All For Nothing

Chapter 3 – Jelly Beans

Louise, Warrick and Nick all stood around the table in the layout room, various evidence bags and photographs spread in front of them. After much persuasion and a double shift, Louise had gone back to the hotel for a few hours to rest but after staring at the ceiling for what seemed like far too long, she gave up trying to sleep. She found herself back at the lab, re-examining her evidence and trying to piece together the puzzle.
"Look Louise," Nick yawned, as he and Warrick joined her at the table, "I know that you want to catch this guy but this is getting slightly ridiculous. You won't put any bad guys behind bars on caffeine and 3 hours sleep."
Louise shrugged, "I just needed to look at everything from a different angle. Try and understand this guy."
Warrick leaned forward, eyebrows raised, "How's that working for you?"
"Well, this guy is cocky." She said, "He's leaving us a DNA trail, but not enough to ID him. He knows that he's not in any database. I've had Archie run him through facial recognition but so far nothing."
Nick folded his arms, "So where do we go from here?"
"Brass is getting his picture out there, seeing if anyone recognises him and patrol are keeping an eye out for him; in case he tries to skip town." Louise sighed, "But that's all we have to go on at the moment."
Nick and Warrick exchanged a look, "So, we leave it open? See if he strikes again?"
She glared at them, "Look, I don't want him to strike again; you saw how broken Jenny was. How can we let him do that to another woman?"
"Louise. We've hit a dead end." Nick said, frankly, "You did well, but we're not going to catch him this time." He placed his hand on hers. "We will get him. I promise."
Sighing, she nodded and began putting all her evidence back into the box. She paused at a picture of the victim, "And what about Jenny? What do we tell her?"
Neither man could answer her and she walked out without saying another word.

Grissom sat next to Louise on the bench in the centre of the locker room sliding a small bag of jelly beans into her palm. She chuckled, turning to him with a small smile, "You never cease to amaze me. Jelly Beans?"
"Well it worked when you were little." He grinned, taking in her sad eyes and fallen expression.
She shook her head, laughing quietly, "Not since I was about 10 years old." She opened the bag anyway, picking out the green one and then offering a sweet to her uncle.
"We all have cases that we just can't solve, Louise." He said solemnly, "But for every one that gets away, you'll put a couple of bad guys where they belong. All it takes is a little perspective."
Louise sat in silence for a few minutes, "Did you solve your first?" she asked in a small voice.
Grissom frowned, "I don't even remember my first case."
She raised her eyebrow, "Of course you do. You never forget your first." He didn't reply, just stared at her. Standing up, she popped another Jelly Bean in her mouth, before sliding them in the pocket of her field vest. "Catherine is waiting for me. Thanks for the Jelly Beans." She leant down, planting a light kiss on his cheek. "I'll see you later."
Grissom watched her as she left the locker room and then smiled to himself, "I trained her well."

Xx

"Okay!" Louise shouted, over the roar of engines as Nick and Catherine lined up on the airstrip, both wearing identical competitive expressions. She raised her hand, "One!"
"Just try to keep up," Catherine taunted through the open window to Nick who childishly stuck his tongue out at her.
"Two." Louise made sure that she was positioned directly between the cars.
"Three!" She dropped her hand and spun around, watching as the cars sped past her, whipping her blonde hair around her face. She squinted into the sunset as Nick and Catherine drove further down the track, gaining speed. When she heard the alarm of Nick's car go off, she started jogging down the stretch after them, laughing as Catherine stomped on the pedal, screeching ahead of Nick.
"Thank you." She said as she got out of the car, waving her hair out of the helmet, "Good Night!"
Nick leant up against the door, as Louise caught up, "I vote we have a rematch."
Both woman laughed, "Nicky," Catherine sighed, patting his shoulder, "We're working."
"Whatever…" he grumbled.

