Below the Surface [CSI/The X-Files; Grissom/Catherine, Mulder/Scully]
TITLE: Below the Surface
CHAPTER 7: Times Seven
FANDOM(S): CSI, The X-Files
PAIRING(S): Mulder/Scully, Grissom/Catherine
SPOILERS: [CSI: Fourth season]; [X-Files: Seventh season]
RATING: R (for language, violence, etc.)
SUMMARY: "You can't find all the answers in science, Gil."
*****
"Hey, guys," Greg called, strolling into the breakroom to find Nick, Sara, and Warrick seated around the table.
They all nodded their greetings in return... Sara, in the middle of a sandwich... Nick, while keeping his eyes on a magazine... and Warrick, barely lifting his chin up from the table. Greg grinned. "Well, you're all looking lively this evening. What gives?"
"Boredom," Warrick sighed. "We finished up our cases from last shift pretty damn quick... and Grissom's about fifteen minutes late for handing out new assignments."
Greg raised an eyebrow. "Well, from what I hear, he's got his hands full with his and Catherine's case... times seven."
Sara furrowed her brow. "Times seven? What does that mean?"
Greg nodded toward the door, and all three junior CSIs glanced out just in time to see Doc Robbins, David Phillips, Brass, Grissom, Catherine, Mulder, and Scully wheeling seven sheet-covered cadavers down the hall, toward the morgue. Nick, Sara, and Warrick stared in astonishment, each wearing the same expression... eyebrows raised to their highest points on their foreheads.
Moments after the line of cadavers passed by the breakroom, Scully breezed inside, lips pursed in a serious expression. She nodded a greeting at the younger CSIs briefly while drawing in a breath, shifting the case file she held in her left hand, to her right. "Dr. Grissom wanted me to come in here to inform you, he'll be in shortly to hand out assignments."
Nick and Warrick nodded minutely while Sara glared daggers at the redhead. Scully furrowed her brows only momentarily at the look she was receiving before pushing past it. "Look, I know you're all disappointed in being unable to work the case, and are probably feeling a tad resentful..."
"A tad?" Sara mocked, scowling at the formica surface of the breakroom table.
"Yes. And for that, I'd like to extend an apology. While we would appreciate some extra hands helping out with the case, Agent Mulder and I feel it is best to keep the knowledge of this case to a minimum, due to its..." She made a slow circle with her wrist, as if searching for the perfect word. "Unusual nature."
"No offense, Agent Scully," Nick drawled, leaning back slightly in his chair while he gestured to himself and his colleagues, "But Warrick, Sara and I have handled some pretty unusual cases. We're not rookies."
Scully nodded. "I understand that, but I also highly doubt you've ever handled anything like this before."
"Scully..."
She turned upon hearing her partner's voice, and when he nodded in the direction of the morgue, she nodded once in understanding. She then turned to the younger CSIs, managing just a slight, apologetic smile before murmuring, "Excuse me," and following him out the door.
Sara scowled at the redhead's path of retreat. "I don't like her," she muttered.
Twin smirks from Nick and Greg followed this statement, along with a roll of the eyes from Warrick. "You don't like any woman that's close to a guy you're crushing on," he sighed.
"Ahh," Greg grinned. "Got a little 'thang' for that Mulder guy, do ya?"
"No!" she quickly exclaimed. "He's really cute, but... no..."
Nick grinned. "Come on, if I wasn't here, you'd totally go for it."
"That's not true!"
Warrick chuckled. "Come on, Sara, we see those puppy dog eyes when you spot him walking down the hall. It's the same way you used to look at Grissom." He raised a finger briefly. "And, might I add, that was why you used to hate Catherine."
"I never hated Catherine," she murmured with a frown, though the uncertainty in her tone seeped through. "She and I just... butted heads. That's all."
"Mm-hmm," Nick mocked. "So once you got over your little crush on Grissom, you and Cath just suddenly stopped butting heads?"
She rolled her eyes. "You guys are morons."
"The term is 'observant,' Sara," Greg replied, still wearing a silly grin. "You're crushing on that Fed, and since he's got sort of a Grissom-and-Catherine thing goin' with the hot redhead, you hate her."
