Walking The Strip
Walking The Strip
Written after reading very vague spoilers for future episodes. Therefore may contain spoilers or may not!
****
"Would you like some lady company or maybe some male company?"
"No" Grissom said exasperatingly, for what seemed like the fortieth time since stepping onto The Strip a little over five minutes ago, to the man trying to shove a pamphlet into his hands.
"This is not why I moved to Vegas"
"Why did you move to Vegas?" Catherine queried. When Catherine thought back on it she had never even asked her co-worker, of who knows how many years, what made him move to a city built on a line of hotels in the middle of the desert.
Grissom stopped as they reached the bronze statue out the front of the MGM Grand.
"I don't know."
He paused. Why had he moved to Vegas? Over the road the New York skyline surrounded by the twisted metal of the rollercoaster loomed over the dazzling blue sky. It had always surprised him that the ascent of the rollercoaster was built on the side of the hotel so that those who were not terrified with their eyes shut could see the suburbs of Las Vegas, the backside of The Strip, the crumbling of the façade.
"I guess when you are young you don't want a good job. One that supplies a steady income, a good home-life balance… You want the best job and Vegas has the best crimes and the best lab."
They continued walking.
"I don't know, I was born here, Vegas has always been home to me but I've always wondered why anyone would want to live here. I mean it is a great place to come as a tourist but to live?"
"Sara always used to say that."
Catherine was surprised, Grissom never brought up Sara voluntarily but they were actually out in the sunlight and leisurely walking. Maybe this was messing with his system. He really did need to talk about it too. The weeks since Warrick's death he had been making uncharacteristic mistakes and the bags around his eyes were going to open their own store soon to sell off the excess.
"She stayed in Vegas a long time."
"Yes she did. I think she didn't always feel that way, I like to think that we made enough of a home that it wouldn't have mattered where we lived. You know we're engaged or at least we were"
"As in to be married?" Catherine didn't mean it to sound so blunt she was just so surprised by his admission.
"Yes" Grissom said primly, "it was like we were on two separate ships and for that day they sailed up close to each other and just bobbed in the water for a while, we were both so happy… and then they started sailing off again in opposite directions."
"When was this?"
"A few weeks before she left, for the first time."
He had come this far. They had crossed the road and were now in front of The Bellagio its huge fountain like an untouchable oasis in the middle of the desert. Why not just unburden himself completely, that doctor had been right he was feeling better. He slowly opened his wallet and pulled out a well worn letter, took a glance at it and handed it to Catherine.
He watched as Catherine read the letter that he had kept close to his person since Sara first left. Catherine's eyes had misted over as she finished reading the letter.
"Do you think she still means it? Do you think I am still her one and only?"
Catherine didn't know what to say. How do two people who so clearly love each other get into this… there was no better word for it, mess. But the answer was written plainly in the letter that she still clutched in her hand, the ghosts.
"I don't think her love for you is keeping you apart. After Warrick's death" her voice hitched at saying the words out loud but she moved on, "she was here before we'd even begun the investigation. I think what is keeping you apart is ghosts and what I can glean from this letter I don't blame Sara in the slightest. You know I had a bit of a chat with her before she left, nothing really beyond niceties but she seemed more comfortable with herself."
"Yes, she is doing well, she is starting her phD shortly, she just found out that she has been selected."
They were now in front of The Mirage. Before Catherine blurted out what was on the tip her tongue she took a moment but then just decided to say it anyway.
"Gil, why are you still here?"
Grissom blinked wide eyed at Catherine. Catherine started back-peddling.
"I mean the only person you've ever loved" she said while wiggling her fingers to be mid-air apostrophes, "the person who moved here when you asked her to do an investigation, the person who stayed when you sent her a plant, the person that agreed to marry you, Is Living In San Francisco!"
"It's very hard to just give up a life-time of work."
Catherine stared at him exasperated but then decided to take the sympathy route. It was amazing the information she was getting out of him today and she didn't want the flow to stop and the walls to be put back up, where they would stand firm until the next ice-age or meteor shower. She needed to get him to see the light today.
"You can continue your work in San Francisco."
"Sara has made it clear that she will not live with ghosts." He tried to keep the bitterness out of this sentence but no matter how he said it the bitterness still remained.
Now we are getting to the crux of their problems thought Catherine. "You don't have to work in law enforcement to continue your work, you could study, you could teach. You know it might be nice to have a bit of sunlight in your life."
With these words he was transported back to that day at the go karts. They were happy then but as he thought about it in the light of the events of the past months he realised that Sara was putting on a good show. Why hadn't he seen it? He was just so euphoric, he had her back and everyone knew and the world hadn't fallen in on itself.
"I guess you are right. I like to teach and it isn't like any of you need teaching anymore. Sara, she has always been stronger than me…"
"I think she is stronger than all of us but it isn't so hard Gil. She has set you a path, all you need to do is follow by her example.
***
Two weeks later Grissom walked up the narrow strip of concrete out the front of his new home in San Francisco, hand-in-hand with Sara ready to start a new chapter of his life's work.
FIN
Authors note- I visited Vegas last January while I was living in the US and wrote what I remember of the place so I hope my hotels are in order. While writing this story I kept getting to a point where I was thinking what the hell are tptb doing, there is no logical reason for Grissom to be still living in Vegas.