Bloody Valentine

Part Three

Hodges wandered down the hallway, paying attention to the papers in his hands instead of the path before him. As he passed Archie's doorway he glanced up quickly before continuing on his way, only to double take at the amount of people crammed into the room, huddled around something. His heart felt as though it skipped a beat; had they found the perpetrator? He entered the room, annoyed that he was missing out on something. Again he was singled out from the rest, and again he'd have to try to wriggle his way in to the inner circle.

"Hey, what's going on?" He asked, causing them all to react in slightly different degrees of surprise.

Catherine clutched her chest, "God I thought you were someone else..." She trailed off, sure that if she held her breath and kept a straight face, she could maintain a calm composure...but that failed. A large smile burst out across her face before she turned back to whatever it was Hodges couldn't see. His heart beat faster.

"How funny would it have been if it was him?" Warrick chuckled. He hadn't composed himself to face him yet.

"Yeah, just about as funny as it's gonna be when they explain themselves," Nick shook his head,

"Wait...funny? Isn't this about the heart? What did you find?" Hodges asked, a dozen questions waiting to follow on from these.

"Well, you could say they're related to a heart, or even two." Catherine said over her shoulder.

Hodges moved forward. They were all crowded around Archie's computer, the only way he was going to see was to find out for himself. He pushed forward, parting a small space for himself. When he saw the mere 5 seconds of grainy footage on the screen he could have sworn his jaw hit the floor.

"Where's Grissom?" Archie asked Hodges. If anyone were to know of his whereabouts, it would be him, the man who often tried way too hard to get into their boss' good graces.

"I haven't seen him. I've got work to do." With that he turned to leave, no longer feeling out of the loop. His heart still beat at a higher rate. Just as he began to round the corner he collided with Greg.

"Hey, watch it man." Greg said as he regained his balance. Hodges nodded and hurried down the corridor. Greg frowned, no comment from Hodges? That had to be a first. He turned his attention away from him. "Have you guys seen Sara?"

"I know one place you could probably look..." Catherine replied, smile still permanently fixed to her face.

"Or someone you might find her with..." Nick added.

"...Okay...what am I missing?" Greg asked curiously.

"Well, to answer you first question, yes, we have seen Sara." Archie said as he gestured for Greg to come closer. "There she is..." He said as he repeated the footage once more.

"Oh my God..." Greg trailed off, just as gob smacked as they'd been moments before. "Well then, does anyone know where Grissom is?" He cracked. They all laughed together, their laughter fading slowly to a weird sort of silence. They all could see this coming, Sara and Grissom, the little moments, the unspoken things that they shared, those times where it felt like being in the room with them was like an intrusion. It played again, showing Sara and Grissom walking hand in hand into the locker room, then moments later out of the locker room, still hand in hand...

"Look, Sara still doesn't know that the heart isn't human, so while you guys figure out a way to torture the two of them with this, fill me in on the plan." Greg grinned mischievously and went off to find Sara. Maybe that was why it was so hard to find her, she could be anywhere with Grissom, locked inside some utility closet...And then there she was. Sara crossed the end of the corridor, breaking Greg out of his trail of thought. Lucky, otherwise he could've been scared from the pictures in his head.

"Sara!" He called out as he got closer. "It isn't human, it's pig." He thought she'd be relieved, but if she was she didn't show it. Sara frowned. It wasn't human. It was animal. That didn't make her feel any better. She couldn't think of a single person who would want to hurt her, to threaten her...it could just be a stupid, yet innocent prank. It couldn't be more serious than that, could it?

"Did they find anything on the tapes?" She asked.

"No, they didn't find anything, about that..." He grinned to himself before leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Sara went and sat down, her head in her hands as she mulled over the small amount of information that she had. Non human, animal heart. No fingerprints. No footage. No suspects. Well, maybe that last one was a lie...She had suspected Grissom for a few moments, but knew she was being stupid. She went in search of Archie. She wanted answers, whether he could give them to her or not.

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"I don't know what I can get out of the footage." Archie frowned, back to work.

"What, besides some classic blackmail material?" Catherine smiled, "from the list we've compiled, no one's entered the locker room who doesn't work here."

Archie nodded. "There's no sign of tampering with the footage, of any loops, nothing. There isn't anything missing, no one's accessed the footage except me. That rules out a cover up."

"So, considering it's a pig's heart, it's Valentine's Day, and the only possible person responsible works in this lab, and uses that locker room...prank?" She raised her eyebrows. Who the hell would do that?

