Grissom always said that death chose him… UPDATED VERSION. ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE!
I wrote this story way before "The Two Mrs. Grissoms" and the episode where we learn Grissom was originally raised. So I revised it to make sense. Also, I am combining "The Court and the Camera Man" story into this too. I think I might take the other two down, just so people down get confused. Spoiler for the Two Mrs. Grissoms and Still Life, but seriously, if you are reading this, then you are a big enough geek that you have seen nearly every episode anyway…. lol
Also, some information on Grissom was taken from his backstory. You can find that information on CSI Wiki and wikipedia. While Santa Monica College is real, I own nothing from them. And as a former deaf studies minor, I do not place ASL in italics. ASL has been recognized as a foreign language and I treat it as such. It is not different than speaking English. Don't believe me? Ask a deaf person.
So, I don't know, who knows, but Catherine is leaving sometime next season (sorry) and it is said that Grissom will return for her good bye episode (yea!) So let's pretend that Catherine hasn't left quite yet but Grissom has come back…. There will be another story on that later.I own nothing, hope you enjoy!
Grissom grasped Sara's chin and pulled it closer as he continued to kiss her. She groaned from his touch. Gil inhaled sharply as Sara lay her hands on his chest. He quickly pulled away. They took a moment to catch their breath. Sara smiled.
"I missed this." She said with her naughty smirk. Gil smiled back.
"Me too." He replied. They adjusted themselves and headed out of the locker room to join the others in the break room.
Nick sit on the couch, watching a special on birds in the tropics on the discovery channel, while Greg poured himself a cup of coffee. Grissom and Sara sat down at the table, waiting for Catherine. Ray walked in.
"You two enjoying yourselves?" Ray asked jokingly. Grissom and Sara looked up at him. Nick and Greg watched carefully to see their reaction. Then Grissom smiled.
"Yes." He replied happily. Nick gave a slight snort as Greg choked down a sip of coffee.
"Isn't that against the rules?" Ray asked.
"Only if we get caught." Sara stated.
Ray bowed his head in defeat. He had no intentions of getting them in trouble over nothing. Catherine walked in and stared at Grissom.
"No assignments boss?" Catherine asked as she got a cup of coffee. Grissom shook his head.
"Nope. We've got the night off." Grissom said. Catherine stopped in her tracks.
"So why are we here?" She asked, frustrated.
"Because we might have work later." Nick said. Catherine gave him an evil look. Teacher's pet. She thought.
"Yes. And in the mean time, I have a cold case we can work on. A perfectly healthy thirty six year old man arrives home from work, lies down on his couch and never wakes up. Why?" Grissom explained. As Grissom explains the case, the team noticed an old man enter the break room. He had an old bag along with a video camera. Before anyone could say anything, the old man put his finger to his lips to silence them all. With a mighty inhale and a false, overly done southern female accent, he bellowed:
"GILLLL-BERRTT! GILBERT!" Grissom jumped in his seat and looked behind him, where the old man stood. Gil put his hand over his heart.
"Jesus Robby, don't do that!" He exclaimed. The old man laughed.
"Aunt Agnes' pig call get's you every time." Robby said and sat his thing down before joining the group at the table. Grissom offered the team a shy smile.
"Robby Todd, an old friend of my father's. Robby, is Catherine Willows, Ray Langston, Nick Stokes, Greg Sanders and you know Sara." Grissom said. Robby nodded at the group.
"Hi everyone." Robby said. Grissom continued:
"So, anyone want the case?" He asked. The group nodded. "Good."
He began to pass out copies of an old file. Catherine read the file's cover and stopped dead in her tracks.
"L.A county? This is out of our jurisdiction." She said.
"It hasn't even been ruled a homicide. This isn't even a case." Ray pointed out.
"Read the vic's name." Grissom shot back. And so they did: Name Grissom, Harrison.Catherine looked up at Gil. She thought back to his confession a few years ago:
"He came home from school one hot, humid day, laid down on the couch, I was watching t.v. My mom brought in some cold drinks, but she couldn't wake him up... No one would tell me why."
The look on Grissom's face would haunt Catherine for weeks.
