Lab Geeks in the Know - The Overheard Conversation
Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘em, don’t claim to. So don’t sue me, eh?
Summary: What happens when an overheard conversation causes Adam Ross to google Lindsay the final day of the trial? Spoilers up to 3x18 SOoH (aka Super Ep).
A/N: This is light little just for fun piece. Unfortunately, I am no comedienne so it isn’t hilarious, but I figure it is smile-worthy and therefore worth sharing. Once again, my plot bunny grabbed the idea of Adam finding out certain things and just ran off with it. So, I hope you enjoy the results!
Lab Geeks in the Know
The Overheard Conversation
Adam Ross tapped his fingers on the desktop while waiting for his test results to appear on the computer screen. He would swear the machine slowed down anytime Detective Mac Taylor said he wanted to know the outcome ASAP.
-BEEP-
Yes! He thought, and leaned in closer to the monitor, scanning the information displayed. Awww, man. Unfortunately, it would appear the trace from their female victim was ordinary body lotion with light reflecting particles, the same brand which the vic had sitting on her bathroom vanity, and favored by millions of females.
Adam sighed and hit the button to send a copy of the results to the printer. Mac is not going to be happy with this. Better just deliver the results and get it over with quick so the detectives can focus on a different angle.
He grabbed the print out from the tray and hurried down the hall to his boss’s office. After all, there was no sense in delaying the inevitable, not when it factored into an important investigation. The CSIs and this lab were the last voice of these victims, and anything he could do from his place in the lab to help them find justice, he would do.
Making his way down the hall, he could see Mac at his desk speaking on the phone. The last thing Adam wanted to do when delivering bad news was to irritate the detective by making him feel like he was in a fish bowl, or worse, that he was listening in by standing too close to the open door, so he waited a little ways down the corridor for him to finish his call. As he waited Mac’s voice pierced the relative quiet in the hall.
“Danny… Danny… Danny!” Mac tried to get a word in edgewise.
Adam’s ears perked up slightly hearing Danny’s name. Didn’t Danny have the day off? he thought idly.
“YOU’RE WHERE?!?” Mac barked into the phone startling Adam out of his reverie with a jump.
Holy crapola! I take it back, results can wait! His self preservation instincts kicked in and he hightailed his way back towards the relative safety of his lab. He saw Stella Bonasera heading towards Mac’s office. Oh, good! Stella is on this case, I’ll just give her the results; no need to add fuel to Mac’s fire.
“Stella!” He cried in relief, his voice a bit louder than his usual quiet prattle.
She looked at him slightly startled, and then graced him with a smile.
“Hey, Adam, what have you got for me?”
“The, uh, trace results from your vic wound up being a compound made up primarily of um, glycerine, niacinamide, petrolatum, isopropyl isostearate, and chamomilla recutita flower extract, but the uh, sparkles in the substance came from aluminum starch octenylsuccinate, mica, titanium dioxide, and tin oxide. I mean, it seems that this product is something a lot of women use, but isn’t it a little impractical? I mean why would you put that on your skin and...”
Stella waved her hand in a swiping motion, abruptly cutting off his fast paced speech. “Adam! Short answer, please! Mac’s waiting on me.” She gave the lab rat a small smile to soften the harshness of her words.
Adam swallowed hard. “Yeah, of course, of course.” Crap! Mac again! “It was body lotion with tiny glittering particles; same brand as was in the vic’s bathroom according to the reports.” He handed the printout over to her as he choked out his final sentence.
Throughout his statement he kept looking over his shoulder towards Mac’s office, which was somewhat out of sight around the corner. (Difficult to be entirely out of sight with a lab made mostly with glass walls).
Stella just raised one perfectly arched eyebrow at his odd behavior and thanked him for the results. Once freed from his obligation he beelined it back to his lab.
Back in Mac Taylor’s office…
“YOU’RE WHERE?!?” Mac barked into the phone. He put his forehead down into his palm, rubbing the dull ache that had been there the past few hours. Headache aside, Mac fought hard not to smile at the stuttering explanation he was getting from the younger detective he essentially had hostage on the phone. Oh yeah, he was going to get as much mileage out of this one as he could. Having to watch Danny and Lindsay dancing around each other for the past year and a half deserved at least some sort of payback.
“You do realize I only told you to take the day, not a flight?” Mac tried his best to sound stern on the phone. He sighed into the phone for effect and then continued. “You can have the week, Detective, but I expect you and Detective Monroe to be reporting for duty no later than 07:00 hours next Monday morning, do you understand?”
Danny gave his own answering sigh of relief and replied “Yes, sir!”
“Good.” Mac allowed a moment of silence to pass between them and then cleared his throat. “Danny?”
“Yeah, Mac?” Danny replied cautiously.
