Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be…
Pairing: GSR
Summary: Sara did something rather… unique in her past to make some money to buy a car to go to the lecture to meet Grissom and it finally catches up to her.
Rating: M
Buried Secrets
"Oh my god Frank, look who that is!" Scott, a forty year old balding man pointed to his friend, someone on the other side of the crime scene tape. Frank looked where Scott indicated.
"She's still hot. Maybe we can get her autograph or a picture."
"I'll go get my copy." Scott offered and started running back towards his house.
"Don't forget the camera!" Frank shouted after him and then noticed several pairs of eyes looking at him; including hers. He smiled and waved nervously. She rolled her eyes and turned away.
"What was that?" Greg asked Sara. She simply shrugged her shoulders.
"Some guy was running away from the crows. I heard something about a camera." They returned to their work, never noticing that the two men had moved to the front of the crime tape and beckoned Brass over to them. Brass strolled up a few minutes later.
"Hey, there's a guy at the tape asking to talk to 'Chocolate' and pointing at you." Brass told Sara. Her eyes widened briefly and then she looked at the men.
"I've never seen them before." He nodded.
"Interesting name." He commented.
"I guess; I'll be inside." Greg nodded and went back to his own duties.
"I'm sorry guys, she says she doesn't know you."
"We know. We've never met, but we've seen her before; all of her if you know what I mean." Frank answered back with a conspirator wink.
"Nevada has stalker laws, you know." Brass felt the urge to remind these two men.
"We're not stalking her, we swear. We live right over there. Here, look. This is how we know who she is." Frank produced a men's magazine. Brass' eyes were wide as saucers. He motioned for them to stay where they were.
"I'll be right back, stay here." They nodded. Brass went to collect some gloves from the Tahoe. He returned and pulled on one glove and then handed him a pen with some paper.
"Let me see if I can get that autograph for you; write your names and addresses on this paper for me. I won't interrupt her work for this. Your magazine will be returned in a few days."
"Thank you, sir." Both men eagerly wrote down the requested information; oblivious to the fact that they willingly handed over their fingerprints as well. Brass collected his things and walked away. He had a brunette to talk to.
"SARA! Get your ass down here now!" He shouted upon entry to the house. Grissom couldn't ever remember seeing her move so fast. Curious, he followed.
"Jim, what's going on?"
"I need to talk to Sara in private. She'll be back in a minute." Brass cupped her elbow and began to lead her away. He took her through the house and across the backyard, stopping at the fence. He knew Grissom was going to spy on them and tried his best to turn his back to the house.
"Would you care to explain why those two men out front want your autograph on this?" He held up the magazine. Sara fought to keep her eyes in her head and her hands at her side.
"It's in the past; did you look?" She asked fearfully.
"No, and they didn't show me either. It would be like looking at Ellie naked." Sara's posture relaxed somewhat.
"It's a little more than 'just naked' in there."
"I don't want to know. I'm going to make sure those two clowns aren't stalking you. They were nice enough to provide me with their names and addresses." He told her.
"Thank you. You won't say anything, will you?"
"I'll do what I can. It'll be hard avoiding Grissom." Sara cringed a little at the thought.
"Good point."
"Have fun and you owe me, big time."
"I know." Brass led her back inside and Sara seemed deflated by the time she returned to her kit.
"Everything alright?" Grissom asked casually, though she knew the curiosity as eating away at him.
"For now." She said.
"What's going on?"
"Two guys out there wanted my autograph." She said.
"Why?"
"It's embarrassing." She told the floor. She knew she couldn't look at him right now.
"Would it have something to do with the magazine Brass has?"
"I'd rather not talk about it." She tried to deflect him.
"It will be easier and less public if you just tell me now."
"I know." She sighed, but kept her gaze on everything except him.
"Let's hear it." He was extremely curious about why she wouldn't look at him. She'd never been afraid to stare him down in the past.
"I'm…in that magazine."
"Did you have an article published?" That told her he never saw the cover. She looked around to make sure no one was around.
"No words; just pictures." She whispered.
"Like modeling?" He was getting frustrated with this guessing game.
"Not really." She was starting to fidget.
"Then what?"
"They're nude photos."
"What?" She was so glad that he didn't yell and call attention to their conversation. She finally looked at him.
"I needed the money and it's not like I had parents to help me. It was a long time ago."
"When?"
"October, 1989." He thought for a minute.
"Are they at least artistic?" She laughed.
"No, pretty exposing actually."
"How did those two guys know you'd be here?" He was serious.
