41.2 – Pandora’s Box.
OOC: Warning for sensitive subject matter in the case file.

Previous: Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5 Ch.6


CHAPTER SEVEN

The findings of the medical examiner were both informative and facts that Gil had already suspected. After waiting for just over four hours, Gil was allowed inside the offices. Back in the States he would have had clearance to go in anywhere he wanted to, it was the same in most of the United Kingdom. However, he wasn’t one to disrespect protocol in other countries no matter how badly he had wanted to get on with the work of actively solving a case. Somewhere along the way Gil had forgotten how to stand back and watch while others worked. Or maybe he had never known how such an act was accomplished.

At this point they knew from the autopsies that the earliest had been killed approximately three years ago and that each body had suffered abuse of some kind. The older the remains the more difficult it was to know the extent of that damage. Thus far each child proved to be of same age and build. They were small children, believed now to be between the ages of four and eight. Eye color was difficult to tell, but as for hair color the perpetrator seemed to cycle between blonde and red. Not one of the corpses found was brunette or raven haired which proved that there was most definitely an M.O. here.

The injuries from body to body cycled though. Two of the corpses held a fractured rib. One held a broken shin. On another the wrists were broken. It was difficult to tell whether the injuries were post mortem or not. On the two most recent corpses from the mass grave there was evidence of sexual abuse just as there had been on their initial Jane Doe. A simple deduction was that the same would be true in all six but Gil knew better than anyone that assumptions didn’t win a case in court. There were many lawyers who could and would get the most deplorable of men off on the technicalities of assumptions.

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Gil Grissom
After CSI: Las Vegas
1,118 Words

273 - "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" (Who watches the watchmen?)
OOC: Warning for sensitive subject matter in the case file.

Previous: Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5


CHAPTER SIX

The horrors that Gil had come across while working at the Las Vegas crime lab were numerous and gut wrenching. It was wrong of him to find an inkling of peace in the fact that those same calamitous circumstances that he had been witness to at home were also found on the opposite side of the globe. Disturbed people and deplorable situations could be found everywhere, even in Australia where he currently found himself.

In light of the line-up of six separate skeletal remains lined up on six separate metal slabs in the morgue, his calm would seem callous and detached to most. No one here knew him the way those in Vegas had. Gil could tell that his quiescent demeanor as the medical examiner looked over the remains bothered Silas. His old friend who had brought this case to his attention was pacing the floor behind him and casting the occasional flabbergasted glance in his direction. As for Mickey, the director of the Sidney crime lab just seemed to watch Gil in awe and a hint of disbelief. They continued to ask him how he had known that there would be something out in the brush by the dump site of their initial Jane Doe. And Gil continued to impress upon them that he didn’t know, had only suspected.

Empathy was both one of his strong points and one of his weaknesses. He had the ability to look outside of himself to see the darkest of places, the most sickening of mindsets and the most reprehensible of situations. It was an understanding of those he put behind bars that he would rarely admit to anyone. Sometimes the depth of that understanding terrified even him. But what he had come to learn over the years was that under the right circumstances, everyone had a little killer in them. Everyone was capable of murder, of harming another human being. No one was immune, not even his self. And no matter how it was justified, it was rarely right and good.

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Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas
1,242 Words

65.5 - Make a list of things you need to come to terms with.


1. How far I’ve allowed myself to slip.
2. The world is unfair and the odds are rarely in our favor.
3. Warrick’s death.
4. Heather.
5. Sara.
6. Ernie Dell and Natalie Davis.
7. Ben Jennings.
8. My hearing is slipping again. This time it can’t be stopped.
9. I can’t be the voice everyone (even the dead) when I have no voice for myself.


Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas

78.6 – Dynamic
OOC: Warning for sensitive subject matter in the case file.

Previous: Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4


CHAPTER FIVE

The trek through the brush to get to the find in question wasn’t a long one. For several yards Gil pushed through the thick brush, gloved hands guiding it to one side or the other to give him room to walk through it with Mickey and Silas. When they reached the site, three of Mickey’s men stood solemnly where they had dug through the dry earth enough to reach the moist soil underneath.

As the men explained to Mickey that their metal detector had gone off at an alarming rate, Gil took off his sunglasses and squatted down to study the ground. Sticking out from the dirt, two skeletal fingertips were visible. He couldn’t completely tell yet but they looked small, not fully developed. Were he to guess, he would surmise that the skeleton under the earth was that of another child. If it was, there was a possibility that they had a serial killer with a modus operandi. And if indeed they had a series of murders on their hands, then their Jane Doe was closer to being identified.