"I do not hate her," she muttered, folding her arms across her tomboyish chest. "And she is not hot."
"Please..." Greg murmured. "I'd do her."
Nick chuckled. "Yeah, but Greg, you'd do anything that breathes."
"I know," he shrugged. "She's breathing, isn't she?"
Sara raised her eyebrows. "Do you like her, Nick?"
Warrick grinned. "Nick loooooves redheads."
He threw Warrick a look briefly, before smiling reassuringly at Sara. "I'll admit that I do find her slightly attractive."
"Slightly attractive?" Greg laughed. He nudged Sara teasingly. "That's the 'college-talk' way of saying he'd nail her in an instant."
"Guys..." Grissom called, striding quickly into the breakroom with two folders tucked under his arm. "I'm sorry I'm so late. There was a bit of an emergency with the case."
Sara raised a brow. "Times seven?"
He nodded. "You could say that," he replied cryptically. He sighed, handing one folder to Warrick, the other to Nick. "Here are your new cases for the evening: Warrick, you've got a B-and-E, Nick and Sara, you've got a 407."
"Home invasion again?" Nick complained.
"OR you could do paperwork." Grissom raised his eyebrows pointedly. "It's your choice."
Nick grimaced, emitted a low, incoherent grumble, and passed their case folder to Sara... who was still eyeing their supervisor. "Grissom, are you sure none of us can help out?" she asked. "I mean, I know that we're not supposed to--"
He held up a hand to stop her. "I appreciate the offer Sara, but no. Agent Scully feels it's best to keep this as hush-hush as we can."
"See?" She slapped Nick's shoulder to emphasize her next word. "That's why I don't like her."
Grissom quirked an eyebrow. "Yes, well, that's a... nice, mature attitude, Sara," he sighed.
"Well, Grissom, I just don't think it's fair!" she defended. She gestured to their lab rat. "Greg still gets to be on the case!"
Grissom shook his head. "Greg is only handling the DNA, lab-aspect of the case. Outside of that, he doesn't know anything more about it than you do."
"Yeah," Greg grinned, "But you do realize I have eyes all over this lab?"
Grissom rolled his eyes. "Yes, Greg." He raised a finger, wagging it at him briefly. "I do also realize that aside from having eyes all over this lab, you also have porn all over this lab. And I'd like you to work on removing that, please. We don't want the Feds stumbling upon it."
"Did somebody say the magic word? 'Porn'?" Mulder appeared in the doorway, wearing a silly grin... followed by Scully, who was giving him a look behind his back.
"I don't think he'd mind me having it," Greg replied, gesturing to the suit-clad Fed.
Scully rolled her eyes. "I don't think he would, either," she muttered under her breath, then turned her attention to the graveshift supervisor. "Dr. Grissom, we're ready in the morgue, if you wanted to come down. Doctor Robbins, David, and I have opened them all up..."
"And?"
She eyed the three curious CSIs sitting around the table, gazing eagerly up at her like puppies waiting for table scraps. She smiled politely, demurely at them before turning her eyes back up to Grissom. "It's the same as all the others," she cryptically replied, then watched subsequently as the faces of the younger criminalists' fell to expressions of disappointment.
Grissom nodded, smiling his thanks at the two agents. "I'll be in shortly."
"And hey..." Mulder chimed in, pausing in the doorway. He sauntered over to Greg, leaning toward the lab rat's ear and speaking in a low voice. "Lemme know where you keep that por--"
"Mulder!" Scully, who'd been standing impatiently in the doorway, grabbed her partner's arm and dragged him out, their voices carrying all the way down the hall as she admonished him for his behavior.
Greg laughed. "I love that guy! He's my kinda guy!"
Grissom sighed, rolling his eyes. "Yes, well, maybe you two can exchange phone numbers later," he muttered. "For now, I have to get back to the case." He tossed a look over his shoulder at his other three CSIs as he headed out. "Good luck tonight."
Sara sighed, shaking her head as she stared at the spot in the doorway her supervisor had occupied only seconds earlier, before turning her eyes to Nick... exchanging with him an exasperated glance. Warrick merely shrugged off what had just happened and rose to his feet, heading for the door, while Greg bounded after him, murmuring, "Where did I hide all my porn the last time I moved it?"
