"Ahem."
Ecklie looked up at the tentative interruption to his thoughts and was both surprised and perturbed to find Sara Sidle shuffling awkwardly in his doorway.
"Sara." He greeted coolly. "What can I do for you?"
She stepped nervously into the office, casting a furtive glance over her shoulder to ensure that she wasn't being observed.
"I was just wondering if you had a minute?" She asked hopefully. "I kinda have a favour to ask you."
At last, his interest peaked enough for him to put his notes aside and he gestured to the chair opposite his desk. It was not like the brunette to approach him of all people for a favour and something about her edgy behaviour had him unsettled. He watched her carefully as she made a point of closing his door before sitting down.
"What can I do for you?" He asked, folding his hands on the desk.
"Well, it's about this supervisor situation." She began.
"That's been dealt with now." He cut her off with a frown. "The Undersheriff and I agreed that Grissom can resume supervising you and Nick again."
"Yeah, I know. They told us last night." She nodded, pursing her lips. "And don't get me wrong, that's great; but ... I was wondering whether it would be possible for Catherine to continue as my supervisor – permanently?"
Intrigued, he sat forward and fixed her with a piercing look.
"Why?"
She had been expecting that, but she still wasn't quite prepared to answer it. Sensing her hesitation, he straightened up again.
"Has Grissom done something?" He asked. When she paused again, he pressed further. "Has he done something, or said something, to make you feel uncomfortable?"
"No, not ... nothing like that." She frowned, shaking her head fervently. "Grissom ... I just ... I feel a lot more comfortable with Catherine as my manager."
It was abundantly clear from her quiet voice and her stunted answers that she was not prepared to go into more detail right now and, despite his best efforts, he found himself feeling oddly sorry for her.
He had always assumed that Sara's behaviour had simply occurred because she was a disobedient maverick who liked to play by her own rules. However, the last few months had proven him wrong – with Catherine as her supervisor, she had been calmer, more professional and even – God forbid – taken a day off every once in a while.
Perhaps her previous difficult behaviour truly was as a result of Grissom's mismanagement.
Clearing his throat, he regained her restless attention.
"Have you spoken to Catherine about this?"
She looked up, relieved that the conversation had moved beyond her motives for the time being.
"Not yet, I wanted to see whether it was even possible first."
"Well, I'll need to speak to the Undersheriff again, as well as Catherine and Grissom, but I'll see what I can do."
Standing up, he ambled over to his filing cabinet and rifled through it, eventually pulling out a form and returning to his desk.
"Of course, it will all depend on whether or not Catherine is willing to take on the extra responsibilities on a permanent basis." He continued.
"Of course." She nodded, starting to feel her nerves settle a little. He hadn't said no; that was a good start.
"So, you're requesting a complete transfer – Catherine would be responsible for your monthly and annual reviews, your case reports, any disciplinary action..."
"I understand." She agreed, trying to ignore the look he shot her at the mention of disciplinaries. "I'm happy to continue answering to her."
"Okay." He smiled tightly. "Let me make some phone calls and I'll get back to you."
As she scampered hurriedly from the office before he could retract his sudden kindness, she sent up a silent thank you to whoever had been listening to her prayers. That had gone much better than she was expecting it to.
Now she just had to hope that Catherine was willing to keep her.
x X x
"Man, it's good to finally get things back to normal." Nick whistled as he laced up his boots. "This place was starting to feel like a war zone."
"Yeah, well I just hope that it keeps Ecklie off Grissom's case for a while." Warrick hummed, clipping his holster onto his belt. As he turned, he caught sight of the third member of their team, lurking quietly half-inside her locker. "What about you Sara?"
She visibly winced before glancing reluctantly over her shoulder to face them.
"What?" She asked as nonchalantly as she could.
"What do you think about all of this – are you glad to be back on Grissom's team?"
