A/N Again thank you for the reviews and new followers, you are all very much appreciated. Thanks again to piccolina789 for the beta. This story wouldn't be what it is, without your amazing help. Hope you continue to enjoy the story. How is everyone after the Finale? It was aired in the UK last night and I'm sad its over, but my heart is bursting that GSR is sailing once more - literally this time!
Grissom paused in the doorway of the CSI garage, watching Sara and Nick work on processing a burnt car from the previous night.
His eyes focused solely on Sara. As was her custom, she had tied the sleeves of the department-issued blue coveralls around her waist while she worked. They didn't hide the slight swell of her abdomen, as the blue fabric emphasised the growing baby bump.
He leaned slightly against the doorway, his hands in his pockets as he continued to watch them work. His eyes wandered over her again, before resting his gaze once again on her bump. The corner of his mouth twitched upwards slightly, remembering the sight before him two days before of Sara standing in their bedroom, struggling to fasten a pair of jeans.
"Need a hand there, dear?" he had asked, his amusement evident in his tone.
"It's not funny, Gil!" Sara had glared at him as she huffed and tried once more to fasten the garment.
She sucked in a breath, almost standing on her tiptoes as she struggled with the button.
"They fit last week!" she complained.
Giving up, she turned towards the full-length mirror and lifted up her t-shirt. The curve of her stomach was much more pronounced than it used to be. Her bump was starting to show.
How had she not noticed before this? As she thought about it a little more, she realised that her clothes had seemed a little tighter recently.
She glanced at Grissom as he came over and stood behind her, resting his hands gently on the small bump as he nuzzled her neck.
"Seems we've found the culprit," he said as he gently rested his chin on her shoulder, holding her a little tighter.
Sara sighed and leaned back into his embrace, resting her hands on his, which still cradled the bump.
"Yeah, and his name is Gil Grissom. This is on you, Romeo," she teased.
He raised an eyebrow as he pursed his lips.
"You helped, remember?" he reminded her.
The grin on his face, the one that made him look so boyish, made Sara weak in the knees. With a smirk on her face, she swatted him playfully before breaking the embrace and heading over to the chest of drawers, rummaging around before she pulled out a pair of sweatpants.
They'd spent the next two hours shopping for maternity wear.
Grissom's thoughts returned to the present. Once he'd gotten used to the concept of becoming a father, he'd fully embraced the notion. That feeling had only deepened after the scan at the doctor's office seven weeks before. Although there were still moments when the physical reality of Sara's changing body shape, even though it was only slight for now, still managed to overwhelm him.
"Gil!"
Grissom was pulled from his reverie as Ecklie approached him with an eyebrow raised, fully aware that he'd clearly caught Grissom checking Sara out.
Grissom straightened up as Ecklie drew closer, and Sara looked up curiously from the car as she noticed the two men for the first time. Choosing to ignore Grissom's rare lapse in attention, Ecklie got straight to the point.
"A DB has just been discovered by two hikers. I want you and Sara to check it out."
Ecklie turned to Sara.
"I'd like to see you in my office in ten minutes."
Conrad turned to leave as Grissom and Sara looked at each other, with matching expressions of puzzlement on their faces.
"I'll get our kits and meet you at the Denali," Grissom replied as he left the garage, and Sara headed toward the locker room to change and freshen up.
It was closer to fifteen minutes before Sara knocked on Ecklie's door, still puzzled as to why he would want to see her. He was seated at his desk as she entered his office at his summons.
"Take a seat," he smiled as he gestured to the chair in front of his desk.
"I'm fine," she replied. "I just want to know why I'm here."
Conrad sighed as he rested his elbows on the desk.
"I just wanted to see how things were going," he said, clearing his throat slightly. He was clearly uncomfortable. "Any further problems in the lab?"
Sara shook her head no.
As Grissom and Sara had expected shortly after their return, whispers had began to make the rounds of the lab. For several weeks, conversations would stop if either Grissom or Sara entered a room. As the team became aware of the gossip, they quickly jumped to their defense, quelling any further rumours and speculations as they arose.
Finally, their relationship had become old news, until the tiny bump in Sara's midsection became much more noticeable and the whispers started once more.
Sara had begun to feel like she was working in a goldfish bowl within the glass walled corridors of the lab. The whispers had gotten so bad that help had come from an unexpected source in Conrad Ecklie.
His support had effectively stopped the whisperings in their tracks and he had become much more accommodating where Grissom and Sara were concerned. It seemed that with the blossoming pregnancy, Ecklie had finally buried the years-long grudge he'd held against Grissom.
"Everything's fine," Sara assured him with a nod, returning to the present.
"Any problems out in the field?"
Again, Sara shook her head.
"Really, Conrad, everything is fine. I'm taking all the necessary precautions both in the field and in the lab. Now, can I go do my job?" she pointed a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the door. "Gil is still waiting for me."
Ecklie nodded affirmatively but as Sara reached the door, he added, "Sara… my door is open if you need to talk."
Sara scanned the ground of the dusty crime scene before pausing to snap several photos of the tire marks she'd found. Placing a marker beside one, she continued slowly making her way to where Grissom worked near the body.
"I'd say she's been dead between five to seven hours," Dave remarked.
Patting down the body, he added, "There's no ID."
Grissom frowned, the tip of his tongue poking out over his bottom lip as he concentrated. If there was one thing he hated, it was men - and he used the term loosely - using women as punching bags.
"She put up a fight," he noted, snapping off photos of her wrists.
He turned her hands over to reveal more defensive wounds. He took more photos before turning his attention to her face. Her lip was cut, still showing traces of blood. There was a laceration to her cheekbone and her eye was badly bruised. The exposed flesh of her arms showed the fresh bruises she had sustained in her desperate fight to cling to life.