*****
"Gil," Doc Robbins murmured as the supervisor strode back into the morgue.
Grissom nodded at the doctor while buttoning his lab coat, exchanging a glance with Catherine as she turned over her shoulder to smile a greeting at him... gathered around one of the cadavers with Mulder and Scully. "What have you found, Doc?" he asked, sending Catherine a brief smile in return as he stepped up beside her.
"Same thing as the others. Peri-mortem bruising around the navel, absence of any internal organs... hemorrhagic tissue where the organs had once been."
"We swabbed around the navel this time and sent the sample to the lab," Scully chimed in, standing between Robbins and Mulder as she met Grissom's eyes. "That could possibly give us an indication of who, or what, is doing this."
Mulder shook his head slowly. "I said it before, Scully, and I'll say it again, you are not going to get any results off that swab. The thing that did this is neither human, nor animal."
"What do you believe it to be?" Robbins questioned, eyeing the determined look in the Fed's eyes.
Mulder glimpsed quick at his partner when she released a sigh, before turning back to the coroner. "I believe what we're dealing with is some sort of extra-terrestrial."
Scully rolled her eyes, exchanging a glance with Catherine... shaking her head slowly while the strawberry-blonde smirked back at her.
"Think about it," Mulder continued, either not seeing or ignoring Scully's reaction to his mention of the paranormal, "No human or animal could produce enough suction to pull every single organ from a body." He shrugged. "Along with the fact that there are only trace amounts of blood in the navel, meaning the organs were removed underwater. There's no aquatic mammal or fish... freshwater or otherwise... that could pull that off, either."
"What about a shark with a straw?" Catherine piped up, wearing a Cheshire grin.
Mulder, Grissom, and Scully's eyes immediately shot to her, and while Grissom and Scully eyed the strawberry blonde as if she were insane, Mulder cracked a smile. "So," he pressed on, "What we're dealing with is super-human, or extra-terrestrial."
Grissom and Doc Robbins silently exchanged glances, while Scully fixed a glare on her partner. "All the same, Mulder," she muttered darkly, practically growling, "We should wait until the results come back from the lab before drawing conclusions."
"Fine, Scully. Just be prepared to eat your words." He nudged her. "Seven years together, and how often have I been wrong?" He grinned as her eyes seemed to roll almost completely back in her head at the often repeated statement. "Never!"
She let out an exasperated huff, and glanced to the two senior CSIs. "I think it's time that Agent Mulder and I head out for the night," she murmured, "And get back to our hotel. We'll be going over the case file tonight, and seeing if we can't find anything in there we haven't covered yet." She glanced to the good doctor. "Doctor Robbins, if possible, could we get swabs from the six other bodies, along with the first four? Just to use for comparison."
He nodded. "I'll take care of that immediately and send them to the lab."
She smiled. "Thank you." She then turned back to Grissom and Catherine, reaching out to grasp Mulder's sleeve as she headed for the door, towing him along with her. "You can call either one of us at any time if you need assistance, or find anything big. If you can't reach us on our cell phones, we left each of our hotel room phone numbers on your desk, Dr. Grissom."
He nodded briefly. "Thank you, Agent Scully. We'll be doing some more questioning in the earlier part of this evening, and after that, we'll most likely be doing some more gruntwork." He shrugged. "Going through more missing persons ads."
"Good idea." She smiled and nodded a goodbye at Catherine and Doc Robbins, before tugging on her partner's sleeve once more. "Come on, Mulder," she huffed, and headed out of the morgue.
Catherine and Grissom turned to watch the pair leave... Catherine smirking at the ire evident in the redhead's eyes, while Grissom just frowned, still utterly perplexed with the pair. When they turned back to glance at each other, Grissom raised an eyebrow. "Aliens?"
Catherine smirked, exchanging a smile with Robbins before turning her eyes back to her other half. "Keep an open mind, Gil," she chided him gently.
"My mind is always open, Catherine," he sighed, "But only to sane, rational, scientific conclusions."
She made a sweeping gesture about the seven new cadavers. "Then find me a sane, rational, scientific conclusion to explain this." She met his eyes, her own sparkling her challenge.