She felt Nick's eyes on her, but avoided his gaze. He had previously called out her on her apparent disloyalty to Grissom over this matter and was obviously curious to see what she was going to say now that normal service had been reinstated.
"I don't know," she deflected. "I guess we'll just have to see what happens."
The boys shared a look at her evasive non-answer and Nick opened his mouth to question her further on it, but a stern look from Warrick silenced him.
"Yeah." The dark-skinned CSI hummed in sceptical agreement, watching with a curious raised eyebrow as Sara practically crawled back into her locker in retreat again.
It had not escaped his notice that she had been very quiet when Grissom and Catherine had made the announcement at the beginning of the previous shift. In fact, he had been working with both women all night and neither of them seemed thrilled with the development.
Of course, it made sense that Catherine wouldn't be that happy – she was being demoted back to her prior position and salary, after several months of being a supervisor. But Sara ... he had no such excuse for being in a bad mood about all of this.
x X x
Catherine stalled outside Ecklie's office, surprised to find Grissom stood there as well, looking uncharacteristically irritated.
"Oh, hi." She blinked.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"I wish I knew." She shrugged, brushing past him into the office. Ecklie looked up at their arrival and nodded in curt greeting.
"Guys, have a seat." He gestured opposite him. Sharing a look, they both took up their positions behind his desk, feeling an unsettling sense of déjà vu sink in. Last time they were summoned here, it was because he was breaking up the team; but he'd only just put it back together now, so this must be something else, surely.
"So, what's this about Conrad?" Catherine asked, straight to the point.
He pursed his lips, looking between them. He deliberately hadn't given anything away in his request; he had simply sent them both a message asking them to come to his office. Partly, this was so that he could see their expressions when he broke the news to them, but he was also curious to see how they would respond to being called in here in the first place, so soon after his last announcement.
Predictably, Grissom's defences were up. Catherine, on the other hand, was much harder to read. She appeared curious, but not altogether concerned.
"I had a visit earlier today," he began cryptically. "From Sara."
He watched their reactions carefully. Catherine simply raised an eyebrow, shooting a questioning look in Grissom's direction, while Gil looked undeniably startled by this news.
"She asked a favour of me." He continued when neither responded to his statement. "It would appear that the last few months have had something of a positive effect on her – so much so, that she has requested that Catherine remain as her supervisor ... on a permanent basis."
"She what?" Grissom barked, his jaw falling open. Ecklie smirked, pleased to have elicited the intended result. At this wordless response, Grissom turned to his counterpart, who was also blinking in shock. "Did you know about this?"
"No," Catherine frowned almost indignantly at the accusation. "No, she hasn't said a word about this to me."
"She wanted to check with me first as to whether it was feasible." Ecklie interjected on Sara's behalf. "I've already spoken to the Undersheriff. There will be some contractual and financial issues to sort, but he's happy to approve this ... if you're on board?"
The question was directed at Catherine, but Grissom answered.
"No." He declared. "CSIs don't get to choose their supervisors."
Ecklie dragged his gaze reluctantly from Catherine's startled expression to Gil's scowl.
"Actually, they can." He countered. "Not that it's ever happened before, but there's nothing in the book to stop them from asking."
"I followed your rules." Grissom shook his head in bemusement. "I played along with your little game and I proved myself to you and the Undersheriff. You can't just come in take Sara off me now."
"I'm not taking her off you, Gil." Ecklie snapped tiredly, sitting forward. "She doesn't want you as her supervisor anymore."
The words, despite being delivered with exasperation rather than venom, seemed to hit Grissom like a slap and he recoiled at their sting.
Leaving him to recover for a moment, Ecklie turned his attention back to Catherine. If her expression was anything to go by, she hadn't even been paying attention to the argument going on beside her, as she stared into the middle-distance.
"Catherine?" He called, causing her eyes to snap to his. "Do you agree to this?"
She held his gaze for a long time, as if trying to assess the question from every angle, before turning slowly to meet Grissom's accusatory stare...