Archie nodded again. It was the only possible explanation. And seeing as it hadn't turned out to be serious, he felt his guilt about their earlier amusement leave him. "How do we narrow it down now?"

"I'm not sure, but whoever did this is more than likely going to be killed over this. But before that happens we'll have to thank them for giving us the opportunity to see what we've seen."

Archie let out a chuckle, unaware that Sara stood at the doorway. She felt herself glaring at them, at the back of their heads as they laughed at a time like this. How could they be amused now? Sure she was being a little over dramatic in the way she expected them all to be focused on her and her problem, but wouldn't they expect the same if they were in this kind of situation?

"Have you found new anything yet?"

"Nothing that points to one person. Sara, despite how serious we though it could've been, it looks like it's just a prank. "

Just a prank...funny how that just didn't make her feel any better. She slumped down in the nearest chair and looked at the list Archie and Catherine had compiled...She didn't know whether to try to feel relieved or feel incredibly pissed off that it was one of them. And why her?

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Catherine found Grissom in his office, mulling mindlessly over a stack of paperwork. She studied him for a moment. Concern was etched into his features. Was it concern simply for Sara, or because he had something else to be concerned about, like hiding the fact that he'd planted the heart? She sighed, catching his attention. She knew it wasn't him, despite the thought that he could, quite possibly, see the image of a pig's heart in a locker as morbidly romantic. "We've narrowed it down to everyone who uses that locker room. It was one of us." She said as she took a seat across from him. He leaned back in his chair, his brow furrowed as he began to think. After a few moments he leant forwards, "I know how to get them."

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Everyone sat within the break room waiting for the meeting to begin. Grissom had something he needed to discuss with all of them, though what exactly they didn't know. Sara sat on her own, exhausted and tired of it all. They all chatted away with each other, though one was doing their best not to fall apart right then and there...

Grissom and Catherine slowly headed towards the room, letting them all sit there and wait for them that little bit longer, letting the guilty person stew with concern. It was one of them, and that one person would soon crack. Despite the fact that they all knew that there was nothing on the footage and no forensic evidence to narrow it down, but Grissom knew exactly how to play this one out.

They entered the room, everyone's eyes upon them as they headed straight to the front of the table. Catherine followed Grissom's instructions to the letter, keeping her face expressionless and making eye contact with each and every one of them. He did the same. They stopped at the head of the table. Grissom held something out of view beneath the table top, whilst Catherine held a folder in her hands. Without saying anything, Grissom lifted the bag onto the table, the blood soaked bag still dripping slightly from the last of the drying blood. It made a soft thud as it hit the surface of the table. He then took the folder from Catherine and opened it, pulling out a large photograph. He looked down at it, then made a sweep of the room, again making eye contact with each and every one of them. He watched for any change in body posture, facial expression, anything that would indicate a guilty conscience to him. After all he relied on evidence.

He paused a moment as he looked at the photograph, and looked up once more before looking at Catherine, asking with a small gesture whether he should show them all the photo. She nodded and gestured for him to show them all. He slowly lifted the photo higher so that all would be able to view it, and with equal speed began to turn it around for all to see.

"Alright!" Hodges exclaimed, unable to take the silence, the tension, the pressure he felt in that small room.

"You? It was you?!?" Sara was suddenly very alive and had no inkling of the tiredness she'd felt only minutes earlier. She narrowed her gaze as she crossed the room and stood inches in front of him.

He put up his hands as he stood, "I…I didn't mean for this to happen, it was a joke, they dared me to, it wasn't supposed to be taken so seriously." Hodges said, hoping that now she could see the funnier side of it. He looked at all of them, searching them, waiting for someone to say it was okay instead of staring at him the way they all were. What was he supposed to do? Turn a good dare down, be ridiculed? Sara's face softened as she turned her face away from him. For a split second Hodges dropped his guard and allowed himself to sigh...perhaps in relief...but that relief was not deserved. Sara quickly faced him again and within an instant she drew back her fist and punched him in the face.

Hodges dropped to the floor holding his nose in pain. She stepped over him and left the room, soon followed by each of her colleagues who simply walked past him without giving him the slightest piece of attention. Blood from his nose ran between his fingers and began to drip forming a characteristic pool on the floor...

The End.

I hope it wasn't too disappointing after all this time. I was initially, way back in July, was going to go with a more serious fic but with the help of a friend, decided to do some Hodges hating and go with a lighter ending. If anyone would like to see a more serious, alternate, non-pig direction, just comment and I'll get on it. As always, reviews are appreciated // Britt