Disclaimer: CSI is not mine, and unless I win the lottery or something, it won't be anytime soon.
Spoilers: Season seven.
Greg watched the black and white police car pull away from the curb. The case was more or less solved, but the team still had a few lose ends to tie up back at the lab. Even if he and Brass got a confession, they still needed the evidence to prove it.
Nick stood beside him. "You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. " As much as he appreciated Nick's concern, Greg was getting tired of being asked that. A glance at his watch told him that it had been almost twenty-four hours since Grissom had woken him. Greg was tired, period.
"At least we should be able to wrap this up soon." Stokes said. They were just waiting on DNA and fingerprints, now that they had a suspect to compare them to.
Greg nodded. "We should get back to the lab." After all that happened to him that night, he just wanted to solve this beyond reasonable doubt. Then he wanted to sleep for a week.
The pair walked over to the car, where Horatio was waiting, along with Peanut, the victim's dog.
"Put her in the back seat. I'll hold her." Greg got into the vehicle. The little dog jumped into his lap as Nick took the driver's seat.
Lt. Caine settled in the passenger's seat. Brass had gone in the black and white with Jack Ripley, after Nick got fingerprints and a DNA sample. They would have him for murder after they matched them back at the lab.
Of course, they still needed to ID their bomber. To that end, Horatio had sent some of the components to Mandy, hoping the guy that had tried to destroy evidence and a few CSI's had left some prints behind.
On the way back to the lab, Peanut jumped in Greg's lap and went to sleep. Sanders was too tired to fight her, even if she was shedding on his clothes.
The ride back to lab was quiet, everyone trying to digest what happened at the seen. It wasn't the first time Greg had gotten hurt at a scene, but no one had put a gun to his head before. That had rattled him more then anything. Defiantly need to get myself a gun, Greg decided.
Grissom was waiting for them in the parking lot, worried about his team.
"I heard that there was a bit of excitement at the crime scene." An understatement, but the CSIs wouldn't expect anything else.
Greg explained. "The suspect was out of the apartment when we first went in. He snuck in behind me and pulled out a gun. Brass and the others came back into the living room and Brass tried to talk him down. Suspect hit me in the head, and when he was distracted for few seconds, I attempted to disarm him. Gun went of in the struggle, and the bullet grazed my arm, but nobody was seriously hurt."
"You sure that you're okay?"
"I'll be better when we nail this guy." Greg said, walking toward the lab.
"McKean's looking for you." Grissom warned. "And he wants an explanation."
Greg stopped and looked at his boss. "McKean can kiss my…"
"Finish that sentence and you're on suspension." The under sheriff had appeared in front of the entrance to the lab.
Greg rolled eyes. "What can I do for you, Sir?"
"I don't like your tone."
"I don't care." Greg was too tired to put up with this shit.
"I thought I told you to leave. Mr. Ripley alone."
"Before or after he pulled a gun on me?" That shut him up. Greg continued, "We went to his apartment to serve a warrant, and he shot me. I would also like to add we found something to place him at the crime scene, and if he is innocent, then we'll rule him out." He pushed by McKean and stormed into the lab.
"Your people seem to share your distain for politics, Grissom." McKean muttered.
"My people do their jobs, Jeff. Maybe you should do yours and let them." Grissom said. The conversation was over.
Greg walked into the lab, and went into the break room to collect his thoughts. He just sat down when his pager went off.
Greg shook his head and went to go see what Hodges wanted.
"You look awful." ,was the first thing Greg heard when he walked in.
He smiled. "Thank you."
The lab rat looked him over. "Seriously, you don't look so good."
"I'm not in the mood." Pause. "Do you have something, or did you page me just so you could look at me?"
"Grouchy, too." Hodges said. "The explosive material from your bomb is patented by the mining company that Jack Ripley works for. There's a very limited number that have access to it."
"Thanks, Hodges." Greg decided that he needed more caffeine.
"You know, should really get sleep."
Sanders returned to the break room and poured another cup of Hawaiian Blue. Then he claimed a spot on the sofa and slowly digested the events of the day.
Nick Stokes entered the room, having sniffed out the distinctive blend. He looked around. Greg was staring off into space, his coffee untouched on the table.
"Hell of a day, G."
Greg looked up at him, startled. "Yeah." He shook his head. "What are we doing, here Nick?"
"Putting a man away for raping and murdering a young women."
"Only to have him get off because his father bought the under sheriff's election. After we find everything we can to make sure he goes away, and almost get killed twice in the process."
"Not if the evidence is solid, Greggo. Don't let McKean get to you. Your job is finding out the truth, not covering his ass." Nick told him.
Greg smiled at him sadly. "And have the guy walk because of who he's connected to. Because of some technicality, soon mistake I didn't know that I made. Or, if not career suicide for screwing with the guy in charge?"
"That won't happen, Greg, because you haven't made any mistakes and if Jack did this, all you will do is get the people that matter to respect you for your integrity." Nick said, trying to comfort his friend. "He can't fire you for doing your job."
Greg gave him a real smile. "Good point."
"You're doing a great job on the case, by the way. If this proves out theory, Jack Ripley will go down for murder because he's guilty. It wouldn't surprise me if this case got you a promotion."
"Thanks Nick."
A/N: this is wrapping more slowly then I expected. One more chapter to write, it seems. Read whatever you want into that last scene, but this is not a romance story, anyway. Nick/Greg or otherwise.
Thank you for all the lovely reviews. Please keep them coming.
-Lefty.