Chapter Twenty one:
"Sara, calm down. Tell me what's wrong." He cursed at Grissom under his breath. His coffee spilled on his lap when he heard Sara's reply. Brass had just been handed a bomb shell and he was not the man to handle female things.
"Are you sure?" Brass rolled his eyes. "Sara, honey, just how late are you?" Sara replied. Brass spilled his coffee again. "Okay, you need to take one of those tests."
Brass glanced down at this shirt and pants. I'm going to have to go back home and change. Finally he decided to pull over. "Sara hold on for a moment. Brass stopped the car and assessed the damage. I'm sending Grissom the dry cleaning bill.
"Okay, back to those tests things. Do you have one?" Sara replied. "Don't worry. Go to work. I'll bring one over to the townhouse when shift is over so you can take it. I'll be with you the whole time. Okay?" He smiles as he hears Sara's voice calm. I should have given him an ass kicking before he left.
Sara avoided everyone during the shift. She had heard the constant rumors floating around about Grissom's departure. One rumor had Grissom meeting an unidentified woman for a romantic fling. Boy, if they only knew! He's not meeting, he's running. Another rumor was that Grissom had grown tired of the job and wanted to retire. He never said anything to me but then again he didn't even bother to tell me he was going to leave.
And then there was the rumor that Grissom was following a lead on the miniature killings; everyone knew that Grissom was not satisfied with the conclusion of the case. He wouldn't do that alone? He wouldn't put himself in harm's way. Sara remembered another serial case in which Grissom had followed up on a lead and it almost cost him his life. If Catherine had not followed him, he would be dead. The rumors made Sara's head hurt.
Brass sat in front of the drug store. He berated himself for telling Sara he would pick up the pregnancy test. What do I know about these thingsHow hard can it be? His ex had sent him many a time for those female items and he had managed to waddle through it.
Brass rolled his eyes when he saw the different choices. He saw a young woman with three children and pulled her aside. "Can you please pick out a pregnancy test for my… my daughter?" The woman smiled and handed him an item. Brass paid for it and headed to his destination.
Brass knocked several times on the bathroom door but there was no answer. He could hear Sara crying. "Sara, please come out and talk with me. We can get through this, I promise."
Sara opened the door and sat on the bed. "I take it the test was positive."
"Negative."
Brass was confused. "If it's negative then that means you're not pregnant. Right?"
Sara nodded her head. Brass then realized Sara had been hoping she was pregnant. He wanted to kick Grissom again.
"Sara, I'm sorry. I didn't know you wanted to be pregnant."
"I didn't. I had… we hadn't planned this but if I was late then I had hoped. Oh I don't know what I wanted." said Sara sniffling.
"It's okay. How about we go get some breakfast? I know the gang would want you to show up this morning." Sara declined. He took a long look at her and didn't like what he saw.
"Have you been sleeping? How about I fix you a nice breakfast here?" Sara declined again.
"How about a drink?" Sara got up and headed for the bottle they kept over the kitchen. It was primarily wine for cooking but she didn't care. She poured herself a glass and then handed Brass a beer that she found in the fridge.
"He's coming back, Sara. You know that right?"
"I don't care if he does or not."
"You don't mean that right now. You're just upset about him leaving."
Bruno who had been playing in the back yard bounded up to the glass door and begged to get in. Sara opened the door and he wagged his tail at Brass.
"Nice dog. When did you guys get a dog?"
"Grissom got him to keep me company while he's away."
Brass scratched him behind the ears and he licked Brass. Sara watched them together. The dog had been a lot of company but it was not the same.
"Getting any sleep?"
"I'm fine."
"You don't look fine. Have you talked with him?"
"No. He left some contact numbers where he could be reached but since he hasn't bothered to call me then I wouldn't want to disturb him."
"Sara, you're both stubborn. He's probably waiting for you to call first."
"He left. I didn't." Sara finished the glass and poured another. Brass wished he hadn't brought up the alcohol.
"Come on now, let's take the dog for a walk in the park and then get something to eat."
Sara declined.
She finished the glass again and poured another one. Brass took the bottle away from her and poured the contents into the sink.
"You think I'm going to go out and get another DUI? Don't worry, I've learned my lesson. You see I try to learn from my mistakes but Gris..." She stopped and didn't finish her sentence.
She walked over and sat curled up on the couch. She finished the glass of wine as Brass picked up the phone. "Hey Nick, how's it going? Hey Nick. Calm down. I know you didn't like what Keppler and Catherine pulled. The reason I called is that Sara and I are over at my place and I thought you could call up the gang and meets us over there for a brunch or something. I bet we can find a place that delivers pizza this early. Really? great! We will see you soon."
Brass then grabbed Sara's hand and pulled her off the couch. "Get the dog; you're coming home with me."
It was good to be around the others that day. It helped Sara to not dwell on the test result. Greg and Nick had eaten an entire pizza. Warrick and Brass had only consumed three slices. Catherine had declined the invitation because of a problem with Lindsay. Sara thought Catherine might have declined because the guys were still mad over the "reverse forensics" deal. They didn't like being kept in the dark.
Sara had managed to eat a slice despite feeling a bit queasy from the wine. It also made her a bit tipsy. Bruno had basked in all of the attention he was getting from the guys. She lay down on the couch and watched the guys played Frisbee with Bruno. Later, Brass looked down and Sara had fallen asleep. He picked up a blanket and covered her up. He motioned for the others to keep it down.
"Hey, we better get going if we're going to get any sleep before work tonight. I'm glad Sara passed out. I don't think she has been sleeping much," said Nick.
"I'm not going to wake her. It's kind of nice having her around. I'm not sure about the dog" said Brass as he watched Bruno counter surfacing to get at the left over pizza.
"Hey, tell Sara I'll dog watch any time. He's a great dog" whispered Greg.
Brass looked at Sara sleeping and decided to turn in himself. Later he was awakened by the ringing of his phone. It was Grissom.