AN: AU but again set before Warrick's death and before any mention of G/S becoming a couple. Also CHARACTER DEATH WARNING, not one of the team though.
Chapter 1/14
"What now," Gil Grissom complained as his cellphone started ringing. It was just after ten in the morning and he had just settled in after a busy night shift to get some much needed sleep. Looking at the ID on the phone he saw that it was Jim Brass calling, "Grissom," he answered the phone, wondering what the detective could be calling him for at this time of day.
"Hey Griss, I'm calling from an accident scene on the strip, and uhhh..." Jim started, trailing off, uncharacteristically at a loss for words.
"It's dayshift now Jim, call them." Grissom responded irritably as he laid back down to snuggle into his pillow, already ready to go back to sleep.
"There's three dead teens here." Jim replied, his voice cracking as he relayed the information. The tone in his voice as he said it effectively causing Gil to sit back upright. Jim was a hardened detective and had been on many a heartwrenching scene where he had refrained from showing any emotion. Even as his mind raced searching for answers as to why Jim had called him about this, a cold feeling of dread began settling in his stomach.
"Gil, one of the victims is Lindsey Willows." Jim finally said, his eyes moistening even as he finally said it aloud, hearing the sharp intake of breath on the other end of the phone.
"Are you sure Jim, positive?" Gil asked in disbelief, knowing there had to be a mistake.
"There was a student ID card in her purse, and there's no mistaking that the girl on the card and in the accident are the same. Though we did call the school to make sure she wasn't there, and they confirmed she wasn't. Jim reviewed the steps they had taken. "I thought you should be the one to tell Catherine, I'm not sure..." His voice trailed again as he continued to battle his own emotions at the scene.
"How did it happen?" Grissom asked, needing more answers before he could even let it sink in.
"Unofficially, seems like an accident, teen driver at the wheel, lost control of the car, ended up hitting a wall. She just got her license last week, none of them were wearing seatbelts." Jim gave all the details he could at the moment, his voice almost returning to normal as he returned to the basics of the case.
"You're positive Jim," Grissom said one more time as he tried to digest the information, feeling tears burn his eyes even as he started accepting it.
"You think I'd call if I weren't." Jim said, his heart heavy at hearing the pain mirrored in his friends voice. "You'll tell her?" He asked, wanting to make sure Grissom had accepted the task before he hung up. After receiving an affirmative answer, Jim hung up the phone and turned back to sadly survey the scene just as the bodies were being loaded onto the stretchers.
All thoughts of sleep were gone as Grissom felt the waves of grief began to wash over him as he pictured the last time he had seen Lindsey. It was only a couple of weeks ago when he saw her dashing out the door to the school bus as he was giving Catherine a ride home from work. She had been wearing a yellow t-shirt and jeans, her hair pulled into a ponytail, he had marveled for a second about how fast she was growing up. She had waved at him with a smile on her face, asking him when he was going to come over and spend time with her again. He had promised it would be soon as he began backing out of the drive, making a mental note to talk with Catherine about it later, only they had gotten busy and he had forgotten. He felt the emotions of grief, guilt, and anger all washing over him at once as he tried to process the information, wondering how he could tell this to Catherine, he knew she was strong, but was afraid for a moment that this could actually break her.
Catherine had finally drifted off to sleep after the long night shift and was more than a little irritated when she heard the knocking on her door. Seeing her supervisor on the other side she yanked it open prepared to tell him off for interrupting her much needed sleep. But the look on his face stopped her cold. The red-rimmed eyes and haggard look telling her something was very wrong. The man who hardly ever let his feelings show was in obvious pain about something. Taking his hand she immediately led him to the couch. "What's wrong?" she asked, sitting close, still holding his hand as she watched him struggle to find words. "Is it your Mother?" She had to ask as she could see him fighting back tears.
Realizing he was only going to make it worse the longer he dragged it out, Grissom managed to straighten and took her hands in his own before fighting to speak. "There was a wreck on the strip this morning," he began slowly, "three teenagers were killed." He said, taking a moment to gather his inner strength for what he knew he would have to say next.
"I'm sorry Gil, I know kids getting killed is hard," Catherine tried to sympathize, though she was having difficulty figuring out his reaction after the numerous cases they had shared that involved children, knowing he didn't usually get that emotional.
"Cath, I'm sorry, but Lindsey…" was all he could say before he choked on his words. Catherine watched him strangely for a moment as she tried to figure out why he was mentioning Lindsey in relation to the wreck.
Even as her mind started connecting the two and what he was trying to say, she started shaking her head no. "Lindsey's at school, she left just an hour ago." She said loudly, pulling back from him angrily.
"Jim checked, she's not at school, he's sure it's her." Grissom said, his voice hollow as he watched her becoming more and more angry. "I'm so sorry Cath," he tried to comfort her as he waited for the grief to hit.
Ignoring his attempts she pulled away from him, standing up abruptly as she moved away from him, what almost looked like hatred burning in her eyes. "How dare you lie to me like this, I thought you were my friend." She accused him. He was taken aback by her response, he had expected tears, some anger, but he hadn't thought of her going into denial this quickly. "Look, we'll go to the morgue, I'll prove it isn't her." Catherine said resolutely as she grabbed her purse and headed towards the door. Grissom followed dejectedly, but knew it was something that had to be done, both for acceptance and also to positively identify the body. He almost allowed himself to feel a spark of hope that maybe Jim was wrong as he climbed into the drivers side of his Denali to make the drive to the lab.
Catherine was oblivious to the sympathetic looks and averted eyes as she stormed down the halls of the lab towards Dr. Al Robbins domain. Word had spread fast around the lab and by now everyone knew about the tragedy that had hit so close to home.
"Catherine, I'm sorry…" Dr. Robbins said as he met her in the hallway, his face grave as greeted the two CSI's. Even though she had not invited him to come with her, Grissom was staying close at her heels, knowing she would need support sooner or later.
"This will only take a minute Doc, I've just got to show Gil how wrong he is and then we'll leave. Catherine said forcefully as pushed by him into the morgue, quickly approaching the sheet draped body that was under the lamp ready for examination. Whisking off the sheet she turned with a triumphant look, "see it isn't her, looks nothing like her," she proclaimed as she indicated the dark haired girl laying on the table. Before Doc Robbins even had to tell her that this wasn't the only body she turned to look at it again, her lip starting to tremble as she recognized one of Lindsey's best friends. "Lizzie," she mumbled in disbelief as she looked again at the girl on the table before casting a look around the room to the other two tables in the preparation area.
Almost as if in a daze she started walking towards them, instinctively picking the one on the right. Grissom steeled himself for what they were about to see as he walked up behind her. He tried reminding himself that he was supposed to be the strong one as he watched her pull back the sheet. The shriek that followed was one only a grieving mother could emit as Catherine laid eyes on the still face of her daughter. The room started to sway as she suddenly found herself unable to balance correctly, she felt strong arms wrap around her from behind to give her the support she needed as her knees buckled, she continued to scream as the strong arms kept holding her, though her eyes were closed as she was blinded by grief the image of her daughter was still frozen in her minds eye.