Mac stood by his desk and looked around him through the glass walls at this lab. As much as he enjoyed his little impromptu vacation to London it was good to be back. There were still signs of the explosion and the events that lead to it around the lab - most of the glass walls had been replaced but a few were still missing, the walls that had been collapsed by the explosion were still being re-painted, there were still construction workers milling about here and there even in this late hour - the restoration of the NYPD crime lab being top priority for the city.
"Well hey there" Mac lifted his head and smiled at Payton who was leaning against his door frame with a smile gracing her lips.
"I am actually somewhat proud of you" She teased "You waited for 3 full hours from the moment we got back from the airport to go back to work"
He smiled at her but didn't offer an explanation - there wasn't one needed. She knew what his work meant to him and he knew that she felt the same about her own work. It was one of the things that brought them together in the first place. It was one of the things that made them fit so perfectly together.
"So I figured I'd come by pick up a shift of my own, maybe offer my help…" She came into his office and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Unfortunately, there's no dead body for you to work on"
She frowned "But when I called the office they said you were out handling a murder victim in an ally"
"Stella found a pulse" Mac told her "That girl was lying in that ally bleeding for more than 20 minutes, dozens of cops around her, nobody helped her…"
"That's so awful" Payton seemed truly mortified by the story. He loved that about her - her obvious empathy for the victims "Is she going to be alright?"
"She's at the hospital, we don't know if she'll make it"
She moved her hand to caress his cheek and gave him a sad smile. "I'll stick around for a little bit… I'll be there if you need me"
He nodded, thankful for her understanding and for the comfort she was providing him. He reached out and pulled her closer planting a kiss on the top of her head, then watched as she made her way out of his office.
Stella paced the waiting room and ignored the annoyed looks the duty nurse was sending her way every few minutes. She hated hospitals. They brought back painful memories that she tried her best to avoid.
She'd already gotten the girl's cloths from the ER and sent them back to the lab. Now she waited for a chance to process the girl herself - provided she made it through surgery. Otherwise, it would be the job of the medical examiner's office.
It took another hour of wearing a hole in the carpet until a doctor dressed in scrubs made his way out and headed over to her introducing himself as Doctor Sloan.
"She made it through surgery and as per your request I got you your bullet" He informed her as he handed her the bullet in a small glass jar "but she lost a lot of blood and she's currently in a coma, we're pretty sure she'll wake up eventually but there's no way of telling when"
"I need to see her Doctor Sloan" Stella informed him "We still have no idea who she is or what happened to her - I need to check for trace…"
"The girl stable but her condition is still pretty fragile…" The doctor started protesting but Stella cut him off quickly.
"Doctor, I promise I'll be extremely gentle but if we don't get what evidence we can off of her now - it might be lost forever and we'll never find out what happened in that ally."
The doctor seemed to consider this for a moment before finally nodding his head and agreeing.
"I'm going to insist there will be a nurse present throughout your examination to make sure you don't aggravate the patient"
She nodded and retrieved her kit then made her way to the ICU where the girl lay in a bed connected to several tubes and beeping machines. The duty nurse was already in the room and gave Stella a curt nod as she entered. Stella took a moment to look at the victim from her place by the door. The girl was beautiful, slender with flowing brown hair that was spread on the pillow, framing her face, high cheek bones and full lips completed the picture.
She took out her flashlight and stepped closer, carefully going over the body. She noticed a small cut on the left cheek and what looked like a bruise starting to heal on her jaw line. - indicating that the girl had had a fight with someone at some point in the last few days. She photographed both bruises but a closer examination of the wounds revealed no other trace from the wounds. When she got closer to the girl's face to check for trace on her bruises she noticed a small hickey on the girl's neck and took out a q-tip to swab the skin around the mark hoping to get traces of saliva that would give them some DNA evidence.
She took out a q-tip and swabbed the girl's right hand to check for the presence of GSR. She frowned at her results. The swab indicated that there were traces of GSR on the girl's hand but the trace wasn't where it was supposed to be - concentrated only on the girl's thumb and no where else.
She checked under the girl's finger nails but found nothing other then paper cuts and several ink stains on her finger tips, so she proceeded to take the girl's finger prints. Maybe they would get lucky and find her finger prints in the system somewhere.
She took a deep breath and stepped away from the body for a moment. There was one last thing she had to do. The mark on the girl's neck indicated a sexual encounter either related to the attack or right before it - as unpleasant as it was, it had to be checked out.
"Nurse, would you please page a doctor in here, preferably a female doctor" She informed the woman who still stood motionless by the door "We're going to need someone to perform a pelvic exam and collect a rape kit"