“You did the right thing, Danny, I just want you to know that… and don’t call me sir.” -CLICK-
Danny looked down at the display of his cell phone in surprise. Mac had hung up on him? And thought he’d done the right thing? Slowly a grin spread wide across his face. “Eh, Montana!” He called out loudly. “You’ll never guess what Mac said!”
Mac put his head in his hands, allowing himself to chuckle lowly at this new information. Yes, the integrity of the lab takes priority, but Mac was vividly aware of how important it was to seize the time you had with someone you love. And here Danny had said he’d never fall in love. As long as they kept it to a minimum in the lab, he had no intention of separating one of the best investigative teams he had. Those two seemed to feed off of their competitiveness, and the lab often benefited from it. It would be best, though, not to mention this to anyone before the pair returned. He had a feeling that once this news broke, it would divert the focus of the lab from more important matters. Not for long, but he felt it best to delay the inevitable, especially with the big case they were working on, short staffed at that. That thought just renewed his mirth at the predicament.
Stella slowed in mild amusement at the scene before her as she neared Mac’s office. Was he laughing? Since he had yet to notice her, she leaned against the door frame, crossing her arms across her chest and just appreciated the rare sight.
Mac saw her small motion in his peripheral vision and quickly straightened up in his chair, trying in vain to restore his usual stoic expression.
“Stella, to what to I owe this honor?” he said hurriedly, hoping to divert her from what she may have just witnessed. She may be his best friend and confidante, but if there was one thing she loved other than Tiffany’s, it was water cooler gossip.
“Don’t think for a moment that I am letting you off the hook that easily, Mac Taylor. Adam gave me the results from the vic’s trace; it was just her body lotion. Now what gives with you? Laughing, and at work nonetheless?” She put on her bullying expression that she usually reserved for interrogations, and leaned forward bracing her palms on his desk.
“The vic’s own body lotion?” He tried to deflect her questions for as long as possible. “Well, that eliminates hope it was from our perp. What else have we got?”
“Mac,” Stella started in, warningly.
Much to Mac’s relief, Hawkes chose that moment to come barreling around the corner into Mac’s office, nearly bumping into Stella in his hurry. He came to an abrupt stop.
“Sorry, Stella.” Sensing that the vibe in the room wasn’t quite right, he got to the point right away. “Mac, during canvas we found a witness that places the ex-boyfriend at our vic’s apartment the morning that she died. Flack picked him up, and is taking him into interrogation now.”
“I’m coming with you.” Mac said, and stood to retrieve his suit jacket from the rack by the door.
“Mac,” Stella straightened up, getting a little irritated with her friend (good naturedly, of course) about being put off like this.
“Stel, I’ll get back with you later.” Mac said, all business, quickly shrugging into his jacket. He turned to Hawkes. “Let’s go.” The men wasted no time as they worked their way towards the elevator.
Stella growled lightly in exasperation. She walked around Mac’s desk and then sunk into his chair to think, knowing she was the only one who would be able to get away with doing so. What is it that he doesn’t want me to find out? She pursed her lips as her eyebrows drew together in concentration. It can’t be anything too bad, otherwise he wouldn’t have been laughing. A smile took the place of her frown as she recalled seeing the serious Detective Taylor chuckling. It had been a rare but pleasant sight.
Meanwhile, back in the Trace Lab…
Adam released a big breath as he slid to a halt within the confines of his lab. Whatever had made Mac yell like that, he wanted no part of. He started processing the next trace sample he had, running it through the mass spectrometer. He knew it would be while on the results, and since he was caught up on his workload he opted to take a break. He rolled his chair over to the regular desktop computer and pulled up his email account, deleting the usual 20 spam emails. However, his mind was still stuck on what he had seen and heard in Mac’s office, turning the ‘evidence’ over and over, unconsciously trying to determine the source of Mac’s ire.
Well, he was obviously talking to Danny, he thought, for once not envying the man. I wonder where he was calling from that would have caused Mac to have such a reaction.
As he leaned back in his chair he thought back from that moment analyzing the behaviors he had witnessed the past few weeks. Although Adam had no aspirations to leave his lab, he exhibited the makings of an excellent CSI in his ability to theorize and confirm or eliminate various theories and possibilities.
Danny has been acting a bit off recently, working extra shifts and being more distracted than usual, he mused. I just assumed it was because Lindsay was gone… His thoughts trailed off as his eyes widened. Lindsay!
His hands flew to the keyboard and he pulled up the Google search engine, quickly typing ‘Lindsay Monroe’ into the query box before better judgment could overcome him. Scanning the results, he found one for a news article dated only a few hours prior. He clicked on it to bring the full article up on screen. He froze in amazement as a large photograph appeared. Once it had fully loaded, his mouth opened and closed a few times, like a fish out of water. Aloud he said in awe and admiration, “No way…!”
TBC
A/N: The body lotion results Adam gives to Stella are real; I got them off of the back of my lotion bottle, Olay Quench body lotion. Pretty little barely noticeable sparkles, makes your legs look great in sunlight. : )