PART ONE
ring ring
"Sidle" Sara answered sleepily.
"Hello Sara, are you still sleeping?"
Just who I thought it would be, Grissom.
"Grissom, why are you calling me on my day off?" Sara responded aggravated.
"We have an overload of cases here and not enough people." Grissom paused, thinking of a way to get her in without argument. "And I have a high profile case here waiting for you when you decided to get here."
"Now why didn't you start off with that?" Sara smiled. "I'll be there in about 25 minutes."
Sara got dressed as quickly as possible. Wondering what the case was about. He said that it's high profile. So many things it could be. She finished getting dressed and walked out of her bedroom. Grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and left her apartment.
Driving towards the lab, she saw 3 police cars with lights and sirens speeding by. When arriving to the lab, Nick and Warrick were sitting on the back of the SUV talking about a case.
"Hey guys," Sara said as she passed them heading towards the doors of the lab. She didn't think anything of it until she walked into the lab and there was no sound. No sound at all. This is odd, no, no, no, this is very odd! She thought. She walked by the reception desk but Judy wasn't there. She continued passing the A/V room, heading towards Grissom's office. She entered into his office to find him not there. She turns on her heel and wanders the halls of the lab. The thought that there isn't anyone here, inside is scary. Especially when Grissom said that there was an overload of cases including a high profile. She walked by DNA and Mia was there working on samples.
"Hey, have you seen Grissom, or Greg?"
"I haven't seen Grissom, but I saw Greg about an hour and a half ago, he came in with all these samples for me to test." Mia explained spreading her arms to show Sara all the samples. "Try calling them on their cells, one of them is bound to answer."
"Thanks." Sara hesitated before leaving.
She took her cell phone out of her pocket, dialed a number and heard it ringing. Grissom, this is a time to pick up your phone! Frustrated she closed her cell not waiting for it to go to voicemail. Walking back outside to where Nick and Warrick were, but stopping suddenly realizing that they weren't there anymore.
Now extremely irritated, she took out her cell and tried Grissom once again. After 3 rings, she slammed her phone shut. Thinking of what to do, she called Nick. Since he was just here, he should be able to her where he went. One, Two, Three, Four, Five…voicemail. God dammit! Why aren't any of them answering the phones! This never happens. Sara walks back toward the doors of the lab, but then her phone started to ring.
"Sidle."
"Do you know where Grissom is?"
"Ecklie?" Sara said in a droned tone.
"Do you know where Grissom is? He hasn't shown up at the scene yet?"
"No, he called me in because of the high profile case, and I am at the lab, but none of the CSI's are here." She paused for a minute. "Wait, what scene are you at?"
"Which one do you think I would be at Sara?" Ecklie stated.
"Right, can I come and help?" Sara responded quickly.
"Sure," Ecklie said in a hesitant tone. "Greg's heading back to the lab to drop off evidence for Trace and DNA, so you can catch a ride here with him."
"But that could take a while, so why don't you just tell me where this is and I will drive there myself." Sara argued.
"Sara, don't push your luck. Grissom is the one that called you to help on this case, he hasn't shown up yet, and I am not dealing with you unless I absolutely have to!" Ecklie said in a stern voice, snapping his phone shut.
Sara wasn't surprised about that. Ecklie never really liked her since she is so called favored by Grissom.
Sara went to sit in the locker room to wait for Greg. She dug out her book from her locker and started to read. She read through several pages but what seemed like a few seconds later, Greg quietly entered the locker room, "Ready to go?" Sara jumped up. Her book fell on the floor along with her cell phone.
"Don't do that!" Sara said in a startled tone and darting her glare at Greg. "You of all people know how much I hate being snuck up on!" Sara stated with a wide smile, like she was getting ready to laugh.
"I couldn't help it. And that what makes it so funny!" Greg said while smiling back at her.
"Let's go then." Sara said anxiously.
They walked out of the locker room and Greg hopped into the driver's seat of the SUV. Sara entered the passenger side. It took 20 minutes to get there. But another 5 minutes to work their way through the media crews and neighbors. Greg led Sara right to Ecklie, who was turning a faint shade of green. Sara was trying really hard not to laugh.
"So why is this place media frenzy?" Sara questioned
"Don't you watch the news, Sara?" Nick asked walking out from the front door.
"Of course she doesn't, she doesn't own a TV." Grissom said from the side of the house behind a bush.
"Grissom! Where have you been?" Sara and Ecklie said in unison. They glance at each other then stare back at Grissom.
"Ecklie, I hide from you every time there is a high profile case." He paused and then looked at Sara, "I told you when I called you that there was a high profile case that was waiting for you when you got here. I'm just surprised you didn't come sooner." Grissom said and went back to work.
"You never told me where the scene was. And I told you I'd be at the lab in 25 minutes. You said okay." Sara paused for a moment. "I've called your cell several times, and you never answered."
"How can you not have a TV Sara? This has been all over the news." Ecklie asked, thinking of something and turning to Grissom. "Grissom, how'd you know that Sara doesn't have a TV?... Wait, wait, I don't want to know." Ecklie shook his head.
"Ecklie, the reason I know is because she told me that." Grissom responded in a stern tone. His anger rising due to his co-workers assumptions. He does have feelings for Sara, strong feelings. He has since the day he met her. But he has never acted on them and doesn't plan to. His career is too important to get involved.
