Spoilers: This story takes place after the finale of season 8 'For Gedda' and references events that happened in it, so if you haven't seen that one, you may not wanna read this. ;)
Chapter One The Bad News
Sara Sidle's cell phone had been ringing all day long. Honestly, she didn't know why she still had the stupid thing. It had been months since she'd left Las Vegas and she'd not even considered heading back yet. Of course she would go back some day, she still intended to marry Grissom, if he would still have her. She hoped that when she was ready to return, he would at least hear her out.
The phone was silent for a moment, and then began to ring again. She finally pulled it out and saw the name on the screen: Greg Sanders. She couldn't imagine why on earth Greg would be calling her after all these months unless it was something serious. She squeezed her eyes shut, sighed and decided to answer. At the very least, it would stop the phone from ringing endlessly. She could have turned the thing off, but she supposed subconsciously she wanted that connection to her friends in Las Vegas.
"This is Sidle," she answered, quickly falling back into old habits.
"Sara, thank God! We've been trying to reach you all day," Greg's voice sounded odd.
"I know, I've been ignoring my phone all day. I don't know why I still have it on or charged to be honest," she explained.
"It's a good thing you did," he told her.
"Greg, what's wrong? I haven't heard from any of you since I left and I'm glad that you've respected my need to be away from you all, but the fact that you're calling me now says to me that something is wrong," she intuited.
"Sara," he sighed heavily, "I hate to have to be the one to tell you this but…Warrick is dead."
She was shocked by his words and it took her a moment to even fully comprehend them.
"Sara? Are you still there?" he asked.
"Yeah, yes I'm still here," she said.
"There's a long story, but basically we all went to eat that diner where we always go and everyone left. Warrick and Nick were the last ones there and Warrick went out to his car. He'd parked in that alley behind the diner. Someone shot him through the neck and he was dead by the time anyone found him," Greg told her.
"Oh my God," she breathed, "do you have any idea who did it?"
"Well, grave's not allowed to investigate the case, but I know that there are no leads right now. The shooter left his gun in the car and wiped the prints off. Anyway, we've been calling because we thought you'd like to know. There's going to be a funeral, probably early next week," he clarified.
"I'll be there of course," she said, "thank you so much for calling me."
"I don't know how you're getting back here, but if you're driving, please drive carefully," Greg said.
"Don't worry, I'll buy a plane ticket because I left my car in Vegas. Oh, you think you can get to McCarran to pick me up? I'll have to let you know when I'm coming in, but it'd be easier than taking a cab," she said.
"Yeah. I should be able to pick you up. Do you know where you'll stay? Do you still have an apartment here?" he questioned.
"Um, I'll have to figure that out too," she said, "thank you Greg, I'll let you know as soon as I get a flight booked."
"Bye Sara," he said.
"Goodbye Greg," she returned, "thanks again for calling."
They hung up and Sara slumped onto her couch. She couldn't believe what Greg had told her. Someone had shot Warrick while he was in his car? It made no sense, but then Greg said there was a long story. Perhaps when he picked her up he could more fully explain the situation. She suddenly burst into tears as the full gravity of the phone call hit her.
--
Once she was able to compose herself, Sara quickly wrote out a list of the things she knew she would need to do. She had several calls to make and the first was the one she was dreading the most.
She dialed the familiar number and waited for the man on the other end to answer. It felt like forever before she heard him pick up.
"Hello?" he sounded groggy.
"Grissom. It's me," she started.
"Sara? Someone finally got a hold of you?" he asked.
"Yeah, Greg talked to me," she said.
"Are you coming back to Vegas?" he asked.
"Yes of course, I want to be there," she said, "you're the first of many phone calls I have to make. I have to book a flight and figure out where I'm going to stay."
"You're not staying here?" he asked, confused.
"Well, I wasn't sure you'd want me to stay there," she said, "you know I left so suddenly and without saying goodbye. I was afraid you'd be angry with me."
"Sara, I still love you. I wasn't happy with the way you left, but I've been waiting for you to come back. I knew that some day you would. I'm just sorry it's under these circumstances," he took a deep breath.
"I guess that saves me trying to book a hotel at least," she sighed, "I haven't booked a flight yet, but Greg agreed to pick me up at the airport."
"I could pick you up, you know," Grissom told her.
"I know, but I didn't know if I'd be staying with you or not, so I'll just let Greg pick me up," she decided.
"All right, well when you know when you'll be here, just let me know so I can expect you. You still have a key though I'm sure, so you can get in even if I'm not here. I bet the dog will be thrilled to see you," he smiled and patted the dog's head.
"I've missed him a lot. I've missed you too, Gil. I should've called before now, but I just had to take care of some things in my past," she admitted.
"It's okay honey. I know you've had some demons in your past and then when Natalie kidnapped you…well it's only reasonable to think that you'd like to face your past and get things taken care of. I'm just looking forward to seeing your beautiful face again," he told her.
She smiled, "I'm looking forward to seeing you too. And everyone really. Although the ultimate reason for my coming back is terrible. I still don't understand how Warrick was just murdered in his car outside the diner. Greg said he didn't know of any details on the case really, do you?"
"There's not really any evidence that's been turned up, but I have a bad feeling about who might've done it. It's really a long story, you've missed a few things around here while you were gone and I'll explain it all in detail when you arrive," Grissom's voice was choked with emotions.
"Stay strong, Gil," she whispered, trying to hold back her own emotions.
They said their goodbyes and she went on to book a flight into Las Vegas. She called Greg to ask if he'd be available to pick her up the next day. He was fine with it and she called Grissom again to let him know the details. The last call she had to make was to her mother.
"Mom, I know we've just been through a lot of emotional stuff, but I have to go back to Las Vegas," she broke the news of her leaving to her mother.
"Why so soon?" Laura Sidle asked. It seemed like she'd just been able to get through to her daughter. They were finally beginning to reconnect and now she was going to take off again.
"Something's happened and one of my friends was killed. I need to go back to help support the rest of them and be there for the services," she explained shortly.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that. You should definitely go, but even if you don't plan on coming back out here, we need to keep in touch," Laura advocated.
"I completely agree, I have all your contact information and I've given you the number of my Las Vegas cell phone number. That's going to be the best way to get in contact with me until things are more settled," Sara informed her mother.
"I hope you have a safe trip," Laura said, "and really I'm sorry about your friend."
"Thank you, I'll give you a call sometime after I land in Vegas all right?" Sara offered.
"Okay, goodbye," Laura concluded their call.
A/N: For those of you who have read my story Broken, there is a sequel in the works, but I'm have more trouble getting started on it than I thought I would. I've written about 5 chapters of it, but I don't want to post it until I have a bit more written because I'd hate to get stuck and not have enough to post.
As for this story, there is more to it, it's not going to be a really long story, just a few chapters. Hope you enjoyed this first bit of it.