TITLE: Failures of the Heart
AUTHOR: MSCSIFANGSR
FANDOM(S)/SHIP(S): CSI and Quincy, ME/GSR, Grissom/OFC and Quincy/Emily
RATING: Mature, there will be a bit of smut here and there.
DISCLAIMER: CSI is the property of people like Jerry Bruckheimer, Anthony Zuiker, and companies like CBS and Paramount; Quincy, ME is owned by NBC, Universal Studios, and Glen A. Larson Productions among others. I don't own them, but I do really like playing with them, especially Grissom and I've loved Quincy since I was a kid.
NOTES: This is a cross-over fic and probably a bit AU, but hey, isn't that what fanfic is all about? My beta and I think it's pretty good. Most of the reoccurring characters from both series will appear in this story at some point.
WARNING: No Grissom's were physically assaulted in the making of this fic. Also this is a true WIP and updates may come about slowly.
SPOILERS: Quincy, ME roughly Season 4 and beyond. CSI roughly Season 6 or 7 only without TMK.
BETA: the incomparable and pragmatic JellybeanChiChi.
THANKS: To my friends Doris Mock and BrickWall for all of their help and insight in the development of this story.
The breeze from the Pacific Ocean flitted through the lapel and the cuffs of his black funeral suit. Grissom looked to the strikingly beautiful woman standing beside him and saw the light gust had affected her in the same manner, ruffling her appearance. Sara brushed her hand through her hair, attempting to calm her brown mane from salt-riddled, mini-whirlwind, and then she pressed the large sandstone-colored sunglasses further up to the bridge of her nose. He held her left hand tight, cradled within his own. He squeezed it slightly and smiled when she returned the gesture. He was glad she was standing beside him, in his time of need.
They stood, huddled close together amid a small crowd of about thirty listening as an Episcopalian minister spoke quietly, reciting the Lord's Prayer. The warm spring day in Southern California was beautiful as the high white cirrus clouds bordered with a few black edges blew in quickly from the west. A small tear escaped Grissom's eye as he watched the coffin containing the body of the woman who had broken his heart twenty-five years ago slowing being lowered into the non-consecrated ground.
Grissom didn't know more than half of the people gathered around the grave site. He looked around, more out of habit from working various crime scenes than anything else, but a certain amount of curiosity had him scanning the mourners, especially for one man. Fortunately, he didn't see the person and he was thankful for the absence of the man. And it made him very uneasy because the person not at the funeral was the man Diane Middleton had married while still dating him.
The ones he knew were his former boss, Dr. Quincy and his wife; Sam Fujiyama, the usually happy Asian man who'd taught Grissom how to deal with the normally gruff Dr. Quincy; Danny Tovo, the former employer of the woman they were burying; and a handful of the old crowd who hung out at Danny's Pub in Marina Del Rey. Next to grave, slightly away from the others stood a tall, young man in his mid-twenties, who stoically brushed away his own tears. He wore almost the same suit as did Grissom, except their ties were different colors: the young man's a deep burgundy and his a deep blue almost the color of his eyes, that Sara had given him the previous Christmas. Grissom suspected the remaining people were friends or co-workers.
Grissom decided it was best not to think any more of the man who had stolen his first love, instead turning his thoughts to when he'd learned of her death and of his own hearts failure to move on after the woman left him.
Gilbert Grissom had been stunned when he'd received the call while he toiled over his virtual insurmountable paperwork while on shift three nights ago at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. Quincy's gravelly voice in his ear immediately brought to mind the years he had spent as a coroner in Los Angeles County. Grissom's nerves were on attention almost subconsciously waiting for his former boss to order him to do something in which he'd rather not. Whether it be another look at an already autopsied body or running another test to determine what had caused the death of someone, Quincy always pushed Grissom harder to find out the truth.
But instead, Quincy quietly, in his unassuming way, spoke of the first woman who had captured Gil Grissom's heart. When Quincy told him that Diane Middleton's body had been found of an apparent suicide only two hours previous, Grissom lost his grip on the phone. The receiver landed with a loud 'clank' on his desk and his quivering hand covered his opened-mouthed stare. Moments passed in this static manner before he was aware of his high heart rate and he could hear the faraway sound of Quincy practically shouting his name. But it was the concerned sound of Emily Quincy's voice that jarred him back into the present.
