In a World They Forgot

Just Forget The World

I returned to Archie's lab where the files I had collected had been moved to by Nick after he'd hauled me away from the whispering crowd and Hodges on the floor with his bloody nose and conceited smirk. Archie looked over at me from his computer when I entered, tying my hair back tightly before gathering up the files in my arms and flashing him a small smile.

"You're still here?" He asked, sounding a little surprised, spinning to face me fully.

"Yeah, I just got a caution for hitting Hodges." I explained to him, refusing to give out the gritty details unless specifically asked.

"What about...the thing Hodges said?" I couldn't help but smile at the way he phrased it and the quiet tone in which he spoke it.

"They can't change that, no matter what they do to either of us." I shrugged simply, fiddling with the corner of a file as I tried to hide my small smile.

"You mean, you and Greg--" Archie's voice suddenly went up about three octaves.

"Yeah. Eight months solid." There was no point in hiding it from anyone anymore and I felt like a huge weight had been lifted as I confirmed it.

"Wow, you and Greg managed to keep that well under wraps for long enough--none of us even suspected anything like it. But wait, Miki, I don't understand, breaking that rule always leads to immediate dismissal." His eyebrows furrowed together as he awaited my answer.

"Not when you've been blackmailed the whole time. Hodges has been out to get at both of us since it all began; don't ask, it's a long story. Grissom is in that calm but angry state towards the whole thing. He's pulling Hodges in when he returns to the lab." I told him, lifting the last of the files into my secure hold.

"Wow, no wonder you hit him. Nice punch, by the way. I was pretty shocked at how fast he fell."

"Thanks Archie. I'd better get back to work." I smiled, feeling slightly awkward about the whole thing and really just wanting to put it all behind me.

Catherine and Sara were scribbling something down when I reached the room where we were working. I kicked the door open carefully and moved in slowly, dumping the files down on the desk, causing a cloud of dust to fly up into my face. Catherine and Sara looked at me, shocked and astonished at my appearance back into the case. I waved the dust away from around me before I choked on it and pulled up a swivel chair to start reading through the faded creamy coloured files.

"What are you doing back here? You didn't lose your job?" Catherine sounded amazed.

"Nope." I said plainly as I began to skim my eyes over the first cold case file I had.

"What about Greg?" Sara asked me as she leant back in her blue plastic chair.

"He's back on his case with Warrick." I told them, closing the file and moving onto the next one.

"What happened in Grissom's office then?" Sara neatly scooted over to the table and leaned forward on the surface as if I was about to tell her a high school secret.

Boy, this is going to be a long night...

"Girl, I don’t know how you did it, but congratulations." I turned around and cocked my head at Warrick.

"Come again?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows, not understanding what he meant.

"Ecklie is fuming! He's practically an erupting volcano at the moment! Grissom just keeps telling him that he has no control over the matter and that sets him off even more. Miki, Ecklie has even vowed to have nothing to do with the team anymore!" Warrick cheered, grabbing me and spinning me around, obviously happy with the result.