3. Why she's here.
Ashley followed Grissom to his office. Nick was instructed to get the his kit and start the car.
"Wow!" Ashley said as they entered Gil's office. "Your office is amazing."
Grissom didn't let her see the smile come across his face. The last two interns had been disgusted by his visually stimulating office.
"Red-kneed?" She asked crouching to admire the tarantula.
"Yes. You like tarantulas?"
"Yeah I know. Weird right? Most teenage girls would be really grossed out with your office. I think it's interesting." She said tapping Miss Piggy's jar.
"Weird is in the eye of the beholder." He said grabbing his kit. "Let's get going."
They met Nick in the parking lot with the Tahoe. Grissom said he would sit in the back so Nick and Ashley could get to know each other.
"Whoo wee. No offense but how on earth did you get to the lab?"
"I was driven there." She smiled. He rose an eyebrow.
"Ok. Ok. I was able to come to the lab through Make a Wish foundation."
Nick tried to hide his surprise. He wasn't expecting that to be the reason for her visit. The poor kid was dying.
"I know shocking. I get that a lot though. I'm OK with it. So Make-A-Wish said it would be a good idea to make the wish now."
"Wow. I mean. How did it start?"
"When I was ten I had really bad headaches and they just wouldn't stop. The orphanage took me to the hospital and they did an X-ray. Brain tumors. Inoperable. I refused to acknowledge it for so many years. Then I started to get more sick and I finally accepted it."
"You are a really brave gal you know that."
"I can't believe I'm actually here." She said smiling.
"You actually wanted to be here? I mean don't most kids want to meet their hero's or something?"
"You guys are my hero's you just didn't know it. What you do every single day. That is brave. I didn't have a choice to be brave I had to deal with it. But you guys chose this line of work."
Nick and Grissom both smiled at her response they had never thought about it that way.