"Gil, you're scaring Quincy. Gil, he's an old man, give him a break, pick up the phone." And after a moment of silence, Grissom heard her voice through the phone, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, ma'am," he automatically replied, when he picked the phone back up. His mind was filled with images of his younger self and the former love of his life hanging out at the beach, of the first time they had made love, of the day she left him for another man.
"Are you sure, Gil?" Emily's voice was full of concern.
"Yes, ma'am. Could you put Quince back on the phone?" He heard the unremarkable sound of a hand being placed over the receiver, then he listened intently as Emily muffled something to Quincy. Then the old medical examiner's voice filled his ear.
"That son of a bitch was released from prison only a month ago, Gil. I know in my bones he killed her."
"Where's the evidence, old man?" Gil softly chuckled in spite of the gravity of the situation.
"You gotta come help me, son. We'll pin the bastard up against the wall so fast, he'll never know what hit him."
Grissom considered Quincy's words; there was only one man he could have been referring to: Tony Correro, the man who had stolen his girlfriend from him all those years ago.
He no longer felt the sting of the break-up since he'd allowed Sara Sidle to break into his personal life and to help him recover his heart to allow him to share it again, because Diane had been a major stumbling block in the Grissom Sara Romance. Tony Correro had been a soldier in the Los Angeles Family who had worked his way up to Caporegime, meaning he achieved the rank of captain leading various other made men. Tony was a knee-breaker who turned into a vicious cold-blooded killer when ordered by his superiors. And the former love of Grissom's life had married the mobster, instead of the lowly coroner that he had been.
"I'll be there later this afternoon. I've got to move a few things around, but I'll be there, Quince."
"I see you still hold a grudge against the bastard who stole Diane from you. Are you still in love with her, Gil, even after all these years?"
Grissom didn't answer for a long time. "No, not anymore. I finally let her go a few years ago when I allowed another woman into my heart."
Quincy laughed in his ear. "You haven't sent us a wedding invitation, yet. Or did you run off to one of those chapels of love there in Vegas?"
"I haven't asked her yet." Grissom cleared his throat, seeing Nick and Greg standing in his door way, awaiting assignments. Nick nodded to him and walked away, but Greg lingered. "I'll see you this afternoon. I need to get to work."
"Gil, I am sorry."
"For what, boss?" Both men chuckled over the long, unused nickname. "You didn't kill her."
"No, but I introduced her to the prick all those years ago. I'm sorry."
"Quincy, goodbye. Oh, and I'll see if my soon-to-be-wife will be able to accompany me. She's a CSI."
Greg Sanders was still standing in Grissom's doorway as he politely pretended he wasn't eavesdropping. The young man's eyes enlarged when he heard affirmation of something he'd long suspected but never had been confirmed. Grissom looked up, realized his faux pas waved Greg into the room.
"That would only be logical, son. See you later, then Gil." Quincy ended the call.
Grissom hung up the phone and looked at the former lab rat. "Anything you overhear in my office is unsubstantiated."
"I get it, boss." Greg smiled. "Listen, if there's someone who you call 'boss', then what does that make me?"
"A pain." Grissom deadpanned. He switched gears for a moment. "Is Catherine in, yet?"
"Yeah, I think I saw her in the AV lab with Archie going over video from the Brian Stinson murder case."
"Good, she's going to need you and the other guys to help her over the next few days. She will be in charge while Sara and I go out of town for a few days for a funeral for a friend."
Greg shifted uncomfortably in the rigid seat, "So, you and Sara...?"
"If I hear a word of gossip over this matter spread around the lab, I hold you personally responsible."
"She couldn't have picked better...well, unless she picked me." Greg said under his breath as he quickly left the office, closing the door softly behind him.
Grissom took a deep breath and pulled out his cell phone. He text messaged Sara, "Come by the office ASAP. I need you."
He sat alone for several minutes as more memories from the past ran through his mind like a slide show.
Quincy performing an autopsy on a body as he watched; Lt. Frank Monahan's legendary arguments with Quincy over the cause of death of a body; learning to drink Scotch with the guys from the coroner's office; the first time he'd seen the tall, skinny, no-nonsense blonde waitress at Danny's Pub as she pretended she hadn't noticed him. Yet, all the while, she stared at him with a Mona Lisa like smile, while she cleaned a table from several customers. They'd left a huge mess, then stiffed her, not leaving her a tip despite the many trips she'd made to the table with refills of their beer. Diane's ubiquitous smile was the undoing of the twenty-two-year-old Gil Grissom. He knew the moment she smiled at him that he was in love. And apparently it was reciprocated.
