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: The crime lab is fast coming together as a team... Didn't seem to take too long, huh? ;) Look for things to start getting real interesting in the next few chapters.
REVIEWS: Thanks to all who have reviewed.
EDIT: Had to make a few minor cosmetic changes that my other beta picked up after a weekend out of town
Chapter 20
Two weeks changes everything.
That thought was foremost in Stephanie MacInnerney's mind as she posted her second body of the night. In the last two weeks, her life had completely changed. In two weeks, it would change again, and that thought made her smile.
Her smile was the first thing Warrick Brown saw as he entered the Autopsy Room, and it brought a grin to his own face. He had to admit, this woman was delivering a much needed injection of zest for life into CSI headquarters. The irony of that, with her being a coroner, was not lost on him.
Before she noticed there was anyone else in the room, Stephanie made her final notes to the drawer index and then slammed the drawer shut on another case. Her first indication there was another person in the room was the groan that escaped Warrick's mouth at the crashing sound of the drawer closing: metal against metal. "Hey… When did you get here, Mr. Lightweight?"
He crinkled his brow in confusion as he cocked his head back and to the side, "Lightweight?"
Stephanie laughed at his response and walked to the other side of the room as she explained, "Oh… I heard all about your little 'boys' night out.'" She chuckled when he winced at the memory. "What ever possessed you to think you could out drink a group of surgeons?" She shook her head with the question, "Those guys live to party."
Warrick tried to shrug it off, "Hey, I grew up in Vegas, I figured I could handle a bunch of transplant college boys."
"Yeah, well, that was your first mistake…" She gave him a disapproving look and then laughed, "Your second one was trying out drink any man whose name begins with 'O'."
Warrick scrunched up his face in a puzzled expression, "'O'? I don't get it."
Stephanie could not contain her amusement, "You know, like O'Halloran… Or should I say 'O'My God He's Irish?'" Warrick reeled back at the obvious jab.
"Yeah, well, I learned my lesson… No more playing with the big boys, unless I plan to add alcoholism to my list of achievements." He tried to play it off, but he really was still feeling a little out of it from Friday night (or was that Saturday morning?). He had also decided the whole thing was Stephanie and Tina's fault; if they both had not been working late, he would have never run into Thomas and "the boys" as they left the hospital for a night of drinking at the clubs. Although, he admitted, it was a welcome change to be hanging out with "the boys." He just needed to re-learn what his limits were, especially with that crew.
"Now, don't go overreacting… Thomas had a great time, even if he and Carter did have to carry you in the door for your wife." She gave him a wink, to add insult to injury.
He contemplated that piece of information for a moment, "Hmmm… I wondered how I'd made it all the way to the bedroom." They both laughed at his comment. "Anyway, what I remember was good. That Thomas is a right guy... And a lucky SOB to boot." His wink added emphasis to the compliment, and elicited a slight blush from Stephanie.
"Yeah, I think I'm gonna keep him… Until something better comes along, of course."
Warrick dipped into a small bow, "I'd expect nothing less." Stephanie's cheeks blushed once more, and Warrick decided he had better get his business taken care of, or he would spend all night down there relaxing. "So, were you able to get anything on that case from last night? I asked Doc Robbins to leave it for you since you are the exotic COD queen lately."
She laughed in response, "Yeah, I've got that one… Report's there on the table." She walked toward the ringing phone, adding, "And nothing exotic there," just before answering. "Autopsy… Okay, David… Three inbound, got it… Just finished so we should be good to go if we tag team it… Oh, well I'm sure they can lend a hand on the back end… Right, twenty minutes… I'll have the coffee ready… Bye."
Warrick gestured at the phone she had just hung up, "Must be that triple Cath and Gris went out on, huh?"
"Yeah, David said it was a pretty messy scene, so they'll be there a while processing." She walked over to the supply room and grabbed a fresh box of gloves and drapes. "And we need to get the bodies ready for ID right away, so we'll have to make sure we collect and document everything, so they can be made presentable, before the family arrives."
Warrick looked around the room and brought his arms up in a resigned gesture, "Well, I got nothin' going on right now, while I wait for about six hundred prints to process through APHIS. You want some help with prep?"
She sent him the warmest smile he could remember seeing in a long time, "I could kiss you right now."
