1 "It's funny ... the things that you remember and the things that you
don't, you know. There was a smell of iron in the air. Cast-off on the bedroom
wall. There was this young cop puking his guts. I remember the woman who took
me to foster care. I can't remember her name. Which is strange, you know,
'cause I couldn't let go of her hand." The words hung in the air like fog. Grissom sat there, surprised, searching his mind for something to say.
"Well ... the mind has its filters." Sara looked at him, typical response, typical life... typical anger.
"I do remember the looks. I became the girl whose father was stabbed to
death." A long pause. Grissom accepted the words with an open mind. "Do you think there's a murder gene?"

"I don't believe that genes are a predictor of violent behavior."
"You wouldn't know that in my house. The fights, the yelling, the trips
to the hospital. I thought it was the way that everybody lived. When my mother
killed my father, I found out that it wasn't." She started to cry and Grissom reached out to hold her hand. After a while she looked up. Her eyes were red around the edges and a crystalline blue. "Everyone thinks that domestic abuse means the father hitting the mother, or the kids... but it wasn't like that. My dad was the best man I knew. He had the greatest smile. It was my mom who was the drunk."

"I understand." Grissom said.

"But then he started drinking... to put up with my mom I guess... it just got worse from there." The sounds of glass smashing to bits played in her mind.

"Sara... why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"And go through it all again? The looks, the feelings that make me want to scream?" Her tone now harsh. "Catherine wants me to apologize, fine... I was wrong to talk like that. But if Ecklie wants to fire me for what my past is... he's just a..."

"I'm not going to fire you."

"How do you expect to get away with that?" She stood up and started arranging her books.

"It's clear you have a problem, I want to help you with that. God, I want to help you with that. If Ecklie wants to take you down, he has to take me down... and I know of a few other people who would be willing to take the fall too."

Sara looked at him, eyes welling again with tears. "No one sticks up for me." She said, closing her eyes. This was a dream. She shouldn't believe it.

Grissom moved over to her and took her shoulder. "That's going to change, Sara, we can get through this." She nodded.

"I don't see how you can convince Ecklie about me..." She opened her eyes. "You can't tell him about... this." Grissom nodded.

"He doesn't have to know. I don't care if he's department supervisor or not... I'll go straight to the Mayor if I have to." Sara looked at the clock.

"You better get back." Grissom nodded. He walked to the door and opened it. "Thanks..." She said, but he was already gone. "Thank you so much."