I got into work later than I usually did. No thanks to G and like rabbits
God I was so tired. I just wanted to go home and I'd only just gotten there. But I couldn't go to my house because the idiots that say they fix things were still fixing my apartment, and I don't like going to the hotels. The only reason I came to Vegas was to ride the roller coasters. I just needed an , no sooner had I plonked myself behind my desk, than Ecklie arrived.
Now I've discovered something about Ecklie. If you have something he wants, he'll devise evil plans to get you to give it to him or get you to do something. Just before George was born....Ecklie offered me Supervisor of Days. I said No.I'd been at the lab a year and I was just in my thirties....maybe I might have been better trained than most CSIs but I wasn't as experienced as most and I was still the newbie. I became a level 3 when I was only 28. I advanced a level a year. I hadn't even been a tech that long before I became a CSI. I just didn't think I was ready and Oscar Wilde once said ambition is the last refuge of failure and I wasn't a failure...an accident maybe... but accidents have went away for a while. I had already been offered an office, which I took, and that caused some tension between Catherine and I. The day of George's first birthday, Ecklie offered me the position again, and again I said No. Two days later he came to me again and offered me the same position.
"You must really be desperate. Conrad? You're almost on your knees!" We were in my office. I was in my chair and he was in the doorway. He turned and locked the door and walked closer to the desk.
"Well, if you won't take Days...you've got Grave...as of now...you're Grave Shift Supervisor." My features dropped.
I'd heard the stories of the time Ecklie split grave shift up and how he demoted Sofia Curtis and split up the team. Playing politics. But this...this was just dirty. A whole new level of dirty.
"Why are you doing this?....because I won't take days?" I shook my head. He had no right playing in the gutter, because I have never done anything to him.
"Now you can really be your father....all you need is the bugs and the hat." He looked around at my collection. "Maybe just the hat," he corrected.
"Do you realize what you're doing, Conrad?" He didn't answer, he just gave me the assignments for the night. The entire team was shocked; Catherine was angry at both me and Ecklie, Nick complained, Ray didn't know what to think, Greg was on my side after I explained what had gone on. So was Sara. When I told dad he was ready for killing him. Grissom said that when he left, it was to be Catherine in charge. Then Catherine stated that if she ever left or anything happened, it was to be Nick.
The cops nicknamed Grave as "toddler squad." I was called "the kindergarten cop" or "daddy's little boy." They all said that I only got it because of who I was--the son of Gil Grissom--and that George will be a CSI next....he will be...just not yet.
So I said I'd take Days and do everything he wishes. I could get him done for this, but I'd be risking a lot myself going against him. So, figuratively, he has me by the balls, and I can't scream for help because he's duct-taped my mouth shut.
Even if I'm at a disadvantage, I actually have the upper hand because Ecklie sees me as a threat, and I can play to that very well. I just have to be careful.
Back to today.
He just stood in the doorway observing.
"You're late giving in evaluations." I looked around at the mountains of paper.
"Yes I know...I just have a lot of shit going on at the moment."
"I have a lot of shit going on...but do you see me complaining..." I cut him off.
"No, you just take it out on everyone...I don't."
"No, you just take it out on suspects."
I have a short temper like my mother, and Ecklie was really starting to test it. I could hear my blood boiling, my knuckles went whiter and whiter.
"You should really shake that off, it could potentially ruin your career."
That I hate more than anything--when the politicians think of this job as a career. It's a necessity. He rambled on a little more, criticizing me, and I just lost it. I flew up from my desk and across the room. My fist connected with his jaw so hard I broke it. I felt it shatter beneath my fist. Conrad flew out the door and flew into the DNA lab, landing on Wendy's desk, which was quite funny. The lab just stopped. They all stared at me and my red face.
I got suspended for a month. I expected to be fired but Ecklie's scared of me.
So I was going home...I started packing up my stuff. Then I got a call from my mother.