DISCLAIMER: Don't Own It, No Money Made... Just for fun & enjoyment.
RATING: M for Mature. For language and mature situations in later chapters.
A/N: This chapter will once again demonstrate my evil streak. I hope you enjoy it
Feeling so good right now, I figured I would give you another chapter today... Had a little scare w/ my sister (who is pregnant) today, but everything is fine now and I need to share my joy.
REVIEWS: Thanks to all who have reviewed.
Chapter 15
Hodges was convinced his ship had finally come in when he looked up to find the new and incredibly hot medical examiner in the hallway outside his office. She appeared to be looking for something; or someone. He caught a quick glance in the mirror he kept hidden in his workstation to make sure he was just as impressive as he believed he was, smoothed out his eyebrows and snapped his jaw shut with a smile before reaching out to the beauty in the hall.
He leaned out of the Trace Room and called to her, "Help you find something, beautiful?"
Stephanie was stopped in her tracks by the offhand and unwarranted comment, "Excuse me?"
Hodges rested against the doorjamb and attempted to strike a Cary Grant pose, "You looked lost… Is there something I can do for you?"
Before she could lay into him, again, she found that CSI Sanders was there with something to say, "Hodges, are you smoking something again? If Dr. MacInnerney needed anything, you aren't the man handle it." He turned away from Hodges and flashed a boyish wink at Stephanie, "Besides, the Doc was looking for me, since I was the one who paged her." He motioned for her to follow him. "C'mon, Doc… We got some questions on that Ponzi case." Stephanie quickly searched her databank brain for the case Sanders had mentioned, but she was drawing a blank when it suddenly dawned on her what he was talking about.
"You paged me about Ponzi? I thought we had the full pyramid of data on that one already?" She wanted to make sure he knew that she was in on the scam.
As he led her away from Hodges' leering eyes, he added, "Yeah, but we just need to make a little more sense from the data." Once they were sufficiently out of earshot, he just could not resist, "Nice catch, Doc… I thought Grissom was the only one who caught those obscure historical references."
She laughed at the humor of his comment; especially since it was Gil who had first told her the story behind the Ponzi Scheme of the 1920's when she had questioned him about the case her father was working on regarding a pyramid scheme. She wanted to know what a pyramid scheme was, and true to form, Gil was there with the full historical record. "Well, let's just say I am an avid reader and student of the game."
Sanders just chuckled, "So, now that Hodges the Horrible is out of the way, can I help you find something?"
"Actually, yeah, I was looking for Gil and he wasn't in his office." Stephanie was actively looking around the lab as she spoke.
Greg was a little surprised to hear her use Grissom's first name, since he had only ever heard Catherine and Brass do that, and they had both known him for years. He decided that there was a mystery there for him to solve, but for now, he would play along, "Oh, um… He was here a little while ago, but I was in electronics with Archie and-."
"Probably wasting the taxpayer's money… Where is your report, Greg?" Grissom had appeared behind them as they were walking.
"My report is ah… Well, it's…." Greg floundered as he struggled to provide a good reason for his lack of completion.
"On my desk before another hour passes, right?" Grissom shot him a raised eyebrow and Greg simply nodded and took off in the opposite direction.
"Such a taskmaster, you are." She winked at him and waited for him to stand at her side.
He gave her his disapproving glare before he spoke, "You were looking for me?"
"Oh yeah… I have something for you, and thought you'd want to see it ASAP." She handed him a folder as they walked towards his office.
He placed the folder on top of the clipboard he was carrying, opened it up, and they continued on their path to the office. They were just a few steps away from the door when he stopped flat, "So this means that-." He looked up at Stephanie.
"You got it… It couldn't be any clearer than if it had been tattooed on his forehead." She gave him an impish look with her comment.
He raised his eyebrow at her off-hand comment regarding the stabbing victim case they had been processing. They had not had much luck in determining what the weapon had been, but they both found an unusual discoloration at the site of the wound and were hopeful it would lead them in the right direction. As he glanced at the report once more, he saw that the discoloration was actually tattooing ink and the photos of the tattooing equipment she had found matched the wound pattern perfectly. He was impressed that she had followed her own instincts and traced down the weapon on her own. He guessed that she was a lot more like her father than he had counted on, and having her in the morgue was going to be an obvious advantage for all of his team members.
As they walked into his office, he simply could not resist making his own comment, "That would make this a whole new form of lethal injection."
