Well here we go again. I am attempting a multi-chapter dealy, so we'll see where that takes us.
Also a HUGE thanks goes out to drgnqn for beta-ing this. It wasn't pretty, but thanks to her, your head shouldn't explode while reading.
Enjoy!
Sara felt it building up for some time now - she just wasn't happy with her life anymore. Forensics had been a small joy of hers for many, many, years but now she was starting to dread coming into work each night. When did it get to this point, she wondered? It didn't really matter anyway, forensics is where she was and forensics is where she would stay. At least that's what she thought.
It had started out like any normal night. After waking up from a few hours of restless sleep Sara dragged herself to the shower and cleaned up. After getting out and getting ready she made herself some breakfast and went to her computer to check her emails. She hardly had anybody on her contacts list, just a few old colleagues, some of her better friends from college, and Grissom of course. So checking it was something she did more out of habit than necessity. Except that, that morning there was something interesting sitting in her mail box.
"Hello?" She said to herself
It was an email from two very good friends of hers. All three of them were physics majors while they were still in college. Practically inseparable, the three were quickly labeled the "Three Musketeers" by their peers and instructors alike. Where one went, the other two followed. Although at some point during their college careers Sara's two best friends had fallen in love and eventually married. Nothing really changed except that now two of the 'Musketeers' were sleeping together.
Sara smiled thinking back on the old memories.
After graduation the trio went their separate ways. Sara to San Francisco and eventually Las Vegas and her friends to New York, and eventually London, where they were now emailing her from.
At first, the letter was completely normal, going through all the motions that one goes through with friends, basic small talk really. It was toward the middle when it started getting really juicy:
Hey Sara, sorry for such a late response, its been crazy over here! One of our instructors was taken out of class recently and arrested! Can you believe that? Apparently it has to do with some weird underground tiger-fighting thing that he's involved in. Don't ask me.
I'm so glad to hear that the recipe ended up working out for you. Ha-ha, maybe I'm just an awful cook then because I could not get that thing to rise for the death of me. Also I'm sorry to hear that you're having such an awful time at work, you always were restless, I'm surprised you stuck it out this long. Have you ever considered taking a vacation? Or maybe trying something new...
Our university is looking for a speaker to teach a month long physics related seminar in the very near future. Apparently, they're having a hard time getting a hold of people so one of the people in charge of arranging everything asked if Jeff or I knew anybody. Of course we dropped your name and showed them a few of the articles you wrote – and they were very impressed.
So in a way this is sort of a business related email. Does this sound like something you're interested in? The school would take care of all your travel expenses and living arrangements while you were here of course, all you would really need to do is sign a few papers and bring that big brain of yours.
If you did accept it, it would also give us a chance to finally meet up again ;) It's been too long.
Write me back if you're interested.
Judy
P.S. Jeff says, "Hi"
She sat there a moment frozen in place, not sure if what she read was true or not. After reading the email a couple more times she started to grasp the concept. A physics seminar in London that she would be heading. The whole idea sounded ludicrous in her mind. Utterly laughable. Sara Sidle was many things, but international jet setter and teacher extraordinaire she was not.
She quickly hit the reply button and typed her response:
You have to be kidding me.
That's all it said, and with that she pushed 'send'.
Noting the time, she quickly got up and changed into her work attire, but the drive to work, which was usually peaceful and her time to guiltlessly sing show tunes, was disrupted. Were her friends really serious? What could she possibly have to offer the physics community, especially after being in forensics for so long? Not that she had let her knowledge of the subject wither away; it was actually quite the contrary. Since she became a forensic scientist her knowledge of physics had grown immensely. Sara made a point to attend every seminar and extracurricular activity she could on the subject. Not willing to let that small part of her old self die.
Still...there had to be somebody better than she. Right?
Tonight was one of those rare nights when Sara was praying for there to be a crime spree. She needed something to occupy her mind, but as luck would have it, the 'City that Never Sleeps' was taking a nap.
Everybody was sitting around the table waiting for Grissom to stride in and hand them their cases, but it seemed his stride was absent today and filling in for it would be a slow shuffle.