"So who is running this crime scene?" Sara waited patiently for someone to give her something to do.
"Can you go inside and process the second floor?" Grissom said pointing to the house.
When Sara arrived she didn't take time to look at the house. So she observed it before walking through the threshold. She followed Greg upstairs but stopped when she was on the second floor.
"Where are you going?" She looked at Greg in confusion.
"I'm processing the third floor, and once Warrick is done with the perimeter or if Ecklie ever decides to help, they'll be processing the fourth floor." Greg said in an irritated tone and continued to walk up the stairs.
Sara walked through the second floor to get familiar with it. She starts processing in a room that looks to be a guest room. There isn't much in it except a few painting and 2 black and white photographs that she recognized. She looked in the dresser but there wasn't anything in it. In the closet there were a few blankets a few children coats. She carefully walked through the hallway inspecting the walls and then walked back towards the stairs, now inspecting the carpet. She was having trouble concentrating due to the noise from the crowd outside. She walked to her kit and took out her ipod and started the walk through again. At the opening of what looked like a children's room, there was a blood stain. She took a swab and kept track of every detail, making sure she didn't miss anything. Sara realized that she didn't even know what had happened here. She decided to finish processing and then she'd go talk to Grissom. The door to the room was closed so she opened it and proceeded in. Looking around she found a small blood handprint on the white door. Sara photographed the hand print and documented everything. She noticed drops of blood that led to the bed. She turned down the sheets, but there wasn't anything.
Greg reached out to touch Sara but then realized she didn't know that he was there. "Sara, are you okay?" Greg asked concerned.
Barely hearing what Greg said, she still responded, "Yeah, but I'm onto something so can you leave me to think for a minute?" Sara said without moving her gaze from beneath the bed.
Greg stayed in the room but let her follow through, since he had no idea what she was on to.
Sara walked closer to the bed, and lowered herself to sit on the floor. She pulled the skirt of the bed up and was completely shocked to see a 5 year old girl sleeping under the bed. Sara told Greg to go get Grissom and Ecklie. He obeyed. By the time that they came up the girl was awake and crying in Sara's arms.
"Sara, is she physically hurt?" Ecklie questioned before even entering the room.
"Not that I can tell. She has blood on her left hand, and there is a print on the door." Sara said in a saddened tone. "I swabbed both and put them in my kit." She paused, thinking. "And now I definitely need to know what is going on!" she said, her voice rising.
"I'll fill you in when we are in the car heading back to the lab. But we'll need to wait until we get a car seat for her." Grissom said with a concerned stare at Sara. Turning to Greg, "Can you finish processing this floor?"
"Sure, why not."Greg paused. "Sara, what else did you do on this floor?"
"Well, there is what looks to be a guest room towards the front that didn't have anything in it except paintings, a few blankets and coats in the closet. I swabbed the bloodstain on the floor in front of her door, and the handprint on the door." She paused, looked at the girl and then looked at Grissom.
He caught her stare and it seared into him like a fire starting around him, consuming him.
"Let's go, they have a car seat for her." Grissom left immediately not wanting to see the sorrow in Sara's eyes, knowing there is nothing he can do to help her, at the moment.
On the way down to the car, Sara learned that the girl's name is Maria, but she wouldn't say her last name. Well at least that's progress. Sara thought to herself.
"The media is going to be all over this, you okay with that?" Grissom questioned.
Sara noticed the concern in his tone. And smiled in reply. At that moment they stepped out of the house, and were escorted by two officers to the car. Maria snuggled her head against Sara neck. At that moment Sara felt like her life was missing more than she thought it was. The newscasters were filming every moment until the car pulled away.
Sara was staring out the window the whole car ride. She didn't grill him about the case, she just sat there, glimpsing back at Maria in the back seat of the Tahoe. He realized why she wasn't talking when the pulled into the lab. She had been crying. He saw the tear stains on her cheeks. She fumbled to get her buckle off, and got so frustrated that she broke down more. Sobbing uncontrollably, Grissom got out of the car, went over to her side. He reached over her to unbuckle her from the car and guided her out of the car and into his arms.
He was so warm, that she didn't want to pull away. But they were at the lab and if anyone saw then that would be bad, even though there was nothing going on between them. We're friends, just friends. Sara repeated to herself. Sara started to pull away, but Grissom wouldn't let go. Did this mean something? Sara thought to herself. He's comforting me. Why? Sara put her hand on his chest, and slowly pushed away, he let her this time.
Sara went to the car to get Maria out of it, and Grissom waited for her. He opened the door to the lab for them. Grissom had never seen Sara care this much about a kid. He remembered a case where Sara was stuck with a little girl similar to this one, and at the beginning Sara had no idea what to do, but by the end she wouldn't leave the girl's side. Why is this time different? Grissom wondered.
"Here," Catherine was holding out a set of old clothes for Maria. "Ecklie called and said that you needed some clothes for a 5 year old?"
"Yeah, Sara found her in the house, under what we assume is her bed." Grissom filled her in about the case. "There is something about that girl that hit Sara. I don't know what, but something is there, a connection."
Catherine noted the concern in Grissom's voice. "Do we know how she is connected to the case emotionally?" Catherine asked but by power of emotion in Grissom's eyes, Catherine changed the subject. "We know that the Belmont's didn't have children, or grandchildren."