“What are you thinking, Grissom?”

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Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas
1,073 Words

40.4 – What are the odds?
OOC: Warning for sensitive subject matter in the case file.

Previous: Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3


CHAPTER FOUR

The problem with starting a new ground search was that the case in question was almost a year old. The area slated to be searched was filled with tall brush. The top soil beneath the brush would have shifted and changed by now. Over the course of getting the search started, Gil had heard more than one protest from the local law enforcement officials. It didn’t bother him. He had made enemies of suits before and would probably make many more in the name of science and integrity.

It was two mornings after their initial decision to perform a new search of the area. They had needed to gather men and equipment. The initial search had been a visual one, not a ground intensive one. While understandable given the funds it took to perform a search of this magnitude and the fact that the victim had been a Jane Doe, the poorly executed search was a crime in and of itself.

Gil had given years of his life to the dead, to giving them a voice when they didn’t have one. In his view, just because a body didn’t have a known name, family and history was no excuse to leave the inspection of her death mediocre at best. And although it was wrong not to treat even the dead of equal stature, Gil couldn’t help but feel that this was especially true of the young. Children went missing everyday. Children were abused every day. Children were killed everyday and in many cases no one batted an eye. That bothered him.

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Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas
1,026 Words

272 - Do you have any pets? Would you like some (more)? Why / why not?


The pet that I’ve had the longest is a Brachypelma Smithii, an orange-knead tarantula. I’ve never named her, although I’m fond of the name which Frances gave her once, Grandmother. It’s fitting. She is an old soul and I can only hope that she has many more years to be a companion to myself. I believe of all my pets I find myself most attached to her.

Of course I have a collection of numerous bug and insect life that could be entitled as ‘pets’. Beetles, cockroaches, butterflies and moths are carefully maintained in fashioned homes within my home. They interest me more than anything. The attachment is more in their species than their individuality.

And then I have Hank. I never thought of myself as a dog person. But one day I just… became one. It was towards the end of my run at the Las Vegas crime lab. I was experiencing many changes in who I am as a person. He grew on me. He’s a Boxer and he’s always happy to see me even when I find myself in a less than desirable mood.

Do I want more pets? I replenish my bug and insect collection often. Bug and insect life is so fleeting in most cases. However, in regards to Hank and Grandmother, I’m content as is in that regard.


Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas
224 Words

64.2 - Make a list of trends that you miss.


1. Innocence.
2. Change.
3. Contentment.
4. Understanding.
5. Amusement.
6. Honesty.


Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas

77.2.A – De omnibus dubitandom – Everything should be questioned.
OOC: Warning for sensitive subject matter in the case file.

Previous: Ch.1 Ch.2


CHAPTER THREE

It was barely noon and the sun overhead blazed down on the Australian land hiking the temperatures close to record breaking numbers for the fourth day in a row. The air conditioner in the jeep did nothing for helping with the air outside. Mickey continued to turn it on and off to keep his vehicle from overheating.

Gil adjusted his sunglasses and swiped the back of his hand over his forehead before replacing the wide-brimmed hat on his head. He rode in the back seat and could vaguely hear Mickey and Silas discussing something in the front seat. He couldn’t quite make out the words though. Instead, Gil found himself drawn to observing the scenery that hurried too quickly past them on the road they were on.

This area of Australia was beautiful, yellows and browns. There were greens in the distance, crooked trees and brush that he would never have found in the States. In the distant brush he saw the head of a mammal peek up above the tall grass but they drove by too quickly for him to distinguish what exactly it was. While he thought to be annoyed by the quick pace, he knew that they weren’t out here for a sight seeing tour.

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Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas
1,217 Words

271 – Talk about a time you were sick.


There had always been the chance that the affliction would return. If caught in time, corrective surgery for Otosclerosis came with a ninety percent success rate. However, Gil had allowed his problem to grow. In a rare bout of illogical thought, he had hoped that if ignored it would go away. He had thought that perhaps he had been mistaken each time the momentary lapses of his hearing had occurred. And he had been wrong to do so.

His mother had lived with the same disability. Gil had known that over time it was degenerative. With each day that it went unchecked, the problems grew. And in his own case, enhance they had. By the time he had had his surgery, the success rate had diminished somewhat. And while it had been successful then and held on for awhile, now he knew that it was beginning to fail again.

