Waiting for This

I sighed, laying out all of the evidence all of us at the Chicago Crime Lab had recovered at the scene. This time the victim was a young man who had been stabbed in the chest several times, suffering the whole time. "I still don't understand how someone can stab someone ten times, I just don't get it," I mumbled to no one in particular.

My best friend and fellow CSI, Fiona McCabe, glanced up at me. "And, that's why you'll never be a killer," she smiled at me. Fiona pulled a pair of gloves over her hands before grabbing a piece of evidence and looking at it closely. "So, Mara, what are your plans for tonight?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Probably just go home and go to sleep," I said, thinking about how much I would love to just jump into my bed, curl up in all my blankets, and sleep for hours. "Or, I'll be spending my night here trying to figure out this case," I added, knowing that the latter was more realistic.

"Not spending time with Kris?" Fiona asked, referring to my boyfriend, Kris Versteeg. When I first started dating him, he had played hockey for the Chicago Blackhawks, but last year, he had gotten traded to Toronto, and by the end of the season, he was playing in Philadelphia. But, now the hockey season was over, and he was back home in Chicago for a few months.

I shook my head. "I haven't spent a night with Kris since he got back," I told her, not really thinking anything of it. I had been busy at the crime lab, and he had been catching up with all of his friends.

"What?" Fiona screeched, and I looked over at her, wondering if she had found a break in the case so quickly.

"What? What'd you find?" I asked her.

"You haven't spent a night with Kris since he got back?" she questioned, and I shook my head, both for an answer and at the fact that she was so concerned with that instead of looking for evidence. "Mara! That's been like what? Three weeks or something?"

I thought about it and nodded my head. She was right, it had been three weeks since he had gotten back. "It's not that big of a deal. It's not like we're having problems or anything, we've both just been busy," I tried explaining, but I knew that she wasn't going to accept that answer.

"You're crazy, Mara," she told me. "If Parker and I didn't see each other for three weeks…no wait, if Parker and I didn't see each other for three days I'd go crazy!" she said, referring to her husband.

"You and Parker are a little different than me and Kris. For one thing, you guys are married and live together. Kris and I don't. Plus, you and Parker work together. If you guys didn't see each other for three days, then there's some kind of problem since you work and live together," I said with a laugh. When Fiona and Parker had first gotten married and moved in with each other, I had wondered how their relationship was going to change, whether they were going to go crazy always being around each other, but that was far from what actually happened. In reality, they were always happy to be around each other, though I still think part of that was the fact that they weren't always on the same shift at work, so they weren't around each other all the time.

I waited on a response from Fiona but before she was able to reply, the door to the room was opened, and Reed Van Zandt, another CSI, came walking in. "Mara, c'mon," he said. "We've got another one."

"What?" I asked. "I just got back from one," I informed him, motioning towards all of the evidence we had collected.

"Yeah, I know," Reed nodded his head. "But, we're short-staffed tonight, and Davis said to come get you. You're the chosen one to work a double tonight," he said. I nodded my head, knowing I couldn't argue if our boss had told him that.

"I'll see you later, Fiona," I said as I followed Reed out the door. "So, what do we got?" I asked him as we walked to the car. He instantly got in the driver's side, and I slid into the passenger's seat with no argument.

"I don't know too much," Reed said, making his way onto the street. "Davis mentioned a shooting, and at least three vics. I don’t know if he knew much more."

"Three victims?" I asked, and Reed nodded. "Why isn't Davis coming then? Or at least Logan?" I questioned, knowing that Davis almost always went to the bigger crime scenes, and this was definitely a big crime scene if there were at least three victims. Whenever Davis couldn't go, he always sent his second-in-command, Logan Halstead.

"What? Can't handle the pressure of a big case?" Reed teased. My relationship with Reed had changed in the past couple of years. When I first started at the crime lab, Reed had always flirted with me, constantly asking me out. Even when I started to go out with Kris, his flirting had continued. But, he finally realized that I wasn't going to leave Kris for him, and he had cut it back significantly. But, that didn't mean that his teasing had stopped. He still loved joking around with me.

"Of course I can handle it," I assured him. "I've handled worse."

"Well, to answer your question, Davis is at a different scene, and Logan's on vacation, remember?" he asked, and I nodded my head, momentarily forgetting that Logan had taken a week and a half off for vacation with his family.

"Oh, right," I mumbled. I didn’t say much else during the ride, just thinking about how I was going to do another double shift today. I'd been doing a lot of those lately, not that I could really complain, as I had told Davis a little while ago that anytime he needed someone to do some extra time, that I'd be more than willing. But, ever since then, it seemed he had almost been overworking me, where I was at work at least seventy hours a week.

Before I knew it, we were already at the crime scene, and I was grabbing my kit as Reed and I walked to the bodies. Detective Gillies was already there, and he filled us in on what had happened. It seemed that the victims were in the wrong place a the wrong time, getting caught up in a drive-by shooting presumably from one of the gangs in Chicago.

As I snapped pictures of the victim, I tried to stifle back a yawn. It wasn't even four o'clock, and I was already tired. All I knew was that I needed to get some caffeine in me soon if I stood a chance at the double shift. "Mara, are you sure you're going to be able to handle the double shift?" Reed asked, obviously having had caught me yawning.

"I'll be fine," I assured him with a smile as we continued to collect evidence. After we had gathered everything, Reed and I made our way back to the crime lab, while Detective Gillies continued to gather all of the witnesses' statements.

