Chapter 15: Don't Let Him Get Away
When we were about five minutes away from the lab I spoke up for the first time. "Are we just going to sit in silence for the rest of our lives?"
I heard him sigh before answering, "No. At least I hope not."
"Okay, that's a start," a smile tugged at my lips and from the corner of my eye I saw Greg smile too. "So about the kiss…"
"Which one?" He grinned.
"Stop being cheeky," I smiled. "I'm being serious."
"Sorry," his smile faded a hair. "I know that it's against the rules to have romantic relations with your co-workers. Why do you think I waited so long?"
"Huh?" I asked in confusion.
"I've wanted to kiss you since we talked at the bus scene," he admitted with a blush.
"That was almost two months ago," I said, doing some quick mental math. I took a deep breath before speaking again. "Can I be honest with you?"
"Of course," he replied instantly.
"I've wanted to be with you since freshman year," I spoke with a knot forming in my stomach.
My confession hung in the air as we pulled into the parking lot of the crime lab. Greg maneuvered into a spot and turned off the car, then he turned and faced me. In an effort to hide my burning cheeks, I let my hair fall into a curtain between us as I laced my fingers together in my lap. I felt his hand gently brush my hair away from my face and tuck it behind my ear. "Mar," Greg's voice was soft as he turned my chin with the knuckle of his pointer finger so I was looking at him. "After everything I said to you, about you, when we were in high school… How could you think like that?"
"I don't know," I felt tears pooling in my eyes. "I guess I had hope that the boy I had been friends with when I first moved in was still there, somehow. I knew you were a better person than that, Greg. At least, I hoped you were."
"You are incredible, you know that?" He asked. "You have such a capacity to forgive, even when someone doesn't deserve it."
"I decide who deserves my forgiveness," I smiled at him. "We had better get inside." I changed the subject and climbed out of the car.
"Okay but can we talk about this later?" He asked as we walked into the building.
I nodded and when we reached reception he went one way while I went to the break room to meet with the rest of the team.
I plopped down in the empty chair between Nick and Catherine and shot everyone a shy smile. "I am so sorry I'm late. I overslept."
"It's okay," Catherine placed a reassuring hand on my forearm. "You just closed that double, and you worked your ass off to do it. We all know what that's like."
Grissom walked in, halting all conversations as he handed out assignments. "Okay, I have a trash run for Nick and Catherine."
"Awesome," Nick said sarcastically as he and Catherine grabbed the paper from Grissom.
"Warrick, you're with me. B&E in Seven Hills."
"If it's that couple again I'm claiming insurance scam," Warrick exclaimed.
"And Mar and Sara, a woman was murdered in her apartment off the strip."
"I'll drive," Sara grabbed the paper and we all went our separate ways.
Stepping into the apartment, you could tell the woman was a single mother. Toys were all over the floor, baby food of all kinds and ages was on every surface, and the smell of baby powder hung in the air like a bad perfume. "Hi Jim," I waved at the detective. "Who is this?"
"The decedent is Malory Watson, age twenty three. She was found beaten to death in her shower when a neighbor came by to complain about the baby crying."
"Where is the child?" Sara asked.
Brass motioned to a playpen in the corner. A little two year old boy was staring at us, looking like he was going to cry any moment. "Why don't you get him out of here?" I suggested.
"I'd love to, but the kid cries whenever anyone picks him up. We are waiting for child services," Brass replied.
"And the father?" I questioned.
"Here's the kicker," Brass said with a smile. "Not one, not two, but three people are claiming to be this child's father."
"Oh wow," Sara said.
"You have got to be kidding," I muttered.
"Yeah we need to get a paternity test in order to settle the dispute. All three men got into an argument, so we had to take them downtown."
"Those are three suspects right there. Any one of them could have killed her in order to take custody of the kid," I pitched.
"Or all three," Sara chimed in, shining her flashlight around. "The three of them could have plotted this together, then something went wrong so they had to leave without the baby, they come back and see all these cops, somehow they all end up arguing, plan gone sour?"
"Anything is possible," I quipped. Making my way over to the playpen, I knelt so I was eye level with the kid. "Hi, baby," I cooed. "What's his name, Jim?"
"Jason," Jim read off his notepad.
"Hi Jason," I reached out for him.
"Please don't," Brass begged. "It took forever to get him to stop crying."
I rolled my eyes and lifted Jason out of his playpen, holding him to my hip and started talking softly. "Aw Jim, he's not so bad," I smiled down at the little boy in my arms."
"You wouldn't have said that an hour ago," he sighed. "Okay, since you can handle the kid, what if I arrange for you to take him back to the station so Child Services can head straight over there. I'll send Greg to the precinct to collect DNA from our three possible dads and the baby once you get there. Sara, you wanna start here?"
"I don't mind," Sara smiled and walked over to the body.
