Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
Spoilers: You may be spoiled. Takes place in Season 11, so anything up there may be in this.
The Sandglass
Chapter I
A person could visit McCarran International at any time of year and it was never a quiet airport. People streamed in and out, coming to Las Vegas with hopes and dreams and a wad of cash, others leaving with a wad quite smaller, or on rare occasion, perhaps a little larger. The airport was as busy as the city, bustling with life and crowds of people, a gateway to their dreams, an exit from their failures.
Familiar to the layout, and traveling with only a carry-on, Sara meandered through the crowds, her pace brisk as she sought her exit and tried to escape the noise of all the other arrivals. Glass doors slid open before her and she stepped outside, immediately feeling the difference in the air, uncomfortably warm, even into the late evening, so much warmer than the cool late autumn air she'd left behind.
Opening her phone, she pressed one number and held it, waiting for the phone to signal another number, one with far more digits, and begin dialing. She held the phone to her ear, waiting.
One ring, two, and no answer. Five, and the call was transferred to voicemail. She sighed. "Hey Gil, uh, I'm at the airport…just got in. Give me a...um...call; let me know you got this. Bye."
She closed her phone, sighing again. Holding onto the phone and looking down at it, she frowned, wondering what kept him from answering his cell. He would be up, and if not already at the university, than at least on his way. He should have picked up.
Her phone went into her pocket. She walked a few paces, past a couple of tourists climbing into a cab, and signaled the next one for herself. Inside, she gave the driver the address for the lab. She'd go there first. She didn't want to go to the condo just yet.
The cab headed south on Paradise, pulled out onto the 215 and Sara pulled out her phone, clutching it in her hand. Where was he? Shouldn't he be phoning her back? Her head fell back against the seat. She stared up at the upholstery on the ceiling of the cab. She wished they hadn't left things the way they did, but they had. She'd had a plane to catch and Grissom wasn't great with emotional arguments unless he had time to formulate words. They'd left with a hasty goodbye, a muffled promise to call, an equally soft response, quiet words that did nothing to soothe the pain of their argument and her departure, but only ended up adding to it. They were good at that, hurting each other, leaving each other with pain or misunderstanding, running from a fight they needed to have. Perhaps long distance wasn't working. Grissom had suggested as much. He was probably right. She was so tired, from the work, from the travel, from having the same conversation over and over.
The cab turned north on Las Vegas Boulevard. Her eyes closed. The grip on her phone tightened. "Ring," she whispered, trying to signal her phone to vibrate. It never. She opened her eyes, turning them to the window. The cab driver tried to make conversation, but she was too distracted. She kept her grip tight on the phone, willing it to ring.
The cab continued onto North Tropicana. Sara's eyes were fixed to the window. The grip on her phone had not loosened. They reached Westfall, and the cab slowed to a stop. She thanked the driver and tipped him, grabbing her bag. Closing the cab door, she opened her phone, checking the time. It had been nearly a half an hour since she first tried to call him. She sighed again and pocketed her phone. Her ID badge came out of her bag, and she strolled into the building.
Stopping by the reception desk, Sara waited for Judy to finish a call. She leaned over the desk, her eyes watching as Judy's hand scribbled a message onto a slip of paper. The small woman's chubby fingers moved frantically, but the writing came out neat and Sara wondered how she could do that, scribble not only legibly, but with admirable precision.
"Sara!"
Sara straightened and turned, seeing Catherine walking quickly towards her.
"Great, you're back."
She smiled. "Hey Cath."
"And you're early. I didn't even think you'd make it in tonight. I have you scheduled to come back tomorrow."
Sara shrugged. "My plane just got in. I thought I'd check out what's going on here."
"You okay to work? It's a busy night."
"Sure."
Catherine's eyes wandered over her. "You ready to go out?"
The strap on Sara's bag was falling off her shoulder. Her hand came up and pulled the strap back in place. "Yeah, I'll just have to stop by my locker."
Catherine handed her a slip. "Good. A 419 just came in, just off Audrie. Greg's checking on evidence from a B&E, but I'll send him out to help when he's done."
"Sure."
Catherine eyed her again. "How was Paris?"
She forced a smile. "Good...it was good." She hoped it sounded more convincing to Catherine's ears than it did to her own.
"Good." Catherine paused, her eyes still studying Sara. Then, she spoke again, her voice a little higher. "Well, I have my own 419 at Bally's, so I'll see you later."
