Hi Everyone,
I had to blow some dust off of this story, but here is finally the newest installment of the Guardian series. I must say I've lost some confidence in the story lately, hence the reason that I haven't update in a while. I hope there are still people who will enjoy this. Anyway, please feel free to review or to PM me.
Xxx
IronAngel240
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Griffin Bauer stumbled tiredly into her empty townhouse as she wiped her hand over her burning eyes. She kicked the door closed and threw her keys onto the kitchen counter.
The last shift had been brutal. Not only did she pull a multiple homicide (the result of a gang related shoot out), but Sara Sidle still refused to talk to her. It had been three weeks since Sara had found out who Griffin was, but the scene still played out in Griffin's mind as if it had happened mere seconds ago…
"What the hell are you?" Sara asked her eyes wide with fear.
Griffin was quiet for a moment before she answered, "I'm an Angel."
Griffin shuddered at the memory of the conversation that followed. She had tried to explain to Sara the sordid details of the Supernatural Realm… and it had ended with Sara storming out of Griffin's house and three weeks of agonizing and awkward silence.
Griffin hit the play button on her answering machine and poured herself a cup of tea as the first of three messages played.
"Hey, Griffin," said ADA Mitchel's voice, "Just wanted to say thanks! Without your input we never would've nailed that son of a bitch. But we got him. Well done, kid! I'll be in touch."
"Your welcome, Counsellor," muttered Griffin as she unclipped her gun holster from her belt and placed it on the counter along with her CSI ID. As she sank wearily onto the comfy sofa, the second message began.
"Hey, Babe," said the chirpy voice of Griffin's marine boyfriend, Ace Keenan, "I know you've been crazy busy at work, but I was thinking maybe we can go see a movie tomorrow? I'll even let you pick, even if it is some weird Sci-Fi shit. Let me know. Love you!"
Griffin smiled, but it quickly faded. She was going to have to address this Ace issue sooner rather than later. She couldn't keep leading him on, and if Griffin was one hundred percent honest, she was starting to develop feelings for someone else. A certain dark haired, dark eyed Texan CSI.
Griffin rested her head back onto the sofa and let out an unsteady breath. Nick was still avidly trying to worm his way into Griffin's heart, even though she told him she had a boyfriend. Since Sara had found out about Griffin, the older woman had refused to work with the 18 year old South African, so lately Grissom had been pairing Nick and Griffin together more often than not.
They worked well together, it was not the easy as breathing partnership that Griffin had had with Sara, but it was pleasant. No one had managed to make Griffin laugh like Nick did, and she loved it. Yet what attracted her most… was his compassionate heart. One moment, Nick could be goofing off, making Griffin laugh more than she ever had in her life, and the next he would be talking so tenderly to a victim's family that he melted her heart in an instant.
Nick was just….Good. He was pure light.
And Griffin had too much darkness in her life to drag him into it. He deserved better.
Romantic love was just not in the cards for Griffin. The sooner she accepted that, the better.
Griffin wiped an errant tear from her eye as the third and final message played.
"Griffin," said a gruff voice from the little black box. Griffin's head snapped up and she glared at the machine. Rage boiled and grew inside her as the message continued to play.
"…Please… call me."
The voice clicked off.
"You son of a bitch!" Griffin yelled and hurled her tea mug at the answering machine, sending it flying onto the floor and shattering along with the ceramic mug. She breathed hard for a moment as bitter anger rolled through her… along with another memory of Sara…
"Do you really expect me to believe all this shit?" Sara said in a husky voice that betrayed her fear and her fury. She had sprung to her feet after Griffin had tried to explain the mystery surrounding her, and the demons that had attacked Sara.
"I know it's a lot to process-"
"No shit, Sherlock," spat Sara as she interrupted Griffin for about the fiftieth time that night.
"Sara, please," begged Griffin her desperation clear in her beautiful, brown eyes, "Even though this situation is a little…okay, a lot fucked up, can't you see that it's all in your best interest?"
Griffin blinked as yet another tear rolled down her cheek, as she was brought back to the present by a loud clap of thunder and a pelt of rain that hit the glass sliding door in her living room.
Standing up, Griffin walked over to the door and watched as the rain came down in sheets over her perfectly manicure lawn. The cold coming off the glass caused Griffin to shiver as she wrapped her arms around herself. But in truth it was more in an effort to dull he incessant ache in her chest than to ward of the cold. Griffin rested her head against the cool glass and let out a ragged, pained sigh.
She missed Sara. Missed her so much it hurt. Being banished from Sara's presence was like cutting Griffin in half. She couldn't bear it, yet she had no idea how to fix it. One small comfort Griffin could take was that she knew Sara was suffering too. Granted not as badly as Griffin, but still… Not that Griffin wished any kind of hurt on Sara. The exact opposite was true, in fact. But if Sara felt the absence of Griffin's presence even a third as much as Griffin felt the absence of Sara's, maybe there was still hope…
Thud, thud, thud.
Griffin was startled from her pit of suffering by three loud bangs on her door. Looking up, Griffin felt uncharacteristic hope that it was the object of her contemplation at the door. The balm to her raw heart. The cure to her grief infected soul.
"Sara?" Griffin called out as she rushed to the door with a hopeful smile on her face. She jogged past the shattered mug and answering machine, past her holstered Glock that still lay discarded on her kitchen counter and wrenched the door open.
Her smile faded slowly as she beheld who stood out in the pouring rain on her doorstep.
"Griffin!" sobbed a drenched, auburn haired woman, "I didn't know where else to go!"
"Kate?" Griffin said her brain riddled with confusion that slowed her reaction. Her eyes drifted a little to the right and saw another woman hanging off of Kate, her olive complexion deathly pale.
"Oh my god! Ziva!" Griffin yelled and lurched forward to take the Israeli woman's weight from Kate's exhausted arms. That was when Griffin felt wetness seep into her clothes. At first she assumed it was merely rain water, but when she look down, she saw that her white shirt was covered in blood. The source of the blood was the side of Ziva's torso.
"Hurry," said Kate frantically as she followed Griffin inside the townhouse and kicked the door shut behind them. Griffin laid Ziva on her sofa and almost instantly the blood soaked the material.
That's not going to come out, thought Griffin errantly.
"They were right behind us," continued Kate as she placed a pillow under Ziva's head, "We don't have much time before-"
Kate was interrupted by the squeal of tires outside the house. Griffin glanced up at the cause of the noise, then stripped off her shirt and pressed it onto Ziva's wound to staunch the bleeding.
She looked up at Kate then and said in a hard voice, "What the hell have you gotten me into, Todd?"