"Your father." She announced. Grissom nodded. Everyone in the room stared at Grissom for a moment.
"I thought he died from heatstroke." Catherine explained. She checked the file. "C.O.D. is asphyxiation due to anaphylactic shock."
"Capers. My father and I are both deathly allergic." Grissom said. "The only thing was, they weren't ingested. Spores from capparis spinosa were found in his lungs."
"How do you inhale a caper? I've seen those things, you'd choke on them before you'd inhale them." Nick said.
"There was another botany professor at the college. He was trying to perfect a seeding machine that allowed spores to travel through the air. Officially, the machine was accidentally left on, with the caper spores in it, while Harry was in the room." Robby said.
"Why does that sound too convenient?" Sara asked. Grissom looked off into the distance and tucked his lips into his mouth. It Sara only a second to figure out what he was doing.
"Eyes, no hands. If you tell us your theory, any evidence found because of your theory can be thrown out due to your position in this investigation." Sara explained. Grissom turned to her and gave her a swift nod. Robby approached the table and sat down.
"Ms. Sidle, I'm an old friend of Harry's. We met in college and later, he hired me to document his work. And I so happened to be filming the day he passed." Robby stated. He paused for a moment and looked passed Sara. As if he were looking into the past. "I could never bring myself to watch the last reel I had until recently. And I noticed something. I think you should see it."
Robby handed Sara a small 16mm reel. It was old, but well preserved. Sara looked up at Robby and then at Grissom. She nodded.
"I'll have my team look into it." She said. Part of her was smiling, due to the sneaking loophole Grissom was using to get his father's death looked at. And part of her was dead serious, knowing that Gil's father meant the world to him and his death forever changed him and his mother.
They all sat around Archie's desk as the reel began. The first shot was of a man, about 36 years old. He was thin with brown curly hair, with was peppered with grey at the ends. He was dressed in a nicely pressed shirt and pants and wore glasses to read the book, he had his nose in. It was Harrison 'Harry' Grissom.
"I think if we alter the temperature of the waters, with a control of course, that we might see the change in the leaves better. The first specimen will have water at 32 degrees, the second will be at 50 degrees and the control will be room temperature: which is - 76 degrees." Harry stated. He turned and nearly bumped into a shorter, stout man with blonde hair.
"Oaf. Sorry Berny." Harry offered as the stout man caught himself from falling into a near by chair.
"Gotta look up from that book sometime Harry." Berny said.
"That's Bernard Stevens. He's the one who made the pollination machine." Robby explained.
Harry grabbed a few pieces of paper from a textbook. He turned back to his work and gave a short cough. Harry pulled at his tie to loosen it a bit.
"Frog in your throat?" A much younger Robby asked from behind the camera. Harry tried to clear his throat.
"Yeah, I'm bringing it home for Gil." Harry joked then coughed out another, much stronger cough. Harry smiled and looked at the camera.
"I should get out of here. I'm going to miss the bus." Harry said and gathered his things. Harry headed out the door and Robby kept the camera running.
"You and the Mrs. need a babysitter this weekend?" Robby teased. Harry shot Robby that 'Grissom look'. Robby laughed.
"We've learned to be really quiet." Harry said with a grin. He patted Robby on the back and the reel ended.
Catherine was the first to speak up:
"I see the last moments of a dead man. I don't see a murder."
"That's what I thought. Watch." Robby said. He rewound the reel and played it from the part when Harry was discussing the temperature. "Look. See Bernard in the background."
Indeed they did. He was watching Harry and Robby talk in the nearby room. He was careful to grab the caper spores and pour them into his machine while Harry wasn't looking. He even tried to hide the fact he was turning it on deliberately.
"Whoa." Nick said as Robby replayed the part again. "Hey Archie. Can you make a digital copy of this with a zoomed in version?"
"Sure." Archie said, in a state of shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. They had all witnessed a murder.
Sara moved closer to Grissom and placed her hand on his shoulder and rubbed him gently. Grissom took a deep breath.