She casually put her hand on his forearm as she laughed. "Nice one… Well, I just wanted to get you the results as soon as I could. I heard you were under the gun with the Sheriff."
He took a seat behind his desk while she looked around at the various items lining the shelves in his office. "That is not news." Stephanie chuckled at his remark.
"Well, that figures. You spend all your time on the case instead of worrying about your professional career." She moved across the room and sat down on the edge of his desk while he continued to read the full report, "Pop always said you were going to be the most brilliant forensic mind ever to be banished to academia for being a political kindergartner." Her last comment finally pulled him out of the report.
He looked up at her from over his glasses. "Your father was a wise man," he shrugged. He sat back in his chair and took his glasses off. "However, I would rather get things right and look bad, than look good and get the details wrong."
She laughed at that one, "Gil, do you honestly believe you can't expose the truth and improve your professional standing at the same time? They are not mutually exclusive activities." He shrugged off her question, but she was not letting him slide this time, "You really are stuck in your own head… You need a girlfriend."
That time he could not contain the laugh which escaped his lips, "That is your mother talking."
Stephanie shook her head as she laughed at his joke, "Not this time… I've been here for two weeks now and I have literally witnessed you NOT being on the job for only three hours in that time. And I had to drag you kicking and screaming to go to dinner with me and Thomas to give you that time." She gave him a more serious look, "You need to spend a little bit more time in the world, instead of just reading about it."
He smirked at her comment, but he was unable to rebuke her; she was right. Gil Grissom had spent most of his life reading about the great things other people did, reading about the great things they experienced, and reading the great things they had written in the name of passions he had never experienced himself. And here before him was this amazing creature; fearless in every way, showing him just what life could be like, if only he was willing to risk it all. "Yes, well, we all have our eccentricities. And right now, I am trying to figure out why you came up here to find me. I thought we weren't letting anyone know about us." He raised his eyebrow with his questioning statement.
"Yeah, well, it seems that most people have already figured it out." She shrugged off his questioning look. "Last straw for me was when Captain Brass came to see me this morning. I guess he put two and two together after he talked with a mutual friend in L.A." Gil raised an eyebrow. "Old buddy of his in New Jersey is a captain in L.A. now, and we served on a leadership committee together. I guess he talked to Annie and got the full scoop. So, with so many people knowing about us, I just couldn't see keeping up the distancing crap." He shook his head, and it did seem logical.
There was one thought that crossed his mind as he resigned himself to people knowing more about his personal life. "Who else knows?"
The look on his face was priceless, and Stephanie could not help but laugh at the humor of the situation. It would appear that his friends had even kept their knowledge of the relationship a secret from him. "The usual suspects, of course…" She held up her hand and raised her thumb, "Brass obviously," the index finger was next, "Warrick," middle finger came next, "Catherine," the ring finger followed, "David," the pinky wiggled up, "Al," the pinky folded in half, "Sofia," the ring finger folded next, "Vartann," next came the folding of the middle and index fingers, "and Wendy and most likely Greg, of not now, then soon." As Grissom followed the count in his head, he realized that Stephanie had counted using the standard ASL numerals and mused to himself, When did she learn ASL?
"Wendy and Greg?"
"Yeah, they both went to Stanford… Mom was Wendy's advisor, and I've known her for years. I figure it's only a matter of time before she and Greg share info, since she knows he went there, too." She just laughed at his expression of shock.
"Okay, I get most of those." He shook off the confusion, but had one more question. "But how did Sofia and Vartann figure it out?"
She shrugged her shoulders, "That would be Thomas… He drove my car to work last weekend and I guess they were questioning him in the parking lot about a patient, recognized the car and got him talking… Sofia put the rest of it together from there." She was absently pulling a paper clip apart as she spoke, "She's a really bright lady, Gil… Someone you might consider?" She was trying to be coy, but the smirk on Grissom's face was the only response she would get. She feigned innocence and made one final remark as she handed him the paper clip, which was now twisted into the crude form of a butterfly, "Hey, can't blame a girl for trying to figure out what you want, right?"
They were both laughing at the joke and completely missed the failed entrance of another woman to his office. Upon hearing the private admission to Grissom, she had immediately plastered herself to the opposite wall, and well out of sight. Once she caught her breath, she was moving fast down the hall, and struggled to hold back the tears, as she made her escape.
