Spoilers for 2x20: Run Silent, Run Deep
Two weeks had passed and July had turned into August, although the weather showed no signs of admitting that it would soon be cooling down. Instead, not only had it warmed up, but it had also become increasingly muggy, as though there was a permanent threat of a thunderstorm, despite the fact there was never a cloud in the sky. The sidewalks became greyer as the sun bleached it further, warming it up so much that even the homeless were finding it difficult to lie on it at night time.
Taylor had been busy writing, researching, and chasing after ghosts. She was still a month shy of her cast being able to come off, and the muggy weather was doing nothing in helping the itching. She had even gone out and bought a knitting needle especially so she could poke it under the plaster.
Things between her and Marty were good again, and she’d even got him to run with her. Truth be told, he insisted, which, although it was chivalrous, and she was grateful, completely baffled her. Marty hated running. He could have just insisted that she go to the gym with him instead, but no, he wanted to run.
He had also been particularly amused at the budding romance between her and Danny.
It wasn’t until three days later when Mac called them into his office, that Danny and Taylor realised just how far their little prank had gone. “Danny, Taylor, will you come into my office, please?” Mac asked them before retreating into his office. He’d spotted the two chatting down the hallway.
Taylor and Danny looked at each other with a shrug before following his request.
“Now,” began Mac after the two had seated themselves. “I realise that I cannot dictate how the two of you rule your personal lives, and if you two wish to see each other then that’s none of my business.”
“But-” Danny tried to speak.
“However,” interrupted Mac. “It becomes my business when you bring it into the lab. I don’t mind the odd kiss here and there, but having sex in a bathroom, the ladies bathroom,” he added looking pointedly at Danny, “Is a big no.”
“But M-” Taylor tried.
“Now, if you two want to make like bunnies, that’s perfectly understandable, and if you can’t keep your hands off each other at work, then do it on your own time, and in a room with a lock, like the janitor’s closet.”
Taylor’s mouth dropped open. She was too in shock to try and correct him, and judging from Danny’s similar reaction, so was he.
“Don’t look at me like that,” said Mac. “I was married once too. Only, whenever Claire came to visit, we had the sense to lock the door.”
Taylor just gaped at him. Her brain actually couldn’t tell her mouth to create words.
“Mac!” exclaimed Danny, finally.
“I don’t want to hear it, Danny,” Mac told him sternly, “I would have expected better from you. You’ve been here six years.” Danny and Taylor rose to their feet and started to leave. “Now, I don’t want to have this conversation with either of you again, alright?”
Taylor and Danny merely nodded, numbly, before bolting for the break room, where the two of them collapsed onto the couch and began laughing hysterically.
“What’s so funny?” asked Stella, as she appeared in the doorway, after being attracted by the laughter. “Or is this an inside couple’s joke which I don’t want to hear about?”
Danny laughed harder, whilst Taylor struggled to control herself. “No,” she gasped, “That’s just it. We’re not a couple.”
Stella looked between the two of them with a frown, “You two don’t have to deny it, you know. The whole lab knows.”
“No,” this time it was Danny’s turn to gasp. “It’s not like that. Those DNA lab tech’s – the trio of gossip queens – they saw me comforting Taylor the other day, and added two and two together to make six. So we played along.”
“All Danny did was shout something about going on a date,” nodded Taylor.
“Yeah, I mean, Drew? Please!” Danny scoffed.
“Face it Messer, I’m just too good for you,” said Taylor as she gave him a swipe.
“Too good for me?” laughed Danny. “You couldn’t touch these lips if you wanted to.”
“Wanna bet? she leant over and quickly kissed him, before laughing at his shocked face. She jumped to her feet. “Nope, I promise you there is nothing going on,” she told Stella as she turned around.
Marty, who she’d told the story to when she’d gotten back, found the latest edition to the story, downright hilarious.