It took months before the two were officially dating, but their flirting in the interim caused the young Grissom many a embarrassing moment at work. When the others would tease him about her, he promptly blushed. It was finally Diane who'd asked the shy coroner out on a date and for two years, they had shared what he believed was the love of a lifetime. When she left him for Tony, Grissom left Los Angeles within a matter of days, leaving for the University of Chicago to begin his doctorate in entomology and later to begin his work as a forensic scientist under the tutelage of Phillip Gerard in Minneapolis.
He'd thought of Diane more times than was emotionally necessary as the years passed in a relative haze of crime scenes and dead bodies and tried to avoid long term relationships with women out of fear of being betrayed until the beautiful brunette with a ponytail stole his heart at a conference at Berkley.
As if the very thought of her made her materialize, Sara Sidle slid into his office and quietly shut the door behind her. She eased around his desk and when he looked up into her eyes, she immediately took him into her arms for an embrace that steadied the man who owned her heart and body.
"What's up?" She whispered into his ear. "I got your text."
"I have to leave after shift to go to LA for a few days," his voice quiet, almost as low as her whisper.
Sara continued whispering, although she didn't know why, she just knew it was the right thing to do. "Why?"
"I need to help my old boss with a case and go to a funeral."
"Phillip Gerard is in LA?" Sara asked slightly incredulously.
"No, Dr. Quincy formerly of the LA county coroner's office."
"He needs a CSI from Vegas to investigate a murder--who died? Someone you know?"
"Diane Middleton."
The name struck fear in Sara's heart. She knew the woman's name and the story of her betrayal of Grissom well.
Grissom had told her of the time he'd been with Diane and even relayed the information that Diane was the main reason he'd never actively pursued her. He wasn't going to place himself willingly in a situation where his heart could be so easily hurt, again. But time and Sara Sidle had changed his opinion of love. After Nick Stokes' kidnapping, Grissom finally realized his mistake. He needed Sara in his life more than ever and he could not deny himself the pleasure of loving another person any longer.
Sara took a deep breath and released him from her embrace, "When will you be back?"
"Probably in several days."
"I'll miss you."
Grissom pulled her back into his arms, "You won't."
Sara scrunched up her face, inquiring with her eyes: What do you mean?
Grissom smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips. Sara was startled because he'd never shown any physical affection for her at the lab before then. "I want you to go with me. I've already cleared it with your boss."
"You're my boss."
"Exactly. Catherine will fill in for me and the guys can handle it without us for a few days." He looked down into her brown eyes again, before placing another kiss on her lips. "I really need you with me on this trip."
"Anything for you," she murmured as they kissed one last time before they left the room headed to the break room so Grissom could hand out assignments for the evening.
Grissom looked at the woman still holding his hand as the other mourners began throwing clumps of dirt and flowers on Diane's coffin as it lay in state in the six-foot hole. He squeezed Sara's hand again and she returned the gesture. He graciously allowed her to join the processional to say their final goodbyes to the woman who had been the first to steal his heart. His hand lingered on Sara's low back as the dirt from her hand listlessly fell onto the dark cherry casket. He took a moment to steady his own nerves before dropping the red rose onto the coffin.
Sara turned and cupped his bearded face in a gesture of love before they were approached by the Doctors Quincy.
Dr. Emily Hanover Quincy and Dr. R. Quincy were a striking older couple. Emily still wore her hair the same way Grissom remembered from the early 1980's and Quincy looked the same except for the slightly shrunken body of one who had advanced into a high geriatric age, the man was nearing 85, if Grissom calculated correctly.
Sara had unashamedly asked Quincy upon first meeting him, what the 'R' stood for, in which he'd flirtatiously replied, "Anything you want it to be." Sara Sidle looked the man over for a few moments then stated, "Reuben." In which the man replied, "You're the first person that's ever figured that out on the first guess. Gil, my boy, you have yourself a great little investigator here." In which Grissom laughingly replied, "You're named after a sandwich? No wonder you didn't want anyone to know."
The high level clouds were dramatically darkening in the distance and they heard a bit of rumbling from the thunder located somewhere over the Pacific.
Quincy's arm was placed carelessly around Emily's waist when he spoke quietly to Grissom, "The son of a bitch at least had the decency not to show up for the funeral. Of that I'm grateful."
