A/N: Okay, so I'm weak. I promised myself I wouldn't start anything new before my old WIP's were done, but I have no willpower. None what so ever. Sorry.
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, only the text. The song is Erykah Badu's.
Summary: The team learns that a good day can turn bad in a blink of an eye.
There was a bounce in Greg Sanders's steps as he strode along the sidewalk through the darkening city of Las Vegas towards the CSI Headquarters. The night was closing in, the never-sleeping city was preparing for the solemn darkness, but he did not feel it. He felt like it was still the sunny day it had been just a couple of hours ago, he could still feel the sunlight on his face and hear the easy chatter that had sounded in the air all around him previously. And he could still hear music everywhere. The car honks played the strings in his mind, the flowing rhythm of words mouthed by the people sitting on the steps of a building that he passed as the mellow sound of the keys, his steady footsteps as the beat that drew the sounds together. From somewhere further away he could hear the cello, only that it was the sound of a truck gaining speed. The sounds all around blended perfectly with the tune that kept playing in his head.
Time's a wastin
Don't you take your time young man
Keep on driftin and
ain't no telling where you'll land
He hummed along, receiving some weird looks from the people that he passed, but he didn't mind. He forgot the lyrics but that was okay, he sang in his mind anyway, making up the lyrics that he couldn't remember. Until the chorus. That he remembered clearly.
'Cause we're livin in a world that's oh so strange
boy don't let your focus change
takin out the demons in your range, hey
Livin in a world that's oh so fast
gotta make your money last
learn from your past
Oh baby we need to smile, oh baby we need to smile...
And he did. A wide bright smile that spread slowly on his face as he thought about that day, that afternoon.
He'd met someone. Someone new and charming and beautiful and funny and intelligent. Someone who hadn't thought of him as a geeky lab tech. Someone who'd given him her number. Her name had been Rebecca. Rebecca Something - he hadn't caught her last name. Perhaps she hadn't given it to him, he couldn't remember. Never mind, surely he would find it out sooner or later.
The white napkin on which she'd scribbled the number burned in his pocket. From time to time he dipped his hand into the jacket pocket and felt the soft paper as if making sure that it was still there. He would call her first thing tomorrow morning. Or maybe he should wait until the afternoon, so that he could catch some sleep. Besides she could be at work, not everyone worked graveyard shifts. And he could seem too eager if he called him first thing, eight o'clock in the morning. No, that wouldn't be wise, it could scare her. The smile on his face had faded a bit as he'd started thinking but now it spread to its full glory once again as he nodded to himself confidently. He'd call her in the afternoon. Invite her for a coffee or a meal. They could go to that new place downtown, the piano-bar. The same kind like the cafe where they'd met that afternoon. Various jazz-tunes had been playing from the stereos in the background of the quiet hustle in the cafe-house, now and then changing to somewhat funky or soul (NuSoul, she'd called it), groovy little thingy that'd made his leg tap even though he was more the rock-type himself. The music had melted in, making the atmosphere light and laid-back. He'd kind of liked the place, especially since it was the kind you couldn't see around every corner.
His fingers wandered into his pocket again, playing with the corner of the napkin, as he turned the corner to the parking lot of the CSI Headquarters. He was still grinning like a dork as he saw a tall man climbing out of his car a little further away. A humored smile crept on his face as he saw Greg approaching. "What in earth struck you?" he laughed as the smiling man got within hearing distance.
His smile got, if possible, even brighter as he winked at the man. "Oh, nothing much, my dear Nicky-boy. Sometimes things are just too good to keep moping."
"Oh yeah? What's so good about today then?" the Texan asked as he started towards the entrance by Greg's side, trying to keep up with his bouncy steps.
With a mischievous look on his face Greg turned his head towards the other man as he pushed the main doors open. "You know those days when absolutely nothing can go wrong? At least you feel like it." As Nick nodded to his words, he continued with his voice thick with satisfaction, turning his back to the other man as he started to walk up the short stairs. "Well, today's that kind of a day."
"Don't go saying that, man. It'll bring bad karma," Nick teased as they climbed the steps, making the young lab tech glance over his shoulder and roll his eyes.
"I'm not listening to that sort of a talk cos there's nothing that can ruin my mood today." His index finger pointed at Nick's face accusingly. "So don't you even try, buddy."
He lifted his hands up in the air in surrender. "Okay, okay. It wasn't my intention. I'm glad you're happy."
Once again, Greg flashed the most brilliant smile he could manage. "Thank you." His voice poured with child-like enthusiasm and pure joy, and Nick just shook his head with a little laugh.
The hallway was quiet and lacked people, and their steps echoed from the walls as they walked towards the locker room in a comfortable silence. The smile hadn't disappeared from the young man's face; clearly he was completely lost in his own thoughts. He hardly even noticed it when they got to the locker room door. Once again, Nick shook his head at him, smiling. "It's good that you're happy but you'd better snap out of your daze cause Grissom will hang you if you keep living in Dreamland," he remarked loudly enough for his words to pierce through Greg's thoughts. His eyes darted at him.
"What?" he uttered, surprised. He shook his head shortly as if trying to clear his mind. "Oh... Yeah. Speaking of which, I gotta pop into the evidence room. I forgot to mark a couple of things last night." He spun around on his heels, continuing his journey deeper into the building, leaving Nick to stand with his hand on the door knob. He couldn't see the CSI rolling his eyes, humored by Greg's behavior, and if he had, he probably wouldn't have cared the least. His mind was too occupied with his daydreaming. He was already planning tomorrow. How he'd call her up, casually ask her out, "for a coffee or something small". How they'd sit in a small table, both smiling over it to each other, chatting about everyday things, music, their jobs - well, not, perhaps, not their jobs, at least not his since he didn't want to depress her with dead people, but still. He thought of what she might want to drink; somehow she struck him as the type who'd order something called Iced Moccha Latte without seeming like a snob. He smiled at that thought - not that he could smile any wider without bursting his cheeks.
His steps took him further down the hallway, around the corner and through an empty corridor until he arrived to the door on which it said with small black letters 'Evidence Room'. He was just about to dig the keys out when he noticed that the door was open a small crack. "Damn that day shift..." he muttered under his breath. This wasn't the first time he'd found that door open, even though everybody knew that it should be kept closed and locked. He only had the keys now because he had forgotten to return them after last night. He sighed a little annoyed but brushed the feeling off as quickly as it had came. He wasn't going to let little things like this interfere with his mood. Instead he just pushed the door wide open, stepping in and feeling the wall beside the doorway to find the light switch. In a second the room bathed with soft yellow light.
It was then that he noticed that he wasn't alone.
He stared at the dark figure that stood in the middle of the room, caught red handed rummaging through the evidence cabinets. The words burst out of Greg's mouth, his first reaction to the unknown intruder: "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
It was all he managed to utter before his expression fell with the realization of what the intruder's shaky hand was holding.
***
Nick hung his jacket into his locker and shoved his pack to accompany it before closing the door. He took his ID from the bench between the locker rows and clipped it on. He was in a good mood. The sight of one smiling Greg Sanders had created his good mood. He smiled to himself as he grabbed the rest of his things before heading for the door.
As he stepped out he saw Sara approaching from the side of his eye and turned his head to greet her. He opened his mouth to say something.
He was stopped, frozen, by a loud voice that sounded from within the building.
A loud voice that sounded suspiciously like a gun shot.
TBC....
Muah-ha-haa!!