A/N: Stlouieal you crack me up, seriously. Can I get you to be a reviewer on my next manuscript feel like sitting on a dissertation committee? I think it would make it so much better than the RL. Till now the field of criminology thought the age crime curve existed, but oh no he didn't he provided evidence that Hirshi was wrong, take that hirshi. Seriously not making fun of you. I truly do enjoy all of the reviews. Also glad some of ya'll like Jade. She is based on a friend who actually suggested I try writing fiction to see if that breaks the block on my dissertation. Last update for awhile (week at the most) too many RL deadlines to meet. My mentor who is nothing like Grissom is demanding I do actual work to get a job. BTW, are the chapters too long? In word they are averaging about 11 pages, which is nothing to write these days.

Chapter 3: Rest in Pieces

The alarm awoke Sara, the radio blaring refusing to turn off until she got out of bed and hit the button. God she hated this song, fine she'll get up to turn it off in a minute. The bed is just so warm and comfortable. The dread hit her the minute she sat up in bed and realized why her alarm was waking her up, instead of her own natural sleep cycle. Today was the day she had to face her ex-husband. She could do this, she told herself. Just smile through it. With all she has been through, looking at Grissom again would not affect her.

It was not until the drive to the university that she began to feel the panic overtake her. Maybe she could not take this. Could she just not show up, make an excuse about the crime lab taking over. She had that ongoing case, it was important. Parked now, she closed her eyes and gave herself a pep talk. She would do this, Grissom was not part of her life anymore and he did not deserve this much control. Letting the anger at him wash over her, anger was the best emotion for now. It would get her through.

Once inside she slipped into the back of the lecture room. It was full, she was not surprised. The Criminal Justice and Criminology department just recently started offering forensics courses, and had planned on making it a small part of the larger department over the next few years. The students, especially the undergraduates, enjoyed learning about forensics techniques.

"Hey Sara how have you been?" An older white male asked. He was a faculty member in the UNLV department.

"Busy. The crime lab has been keeping me busy. How are classes?" Sara asked, she cringed inside, this was the same faculty member who on multiple occasions had asked Sara out. She declined each time but that did not seem to deter him.

"You know same old same old. I just got an article published in the Criminology." He said thinking it would have some meaning to Sara, but she did not know much about the criminological research field or their major journals. She remembered from an introduction course she took that it was mostly about theories of crime. Why some people committed crime, why some nations had higher crime rates than others, and a lot more.

"Congrats."

"I surprised you are here. Don't you sleep during the day?"

"Except days that I teach or I am needed at the crime lab." Sara answered at least the small talk was keeping her mind of, oh shit he just walked in, Grissom. God he looked good. She couldn't help herself. He clearly had been working out more often, and he had a suit on. He always looked good in suits. Nope, she was not going to lust after her ex-husband.

"You ok?" The faculty member asked her. Trying to see where she was looking at suddenly.

"Yeah sorry. I blanked out." Sara said hoping her face did not turn red. "Judith asked me to be here today. Since the speaker is a forensic guy."

"I heard he used to work at the Vegas lab. Did you know him?"

"Yeah a bit." Sara lied, "He did not just work there, he helped bring the lab to be one of the best in the nation."

"Really. What is the probability that we could recruit him to come work here?"

Sara looked at her phone, making sure the gentleman talking to her could not see the screen. "Sorry it's the lab. I better take this." Hoping he thought she had silenced her phone for the lecture.

"Hope it's not too urgent."

Sara escaped the room that felt like it was closing in on her. As she got into the hallway she ran into Judith.

"Hello Sara."

"Hello Judith." Sara said looking around for somewhere to escape to.

"Would it be possible for you to go stay for lunch with us?" Judith said, "Would be nice to have someone who knew the field there too. "

Sara wanted to say no, but she knew that the department asked very little of her and was willing to make a lot of compromises because of her career. "I guess I could."

"Great. We will figure out where to go afterwards."