"Quincy!" Emily's slightly high pitched voice broke through the stillness of the moment. "Don't use that kind of language here."
Grissom and Sara smiled at the woman who'd tamed the unflappable, highly-principled former Medical Examiner and veteran who had served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean conflict and also in Vietnam.
Sara hadn't over the course of the past few days been able to put a finger on who the woman reminded her of, but it finally hit her like a ton of bricks: Catherine Willows' mother, Lilly Flynn. The resemblance was remarkable but the two women were worlds apart in their lifestyles. All Sara knew for sure, was that she rather liked the older woman.
"Don't speak too soon, Quince." Grissom saw the man who he hated the most in the world embrace the young man who'd stood by himself mournfully weeping through-out the service. "Tony made it after all."
"Ahh, shit. Now, we have to be nice to the murdering son-of-bitch because we're here at the graveside. I wish we had evidence to prove he killed Diane." Quincy mumbled before turning in the opposite direction and grabbing Emily's hand. "Gil, you and Sara come over to the house later. We're leaving before I say something I shouldn't."
Sara spoke to Grissom as the Quincy's left the cemetery, "So, that's him?"
Grissom nodded his head without answering her out-loud.
"He's very handsome considering he is a 'murdering son of a bitch' who stole the love of your life." Grissom looked at Sara incredulously before she continued, "He does look a lot like you, without your beard. A goatee would look nice on you, should you be interested in knowing my opinion." Sara smiled, then threw a bombshell at her lover, "Even their son looks a good bit like you. Are you sure he's not yours?"
Grissom was speechless for a few moments, wondering if in fact the young man, Christopher Correro was indeed his child. He had heard in a round about way that Diane and Tony had a child, but he never had given any consideration to the fact the boy could have been his, such was his betrayal by Diane. The boy was certainly of the right age if perhaps Diane had been pregnant when she'd married Correro. He didn't notice the man roughly his same age approaching them from behind when the notorious gangster suddenly tapped him on the shoulder, startling him out of his musings.
"Well, if it isn't the dashing Gilbert Grissom. And who is this lovely creature beside you?" Anthony Correro was obliviously captivated by Sara Sidle, who was indeed quite lovely wearing a sleeveless short black dress, with matching kitten heels and a black obsidian stone necklace around her long graceful neck. Sara had perched her sunglasses on top of her head to keep her hair from flying away in the now chilly whipping wind.
His steely blue eyes bore into her with an intensity that made Sara blush.
"Tony." Grissom grudgingly admitted, "My condolences on the loss of your ex-wife. She will be missed by those who loved her. This is Sara Sidle, my girlfriend."
"Thank you for your warm words." The tall man, with slightly graying brown hair paused for a moment, smiled and continued, "Well, well, well the mighty Gilbert Grissom has found love again after all these years. Congratulations to the two of you." Tony smiled salaciously at Sara. "If you ever need a real man, call me." With that he handed her his business card, which read, Anthony Correro, Mergers and Acquisitions in bold raised lettering followed by two telephone numbers then gracefully and chivalrously bowed to her. Then he walked away from the couple, never looking back before pausing with his son, draping an arm over the young man's shoulders.
"God knows, if I ever wanted to kill a man for just being, he would be the one." Grissom muttered as he lead Sara, with his hand firmly planted on the small of her back, toward their rented Lexus.
Another sea-scented breeze filled the air as they reached the car. "It feels like it's gonna rain, soon," Sara said, as Grissom opened the passenger door for her before walking to the driver's side.
They drove to the Quincy's residence without speaking, but Sara was silently worried about Gil, scared that he was too vested in the situation to help solve the crime of who killed Diane Middleton Correro.
Grissom turned on the windshield wipers when the sudden storm began, he was again lost in memories from the past.
End of Chapter One. To be continued in Chapter Two.
As always reviews are appreciated.
A/N: To those of you who are interested: Anita Gillette the woman who portrays 'Lilly Flynn' in CSI is also the same person who played 'Dr. Emily Hanover-Quincy' in the later episodes of Quincy, ME. And imagine my original character of Anthony Correro as WP in the movie, "The Kingdom of the Blind": Slimy and sexy. And maybe Christopher Correro as WP in TLADILA. The character of 'Diane' was played by Diane Markoff in Quincy, ME. She was a waitress at Danny's Pub in the original series; there's not a lot of information about her character, so I made up quite a bit.