"Brass is looking into it. They didn't seem to know my name, because they asked for the name on the pictures."
"Which is?" He prompted and she knew it was coming.
"Chocolate."
"Sinfully sweet or the color of your eyes?" He tried an explanation. She blushed and shook her head.
"Simple, tempting and melts in your mouth." Grissom bit back a groan by clearing his throat instead.
"Let's just hope this stays between the three of us. You finish in here and I will be in the bathroom." He started to walk away.
"Thank you for not judging me." She said quietly, as he passed. She didn't know he was trying to escape so she wouldn't see his predicament below the belt.
"You're welcome; get back to work." Sara waited until she was alone to send a text message to Brass.
-took it better than I thought. SS- A minute later, he answered back.
=figured he'd corner u. good girl 4 being honest. JB= She put her phone away and finished collecting evidence in the bedroom.
By the time they'd finished, thankfully, the two men were gone. Nevertheless, Grissom insisted that she remain at his side while they were outside. She enjoyed the protective vibe he was radiating and it made her feel safe.
A few days later, after checking out the two men, Brass had to return the magazine. A few days after that, a package arrived at the lab. Ecklie sat down with the large envelope and read the letter attached to the cover of a magazine.
To whom it may concern,
A few days ago, there was a crime at a house down the street from my own. While joining the crowd of on-lookers, my friend and I noticed one of your employees. We don't as of yet know her name, only her pseudonym, 'Chocolate'. We requested an autograph and the officer on the scene attempted to acquire it for us and failed. We do not wish harm on anyone; however, all we ask is for an autograph and now a photo with the lovely woman. We would hate for this to reach the news and create bad publicity for the fine folks at the crime lab.
Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter,
Frank Owens and Scott Dager.
Ecklie had no choice, but to start flipping through the magazine. He needed to find out which employee was being exploited, so he could put a stop to it. He was too engrossed in looking for a familiar face to enjoy the true purpose of the magazine. Right in the middle of the magazine, he came to a crashing halt.
"I never thought it would be her Damn, these are good." he muttered. She was completely captivating, alluring and didn't need the provocative poses she was in. He forced his body back under his control, so he could confront her. He noted the time and saw that the nightshift would be in a meeting to debrief Grissom on their cases. It was the perfect time.
Sure enough, they were all in the conference room when he burst in.
"Conrad, we're in the middle of a meeting." Grissom pointed out the obvious.
"Can anyone tell me what this is?" Sara saw him hold up the magazine, and then looked at the table. Grissom and she knew exactly what it was. Before anything could be said though, Greg spoke up.
"It's porn; old porn. Yours?" Nick and Warrick smiled, but reined it in quickly.
"Very good, Sanders. Can you tell me why this particular issue was delivered to me with the threat of bad publicity attached to it?" He tossed the magazine on the table. Greg naturally reached for it.
"Touch that magazine and you're fired." Grissom calmly stated and Greg froze.
"Conrad, I'm aware of the situation. Can we discuss this in your office in twenty minutes or so when we are done here?" Grissom remained calm.
"You'd better not come alone." He said.
"We'll be there" Grissom promised. Ecklie left and try as he might; Grissom was unable to refocus the group. He picked up the distraction and tucked it in his files.
"Is it you, Cath?" Nick asked, knowing that only women were in that magazine.
"No."
"It's Sara!?" Warrick concluded.
"Can we please get back to the task at hand?" Grissom tried again.
"When did you do it?" Nick asked.
"Awhile ago. Let's finish this meeting so I can go to my next one." She said.
"When, awhile ago?" Greg asked.
"Like I'm going to tell you. May I be excused?" She looked at Grissom.
"Yes, here take this and wait in my office." Sara gratefully left and Catherine glared at Grissom.
"You didn't sound very surprised."
"She told me about it last week when this all started." Greg's eyes widened.
"Wait, there were two guys at the crime scene. Brass came up, telling us that these guys wanted to talk to 'Chocolate'."
"Chocolate?" Catherine questioned.
"Her pseudonym." Grissom clarified.
"What else do you know?" She demanded.
"I know the when and the why. All of you be here early tonight. We'll finish this meeting then and I suggest you forget about everything that has happened here in the last ten minutes. Go home." Grissom gathered his things and went to his office to collect Sara for their next meeting with Ecklie.
GSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSGRSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSRGSR
A/N: So what do you think? This story will have some interesting twists that will seem quite out of character for our CSI's. Reviews are wanted and appreciated. I thank you all in advance and will do my best to respond to each and everyone I receive.
Have a great day everyone! Kelly