"I'll meet you in there," I told Reed as I headed towards the locker room. "I need to grab some caffeine first," I added, opening the door to the locker room. I made a beeline to the coffee machine, nearly knocking Fiona out of the way.

"What are you in such a hurry for?" Fiona laughed at me.

"I need coffee," I answered, and she nodded, needing no extra explanation. All of us had had those days where all we needed was caffeine.

I poured myself a cup of coffee and put a lid on it before I went back to Reed, who had already started looking at the things we had collected. "Can you do this one on your own for a little bit while I keep going on mine and Fi's case from earlier?" I asked him, and he nodded his head. So, I walked over to the other table, getting to work on that case.

An hour later, both Reed and I were still pouring over our different cases. "Damn it," he muttered. "There is nothing here to get anyone," he said, and I sighed, knowing the feeling. It seemed like all of our work was for nothing at the moment, as neither of us were catching a lead in either case. Unfortunately for Reed, he already knew what gang was behind the drive-by shooting, but he couldn't link the murders directly to them through evidence. Mine, on the other hand, was a different story, where I couldn't find anything that would link the murder to any sort of suspect.

Parker walked in, and both Reed and I looked up at him. "Which one of you is on duty doing a double shift and working tonight with me?" he asked.

"I am," I told him.

"Lucky you," Parker smiled at me. "We've got another case."

"Another one?" I asked in disbelief as I started to clean up my table. "We've had so many today. I think this is one of the worst days in I don't know how long."

"Yeah, that's what Fiona told me," Parker nodded.

"So, where's this one at? What happened?"

"I don't know what happened, but we're going to 1030 State Street," he stated, and I felt my heart drop.

"What did you just say? 1030 State Street?" I questioned. "Parker, that's where I live. Oh my God! What if it's Kris?" I asked, my mind immediately going to my boyfriend. "You said you don't know what happened? Do you have an apartment number?" I asked frantically.

Parker didn't answer my question as we pulled up in front of my condo building. My heart was in my stomach as I got out of the car. "Where is everyone else?" I asked, looking around and seeing that there were no other detectives there yet, which was a rarity.

"We must be first," Parker shrugged, not really finding it as weird as I did.

"What apartment?" I asked.

"11 G," Parker said.

"No, no, no, no, no!" I cried, practically running up the stairs to the entrance. "That's Kris's place," I yelled back to Parker as way of explanation. Fortunately, I didn't even need to wave my badge at the security guard, as he already recognized me from living there, and he immediately let me inside. I didn't want to wait on the elevator, so I decided to take the stairs, taking them two at a time as fast as I could. By the time I had reached the eleventh floor, I was winded, and I had to remind myself that this was a crime scene, and I needed to get back into CSI mode.

As I approached the door with my hand on my gun, Parker walked out of the elevator, and it became clear to me that the elevator would have been just as fast as the stairs. "You ready?" Parker asked, and I nodded myself. I waited on him to yell out "Chicago PD" like we normally did, but he didn't do that, instead simply reaching for the door handle and turning the knob.

"What the hell?" I mumbled, wondering what was coming over Parker.

"Go on," Parker said, nodding his head towards the door, where I could see Kris standing inside, completely unharmed, in a shirt and tie.

"What's going on?" I looked back and forth between Parker and Kris for an explanation.

"There is no crime scene here," Parker said, as my heart continued to race, still thinking about the possibility that Kris could have been hurt or worse right now.

"I don't understand," I said. "Why are we here right now?"

"Because you're going out with me tonight," Kris smiled, and I instantly returned it, his smile so infectious that you couldn't help but do so.

"What? No," I said, shaking my head, coming back to reality. "I can't. I really want to, Kris, I really do. I know that we haven't spent much time together since you've gotten back, and I would love to spend tonight with you, but I can't. I'm on duty tonight. I'm working a double," I explained.

"No, you're not," Parker interrupted, and I turned around towards him, a confused expression on my face. "Fiona's taking your spot tonight. You've got the night off."

"What?" I asked once again.

"You can thank her for everything," Parker told me. "She concocted this whole plan. She said she wanted you two to have a night together, so she's working for you, and you're going out with Kris. Have fun," he smiled at me as he left, leaving me and Kris alone.

I walked over to Kris, admiring his black shirt with his red tie, one of my favorite combinations on him. "You look good," I said, standing on my tip toes to give him a kiss. Kris wasn't the tallest guy out there, but with me being a mere five foot one, he towered over me.

"So, I hear you have the night off," he smiled at me. "What do you say we go out to dinner and then come back here and spend some time together?" he asked.

"Kris, you're all dressed up. I don’t even have a dress or anything," I told him. "So, how about we just stay in all night?" I suggested.

"You know, I would love to say yes to that, but I feel like if Fiona put in all this work," he said, turning around and walking into his bedroom before returning with a pink dress that I knew had come out of Fiona's closet. "I feel like you should at least put the dress on and we can go have a quick dinner, and then we can come back here," he told me.

I couldn't help but smile at the sound of that. "It sounds perfect," I said. "Let me go change really quick. I'd go and take a shower and get really fancy for you, but I feel like that's going to take me forever. So, do you think you can handle me like this?" I asked, looking down at myself, running my hand through my hair, knowing that it didn't look completely awful, but at the same time it didn't look particularly good.

"Mara, babe, you know that I'm going to love you no matter how you look," he told me. "Now go get changed so we can go eat and then we can come back here for dessert," he winked at me.

"Sounds like a plan," I smiled, grabbing Fiona's dress and rushing to go get changed.