"Sara are you sure?" I asked hesitantly. "That is a lot of blood and then there's the rest of the apartment…"
"Go, I've got it. As long as you process everything when we get back to the lab," she bargained.
"Okay, it's a deal," I smiled. "Jim, are you going back to the station now?"
"Yeah I'll give you a lift." He motioned me out the door and followed suit, leaving Sara to process the scene.
I sat in the waiting room of the police station with baby Jason on my lap, talking quietly to him and waiting for Greg to come take his DNA.
"I hope you end up with your daddy," I told Jason. "You know, I never knew my real daddy. My mom said he left when I was a baby, and when I was 8 she married a new man who was supposed to be my new daddy. He wasn't very nice, which I didn't understand for a long time. When I got older I realized, he didn't understand how to love a child because I wasn't his. There is this special bond parents create with their children that you can never quite replace. Granted, he never tried to be nice but that was okay too, because I didn't need him. But I hope your daddy is good to you. No child deserves to be unloved."
I glanced up from the boy's big green eyes and met another pair of eyes. Greg was standing a few feet away from me completely mesmerized by me and Jason. When he realized I was staring he snapped out of his trance and shot me a smile. "Hi," he sat down next to me.
"Hey," I smiled. "Say hi, Jason." The baby, completely oblivious, continued to stare wide-eyed around the police station.
"You're good with kids," Greg noticed as he took out the swab. "Did you mean all that? About your dad?"
I blushed when I realized he had heard me. "Yeah, well it's in the past."
"Amazing," he shook his head.
"What?" I smiled at Jason who had begun to play with my hair.
"Again, your capacity to forgive," he tucked a loose strand behind my ear. "Amazing."
"Don't you have a job to do?" I asked in a teasing tone.
He grinned back at me before handing the swab to me. "The word around is that you're the only one that kid will allow anywhere near it. Can you do it?"
"Oh come on," I rolled my eyes. "He'll behave, won't you Jase?" The baby turned his head at the mention of his name, which made me smile. Greg sighed as he moved the swab towards the baby's mouth. Ever so gently, as if the baby was made of glass, he nudged the child's lips with the swab, and to his surprise, the child opened up without a fuss. "Told you," I grinned as he secured the sample in his kit.
Greg was about to retort when a woman approached the both of us. "Hello," she held out her hand. "I'm from Child Services. Is this Jason?"
"Yes ma'am," I smiled and shook her hand. "I'm Marilyn and this is my colleague, Greg."
He gave a wave before turning to me. "I'll give you a ride back to the lab. I'll be in the car."
The woman sat down across from me after Greg left and I explained the situation to her. After some paperwork and some routine questions, Jason was handed over to the care of Child Services. The woman, whose name was Amy, shook my hand again before we parted ways. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Marilyn."
"You as well," I smiled.
"Oh I almost forgot," she turned back around to face me. "You and Greg make a lovely couple."
I felt my cheeks heat up. "Oh we're not… He's not… We're just colleagues." I managed to stutter.
She shot me a smile. "You are more than that, anyone can see. There's just something about the way you two look at each other. Take some free advice; don't let him get away. Whatever you two have is special, hold it close."
"Thank you," I shook her hand again.
I headed out to the car, mulling over what she had said. Were we really that obvious?
"I have so much evidence for you," Sara greeted me when I walked back into the lab. "Blood, murder weapon, fingerprints, trace, it's all here."
"Okay why don't you put the prints in AFIS, I'll get started on the murder weapon." I suggested.
"Sounds like a plan," she smiled.
We worked in silence for a few minutes before I spoke. "Hey Sara, can I tell you something?"
"Of course," she answered.
"What I say can't leave this room, okay? Promise?" I looked up from the bloody towel bar we had collected.
"I promise," she gave me a smile.
"Okay so this morning, the reason I was late was a lie. I didn't oversleep. Greg came by to drive me in and while I was waiting for him I was messing around on my guitar and he heard me and he was being super sweet so I went go get my shoes and he followed me and we kissed. Twice." I explained in one breath.
"You kissed?" She clarified.
"I know it's against the rules and now I'm scared that I'm gonna lose my job or lose Greg and I don't know what to do!" I threw my hands up in the air.
"Okay, one problem at a time. Kissing is a mutual thing, so Greg probably feels the same way, so no need to make yourself sick over a problem that isn't there, right?" I nodded and motioned for her to continue. "Now, I would go to Grissom. He is your supervisor and he can decide what to do. Also, if you and Greg are serious it is better to tell Grissom now then have him find out later, right?"
I shot her a grateful smile, "Thanks Sara. I needed that."
She smiled back just as the computer pinged with an AFIS hit. "Okay so the print that I collected off the towel bar is a match to one of the vic's neighbors, Justine Randolph."
