Author's Note: In light of recent events, the sadness in the fandom with the passing of Lee Thompson Young, I have decided to let Frost live in my fic. I know that this is extremely inconsequential, but I would just like to pay tribute to the actor, and the character who I loved so dearly, and let him exist in my little universe. Rest in Peace Lee Thompson Young.
Well, one week has passed since my first day at BPD, and we have caught another homicide. We are all just about to drive to the crime scene. Jane and her partner, Detective Barry Frost, are going to ride in Jane's car, while I will ride in Maura's. Frost is a very kind man who I have grown to like over the week. He is very sweet to me because he is a little squeamish about the bodies, and the other detectives sometimes tease him. Even though he has been in the homicide unit for going on 3 years now, they still treat him like a baby and a newbie, so I think he sympathizes with me in that respect. I haven't had a chance to work with any of the other detectives so far, but I am sure I will see them at this crime scene.
We are driving in Maura's blue Prius when she informs me of crime scene protocol, "Ok Adi, I know this is your first crime scene. So I would like you to just follow me, and observe all you can. I know you know this, but just don't touch or move anything for fear of contamination. Take care to follow my footsteps too, just to be safe. I may have you perform some tasks or collect some evidence under my supervision today also."
She gives me a little smirk, because I am beaming at the idea of helping her in the field today. This is going to be so awesome. And hopefully I can make a good first impression with the other detectives and crime scene personnel. While we drive, Maura turns on the radio, "What would you like to listen to?" I, if I am going to be perfectly honest with myself, am not abreast of the latest music and artists. Most of my very few friends in college were art majors, and they were extremely interested in the music scene. They always told me about up and coming artists and tried to get me to go to free or very inexpensive concerts. They said that these concerts were the best way to learn about new artists and follow their careers. I never really cared. Books were more my scene. And no one really understood that, but my friends thought it was "endearing". So not really knowing what her music taste is, and not having one of my own, I just shake my head, "Whatever you prefer really is fine with me."
She nods her head and turns on the CD that she has in the car. It is the CD collection "150 Essential Classical Moments" and it is on number 47: Chopin: Prelude #15 in D Flat, Op. 28/15, "Raindrop". I cannot help but blurt out, "Maura I LOVE this song! And this entire album is superb!" She smiles, with sort of a surprised look, and turns to me, "You enjoy this genre of music?" I nod, "Of course! Chopin is one of my favorites. But his style tends to be a bit more staccato and somewhat harsh in some of his works. But I am also quite partial to Beethoven and Tchaikovsky." She is smiling an even bigger smile now, as she looks back at the road, "I am a fan of Beethoven and Bach myself. I agree with your analysis of Chopin, too. Maybe next crime scene we drive to, you can provide the music. I would love to hear your favorite selections."
I look out the other window so she doesn't see the look of sheer joy on my face. I am screaming internally and dying of happiness and excitement. Ecstatic is the perfect word for my feelings at the moment. We are going to drive together and share music and it will be so wonderful. But wait… I just realized I now have to spend the whole night going through my collection of classical music to find the perfect compositions to share with her. I cannot let this become another fiasco and have her not like the music I bring. I will listen to as much as I can, all my favorites, and put them in a playlist on my iPhone specifically for her. This will work!
We arrive at the crime scene and I see Jane and Frost already standing there outside the yellow tape barrier. I just remember that I need my badge to get into the crime scene, even though Maura is with me and I have my employee I.D. number memorized. I begin to frantically search my bag and the car for my I.D. and Maura notices. She gives me a smirk from her side of the car as she gets out, and chuckles a bit, "What's going on over there Adi?" I pop my head up from my side of the car, feeling my blush, "Oh… nothing!" Ducking back down and continuing to look in the car, I see Maura start to walk around to my side. "Looking for this?" She says with somewhat of a sly look on her face, holding up my I.D. badge. I back out of the car and stand up, with a wide-eyed, incredulous look on my face. Great. Another mess up. Good going Adi. You blew it on this one. How could you forget your I.D.? I slowly nod my head, and reach out to take my badge at the pace of a dying slug. She smiles, "I saw that you had left it on the edge of your desk as I walked by your office. I took the liberty of picking it up and bringing it for you, pardon the intrusion. But you really shouldn't go to a crime scene, or anywhere for that matter, without your employee I.D." I internally curse myself while I nod and look away and down at the ground, "I know. I messed up Dr. Isles. I'm sorry." She puts her hand on my shoulder, "It's ok sweetie. It is still your first week. Just try and be a bit more careful. Come on, let's go to the crime scene."
I hop in step behind her, as I think to myself: SHE CALLED ME SWEETIE. I am dying a little bit inside because of how cute she is. I have come to learn over this past week that Maura is just the sweetest, kindest, most beautiful human being I have ever met. I am so lucky to work with her.
