SLOW BURN
~ Chapter 7 ~
He had an armful of books when the scream began and, without a moment's hesitation, he threw them all to the floor and took off at a run.
He cut through the kitchen and had just turned into the hallway when the sound abruptly stopped but still he continued on, taking the corner at speed and only slowing as he approached the bedroom door where he quickly twisted the handle and pushed the door wide.
"Sara?" Standing in the doorway, his eyes raked quickly over the room searching for dangers of any kind before coming to rest on its single occupant. "You okay?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry; I'm fine." Struggling to catch her breath, Sara sat upright in the middle of the large bed; the bedding was twisted around her and both her hair and the faded 51's t-shirt that she'd recently appropriated for sleepwear were damp with sweat. "Just a nightmare, that's all." She huffed out a brief embarrassed laugh as she roughly rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Well, afternoon-mare is probably more appropriate, I guess." She drew in a deep, calming breath as she extracted herself from the tangle of bedding. "What time is it?"
Moving into the room fully, Grissom allowed himself a sigh of relief as he checked his watch. "A little after one." Stepping soundlessly across the freshly laid carpeting, he crossed to the bed and eased himself down on the edge. "You've only been asleep for a couple of hours."
"Really could have done without that last one," she joked as she met his worried look with what she hoped was a reassuring one of her own. She pushed herself back to recline against the headboard and crossed her legs at the ankles. "Thank god Ben isn't here; I probably would have scared him to death."
"Well, he wouldn't have been alone in that," he admitted with a smile as he placed a comforting hand on his wife's bare knee. "So, how did he kill me this time?"
The nightmares had been a semi-regular occurrence ever since she'd been taken from the Galleria's parking lot. There was no particular pattern to them, some weeks she'd have one or two and others she wouldn't have any at all but each and every one of them ended with Grissom dying at the hands of her abductor.
"Does it matter?" Rubbing her hand lightly over her stomach, Sara shuddered at the memory of the dream she'd just experienced. "It's over now; I'd just as soon forget it."
"You remember what the therapist said, right?" A single eyebrow arced in question and Grissom cocked his head as he caught her eye. "And what we agreed? No bottling things up; when you have a dream like that, we talk it through so that you can get it out of your system." Grabbing hold of her hand, he squeezed her fingers lightly. "It's not good for you and it's not good for the baby if you simply brush it off and go on like nothing's happened."
"I know, I just…" Sara sighed heavily and shook her head. "You know there are times when I could kill Catherine for making me go for counseling again."
"If she hadn't, I would have," he told her honestly. "I made the mistake of not getting you the support you needed once before, remember?"
"Back then, I would have fought you tooth and nail and you know it." Her voice softened. "Now, although I hate every minute of it, I know for my sake - for our family's sake - it's something that I need to do." She grinned. "But don't tell Catherine that I said that."
"After having our pregnancy news escape the way it did, I'm very careful with what I let her in on these days." He smiled as he spoke but Catherine's accidental disclosure to Hodges and the man's obvious delight at spreading word of the pregnancy to all and sundry still rankled. "So, in the words of your therapist, vocalize the nightmare for me."
"Okay, you win." Knowing there was no way he'd let the subject drop, Sara rolled her eyes melodramatically. "It was a couple of days before we closed on this place so about four weeks ago, I guess." She felt her hand tighten into a fist as the memories of the dream washed through her and made a conscious effort to relax it again before continuing. "He was waiting for us when we got back to the Henderson house. I took Ben inside; he'd fallen asleep in the car so I carried him through to his bedroom and got him settled."
She looked up suddenly, a mixture of raw fear and anger written clearly on her face.
"I must have walked right past him and I didn't have a clue, everything was just as it should have been, there was nothing to tell me he was there." She shuddered at the thought. "He could have stopped me then, he could have taken Ben, he could have-"
"Sara!" The hand around hers tightened suddenly and she looked down to see Grissom slip his fingers between hers. "It wasn't real, remember; it was a dream and he can't hurt you or Ben or…" He shrugged lightly. "…even me."
"I know." "She breathed out slowly in a concerted effort to regain her composure then offered him a shaky smile. "These dreams just seem so real at times though, so fresh." She shook her head. "Sometimes it almost feels like he's visiting me, you know? Like he's actually here."
"He's not though and he never will be." He lightly rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. "Every dream you've had about him has taken place in Mom's house not this one and we left there a fortnight ago. He has no idea where we've gone and, to be honest, I really doubt he'd care anyway; it's been ten weeks since he took you from the mall and there hasn't been even a hint of him hanging around since. Whatever the hell that was all about, I think he realized that day that he'd bitten off more than he could chew and that's why he let you go as quickly as he did." He shrugged dismissively. "I don't think he's the threat that your nightmares make him out to be, honey; I think you're safe here, I think we're all safe."
"Which is why you have an appointment with a home security consultant tomorrow, huh?" Sara commented drily.
"Actually, that's just me being sensible; inside this house is everyone and everything that matters to me and I'm not taking any chances with them." Grissom's mouth quirked up into an easy grin. "Not to mention, we'll save a fortune on insurance premiums by having the place kitted out with a top of the line security system and the company that Jim recommended has promised that that's exactly what they'll give up."
"At a price." She pointed out, a little dubious that they really needed everything her husband seemed determined to get.
