Fic: Battlefield (11/11)
Title: Battlefield
Chapter: 11/11
Author: Jedi Princess Clarrisani
Beta: Stalker of Shadows
Additional Helpers: galuxkitty and puppytraining
Fandom: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Pairing(s): Nick/Greg, Grissom/Sara, Warrick/Tina, wishful Catherine/Warrick
Rating: NC-17
Total Word Count: 25, 184
Tag: The storm’s been brewing for some time now.
Summary: With a serial killer on the loose and Greg’s job on the line, Nick finds himself caught up on several battlefields - professional, personal, external and internal…
Disclaimer: Do not own. If I did, you would have found several shots of Nick and Greg in the background creeping out of the supply room after their long bouts of absence…
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The wait turned out to be roughly 12 hours. Swinging by the lab to pick up the DNA results from Wendy, Nick met Warrick and Greg at police headquarters. Nick confirmed the DNA findings to Brass before the detective headed into the interrogation, Nick joining his colleagues on the other side of the glass to gain his first look at Toni Carpenter.
He was tall, roughly six foot, with the strong build of an athlete. His dark hair was cropped short - most likely to stop drag in the water - and his eyes were pale green. He was fidgeting in his seat, glancing toward the door like he wanted to be elsewhere.
“PD found them at the police check heading into the race signup confirmation,” Warrick told them. “Parents are in separate holding cells. Brass figured he’d get more out of Toni.”
“Big race, Vegas triathlon,” Brass said, dropping into the seat opposite Toni. “Strong competition. Lots of money.”
“I don’t do it for the money,” Toni said. “I do if for myself, you know. Prove I’m good at it. And I am. Good at it, I mean. Was going to win this one.”
“Lots of guys with quicker times,” Brass pointed out, glancing at the list in front of him. “Bookies were saying it would be too close to call. Many strong athletes involved. Let’s see: you, Andreas Georgalas, Timothy Marsden, Denis Burson, Richard Willrock…”
“Dead,” Toni said sharply. “Those guys are dead.”
“Yes, they are.” Brass leaned forward. “What do you know about that?”
Toni shrugged. “Just what I saw. On the news, I mean.”
“See, that’s a problem, Toni. It wasn’t on the news. But you wouldn’t know that, would you. I think your old man said you were camping? Strange thing to be doing with a triathlon coming.”
“Had to focus the mind. Dad says getting away from distractions lets me concentrate fully on the race and I’ll do better.”
“Mm-hm.” Brass raised an eyebrow. “So how did you know those guys were dead?”
Toni remained quiet, avoiding his eye.
“C’mon, kid. I have handkerchiefs with your mother’s DNA, a gun with your father’s prints, chloroform from your house, blood on your boat, and your car was seen at Lake Mead before every body was discovered. Tell me what you know. Did you kill those guys?”
“Not Andreas.” Toni shook his head. “Richard killed Andreas.”
“And how do you know that?”
“Saw him.” Toni made a motion with his hand like he was holding a camera. “I was filming them.”
“Why?”
“Andreas asked me too.”
“And why’s that?”
“He was going to play a prank on Richard. Knock him off the boat into the water, that sort of thing. He wanted me to film it so we could all laugh over it later.”
Brass nodded. “But something went wrong.”
Toni nodded. “They started arguing. When they got back to the shore they… they started to fight. And then Richard…” Toni voice broke as he shook his head.
“And then what? You got angry? Decided to go for a little revenge?”
“No, no. No.” Toni shook his head. “I wanted to take the tape to the police. I showed my parents and they told me to wait.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“So you waited a while, Willrock found out about you and your parents killed him?”
“No one knew I had the tape.”
“Okay, explain it to me.” Brass leaned back, frowning. “If Willrock didn’t know about you, then how did he, Burson and Marsden end up dead?”
Toni’s gaze dropped. “The odds.”
Brass looked at him. “Go on.”
“When Andreas disappeared, everyone figured he wasn’t in the race and the odds changed in my favour. My parents…” Toni swallowed hard. “We were having money trouble. They even had to sell their car.”
“So it is about the money.”
For a moment there was nothing, then Toni nodded, closing his eyes. “They needed me to win.”
“So what happened? What did they do?” Brass leaned forward. “We’ll protect you from them, so you can tell us. They can’t hurt you, kid.”
Toni nodded, absently cracking his knuckles. “They made me call Richard. Tell him I wanted to catch up before the race. Just a coffee. Mum came with me, and while I was talking she, you know, put stuff on him. Then she called Dad and we put him in the car and went to Lake Mead. They make me wait in the car.”
Brass nodded, leaning back again. “Did that to all the guys, eh?”
Toni nodded. “It was just meant to be Richard.”
“But it worked so well they went for the other two.”
“Yeah.” Toni averted his eyes. “I talked them out of doing it to more. Said the police were getting too close. Mum freaked, so Dad took us camping.”
“Thank you.” Brass smiled easily. “Not very often we get honesty in here. You willing to sign a statement with everything you just said?”