"Ok." Sara said excusing her self to go to the rest room.

Once inside she went to the sink and splashed water on her face. She could do this, looking in the mirror she said it again to herself quietly she could do this.

She heard a hushed tone coming from the stall, "Jamie everything is fine. I was not out last night with Doc. I was out with a friend of Docs. He was showing me the town."

Sara did not know the voice and she did her best to ignore it.

"Seriously. No." another pause, "I am not having this discussion now."

The other person must have been talking on the other end of the line, Sara couldn't hear not that she was trying.

"We are not dating anymore. Remember. I choose my career over you. You gave me the choice, remember, you said I could not have both. I made my decision." The voice was strained a bit, almost like tears were being fought, and it was a losing battle.

"We are done here. I don't have time for your shit." The stall door came flying open and the girl from the flyer came walking out.

"sorry." Jade said to the woman standing at the sink looking into the mirror while she washed her hands.

"Nothing to be sorry about" Sara replied. Sara walked out and grabbed a bottle water from the table that held the breakfast items and refreshments. Returning to the bathroom she handed the girl the water. "You ok?"

"Yeah. Sorry." The brunette answered. "

"You are the second presenter right? Jade Scott?"

"Yeah."

Sara introduced herself, "I'm Sara. I adjunct here."

"Nice to meet you Sara and thanks for the water."

"No problem." Sara said leaving the bathroom to give the girl some privacy.

Grissom's talk went almost flawlessly. It just so happen in the middle of his talk while shifting his eyes through the audience, he eyes came upon someone he had hoped would not be there. He felt his breath catch, and he stuttered the next bit of his sentence before he stopped under the guise of taking a drink of water. After swallowing the cool liquid he was able to regain his composure and continue on. He avoided looking at that side of the room. Too many memories of his days in San Francisco. How she watched him intently, her eyes glued to him, as if nothing else was going on in the room. She was taking in every last word he spoke, as if it might be his last, or the most important information anyone ever told her.

As Grissom finished the last question from an undergraduate, he could not help but feel relieved that Sara did not ask him a question. A voice in his head chided him, coward. He felt horrible for not warning her. He did not know she was an adjunct at UNLV, otherwise, he would have sent Jade by herself.

"Thank you Dr. Grissom." Judith said standing up after everyone finished clapping. "We have an hour before Ms. Scott presents on "Is there a Global Trend of Homicide? Nope. We had lunch catered in and it can be found in the conference room down the hall."

Grissom was packing up his notes when Jade walked up to him.

"Hey Doc can we run away now?" She asked trying to hide her nerves.

"No we cannot. The only reason we are here is because you need the experience." Grissom snapped back a little harsher than he had meant. It was not the girls fault he was here, and had to face something he had been avoiding. He forced her to come after all.

"Ok." Jade answered noticing his mood. "Good talk by the way. I only slept through half of it." She tired to lighten the mood but only got a look from him that told her to back off.

"Let's go to lunch." Grissom almost growled. He felt bad already for how he was treating her, but he couldn't stop himself. Exhaustion, frustration, and all of the other shit was just adding up.

"Dr. Grissom I am not really hungry. Can I pass? " Jade asked having changed her tone to one she would usually use with other faculty, "I want to practice a bit in here."

"Ok. I'll make an excuse for you." Grissom said walking out of the room. Now he had to face the lunch by himself. Way to go Gil, be mean to the poor girl, she didn't deserve any of it.

Grissom walked into the conference room, and his lack of luck was holding. The only seat open was one across from Sara. Judith waved to him to join them. He walked down with his plate and sat down.

"Where is Ms Scott?" Judith asked Grissom a little more touchy then he liked when her hand touched his bicep.

"She had to get a revise and resubmit finished for Journal of Quantitative Criminology." Gil answered. The journal is one of the top tier journal in the field of criminology.

"Really." Judith said suddenly more interested in Ms Scott, than she was in Gil.