"Yet she had her own room at that house," Grissom stated, confused. "If they didn't have any kids, then whose is–" but before Grissom could finish the question Catherine was gone.
When the coffee was done brewing, Grissom poured two cups and brought a few creams and sugars with him. Entering his office, where Maria was sleeping on Sara's lap, he placed the cups on his desk and sat down.
"How many creams to sugar?" Grissom whispered to Sara.
Sara held out 2 fingers on one hand and 4 on the other.
After putting in the number of cream and sugars Sara wanted, he handed her the cup of coffee. She mouthed the words: Thank you.
As Grissom completed most of his paperwork, glancing up every now and then observing that Sara was braiding Maria's long brunette hair. After watching for a long moment, he returned to work on his paperwork.
"Grissom, can I talk to you?" Catherine said sharply.
"Yes, let's go outside my office." Pointing to Sara and Maria who were both sleeping now, Grissom questioned, "What's going on?"
"We ran a comparison from Maria to the Belmont's. She's not related to them at all. No alleles in common."
But Grissom knew there was something more. She was folding a piece of paper several times in a nervous way. "Cath, what's with the nervousness?" Grissom's voice quivering as he asked.
"Maria has alleles in common with–"
"Grissom! Take Sara off this case immediately!" Ecklie interrupted.
"Why? Give me a good reason to take her off!" Grissom's temper rising. "She has a connection to the girl; she has gotten the girl to talk to her. Why should I take her off?"
"Ecklie, he doesn't know, I was just about to when you interrupted me!" Catherine voiced.
"What don't I know?" Grissom questioned.
Catherine handed him the paper that she was nervously folding. He read it and glanced back at Catherine, but she was gone. He looked into his office, watching Catherine take Maria out of Sara's arms. Sara didn't wake up but Maria did.
"Do we know how they are related?" Grissom questioned unable to take his eyes off of Sara's still form.
"Gil, I expect you to take her off this case, immediately." Ecklie responded.
Grissom just walked away back to his office, completely ignoring Ecklie. Grissom grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around Sara. Then he walked out of his office to go find Catherine. He found her in the waiting area. Maria was clinging to a woman who was about five foot five and had brown hair and bright green eyes, with several tattoos and piercings.
"Is that Maria's mother?" Sara asked, turning to look at Grissom. Seeing the startled look on his face. "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, Gris."
"They're doing a DNA test to see if she is the mother." Grissom whispered.
Maria waved to Sara, and then turned to whisper in the lady's ear. The lady put Maria on the ground. She came running over to Sara.
Sara knelt down getting ready to wrap Maria in a bear hug. Rising back up, Sara noticed the lady when she turned around.
"Whoa, wait a minute…" Sara hesitated and walked to join them in the waiting area.
"Mel?" Sara questioned.
"SARA!!!!!!" Mel shrieked, running over and engrossing Sara into a huge hug. "Oh my god, how long has it been?"
"Too long."
"Mel, when is daddy coming to get me?" Maria asked excitedly.
"I called him when I got here, he should be here any minute." Mel caressed Maria's cheek.
"Maria, I'm right here." Walking into the waiting area with Brass, Sara just flat out stared at him without any emotion.
"Daddy!" Maria shrieked, wiggling her way out of Sara's arms, and ran over to give her daddy a hug.
"His name is Eric. He's in town for a business trip, and personal reasons." Brass filled Grissom in with the rest of the details. But Grissom was preoccupied watching Sara.
Sara fled the room as fast as she possibly could. Grissom noticed that she was crying when she left, and followed. She was resting again the wall of his office when he found her. He walked over to her, and offered her a hug. She accepted and rested her head on his shoulder.
"So will you tell me what that was all about?" He asked a few minutes later.
She looked at him and a few tear escaped. He wiped them away with his thumb.
"Sara?"
"Give me a few more minutes." Sara commented as she rested her head again his shoulder again.
He's comforting me!
He wants to know about my personal life…nah that's not it; he's worried about my emotion to the case. Sara thought to herself when resting against Grissom.
Back out in the waiting area. Mel was playing with Maria on the floor. Greg was talking to Ecklie that the DNA profile confirmed that he was the father of both Mel and Maria.
"So what brings you to Las Vegas?" Brass questioned the father.
"My sister lives in town and I came here to surprise her with a visit. We arrived two days ago, and we were visiting their grandparents from their mother's side."
"Well there is still an on-going investigation, so you'll have to stay in town longer since Maria was in that house with blood on her hands and there isn't a body, yet." Brass explained.
He nodded in understanding at Brass.
"We're going to need your contact information, please." Brass handed him a piece of paper and a pen.
Sara pushed from Grissom's embrace, trying to regain control of her emotions. She turned so that he couldn't see her face. "Do you seriously want to know what happened to me out there?"
"Yes."
"Okay, here it goes. Listen carefully because I am not repeating myself. That guy, Maria's father, is… my brother. I have never met Maria before but I have met Mel." Sara turned around to look at his face.
"I'm guessing that is all you want to tell me."
"Why, you want to hear all of it!?" Sara yelled at him.
Grissom's expression didn't surprise her. She just yelled at him and his face went from concern to saddening. He knew what she experienced as a child. He doesn't know from experience but he does know what she told him. Did he really want to hear more, knowing that he wanted to make it so she didn't remember those experiences? "Not now, but I would like to know…so that I can help you."
