CSI: EXCOLO Episode 2.7: Three For A Girl, Four For A Boy

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

Tonight CSI: Excolo returns after its mid-season break!

PREVIOUSLY ON CSI: EXCOLO:

DANIKA and TEZ in the parking lot of the DIABOLIQUE.
DANIKA: I'm a coward and I should have told you and I'm sorry and I love you.

CUT TO TEZ and AL at AL's APARTMENT.

TEZ: It lasted two weeks. Over Christmas, that year. And then - then my dad came home from work, early. My brother blamed it on me. Said I'd - I'd -
AL: If he wasn't already dead, I'd kill him.

CUT TO VALMONT and HERMIA at the DIABOLIQUE.

HERMIA: I didn't want to say it like this. But better than putting it off. I'm...pregnant.
VALMONT: I love you, and I will be with you, whatever you decide.

CUT TO SYL and SAYID.

SAYID: I'm not sure Tez is still playing for our team.
SYL closes her eyes, defeated.

CUT TO: JOHNNY and DANIKA at a bus stop.

DANIKA: Thanks for coming out with me tonight. It's been real nice.

And PREVIOUSLY on CSI: EXCOLO SPECIAL EDITION: AL and TEZ in MEXICO.

AL: Man asheqet hastam, I said. It means, idiot, that I am - in love with you.
TEZ: I only just realised.

Six weeks after EPISODE 2.6

The MISKATONIC, late afternoon on a November day. Camera pans in on DANIKA, who is sitting in a booth next to the window, an open text book and a cup of cocoa in front of her.

So I'm meant to be studying but it ain't going to well. I've got too much on my mind I guess. I went and talked to my advisor today at college and told her that I'm pregnant so I'll need to take next semester off. She was nice about it, but I could tell she was real disappointed in me. It made me feel horrible, and got me thinking how I've got to tell Mom and Dad soon, because I'm showing a lot more now. I still ain't told many people, and cos it's winter I've been getting away with wearing big sweaters, but soon I won't be able to do that. I mean, I'm four and a half months along now, and I'm lucky I ain't put on a lot of weight, but still. I need to talk to Tez about me telling my parents. I'm hoping he'll come with me. I don't know. I ain't seen him since he got back from Mexico last week from sorting out his brother's things. He called me a couple of days ago, and he didn't sound great, but he said he was alright. I hope he is.

I ain't sure how I feel about Tez right now. I still love him, but every time I think of him I think of how he - with Uncle Al - and I feel a bit sick about it. Uncle Al was out of town a couple of weeks ago, and I admit I thought maybe Tez had gone with him. But Uncle Al got back a whole week before Tez so I guess I was just being mean spirited. I keep thinking about Aunt Lily and worrying about if she's okay. I can't believe Uncle Al's done that. I mean, he seems to really love Lily. It don't make sense. But I guess a lot of his world don't.

I sigh and sip my hot chocolate. Maybe someone I know'll come by. I wonder if I'll see John. I need to tell him about the baby sometime soon. I don't know why, but when I think about telling him my stomach cramps up. I don't know why his opinion matters so much. It ain't like we've known each other long, just six weeks. But we've been hanging out a bit and - it's nice, having a friend like that. He don't seem to want nothing from me, and he's real nice. Even if his views are a bit old fashioned sometimes.

I look out of the window. It's a nice bright day, though the sun'll go down soon. That's the thing about winter - a lot of long nights. Kind of a sad time of year to be on your own.

EPISODE 2.7 CONTINUED - later the same day

[valmont-vicomte.livejournal.com]

Long slow pan in across an expensive city apartment. CLOSE UP of HERBERT ADAMS' face, which is tight with fear. The camera turns to show VALMONT, holding a gun.

"You have a choice, Mr Adams," I say calmly. "You can tell me everything I want to know, or I can torture you and then you can tell me everything I want to know."

I watch the rapid rise and fall of his chest.

"Please," he says, his voice a thin whisper. "Please."

***

I wake up, disorientated, hardly remembering where I am. It's dark, and for a moment I think I'm in Adams' apartment again. Then I realise I'm in my armchair, and I hit the lampswitch and blink for a moment in the light before I read the time on the clock. Nine. I suppose I must have fallen asleep when I came in from work. I have not been sleeping very well lately.

I get up and pour myself a glass of whisky. I sip it and run my hand through my hair. I feel like the past is crowding on my heels these days. It was not the first time I have killed a man, but it was the first time I had not done it under official orders from a superior officer, and - it makes a difference. Even though I know it had to be done.

Hermia's news has changed a lot, too. It is not that I am unhappy she is pregnant. It is because I feel quite the reverse that I am so anxious. Falling in love and starting a family was not part of my plan, and I have found it harder and harder to keep sight of my mission since she told me. I keep having these vague, treacherous thoughts - that Marie is dead, that nothing can change that, that for the first time since she died I have the opportunity to have a family...

I put down my whisky glass and I unlock one of the filing cabinets, and I take out a folder. I make myself look at the photographs inside, which are from Marie's autopsy. Then I put them back in their folder and lock them away again. Some things should not be forgotten, nor forgiven. Some things demand blood.

I finish my whisky and put on my coat. I need to be somewhere else, or I will just sit in the dark getting drunk by myself, and that is hardly helpful. I think about going to Jazz Funeral, but somehow my walk takes me to the Diabolique. Perhaps I need reminding about the people I hate. This is one of the best places to find them.

I go inside. It's quite busy for a week night, but it's easy enough to get a seat at the bar.