Sara nodded. "Yeah, later." She adjusted the strap on her bag again, edging it back up her shoulder. Walking towards the locker room, she passed by the break room, glancing in to see Henry and Mandy watching the television, shaking their heads back and forth. I'll find out later,she thought, and readjusted her bag strap once again.
Her steps took her to the locker room. Once inside, her bag fell to the floor. She stood before her locker, opening it to see the pictures she'd taped up upon her return. One was of Grissom at the research station in Costa Rica. He'd been crouching low to the ground, examining a plant, and she hadn't been able to resist capturing the image. Another photo was of the two of them, caught in an intimate pose along the river Seine. The picture had been snapped by the Dean of Biology at the Sorbonne upon their welcome to the city.
She fingered the picture, her thumb brushing along the image. Taking a deep breath, she let her hand drop and fell back onto the bench behind her. Her hand slipped into her pocket, fingering next her phone. The pads of her fingers tapped at the phone. She stared forward at the images in her locker. Forty-five minutes now and he still hadn't returned the call.
Taking another deep breath, she stood, reaching for some work cloths from her locker. Grabbing them, she flung the locker door shut and moved into a bathroom stall. She changed in the small space, grabbed her traveling cloths and moved back into the locker room. Traveling cloths getting hung in her locker, Sara took out her vest and closed the locker door once again.
On her way past the break room, she glanced in again. Henry and Mandy were now gone. The television was off. She continued on, past the AV lab, glancing in to see Archie watching something on the screen and shaking his head in the same way Mandy and Henry had been shaking theirs earlier. She frowned, wondering if something had happened in her absence that Catherine had forgotten to make her aware of. Sara stepped into the AV lab. "Hey, Archie."
Archie's head shot up in her direction. "Hey, Sara."
Sara approached Archie's chair from behind, glancing at the screen over his shoulder. There were a couple anchor people talking on a news broadcast, though Archie had put the volume on mute. "What's going on?"
Archie turned back to the screen. "Some big explosion at a café just off some University campus in Europe."
Her heart stopped. Her hand slid into her pocket and her fingers gripped her phone. Explosion. Café. University campus. Europe. Grissom hadn't called her yet. She felt her throat closing up. It hurt to breathe. "What?" She barely managed to get out the question, the word coming out short and raspy, her voice barely able to utter it.
"Yeah," Archie continued, oblivious to her distress. "It was huge. Seventeen people killed, pretty much everyone who was in the vicinity. A dozen more are critically injured."
Her ears were ringing. Europe? Did he say Europe? Did he say University campus? Breaths were going in and out, but she wasn't quite sure how. Those breaths seemed like they were in short supply. Her throat hurt. Her head hurt. Seventeen dead? At a café? The explosion would have had to have been very large. Seventeen. In Europe. At a University. Everybody around. Seventeen. Seventeen people who stopped for a coffee early in the morning before heading to the University, for class or otherwise. "Seventeen?" she whispered.
"Yeah. Apparently, there were a series of explosions set off on a line. Lots of mayhem. It would have been difficult to escape all of that."
Seventeen. Everyone in the vicinity. Difficult for anyone to escape… The grip on her phone tightened. She closed her eyes, rubbing at her temples, willing herself to calm. Her mind raced to the café Grissom liked to grab his coffee at before heading into his office. Grissom, who still hadn't returned her call. She looked at the time on the computer screen. She'd called Grissom fifty minutes ago. "When?"
"About an hour ago."
Sara stood frozen. Her body began to quiver. Her hand squeezed on her phone.
"Sara? Sara are you alright?"
Unaware of the movement, Sara nodded slowly. She cleared her throat. "Where?"
"Bern."
Her shoulders fell with relief. The ache in her head began to ease. The grip on her phone loosened just slightly. The breath left her chest and suddenly, breathing didn't hurt so much. She could feel Archie's eyes sweep over her. "Bern, Sara. The University of Bern. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize…"
She shook her head. "No." The word came out loud and quick, cutting Archie off. "No, it's okay."
Bern. She felt a little foolish. If she hadn't been waiting for Grissom's call, she wouldn't have immediately imagined Paris. Why hadn't he called yet?
Leaving Archie to stare worriedly after her, she strode towards the exit. Her phone came out of her pocket and she listened to the ringing once again. Once again, she got voicemail. "Hey Gil, I know you'll call when you get my message, but I'm heading out to a scene now, and I just…" she paused, pinching her eyes shut, "wanted to see if I could catch you before I head out. I…I love you."
She closed her phone, pocketed it and headed out to her scene.