"All I know is that Harry and Bernard were good friends for a while, then Harry found out some news about Berny and that all ended." Robby said. "Harry never told me what it was. I just figured it was Berny cheating in his wife, you know? That was really the worst thing that happened in our town."
Grissom nodded and pursed his lips together.
"Did you ever tell mom?" He asked, his voice cracking just a bit.
"No. I didn't want her to worry." Robby admitted. "You knew." He said to Gil. Grissom nodded.
"I locked myself in dad's office for two days. I didn't know what to do." Grissom said. Robby chuckled.
"Yeah. Everyone was worried about you. Your mom said that you'd come down eventually to eat or go to the bathroom." He said. Grissom smiled to himself.
"She was right." Grissom stated.
"Okay, so we have the guy on tape killing him, but he could still claim he didn't know what he was doing. And we'd need to prove some sort of motive." Greg pointed out.
"I've been to Grissom's house. His mother never changed anything in his home office. SHe doesn't even go in there. So, there may be some evidence in there." Sara mentioned.
"I wish we could see the couch where he died." Catherine added. Grissom's head popped up. He turned to Catherine.
"You know, mom never got rid of it. We just put downstairs in the basement." He said. Catherine's eyes went wide.
"You're serious?" Catherine asked. Grissom shrugged.
"Yeah. We couldn't sit on it after he died. So we got a new one. But mom kept the old one." Grissom explained.
"Sweet." Greg said. "What are the odds of us getting into that school and seeing that old machine?" He asked.
"Probably not too hard." Grissom said flatly. "My dad and Berny practically started the Botany program there."
"There's still the problem of the lab and correct me if I'm wrong, aren't all these places in California?" Ray stated.
"Road trip!" Greg announced but quickly looked at Grissom for the okay.
"I already got Ecklie to agree for most of us to go. Two of us have to stay behind." Grissom said.
"If you don't mind I'd like to stay." Ray stated.
"I guess I'll stay. We need someone to supervise." Catherine said reluctantly. Grissom nodded.
"Good. We could use the extra hands here anyway, Cath." Grissom said. He knew how much she wanted to be with the team on this one. He smiled at her in a quiet thanks. Catherine winked back.
The group had driven from the airport to the small community of Marina Del Ray, CA. The town was your typical suburb of Los Angeles. They pulled up to a white, two story house, with a large yard. The front yard had tall bushes and beautiful flowers blooming all over. The porch had a swing with smaller plants growing in planters from above. Some of the backyard was visible. There, were more maintained plants and a tall tree, with a clubhouse. Sara smiled as she thought of how many memories Gil must have in this house.
Gil entered the home and stopped in the living room entrance. He banged on the doorway frame. This caused the entire wall to shake. Then he entered the living room to be greeted by his mother, Betty.
"Gil! What are you doing here?' Betty asked.
"Hi mom. Robby insisted that I come to see you." Grissom responded. Betty smiled and welcomed the group in.
After dinner was served and eaten, Robby had offered to help Betty with the dishes. The rest of the group sat down at the dining room table to look over the paperwork filed from Harry's autopsy. Grissom shook his head.
"This is ridiculous! Whoever did this autopsy couldn't find his ass if he had a map!" Grissom declared. Nick took the file from him and began to look it over himself.
"Gris, you shouldn't even be touching this stuff. Anything you find, is fruit of the poisoned tree." Nick reminded him. Grissom looked away, angry, but not defeated.
"Where's the couch?" Greg asked, trying to help distract Grissom.
"Downstairs. Come on." Grissom lead Greg and the others to see the couch. Betty followed the group to the basement door.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Nothing." Grissom said, without looking at her.
"Gilbert." His mother insisted.
"Mom. Do you really want to know?" Gil replied.
"Yes. I do." She said.
"We're looking at the old couch to see if there is any evidence that could prove or disprove that dad was murdered." Grissom replied frankly. His mother blocked the door and gave him a stare that meant: not this again.
"Gil-" She started.
"Mom, Berny did something and dad found out about it. Whatever it was, he is willing to kill people to hide it. Do you want Berny to kill anyone who gets in his way?" Grissom signed. He was angry. He had approached his mother once before, to ask if he could exhume his father's body, when Gil had become a full-fledged Coroner. His mother down right refused.
