Disclaimer – Please see chapter 1
A/N – Thank you so much to those of you that left a review for the last chapter. My usual apologies again for not having the time to reply to them all, you all know why! Story is beta'd by myself so any remaining mistakes are all mine, so I apologize in advance. R & R Enjoy!
Fall Out Boy – Chapter 14 – Brother of the victim
With dinner eventually out of the way, Kye having only picked and pushing his food around the plate eating little, Grissom took his time clearing away the dishes as Sara helped the boy get ready for bed time.
Just as he put the last plate away, and hit the button for the coffee maker, Sara wandered into the kitchen area "He's had a quick shower, which I have to say was more than a little awkward at first. I left a lamp on for him so he could read" she said taking a seat then rubbing at her eyes a little.
Gil turned to glance at her, as he grabbed two cups from the rack, then proceeded to prepare them ready to their liking, he noticed her tired and worried posture as she got a far off look in her eyes.
"He didn't want me to read or stay with him..........He said he would drop off to sleep without my help" Sara said a little sadly, "He's trying to be so brave and strong about all of this, but I know exactly what he's doing. What he's going through" Sara rested her head in the palms of her hands, elbows propped on the counter wearily "He's closing himself off, going into protection mode, acting as if he's fine and accepting everything that's happened, and happening to him" she now rubbed at her temples frowning deeply, closing her eyes.
Seeing her fighting fatigue, emotions and desperately trying to manage her own haunted memories, Gil stepped quietly up behind her, then tentatively placed his hands on her shoulders as he spoke "Which is why your the best person to be able to help him right now Sara" he said in a low soothing voice.
Feeling his hands land softly on her shoulders made her immediately tense up, her eyes shot open at the shock of the unexpected electricity feeling throughout her body at the contact, as she listened to his comforting tone and words.
Moving his hands slightly and using his thumbs to rotate them in a massaging fashion, he felt her posture relax "He's in the best place he can be right now. With someone who can relate, empathise and understand his situation" Gil said as his fingers moved under her hair slowly, and his thumbs met up the pale warm skin at the juncture of her shoulders and neck, increasing the pressure with them he continued the circular motion, as her head almost without concious control tipped forward in her hands.
"And give him the care, comfort and love he so needs right now, Sara" he continued in a soft intimate tone to her.
Letting out an involuntary low throaty hum, Sara closed her eyes and let him continue with his ministrations that were working wonders on her tired body, and lulling her mind into a familiar territory she'd only known since meeting him.
"Um mm, good" she purred in a low voice he'd never heard come from her before, but all the same made him grin widely in satisfaction of his unusual and courageous actions.
Right in this moment of time, it had never felt more right, or natural for him to want to pull her into his arms, comfort and sooth her, lay gentle kisses in her hair as he consoled and reassured her.
If this kind of thing was truly what the whole thing about love was, Gil was certain that he was more than capable of showing it to her if given the opportunity to do so, the receiving of it may be a whole different ball game for him, but he could, and would try for her, he mused.
But the instinct to want to lean forward to do that, was stopped by the constant reminder that he had no rights to do that just yet, his insecurities resurfacing to the brink once more, that made him still feel unworthy of her offered attentions, he was too old for her, had the genetic flaw, was once her teacher, now her mentor, had treated her so badly when he should not have.
Trying hard to keep on track with what he was saying to her, Sara replied on a whisper "I know and your right" she paused then added "But I'm not sure........"
Gil anticipating her next words of self doubt, headed them off quickly "No buts. Your doing a wonderful job with Kye. And your tired and most likely emotionally exhausted right now after the last day" he leaned forward to her ear and whispered "Go get ready for bed. You need to sleep,...Sara" he said, almost letting slip an endearment on the tip of his tongue.
Sliding his hands to her upper arms, gently grasping them, then nudging her to indicate for her to get up, he helped her rise from the seat then guided her down the hall and over towards the second guest bedroom.
Sara began to protest, but didn't resist his gentle pushing against her lower back "Griss....My coffee" she weakly moaned out, enjoying his unexpected, but much cherished attentions lavished upon her.
"Sara you don't need any more coffee in your system, you need to relax, and sleep. I can keep a listen out for Kye until I head into work" Gil said with a little chuckle as they reached the bedroom door.
Grabbing the handle and opening it, Sara turned to him with tired eyes, and a small smile "Thank you Griss.....For trying to help me to relax...And for everything else you've done to help me. I really appreciate it".
Gil just gave her a warm smile in return and stuffed his hands in his pockets "I..I Like to be able to help you Sara.....It feels good to do so" he said nervously, now avoiding her eyes shyly.
Taking a step closer into his personal space, Sara stood on tiptoes, quickly pecked him on the cheek before turning and disappearing into the room, closing the door behind her.
A little stunned, but happy at the action, and fully smiling like a god damned idiot now, he turned and made his way back into the kitchen to finish off his hot drink, the urge to start whistling was only stopped by the very thought of disturbing his two house guests.
He managed with a lot of effort some time later, with much pulling of both leashes on his arms, to take an enthusiastic Hank and Bruno out for a walk to the local park, but never releasing them, for fear of loosing the boys dear pet.
Once back home, he fed them both, and they soon settled down to a nap, as he picked up a book then settled himself on the couch to read in silence.
Two hours later it was time for Grissom to reluctantly leave for work, hearing the silence showing that the other two must be fast asleep, he quickly wrote a note for Sara, left it where she would find it with the file containing the personal time and leave of absence paper work, then collected his things and went out the door, locking it securely behind him.
At the lab there was only one new case for the night, a suspected murder suicide off the strip in some seedy motel room, so he took Warrick along with him while he left the others to investigate the their case further.
