Well, I'm sorta shocked that so many people are reading the story. I dunno if you guys like it or not cuz you're not reviewing… *hint hint*
Disclaimer: If I owned CSI, Warrick would be alive and he and Catherine would have their happily ever after. Since he's not and they don't, I obviously don't own it then.
*UNLIKELY~BEGINNINGS*
Riley chuckled. "Wow, you guys didn't exactly start off on the right foot, did you?"
"Well, no," Josie answered wryly. She was absentmindedly flicking the end of the picture Riley found. Riley didn't think the older CSI still realised the photo was in her hands. That was how into the story she was. "At the time, I was pretty sure I'd hate Nick forever."
"Still in the room," Nick said, rolling his eyes. "You weren't exactly that wonderful to work with either."
Josie stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, you were quiet for once. I almost thought you left the room. Of course, most of the arguments we got into then you started because you didn't know when to keep your mouth shut."
"I was just stating my opinion."
"Well, your opinions were brutal and idiotic."
"I was being honest."
"Brutally and idiotically honest. And you wonder why you don't have a girlfriend…"
"I don't have a girlfriend because I choose not to have one," Nick said, crossing his arms.
"Right…" Josie replied, rolling her eyes and leaning back against the chair.
"I bet I couldn't say the same for you."
As Josie opened her mouth to reply, Riley quickly cut in, knowing that if she didn't stop them now, they would go on and on and she might never get the full story. "Guys! No offense, but I'd like to know what happened sometime tonight."
Both of them blinked. It was almost as if they had forgotten there were other people in the room with them.
Catherine rolled her eyes. "Imagine having to deal with that for the past eleven years. In fact, try dealing with that when they first started. It was awful."
"To say the least," Josie snorted. "I remember we were close to exchanging blows a few times. One time I actually did slap Nick."
"I remember that," Nick said, rubbing his cheek subconsciously, as if he was remembering the sting of the slap. There was a pause. "I guess I sort of deserved it."
"Yes, I guess you sort of did," Josie said, nodding after a slight pause of her own. She turned to Riley, continuing her story. "Well, after that disastrous meeting, we figured out the murder and sadly enough, we were put together for a few more cases. The reason for my injuries here," Josie tapped the photo, "happened not too long after that."
"It was what? About two months after that?" Catherine asked, sipping her coffee.
"Six weeks," both Nick and Josie corrected at the same time.
Catherine laughed. "You two have been working with each other for too long."
"Possibly," Nick shrugged, grinning at Josie, who rolled her eyes.
"Well," Josie said, continuing the story. "Six weeks after that fateful meeting and many more disastrous encounters after that, Nick and I were put on another case together. That one was a lot more different than others we had worked on together…"
Josie got out of her car, covering a yawn with her hand. It was three in the morning and she really wished Grissom hadn't called her, but she was on call. She badly needed the sleep, but duty called. At least she racked up some overtime hours.
Grabbing her kit from the passenger seat, she rubbed her eyes and stretched, deciding that this was the most she could wake herself up without a shot of caffeine into her system. She grinned slightly.
I could count on my hand the amount of days I'm fully awake without the help of caffeine, she thought wryly. Ducking under the tape, she showed her badge and made her way into the crime scene. It was a fairly big house with a well-groomed lawn and was situated in a well-off neighbourhood. Nobody's safe in this town.
Entering the house, she immediately made her way to the bedroom, where the crime scene was. As she opened the door to the room, she bit back a groan and looked up to the ceiling, as if for guidance, when she saw who she was working the case with.
Nick Stokes was the absolutely last person she wanted to be working the case with. The two of them just couldn't get along, even if they were a good team. She could barely handle him when she was halfway through her shift with at least ten cups of coffee. She didn't know if she could handle him when she was only half awake with no caffeine in her system at all.
She set her kit down, causing Nick to look at her.
"What've we got?" Josie asked, opening her kit and taking out a pair of latex gloves, putting them on.
"Good morning to you too," he replied. Josie glared at him. She didn't have the energy to deal with his sarcasm. He managed to pick up on her irritation and immediately filled her in. "Vic's name is Alyssa Montague. Twenty-three years old and a waitress at a nearby diner."
Josie raised an eyebrow. "She's a waitress and she managed to afford a house like this?"
Josie could barely afford the house she was currently living in, and she was sharing the mortgage with her best friend from high school, Jennalyn Marsden.
"Her daddy's loaded," a gruff voice answered and Josie turned, greeting the newcomer, Jim Brass, with a smile.
"If he's loaded, why is she working? She's obviously a daddy's girl," she noted, looking at the pictures in the bedroom of the vic and an older man, presumably the vic's father.
They have the same smile, Josie thought distractedly.
Both men shrugged and Josie turned her attention to the body. She was tied to the bed by her wrists and there was a clean cut at her throat. It was most likely the COD, but David, the coroner, would be able to confirm that. What caught Josie's eye, however, was that Greek alpha that was carved into the young woman's abdomen.
She felt bile rise up in her throat, but swallowed it down. If there was one thing she didn't want to do, it was to throw up in front of others, let alone in front of Stokes.
Clamping her lips shut, she looked around the room and cleared her throat, putting her hands on her hips. "Well, it looks like we've got work to do."
/*\/*\/*\
Thankfully for Josie, Stokes had decided to work quickly and quietly. He seemed to have picked up on her irritation and decided not to annoy her. However, she had a feeling it wouldn't last long.
As they finished up, Stokes looked over at her and smirked. "Did the call interrupt something?"
Josie looked up at him, snapping her kit shut. "What?"
"Were you interrupted while you were in bed?" he asked almost innocently.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Josie smirked back, making her way out of the room.
"Oh, so you've got something to hide, rookie?"
Her eyes snapped back to him. "Don't. Call. Me. Rookie!" she hissed through gritted teeth.
He merely raised an eyebrow. "Make me."
She knew he loved winding her up and she should have known better than to react, but there was something about him that made her want to beat his head in with her shoe.
"Stronzo," she growled under her breath. "Fastidioso, idiota arrogante." (Asshole. Annoying, arrogant moron.)
Rolling her eyes, she made her way out of the room, out of the house and into her car. Setting down her kit and the evidence she had collected in the passenger seat next to her, she sat in the driver's seat and took a deep breath, her hands holding the steering wheel in a tight grip.
Josie didn't know what it was about Nick Stokes that made it so easy for him to get under her skin. What she did know was that he knew he could get under her skin and he was taking advantage of it.
Shaking away that thought, she took another deep breath and turned the engine on. Sitting there for a moment, she let the car warm up, listening to the engine of her old Toyota Camry purr. Pushing away thoughts of Nick Stokes and how annoying she found him, Josie made her way to the crime lab.
*UNLIKELY~BEGINNINGS*
*cough cough* Well… I suppose it could have been better written. And longer. Well, better in general, maybe. What do you guys think? Review please!
~Alex