Nick didn't know what to say. His head went straight to ok, I need to call Grissom, and she's not ok. It must be the weird phone call and note, or something's seriously wrong. But he didn't say this out loud. He just kept driving and they pulled up outside the lab eventually. They sat there for a moment. As if by sitting there the world would pass them by, and neither would have to deal with what would inevitably be an extremely difficult conversation. A few more minutes went by.
"Don't you have anything to say?" Sara said, staring straight ahead.
"I don't want to say the wrong thing Sar'," he grabbed her hand.
"Well say something, anything, because it's all a bit messed up in my head right now, say the wrong thing if you really want to, just say something," she squeezed his hand back.
"I think you, or I, should call Grissom," he said seriously. He waited for her reply but he wasn't granted one.
They got out of the car and walked inside the building. They went to their shared office and Sara sat at her desk.
Nick went and told Russell what had been going on. He was considerate and concerned. Nick called Grissom and said what had happened; he booked a flight to come home.
Nick went into the office and shut the door.
"I called Grissom," Nick said quietly prepared to take an angry reaction. She didn't reply, she sat there and nodded.
He sat at his own desk and sighed.
"Will you do a DNA test?" Sara asked.
"Y…yes Sara, if you would like us to," he smiled sadly, not knowing himself whether it was out of pity.
She nodded and took out her phone, "well, I should…I should go, I'll meet Gil at the airport and we haven't really got any food at home, so I-."
"-Stop," Nick cut in, "Sara, I'm sorry, his flight gets in 3 hours from now, you can either stay here, or I can take you home, I don't want you to be alone."
She didn't look at him still. Her chest rose up and down as she inhaled and exhaled deeply. Nick let her sit there for a while and got on with some paperwork. After an hour Sara hadn't realised how long she'd been sitting there. She got up and left to go to the bathroom. Nick nearly called after her but she'd left her cell and keys on the desk. She'd be coming back. She didn't though. He went to look for her and found her sitting outside on a low wall, smoking a roll up.
"Since when do you smoke? I haven't seen you do that for about a decade," he sat next to her.
"Christ I've been here a long time," she flicked off the end and took a drag, "About once a month, more if I can't sleep well, none when Gil's home,"
They spoke for a while about Gil being gone. She opened up a bit which came as a surprise to Nick, but she was feeling particularly vulnerable so maybe sharing this wasn't talking about the current situation. After that they returned inside. Sara still sat there watching the clock, and didn't realise that she'd nodded off with her head on folded arms atop her desk. Nick watched her sleeping. She would awake with a stiff neck but he thought it best to leave her. He came and went from the office, kept going to the DNA lab to see if they'd processed the DB's. If they had, it would be easier to explain to Sara that maybe she needed some help. He kept the door shut though, to his office. She woke up after a while and went to the break room to get a drink and ran into Greg.
"Hey!" he said happily, "Nick wouldn't let anyone talk to you, you ok?"
She nodded politely and got some water, then sat down.
"I hear Dr Grissom is coming to get you?"
"Is he?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Nick said he was?" Greg collected his files and went to the door
"Well he seems to be in charge of me today so that's probably true," she sipped her water and watched him leave.
He didn't make any jokes really wow I must look rough.
By the time Grissom arrived, 4 hours after arriving at the lab, Sara was going crazy, but containing it for everyone probably already thought she was insane. He walked into the lab, politely addressing Nick and Greg while trying to avoid meeting anyone else. He wanted to find Sara. When he did they didn't even speak. He knew when she didn't want to. They hadn't seen each other in person for over a month, but an intimate greeting wasn't appropriate in this setting. He just held his arms around her for a moment and kissed her on the forehead before they went to her office and collected her belongings. The drive home was silent, as had much of the day been. But with Gil the silence wasn't awkward or uncomfortable, it was full and accessible.
When they got home she put away her things and took a shower. She got changed into fresh clothes and joined Gil out in the living room. They sat on the couch watching Friends re-runs and drinking coffee. Nick had promised to call Gil with the DNA results when they came in. When his phone rang at 8 in the morning Sara sat up and waited for him to answer the call. From his conversation with Nick, she couldn't gage whether the news was good or bad.
He sat down next to her and took her hand before telling her, "They tested your DNA against his. They triple checked it, and he was your father, the DB they found was your father."