In a World They Forgot

Live Without The Sunlight

   I was already in the lab, gloves on and processing when I heard someone enter the door. I moved my gaze upwards, peering through the strands of dark hair that tickled my eyelids.

   “Hey Greg.” I re-dusted the shuriken for prints one more time as he moved further into the immaculate lab.

“And I thought I was early tonight.” He mumbled, snapping on a pair of latex gloves and walking closer to me.

“I just thought I’d come in and make a start on what we had to get through tonight. I figured I may as well prove than I can be useful even with my newbie performance last night.” I explained with a soft shrug as I peeled back the tape.

“And?” He looked over my shoulder at the circular marks, pressed to the tape.

“I’ve got something.” I threw him a quick smile. “I’ve already paged Grissom, who said he’d be in shortly to look at it. Also, the blood Nick found on the mirror [i]isn’t[/i] a match to any of the victims. The partial print that I pulled from a door handle is currently making its way through the system as we speak and I managed to find some information about ceremonial sacrifices with a little help from a techie back in Peoria. It might help find the killer and the tools he used” I explained, moving across the lab to show him each thing in turn.

“Miki, did you sleep at all?” He seemed shocked at the amount of work that I had gotten through already.

“I got a few hours.” I told him, checking the computer screen briefly before sitting down to scan the new print into the system.

   I heard a heavy sigh and then felt the chair I occupied being wheeled from the desk to the centre of the lab, away from all of the equipment. Greg spun the seat so that I was facing him and then crouched down so that he was eye level with me. “What?” I asked innocently.

“Look, Miki, I know this case hit you hard and I understand that you want to get it solved, for the sake of those kids, but overworking yourself and having no rest isn’t going to help. You need to take care of yourself in this profession and in this city especially, because, if you don’t, then Vegas will break you.” He said to me with a gentle tone.

I looked down at my lap and bit my lip before fixing my eyes on his once more. “I have to do something.” I told him in a whisper.

“Right now, all you’re doing is taking a break. Go and grab a cup of the hot stuff and let me handle everything in here for now. I will personally maim you if you approach any of the technicians or CSI’s in a profession manner within the next thirty minutes.” He said, a twinkle in his warm eyes.

“Fine. But page me if you get anything back from APHIS.” I said, pushing myself to my feet, surrendering this once to his demands.

   Most other times, I was a tough, stubborn girl who often liked to think she was right. This once though, even I could admit that he had a valid point.

   The thirty minutes that Greg had practically banned me from the lab for, were almost over. I was washing out my mug when Nick walked in, flashing a warm smile at me.

   “Hey, I heard Greg banished you.”

“Yeah. I think he was looking forward to all the work.” I said, trying not to make a big deal out of everything. I wanted to prove that I could handle this case.

“He just doesn’t want to see you fall apart-none of us do! Las Vegas is hard enough to cope with most of the time normally, but when you’re a CSI here, it’s ten times harder.”

“I know. I just need to do this.” I said quietly, handing him the coffee jar.

“We’re a team Miki. We bounce off each other when times get tough. Just, stick with Greg and you’ll make it through this. It was a bad case to transfer to.” The Texan said as he poured the hot water into the plain white mug.