"Yeah she is a great student and an even better statistician. Her talk today is child's play for her. She taught me all I needed to know about criminology."

"I guess you don't know much about the field being a forensics person" A old man sitting next to Sara said, it was the same faculty member who had been talking with Sara before the lecture began.

"yeah. I am trained as a biologist first. Jade has been helpful filling in blanks."

"How does that work?" The guy asked.

"How does what work?" Gil asked not understanding the question.

"A forensic person turning to professorship. Is it the old adage those who can't.."

Sara came to Gils defense, "Not remotely. Grissom was one of the best forensics people in Vegas. He made the lab what it is."

"You guys know each other?" The jerk professor asked.

"Yes." Grissom answered not looking at Sara, "I was the one who convinced Sara to leave San Francisco and come to Vegas. I was her supervisor when we worked the graveyard shift." He purposely left out she was also his ex-wife, the one woman he had expected to spend the rest of his life with. "And she is too nice. She was one of the best."

Sara eyes would have bugged out of her head had she not already been carefully checking her facial expression to hide the pain inside.

"Really. Interesting Sara never mentioned that." The jerk supplied.

Gil didn't flinch, he had not expected her to. "It seems like a life time ago."

"You are rather quiet now Sara." The jerk professor said.

"Just tired. Long shifts you know." Sara supplied. She grabbed her phone, "I actually need to go check in with the lab. It was nice seeing you again Grissom."

"You to Sara." Gil said glad she was running away. Things were awkward enough and he did not know what to say to her. Sorry about how things ended, sorry I was not good enough, sorry I ever left you. Maybe sorry I ever interfered with your life by asking you to come to Vegas if I had not you might have been happy somewhere else.

Jade did not practice. She already knew her talk forwards and backwards. There was no reason to practice anymore. The talk she could do in her sleep, had done in her sleep, the little sleep she got. She smiled at the memory of the night before, it was fun. Uncomfortable when Doc came rushing to her hotel door. Was she so clueless to think Greg was not expecting them to have sex when she asked him to come up and listen to the band they had been talking about in the taxi ride back to her hotel? Greg did not seem like the type to assume that any invitation to a girls hotel room meant sex. Yeah in cheesy movies that might have been the case but this was real life. She also began to wonder why Doc came rushing to the door and practically kicked Greg out. Doc had been protective of her, but she just assumed it was because he was her mentor.

She groaned when she thought about her fight with Jamie. Why had she remained friends with her Ex. Doc had warned her about him, that anyone who asked you to choose between loving them and doing what you love may not be worth the time. He had some fancy pants quote about it when she had asked him one night after she had stumbled home drunk from the bar. Doc had been nice enough to help her up the steps to her apartment over his garage. He left Hank with her that night too.

Time to stop thinking about these things. She turned her iPhone up to full blast and made sure the earbuds were secure in her ears. Jade found herself singing to the song in hear ears. She couldn't help it she was pissed off and all she knew to do was to turn to her music. Music never fails, it is the way she feels. The way she understands the world around here.

My depth perception must be off again
Cause this hurts deeper than I thought it did
It has not healed with time
It just shot down my spine
You look so beautiful

Sara and been outside the room trying to work through her emotions. The psychiatrist she had seen warned her about bottling everything inside. She let the pain wash over hear. She heard the singing coming from the room. It was nice, whoever it was had a good voice. It was a song she had not heard before. Seeing Gil again may be too much for her. He acted like everything they had was nothing. It was only just a work relationship now. Yes she understood logically telling them he was her ex husband was not Gil nor really appropriate. It was the way he acted, like nothing had happen. He showed no pain. He was the tin man after all, cold unfeeling, heartless.

Sara was standing in the doorway, yet to open the doors when she felt a presences behind her.

"Sara." Gil said, having decided to follow after her after all. The voice in his head kept screaming at him about how much of a jerk he was. She did not deserve the treatment he was giving her anyway.

"Yea Gil." Sara said without looking at him. S he couldn't right now.

