A/N:

Dialogue from Double Cross is included. I loved the scene between Grissom and Sara in the autopsy room so I included it. It's my story I can do that.

I don't own them.

Greg had been released from the hospital a few days later. He was battered and bruised but would recover. He was supposed to be limited to Lab duty, but he was becoming quickly bored. He had wanted to leave the lab for the field years ago. Now he remembered why. Even though the lab was safer, it was boring. He liked the excitement. A week after he returned he got Grissom to agree to send him back into the field on a limited basis.

Grissom and Brass had been called to a death in a church. Neither was ready for a crucifixion in a Catholic church. Greg and Catherine were called out to do the perimeter and get the clothes from the priest. Nick and Warrick were in charge of getting the body down. Sara was put in charge of processing the body once they got back to the lab.

Grissom walked into the morgue and found her processing the body. She was scraping the fingernails. She found some thorns in her feet. The door opened. She didn't need to turn around she recognized the footsteps.

"Was there bougainvillea at the crime scene?"

Grissom stopped and thought for a moment, picturing the scene.

"Two shrubs at the entrance to the church, a row of four on the wall of the community center, three bushes behind the rectory adjacent to the statue of St Jude."

Sara smirked, "Did you anticipate that question in order to impress me with your powers of observation?"

"Memory is a gift."

"Hummmm. From whom?"

"Who do you think?"

Sara smiled, "Well, I wouldn't necessarily call myself an atheist, but I am not sold on the notion of a higher power. However, I used to love the stories of the saints."

Grissom noticed something on the victim, it was familiar, "This job certainly challenges your faith."

"Yes it does, but I have science."

"I believe we a little of both.

Grissom was thinking. He was looking at the bruises on the victim's neck. He knew he was looking at something important.

Sara continued, "Sometimes I think we made up God just to have someone to blame for our mistakes."

Grissom said nothing. His mind was working on the puzzle of the bruises. Then it hit him. He knew what it was! He bolted from the room without telling Sara why or where he was going.

Dumbfounded she called after him. "It's just a theory."

She shook her head and went back to work. Typical Grissom she thought. He would tell her when he was ready. Then she began to wonder if she had offended him. She knew he grew up Catholic and that he believed in God. He told her that once, but they had never really talked about religion or their beliefs on the subject. It nagged at her a bit. For all the time together, she was still nervous about their relationship. It could be snatched away at any time. One wrong step and, Poof, it would be gone. Her logical brain said that was not going to happen, but the other side had seen him retreat too many times for it not to nag at her once in a while

Grissom had gone to his office. He knew what he was looking for. He opened the top side drawer of his desk. From there he retrieved a small red box. It was buried under the other stuff. Then he headed back to the morgue. It never occurred to him to call Sara or to tell her where he was going. He was lost in the moment. He put his lab coat on again and headed back in with Sara.

"Something I said?"

"No, Dear." He answered absent mindedly.

She looked up at him, "I didn't offend, you did I? Did I say something offensive as a catholic?"

"I'm not really a catholic anymore you know. I suppose I practice a kind of secular Catholicism that involves ritualizing certain aspects of everyday life and then viewing them a spiritual intensity they might not otherwise posses, I don't want to put too fine a point on it."

He opened the box and pulled out a rosary.

Sara smiled, "And the rosary beads are a part of that."

"This belonged to my mother."

He placed the rosary along the bruises on the victim's neck.

"Take a look at this pattern."

Sara leaned in placing her chin on his arm. It matched. She reached for her camera and snapped pictures. Grissom explained the rosary to Sara. She knew how important his mother was to him and that having a memento of her was Grissom's way of remembering her.

"Five series of ten beads each, representing the five mysteries, separated by five our father beads."

"Who would strangle someone with a rosary?"

"Probably the same person who would crucify someone in a church."

"That takes some serious hatred."

"Yeah."

She asked him a question she had wanted to ask earlier.

"Does it upset you that I don't believe the same way you do?"

"No, Sara, it doesn't."

There was some relief in that. He would not lie to her. This was one of those times she wanted to reach out to him. Her eyes locked with his. He took her hand.

"Sara, really, it's fine."

"Okay."

"I have to go back to the church. I need to collect the rosaries."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, finish her and I will see you later."

"Sure."

"You okay?"

Sara smiled, "Fine."

He knew her well enough to know when she said fine, she wasn't.

"Really, Gil, I'm okay. Go do what you need to do. I'll finish up here."

"Okay."

"Looks like we're pulling a double."

"Yeah, I'll check in with you when you get back."

He left to go to the church. While he was gone they got an ID on the woman, Charlotte Danville. Sophia and Catherine went to her apartment and found a broken rosary. There were signs of struggle. They also came back with the suspicion that Charlotte was pregnant. They found proof that Charlotte knew the Father and the car dealer the Big Hombre for a long time. There had been some dispute as to if they knew each other.

When Sophia and Catherine got back they checked in with Sara who took the rosary to Grissom.

Grissom came back with several rosaries from the church. Sara had finished processing the body and was waiting in Grissom's office for him.

He came in to find her working on paper work.

"Are you bucking to be the boss?"

Her head snapped up. She had not heard him come in.

"No way. I hear the boss is a tyrant."

He smiled. Sara had not seen that smile in a while.

"What did you find?"

"I got three rosaries from the Church. I had an interesting conversation with Fr. Frank."

"What about?"

"He's hiding something. I just don't know what."

"You'll figure it out."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Are you okay?"

It was Sara's turn to ask.