"Alright guys," he began, "Looks like it's going to be a slow one tonight. Warrick, Nick you two have a B&E on McKinley. Catherine you can finish up the case you're still on and feel free to grab Greg if you need to. Sara, there's nothing really for you to do, so if you want you can go fishing on the board for a cold case you can or you can catch up on paperwork." He paused a moment to let everyone absorb everything, "I'll be in my office if anyone needs me."
"Lame." Was all Greg could muster up as Grissom walked away, "I left the lab to get in on the action, not spend more time in the lab."
"Oh hush yourself," Catherine added, "Besides you won't be totally bored, I'm going to be making some ballistics gel, wanna help me cook?"
"Do I have a choice?"
Nick and Warrick laughed as they left on their assignment and Catherine smiled out the side of her mouth.
Greg looked crestfallen, "I'll take that as a 'no' then."
As Sara watched Catherine tug a pouty Greg towards another part of the lab, she couldn't help but feel a little envious. Lucky little bastard, she wouldn't mind working with Catherine tonight if it kept her mind off that email, and knowing Catherine, Sara would be way too pissed off to be thinking about anything other than wanting to shank the woman. Oh well, she did have a stack of paperwork that was being neglected.
She settled herself under the warm glow of a lone desk lamp with a stack of work twelve inches thick. It was going to be a long night. And she would have gotten a lot more work done if she hadn't taken breaks every half an hour to check her e-mail for a reply message from her friend.
She let out a frustrated sigh, "This is driving me crazy!"
Greg walked in at that very moment, "What is?"
Sara jumped a bit, "Geez Greg, you're gonna give me a heart attack."
"Sorry."
Sara closed the internet browser and went back to her paperwork.
Greg approached her cautiously, "So will you tell me what seems to be vexing you my lady?"
"It's nothing Greg."
"Really? Does nothing have you obsessively looking at your e-mail every 25 minutes give or take?"
Sara put down whatever case file she was looking at, "Have you been spying on me?"
"No I'm just observant, that's why I make the big bucks you know."
She rolled her eyes, "Whatever. Like I said, it's nothing, – now."
Greg pulled up a seat next to her, "Oooh sounds mysterious, you've piqued my interest."
"They have cream for that."
He mocked pain, "Ouch, straight through the heart. Your wit is killing me over here, but I warn you ahead of time – I have pretty smart friends and you won't get away with this."
Sara graced him with a chuckle, "Greg is there a reason why you're bothering me? You must know by now that you won't get any information."
"I know, I know, but I just wanted to remind you that if you needed to talk your options are open."
Greg got up and left, leaving Sara there smiling inwardly to herself. Poor Greg never got the credit he was due. Ever since she'd mentored him they had grown closer as friends and, behind a certain graying entomologist, he was probably her favorite person at the lab. Maybe under different circumstances, they could have had something...or not, she supposed Greg was more like a brother to her anyway.
Sara went home dead tired that morning, all she had done all night was wade through red tape and seemingly endless piles of paperwork. How did Grissom do it? she wondered. She didn't dwell on the thought too long - she tried not to think about him at all these days. Truth was it pained her to think about him; she knew she could never have him and she would never have him, but for some reason she just couldn't extinguish the flame she held for him. God that sounded cheesy.
"You want to know what's vexing me Greg? Where should I start?" She began peeling off her layers of clothing until she was in a small plain white under shirt and her underwear. The trail of clothes lead like breadcrumbs from her front door to her computer upstairs. As she typed in the URL and entered her username and password, she told herself that this was going to be the last time tonight she checked it, and that, after this, it was straight to bed.
After the page loaded, it was there, staring right at her, standing out like some sort of blemish on a movie screen. Wasting no time, she opened it:
No Sara we're dead serious. Here, I attached a copy (or close to it) of the contract you would have to sign - feel free to look it over and jot down any questions. Aside from my own selfish reasons for wanting you to come over here this, is actually a really good opportunity.
Knowing you you're probably swimming in doubt, but would you please think this over. Jeff and I wouldn't have recommended you if we didn't think you could handle this.
Talk to you later,
Judy
Well shit. Think it over, right, she was supposed to go to bed after this. Something told Sara it was going to be another restless night for her.