A gigantic thank you to my wonderful beta, dark rolling sea!
OK, no boring babble this time. So read on! This one's a bit more emotional. :)
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CHAPTER 4 – Of Pain, Composure and Progress
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Mac and Lindsay were on their way to Lila Hodgins' house. The rain that had subsided for the night was back but it was only drizzling. The wipers turned on the wind screen every now and then clearing the view as the drops continued to fall. Lindsay was staring straight forward and Mac glanced at her every now and then, wondering what was going through her mind. The ringing of Lindsay's cell phone shattered the comfortable silence of the car. Shuddering, she dug it out of her bag, glancing at the ID screen as she did. Upon seeing the number, a slew of emotions floated across her face, as Mac watched her closely. She slowly lifted the phone to her ear.
"Hi mom," she said, trying to sound cheery. "Yeah, dad called yesterday," she said frowning. Mac was listening intently, maybe a little too intently he thought. He had a pretty good idea it was after the call from her dad that she had been so torn.
Lindsay shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I was going to call you later today, but you beat me to it. Yes mom, I'm good, but how are you doing?" After a while she only responded with short, easy 'aha' and 'OK'.
Lindsay's face looked more sad and distressed every time she let out a sound. Something was up and it was killing Mac because there was nothing he could do. There was no use asking her about it – Lindsay would talk to him if she wanted to.
Lindsay felt a little embarrassed having the phone conversation in the car in front of Mac. She quickly decided it wasn't something to worry about, more important things were at hand. "I'm so sorry mom... I – I wish there was something I could do. I'll come visit really soon. Are you going home or will you stay there?" she half whispered and wiped her cheek with her free hand as a single tear escaped her eye. "OK, I have to go. Give dad and the others my best and take care." There was a small pause and she sniffled. "I love you mom. Bye."
Lindsay stared at her phone for a while, before putting it away and as she lifted her head, her eyes caught those of Mac. She ran her hands over her face once more and looked back at him.
"We're here," he said pointing at a house across the street. "Do you need a minute? 'Cause I can go and get started by myself." He was waiting for an answer but when none came he reached for the door handle.
"No! Stay," Lindsay exclaimed. Mac was taken by surprise as Lindsay uttered those two words and grabbed his sleeve. "I owe you an explanation," Lindsay noticed Mac was about to protest and she tightened her grip and quickly continued. "No, I do. You don't just break down in front of someone and not say anything about it!" She took a deep breath to try and calm down. "That was my mom. She eh – she was calling to see if I was ok, when in reality it should be me calling her. She's ill. She – she has cancer."
Lindsay was still holding on to Mac's sleeve and he slowly took hold of her hand as he felt the sleeve tighten around his arm. He could see the pain wash over her face.
"They tried a new treatment but it didn't work and now she's practically living in the hospital... it's so wrong!" she explained and broke into tears. She wasn't quite sobbing, but the tears just fell down her cheeks. She was just about to turn away and try and hide her emotional state, but Mac didn't let go of her hand. Instead he pulled her into him and held her tight. At first she was startled but not once did she flinch. She pressed her head against him and took in his warmth. They stayed like that for quite sometime; half sitting, half hugging.
A couple of minutes passed and the rather inhuman position they were in took its toll. Lindsay had regained her composure and as nice as it was it was time to let go. "Thank you," she whispered and they reluctantly departed.
"You ready to go?" asked Mac, giving her hand one last squeeze.
"Yeah, I'm ready," Lindsay said with a stronger voice and even smiled a little which made Mac's heart pound just a tiny bit faster.
It was still drizzling, but not enough for them to bother to take out umbrellas. The house seemed empty and no one was outside as they crossed the street to the reach the dumpsters. Despite Lindsay's moment of emotional exposure there was no feeling of awkwardness. In fact it was the opposite – Mac and Lindsay were completely at ease around each other. Something was different though. They both felt it but it felt good.
"Will you take the one on the right and I'll take the left one?" asked Mac as they stopped in front of the trash cans.