"Okay, why don't you call Brass, I'm gonna go get the results of the blue fabric trace from Hodges and see if Greg got a match on the paternity test."
I slipped out of the room and made my way into the trace lab. "Hodges, will you be my friend?" I asked as I opened the door.
"No, I don't like you," he deadpanned.
"Damn," I snapped my fingers. "Will you give me results?"
He smiled and handed me a folder. "The blue fibers Sara found of the floor are denim."
"Blue jeans. That narrows it down," I said.
"Let me finish!" He exclaimed. "Page two. The blue denim fibers also tested positive for rust."
"Rust?" I asked.
"Yes. I am also puzzled," he sighed.
"Wait," I smiled. "In order for the fibers to get in the apartment, someone had to have ripped the jeans. What if whoever was wearing the jeans caught them on a rusty nail? That would explain the rust transfer."
"And if you get caught on a rusty nail," Hodges started.
"Sometimes you get scratched," I continued.
"And when you scratch," he began.
"You bleed." I finished. "Thanks Hodges."
I exited the trace lab and headed over to DNA. Opening the door, a familiar head of spiky hair popped up from behind the machines. "What brings you here?" Greg asked.
"I have questions," I began.
Greg patted the extra chair next to him, which I gratefully took. "Fire away."
"Okay, first, who's the dad?"
"The answer lies with sample number two," Greg handed me a folder. "The father of Jason Watson is one Dennis Adams."
"Great. Question two," I pulled out a photo of the blood pool at the crime scene. "Do you see that pool right there, about the size of a nickel? At first Sara thought it was castoff, but now I think it's a second blood pool. Hodges ran the blue fibers, turns out they were denim with a transfer of rust. So then I was thinking; you rip your jeans on a rusty nail, that explains the transfer of the fabric and when people get scratched, they bleed."
"Interesting," I heard from the doorway. I looked up to see Grissom standing there, watching us. "I come with a message. Brass found Justine and has her at PD for questioning. Sara is going over there now."
"Okay do me a favor? Ask Brass to see if she cut her ankle recently?"
"Sure thing," Grissom nodded and left the room.
"And I am about to make your day even better," Greg smiled at me. "Sara did collect a sample from that blood pool and I am running it now."
"Okay so I'll just wait here," I decided.
"Do you wanna talk now?" Greg asked in a shy manner.
"Okay, what are we?" I cut straight to the point.
"After today, I can't settle with friends," Greg told me honestly. "I won't. I let you get away once, and I don't aim to do it again."
"I feel the same way," I admitted. "Which is why after my shift is over I am going to talk to Grissom."
Greg's whole body straightened up. "And say what?"
"I am going to explain us to him and ask for his advice," I explained.
"Well what are you going to tell him? That we're together, or going to be or what?"
"Honestly, I was going to tell him that today is the first time either of us acted upon our feelings, but there has always been something here and I think it's just a matter of time before this was going to happen." I answered honestly.
"Okay," Greg conceded. With the printer fired up and spit out the results on the blood.
"I knew it," I smiled at the paper. "Thanks Greg." I placed a quick kiss on the top of his head before flying out the door and driving down to the station.
"So she'll cop to the whole thing?" I asked, gobsmacked. Turns out, Justine had confessed before the blood even confirmed she was there.
"She claims she was in love with the victim's boyfriend, got jealous and just snapped," Sara briefed me once I joined them.
"Wow," I said. "That's… wow. What about Jason?"
"The kid is going to live with his dad and current girlfriend, so I think he'll be alright," Brass informed me.
"That's good," I smiled.
"I am ready to call it a night," Sara said as we made our way to the parking lot.
"I have one more thing I have to do first," I sighed as I headed back to the lab for a talk I wasn't ready to have.
I rapped on the glass door and heard a faint response. I opened the door and smiled at Grissom, who put down the book he was reading as I closed the door behind me.
"I need to tell you something," I said as I sat down.
"Okay, I'm all ears," he smiled at me.
So I recounted what happened, just like I did when I told Sara. "So if anyone is going to lose their job or be transferred it should be me." I finished.
"How serious is it?" Grissom asked.
"Well I can't speak for him," I began. "But for me I'm hoping it becomes something steady in my life. Greg is amazing and for years I've tried to deny this pull, I guess, I feel whenever I'm around him. I really feel like there's something great between us and I need to try or else I'll just go insane."
Grissom smiled at me before he spoke. "You know Marilyn, Greg came in here earlier and said almost the same thing. Well he was a bit more flustered but I'll tell you the same thing I told him. It is against the rules for co-workers to have romantic relations. However, I have only ever seen a connection like you two one other time in my life and it was the most magical thing to witness. If I see your casework slipping at all, I am putting a stop to it immediately. Are we clear?"
The smile on my face could not have been wider. "Of course. I won't let you down, I promise."