Entering LVPD Catherine and Nick sought out Brass' office in search of the man who would be sitting in on the interview with them.
"Hey you two, you ready for this? Our guy is just itching to spill about what's been going on over the past few years with our two victims, and a prospective prime suspect" Jim said standing and pulling on his jacket.
"Oh good. That sounds promising in our favour" Catherine said following him out of his office, Nick behind them.
"Oh it does believe me" Jim said, then added "So what's the bugman up to tonight seeing as he's hands off on this one?".
"He and Warrick have the only new case tonight while we work this one. A murder suicide" Nick said joining the conversation.
"Oh and I bet he just loves not being able to get his teeth into this one" Jim said chuckling as he reached one of the interview rooms.
Catherine just grinned at his humour "Well, lets just say that he's managing to be impartial right now, and letting us get on with this. But I suspect there is a lot more to this case than meets the eye, that will bring our enigmatic entomologist right back in to the thick of things" she sighed rather heavily as she looked at Jim "Don't worry though. It's nothing I can't handle with Gil,I'm sure" she said pushing open the interview room door.
The three entered, introduced themselves and sat at the table, the tall slim middle aged gentleman, with dark hair and hazel coloured eyes looked tired as Catherine offered her condolences to the man who'd just come back from identifying his only brother.
"So Mr Jacobs, what can you tell us about your brothers relationship with Miss Meridian that may be pertinent to the case?" Jim Brass said getting the interview under way.
Sitting back in his seat the guy thought for a few second before responding "Marty met Charlie about four years ago, she'd just broken up badly with the babies father...." his words faltered then he suddenly asked "Where's Kye? Whoever killed our Marty...Oh god they never killed...."
Catherine held up her hand to interrupt him "No, The boys okay. He's with a temporary foster carer appointed by child services at present, but we believe he may have witnessed the crime, and is said to be quite traumatized by it" she paused and quickly glanced at Jim, then back to Mr Jacobs "Would you like to see him? We could possibly arrange for that if you'd like" she asked slowly.
Shaking his head as he gathered himself together again after the panic about Kye, he carried on speaking "No. Kye doesn't really know me, I only met him when he was a babe in arms, then one other time when Marty needed some cash to skip town quickly" he paused.
"As I was saying Charlie had just broken up with the babies father. Nasty piece of work, but you wouldn't think so by all outward appearances. He was a very jealous and possessive guy with her and Kye, wouldn't let her out of his sight most of the time, always getting on at her for the slightest things" he took a deep breath.
"I suspect he physically beat her often, but she never told me he did, I'd seen the bruises after one of his visits to see his son shortly after she hooked up with Marty, but she just made up some lame excuse that it was caused by an accident" Connor said holding eye contact with Catherine.
"What is the guys name, he could be a possible suspect?" Catherine asked.
Connor nodded almost in disgust "Oh he's your number one suspect all right. Spencer Aaron Frost, Ice-man to all his friends and associates is definitely the guy you need to be speaking to concerning my brothers and his finance's murders" he spat out with venom.
"That guy is the reason why they had to keep moving to new locations in different states. He hounded them every time he found out where they were staying. That piece of scum threatened Charlotte that if she didn't go back to him and live as a family in New York together, that he'd make sure she'd never stay with anyone else with his kid" Connor said clenching his fists on the table.
"I had to help them escape his clutches on numerous occasions, with cash, different vehicles and even setting up new accommodation for them over the years. Hell I wasn't even allowed to go visit them in case 'Ice-man' had one of his goons following me" he said angrily.
"Are there any records of all this stuff with the police in the different states that they stayed in?" Jim asked, hoping he could contact the different forces to collect data on the guy to build up a better picture on him.
Laughing sarcastically Connor shook his head "Nah, he's to clever for all that, with all his money and connections, he's always managed to squirm his way out of any investigations and charges. Even the restraining orders our Marty and Charlie tried to have placed on him" he said distastefully.
Looking at Catherine with a knowing glint in his eye, Jim realized quickly what sort of suspect they were going to be dealing with, after all he'd come across so many in his time as a cop "So this Spencer Frost I take it is still a resident of New York still?" he asked the clearly angered man before him
Nodding Conner answered "Oh yeah, he still lives in his big fancy house that Mommy and Daddy provided the funds for, and he's got enough cagey connections to be a popular enough guy to be well known too" he said spitefully.
"Here could you write down the address for us please?" Catherine asked pushing a pen and paper over the table towards him.
"Yeah sure, it's my pleasure if it gets you any nearer to catching this guy" Conner said taking the pen and writing quickly.
Shoving the paper back towards Catherine he stood up "Did you know they were going to be married later this year? They finally thought things were going to settle down this time, and Kye loved our Marty,.....As if he was his real Dad" his voice broke slightly.
"No we weren't aware of any marriage plans" Catherine said sympathetically seeing the man struggle with his emotions.
"Just" Connor paused and took in a deep breath "Just make sure you catch whoever did this to them, that's all I ask" he as he made for the door.
"We'll do the very best that we can, I will assure you of that Mr Jacobs" Nick now spoke up with much conviction in his voice.
"We'll be in touch" Jim added.
Connor just nodded solemnly, then left the room.
A/N – I hope you all enjoyed the chapter with it's mix of Grissom Sara interaction and the new details about the case in the interview. I have been asked to speed up the story, but I feel that by doing so, I will not include all of which I would like to include in the story, so you will have to bare with the speed and time line I have set out so far. Besides I do not believe these characters would suddenly just jump into a relationship off the bat, but would take their time to do it tentatively and slowly, waiting for the right time to act on their mutual attraction. Next post probably Friday!
Please take the time to leave a review, all comments are very valuable to me as a writer learning to improve my skills, and I really do appreciate them from you.