a/n I have noticed on previous stories if I post chapters close together people seem to skip a chapter so I thought I'd let you know that chapter 6 was posted just yesterday. Disclaimer: I do not own CSI. Chapter 7
Grissom walked carefully through the house, careful to avoid any potential evidence. The rest of his team were to wait on the lawn as he preformed the initial walk through. Sara had yet to arrive when he entered the house but he knew Catherine had called her in. As he walked through the house he had noticed butterflies displayed throughout all the rooms. Finally, he reached the master bedroom, where he would find the master bathroom and the body of a young girl.
He inched his way into the bathroom and saw the body positioned on the floor of the shower. He noted the butterfly tattoo on the victims lower back standing out against her pale skin. Brown hair falls over her shoulder. Bending down to get a closer look he drew in a sharp breath. This woman could have been Sara, their features, their appearance, were so similar it scared him. Standing up he looked away from the body reassuring himself Sara would be outside waiting for him.
Grissom took several more minutes examining the bathroom getting his emotions under control before heading back to the group outside. As soon as he steps out his eyes seeked out Sara. As he caught sight of her amongst the team he felt his body relaxed ever so slightly. Brass was the first to notice him emerge from the house.
"Ready for us?" Brass asked drawing his attention away from Sara. Hearing Brass the rest of the team also turn towards him.
"For now, no one enters this house except CSI," Grissom ordered.
He went through the details of his walk through and started handing out directions. Warrick was sent to search the car before he turned to Sara,
"Sara, you take the perimeter," Grissom told Sara wanting to keep as much distance between her and the body.
"What? You just did a one-hour walk-through. The perimeter cannot be a priority," Sara argued.
"I need you to work the outside. Catherine and I will be inside," he told her. He received a glare that he was now gotten used too before she turned and walked away. With a shake of his head Grissom returned to the house.
Hours of searching later Sara had come up empty handed. She decided to find out how the others were doing and stopped by Warrick still working on the car. Warrick had at least come up with something with a backseat still full of groceries.
Inside Grissom was still having trouble being in such close quarters with a dead body resembling Sara. He was relieved when Catherine entered. She looked around the bathroom as Grissom noted the smell.
"Cleanser. Bleach maybe," Catherine suggests as she moves towards the shower, "arterial spray is neck high. Indicates she was standing when she was attacked. The highest gush of blood has the most volume."
"Definite lack of lividity. She must have bled out," Grissom added once again looking down at the body
"The killer had to get something on him. Had to be a bloody mess, but there's no ... footprints, there's no handprints, no smears," Catherine continued.
Grissom looked sadly at the body, who had taken the time to clean up after themselves. What had happened to make someone do something like this to another human being. Catherine now stood closer to the body, crouching down to get a better look she quickly turned back to Grissom.
"If I didn't know she was outside I could have sworn this was Sara," not getting a response she noticed his stare. "you noticed it too. That's why you wouldn't let Sara in the house."
"We're not talking about this. We have a job to do. A murderer to catch," Grissom told her moving out of the bathroom for a minute to take a breath before re-entering and getting back to work. Catherine continued to stare at him for a minute amazed to see a dent in there leaders amour. As much as he tried to hide it he really did care for Sara.
GSR
Sara seemed to be the one that ended up on her back under the house. There were two many drains in the bathroom with traces of blood. So here she was, wrench in hand, removing pipes. It wasn't how she thought her night would go, but this was better than the way her date had ended. Fifteen minutes later as she is heading back to the lab. Filtering the water from the drain was useless. Bleach, it had destroyed any possible DNA and evidence. Picking up the piece of drain she had removed she studied the inside. Spotting a stray hair she pulls out her tweezers to extract it. Yes, she thought, we have a skin tag.
GSR
Grissom remained at the house continuing to look for evidence when everyone else had retuned to the lab. The victim, Debbie Marlin, really had a thing for butterflies. Everywhere he looked he found them. At least now he didn't have to look at the body any longer now that it was in the morgue. Unfortunately there were still pictures. Pictures of a happy, fun loving, young woman who looked too much like Sara. He picked up a picture, Debbie was smiling for the arms in the air. It had been too long since he had seen Sara smile like that. He missed her smile. Startled out of his thoughts as he phone rang he answered it without checking the caller.
