Continues the story of how Sara gets to Las Vegas and develops the "trust" of Grissom.
A Few Days in Chicago Chapter 1
Sara was eye level with the skull. She had named her "Lucy" after the three million year old skeleton found in 1974—the skull was never found. "What color were your eyes?" Sara asked. There was no one else in the room so she expected no answer.
A box was ready to be packed, the address labeled for Dr. Terri Miller. Sara had talked to Dr. Miller who had agreed to try reconstruction techniques on the skull and wanted top billing on any published work. Sara did not care who got professional acknowledgement; she wanted someone to know their wife or mother or sister had been found. She carefully wrapped the skull in bubble wrap and placed it in the box. Her boss called the skull "Sara's baby" and in a way it was. She had gone through enough paperwork, talked to dozens of people, and had not found a trace of any likely identity.
A week had passed since her emergency room visit. Grissom called her every day within the hour she left work. He told her what happened in Las Vegas, making it sound exciting—one morning she accused him of exaggerating his story and that night a fax from a Las Vegas newspaper waited for her in her box at work. They talked about San Francisco, bike riders, the craziness of the world in general.
And her boss approved her travel to Chicago, not as vacation days but as professional leave. She almost kissed him but he held up a hand saying "Just learn something." He gave her a wink. "And write it up when you get back." She did not mention Grissom, but he knew.
She made a follow-up appointment with her own physician the next week who apologized as she examined Sara. "It happens so rarely," the doctor said. "We'll get you on another pill, using a diaphragm, whatever it takes."
"I don't want to get pregnant!"
The physician chuckled. She had heard this statement often. "Are you using condoms? It's the safest practice against disease—for both of you." The doctor had given this safe sex talk to hundreds of women. She gave Sara a paper bag filled with information, condoms, spermicide, and three months of oral contraceptives.
"I want you to return in three months, just to check you out."
It was easier telling all this to Grissom in a phone call conversation. She heard the laughter in his words, but she also sensed the concern in his voice when he said, "I need to be more responsible."
Paula returned to work and within the week requested a transfer to the day shift. Sara knew this was coming, yet loyalty to her boss kept her from making the same request. Her contact with Paula would become infrequent and eventually develop as a distant friendship. Sara had never been good at maintaining ties—she worked too much, was not a party girl, never entered into friendships quickly, and chose to work or disappeared around holidays. The next month meant one holiday following another; she would work every shift so others could be off.
Before she was actually ready, days passed and she was packing for Chicago. Carefully, she packed her red skirt and top she had worn in Las Vegas. It was the one dress-up outfit she owned. Grissom would meet her at the airport; his flight arrived within an hour of hers, same airline, same terminal. This would be easy and fun.
But she wasn't prepared. Walking up the jet way, she could feel the cold wind blowing in the doors and cracks. Her coat was little more than a windbreaker jacket. Her feet were warm in her boots; Grissom had been right, the boots had quickly become her favorite footwear.
Grissom kept his promise. She saw him at the escalators.
Sara wasn't prepared for the blonde woman at his side. Later, she would remember the hair—starkly platinum, the skin almost the same color, and her lips—red, very red. Now, all she saw was Grissom's smile and his hand on this woman's back in the same gesture he used with her. In seconds, she saw herself, in jeans and thin jacket, her hiking boots, her lack of makeup, in comparison to this elegant model-looking woman in a very expensive warm coat, tailored slacks, perfect hair and makeup, and flawless manicured nails.