Grissom sighed, "I remember the first case we worked after the Gribbs case when you came to Vegas."

"The one with the woman in the crate?"

Grissom nodded.

"You said something then that I keep thinking about?"

Sara could not remember anything she might have said that he would remember now.

"What was that?"

"It never ceases to amaze me what people do to each other."

Hearing him talk like that was worrisome to Sara.

"Gil, I…"

He cut her off, "I'm gonna go process these."

He turned and walked out of the room. Sara decided not to push it now. His headaches had been happening more frequently of late. He had one a month and recently more like one every two weeks. It was a sign he was stressed.

He printed the pictures of Charlotte's bruises to compare it to the one's he collected. He was in the layout room looking at them when Sara came back and handed him the one from Charlotte's apartment.

"Hey, I got another rosary for your collection"

"Where'd you get this?"

"Catherine found it in Charlotte's condo. There's some evidence the fight started there. Charlotte's bag and phone were on the table so she left in a hurry."

Grissom took the broken rosary out of the bag and held it up next to the other one. It was identical.

Sara noticed they were the same, "Are those Father Frank's?"

Grissom seemed disappointed, "Yeah."

"What are you going to do?"

"Call Brass."

There were many pictures of Fr Frank and Charlotte with Cody White in High School. It appeared they went back a long way.

It was a match to Fr. Frank's. It was sequentially numbered. It was enough for Brass to bring in Fr. Frank. Grissom was not convinced that he did it. The reaction Fr Frank had to seeing Charlotte's body did not slip past Grissom. He knew there was more to the story than they knew at the moment. Brass wanted to bring him in to talk to him. Brass was convinced that he did it. Father Frank even said he killed her.

Grissom and Brass had words about it in the parking lot. Grissom still did not believe that Fr. Frank killed Charlotte.

Grissom was bent on finding the truth and he was convinced he did not yet know the real story. He headed back to the lab to see what he could find. They did discover that Charlotte was pregnant. They were not sure who the father was. It was determined that there were two semen donors on her sheets.

Sara and Catherine found blood in the car she was driving. They matched the bloody footprint to Cody White.

Fr Frank was shown pictures of Charlotte hanging on the cross and was horrified. He said he was responsible but could never do that to her.

Grissom and Fr. Frank had a conversation about his relationship with Charlotte. Grissom asked about the letter saying he was leaving the Church. He also asked about the baby not being his. Fr. Frank said he would welcome a child no matter what. Brass and Grissom were trying to get him to tell them who killed Charlotte. He could not.

They brought in Cody White.

Sophia got Cody White to say he killed her. Then she told him that the baby Charlotte was carrying was his. He was devastated. He had killed her because of her relationship with Frank.

Sara arrived home to find Grissom sitting in the dark. He looked tired. Sara knew they had just worked a double but this was more than a double shift.

"Gil, what's wrong?"

He didn't answer at first. She asked again.

He sighed, "How do we do this job? We see the worst in people every day. I just talked to a man who had to forgive the killer of the woman he loved because it was the mandate of his job. I don't know if I could do that."

"Gil, you are a good man."

He shrugged.

Sara sat down beside him. It was apparent he was struggling with things at the moment. It was the classic signs of burn out. They all knew the warning signs. She was worried. Grissom burning out was never something that crossed her mind.

"I don't feel useful anymore."

"I need you." She whispered.

Grissom took her hand and kissed her palm.

"I know. I need you too."

"Do you need to take a break from the lab? Take a vacation?"

"I don't know what I want to do." He sighed and stood up pulling her up with him.

"Come on let's get something to eat. How about omelets?"

"You cooking?"

"Yep"

"Sounds great."

They prepared their meal in quiet and ate with little conversation. Grissom was thinking. Sara was used to that and just let him think. He needed to do that.

Sara caressed his cheek, "Go take your shower. I'll clean up. It's only fair, you cooked."

He smiled and kissed the palm of her hand.

Sara cleaned up the mess as Grissom headed to the bedroom. He took a long shower and was getting dressed when Sara came in.

"Feel better?"

He nodded slightly.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to take a shower. I'm beat. We have to be back to the lab in 10 hours."

Grissom said absent-mindedly, "No rest for the weary I guess."

Sara feigned a smile and headed for the shower. When she returned Grissom was asleep on the bed. His soft steady breathing was a relief to Sara. At least he was sleeping. It was something he was having trouble doing lately. Work was always the reason he gave. She hoped that was all. She climbed into bed and snuggled against him. His arm instinctually came around her to pull her close. Sara drifted off to sleep a short while later.

A few hours passed when Sara was jolted awake by Grissom running for the bathroom. She could her him vomiting. She knew what that meant. Migraine. She went in to see if he needed anything. He waved her off as he emptied his stomach. She handed him a wet washcloth when he was done. Then she handed him a glass of water and his medicine. He took it.

"Is it bad?"

All he could do was nod.

Sara helped him back to the bed.

"Sara…"

"Shhhh, let the medicine work."

He nodded again and let sleep come once more.

When he woke a few hours later Sara was gone. He went in search of her. He found her reading on the couch.

She looked up when she heard him, "Feeling better?"

"A little."

"Are you going to work?"

"I have to. I have worked through them before."

"Gil, you should stay home."

"Not that bad."

She didn't believe him. The pain was written on his face.

"Gil, stay home. Get well."

"I'll be fine, really. It's almost time to go in. I'm going to get dressed."

Sara sighed. She knew she would not win the argument. He'd already made up his mind.

A/N:

Please leave a review. I finally have my computer back so the updates should be more frequent. I am trying.