Chapter 10
Author's note: I don't own CSI but I do love to play with them! It's the sincerest form of flattery!
So, I wonder what happened to Carlos?
I'm sorry about the duplicate posting of chapter 9! Late night posting is clearly not a good idea! But thank you so much for letting me know. Without further hesitation – chapter 10 and a secret you didn't know about Catherine!
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A knock at the door alerted Catherine to the fact that she had another visitor.
"I'll be right there," she yelled, trying to use the crutches to get up from her perch on the sofa.
"No you won't," Grissom directed, "I'm up, I'll get the door."
He walked to the front door and, noting it was Sara, ran his hand through his hair and took a quick glance at the mirror in the front hallway to make sure he was presentable.
Opening the door, he greeted her with a handsome smile.
"I told you I'd be here!" he said.
"I'm glad you're here!" she answered.
The space between them seemed like the Grand Canyon, but they both knew that they could not let Catherine in on this yet. It was too new and too tenuous.
"I can't wait to get you alone," he whispered as they walked into the living room through the long hallway.
"Ditto."
"Hi Catherine, how are you doing," she said, changing her tone quickly.
"Well, all things considered, I guess I'm doing ok," Catherine answered, "But I'm bored to tears and can't wait to come back to work."
"I know the feeling," Sara answered, "I can't stand being home when I could be working on an interesting case."
"Rub it in, Sara," Catherine said, assuming that Sara was bragging about taking her place on the undercover case.
"Oh, Catherine, I'm sorry, that's not what I meant," Sara said apologetically, realizing she had sounded rather glib.
Grissom's phone buzzed.
"Grissom," he barked into the phone. "Oh, ok, I'll be there shortly."
"Ladies," he said as he stood up, "As fun as I think this would be, I have to go to the lab early. We have a dead exotic dancer and another dead driver."
"OK well, I'll be there in about an hour," Sara informed him.
"If she has made enough progress," Catherine corrected.
"Sara?" Grissom asked, "Can I get you to look at something in the Denali before I go?"
"Are you sure it can't wait?" Sara asked, pretending to be annoyed at his request, but knowing full well that she wanted the alone-time as much as he did.
"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."
"Grissom important or the rest of the world important?"
Catherine sat there with her jaw in her lap. They were at it again.
"You two sound like an old married couple, what is it with you?" she interjected. "Sara go see what your boss needs you to see, Grissom, ask nicely, it wouldn't kill you to say please."
"Ok, Mom," Grissom replied, smiling at his old friend. He turned to Sara and sappy-sweet said, "Would you please come out to look at what I have in the Denali."
"Absolutely, I would love to."
They walked out to the Denali and stood outside of Catherine's eyesight.
"You know she's watching right?" Sara asked.
"Yes, and for that reason, I won't kiss you, even though I really want to."
"Now what did you want me to look at?" she asked.
"This man who is crazy about you."
She smiled sweetly.
"This…" he said, handing her a small box.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Open it and find out," he smiled.
She followed his instructions and opened the box, revealing a gold necklace with a white charm, looking much like an ankh. It was clearly bought to match the costume.
"I'm hoping to see this with the costume in private," he said with a voice that was usually reserved for the bedroom.
"This is gorgeous," she replied.
"But it pales in comparison to the woman who will wear it."
"Thank you Gris… Gil, that was a very kind gesture. But I'm not the kind of girl that needs presents. You do know that right?"
"I know, but humor me, I don't get to do things like this very often and I want you to feel special."
"All I have to do is look into those blue eyes of yours and I know."
"If I don't leave soon, I won't be able to leave, so I'm going now."
"Definitely worth the trip out!" she told him, "But what am I going to tell Catherine I came out here for?"
He gave her one of his most dazzling smiles and said, "That's your problem." He looked around, kissed her on the cheek and got into his truck and drove off.
"Damn you, Grissom," she said to no one in particular, "If you weren't so damn sexy I'd … well I'd … ok so maybe I wouldn't," she found herself speaking to herself as she approached Catherine's door. "Straighten up, Sidle," she said to herself. She slid the necklace into her front pocket.
"I'm back," she said, "And in one piece."
Catherine looked at her, smiled, beginning to see the puzzle coming together, but not willing to venture a guess yet. She decided to play a little.
"You really should be nicer to Grissom, he's just a tough old workaholic, he doesn't mean to be an ass." (That ought to work, she thought, let's watch her defend him.)
"You're right," Sara answered, confounding the woman who thought she had it all figured out.
"Dance time?" Catherine asked.
"Let's do it!" Sara answered, "But where are we going to get a pole?"
"In my bedroom of course," Catherine answered, as if everyone had a stripper pole in their bedroom.
"Of course," Sara answered, playing along, "Of course."
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Once the dance instruction was done, Catherine sat down on the sofa across from Sara and sipped her tea.
"You really might be able to pull this off, you know?"
"Don't sound so incredulous Catherine. I'm not completely inept."
"I know Sara, but I've never seen you this in touch with your feminine side. I mean, you don't usually even wear make-up."
Sara smiled.
"What's up Sara? Why are you suddenly so confident?" Catherine prodded her.
"Nothing, Catherine, nothing at all."
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When she finally got to the lab, Sara was greeted by a smiling Grissom.
"So, Catherine told me that you are doing well," he told her.
"Is that a surprise?" she asked.
"No. She also told me that she tried to get you to say why you were so happy and she said that you were cagey." He laughed. "Is that true?"
"Very True!" she answered, then trying to change the subject, "Do you have some work for me?"
"Yes, you have a db waiting in autopsy. Warrick is off tonight so you will be working with Greg, ok?"
"Of course, but are you sure its ok with you?" she looked at him with a very serious glance.
"Of course. Insecure, I am not."
He rubbed his hand up her arm, sending goosebumps up her spine.
"Dinner?" he asked.
"Breakfast," she corrected.
"See you in eight hours."
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Down in autopsy, Sara met up with Greg who had been speaking with Doc Robbins. They had determined that the victim probably had been killed by the same gun as the other two previous victims. The bullets had already been sent to confirm the guess.
Sara walked over to the body, but quickly drew back, making a sound of shock.
"What's wrong Sara?" Doc Robbins asked.
"This is Carlos," she said, fighting back the tears.
"Yes," Doc Robbins, confirmed, not quite grasping that the body on his table was someone that Sara knew.
"No!" she said, not able to hold back, her emotions, and taking Greg completely by surprise.
"Sara," Greg said as he reached for Sara, "What's wrong?"
"He's my…" she struggled for the words.
"Your what?" he asked, concern showing on his face, "Your boyfriend?"
"No, my dance instructor! I just saw him earlier today. What happened?"
"He was a victim of the Drive By Killer," Greg answered as he directed her into the chair that Doc Robbins just pulled up behind her.
"What is The Drive By Killer?" she asked, realizing she had been out of the lab far too much this week. She usually knew everything about everything.
"He's the third victim that has been killed by someone who apparently just pulled up beside them and shot them."
"No other common denominators?" she asked.
"The only things we can find is that they both had traffic tickets."
"So did Carlos!" she interjected, "He told me that he had been stopped for reckless driving this morning."
"Well," Greg announced, "Let's go follow the evidence!"
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