She hadn’t thought it possible, but she was spending even more time at the lab, as the number of ghosts visiting her had gone up from an average of two a week, to four. Combined with her column, which Alex had increased the word count, she was finding it difficult to do much else other than work.
Her hair, which originally fell just past her shoulders, was now halfway down her back, and in desperate need of a trim. Her nails, which were once neat and manicured weekly, were now short because she frequently broke them when ‘observing’ at crime scenes. All in all, she looked like she needed a holiday.
Currently, she was sat in at her usual computer – she was pretty much the only one that ever used it – and was writing the following day’s column on road rage. She hadn’t had a ghost visit her all day, and she was taking advantage of a quiet lab. Mac had gone out with Flack to investigate a confession he had received from a phone call. Something about an old murder, but Taylor hadn’t been paying all that much attention. Lindsay and Sheldon had the night off, and Stella and Danny had gone to a dead body in a hotel room. Again, she hadn’t asked any questions – it was just like tempting fate.
When the computer screen started making her eyes hurt because she had been staring at it too long, she decided that a break was in order. She hopped in the elevator and headed for the morgue, hoping to catch Marty before he left for the evening. As she walked into the morgue, she spotted Sid and Mac huddled around one of the gurneys, looking at a dead man. On the table behind them was one of the oldest looking skeletons she had ever seen.
“I need a microwave,” Sid told Mac.
Taylor frowned at their backs – she dreaded to think what the two of them were going to cook, and considering it was in a morgue, she really didn’t want to know.
She nipped in the office at the back room of the morgue to find Marty covered in blood splatter. “What on earth have you been doing?” she asked, then grimaced. “Actually, please do not tell me. I really don’t want to know.”
Marty grinned at her, “What are you doing down here? Have you had a visit?”
Taylor shook her head, “No, I just decided I needed to have a break from the computer. Plus, I left my glasses down here, and my contacts are beginning to irritate me.”
“They’re on my desk,” Marty told her. “I’d get them myself, but,” he held up his bloodied gloved hand.
Taylor winced. “No problem,” she told him as she grabbed the glasses. She looked at the blood again, “I’ll put these in upstairs and let you get washed up.”
“Cheers, Tay. I’ll see you back home later?”
“Yeah, although I’m not sure how late I’ll be.”
“Alright,” Marty nodded. “Just make sure you don’t walk home alone.”
Taylor inwardly rolled her eyes, but agreed anyway. She left the room and was greeted by the stench of, well, it smelt like cooking flesh. She swallowed the rising bile and watched Sid and Mac peer into a microwave.
Unfortunately for Taylor, the microwave chose that moment to ping, and Sid took out a plate with, what looked like, a lump of steak on it. Being as she was actually in the morgue, Taylor had a pretty good idea what the ‘steak’ was.
“Tanglewood,” said Sid, as he rubbed a cloth over the ‘steak’. “Does that mean anything to you?”
Taylor froze – the bile also frozen in her stomach. The name certainly meant something to her. The question was, should she tell them, even though she had no right to know herself.
“The Tanglewood Boys,” said Mac.
Taylor breathed an inward sigh of relief. She had just decided that going to the source would have been a better option, although it seemed like Mac already knew something. Not that that surprised her. Mac left quickly, without her being noticed, leaving her alone with Sid.
Sid turned, holding his plate, and spotted her. “Miss Turner, to what do I owe the privilege?”
Taylor took one last look at the pile of smouldering flesh, and bolted out of the morgue and to the bathroom. One thing was for certain, she realised, a she fished her head out of the toilet bowl, steak was being added to the no longer eating list, under whale bacon, duck foetus, anything alive, and bacon. The list was slowly growing longer. Taylor let out a groan as she washed her face. Five months and she could still lose her stomach easily.
As she headed back to the computer, she spotted Mac and Danny talking over a photograph. From what Taylor could make out, Danny seemed to recognise the body, yet Mac didn’t seem angry. Instead, he just looked like he was telling Danny to stay away from the case, and Danny was agreeing. Taylor grinned to herself – her lip reading skills were improving.