Logically, he knew that over time he would almost completely lose his hearing in the same fashion that mother had. The signs of such were starting again just as they had years before only this time he was more perceptive and accepting of their presence. The human body was something he could understand with all of its weaknesses and strengths. It had a natural order to its condition much as his entomological studies did. And as he had found, the natural order could also be recurring as his was.

Gil looked down to the prescription, some drops to slow the degenerative process. This time there would be no corrective surgery. This time there would be no stopping the natural order, the path his hearing was now treading on. This time there was a calm acceptance. It was a cycle. And as he had for so many years with life and death, Gil could accept and hold a certain amount of respect for that cycle. He had found that there were far greater things to lose than one’s hearing.


Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas
327 Words

62.4 - A list of ways you're similar to the rest of your family.


1. We all have enjoyed learning and obtaining knowledge.
2. Each of us has had a tendency towards obsession.
3. None of us have been completely socially adept.
4. I have my mother’s otosclerosis.


Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas

75.6 - Accept
OOC: Warning for sensitive subject matter in the case file.

Previous: Ch.1


CHAPTER TWO

The lecture had gone well enough. He knew that he attracted attendees on name alone and that not all of those listening to him were in the field of entomology. Many were scientists either in the field of forensics or not. Some were students trying to work their way up the ladder of the field of science. Some just wanted to get a hint of what Dr. Gil Grissom looked and sounded like in his first lecture post leaving his position in Las Vegas, Nevada. And a handful could honestly claim to know what he was talking about when speaking of the migrating patterns of the Nemophora Panaeola.

The crime lab in Sydney, Australia was a short twenty minute drive from the convention center through heavy traffic. Gil itched to get out of the congestion and into the bush lands where he could feed his preferred hobby. But he had given his word to his old friend, Silas Garner and Gil had always been a man of his word as much as he could be.

Ranked sixth in the world, the Sydney crime lab was nothing to scoff at. It was top notch and had all of the latest innovations in technology that a lab could want. But as Gil had always proclaimed, a crime lab was only as good as the people who worked there, not as good as the equipment they used. Las Vegas had not always had the funds to keep up with other crime labs instrument wise. But it had become the number two ranked crime lab in the world in thanks to the people who had worked there.

The moment that Gil stepped inside of the building he inhaled a deep breath. Labs were much like schools or libraries. They carried similar scents and characteristics that transcended location and inhabitants. Again, he felt the need to remind himself exactly why he was here. He had walked away from all of this for a reason. But a friend had asked for his assistance.

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Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas
1,338 Words

37.4 – Misinterpret.
OOC: New Case file called ‘Ribbons and Bows’. This is set post his leaving CSI and will be an ongoing piece of fiction.


CHAPTER ONE

“Dr. Grissom, so good to see you.”

In the lobby of the convention center, Gil held out a hand to shake the older man’s hand in greeting. “Silas, I think we’ve known each other long enough to forego formalities and titles, don’t you?”

Gil had known Silas Garner for years upon years. The man was a respected forensic analyst, known around the world for his work on numerous high profile cases. The man had a receding hairline of silver hair, a light dusting of a mustache and old spectacles that had seen better days.

Silas emitted a low chuckle and nodded his agreement. “I think we do. But all of these young’uns here want to meet the infamous Dr. Grissom. You’ve earned your respect in the science community. How does it feel to be unemployed?”

“It’s growing on me. I have to admit that it takes some getting used to.” Gil lifted a corner of his lips and shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat. “Thank you for inviting me to speak at the conference.”

“Don’t patronize me, Gil. I know you’ve gotten too many offers to list. Everyone wants a piece of you now that you finally cut ties with the Las Vegas crime lab.” He put a hand on Gil’s shoulder and they began to walk through the lobby. “Walk with me. I know you’re highly sought after. And I know you didn’t have to accept my offer to come here. So thank you.”

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Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas
1,207 Words

61.4 - Make a list of things you're attached to.


1. My books.
2. Hank.
3. Brachypelma Smithii
4. My people.
5. My ideals.


Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas

269 – Write about a time you were outsmarted.


Aggravation does not come easily to me. It takes a perfect alignment of events to ruffle my feathers in a way that I would wear such discontent on my sleeve for any to see. Much to the vexation of those around me, any distress that I might feel is usually kept on the inside, hidden away from view.