His silence confirmed all, and she grinned. "You can't find all the answers in science, Gil."
TBC
CHAPTER 7: Times Seven
FANDOM(S): CSI, The X-Files
PAIRING(S): Mulder/Scully, Grissom/Catherine
SPOILERS: [CSI: Fourth season]; [X-Files: Seventh season]
RATING: R (for language, violence, etc.)
SUMMARY: "You can't find all the answers in science, Gil."
*****
"Hey, guys," Greg called, strolling into the breakroom to find Nick, Sara, and Warrick seated around the table.
They all nodded their greetings in return... Sara, in the middle of a sandwich... Nick, while keeping his eyes on a magazine... and Warrick, barely lifting his chin up from the table. Greg grinned. "Well, you're all looking lively this evening. What gives?"
"Boredom," Warrick sighed. "We finished up our cases from last shift pretty damn quick... and Grissom's about fifteen minutes late for handing out new assignments."
Greg raised an eyebrow. "Well, from what I hear, he's got his hands full with his and Catherine's case... times seven."
Sara furrowed her brow. "Times seven? What does that mean?"
Greg nodded toward the door, and all three junior CSIs glanced out just in time to see Doc Robbins, David Phillips, Brass, Grissom, Catherine, Mulder, and Scully wheeling seven sheet-covered cadavers down the hall, toward the morgue. Nick, Sara, and Warrick stared in astonishment, each wearing the same expression... eyebrows raised to their highest points on their foreheads.
Moments after the line of cadavers passed by the breakroom, Scully breezed inside, lips pursed in a serious expression. She nodded a greeting at the younger CSIs briefly while drawing in a breath, shifting the case file she held in her left hand, to her right. "Dr. Grissom wanted me to come in here to inform you, he'll be in shortly to hand out assignments."
Nick and Warrick nodded minutely while Sara glared daggers at the redhead. Scully furrowed her brows only momentarily at the look she was receiving before pushing past it. "Look, I know you're all disappointed in being unable to work the case, and are probably feeling a tad resentful..."
"A tad?" Sara mocked, scowling at the formica surface of the breakroom table.
"Yes. And for that, I'd like to extend an apology. While we would appreciate some extra hands helping out with the case, Agent Mulder and I feel it is best to keep the knowledge of this case to a minimum, due to its..." She made a slow circle with her wrist, as if searching for the perfect word. "Unusual nature."
"No offense, Agent Scully," Nick drawled, leaning back slightly in his chair while he gestured to himself and his colleagues, "But Warrick, Sara and I have handled some pretty unusual cases. We're not rookies."
Scully nodded. "I understand that, but I also highly doubt you've ever handled anything like this before."
"Scully..."
She turned upon hearing her partner's voice, and when he nodded in the direction of the morgue, she nodded once in understanding. She then turned to the younger CSIs, managing just a slight, apologetic smile before murmuring, "Excuse me," and following him out the door.
Sara scowled at the redhead's path of retreat. "I don't like her," she muttered.
Twin smirks from Nick and Greg followed this statement, along with a roll of the eyes from Warrick. "You don't like any woman that's close to a guy you're crushing on," he sighed.
"Ahh," Greg grinned. "Got a little 'thang' for that Mulder guy, do ya?"
"No!" she quickly exclaimed. "He's really cute, but... no..."
Nick grinned. "Come on, if I wasn't here, you'd totally go for it."
"That's not true!"
Warrick chuckled. "Come on, Sara, we see those puppy dog eyes when you spot him walking down the hall. It's the same way you used to look at Grissom." He raised a finger briefly. "And, might I add, that was why you used to hate Catherine."
"I never hated Catherine," she murmured with a frown, though the uncertainty in her tone seeped through. "She and I just... butted heads. That's all."
"Mm-hmm," Nick mocked. "So once you got over your little crush on Grissom, you and Cath just suddenly stopped butting heads?"
She rolled her eyes. "You guys are morons."
"The term is 'observant,' Sara," Greg replied, still wearing a silly grin. "You're crushing on that Fed, and since he's got sort of a Grissom-and-Catherine thing goin' with the hot redhead, you hate her."
"I do not hate her," she muttered, folding her arms across her tomboyish chest. "And she is not hot."