"Of course at a price," Grissom scoffed good-naturedly. "But we can afford it and, I think, for everyone's peace of mind it's a necessity." He shrugged. "I want our lives and our children's lives to be as safe and worry-free as possible and this seems like the most sensible way to ensure that." He kept his hand locked around hers as he made himself a little more comfortable on the side of the bed. "I thought I'd give Jim a call and see if he's free tomorrow so he can be here when the guy arrives, I think between the three of us, we ought to be able to cover all the bases."
"I think he's working nights at the moment, isn't he?" Sara frowned as she tried to remember. "I'm sure Helen mentioned something about that last-"
She stopped suddenly and drew in a sharp breath then, twisting her hand in his, used it to push his fingers tightly against the mound of her stomach.
"Here, press here." Holding Grissom's hand in place, she looked almost imploringly at him. "Can you feel it?"
She'd done this a number of times over the weeks since she'd first felt the baby move but, as much as they'd tried, he'd not been able to feel a thing; however now, with the initial faint flutterings morphing into tiny taps and kicks, she hoped she'd finally be able to begin sharing this particular aspect of her pregnancy with her husband.
Sara watched him anxiously, holding his hand ever tighter against her flesh and she breathed out a sigh of relief at the sight of his mouth curving up into a delighted smile.
"I do, I can feel it." Moving his hand out from her grasp, Grissom covered a larger expanse of her belly with both his fingers and palm. "Right there," he looked up, his eyes wide with wonder. "That's our baby!"
"It certainly is." Sara concurred happily as she felt a slightly stronger jab land just beneath her husband's thumb. "I think he's just woken up."
"He?" Keeping his hand where it lay, Grissom chuckled. "For someone who decided she didn't want to know the sex at the last scan, you seem pretty certain it's a boy."
"Just a hunch, that's all." She shrugged lightly but then frowned. "You didn't mind, did you? About not finding out, I mean."
"No, not at all." Absently stroking the skin beneath his fingers, Grissom smiled. "I told you that day that I was leaving the decision up to you and I'm more than happy to wait to find out if this is Ben's little brother or little sister."
Satisfied that all was well, Sara relaxed against the headboard again. "Did you do this with Ben? Did you get to feel him before he was born?"
"No." He shook his head, his attention fixed once again on his hand and the intermittent movements going on beneath it. "I really wasn't all that comfortable around Melissa when she turned up in Flagstaff and, although I'd have loved to, I never felt as though I had the right to ask." He glanced up, his expression a mixture of bemusement and embarrassment. "There was also the fact that, until Ben was born and I saw him for myself, I couldn't be entirely sure that she was telling the truth about him being mine." He shrugged and sighed. "I could see his movements though, even through her clothing, you could see her stomach shift whenever he moved around."
"Well this one you can feel anytime you like." Reaching down again, Sara replaced her hand on his. "In fact, I'm going to insist on it and that goes for Ben too. According to the book I'm reading at the moment, the more the four of us get to know each other now, the quicker and easier it'll be to settle everyone into a workable routine when he finally gets here."
"Or she." Grissom pointed out. "Hunches have been known to be wrong, you know."
"I know," Sara smiled. "And, honestly, I'm not going to be disappointed if I'm mistaken but, right now, my money's on a boy."
"Well, I think he or she has gone back to sleep." With no further movement to be felt, Grissom slipped his hand off her stomach and pushed to his feet. "So, I guess the question now is, are you going to do the same?"
"Me?" Sara shook her head. "Uh-uh, not right now; I might be feeling better about the nightmare that I had but I'm not sure I'm willing to risk revisiting it just now." Wrinkling her nose, she plucked at the neck of her damp t-shirt. "No, I think I might grab a shower and then spend some time helping you sort out your office and, if I feel like it later, I'll get another couple of hours sleep before I have to leave for work." She cocked her head. "What time are you picking up Ben?"
"I told Lily I'd be there about four." He checked his watch. "Which, with two of us working on it, ought to give us plenty of time to get the office finished before his majesty decides to 'help' us with the task." Holding his hands out, he assisted Sara off the bed. "But first things first, while you hit the shower I'll go and rustle you up some lunch; you've got to be hungry."
"At the moment I'm always hungry." She commented with a chuckle as she grabbed her robe from the end of the bed. She started towards the en-suite bathroom but turned back suddenly. "Oh, and it was an accident or, at least, I think it was."
In the process of straightening out the bedding, Grissom frowned in confusion.
"Huh?"
"Your cause of death." Leaning casually against the door frame, Sara hugged her robe to her chest. "I was forced to tie you to a chair and when you struggled he lashed out with his gun and caught you on the temple."
"Well, that's certainly a lot less violent than some of the ways he's finished me off." He kept his tone deliberately light, not really wanting her to dwell any more than was necessary on the events of her nightmare. "Maybe that means he's losing his hold on you?
"Yeah, maybe." Following her husband's movements as he travelled around the bed smoothing the last of the creases from the duvet cover, Sara couldn't help but stare at the area around his temples. "I sure as hell hope so, anyway."
Five minutes later, having retrieved the books he'd earlier thrown across the living room floor, Grissom carried them into his home office and slid them carefully onto the edge of his desk. He stood for a moment, staring out through the window to the quiet street beyond; he'd meant what he'd told her, he really did believe they'd be safe here or, at least, they would be as soon as the last of the landscape work was finished and the security measures were all in place.
Satisfied with everything they'd achieved so far, he pulled his cellphone from his pocket and quickly dialed Jim's number before turning from the window and leaning back against the edge of the solid timber desk. He stared at the wall of bookshelves as he waited for Brass to pick up and it was at the exact same moment that his friend did that the dusty black sedan rolled by unnoticed outside.