Danny and Mac parted ways, and Taylor noticed that Danny had spotted her staring. She grinned sheepishly at him, noting that he failed to return her smile, and headed back to the computer.
Taylor had been busy writing, researching, and chasing after ghosts. She was still a month shy of her cast being able to come off, and the muggy weather was doing nothing in helping the itching. She had even gone out and bought a knitting needle especially so she could poke it under the plaster.
Things between her and Marty were good again, and she’d even got him to run with her. Truth be told, he insisted, which, although it was chivalrous, and she was grateful, completely baffled her. Marty hated running. He could have just insisted that she go to the gym with him instead, but no, he wanted to run.
He had also been particularly amused at the budding romance between her and Danny.
It wasn’t until three days later when Mac called them into his office, that Danny and Taylor realised just how far their little prank had gone. “Danny, Taylor, will you come into my office, please?” Mac asked them before retreating into his office. He’d spotted the two chatting down the hallway.
Taylor and Danny looked at each other with a shrug before following his request.
“Now,” began Mac after the two had seated themselves. “I realise that I cannot dictate how the two of you rule your personal lives, and if you two wish to see each other then that’s none of my business.”
“But-” Danny tried to speak.
“However,” interrupted Mac. “It becomes my business when you bring it into the lab. I don’t mind the odd kiss here and there, but having sex in a bathroom, the ladies bathroom,” he added looking pointedly at Danny, “Is a big no.”
“But M-” Taylor tried.
“Now, if you two want to make like bunnies, that’s perfectly understandable, and if you can’t keep your hands off each other at work, then do it on your own time, and in a room with a lock, like the janitor’s closet.”
Taylor’s mouth dropped open. She was too in shock to try and correct him, and judging from Danny’s similar reaction, so was he.
“Don’t look at me like that,” said Mac. “I was married once too. Only, whenever Claire came to visit, we had the sense to lock the door.”
Taylor just gaped at him. Her brain actually couldn’t tell her mouth to create words.
“Mac!” exclaimed Danny, finally.
“I don’t want to hear it, Danny,” Mac told him sternly, “I would have expected better from you. You’ve been here six years.” Danny and Taylor rose to their feet and started to leave. “Now, I don’t want to have this conversation with either of you again, alright?”
Taylor and Danny merely nodded, numbly, before bolting for the break room, where the two of them collapsed onto the couch and began laughing hysterically.
“What’s so funny?” asked Stella, as she appeared in the doorway, after being attracted by the laughter. “Or is this an inside couple’s joke which I don’t want to hear about?”
Danny laughed harder, whilst Taylor struggled to control herself. “No,” she gasped, “That’s just it. We’re not a couple.”
Stella looked between the two of them with a frown, “You two don’t have to deny it, you know. The whole lab knows.”
“No,” this time it was Danny’s turn to gasp. “It’s not like that. Those DNA lab tech’s – the trio of gossip queens – they saw me comforting Taylor the other day, and added two and two together to make six. So we played along.”
“All Danny did was shout something about going on a date,” nodded Taylor.
“Yeah, I mean, Drew? Please!” Danny scoffed.
“Face it Messer, I’m just too good for you,” said Taylor as she gave him a swipe.
“Too good for me?” laughed Danny. “You couldn’t touch these lips if you wanted to.”
“Wanna bet? she leant over and quickly kissed him, before laughing at his shocked face. She jumped to her feet. “Nope, I promise you there is nothing going on,” she told Stella as she turned around.
Marty, who she’d told the story to when she’d gotten back, found the latest edition to the story, downright hilarious.
She hadn’t thought it possible, but she was spending even more time at the lab, as the number of ghosts visiting her had gone up from an average of two a week, to four. Combined with her column, which Alex had increased the word count, she was finding it difficult to do much else other than work.