"Do you?" Gil pressed again. "Do you want him to kill over and over and-"
SLAP!
Everyone stood perfectly still. Betty was not one to hit her child, but Gil knew how to press her patience and he had. Grissom stood, with his face slightly turned to the side, away from his mother. Sara opened her mouth to speak but Grissom raised his hand and she closed her mouth quickly.
"Do what you want!" Betty said and stormed out toward the kitchen. Gil opened to the basement door and headed downstairs.
The basement was nearly empty, save for Christmas decorations and a few boxes. The couch was dusty, but otherwise, the same as it had been when Gil's father died. The team quickly processed the couch and found nothing but dust on the couch.
"There's nothing here." Sara said.
"What about his office?" Greg asked. Grissom nodded and pointed up the stairs.
"Second floor, first door to your right." He said. Nick and Greg headed upstairs. Sara followed, but stopped in front of Gil.
"Gil." She said.
"I'm fine. We'll be okay." He responded, referring to his mother. Sara offered him a soft kiss and hugged him for a moment. Then, she headed upstairs to join NIck and Greg.
Grissom entered the kitchen. He saw Robby sitting at the breakfast table, drinking a cup of coffee.
"Where's mom?" He asked.
"Went for a walk. Clear her head." Robby said. Gil nodded and sat down next to him. Gil sighed.
"I guess she knew huh?" Robby asked. Gil nodded. Just then, a thought occurred to Grissom, that he had not thought of in years.
"Why didn't you ever marry mom?" He asked. Robby smiled hard as he held back his laughter.
"You never quite caught on did you kid?" Robby said. He put down his coffee and leaned in. "I'm gay."
Grissom was puzzled.
"Wait, so you and dad-" He started.
"No. I was your father's friend. Part of the reason why was because he didn't care. He was the first one to accept me for who I was." Robby explained. Grissom nodded.
"Well, now it all makes sense." Grissom responded. For years, Robby would come around, never with a date. Even after his father died, Robby came around just to check in on the two remaining Grissoms. But he never once made a pass at Betty. Grissom never understood why. His mother was beautiful during her prime. Even still, Grissom had adopted the idea of Robby as his stepfather.
Sara, Nick and Greg closely examined the old office carefully. The office was surprisingly well lit from its single window. There were scientific tools from the 1960s along with books that were just as old. When they first entered the room, there was a desk. It was covered with books: half opened, papers, and student's projects and reports. On the opposite side was Harry's work table. There, were tubes, beakers, plants and various past experiments in jars. Nick chuckled when he saw them.
"So that's where he gets it." He said, referring to Grissom's innate sense to jar any experiment he deemed worth saving. Sara and Greg laughed. Greg opened the desk's top draw and saw a note recorder. Greg rewound it and played the tape, so all could hear.
"June 10th" Harry sighed heavily. "Top left draw in the right side desk as you enter the office. Next to the week old sandwich, Gil left in there. God I swear I don't know how that kid gets into Berny's office. I should ask him when he gets home."
Sara stifled a laugh. Greg snorted and Nick smiled. Harry continued:
"Anyway, newsprint paper showing plans for massive shipment, uh… About ten thousand dollars worth this time. I'm going to talk to him one more time before I call the cops. He's not going to like it, but we can't have this going on. We'll lose funding, not to mention he could go to jail. I got to hope for the best."
"Ten thousand dollars? That's a lot for back in the day." Nick stated. Sara and Greg nodded.
"June 11th. Dumb ass didn't listen to me." Harry said. Then there was a sound of a door opening. A little voice spoke up.
"Hey pop, mom says we have five or ten minutes until dinner's ready. You want to play catch until dinner?" A young Gil said.
"Sure Gil. Just give me a second to close up here, okay? Love you kiddo." Harry said. He then sighed. "I've got to get out of this-"
The tape ended. Sara pushed back her tears.
"His father died on June 12th, 1966." Sara stated.
Dr. Bernard Stevens stood in front of his empty classroom. Another day, another class. He thought. He looked outside of the window at a few of his students chatting with an unseen person. He shrugged and headed to his office.