Grissom looked around the immediate area where the body lay. A disturbance leading from the top of the slight dip to where the body had eventually come to rest meant that this was a body dump.
As Dave removed the body, Grissom scanned the ground searching for more evidence. He took several more photos, collecting evidence as he went.
When all their evidence was gathered and taken to the appropriate labs, Grissom met Doc Robbins for his autopsy results.
"Your Jane Doe was beaten and strangled," Al Robbins informed Grissom. "She had sex a few hours before she died. I've sent off samples to DNA."
Grissom raised an eyebrow as he glanced over the body.
"Rape or consensual?" Grissom pondered as he looked back at Al.
"It's hard to say. It may have started out as consensual, but it didn't end that way."
"Thanks, Doc," Grissom replied as he left autopsy.
Meeting up with Sara in the layout room, Grissom brought her up to speed on what Robbins had told him. As they discussed their next move, Mandy, followed closely by Wendy, stepped into the room. They were both holding folders.
"Fingerprint came back as Quinn Harper," Mandy began.
"She was in the system?" Sara asked.
"I got it off her work card," Mandy replied. "She started working at the MGM Grand almost three months ago."
"I also got a match on the DNA sample that Doc collected," Wendy added. "Came back to a Mike Garrett."
Grissom and Sara looked at one another in surprise and then back at Wendy.
"Garrett has been in custody for three months, how is that even possible?" Grissom questioned with a frown, taking off his glasses.
Wendy shrugged.
"I don't know, but he did have sex with Quinn before she died."
Grissom turned to Sara as Wendy and Mandy left them with the folders.
"Run a search on Garrett," he said. "I want to know exactly who we're dealing with. I'll call Jim and find out exactly what is going on."
Grissom headed toward his office, his fingers dialing Brass' number to explain what was going on.
"Garrett was bailed after three weeks in county lock-up," Jim explained to Sara and Grissom half an hour later. "It was posted anonymously."
Sara looked between Grissom and Brass as she explained what she'd learned.
"Quinn Harper is Mike Garrett's ex-girlfriend," she said. "She ended the relationship when he became possessive. In fact, she had a restraining order against him after he almost broke her jaw when accusing her of cheating on him."
"I'll send an officer to arrest him," stated Brass as he arose from his chair. "He's got some explaining to do, since he broke his restraining order."
The interview with Garrett wasn't going well, with Garrett resentful of his arrest, and the tension between Garrett, Brass and Grissom, at an all-time high.
Garrett's cold stare bore down on Grissom, who just barely managed to repress the chill that ran through his body.
"What's that bitch been telling you?" Garrett hissed, his hands clenching and unclenching into fists, his nostrils flaring.
"Nothing, since Quinn is dead," said Grissom quietly, watching Garrett carefully.
He'd not forgotten his last encounter with Garrett and had hoped to avoid another meeting. He was starting to feel very uneasy and wanted the interview over with.
Grissom pushed the autopsy photos towards Garrett, who ignored them.
"We recovered DNA from her body, that came back as a match to you," Grissom explained, his unease increasing as the tension in the room grew. "You had sex with her, before she died."
"So what?" spat Garrett. "She was begging for it! But that don't mean I killed her!"
"You broke your restraining order," Brass stated quietly, carefully watching Garrett's body language with unease.
"This is harassment!" Garrett hissed, focusing his cold stare on Grissom. "There's no way you're pinning this on me!"
His hands clenched into fists as his anger amplified, his eyes burned with hatred as he glared at Grissom.
"You're setting me up!" Garrett spat viciously, his cold eyes burning, his body tensing.
Brass quickly realised that things were getting out of hand and glanced at Officer Metcalf with a look of warning.
Metcalf stepped forward cautiously, knowing Garrett's reputation for violence and feeling glad that Captain Brass was there.
"Gil, could I have a word outside?" Brass said quietly, hoping that Grissom would take the hint.
Relieved for an excuse to leave the interview room, Grissom rose to his feet.
"I don't set people up, I follow the evidence," he calmly told Garrett.
In a blur of movement, Garrett lunged for Grissom. The table hindered Garrett's progress, allowing Metcalf to gain a tentative hold on Garrett as more officers entered the room. At the same time, Brass ushered Grissom out the door.
As they left, Brass saw several officers surrounding Garrett, handcuffing him while he voiced his rage.
"From now on, if you have any more dealings with him, I want three officers with you," Brass said as he heaved a sigh of relief.
Grissom swallowed his own relief as he glanced back at the interview room, where the officers continued to struggle with Garrett. Seeing him again at any time would be too soon. There was no question that Garret was dangerous.
As Grissom turned to head to the lab, Sara stepped out from the other interview room, and it was clear that she had witnessed what had happened.
"He's laughing at us," Sara stated. "All we have is a restraining order and his DNA."
"Breaking the restraining order breaks his bail conditions," Brass tried his best to soothe her. "That alone is enough to send him back to county, while you do some more digging around."
The sounds of a struggle warned them of the six officers moving Garrett to holding. It was clear that they had their hands full, as Garrett's attempt to break free increased as he saw the trio.
"I'll get you for this, Grissom!" Garrett bellowed, "And your bitch, too!"
His struggles became violent enough that several officers lost their grip on his arms. Sensing his advantage, he heaved forward, using his upper body strength to break free.
Although his hands were handcuffed behind his back, it didn't stop him from barreling toward Grissom. Timing it just right, Garrett swung his head to the right, connecting squarely with Grissom's nose.
Grissom stumbled backward, tripping over his own feet, as blood gushed from his nose.