The Fourth Thursday:
The last Thursday of the month was the fourth Thursday of Greg Sanders ‘Real Men Wear Pink’ Day. After talking to Hodges on his way out last Thursday, Greg had called Nick, who’d called Warrick, who’d called Catherine, who’d called Grissom, who’d called Sara, who’d called Greg to confirm. Greg had confirmed and the group had laughed about it the next day, making sure they all had the story straight. So, the week passed, and on Thursday they all arrived early. They were in the break room, talking and laughing and waiting for assignments when Hodges walked in. He wore pink sneakers, pink pants and a very pink t-shirt. He stopped dead in the door way, dropping his coffee as he jaw dropped to the floor. There in the room were the six CSIs that had started and continued the new tradition. But today, they hadn’t. Greg wore faded blue jeans and his typical Hawaiian print shirt under his lab coat. Sara wore navy jeans and a black t-shirt. Nick wore kakis and a black button down t-shirt. Warrick wore jeans and an off white t-shirt. Catherine wore black slacks and a white three quarter length tee. Grissom wore black slacks and a tan shirt. Not a scrap of pink in the entire room, except the overly pink Hodges.
“I thought…but you said…what happened?” asked Hodges, not sure of what to say.
“You actually believed that Greg wouldn’t take every opportunity to humiliate you?” asked Nick.
“I can’t believe you even own that much pink!” said Warrick between bursts of laughter. Sara was choking on giggles and Grissom was shaking his head.
“You look good in pink,” said Catherine, causing Hodges’ face to go almost as pink as his shirt.
“Don’t worry about it, Hodges. I was the only one wearing pink the first day,” said Greg, trying not to laugh at his handiwork. Hodges proceeded to turn even pinker as the team finally lost it and burst out laughing. Hodges turned heal and walked off. He was greeted by Bobby and Archie. Who stopped dead and looked at the man in front of them.
“Whoa,” was all Archie could manage before trying to suppress a smile. He was failing, so he turned into the A/V lab. Bobby couldn’t contain his laughter, and it took almost a minute to regain his composure.
“What happened to you?” he asked, trying to catch his breath. Hodges turned around, the CSIs had gathered in the door of the break room, Greg stood in the hall, waving.
“Greg,” muttered Hodges before storming past Bobby and into Trace. Bobby watched as the CSIs disappeared down the hall, laughing and applauding Greg. He shook his head, but couldn’t help but laugh again as Greg took a bow before heading back to DNA.