"I am sorry about all of this." He said his hand waving, "I did not know you were an adjunct at UNLV."

Sara felt the anger rise in her, "What would you have done different Gil? Continued to ignored your friends and family." Pausing to look at his face, where she found nothing, "Where you even going to talk to anyone while you were in town?"

Gil knew better than to lie, "I figured it would be easier if I just stayed away."

"Easier for who? You?" Sara said knowing she hit him. "When was the last time you talked to your mom?"

Would you find it in your heart
To make this go away
And let me rest in pieces

Gil did not answer, it had been awhile.

"I know it has been at least a year." Sara said, "I saw her at Christmas."

He did not know what to say to that. He had been busy at Christmas, working. The only reason he knew the holiday was there was because of the department party. Jade had wondered over to his house and watched a couple of movies with him. They both worked in front of the tv typing away on their laptops. Gil planning lectures, Jade writing her dissertation the only time they stopped was when the pizza showed up.

"Go see your mom before you leave." Sara spit at him, "And at least call Catharine she knows you are in town."

"I..I..I.." He was stuttering damn it, she seemed to be the only one who could make him do it, trying to make himself not look so horrible, "I talked to Nick and Greg yesterday. Does that count for something?"

Sara shook her head, he did not get the point. "Gris everyone asked about you, and I had nothing to tell them. It gutted everyone when they found out we were divorced. They couldn't believe how it ended." She was almost in tears, she saw nothing, no emotions in his blue eyes, "You really are heartless. I do not know what I ever saw in you. You were right all along, it was just a stupid school girl crush." Sara paused she heard Jade coming. She stepped out of the doorway to let the young girl through.

"Oh hey." Jade said seeing the woman from the bathroom, Sara, and Doc standing outside the door. "Everything ok Doc?" Jade asked, she could see Doc was uncomfortable.

"yeah." Grissom answered, "Just talking to an old colleague."

"You know each other?" Jade said looking between the two.

"Yeah I was her supervisor when I was working in Vegas."

"Cool." Jade answered, "Well don't mind me I am going to go outside for a bit. I think I need to walk."

"Ok make sure you get back soon."

"No worries Doc." Jade said waving goodbye.

Sara watched the exchanged, and she felt like she was looking at herself all those years ago at San Francisco. The way Gil was with the girl, and the girl was with Gil. "I see." She said softly to herself feeling the pain settle over her, "Be careful not to destroy her Gil."

"What?" Grissom asked confused by Sara comment.

"Leave her alone. S he is young and if half of what you said about he is true she has a good future ahead of her. She doesn't need some heartless damaged old man to ruin that." Sara choose her words to make sure they hurt him. She regretted the minute she said them because she saw something in his eyes, just a brief second of pain.

"I would never." Grissom said looking down the hallway where Jade had disappeared.

"I need air. Go back to the lunch." Sara said turning and leaving the same direction Jade went.

When Sara got outside she wanted to scream. She saw Gils replacement for he, or what she perceived as Gils replacement looking around lost. Calming herself she called out, "Hey Jade need some help?"

Jade turned to look at her, "Yeah I am trying to find a coffee shop or something. I need some decent caffeine."

"Walk with me. There is one not to far from here." Sara said, deciding it was not the girls fault, she probably knew nothing of Gil and Sara's relationship. No reason to take her pain out on the girl.

"Thanks. I don't know if I could function much longer without caffeine."

"No problem. I could use a good cup myself." Sara said putting a fake smile on her face.

They walked in an uncomfortable silence, more than once Sara had looked over and saw the girl trying to work up the courage to say something.

"Sara I know I don't know you, and you don't know me, and Doc would tell me it is not my place to say this, but I heard part of your conversation."

"Which part?" Sara asked hoping the last part was not it.

"You told Doc he is heartless."

Sara frowned.

"he's not. I know he acts like that." Jade quickly said, "But he's not."

"Jade I think I know Gil Grissom better than you."