He gave her a mock expression of fear and surrender, "No way, Lady… I've met your husband, and I ain't got a death wish." She was laughing pretty hard when she reached into the closet again and took out some spare scrubs to throw at him. "What? I hold no illusions that homeboy couldn't wipe the floor with my butt in half a heartbeat."
She flashed him her infectious grin and said, "Well, he did spend three years doing just that at UCLA."
Warrick shot her a puzzled expression, "Doing what?"
"He was a first string tight end for the Bruins… And boy was he." That comment brought the blush to Warrick's cheeks. "He quit when the coach told him he needed to spend less time in the A&P lab and more time in the weight room."
Warrick searched through his arsenal of sports statistics from back in his gambling and bookmaking days, until he finally made the connection, "Wait, THAT is 'Tommyboy' O'Halloran?" Stephanie shrugged an answer in the affirmative, "Wow! That guy had balls." He was a little thrown back from having talked like that in front of a woman, and tried to recover quickly, "Well, I mean that took some nerve to walk away from what could have been a serious NFL career."
She was unable to contain her laughter with his last comment, "Obviously, they never got a look at his knees! He spent the entire time between graduation in December and the start of med school the following September having his knees reconstructed and going through rehab." She shook her head at the notion that Thomas could have ever played professional sports, "That boy has more metal in those legs than most new cars."
Warrick shook his head as he processed the information. "Well, he was good, and he helped win me some money a few times."
Stephanie gave him a concerned look, "I didn't know you were a betting man."
Warrick chuckled at that notion, "In my younger days… Ended up costing me a lot more than money, so I put that in the history column."
Stephanie crossed over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Well, I'm happy to hear that… 'Cause I'd hate to have to kick your ass." When his eyes shot up to meet hers, he found a fiendish smile waiting for him, and he returned the gesture with one of his sideways grins.
"Well, now that we've got that out of the way… I'm gonna go throw these on before David comes wheelin' in," Warrick gestured at the restroom over his shoulder.
Suddenly, from behind them, Catherine came striding into the room, "Awww… What we don't get to watch?" She let one of her suggestive winks punctuate her off-color remark.
Warrick laughed, because Catherine was probably one of the few women who could get away with a remark like that. As he thought about it, his shift seemed to be filled with the only women he could imagine being able to get away with it and that brought out his full-on electric smile. "Do we need you girls to attend one of them sensitivity training sessions or something?"
Stephanie and Catherine looked at each with a conspiratorial glint in their eyes, and Stephanie said, "Would you like to handle that one, or should I?"
Once again, Warrick was holding up his arms in a gesture of surrender, "No way… I'm gonna sneak away before I really get embarrassed. You win."
Catherine feigned disappointment with a pout, "Well, he's no fun at all." They both laughed at the humor of the situation, as Warrick disappeared into the bathroom.
"So, what are you doing here? David said you guys had one hell of a scene to process." Stephanie turned back to prepping her supplies.
"Yeah, well, I left Grissom and Sara there after I made a deal with the hotel manager." She looked back at the doors, as though she was making sure the coast was clear, "And I came back here with David to steal Nicky and Greg in order to keep my word. But I wanted to talk to you real quick before the boys bring the bodies down." Stephanie returned her full attention to Catherine, "Look, I think we're gonna need a little more help getting those two to the finish line… Let's enlist Warrick."
Stephanie checked both doors, "You think so? What's up?"
"Well, the waters have cooled a little on one side of the pond as of late, and Warrick is the perfect person to coax it back into the sun. I can handle Gil, but my history with Sara is not stellar. So, getting Warrick in on this would go a long way to making it a success."
"Right," Stephanie caught a glimpse of Nick coming to the doors of the Autopsy Room, "Well I guess if you had to make a deal like that, you better get the guys over there." She hoped that Catherine had caught on.
"Yeah, so I'll leave Warrick here to help you and David to get them ready, and take the guys with me to get that scene processed as quickly as possible." She had caught on and once Nick and Greg were in the room, she turned around and hooked her arms through both of theirs to lead them out of the room. "Let's get moving, boys." They both waved behind them at Stephanie, and she laughingly returned their farewell.
When Warrick re-emerged from the bathroom, he found Stephanie, David and three corpses, "Talk about a let down… From two beautiful women teasing me to David and three DB's."
David looked up from his task and said, "And good evening to you, too Warrick."
