Greg was talking to the coffee machine again when Nick called him.
"Grissom wants to see you in his office Greg."
He popped his head round the door.
"I'll fix the machine. Again."
Greg knocked twice beofr ecoming into Grissom's office. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other uneasily. This office always gave him the creeps. All the things in jars, it reminded Greg of the witches, from Macbeth, the only play he ever read. He remembered it from his senior year.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Greg was jolted back to reality by Grissom's voice.
"Greg?"
"Sorry Griss. What were you saying?"
"Sara and Nick both came to see me to compliment you on solving your last case. They said you did pretty well, had some good theories. I'm promoting you to a CSI level 3. I'm proud of you."
Greg had a sudden overwhelming desire to throw his arms around Grissom but his common sense got the better of him That really showed how much he had grown up since he began working here. His common sense now outweighed his sense of fun. Thanking Grissom, he ran out into the hallway and hugged the first person he saw. Catherine was the unsuspecting bystander.
"I just got promoted!" He sang. "Come on let's go find the rest! Shift is nearly over we can go to that new Italian place, on me!"
Catherine laughed at his eagerness and followed him to the breakroom, congratulating him.
"G, I fixed your precious machine. Twice in three days now. I'm gonna teach you what to do for next time - "
"I'm a CSI level three!" he shouted enthusiastically. "Come on, we're going out!" Where's Sara and Warrick?"
Sara Sidle stood in the doorway.
"Grissom listened to us." she said incredulously.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU"
Greg threw his arms around her.
"You too Nick" he smiled.
He found Warrick in Grissom's office and managed to persuade the two of them to come out for Italian.
As they were leaving he stopped. He gazed down at the old DNA lab, wher Wendy was running things throught the machine. He felt a twang of guilt. Everybody had to star somewhere. He remembered watching the CSI's go out for dinner and wishing he was part of that elite crowd. Lab rats needed a love too.
"Hey Wendy!" he yelled. "We're going out for Italian, wanna come?"
Her eyes lit up and she tossed off her lab coat. "Really?"
"Sure" Greg smiled "It will be fun."
Wendy beamed and ran to meet him.
"Help me round up the others will you?"
"I'd be happy to" she smiled.
So the eleven of them: Greg, Sara, Nick, Catherine, Grissom, Warrick, Wendy, Hodges, Mandy, Archie, Henry and Bobby went to the Italian restraunt. They talked. They laughed. They ate. They even danced. Head back, hands out, as if nobody was watching. And that, Greg realised, was what life was all about.
THE END