We walk up to the crime scene tape and stop next to Jane and Frost, giving them casual greetings. I notice that Frost looks a tad pale. As if to confirm my suspicions, Detective Korsak comes up to us and says hello to Maura, "Hey Doc, it ain't pretty…" Frost turns his head and gags a little at Detective Korsak's information. I smile to myself, wondering how a man so squeamish around dead bodies ends up in the Homicide Unit. Detective Korsak looks over at me and then back at Jane, "Who's the new girl?" And extending his hand to me, "Hey, I'm Vince Korsak." I shake his hand, "Hi, I'm Dr. Collins. Please call me Adi." Jane lightly taps him on the shoulder, "Ya she's Maura's new intern." Korsak smiles at me, and nods, saying, "Hey, you know, she kinda looks like Maura. You see it?" Jane and Frost look at me - I can feel myself blushing again – and back over at Maura – who looks a bit confused. Her and I look at each other, and I shrug. Frost nods in agreement, "Yeah Korsak, you're right. I see the resemblance." Jane agrees too, saying, "Ya I guess. But hey you guys we have to get back to work. Let's go check out the scene."
We show the uniform officer our I.D.s and walk over to where the Crime Scene Response Unit, also known as CSRU, are whirring around a mound that I know to be a dead body. Mentally preparing myself, I walk up to the body, following Maura, and I see that it is less than pretty. Maura, unfazed by the gruesome appearance of the victim, walks right up to the body and kneels down. I watch as she gives the victim a once over and checks for obvious signs of injury. She reaches all her own conclusions then turns to me, asking for my opinion of the body. I walk up beside her and look down at the dead man, "Well from the looks of it, a single gunshot wound to the chest. Burn marks around the entry wound indicate a close range, probably point blank, shot. And if that didn't kill him, he certainly would have bled out when the killer tried to cut the hands from the arms. He or she was likely unsuccessful because of the underestimated strength and density of the ligaments and bones in the wrist area of the arm. All other conclusions should be made in a lab setting. I suppose."
I bite my lip and look at her, waiting for her response. "Very good Adi. I came up with the same conclusions. But because I could touch the body and perform certain other measurements, I have also found that it is likely that he died approximately 6 to 8 hours ago, judging by liver temp and stage of rigor mortis. See how rigor mortis is almost fully fledged in the victim?" She goes to move the victim's arm to demonstrate. I nod, taking in all the information I can. She stands, "Alright everyone, let's finish processing the scene and pack him up. I've done all I can here and will need to continue in my lab." The crime scene techs all nod and smile; she is obviously well liked here.
We walk back over to where Jane, Frost, and Korsak are discussing possible theories based on the crime scene. Maura tells them her conclusions thus far, and everyone listens. The Korsak turns to me, "Hey kid, how was your first crime scene?" I give him a wide smile, "So interesting! I am happy I got to have this experience. It was wonderful to see everyone in action, everyone doing his or her specific jobs. I mean it is tragic that a man is dead, but, I mean, how cool for me." He chuckles and turns back to Jane and Maura, "She'll fit in just fine here, I think." Jane and Maura both smile and nod, while Frost gives me kind of a funny look. Nevertheless, we all decide to meet back up at the station and get going on this investigation.
Maura and I walk back over to het car and get in. She begins talking to me about some of the procedures we are going to perform back at the morgue, "Ok Adi. So when we get back to the morgue, I am going to have you collect blood samples and analyze them under the microscope. Of course this will be under my personal supervision, but I think it would be good practice for you. Then I'll have you run the other collected samples to Susie and maybe she will run you through the lab practices again." I smile, this will be so much fun! We play classical music and make the ride back to BPD in relative silence. For the record, Maura is a very good driver.
When we arrive back at the morgue, I just watch as Maura prepares the AS for the victim. I take note of everything she does and try to remember all I can. She has gone over pre-autopsy procedure with me before, basically how to set up the tools and properly sterilize the area. We always go through and clean the autopsy table before and after every autopsy to minimize cross contamination and transfer of trace materials. As she does this, the coroner's van pulls into the delivery bay. Just as that happens, Jane and Frost walk into the AS and start to put on gowns and scrub caps. It's like everything in this place is a perfectly orchestrated, synchronized water ballet. The body is brought to Autopsy Table 1, where Maura unzips the bag and the man who brought him in helps her transfer him into the table. She begins to jot down preliminary observations and makes official note of the measurements she took at the crime scene. She then calls me over to take blood samples.
She steps back from the body and watches as I grab the vials for blood storage. I step up to the body; I guess I seemed a little unsure because Maura nods at me and Jane says, "Go ahead!" I carefully give him a once over, and start to take samples. Maura smiles and nods again, gives me one little pointer, and the task is complete. Realizing I finished it, and correctly for that matter, I take a step back, smiling what must be the widest smile I have produced in a long time. Jane, Frost, and Maura are all smiling back at me. Frost pats me on the back and Jane gives me a, "Good job, kid." Maura walks over to the counter and grabs an evidence bag. Handing it to me, she smiles and says, "Ok Adi, sign it and take it down to Susie. Great Job." I take the bag and sign it; my first time ever signing for evidence! This is the most thrilling feeling ever!
I walk down the hall and as soon as I am out of sight of everyone, I literally jump for joy. This is definitely the best day of work I have had thus far. Maura let me do things… And I did them well! I can't wait to get home and tell Timmy all about it. But for now, I have to bring this to Susie and hurry back to watch the autopsy. I hope Frost doesn't lose his lunch!
A.N.: As per the norm, any and all reviews and opinions would be welcomed! Thanks for reading!