"Okay." Catherine said, as they climbed back into the CSI Tahoe, "I'll call Brass and have him bring Tony del Nagro in. You want in on the interrogation, Louise?"
The blonde shook her hair, still trying to comb the wind swept knots into submission, "I'll just watch this one if that's alright."
"Sure thing," Catherine replied, digging in the cubby hole for something, "Here, try this." She handed a comb over the seats and Louise slicked her hair back into a bun, tendrils slipping through the hair band and framing her face.
Nick watched her in the rear view mirror, astounded that anyone could ever cheat on such a stunning young woman. He continued to watch as Louise dropped her gaze from out the windscreen to her hands, where she rubbed her ring finger self-consciously. She shook herself out of the day dream and turned her attention back to Catherine, who was on the phone to Brass.

Xx

"Hey Louise?," Nick asked as he pulled his shirt over his head, shoving it into his locker and pulling out a slightly cleaner and less wrinkled one, "Are you busy this evening?"
She smoothed down her dress as she stood up, slightly shocked by the question, "Um, no. Why?"
"Do you want to get a drink or something?" He shut his locker and smiled at her.
She returned the smile, picking up her handbag, "I'd like that."

Louise sipped at her drink, winding her finger around the glass nervously, still distracted by the ever present engagement ring tan line. "So what is the deal with this ex-fiancé?" Nick asked carefully, after noticing her attention wonder for a third time since they sat down.
"There's not much to tell," She sighed, "I'm assuming that you're looking for a more specific answer than he was a complete asshole." He noticed how she ran her finger across the rings tan line and waited for her to continue.
"I met him in my sophomore year of college and he literally swept me off my feet. He seemed like such a Prince Charming but I was stupid and blinded by love." She shook her head as she realised how ridiculous she sounded, "I guess this was the time to screw up everything. Better now than 3 or 4 years down the line, married to him and having to go through a messy divorce. Sometimes I wonder what I did wrong."

"Hey…" he said in his soft, reassuring Texan drawl, "You didn't do anything wrong."
She lifted her head, "You think?"
"I know." He replied, smiling lightly, "Clearly the guy was too stupid to see how awesome you are."
Louise smiled, blushing, "Awesome is not the word that people generally tend to go for. Usually more along the lines of weird."
"You're related to Grissom… Awesome is synonymous with weird in his world." He winked, causing her to laugh. He watched her again, as she relaxed, taking a sip of her wine, looking around the bar.
"You know…" he tested, "I think that Greg has a thing for you."
"Greg? As in lab guy Greg?" she laughed, "I highly doubt it. I think he's just grateful for the Stanford PanHellenic company."
Nick wrinkled his brow, "You know him from college?"
She shook her head, "No, we travelled in slightly different circles. We were only in the same Greek system for a couple of years. Trust me, with the Stanford Greek alumni, you don't ever get to meet everyone."
"Still…" he teased.
She rolled her eyes, "Suuure…."

Xxx

A few nights later, Louise got a page from Greg as she walked past his station. "Could you not just call me in?" She asked as she walked in.
"Paging is more fun. And it's funny to see you struggle with that thing." He laughed
She shook her head, "You are so mean. Have you managed to ID my vic?"
"Nope. Absolutely nothing. But, do you remember your first case? The rape where there was literally no evidence but the guy's DNA."
"How could I forget it?" Louise had been so frustrated at being unable to solve her first case.
He grinned, "Get this, Sara just asked me to match the DNA of some guy for a robbery in Meadville and it came up on CODIS as your guy. So I ran the DNA from the rape case and compared it to this guy. It's a match."
Her jaw dropped and she grabbed the paper from his hand. "Oh my god. You are amazing!" He looked incredibly pleased with himself. He handed her the mug shot of the robbery suspect and she frowned. "Could you pull up the artist's picture of the guy?" She stared at the picture for a minute and put her hand on top of his on the mouse. He turned to her and their eyes locked for a moment. "Um… Greg." She said, feeling guilty. "Could I have the mouse?" He slid his hand out from under hers, "Sorry." She quickly dragged the mouse across the screen, shaving off their guy's moustache and giving him a haircut. The edits matched the guy in the photo that she was holding. "You've got him" Greg breathed. On impulse, she kissed his cheek. "I actually love you right now." He looked shocked so she quickly ran out, looking for Nick and Warrick.
"We've got a suspect!" she shouted happily as she ran into the break room. "Remember that rape case we got six weeks ago? The one from my first night?"
They both nodded slowly, "We find the guy?"
"Yeah, his DNA matches a Jason Donovan that Sara just brought in for a car robbery. I've just called her and Greg is faxing her the details. " she said, excitedly.
"Nice job, Louise!" Warrick smiled, "You want to ride to PD?"
"Please!" she said, grabbing her jacket from the back of a chair.

