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Greg/Sara/Grissom Subplot: This was a romantic subplot I was going to play with more, before I lost interest in it (and the story in general). Still, having hinted at the "question" Greg wanted to ask Grissom, I realized that I had to at least tie up that loose end. Sorry if it's not your ship, but I hate leaving loose ends.

CUT PHRASE: Catherine and Nick Subtext

ORIGINALLY:

He gently kissed her forehead. "You know you're special." (EDIT: Odd, FFN randomly censored "Forehead")

CHANGED TO:

He pushed her hair back behind her ear. "You know you're special."

REASON FOR CHANGE:

Similar to the reason why I dropped the Greg/Sara/Grissom subplot. First of all, I couldn't remember if I had hinted at any pairing for Catherine throughout the entire story, let alone whether it was Nick or Warrick (my two favorites for Catherine pairings). So I didn't want to confuse myself or readers. Even though it wasn't blatantly romantic, it still had the potential to be misinterpreted, so I kept it more friendship-like.

My Regrets: I wish I wish I wish I didn't lose interest in this because the quality dropped as soon as I did. It became something I just needed to finish rather than wanted to write. Because I never leave a FF work unfinished these days, and if I do I delete it. I regret cutting Catherine out of a good chunk of the story because she is awesome and could have been killer in some scenes. But I didn't really know what else I could do with her with a shattered arm.

Mock Alternative Ending: The following is something I wrote in one of my fits of frustration with this story, but swiftly deleted.

"And do you remember the symptoms?" Ada asked, approaching Leon. "Luis couldn't get you the cure in time, so you found the machine that neutralized the threat inside of your body and hers."

"What are you getting at, Ada?" Leon hissed in a low voice.

DEUS EX MACHINA

"I'm the queen, you idiot," Ada snapped.

Leon blinked. "Ah." And with that, he shot her right through the forehead.

The minute she died, Nick and Sara blinked and came to their senses as if nothing had happened at all, Catherine's arm miraculously healed, and they all went out for a round of beers on Grissom.

And they brought Brass along and apologized for leaving him out of the entire story except for mentioning his name a few times. Because they love Brass. Who doesn't?

Previews: Remember, a preview is not a guarantee, like a posted story is. Just a teaser for the projects I am currently most interested in. Generally, one wins out over the other.

The Dark I Know Well

Summary: Someone has a shameful secret which may prove deadly... A very intimate case study.

He rounded the corner into the hallway when he heard the raised voices of an argument coming towards him. Hoping to ignore it, he tried to move slowly to the side, but when the voices became more distinguishable, he knew his involvement would be inevitable.

"... my fault, per se, I mean Brass was the one who—"

"Don't you try and blame Brass, he was trying to do his job, like you should have been!"

"I was doing my job, I was gathering information about the case!"

"And what information was that exactly? That a mother was hysterical over the death of her daughter? Now, tell me, Greg, could you have garnered this particular information by, oh, I don't know, common sense rather then letting her contaminate our crime scene?!"

"Well, you're the one who said never to assume anything—"

Greg broke off as he and Nick both nearly ran right over Grissom who was glaring at the two of them. "OK," he said, quietly and calmly. "What happened?"

"Greg let a—" "Nick dropped a—" "She ruined everything—" "It's not like I wanted—" "And there was screaming—" "She was upset, I wanted to—" "Tells her it's murder—" "Well it was murder and I—"

"Please!" Grissom interrupted loudly, making the two of them stop. "Do I really have to treat you like ten-year-old kids?"

Greg snorted and looked sharply away from Nick, who began his explanation. "Greg let a hysterical mother—"

"I didn't let her, we were distracted!" Greg snapped.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Greg somehow decided to not pay attention when a crazy women broke through the crime scene tape and devastated our crime scene."

"Nick dropped a key piece of evidence," Greg pointed out, as if to balance out his own guilt.

"Only after crazy lady scared the hell out of me!" Nick retorted.

"What did I just say about ten-year-olds?" Grissom asked them. He sighed, took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "OK, well... It's OK. It was a suicide anyway, wasn't it?"

"No, I don't think it was," Nick said quickly before Greg could respond. The younger CSI silently seethed and Nick smiled smugly as he continued. "She had bruises on her wrists, and her nose was dislocated. I think there was a fight."

"Well, were they perimortem?"

Nick opened his mouth to reply when his face fell. "We don't know because we didn't get it examined by Doc Robbins."

"Did David make note of them?" Grissom asked evenly. "Before the mother arrived?"

"Yeah, he did," Nick replied. "But all he said was he couldn't determine cause of death at the scene. We figured sleeping pills as she was delirious when she dialed 911 and there was an empty bottle of them in the bathroom."

"Well... Robbins may be able to determine cause of death, and he'll let you know about the bruises—"

"Except he can't," Greg burst in. "Because... The mother, she held the girl so tight she broke her arm. Probably caused some more damage to the body."

Grissom continued with never ending patience. "But he can still time the bruises, distinguish postmortem from perimortem from completely irrelevant to this case. Can you get anything else from the body?"

"Any trace evidence has been compromised," Nick sighed.

"Well stop bickering about it and do what you can to fix it," Grissom advised. Greg and Nick looked at each other and begrudgingly agreed.

"We'll do what we can," Greg sighed.

Face Of The World

Summary: He hides beneath the covers, afraid to confront the monsters. So he invents her, creates a world with her face, so he doesn't have to face a world without her. Tiny spoilers for Living Doll and Dead Doll. AU. Character Death.

"When I was a little girl, I used to paint," she whispered.

His chest rose up and down as he chuckled. "No you didn't."

She raised her head up off his chest and gave him a smug look. "As far as you know, I could have."

He kissed the top of her head. "I wished I had learned more about you when I had the chance. I really… I knew nothing about you at all."

She shifted and pulled his arm around her shoulders. "Well, I used to paint. I was never very good, but I was fascinated by all the colors, and ended up getting more of it on me than on the paper. But this one day, I don't know why, but I drew the most beautiful rose. Remembering it, I think it was perfect, but it was probably really juvenile, you know how kids are… Anyways, it was the most vivid shade of red. I haven't seen a shade of red outside of that painting, not even in real roses. Nothing I ever saw could ever capture the color quite right. And then, I look at you, and the shade your cheeks turn when I compliment you, and I see it, right there, the painting in your eyes, a rose in bloom, perfect and unspoiled and innocent…"

She stopped speaking, but he felt as if there was more to say, words that hovered in between her mind and her tongue, waiting for their cue to tumble from her rose-red lips. And then, she propped herself up on her elbow and looked at him, her eyes the deepest shade of brown and her skin as pale as the sheets they were laying in.

"The stem has been cut and the petals are wilting and the painting has been crumpled up and lost in the attic somewhere, faded and forgotten. I can't let it go like that, not the most vibrant red I have ever seen in my life. It cannot fade away. You need to step out in the sunshine, Greg. I need to see you bloom again."

A single, crystal tear trailed down his cheek. "I don't want you to leave me all alone…"

Her eyes mirrored his. "Sweetheart… I already have."

THE END
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