Title: Ten
Author: Evan Nicholas
Summary: When it happens, you're marked for life.
A/N:
1. Written for the First Time challenge at csi_flashfic, which is an awesome comm by the way and everyone should go investigate it. As per the comm's rules, the challenge is closed and this can now be reposted. Thusly, it is. Ta-daaa!
2. Not actually tech-slash, but there are lab techs in it, being lab-techy, so I thought I'd post it here in case anyone was interested.
3. I did it again, amazonqueenkate. And I won't even apologize.

10.

"Hodges. David. LA."

"Sanders. Greg. San Gabriel."

They looked evenly at each other.

"Trace."

"DNA."

The new guy is the first to blink, so Greg wins. Jacqui catches him in the hall afterwards and tells him he should go pee on a door jamb or something, but she just doesn't get it. Must be a guy thing.

9.

Nick is still thinking about floor boards when it penetrates the fog: this woman has a gun. And she's pointing it at me.

Breathe, he tells himself. Breathe, and don't think about that bullet exploding towards you, penetrating your skull just above your eye and doing a lot of damage before splattering your brains on the wall behind you. Breathe, and think. Think fast.

Think faster.

8.

"So," Sara says as casually as she can, "wanna get a drink?"

That look. Not the one that she likes, the other one. She should have known it was the one she'd see, that arch of eyebrow that says, Are you nuts?

"No?" As though it actually is a question.

"Cool," she says, as though it actually is.

7.

This time, he knows it's not going to work. He knows it. Even as the dice leave his hands, he knows it's fucked. Fucked, and there's not a damn thing he can do about it.

He's thirty gee in the hole now, and the croupier's not going to give him another dime even though he knows - he can feel it in every bone in his feet - that the next one - the very next one - is going to be the big payoff.

He watches his cache of chips disappear, and after barely a heartbeat, he pulls out his cell phone, thumbs it on and scrolls through his contacts list. Who does he know who could help him out? Just once. Just this once.

6.

"Music guy in the front row," one of the skinny, hopeless girls tells her. "Eddie something or other."

Cathy arches an eyebrow. "Yeah?" she asks and peeks through the tacky bead curtain that separates us from them. "Which one?"

5.

This, he thinks, is a good day. A damn good day.

He stands in the doorway to the conference room, looks at his team. His team. Damn, Conrad thinks, that sounds good.

"Okay, people," he says, coming in and clapping his hands once. People turn to face him warily. He takes a deep breath. "Let's solve some crimes tonight."

4.

It's kind of like fire, the way it hits him. And Scott can't even bring himself to try to lie about it. Maybe that's a good thing, he thinks; maybe it shows some kind of remorse.

"Won't happen again, Bobby," he promises. They're in the living room and Bobby, for one, wishes there was something useful he could say.

"Who is he?"

"Just some guy," Scott says. He sounds tired, too. "Never again. Promise."

3.

See? she signs, her red nail polish almost totally distracting. It's not so scary after all.

The attendant checks their safety bar, and he turns his head to face her as the chain catches and they start to climb.

If you're feeling really brave, she says, you can do it without holding on.

He wants to do that, he does; but at the top of the hill, staring down at twin rails, he panics, and as if on cue, his mother's hand finds his and squeezes it. He squeezes back and hopes he can keep his eyes open through the mad descent.

2.

"Don't."

It's a real Mexican standoff, her against them. And they're laughing. Without actually laughing, the bastards.

"It's not-" Hodges starts, and then can't finish it.

Jacqui crosses her arms.

"I mean, it could be-" This from Archie, who looks like he's going to pee himself.

And Greg. "Did we learn a lesson?" The smug bastard.

She adjusts the swami hat and tries to muster some shred of dignity. "Do I look remorseful?" she sniffs, and ignores their snorts as she goes back into her lab and shuts the door.

1.

"Everything," Gil swears. Breathless. It's too hot, and not hot enough.

"Everything," Jim echoes, and worms his hand between cloth and skin.

Gil sighs against his mouth and then groans as Jim's fingers do something devious. "It's you," he mumbles when he can, "always been you-"

"Always," Jim says, and pulls Gil's lips back to his own.

And afterwards, when they're sweaty and exhausted and more in love than either thought was possible, Jim takes Gil's hand in his and says, "First times never leave you. No matter how much time passes, no matter what happens - firsts are there forever."

Gil laces their fingers together. "Thank god," he says.