Her reaction wasn't what he expected. She walked two steps and gave him a warm embrace.
"Hey Sara…Oh." Catherine entered Grissom's office. "He wants to speak to you."
"The only way I will speak to him is if he is shackled to a pole….dead." She responded bitterly and then left the room.
Grissom and Catherine exchanged looks and both shrugged. Grissom exited the room and tried to find out where Sara had run off to. They…He still had a case to work on. But he wanted to know that she wasn't going to have a breakdown in the time between now and he gets off shift.
Grissom did a background check on the Belmont's. He found very little information that will help him with the case except that they did have a child. They had a daughter name Angela, but she died four years ago, in a fatal car accident. Other than that the Belmont's were an ordinary rich family in Vegas. They owned two casinos and a restaurant, lived on the rich side of town. They did tremendous amount of charity work every year. And they are best friends with the sheriff. So why them? Grissom thought.
"Hey, the child psychologist is at PD, you going to observe?" Catherine asked, leaning against the doorframe.
"Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes, I need to make a phone call."
"You're going to check up on Sara, aren't you?" Catherine sounded concerned.
"She's had a bad day Cath, and it's because of me, I was the one that called her in to help with this case, and the case made her flee."
Catherine turned and headed to the parking lot.
Grissom dialed Sara's cell phone number. It rang 4 times before it clicked over to voicemail. He called again.
"Grissom, what do you want?" Sara voice sounded irritated.
"I want to know that you are okay."
"I'm perfectly fine." Sara mumbled into the phone.
"Seriously?" Grissom's voice quivering.
"Grissom, why bother checking up on me? I know that you're just going to come over and make sure that I am physically okay when you get off of shift." Sara said in her regular tone of voice.
"Are you implying that you are not physically okay?" now sounding concerned.
"You have a case to work on, go and work on it. After all it is a high profile case, especially since there isn't a body…yet." Sara said and then started bursting out laughing.
"Sara, how much have you had to drink?"
At that moment she hung up the phone.
Trying not to think about it, he headed for the parking lot.
"Hey how it is going?" he asked Catherine as he enters the room.
Catherine dismisses his question by mouthing the word later.
He leaves the observation room. There isn't anything that he can do at the moment. He thought of something he could go and do, but does he really want to. He ponders the idea for several minutes and then dismisses it.
"Grissom"
"Hey, it's Brass."
"What's up?" Grissom asked curiously, since Brass normally comes right out with what he has to share.
"I just thought I should give you a heads up. There was an ambulance called to Sara's apartment tonight about… uh… like 10 minutes ago."
"Thanks Brass." Grissom quickly hangs up, grabs a folder from a draw in his desk and practically runs out of the lab.
Driving to her apartment seemed like it was taking him forever but the truth was that he had time to think on the drive over which made it seem like it was taking forever. He finally arrived at her place, go out of the car. The ambulance was still there, but the EMT's were carrying her out on a stretcher. Grissom went over to her side and took her hand.
"Are you going to go with her to the hospital, Sir?"
Thinking about it for a moment, he felt her hand put pressure on his. That did it. "Yes," And he jumped into the ambulance. The whole way to the hospital, she had the same even pressure on his hand.
"Do you know what happened?" Grissom questioned the EMT without letting go of Sara's gaze.
"We don't know what happened, but we know what is happening. She has alcohol poisoning. She has the symptoms, slow breathing, paleness almost bluish skin, low body temperature, and she–"
Grissom had kept his gaze with Sara the whole time the EMT was talking. It took him a second to realize that he had stopped talking, and then he felt the pressure diminish. He looked at the monitors behind him, her pulse was going down.
"We're arriving at the hospital, we're taking her out first, and you can follow, sir."
"Okay"
Catherine is roaming around the halls of the lab trying to find Grissom. His computer is still at his desk, so he didn't leave for the night.
"Hey Nick, have you seen Grissom?"
"No, not since he left the Belmont's with Sara and Maria." Nick stated without looking up from the microscope.
Catherine walked over to Judy the receptionist, "Judy, did Grissom leave?"
"Yes, about an hour ago."
"Do you know where he went?" Catherine asked anxiously.
"No he didn't say, he ran out of here."
"Thanks, Judy."
Grissom, where the hell did you go? Catherine thought, wanting to tell him about what Maria had said.
Left filling out medical forms in the waiting area, Grissom took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. He filled in everything that he could without having to look at her file. He's really glad that he brought her file so that he wouldn't have had to make a trip back to the lab. He looked in her file for her emergency contact information, surprised to see that she listed him. After returning all the paperwork to one of the receptionists, he sat down and started thinking. He couldn't just sit there and do nothing. He stood up and started walking around.
He turned his cell on when he walked outside. New voicemail, probably Catherine.
"Willows"
"Hey Cath" Grissom mumbled into the phone.
"Where have you been?"
"Long story, I really don't want to elaborate now. Can you supervise on this case with Ecklie, please?"
"Sure, but when you come back to the lab, you're telling me what's going on." Catherine demanded.
"It's not for me to tell." Grissom said and then hung up, Leaving Catherine staring at her phone quizzically.
Grissom wanders back into the waiting area, the doctor leaning against the desk, writing something in a file. Sara's file? Grissom scared of the thought. He never was able to tell her how much he cares about her.
"Mr. Grissom?" the doctor asked as shut the file.