Most recently, Natalie Davis. She outsmarted me in the most deplorable of ways. She made it personal, something that still eats at me. It got under my skin and seeped into my psyche until it tore me apart and continues to do so. Her eyes plague me. Her deception, her attention to detail, what she did to Sara… it haunts me still and probably will for a very long time. And to think that she was right under our noses in the lab.

Another that haunts me is Roger Jennings, or more so his younger brother who idolized him, Corey Jennings. But the one who outsmarted me was Roger. He outsmarted the system… a prime example of the system failing. What happened to Corey should never have happened. And I should have known that he wouldn’t make it. Corey was weak. He would have done anything for his brother who preyed on that weakness. And sometimes I can still see Corey’s blood on my hands.

Paul Millander, I’m not sure that they come any more intelligent than he was. Paul was a man plagued by a horrific set of events in his past. What a coincidence that my birthday fell on the anniversary of his father’s death. And how smart of him to use me the way that he did. I spoke with him. I looked him in the eyes more than once. Normally I consider myself proficient in the skill of anthropology. With Paul, I failed miserably. He caught hook, line and sinker as they say.

It’s terrifying when they’re smarter than me… or it was.

I have never been easily outsmarted, nor does it happen very often. But I suppose that the capriciousness of such an act lends itself to making those moments when I have been bested intellectually more of a life lesson in my own humility and in the deceptiveness of humanity than an aggravation.


Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas
377 Words

60.3 - Make a list of your favorite things to hear.


1. Birds outside.
2. The chirp of a cricket.
3. Bug life and Spider life.
4. The drip of a water drop.
5. Complete silence.
6. The wind rustling through the trees.
7. The sound of coffee making in the morning.
8. An insightful lecture.
9. Questions.
10. Answers.
11. Ideas.
12. A rumble of thunder.
13. Rain against the glass of a window.
14. Screams.
15. My own heart beating in my ears.


Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas

73.6 – Tantamount.
OOC: Package and letter sent to fannyfae.


Frances,

That this package finds you well is a hope that is thoroughly and unequivocally expressed first and foremost. Color this contact as too little too late if you will, but every bit of me wishes that you wouldn’t.

I know that I’ve been missing, and I regret to say that I’ll be missing a bit longer. But then a part of me doesn’t regret my current state of being at all. You’ve been inordinately patient with me and I don’t expect anything from you. But I also want you to know that you do cross my mind regularly and linger in my thoughts.

C.S Lewis said that ‘Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey "people." People say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war.... Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of the rest.’ I feel… I feel at war with myself. I feel that my instincts, my faith, my humanity, my entire self has been stretched beyond its capacity… beyond all recognition. I’ve lost something… vital to my very existence and I find myself fighting to get back all that went missing.

Something I haven’t told you, and I do recognize that I haven’t told you so much. It’s difficult for me to… put most things of a personal nature into my own words. I’m so often citing the words of others in order to get my point across and in order to… keep from the vulnerability that would ensue in lieu of my own voice.

I’m also getting sidetracked…

Something that I haven’t told you is that I have now left the crime lab. It’s something that I’m still getting used to. I had to leave for my own well-being, my own sanity. It was a difficult decision, one that I didn’t make lightly. But it was also time for me to move on.

That’s one of the many things that you haven’t heard from me. The list is lengthy and one that… is filled with so much… so much…

That’s beside the point. Right now I find myself in Indonesia near the Sumatra Forest where I’m studying the bug and insect life. Before I arrived here, I stopped in Mexico where I obtained what I’ve sent to you in the box with this letter. I preserved and set the moths in the shadow box myself. While the range of this species is wide-spread, a sighting of both of these is extremely rare because of their short one-week lifespan once they reach adulthood.

The top is a thysania Agrippa, otherwise known as the White Witch. It’s a member of the noctuidae family and is also the moth that has the biggest wingspan. They’re known to grow a wingspan up to twelve inches. This one is 11.7 inches, a beast in class insecta in its own right. She’s quite magnificent.

Below the White Witch is an ascalapha odorata. You’ll find this significant to the above because the ascalapha odorata is also commonly known as the Black Witch. This one is obviously male in thanks to its size. The wingspan is precisely six inches in width.

It is common folklore that the Black Witch is the bearer of bad news. In some regions it also is thought that the Black Witch carries the soul of a loved one who has passed away. It’s no wonder that I find myself drawn to it in light of its association with death. The White Witch is known to be something of a mystery as she’s so rarely seen. And aren’t most mysteries of light in folklore a symbol of pleasantry and gifts? I think that they balance each other well. And perhaps together… in some way they're tantamount to my internal condition.