Her hair, which originally fell just past her shoulders, was now halfway down her back, and in desperate need of a trim. Her nails, which were once neat and manicured weekly, were now short because she frequently broke them when ‘observing’ at crime scenes. All in all, she looked like she needed a holiday.
Currently, she was sat in at her usual computer – she was pretty much the only one that ever used it – and was writing the following day’s column on road rage. She hadn’t had a ghost visit her all day, and she was taking advantage of a quiet lab. Mac had gone out with Flack to investigate a confession he had received from a phone call. Something about an old murder, but Taylor hadn’t been paying all that much attention. Lindsay and Sheldon had the night off, and Stella and Danny had gone to a dead body in a hotel room. Again, she hadn’t asked any questions – it was just like tempting fate.
When the computer screen started making her eyes hurt because she had been staring at it too long, she decided that a break was in order. She hopped in the elevator and headed for the morgue, hoping to catch Marty before he left for the evening. As she walked into the morgue, she spotted Sid and Mac huddled around one of the gurneys, looking at a dead man. On the table behind them was one of the oldest looking skeletons she had ever seen.
“I need a microwave,” Sid told Mac.
Taylor frowned at their backs – she dreaded to think what the two of them were going to cook, and considering it was in a morgue, she really didn’t want to know.
She nipped in the office at the back room of the morgue to find Marty covered in blood splatter. “What on earth have you been doing?” she asked, then grimaced. “Actually, please do not tell me. I really don’t want to know.”
Marty grinned at her, “What are you doing down here? Have you had a visit?”
Taylor shook her head, “No, I just decided I needed to have a break from the computer. Plus, I left my glasses down here, and my contacts are beginning to irritate me.”
“They’re on my desk,” Marty told her. “I’d get them myself, but,” he held up his bloodied gloved hand.
Taylor winced. “No problem,” she told him as she grabbed the glasses. She looked at the blood again, “I’ll put these in upstairs and let you get washed up.”
“Cheers, Tay. I’ll see you back home later?”
“Yeah, although I’m not sure how late I’ll be.”
“Alright,” Marty nodded. “Just make sure you don’t walk home alone.”
Taylor inwardly rolled her eyes, but agreed anyway. She left the room and was greeted by the stench of, well, it smelt like cooking flesh. She swallowed the rising bile and watched Sid and Mac peer into a microwave.
Unfortunately for Taylor, the microwave chose that moment to ping, and Sid took out a plate with, what looked like, a lump of steak on it. Being as she was actually in the morgue, Taylor had a pretty good idea what the ‘steak’ was.
“Tanglewood,” said Sid, as he rubbed a cloth over the ‘steak’. “Does that mean anything to you?”
Taylor froze – the bile also frozen in her stomach. The name certainly meant something to her. The question was, should she tell them, even though she had no right to know herself.
“The Tanglewood Boys,” said Mac.
Taylor breathed an inward sigh of relief. She had just decided that going to the source would have been a better option, although it seemed like Mac already knew something. Not that that surprised her. Mac left quickly, without her being noticed, leaving her alone with Sid.
Sid turned, holding his plate, and spotted her. “Miss Turner, to what do I owe the privilege?”
Taylor took one last look at the pile of smouldering flesh, and bolted out of the morgue and to the bathroom. One thing was for certain, she realised, a she fished her head out of the toilet bowl, steak was being added to the no longer eating list, under whale bacon, duck foetus, anything alive, and bacon. The list was slowly growing longer. Taylor let out a groan as she washed her face. Five months and she could still lose her stomach easily.
As she headed back to the computer, she spotted Mac and Danny talking over a photograph. From what Taylor could make out, Danny seemed to recognise the body, yet Mac didn’t seem angry. Instead, he just looked like he was telling Danny to stay away from the case, and Danny was agreeing. Taylor grinned to herself – her lip reading skills were improving.
Danny and Mac parted ways, and Taylor noticed that Danny had spotted her staring. She grinned sheepishly at him, noting that he failed to return her smile, and headed back to the computer.
Originally posted: 26/06/2006