A few hours later found Greg and the mysterious child sitting in the waiting room at the lab. Looking through the window, Sara watched the pair having fun together. Using the fingerprint powder and other 'cool' stuff from his kit, Greg pretended to be a magician, much to the delight of his little audience.
The two of them had managed to clean the young girl up after getting all the evidence off of her. Catherine had some of Lindsey's old clothes in her locker, so she lent it to them with a caring smile.
"Who's the kid?" a curious voice said from behind her shoulder. The brunette whirled around and came face to face with Gil Grissom.
She shrugged and turned back to the pair on the other side of the glass. Using the Luminol, the spiky-haired CSI impressed his protégé with changing 'invisible' blood into pink liquid. "They haven't found out her name yet, but Greg was going to try."
Grissom nodded somberly. "He's doing a good job, isn't he?"
Giving her supervisor an unreadable expression, Sara frowned a little at the odd question. "Of course." Seeing Greg turn his attention to the windows and wave at her, she raised her hand in a be-right-there gesture. "If you don't mind, I've got to go." She walked through the door without waiting for Grissom's reply.
Once she reached Greg, she was not too surprised to see that the girl had scooted over and clutched Greg's arm tightly at the sight of the newcomer.
Whispering something inaudible into the little girl's ear, Greg gave her a comfortable squeeze before turning to Sara. "Hey. Sara, this is Robyn with a y. Robyn, this is Sara without an h." Robyn gave Sara timid smile before ducking behind Greg.
The female CSI was awed at the child's deep trust in her colleague. "Hi there, Robyn," she cooed nervously. She had never been good with children, this light-haired angel included. "How old are you?"
After no reply, Greg gently nudged the young girl. "Hey, it's okay," he reassured.
Peeking over his shoulder, Robyn shyly held up four fingers. "Four," whispered the muffled voice.
Greg laughed and gave Robyn a hug. Sara smiled inwardly at the Kodak moment. "Would you mind if Greg took your fingerprints?"
"You mean the appearing trick? I like that one," Robyn stumbled slightly over the words, but still surprised Sara at her linguistic abilities.
"Nope, another one," Greg said cheerfully, reaching into his crime kit. With an exaggerated flourish, he pulled out a bright pink-every little girl's favorite color-ink pad with a blank fingerprint card.
Quirking an eyebrow, Sara twitched her lips into a silent grin-who knew Sanders liked pink?
"Put your hand right here," he tenderly pressed Robyn's fingers to the ink. "And then here," he finished as he pressed the girl's hand to the card. "Voila!" the spiky-haired CSI gave a mock bow to the girls' applause, Sara's in amusement and Robyn's in delight. After quickly labeling the card, he stuffed it back into his kit. "So did your mom or dad ever teach you magic tricks?"
Robyn shook her head slowly. "I don't have a daddy," she said quietly. "Mommy always went to work. Even if she was at home, people came by to help her work."
Exchanging glances, Sara and Greg understood the sad situation. This child's mother was most likely a prostitute, and gave birth to the mistake of a one-night stand.
"But Mommy said that my daddy looked like you," Robyn added brightly. "Are you?" she asked hopefully.
"Don't think so," Sara interjected, saving Greg from creating the disappointment in the girl's face.
Greg put on his best smile. "But we'll find him, don't worry. Ok? You'll be fine, I promise." Robyn awarded him with a big grin. "Here," he took out a swab. "Open your mouth and say ahhhh!"
Sticking her tongue out a bit at him, Robyn complied and Greg swabbed the inside of her small mouth. "There we go," he said proudly, handing the DNA sample to Sara.
The blue-eyed child nodded, fidgeting with the fingers in her lap. "Will you show me another magic trick?" Robyn looked at him pleadingly, eyes shining with adoration.
"Looks like you've finally got a fan," Sara smirked as Greg prepared for his next act. "I'll take these to DNA," the brunette said as she took the fingerprint card and swab.
Turning around as she entered the lab, she smiled inwardly at the sight of her friend pulling a quite-fluffy teddy bear out of thin air.
---------------------------------------
"Well, I ran Sara's samples," Mia began, as soon as Grissom swung upon the door to the DNA lab. "And just like Robyn said, the victim is her mother."
A look of confusion crossed the older man's face. "Robyn?" he asked curiously, tilting his head a bit to the side.
"The little girl." Grasping for the report sitting on her keyboard, the dark-skinned girl held it in her hands. "Anyway, so just in case, I ran the father's DNA in the databanks, and you're not going to like what I came up with," Mia finished.
Raising an eyebrow, Grissom guessed. "A felon?"
Shaking her head, Mia showed him the report. "Worse."
The salt-and-peppered haired man slipped on his glasses, and squinted at the report. Seeing the name, he turned in concern to the uneasy DNA tech. "Houston, we have a problem."