"Grissom."
"Hey," he heard Sara say throwing him even more off balance.
'Sara, uh, listen, I'm in a bad area. I'll call you back," he told her.
Not because he didn't want to talk to her, but because at the moment he couldn't. He needed the space to distance her from this crime. He didn't want her anywhere around him at this point in time. He just didn't know what he might do if she was nearby.
"I got a skin tag off the bathtub drain pipe." she told him not catching on as he tried to concentrate on what she was telling him.
"Skin tag? That's great. Uh, give it to Greg," he told her.
"Yeah, I did. Hey, do you want me to come over there and give you a hand?" she asked.
"No, I-I'm fine," he told her quickly, "I'll-I'll, uh ... I'll talk to you back at the lab," he ended, hanging up before she could respond.
GSR
Sara looked at her phone as she hung up. Grissom was acting weirder than usual. What was it with this case that he was so obsessed with. The only other time she had seen him obsess about a case it involved a dead baby…
"You told me a few weeks ago that nothing is personal. No victim should be special. Everyone follows your lead," she told him.
"Everyone didn't find that baby. I did. And that little boy is dead because someone lost their temper or screwed up, or god knows what. So, excuse me, but this victim is special," he snapped back, not backing down.
…but there was no child involved this time. Just a young nurse and some unidentified body parts found in garbage bins behind the house. Deciding that Grissom wasn't her problem she decided to head over to the garage to see if Warrick could use her help instead.
GSR
They were having trouble finding any answers. Grissom hadn't yet left the house. So while they were seated in the conference room he was on speaker phone. As they are going through the details of what could have happened Greg joins them, finally, with some answers. Body parts belonged to Michael Clark, boyfriend of Debbie, their one suspect.
Grissom ordered them all home, as they ended the conference call for rest. He remained at the scene. Hours later he was on his knees in the hall testing the carpet for GSR when Catherine walked in,
"Don't tell me you never went home?" she asked.
"Okay," he said looking up, "I just got started in here. Haven't even gotten to the other rooms yet," he told her.
"You know you lose your edge after sixteen hours. You're into your third shift. I mean, I'm all for overtime, but this is just plain greedy, Catherine tried, knowing he wouldn't admit to the real reason he was still here.
"My knees can't take this anymore," Grissom admitted sitting back.
"Have you eaten anything?" the mother in Catherine started to come out as she watched her tired friend.
"What did you bring?" he sounded hopeful at the sound of food.
"I'll see what's in the fridge," she told him with a shrug and turned towards the kitchen.
"We have to replace that, you know," Grissom called after her as he slowly stood up to follow her.
She was already in the kitchen pulling bread and peanut butter out of a cabinet. Opening the fridge she pulled out a yogurt. Noticing he had joined her she stopped what she was doing.
"I think we need to talk about what is going on here," she told him.
"I'm working a scene," he said.
"More like obsessing," she muttered under her breath, "there is more to it and you know it. The moment you saw that girl your mind has been elsewhere."
"I don't know what you mean," he lied taking the peanut butter from the counter.
"Don't lie to me. You see Sara in Debbie, I see it too. It's not Sara. She is still here. You two have been having a lot of problems lately, we've all seen it. We feel the tension when ever you are in the same room," he looks up at her startled by her admission.
"I can't talk about this," he turned to leave but was stopped by a hand on his arm.
"No, you stay. You have to eat. I'll leave you in peace. I'll be back shortly though to make sure you have eaten," she told him before exiting the room.
With a sigh Grissom picked up a knife and started to make a sandwich. Thirty minutes later Catherine returned as he was finishing off his yogurt.
"Well, now that we fed you, we should probably talk about a shower," she said as she entered, off the look she received she continued, "I mean at your place. You need to go home."
"As soon as we find some evidence, I promise" he argued and she gave up.
They went over the details again and this time came up with some toe prints to work with. Catherine deciding that since Grissom wouldn't budge she would take her chances with Sara. She sent Sara to the morgue to collect Debbie Marlins toe prints for comparison.