"Yes"
"Come with me please, Sara wants to see you."
"She does?" Sounding surprised.
Following the doctor down the hallway, turning into a room, still unsure of what he should say to Sara.
"Catherine, where is Sara?" Brass paused. "Eric is demanding to talk to her, no idea why, he doesn't seem her type." Brass rambled on.
"She has been removed from the case, and since it's her day off, I'm guessing she went home." Catherine said raising her voice as walking further down the hallway.
Turning around to head back to the waiting area.
"It seems like she has left." facing Eric, "Why are you so interested in seeing CSI Sidle?"
"You don't notice much, Captain." Eric said in a serious tone.
"What do you mean by that?" Brass said angrily.
"Did you look at my driver's license when I gave it to you?" Eric paused to see if the captain would answer his question. "Sara is my sister…like I said before I am in town to surprise her. I haven't seen her since she was 14." Eric said in a saddened tone.
Grissom sat on the chair next to Sara's hospital bed. Resting his elbows on his knees, trying to think about what he should say to her.
Should I tell her that I love her so much and I hate to see her do this to herself? No, no, no. I can't do that, I can't admit that to her, not yet.
"Grissom?" Sara said weakly, her eyes barely open.
"How are you feeling?"
Sara saw the concern in his eyes, and held the stare that he was giving her, admitting so much in no words at all.
Without even thinking Grissom got up and slowly sat down on her bed, and started stroking her hair. Tears released from her eyes, she leaned into his body. Hearing the steadiness of his heartbeat calming her down.
"I haven't seen him since I was 14 years old." Sara paused, looking out the window. "I know that drinking isn't the solution to any problem, but I thought that it would help to make the memories and feelings fade away." Sara said struggling to hide the tears. "After a few months of foster care together, he started to get into trouble and skipped school, and started dragging me down with him. When he got busted his first time with possession of a Class A substance with intent to distribute, I decided I didn't want to live that way. I asked to be moved to a different foster family, and I focused on school." She paused to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "I didn't have any friends at all, so all I had was myself and school work. I spent weekends and vacations doing extra work that I requested from my teachers." She paused, not making eye contact with Grissom. "After Harvard and Berkley, I heard from him, he was getting married. I didn't think it was appropriate for me to attend the wedding, thinking that he hadn't changed since I last saw him. About 4 years after they were married, I was here, in Vegas, and this woman and little kid showed up at my door. I had no idea who she was. When she introduced herself, I realized that she was nothing of what I expected his type to be, she was intelligent, beautiful, I could go on and on. I let her stay with me, she explained that he was an alcoholic and stated to abuse her and their daughter Melanie, who was 7 at the time. My whole childhood presented itself back in my mind, vividly. This is around when you were called about my DUI."
Grissom wrapped his arms around her shaking body. She welcomed his embrace.
"Hey, where's Grissom?" Greg asked when they were waiting to go over the Belmont case.
"And Sara?" Nick questioned with a suspicious look on his face.
"Sara has been told to take a couple of days of personal leave, until this case is solved." Catherine answered the best to her ability, even though she has no idea where or what Sara is doing.
"Ok, so what do we have?" Ecklie asked walking into the conference room.
"Well the neighbor who called it into the police stated that they heard people arguing at the Belmont's, and that there were loud shrieks." Warrick said.
"The DNA from the blood-handprint that was on the door of the second floor bedroom, is unknown, we don't have any DNA to compare it to and no hits in CODIS. There were two blood drops outside the door that Sara had swabbed, and it matches Maria, the little girl." Greg confirmed, showing everyone the sheet of paper from DNA.
"So the doctors missed something in the examination on the little girl Maria?" Ecklie questioned.
"We don't know that for sure," Catherine stared at Ecklie, "there are several things that could have happened to her to cause her to bleed, that wouldn't show on her physical form."
"Like?" Nick hesitated to ask.
"A simple nose bleeds." Nick was suddenly regretting asking.
"Was there a SAE kit done on the little girl, any semen found at the scene, anywhere?" Grissom asked from the doorframe.
"What are you getting at Gil?" Ecklie pressured.
"Conrad, can I talk to you in private?"
"Sure, I'll meet you in your office in a few minutes."
"Ok." Grissom retreating to his office immediately.
"Finish discussing what you have all found out, and then see if there is any way we can figure out who's blood it is, or any leads for that matter." Ecklie ordered.
Ecklie walked into Grissom's office and sat down in one of the chairs. Grissom was talking on the phone, and held up his index finger telling Ecklie to hold on a minute. When he was finished, he didn't hang up but turned the phone on speaker, and got up to shut the door.
"What the hell is going on Grissom?" Ecklie demanded.
"Sara told me something that I think you should know, but I didn't think that you would listen if it came from me so I arranged it so that she could tell you personally." He paused. "Sara, you there?"
"Yes, Grissom, I am." Her voice sounded a little bit higher than a whisper.
"Sara, may I know what the hell is going on?" Ecklie demanded sounding more agitated.
"Well, I thought that you would like to know how I am related to Maria."
"Yes, I would."
"Well here it is. Eric, her father is my brother. You guys are supposed to be investigators; Brass didn't even realize it when Eric gave him his driver's license. That makes Mel and Maria my nieces." Sara paused, "Uh, can you guys hold on a minute, my nurse just came in." She put them on hold not waiting for their answer.
