Part I

“You are nuts!” Miranda exclaimed emphatically. “You’re a maniac; Peggy, tell him he’s a maniac.” She looked to the other woman, expecting support.

The psychiatrist chose her words carefully in an attempt to be diplomatic. “It is a little...extreme, Declan.”

As was his way, the anthropologist ignored logic and diplomacy in favor of the emotional appeal. “Oh come on guys! I’ve never seen a fair like this! There are going to be mystics and clairvoyants who’re considered to be this close,” he gestured with two fingers. “to being able to concretely prove their abilities. This thing has always chosen European venues, it’s never come to the U.S. before. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity! Besides, *I* am not the maniac in this bunch. Miranda is.” He grinned at her as she shook her head.

“But to just drop everything and run off to Las Vegas?” Peggy paused, her gaze going to Miranda, handing off the argument.

“It’s the middle of the semester Declan and the university’ll have a fit if we just take off again.” She pointed out with her usual composure and patience. “You’re already on thin ice with the department.”

He shrugged off their concern. “Fair’s best events are on the weekend. I’ve only got a couple classes on Friday, they can use the study time. We leave here on Thursday night, be back and be back in time for afternoon classes on Monday. School’ll hardly notice.” He clapped his hands together. “So, you guys in?”

The two women shared another look.

“I can’t.” Peggy spoke first, her expression rueful. “I’m booked solid on Friday and Monday.”

His gaze shifted to Miranda who was struggling in vain to come up with an excuse.

“C’mon,” He pleaded. “You’re my best friend, you can’t say no!”

Miranda tried. She really did. But, finally, she shrugged and he beamed at her.

“Great! We’re goin’ to Vegas!”

------

Tower Club Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada

“So, somebody pushed a couple kids off a balcony on the 13th floor and one of them walked away without a scratch?”

Looking up at Sara, Gil Grissom nodded. “Amazingly? Yes. Barely had the wind knocked out of him.”

“Impressive.” She noted, adjusting the strap of her case. “So why all the hush hush?”

It was a question worth asking and an obvious one to ask but that didn’t mean he wanted to answer it. The official story was that someone had collapsed as they’d headed back to their room. At least that was what had gone out on the radio and had been told to any staff that hadn’t seen the body or the other victim. It was obvious to the CSI team that it was a trumped up story to keep the media at bay. Which was also why there was no sign of a police presence outside the hotel.

The CSI supervisor frowned. “Politics.”

His cryptic and reluctant reply only spurred on her curiosity. “Politics? Was one of the victims important?”

“You could say that.” He led the way to where the deceased victim had been. “Along with a few friends, the victims were college students from Ottawa down on break. Here to celebrate the surviving victim’s 21st birthday.”

“So? What’s the big deal about them being Canadian?”

Grissom straightened up. “That’s not the big deal. The big *deal* is that the victim in question happens to be the son of the Canadian Prime Minister.”

Sara’s mouth dropped open. “Damn.”

------

CSI Division
Grissom’s Office
“Miranda?!”

At the sound of his voice, the slim young woman came to her feet and turned to face her uncle. “Hi, Uncle Gil.” She smiled slightly.

His smile was wider but only by a few shades; nevertheless he hugged her firmly. “What are you doing here?”

“Declan.” Though they hadn’t seen each other in a while, they’d kept in touch via emails and phone conversations. Grissom was both amused and fascinated by the investigations. “He wanted to come to a mystic fair that’s in town and dragged me along.” Her facial expression spoke volumes and Grissom suspected the anthropologist hadn’t had to pull too hard.

“Well, it’s good to see you whatever the reason and...” he paused deliberately then smiled at her. “Your timing is perfect. I have a case that involves physics and I think I could use you on this.”

“Miranda!”

Their attention flew to the door where Sara Sidle stood, file in hand, wearing a delighted smile.

“This is great!” She hurried forward to hug the other woman. “Visiting Grissom?”

“Kind of.”

“You’ve got great timing.” She glanced to the man next to them, the unspoken question answered with a nod. “We’ve got this case...”

Miranda half-listened while the duo explained the situation, she couldn’t help but be preoccupied by the subtext in the conversation: the way Sara and Grissom interacted with each other.

Very interesting.

---------

Declan’s hotel room
Motel 6

Miranda was halfway through explaining the case to Declan when she happened to refer to Grissom as “Uncle Gil” and - of course - he pounced on that like a kitten on a ball of yarn.

“You’ve got an uncle? Here? In *Las Vegas*?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“You never told me you had an uncle.” Declan smiled sheepishly when he remembered who he was talking to. “CSI huh? Very cool.’

“Very.” She agreed then volunteered a rare kernel of information. “When I was younger, he used to let me do experiments with him. Our favorite was throwing dummies off buildings.”

“Why?”

“Bodies impact differently depending on how the fall happens. Accidental push, trip, or deliberate shove. The best way to determine which it was, is to duplicate them.”

“So, these kids were pushed?”

“Uncle Gil thinks so.” She affirmed. “But he wants to try the dummy to be sure.” Miranda held out the camera. “Wanna come along?”