Lindsay was pulling on her latex gloves. "Oh yeah," she exclaimed and within seconds was digging into it. Mac smirked; never in his life had he seen someone pulling stuff out of a trash can so eagerly.
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It didn't take long before Mac pulled out a suspicious looking plastic bag. He lifted it up and raised his eyebrows. Lindsay looked at the bag. "Only one way to find out..." she said, trying to look through the thin plastic. Mac carefully opened the loose knot keeping the bag closed and peered inside.
"Bloody garments and I think I see the gloves too," Mac extended the opened bag closer to Lindsay so she could have a look. Then he closed it so no extra rain drops would damage what was left of the bloody clothes. Someone had tried to wash them clean but with little success. "I'll call Flack and tell him to get Miss Hodgins back for another round of questioning. They might have to do some investigative work since she doesn't appear to be at home." Lindsay nodded and resumed her digging operation. She doubted she'd find anything more, but obviously she couldn't be completely certain she wouldn't.
Mac pulled his phone out and speed dialled Flack to whom he told what he and Lindsay had discovered. He heard laughter from the other end and could make out Stella bickering with Danny. He wondered why they were all in the same place and then it hit him; it was lunch time. There was a distinctive sound of chewing and he knew Flack was stuffing food into his mouth. "Call me when you find her," There was a muffled sound that he interpreted as 'I will'. "Alright, bye." he replied and with that he hung up. He turned his attention to Lindsay, the trash cans, and all the debris scattered around. "Are we ready to clean up the rest?" he enquired from the woman whose head was half way down the can as she reached for something at the very bottom.
"I think so, nothing here but meaningless junk!" she declared as she rose back up and looked around. "So were good at sorting things out but apparently we have no trouble creating a humongous mess..."
Mac grinned at her. She clearly found the scene around her quite humorous. "From CSIs to cleaning up someone else's trash..." he uttered as he started to clean up the mess.
"And we'd better do it quickly – " stated Lindsay as she felt the drizzling, almost non-existent rain become thicker and heavier. "– or this'll turn really ugly really fast."
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In the end they did manage to escape the rain before they got thoroughly soaked. When they arrived back to the lab, Hawkes was there to greet them. He informed then he had just visited Sid; once again making a quick exit, as the discussion turned somewhat flamboyant. Hawkes now felt he didn't need to know anything more about Sid.
"Did he start telling you about his wilder days?" asked Lindsay with little maliciously.
"Oh yeah... I need to forget everything I heard as soon as possible so I'll tell you the important stuff right now," continued Hawkes. He told Mac and Lindsay that Sid hadn't been able to find much and the little he had found was quickly retold. When he had stopped Mac handed him the evidence bag containing the bloody clothes and gloves from the suspect's trash. "I take it that you're trip was successful then..."
"The bag was crammed inside Lila Hodgins' outside trash can. This should provide more evidence and pointers," added Lindsay while Hawkes was about to turn and leave. They parted ways and Lindsay looked at the direction of the labs and started to take off her jacket.
"No, no... We're gonna get some lunch," stated Mac and Lindsay looked up at him with a questioning look. "Come on," he gestured and Lindsay pulled her coat back on before they walked back outside.
"So, do you think this rain will ever stop?" asked Lindsay, pulling the hood of her jacket over her head. Her expression was clear – she was sick and tired of it raining all the time.
"What's wrong with a little water?" Mac asked turning his face to her. He couldn't help but notice how cute she looked.
"I always thought sunshine was much more enjoyable, but that's just me," she answered.
Just then the rain got heavier. "OK, I admit it," said Mac, looking up into the sky. "You do have a point there..." he chuckled and Lindsay laughed out loud. Walking to their usual lunch spot they both thought, despite the rain and gloom, the day was turning out to be very pleasant after all.
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My friend wondered whether they would actually clean up the trash themselves or get someone else to do it – well in my version they do it all on their own and that's that. Had to throw in one of those cheesy CSI-lines too... Only one way to find out, indeed. Well, I'm off to write the next chapter. :)