find Sara and she returned to her spot at the punch table.
The party was nearly over; the DJ was announcing something about this being the last song of the evening, when something near the door caught her eye. Looking closer, she nearly choked on her punch as she saw that Greg had done exactly as she'd instructed him to the week before last. He'd gotten Sara under the mistletoe…and they were kissing. Gulping, tears stung the back of her eyes as she sat down in a chair, staring into her drink, but she couldn't help but look up at the pair again, who were just breaking apart, grinning like schoolkids, before heading back onto the dance floor for the last dance.
Mandy sat, thinking bitter thoughts to herself as the music swirled around her. A couple people came up and asked her if she wanted to dance, but she shook her head, not in the mood for even pretending to have a good time. One bitter thought swirled constantly around her head…
Life was unfair.
((There. Cliffhangerish ending, I know, but I don't want to do a LOT all in one chapter. Anyway, I'm sorry it took so long to update, and all that jazz…I'll update sooner next time!))