-------

Tower Club Casino

Declan was jealous. He couldn’t believe it but he was. He was jealous.

When they’d arrived at the casino, Grissom had met them with his team. Well, two of them. Two guys. Warrick and Nick.

He’d taken one look at them and wondered if the CSI Division recruited its employees from modeling agencies. Which wasn’t a bad thing really, Miranda barely reacted to them, besides, who was he to worry about her reaction? That thought vanished a few seconds later when he realized the way they were staring at Miranda. She’d given no signs of noticing them but they were giving every sign possible that they’d noticed her.

And now Declan was jealous. Out and out jealous. Warrick; a tall, dusky-skinned, disgustingly charming man had gone up on the roof with Miranda and her uncle, leaving him on the ground with Nick.

He should have been totally jazzed. This was looking like a real miracle for the kid who’d survived. He couldn’t see how he’d done it. But that barely registered.

All he could think about was Miranda up on the roof with Warrick. Very charming guy that Warrick.

Standing at his side, Nick seemed to have picked up on his companion’s inner turmoil and wisely left him be. Instead he’d gone about preparations for the tests.

Something seemed to be bugging the guy and he looked like he needed time to figure it out.

Given the way he kept looking up to where Grissom, his niece, and Warrick were readying the dummies, Nick would lay *serious* money on that being where the problem was. Namely the way Warrick’d been looking at Miranda.

Gorgeous lady that Miranda...

“You known her long?”

Distractedly, Declan looked over at him. “Huh?”

“Miranda. You known her long?”

“Yeah,” After the repeated question, he nodded. “Almost three years. Not that you ever really *know* her.”

Nick grinned. “Yeah, she’s definitely related to Grissom. Known him a while now but the guy’s more of a mystery than ever.”

“Tell me about it.” Declan bemoaned. “I asked Miranda to come see this fair with me and if Mr. Grissom hadn’t asked for her help, I’d’ve never even known she has family in town.” He snorted. “I didn’t even know she *had* an uncle.”

“S’okay, we didn’t know he had a niece.” Almost immediately he amended his statement. “Sara and Catherine did but they’ve known him longer.”

“Sara....the brunette right? Catherine’s the blond?” He’d met the two women at the crime lab. Catherine had been involved in another case and hadn’t stayed long. Sara, if he remembered right, was the outgoing one Grissom’d sent to talk to the coroner. “She and Grissom...they....”

Nick shook his head. “No, not that I know of. Why?”

Declan shrugged. “They seemed like they were. ‘Couple vibe’ and all that stuff.” At the other man’s chuckle he looked over. “What?”

“I thought the same thing - ‘bout you and Grissom’s niece.” Nick smiled widely. “He thinks so too.”

The anthropologist’s eyes widened and he stammered out a, “He...What? How?”

“I dunno, Gris’s a pretty intuitive guy...” The investigator’s grin spread. “Maybe he’s picking up on something you aren’t even aware of.”

The first test dummy hit the ground then, muffling Declan’s, “Maybe.”

---------

Like so many of its predecessors, Grissom’s experiment drew a crowd of spectators who watched with glee as the dummies plummeted from the balcony, one after another, in rapid succession. The loud smack when they connected with the pavement greeted by applause and cries for more.

When the small crowd’s cheering became particularly vigorous, Nick sighed heavily and looked over at Declan. “Grissom *hates* it when they cheer.”

“Its kinda...morbid.” The other man agreed with a distasteful look.

“That too.”

“Huh?”

Realizing the incongruity of his statement, Nick started to answer but was cut off by Sara Sidle’s voice.

“It distracts him.” She shrugged. “Grissom’s Mr. Science. No such thing as morbid to him.”

“What’d the M.E. say?”

Sara turned to her coworker with an aggrieved expression. “Death resulted from impact trauma sustained after a fall from a great height.”

Clearly enjoying her aggravation, Nick grinned as he lifted the camera to his eye. “Meaning I’ll hear about the real details when everyone else does.”

She smirked and turned back to Declan. “Ignore him, he’s having an off lifetime.”

The anthropologist chuckled then jumped out of the way to avoid being struck by another falling dummy.

Looking up they saw Grissom and Miranda share identical expressions of chagrin then quickly disappear from view.

“Like a kid with a new toy.”

Sara’s murmured comment earned a knowing look from Nick and a comment from Declan.

“Yeah, she is.”

“I meant Grissom.” The female CSI elaborated.

“Well they are related.” Nick pointed out logically. “Maybe that’s where Miranda gets it.”

“Sounds about right to me. She sure didn’t get it from her mother.” Declan replied, his eyes on the balcony. “I think they’re done.”

Sara glanced up reflexively then looked at the dummies lying before them. “Time to compare.” Pulling out crime scene photos from her bag, she handed some to Nick and turned to the waiting anthropologist. “You got the list of which dummies which?”

“Right here.” He held up the small notepad.

“Great. Let’s get started.”

 

Not mine. Not even close.

 

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