"Please..." Greg murmured. "I'd do her."
Nick chuckled. "Yeah, but Greg, you'd do anything that breathes."
"I know," he shrugged. "She's breathing, isn't she?"
Sara raised her eyebrows. "Do you like her, Nick?"
Warrick grinned. "Nick loooooves redheads."
He threw Warrick a look briefly, before smiling reassuringly at Sara. "I'll admit that I do find her slightly attractive."
"Slightly attractive?" Greg laughed. He nudged Sara teasingly. "That's the 'college-talk' way of saying he'd nail her in an instant."
"Guys..." Grissom called, striding quickly into the breakroom with two folders tucked under his arm. "I'm sorry I'm so late. There was a bit of an emergency with the case."
Sara raised a brow. "Times seven?"
He nodded. "You could say that," he replied cryptically. He sighed, handing one folder to Warrick, the other to Nick. "Here are your new cases for the evening: Warrick, you've got a B-and-E, Nick and Sara, you've got a 407."
"Home invasion again?" Nick complained.
"OR you could do paperwork." Grissom raised his eyebrows pointedly. "It's your choice."
Nick grimaced, emitted a low, incoherent grumble, and passed their case folder to Sara... who was still eyeing their supervisor. "Grissom, are you sure none of us can help out?" she asked. "I mean, I know that we're not supposed to--"
He held up a hand to stop her. "I appreciate the offer Sara, but no. Agent Scully feels it's best to keep this as hush-hush as we can."
"See?" She slapped Nick's shoulder to emphasize her next word. "That's why I don't like her."
Grissom quirked an eyebrow. "Yes, well, that's a... nice, mature attitude, Sara," he sighed.
"Well, Grissom, I just don't think it's fair!" she defended. She gestured to their lab rat. "Greg still gets to be on the case!"
Grissom shook his head. "Greg is only handling the DNA, lab-aspect of the case. Outside of that, he doesn't know anything more about it than you do."
"Yeah," Greg grinned, "But you do realize I have eyes all over this lab?"
Grissom rolled his eyes. "Yes, Greg." He raised a finger, wagging it at him briefly. "I do also realize that aside from having eyes all over this lab, you also have porn all over this lab. And I'd like you to work on removing that, please. We don't want the Feds stumbling upon it."
"Did somebody say the magic word? 'Porn'?" Mulder appeared in the doorway, wearing a silly grin... followed by Scully, who was giving him a look behind his back.
"I don't think he'd mind me having it," Greg replied, gesturing to the suit-clad Fed.
Scully rolled her eyes. "I don't think he would, either," she muttered under her breath, then turned her attention to the graveshift supervisor. "Dr. Grissom, we're ready in the morgue, if you wanted to come down. Doctor Robbins, David, and I have opened them all up..."
"And?"
She eyed the three curious CSIs sitting around the table, gazing eagerly up at her like puppies waiting for table scraps. She smiled politely, demurely at them before turning her eyes back up to Grissom. "It's the same as all the others," she cryptically replied, then watched subsequently as the faces of the younger criminalists' fell to expressions of disappointment.
Grissom nodded, smiling his thanks at the two agents. "I'll be in shortly."
"And hey..." Mulder chimed in, pausing in the doorway. He sauntered over to Greg, leaning toward the lab rat's ear and speaking in a low voice. "Lemme know where you keep that por--"
"Mulder!" Scully, who'd been standing impatiently in the doorway, grabbed her partner's arm and dragged him out, their voices carrying all the way down the hall as she admonished him for his behavior.
Greg laughed. "I love that guy! He's my kinda guy!"
Grissom sighed, rolling his eyes. "Yes, well, maybe you two can exchange phone numbers later," he muttered. "For now, I have to get back to the case." He tossed a look over his shoulder at his other three CSIs as he headed out. "Good luck tonight."
Sara sighed, shaking her head as she stared at the spot in the doorway her supervisor had occupied only seconds earlier, before turning her eyes to Nick... exchanging with him an exasperated glance. Warrick merely shrugged off what had just happened and rose to his feet, heading for the door, while Greg bounded after him, murmuring, "Where did I hide all my porn the last time I moved it?"