"What the hell is going on?" Ecklie asked looking at Grissom quizzically.
"Sara was admitted into the hospital…uh…yester–no, two days ago." Grissom said jogging his memory, not even sure what day it was today.
"For what?"
"I don't know." Grissom lied. Should I tell him that I stayed with her at the hospital? "Does it really matter, it's a personal issue, she is off the case since she is personally connected to the suspect and the little girl Maria, and so there is no point to intrude in her personal life Conrad." Grissom was convincing himself that he should obey by what he was saying to Ecklie.
There was an awkward silence between the two.
For once he isn't patronizing me about my mentoring and protecting of Sara.
There was a beep coming from Grissom's phone.
After pressing the speak button, Sara voice came through.
"Hey guys, sorry about that."
"Is everything okay, Sara?" Grissom asked genuinely concerned.
"Yeah."
"Ok, so can we get back to what we were discussing?" Ecklie asked.
"Oh yes, sorry."
"One thing that I want to know is why Grissom asked if there was an SAE kit done on Maria." Ecklie asked going into interrogation mode.
"Well my brother has had issues with alcohol and drugs from when we were in foster care until now I assume. This is the first time that I have actually seen him since I was fourteen. But his wife Angela, his deceased wife, came to me, here in Vegas when Mel was 10 years old, saying that he had been drinking more and more. She came home one day to find several bruises on Mel's legs and back, and she had a black eye. If he is anything like our father then I wouldn't be surprised if he sexually abused both Mel and Maria." Sara said without her voice quivering.
"Sara," Ecklie paused, not sure how to ask this. "If this is too personal, then you don't have to answer it."
"Go on."
"Were you sexually abused?" Ecklie asked, observing that Grissom's eyes looked away when he asked.
"As long as you don't tell anybody then I will answer. Promise me?"
"Yes." Ecklie answered immediately.
"Yes I was. My father was a drunk, and he would beat my mother, my brother and me occasionally, one day, when I came home from school, he was home. He was never home when I came home from school, but by the time I realized it, I was already off the bus. My brother hadn't come home right away. So I went straight to my room to start my homework, and he came up. My mom caught him in the middle of it. She hit him over the head several times with a lamp that was on my nightstand. That night, after dinner he had gone to the bar for 3 hours. When he came home, I heard him arguing with my mother. I went down stairs to see if I could stop them. But she snapped. She ended up killing him with a knife that is on the counter."Sara was surprising calm.
Grissom looked up at Ecklie's face wishing that he had had a camera at that moment to get that shocked and sympathetic look on Ecklie's face.
Ecklie got up and left Grissom's office.
"Sara, he just left. Are you okay?"
Sara was unresponsive for a few seconds.
"Sara, I'm coming to the hospital. I'll be there in a few minutes. OK?" Grissom said sounding overly concerned.
"Thank you." She said barely audible and hung up.
Grissom practically ran out of the lab, passing Ecklie on his way out. Ecklie surprisingly didn't question him.
Arriving at the hospital, Grissom checked in with Sara's doctor before going to her room. He told Grissom that she needed to get help. That she couldn't keep going at this rate, drinking wise.
Entering into Sara's room quietly, he slid into the chair next to her bed and rested his hand against hers. She opened her eyes, wide and glassy. He moved over to her bed, and let her rest her head against his chest.
Sara started to cry. Grissom tightened his grip around her.
One of Sara's Nurses had walked in, and told Grissom that she could go home, but she has to take it easy for the next few days and that someone had to keep an eye on her in those few days.
The nurse took the IV out of Sara's arm, and disconnected all the monitors. Silence swept over the room, and caused Sara to stir.
Slowly pushing herself up, looking at Grissom, then to her arm, the monitors and them back to Grissom. Grissom smiled at her and she understood.
"I get to go home!" She said rushing to get out of the hospital bed.
Grissom walked two steps and put his hand on her arm, she froze at the contact. Staring at his hand on her arm, she moved closer to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Oh god, I shouldn't have started this. Shit! Not now, this is going to be embarrassing. Grissom thought, but his body didn't agree. He wrapped his arms are her waist, and looked down at her face. She had smiled the way that makes fireworks go off inside his heart. He ducked his head down, closer to hers, she pushed up on her toes a little and their lips touched, for the first time. Grissom swept her into a passionate kiss full of longing. She didn't want this moment to end, ever.
"The SAE kit's are back, Mel had chronic sexual abuse and Maria only a few times, they don't think more than twice." Catherine stated from behind the chair in Ecklie's office.
"Was there any semen present?"
"Yes," Catherine paused, thinking.
"Well, which child?" Ecklie pressured her to answer.
"Maria." Catherine said as a tear flowed down her cheek.
Ecklie's head fell down slightly, showing emotion. "Let me call Brass and Grissom."
"Why Grissom?" Catherine questioned.
"So he can fill Sara in with what is going on."
"Why would Sara need to know besides the fact that Maria is somehow related– oh." Catherine turned around to leave Ecklie alone to make the calls.
Fumbling trying to get to open his door, Grissom couldn't keep from smiling. Once he got the door open, he grabbed Sara's waist and pulled her close to him into his living room of his townhouse. The kisses were full of passion and love. Slowly the kisses got longer until they became rapid. They drifted to the bedroom. Sara stumbled over Grissom's foot, making her fall to the floor, breaking contact. Grissom looked down at Sara and saw that smile. They both started laughing. He helped her up and led her to the bedroom. His hand found the small of her back, beneath her tee shirt.