He sat down in his favorite chair and began to read the novel, The World Without Us. He stopped for a moment as he caught his reflection in the mirror. He was old. Nearing eighty now, his hair was all but gone and he could swear he had liver spots on his hands. He sneered at the sight of himself. Suddenly, there was a knock at his door.
"Come in." He said, expecting a half witted student of his to enter, begging for an extension on their paper. Instead, a man in his fifties entered. He had greying brown hair and piercing blue eyes. Bernard knew those eyes, even after all these years.
"Great Harry's ghost! Gil? Is that you?" He asked. Gil stepped aside as two police officers came in.
"Sir, you're under arrest for the murder of Harrison Grissom." One of the officers said. Bernard stood and nodded.
"All these years Gil, now you come after me? How many years do you think I've got left?" Bernard said.
"It doesn't matter." Gil said.
"If you knew I killed him, why didn't you say something then?" Bernard asked again.
"Who would believe a nine year old?" Gil asked. There was pain in his eyes. The pain was so deep, that there was almost a hatred behind them. Bernard was afraid to look at him.
"Your father would be proud." Bernard said. But Gil remained silent.
"Wow, I found the mother-load!" Greg announced while searching through Bernard Stevens' papers from decades passed. "15 shipments of guns and ammo to Cuba. All in Stevens' name."
"He was solely supplying the Cuban missile crisis." Sara half joked.
"Yeah and he was raking it in too. $5,000 on one shipment. $3,000 on another. He's averaging $40,000 a year with these shipments." Greg said.
"That's insane. Stevens could fully fund the Botany program at Santa Monica College for two years with that amount alone." Sara stated. "That's why Harry hesitated. He didn't want the program to go under."
"Yeah, and that's why Bernard Stevens killed Harrison Grissom. He didn't want to lose this kind of money." Nick finished.
"But how did he know that Grissom's dad was allergic to capers?" Greg asked.
"Simple. Harry told him. Capers are a plant. Harry couldn't chance Stevens using it around him, so he mentioned it. He wouldn't put himself directly in harms way." Sara explained.
It all made sense. They had their evidence. Now justice could be served.
Stevens confessed to the murder of Harrison Grissom in exchange for life in prison without the chance for parole. Sara, Nick and Greg all returned to Grissom's childhood home. They were greeted by Robby.
"Hey, where's Gil?" Sara asked.
"Out. They both are. It's been a while since Gil's been to his dad's grave." Robby explained.
In a small, shaded spot in the cemetery, Gil Grissom and his mother sat in front of his father's grave. His mother had tended to it and it was well kept.
The two hadn't spoken since the basement incident and now, they just sat there and stared at the name on the headstone.
"Why didn't you tell the police?" Gil asked his mother.
"Who would believe a deaf woman?" Betty replied. Grissom nodded. Times had changed since then. Back then, no one would had listened to a nine year old boy or his deaf mother. They would have brushed them off before they got a word out. But now, Gil was the investigator. Now, he would be the one listening. And he knew his father's death had pushed him to do so. He just wished that that hadn't been the reason behind him becoming a CSI.
"Come on, let's go home. I'm sure your friends are hungry." Betty said. Gil nodded but didn't move. His mother moved in closer and gave him a hug. She kissed him on his temple and stood. Grissom followed his mother to her car and they headed home.
"Come on, you can do it." Harry said.
"No!" Gil said from his treehouse. He was too afraid to get down.
"Come on Gilbert. If you fall, I promise I'll catch you." Harry offered.
"Yeah?" Gil asked.
"Yeah." Harry promised.
"Okay!" Gil replied and he jumped down. Harry didn't have to catch him, but he supported Gil's back on his way down.
The group watched Robby's old family videos with wonder in their eyes. Gil Grissom looked just like his father. And his mother, Betty, was quite the beauty in her day. Harry seemed to be that perfect father, everyone would want. And the three were truly happy.
Sara leaned into her husband and smiled. She brushed her fingers through his hair and glanced over at him. Gil had fallen asleep to the sound of his father's voice. And he was at peace.