Louise scrolled down her phone book as the officer led Jason Donavan away, looking for the number that she'd kept; just in case. He'd confessed to both crimes, as well as hinting at planning a few more hits on innocent casino goers. Louise felt a twinge of pride as he passed her, glaring daggers at her. Warrick smiled as she practically danced down the halls of PD, dialling a number on her cell phone.
"Jenny?" she said, smiling, "It's Louise Carter, from the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I have some good news." She paused, then confirmed what Warrick suspected was the victims response. "We got him, sweetheart. He confessed to everything."

She knocked on Grissom's door and he set down his bug book, "I hear that you closed your rape case."
"This is why I love this job," she replied, grinning. Nick walked in behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Told you we'd get him Lou…"
She winked in reply, smiled at her uncle and then walked from the office towards the locker room. Both men watched her go. "She really is something, isn't she?" Nick said, turning back to Grissom.
"Don't even think about it Nick." He said, sternly, protective of his niece.
Nick shook his head, "Grissom. You know I wouldn't."
He smiled, "I know. I just had to make sure."
They then watched as Greg walked quickly after her, smoothing down his hair as he did. They exchanged a look and chuckled.

xxx

"Hey Louise," Greg popped his head into the locker room, "You done for the day?"
Louise smiled, "Yeah, I have an appointment with my realtor. This would be apartment number 34."
"Are you still living in the hotel? You've been here 2 months already." He sat down on the bench next to her, "If you need a place to stay…"
"Oh, no, it's no problem. Gil's already offered. I'm just very picky when it comes to apartments." Grimacing, she slipped her jacket on, "Actually, is there a single residence in this town that isn't an old crime scene?"
He chuckled, "Probably not likely. Well, I'm about to get off so I could come house hunting with you, if you'd like?"
"I'm sure you have better things to do than traipse around Las Vegas all morning, like sleep perhaps?" she joked, as he stifled a yawn.
He bumped her shoulder, "C'mon, I know this place well and you could use an expert opinion."
"Expert opinion?" she raised her eyebrow as she got up, staring down at him, "Alright then, I could use the company. You might want to bring supplies though."
He thought she was joking, but stopped laughing as he saw the seriousness in her expression.
"You know" she smirked, "It's not too late to back out."

Xx

"You weren't joking about those supplies," he whined, as Nathalie showed them around the fifth apartment. Louise's face lit up as she walked through the property, touching the wooden finishing in the kitchen and smiling at the small balcony. Greg looked around. It was a tiny apartment, but it was fairly new and he could see Louise living there. It had only three rooms and a small bathroom, but for some reason housed an enormous walk in closet. "Do you really need that?" He muttered, as Louise became more and more excited by the apartment.
"Greg, I'm a Omega Chi Delta girl… Of course I do." She laughed as he rolled his eyes.
"And another bonus," he added, after the realtor explained the financing and various other benefits of the building, "This one has definitely not been a crime scene."
Louise looked around beaming, "I'll take it." She looked ecstatic as she signed the papers and handed over the deposit check.
"I love it…" she whispered to Greg, grinning through her hands.
Greg smiled, "I can see that." He didn't know what it was about this girl that was so captivating… but he sure as hell found himself drawn to the blonde and he wasn't about to let her slip away.

A.N. Hey guys! Another chapter up... I am so excited for this story and I keep getting more and more awesome ideas that I can't wait to get down! I would like to apologise for how rushed Louise's entrance has been, but I promise that it will get much better and all will be revealed!

Secondly, if any of my lovely readers are on Tumblr and interested, I have a blog dedicated to this fic ( .com), which I will update when I'm working on new chapters and of course, where I will post the all important 'killer wardrobe'. Any questions, please head over there.

Thirdly, if you're enjoying this story... please please please review and if you hate it and are thinking "What the hell is she writing?", let me know and I will do my very best to fix that.

I love you all to Pluto and back!

~Carley Idonea...