This can't be happening, this has to be just a really, really, really good dream! Sara thought as his hand found its way up her back, stopping at her bra strap. Unclasping the strap, Grissom pulled both, the bra and tee shirt over her head. She started to unbutton his shirt, when his home phone started to ring. He ignored it and kept kissing her.
"You should get that, it could be important." She breathed.
"Don't you want this?" He looked at her questionably.
"Of course I want this, I've wanted this since the first day at the seminar at Berkley, but you're supposed to be at work right now anyways, that could be them." Sara knew she had a point, but to her surprise, he didn't seem to care.
"I'm where I'm supposed to be. I never realized it before, but I do now." Grissom responded, and before she could object he captured her lips with his own. He knew she couldn't resist it.
She started at the buttons again, until he just pulled the shirt over his head without undoing the rest of the buttons. She leaned into him for another deep passionate kiss. When finally on his bed, he kissed her earlobe, moved down to kiss her neck, she let out a soft moan, which made Grissom want to plunge into her right at that moment. He would rather make the bliss last longer. He started to kiss more on her neck, when she started to moan more. He moved his thumbs across the nipple of her right breast, and gently nipped the left one.
"Gil!" Sara could barely speak anything. He kissed down her torso, ending at the top of her jeans. After he unbuttoned them, he slid them down her legs along with her panties. He kissed the inside of her left thigh. She squirmed to get his attention. He captured her mouth again, and she started to unbutton his pants, the pants fell around his knees, and he twisted to kick them off.
She broke the kiss, and nibbled at his earlobe, he let out a moan that made Sara want more. He moved his hand down to her hip, and then to her sensitive area, when he heard her intake of air. After stroking a few times he plunged into her. A surge of electricity went through both their bodies. Their lips met each other once again, and everything was fast and furious. They finally followed the same pace.
When they finished, Sara and Grissom were both panting trying to catch their breath. She leaned into him, and let out a yawn.
"That was–" Sara started to say
"Perfect." Grissom interrupted her. Looking down at her face, they were both smiling. He kissed her on her forehead, and they both drifted off to sleep.
"Eric Sidle, you are under arrest for the rape of a five year old girl, you have the right to remain silent, and anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law." Brass said as he put handcuffs around Eric's wrists.
Brass leads him out of the hotel room, and into the elevator and into the police cruiser.
Catherine and Nick were at the hotel room, scanning the sheets under ultraviolet light and same thing in the bathroom.
"There is nothing." Nick stated in fury.
"Nick, we got him for rape of a 5 year old girl, his own daughter. He's not going to be out for a while." Catherine said reassuring not just Nick but herself too.
"Are the kids going to be put into foster care?" Nick said, trying so hard not to show emotion.
"I have no idea Nicky, we have to wait and see." Catherine said, patting him on the shoulder.
They walked down to the Tahoe, and drove back to the lab.
Sara woke up to her cell phone ringing. She reaches over to grab her jeans from the floor, pulling her phone of the front pocket.
"Sidle"
"Hi Sara, It's Conrad Ecklie, I was wondering if we could talk, today?"
"Sure, what time?"
"Is an hour okay for you?"
"Sure, I'll meet you in your office?"
"Ok, see you then."
They both hung up, and when she turned back to Grissom, his eyes were open and he had a smile on his face.
"Got a hot date?" Grissom questioned.
"You're jealous?" Sara laughed.
"You do, don't you?"
"Unless you call a meeting with your boss a date." Sara jokingly.
"What, did I hear you right? You have a meeting with Ecklie?"
"Yes, you did hear me right, I do have a meeting with Ecklie" Sara paused to look at the clock. "In fifty-five minutes. I need to go shower." She hurried out of his bed and walked into the bathroom.
When she got out of the shower donned one of Grissom's shirt and walked out of the bedroom.
Grissom was at the kitchen making what smelled like veggie omelets. Sara walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Smells good."
"It's almost done." Grissom said as he turned his head to look at her. She smiled and kissed his cheek.
"Do you regret this?" Sara asked curiously.
"No I don't, do you?"
"Of course not."
"Then why did you ask?" Grissom asked.
"You said that this would never work between us because of work, that it wasn't a good idea to get involved." Sara explained remembering the past few years and how mean he had been to her.
They sat down at the table and ate breakfast, talking about books they've read, and movies that they've seen. After breakfast Sara went into the bedroom to get dressed in her clothes.
"Shit!" Sara said walking out of the bedroom.
"What's wrong?" Grissom asked concerned.
"I don't have my car here."
"Take mine." Grissom said pushing the keys to her from one side of the table.
"Wouldn't that be a little suspicious if I arrive at work with your car, and you're not there?"
"Good point that would be a little suspicious."
"I don't have time to go get my car." Sara said, thinking of a way out of this dilemma.
"Calm down Sara," Grissom said coming from behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders and giving her a massage.
"That feels good." Sara exhaled.
"You're so tense." Grissom kept working out the tension in Sara neck and back. "Let me give you a ride to the lab, I have to go there anyways and check up on the case. We can just say that you needed a ride because your car wouldn't start." Grissom suggested.
Sara hesitated before answering. "Sure, that'll work." Turning around to pick up her cell phone and clip it to her belt.