“Yeah.” Toni shrugged. “I… don’t really want to be around my parents anymore. It kinda freaked me out.”
“Got somewhere to go?”
“Mm-hm. Grandpa’s.” Toni smiled. “He’s been wanting me to go live with him, but Dad wouldn’t let me. They didn’t get on very well.”
“I see. Well, let’s go see about that statement, shall we?”
Nick sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “It should not have been that easy.”
“Kids going to go down for aiding and abetting to four counts,” Warrick said. “He should have turned in that tape.”
“He freaked out,” Greg pointed out. “It was his parents that screwed up.”
“Yeah, but the kid’s 19. DA will think he should be able to think for himself.”
“He was a little simple,” Nick observed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if his parents made all his decisions for him.”
“Case closed,” Warrick said, leading the way out of the observation room. “Damn I could go a holiday.”
“Can’t we all.” Nick chuckled. “You sorted anything out with Tina?”
“Yeah, actually.” Warrick shrugged. “She agreed to a divorce. In fact, she already had the papers. Sat down and signed ‘em already. All we gotta do is wait for them to go through.”
Greg looked up. “So it’s going to be an easy divorce?”
“In a manner of speaking.” Warrick rolled his eyes. “She wants the house.”
“House is yours,” Nick said.
Warrick smirked. “House is on the market.”
“Oh you bastard.” Greg laughed. “You’re selling it out from under her?”
“Sure am.” Warrick shrugged. “In my name anyway. And I never signed anything to say she would have joint ownership.”
“Laws on your side,” Nick said.
Warrick shrugged, looking at him. “Hope you don’t mind if I crash at your place for a while.”
“No, go ahead. I’ll probably spend most of my time at Greg’s anyway.” Nick sighed. “Griss suggested I take some spare clothes and things to Greg’s so I don’t need to always go home for things.”
Warrick’s eyebrows rose. “He talking from experience?”
“I don’t want to know,” Greg said, hands over his ears. “The whole Gil/Sara thing still hasn’t sunk in yet.”
“Kinda like the whole thing with you guys.” Warrick smirked. “Had Sofia quizzing me on it while we were on watch. Also wanted to know if you really tried to punch Ecklie.”
Nick frowned. “There’s a leak at the lab?”
“Brass, Cath, Gil and Al are on very good terms,” Greg said. “Between the four of them they know everything. Brass would talk to Sofia.”
“Brass has a thing for Sofia,” Warrick added.
Nick chuckled. “Message received.” He looked around as they left police headquarters. “Oh, G? Gils wants to talk to you about the Ecklie thing.”
“Yeah, I know. He called. “Greg rolled his eyes. “Guess I know what I’ll be doing once I get back to the lab.”
“Shouldn’t take long,” Warrick said. “He’ll yell at you, you’ll feel bad. Then you can guilt Nick into sympathy sex.”
Nick scoffed as Greg smirked.
“Who needs to guilt him,” Greg said. “All I have to do is pout and he’s all over me.”
“Excuse me?” Nick shot him a glare. “You’re the one who can’t keep his hands to himself.”
Warrick laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as he grinned. “Talk about opening the floodgates. So this is what all the sexual tension led too.”
Greg leaned against Nick, whispering in his ear. “Guess what’ll happen when he and Cath get around to jumping each other.”
Nick laughed, whispering back. “$20 says Cath makes the first move.”
“I’ve always thought Warrick, so you’re on.”
“What you guys saying?” Warrick glared at them. “My ears are burning, so I know it’s got to be about me.”
“You’re just paranoid,” Greg said.
“With friends like you, no one can blame me.”
Nick laughed, dropping his arms around Greg’s shoulders and hugging him closer, smiling when he felt Greg’s arm slid around his waist. “Not sure about you guys, but I say we head back to the lab, write our report, then beg Griss for a night off.”
“We earned it,” Warrick agreed.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Greg said. He sighed, leaning against Nick. “I’m just glad it’s over.”
“Not like it was all bad, G.” Nick said, eyeing Warrick who had that ‘aww, you guys are so cute’ look on his face. “Got your first taste of a serial killer.”
“First of many,” Warrick said, stopping beside his SUV. “Makes you appreciate the B&Es for a while.”
“I’m looking forward to a B&E,” Greg agreed as he and Nick slowed next to Nick’s Denali, parked between Warrick’s vehicle and Greg’s Jetta. “All I want for the next month.”
“Hopefully it’s all we get.” Nick reluctantly let go of Greg, planting a soft kiss on his lips before pointing a finger at Warrick. “Don’t say it, Rick.”
Warrick smirked. “Wasn’t going to say anything.” He shrugged it off. “You guys already know you’re cute.”
“Nick,” Greg said. “Give me your gun so I can shoot him.”
Nick laughed, shaking his head as he opened the door of his Denali. “See you guys back at the lab.”
THE END
Well, that's the end folks. I do hope you enjoyed this fic. I've got a couple more works in progress and I will try to finish and post them for you. I have a vignette complete I'll toss online next chance I get. Look forward to seeing you all again!