*****
"Gil," Doc Robbins murmured as the supervisor strode back into the morgue.
Grissom nodded at the doctor while buttoning his lab coat, exchanging a glance with Catherine as she turned over her shoulder to smile a greeting at him... gathered around one of the cadavers with Mulder and Scully. "What have you found, Doc?" he asked, sending Catherine a brief smile in return as he stepped up beside her.
"Same thing as the others. Peri-mortem bruising around the navel, absence of any internal organs... hemorrhagic tissue where the organs had once been."
"We swabbed around the navel this time and sent the sample to the lab," Scully chimed in, standing between Robbins and Mulder as she met Grissom's eyes. "That could possibly give us an indication of who, or what, is doing this."
Mulder shook his head slowly. "I said it before, Scully, and I'll say it again, you are not going to get any results off that swab. The thing that did this is neither human, nor animal."
"What do you believe it to be?" Robbins questioned, eyeing the determined look in the Fed's eyes.
Mulder glimpsed quick at his partner when she released a sigh, before turning back to the coroner. "I believe what we're dealing with is some sort of extra-terrestrial."
Scully rolled her eyes, exchanging a glance with Catherine... shaking her head slowly while the strawberry-blonde smirked back at her.
"Think about it," Mulder continued, either not seeing or ignoring Scully's reaction to his mention of the paranormal, "No human or animal could produce enough suction to pull every single organ from a body." He shrugged. "Along with the fact that there are only trace amounts of blood in the navel, meaning the organs were removed underwater. There's no aquatic mammal or fish... freshwater or otherwise... that could pull that off, either."
"What about a shark with a straw?" Catherine piped up, wearing a Cheshire grin.
Mulder, Grissom, and Scully's eyes immediately shot to her, and while Grissom and Scully eyed the strawberry blonde as if she were insane, Mulder cracked a smile. "So," he pressed on, "What we're dealing with is super-human, or extra-terrestrial."
Grissom and Doc Robbins silently exchanged glances, while Scully fixed a glare on her partner. "All the same, Mulder," she muttered darkly, practically growling, "We should wait until the results come back from the lab before drawing conclusions."
"Fine, Scully. Just be prepared to eat your words." He nudged her. "Seven years together, and how often have I been wrong?" He grinned as her eyes seemed to roll almost completely back in her head at the often repeated statement. "Never!"
She let out an exasperated huff, and glanced to the two senior CSIs. "I think it's time that Agent Mulder and I head out for the night," she murmured, "And get back to our hotel. We'll be going over the case file tonight, and seeing if we can't find anything in there we haven't covered yet." She glanced to the good doctor. "Doctor Robbins, if possible, could we get swabs from the six other bodies, along with the first four? Just to use for comparison."
He nodded. "I'll take care of that immediately and send them to the lab."
She smiled. "Thank you." She then turned back to Grissom and Catherine, reaching out to grasp Mulder's sleeve as she headed for the door, towing him along with her. "You can call either one of us at any time if you need assistance, or find anything big. If you can't reach us on our cell phones, we left each of our hotel room phone numbers on your desk, Dr. Grissom."
He nodded briefly. "Thank you, Agent Scully. We'll be doing some more questioning in the earlier part of this evening, and after that, we'll most likely be doing some more gruntwork." He shrugged. "Going through more missing persons ads."
"Good idea." She smiled and nodded a goodbye at Catherine and Doc Robbins, before tugging on her partner's sleeve once more. "Come on, Mulder," she huffed, and headed out of the morgue.
Catherine and Grissom turned to watch the pair leave... Catherine smirking at the ire evident in the redhead's eyes, while Grissom just frowned, still utterly perplexed with the pair. When they turned back to glance at each other, Grissom raised an eyebrow. "Aliens?"
Catherine smirked, exchanging a smile with Robbins before turning her eyes back to her other half. "Keep an open mind, Gil," she chided him gently.
"My mind is always open, Catherine," he sighed, "But only to sane, rational, scientific conclusions."
She made a sweeping gesture about the seven new cadavers. "Then find me a sane, rational, scientific conclusion to explain this." She met his eyes, her own sparkling her challenge.
His silence confirmed all, and she grinned. "You can't find all the answers in science, Gil."
TBC