All of this to say that I’m alive and as well as I can be. I miss you and I apologize for my lengthy absence. You are forever a part of me and in the same respect I consistently find you on my mind where you can linger for any given amount of time.

…time.

Time apart cannot change such things. And it’s entirely possible that the distance between cannot tamper with it either.

“Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure” – Henry Nouwen

Love,
Gil


Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas
738 Words

59.2 - Make a list of things people assume about you.


1. That I don’t feel.
2. That I’m too logical to be creative, at times.
3. That I’m elitist, which is far from the truth.
4. That because my emotions aren’t externalized that I don’t have them.
5. That I can’t have fun.


Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas

72.3 - Look out the window, down upon that street
And gone like a midnight was that man
But I see his six strings laid against that wall
And all his things, they all look so small
I got my fingers crossed on a shooting star
Just like me - just moved on
- “6th Avenue Heartache” By the Wallflowers


Over the years Gil had seen airport security heighten to an almost unreasonable level. He wasn’t one to complain about it though. In today’s society he would rather the safety of everyone involved over the alternative. The line was slow and as per his usual, he found himself interested in watching other people. Long ago anthropology had been a hobby of his, at least until he had become bored of what he was seeing.

In front of him, the man was obviously an experienced flier traveling frequently for business. He knew what he was doing and seemed to be impatient and yet resigned to the systematic order of the airport. Behind him a mother struggled to keep a toddler under control. From the child’s incessant questions, Gil had learned that she was married and they were going home to see daddy.

At the table Gil removed his shoes and dropped everything into a bin to be slid through the x-ray. He stepped through the metal detectors and then lifted his arms while a security employee slid yet another metal detector over him, this one hand-held. After a nod from the man, Gil moved to collect his things and slip his shoes back on. He glanced back to the small child behind him and winked, earning him a snaggletooth smile, before moving on his way.

He had left his animals in the care of Heather, bugs and dog alike. Hank would stay with her since they got along so well. The more fragile creatures, the bugs and insects stayed in his apartment. A move would traumatize the more delicate of them far too much. Heather had assured him that she would go by his place a few times a week to check on them.

Someday he may ask her to come with him. This first venture out into a search for himself he needed to do on his own. Even the second may require a certain amount of solitude. Gil was venturing into the unknown. There was no way to know how long this journey would take before he could share it.

As Gil was a meticulous planner, his flight was already boarding when he arrived at his gate. He didn’t want to sit and wait. There would be enough time to do that on the airplane. He approached the gate and handed them his ticket and ID. After it was scanned, he walked through the tunnel towards the door to the plane. He found his seat, a window seat, and sat down next to a man who at first glance looked average.

The man held a hand out in greeting. “Tom Kiser.” He lowered his voice. “I’m the air marshal on this flight.”

Gil shook the man’s hand. He could hear Jim in the back of his head, some joke about how Gil couldn’t escape law enforcement even when he tried. “Gil Grissom. I’m…” The irony was amusing until he realized that he couldn’t finish the statement. “I don’t know what I am.”

Tom grinned. “Fair enough.”

He turned away to look out of the small window next to him. The doors shut, the stewardesses displayed all of the safety precautions and the plane began to taxi towards the runway. Within minutes the world was becoming smaller and smaller below them as the plane began its ascent into the sky.

As it did, he found himself analyzing his lack of response to the air marshal. He wasn’t a CSI anymore. He was Gil Grissom, the entomologist, the lecturer, the teacher, the student, the crime scene consultant, the explorer. The list went on. Never had Gil thought that moving on from a single occupational title would make him realize that he was so much more than any one thing could ever encompass. It was a good thing to know and at the same time difficult reality to accept. But with time, he would get there. Fair enough.


Gil Grissom
CSI: Las Vegas
656 Words

It would be a lie to say that he wasn't a tad bit nervous. Gil had stayed away for about three weeks from seeing Heather. His last days at CSI had been emotional enough. He had avoided most of her calls also if just for the fact that he didn't know where he stood anywhere anymore.

Now, two days outside of his last day, Gil stood at her door with Hank in tow. He rang the bell, hoping that she wasn't busy. Showing up unannounced was something that Gil did well, especially when his world was in a questionable disarray.