GSR
Sara entered the morgue. She was curious to get her first look at the girl who Grissom was obsessing with, but was also a bit nervous for reasons she did not know. She couldn't get the nerve up to look at the woman in question, so started with the reason she was there. She took prints of each toe but soon her curiosity got the better of her. Rolling her chair up along the side of the body she is taken aback when she comes face to face with someone that could have been her twin. All she could do was stare for a minute before she needed to turn away. Quickly she finished the prints and left the morgue.
She found Catherine in the locker room after she has finished comparing the prints.
"Hey, you seen Grissom?" she asked.
"He's still at the crime scene," Catherine told her.
"I eliminated both victims from the print you pulled off the bed," Sara told her quietly.
"Well, we know she was fishing off the company pier." Catherine said as the studied the younger woman, "you, uh, seen Debbie?" she asked.
"Yeah," Sara admitted.
"And?" Catherine prompted.
"Yeah, I compared her toe prints," Sara answered avoiding the unasked question.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think that was you on that table," Catherine tried again.
"I didn't really look at her face," Sara lied through a forced smile, "when you see Grissom, will you tell him?" Sara asked quietly as she left.
Catherine watched Sara leave. Sara had lied. She had definitely seen the resemblance and hadn't taken it well. Maybe it had been wrong to send Sara to do the prints, Catherine thought now concerned. What was with the denial between these two people.
GSR
The print had matched up to one of the doctors at the hospital, but he wasn't the murderer. Then a hair was found… and it turned out the killer had to be left handed from the way he made the cuts. All this led them to one doctor, Vincent Lurie.
As soon as Sara had heard that the suspect in Debbie Marlin's murder was down at the station she knew she had to be there to see the interrogation. The resemblance between her and the murdered woman had left her feeling slightly off center and she needed to see the person responsible for this go down for what he did. She entered the observation room after the interrogation had already started. She watched as Grissom and Brass questioned and put forward the evidence they had on the man. Vincent Lurie sat confidently in his chair as he answered each question asked.
Sadly it started to appear that once again a suspect would get away with their crime. It seemed to be happening more and more as the years went on, Sara thought sadly as the watched Lurie and his lawyer stand.
"It's sad, isn't it, doc?" Grissom said quietly as Lurie moved to leave the room, "guys like us. Couple of middle- aged men who've allowed their work to consume their lives. The only time we ever touch other people is when we're wearing our latex gloves. We wake up one day and realize that for fifty years we haven't really lived at all. But then, all of a sudden ... we get a second chance. Somebody young and beautiful shows up. Somebody we could care about. She offers us a new life with her... but we have a big decision to make, right? Because we have to risk everything we've worked for in order to have her. We risk it all... And ultimately end up being rejected for a younger man. She took away what she had offered you and gave it to somebody else. You were lost. So you took her life. You killed them both, and now you have nothing.
"I'm still here," Lurie told him.
"Are you?" Grissom asked.
Not answering Vincent Lurie turned and left the room, followed by his lawyer. Sara was seething from what she had just heard. Grissom remained seated in the interogation room pitting himself as Brass watched on. Turning on her heel she stormed out into the hall nearly walking straight into Vincent Lurie. She continues down the hall but stopped and angrily turned towards him as a single word passed his lips.
"Debbie…" he breathed out staring at her.
"No, not Debbie. Sara," She told him harshly as she turned away.
Continuing down the hall she threw open the interview room door startling both men still in the room. She turned to Brass who stood just inside the door,
"Leave," Sara told him shortly before focusing her attention on Grissom, who was still seated at the table across the room.
"I, ah, I think…" Brass starts noting Sara's glare and Grissom uncomfortably looking at anything but the angry woman who had just entered the room. Sara cut him off.
"Leave us," She told him again this time not taking her eyes off Grissom.
Silently Brass left. Sara moved across the room to stand across the table from Grissom. Placing her hands in the table she leaned across the table,
"Look at me," she snapped at him when he still hadn't looked up. Slowly his eyes raised until blue met brown, "how dare you," Sara growled across at him quietly.
I really don't say this enough. Thank you to everyone leaving reviews. You make me want to continue. The support I have received for this story so far has blown me away, so really, thank you. I have noticed a decline in the last couple of chapters though and was wondering, is there something you don't like about them. I will take any feedback you want to give good and bad. Just click below and leave me your thoughts.