Grissom lead her out of his house, and locked the door.
When in the car, Grissom said with a smirk on his face, "I liked it better when you were in my shirt."
"Yes, but that's not appropriate attire when I have a meeting of importance, well I think of importance." Sara wondered what this meeting was about.
Walking into the lab, Sara walked to Ecklie's office, Grissom walked towards his.
Sara knocked on the doorframe and Ecklie motioned for her to come in.
"Hello, Sara." Ecklie said with a concerning look on his face. "This is Sandra Malten; she is from the Department of Social Services."
"Hello." Sara shook Mrs. Malten's hand.
"Sara, I called this meeting for a few reasons. You know that your brother Eric Sidle was arrested today for the rape of his five year old daughter Maria. There was an SAE kit done on both girls, Maria's is the only one that had semen present, Mel's just showed years of chronic sexual abuse."
"I'm not surprised." Sara said calmly, but her white knuckles begged to differ. "Where is this going?"
"Well the thing is Ms. Sidle; you are the only relative that the girls have who's alive, well that we know of. So instead of putting them in foster care, would you care to gain custody of them?" Mrs. Malten jumped in.
"Didn't Eric leave a will?" Sara questioned.
"No he didn't."
"Well, there is one problem." Sara said, staring at Ecklie.
"Yes, we are aware of this problem. You work nights, which isn't suitable for custody." Mrs. Malten stated.
"That brings me to my other reason for this meeting." Ecklie paused. "There is the Day Shift Supervisor Position, and Grissom has recommended you for the position."
"Are you serious?" Sara asked with a spark in her eye.
"Yes," Ecklie and Sandra said in unison.
After thinking for several moments with both Ecklie and Mrs. Malten staring at her, she responded "I'll accept the promotion and I'll be the guardian of Mel and Maria."
"You'll need to fill out this paperwork, for legal guardianship of the girls." Mrs. Malten handed her a thick packet of papers.
After filling out the paperwork, she signed it and handed it back to Mrs. Malten.
"The girls are in the break room." Ecklie said, giving her a smile.
Sara shook hands with both Ecklie and Mrs. Sandra Malten, then turned away and walked out. She stopped briefly and asked Ecklie, "Can I be the one to tell Grissom that I'm not going to be on his shift anymore?"
"Yes, you can, please just do it tonight, and you can take 3 days before starting your new shift." Ecklie smiled.
"Thank you Conrad."
"Warrick, you have been reassigned to a DB." Catherine said handing him the slip.
"Cath, why the hell am I being taken off the high profile?"
"Because we are short handed, especially with Sara not being able to work this case."
"Then why doesn't she take the DB?" Warrick argued.
"Warrick, don't complain, just do and do. It shouldn't take that long, and this high profile, isn't really going anywhere, especially since we kind of don't have a body, only blood." Catherine explained.
"Ok, I'll go, but you owe me!" walking out to the parking lot.
Walking into the break room, Sara looked at the girls, observing that Mel is 15 years old and already has several tattoos and piercings but she is extremely responsible. Maria spotted Sara and ran over to give her a giant hug.
"Are you going to be taking care of us? Daddy didn't do a great job." Maria said.
"Yes, I will be," Sara said picking Maria in a hug and spinning her around.
Grissom watched this from the door, he didn't want to interrupt.
"Maria, how about you go play with your toys while I talk to Mel."
"Ok." Maria agreed and plopped herself on the floor.
"Mel, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I am okay; I'm just trying to forget what happened."
"Ok, I'll give you time," Sara paused "you know that I am here for you when you need me."
Grissom smiled when he heard what Sara had said.
When Sara stood up, she saw Grissom standing by the door. He came in and smiled at her. He walked over to the coffee pot and filled more water into it, along with fresh grounded coffee beans. She leaned against the counter and saw the smile on his face.
"We need to talk." Sara deadpanned.
"Oh?" Grissom had this scared look on his face.
"Not about that," Sara paused "can we talk in your office?"
"Sure"
Walking out of the break room, Sara looked back to see the girls still occupied by the toys and books.
Entering into his office, she took a seat immediately without him even asking her too.
"So you know how I had that meeting with Ecklie this morning?" Sara was working her way, explaining every detail.
"Yes, how'd it go?" Grissom automatically jumped at the chance to talk to her.
"Let me explain, no questions until afterwards, is that ok?" Sara said nervously.
"Yes."
"Ok, so I am now the legal guardian of Mel and Maria since Eric was arrested this morning for raping of Maria. And since it's not possible to leave two minors home alone at night for several hours, Ecklie offered me the Day Shift Supervisor position, and I accepted." Sara paused a minute, but didn't break eye contact with Grissom. He knew she wasn't done. "I know that I've taken on a challenge, but I can't let them go through what I did when I was in foster care. I'm also aware that this means I will see less and less of you, which is making me rethink this whole thing." Sara paused, finally breaking contact.
Grissom walked over to sit on the chair next to hers, "I understand why you are doing this, Sara, I really do, and we can make this work, all of it."
Before Grissom was done talking Sara had already been standing. When he did finish, she took a step and gave him a warm embrace, and whispered "You know what? This means we don't have to hide our relationship from everyone, you're not my boss anymore." Her lips separated into that smile that set fireworks off in his heart.
"You know what, you're right." And he lowered his head, and drew her into a passionate kiss.