Chapter seven: Truth is stranger than fiction
Toward the end of the shift, Catherine was completely exhausted. Wrapping things up so she could leave early she decided to check in on Sara and Grissom. Figuring Grissom would be screening his calls she knew to use her cell and not the lab phone.
"Hello, Catherine."
"Hey there, how is Sara?"
"She's a little sore, but overall doing pretty well. We haven't seen the doctor yet today, but her nurse is pretty sure they'll start unhooking some of this stuff later today. She even walked in the hall a little bit ago."
"Well, that is progress. Is she up for visitors?"
"Let me check," he held his hand over the mouthpiece while he whispered to Sara. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, and he wasn't sure if she was up for company. She nodded and shrugged, thinking she would need to face them eventually, and deep down, she craved their support.
Grissom gave Catherine and the team the all clear.
"Gil, I'm going home to get some sleep before I come by, but you need to let us know how to handle Ecklie. He's already been by to ask me what I know about you two, and he's furious at you for not answering his calls, I mean he's going ballistic, he wants to get you on this, bad."
"I can't worry about him right now."
"Well, you need to for the team's sake. You know he's going to grill us all about what we know, and if he finds out we tried to cover for you two, we'll all go down for it."
"Don't do anything but tell the truth to Ecklie; nobody needs to get in trouble on our account, besides, you guys don't know that much anyway."
"Trust me; this isn't going to just go away. You can't believe the gossip flying around this place about you two."
"Sara and I are dealing with a lot right now, I can't deal with him just yet."
"You need to be ready to face him, both of you. And, you need to let us know what to say as well."
"Ok, ok, just say as little as possible," trying to change the subject, "So are you going to call the guys?"
"Yes, I need to get in touch with them regarding the schedule anyway. Do you two need anything brought up there?"
"Not a thing, you were very thorough."
"Thank you," not sure if that was a compliment or criticism, "I think."
Sara had been very quiet since they talked about her experience. Grissom was pretty sure that now would not be the time to bring up the potential fallout from their relationship becoming known at the lab, but it was something he'd put off too long already. Catherine's update on the gossip meter made it even more urgent.
"Sara," he fidgeted, "Those drawings I told you about, Natalie's sketches of me caressing your arm at the crime scene, um," shifting again, "well, they generated some gossip about us, apparently."
Sara's eyes widened, "What? I mean, who saw them?"
"Well, everybody really, they were in the layout room."
Sara's expression turned to panic, "I thought you said just the team knows about us."
"Well, um, just the team knows for sure; everybody else is just speculating."
"And Eklie?"
"Ah, I'm not sure what he knows to be honest. Catherine just told me he'd been on a tear though trying to get her to talk to him about us."
"Gil, what's going to happen to us?"
"I'm not certain we can keep this a secret much longer. I can't ask the team to lie for us, and I can't lie to Ecklie for that matter. He's going to keep asking about us until he gets the information he wants."
Sara looked skyward then closed her eyes trying to keep her tears from escaping. "I guess everything will change, and all I want is to go back to our life together the way it was."
Gil took her in his arms once again, stroking her hair, holding her tight. "We will be together, Sara, nobody can take that away from us." He could feel her sadness returning despite his reassurances, gently weeping, her tears were soaking into his shirt.
He held on as much for him as for her; he was far from certain that their careers would survive intact.
Meanwhile, Ecklie didn't leave the lab after he saw Catherine, but returned to his office, perusing Sara's personnel file. He was going to try to show she was treated preferentially, but was admittedly having trouble finding evidence of that. There was that time he refused to fire her after Ecklie's suspension, but as he predicted, there were no further problems of that nature. In frustration and weariness, he went to the break room in search of coffee. There he found David Hodges having a cup and perusing a forensic journal.
Ecklie knew Hodges had a delusional attachment to Grissom, but even more so, he was the world's most shameless brown-noser. He would incriminate his own mother if he thought he could impress someone higher up and advance. The odds of him having the inside scoop on their relationship was slim to none, but one thing was certain; if he had it, he was spilling it.
"So, David," Ecklie began his slimy sucking up routine, "Anything interesting in your lab tonight?"
"You know, Conrad," Hodges started in, puffing out his chest, "Trace can only turn out interesting results when the CSI's bring in interesting evidence."
Ecklie smiled, "I know what you mean." Sipping on his coffee, "Well, David, I'm curious, what do you make of all this gossip regarding Grissom and Sara being a couple?"
Hodges smirked and nodded knowingly. Looking around to make sure the coast was clear, "Well, Conrad, you know Grissom doesn't keep many secrets from me, we're pretty tight."
"This is true," Ecklie replied, suppressing a laugh. This oughtta be good!
Eager to impress with his knowledge of Grissom's guarded private life, "Well," he smirked, "Grissom and Sara have been pretty much living together for over a year."
Just then Ecklie spewed the coffee he was about to swallow out all over the table.
"What!?!"
Hodges smiled, "You mean you didn't know?" He was grinning from ear to ear, he had knowledge the powers that be sought out.
Ecklie was aghast; this was even more involvement than he expected to find. Trying to remain calm, "Can you go on record with this information?"
Hodges shrugged, "I really wouldn't want to betray my friend Gil, you can understand that."
"Well, let me remind you, covering up the violation is just as serious as the violation."
"In that case, then, yes, I can go on record. But, well, will Grissom learn how you got the information?"
"No, he does not need to know that."
Hodges sighed in relief.
"One more thing then, may I ask how you know this? I mean this isn't just idle gossip you overheard, is it?"
Hodges was uncertain on how to answer. He desperately wanted Ecklie to think he knew this because of his friendship with Grissom. He whispered, "Knowing the man the way I do, let's just say, it was hard to miss." That's the truth, sort of.
And he looked around, making sure the coast was still clear before he slithered back to his lab.
Ecklie shot out of the room with renewed vigor to start the process up. While Hodges' information was not the 'iron clad' evidence he sought; it was more than enough to open a formal investigation. He stayed up half the night preparing the paperwork for the administrative inquiry he would file first thing in the morning. From now on, anything he learned about Sara and Grissom's relationship would go into an official file and eventually onto their permanent record.
tbc....
