Chapter 23
Sara quietly tiptoed out of Ashley's room, leaving the door open a bit so she could hear the sleeping child if she woke up. She then went in search of Grissom. She finally found him in his den working on a timeline for one of the cases at work.
She stood in the doorway and watched as he meticulously pinned fly after fly on the board, carefully measuring and logging the data for each of them. She could tell he was completely engrossed in what he was doing but had the feeling he wanted to talk to her when they were in with Ashley and felt it necessary to interrupt him.
She took a small step into the room which alerted him to her presence, "she asleep?" he asked while pinning one last fly onto the board.
"Yeah, she had a busy day." She had an idea of what he wanted to talk about and decided she was going to have to give him a push. Grissom was not known for giving information voluntarily.
"She's been through a lot in the last week. I just hope she's young enough to forget."
Grissom stiffened slightly at those words and looked up at her over his glasses, 'forget what' he wondered. He didn't want the little girl to forget her mother, or her grandparents. Is that what Sara was speaking of or was it the accident itself.
Sara could tell he was mulling things over, but she was still uncertain as to what he wanted. She decided to be blunt, that was really the only way to get past the issue that hung in the air all evening like an undercurrent waiting to grab them by the ankles and drag them under the water to their death.
"Gil, I know you want to talk about something. Please, just say it" His shoulders slumped slightly, whatever it was he needed to get out it was obvious he was not looking forward to it. That much she could tell as he took a seat on the couch, patting the space next to him.
Sara walked over, took a seat and placed her hand on his leg, silently pressing him to go on. It took him a minute to speak, "when I got up this afternoon and you weren't home I made some phone calls. The first one was to Al," here it comes Sara thought to herself.
"The bodies of Heather and her husband are ready to be released and apparently, they had no other living relatives besides Ashley."
"Sweetie, we already knew this from the lawyer."
"I know, but there's more…" he paused, not knowing how to say it.
"Gil sweetie, what is it." Sara practically pleaded. What could he know that the lawyer had not said to them already?
"I arranged a funeral for the two of them today. That was one of the other calls I made."
His voice cracked a little as he said this. Sara knew this was devastating to him but her heart was breaking knowing he must have had strong feelings for the woman. She knew the woman was dead but she also knew she would always have a special place in his heart.
He placed his hand on hers. She gently squeezed it knowing he needed the reassurance. She witnessed him swallow some of the sorrow to say what he really wanted to tell her, he took off his glasses and ran his hand over his face.
"I can't say goodbye Sara, I can't."
She witnessed a lone tear trail down his cheek and enveloped him in her arms, letting him weep. Tears fell down her own face, but for a different reason. She knew Gil loved her more than anything else in the world, but his connection with Heather was so strong it hurt her to think of it. As irrational as it seems, she was jealous of a dead person.