"You may have known him longer, and I know you guys had something." Jade said seeing the surprised look. "Doc didn't say anything. Greg mentioned it last night, and they talked about you briefly at the diner yesterday."

"oh." Sara said, see he didn't even talk about her.

"He is not heartless. I know." Jade said.

"Well Gil use to always tell me the evidence doesn't lie."

"He still says that." Jade said smiling, "Exhibit A: Last year I was ready to drop out o the doctoral program." Jade was uncomfortable sharing these details with Sara, but she could no have someone thinking poorly of Dr. Grissom. She owed a lot to him. "Mind you it was not by choice. All I ever wanted was to get a PhD, do research, and maybe teach a bit." Jade paused trying to find the right words, "But my family had a different idea. I am a first generation college student, almost a first generation high school student. It has been my mom, my brother and myself for so many years. I always took care of everyone."

Jade paused again making sure Sara was listening. "It got the point I had to choose between staying in the program where I was going to lose my apartment because my mom was on a binder and all of my money went to making sure she had a house. Or quitting the university and getting another job. I was already working overnights at a Target unloading the truck. Doc worked it out so I could stay. He found extra work for me in the university, he made sure he was in charge of my hours because most of the faculty don't like me because I'm a bit different. I don't mince words, and I believe research speaks for itself. Anyway he made it so I could stay. He cornered me and made me tell him what was going on, and he found a way to offer me the help while allowing me to save face. He's not heartless. Without him I would be back in my hometown wasting away like everyone else."

Sara was not sure what to say. She wanted to tell the girl that this was classic Gil. He didn't want her to get away so he did everything he could to make sure she stayed. He had done it to Sara a few times when she tried to leave. Looking at the girl, Sara couldn't bring herself to do it. "So you meant Greg?" Sara tried to change the conversation.

"Yeah he gave me a tour of Vegas last night and we went dancing." Jade said smiling, "it was nice I wanted to have fun and Doc was too tired."

"Greg is a good guy." Sara smiled back at the girl, she wanted to add a much better man that Gil Grissom.

The girls made it back to the university with time to spare. The rest of their conversation had been about the lab. Sara learned that Jade was going to get a tour that night, and Greg and Nick had offered to answer questions about some survey. Once inside they made their way to an office Sara occupied occasionally. All of the adjuncts shared it, but they were only often on campus to teach that the office often stood empty.

Once inside the office Jade continued to ask question of Sara regarding the survey. Sara was surprised by the insight the girl had, for someone who had claimed to find Forensics boring. Gil probably helped her a bit.

In the middle of an answer Sara stopped. Jade looked behind her at the door. They both had heard the loud pops that sounded a lot like a gun being fired. The sound continued, and a few minutes later Sara's phone was ringing. Sara answered it indicating that Jade should close the door.

"This is a message from the University of Nevada Police Department. Please seek shelter immediately. There is an active shooter on campus. Go to a room and lock yourself in. Stay in the room until the all clear is given." The message just repeated itself again. Sara hung the phone up.

"Get away from the door." Sara said walking around her desk.

The gunfire now sounded like it was right outside the door. Both woman stood looking at the door waiting for it to open.

They heard someone scream in pain, but neither woman moved.

"Where are they?" A harsh voice asked.

"I don't know. I swear." A woman cried.

"Where the fuck is everyone?" The shooter asked one more time.

"I don't know."

That was the last words said before another shot was fired, killing the woman instantly as the bullet entered her the front of her head and exited the back.

"Everyone get in the conference room now." Judith yelled closing the door and locking it after the last person entered.

"Where is Jade and Sara?" Gil asked looking around for them.

"Not here." Someone answered.

"I need to go find them." Grissom said trying to push his way towards the door. Once he reached the door Judith grabbed his arm.

"You can't go out there Dr. Grissom."

"I have to. Jade and Sara are out there."

"I am sure they are hiding somewhere too."

"Get out of my way." Grissom said ready to move the woman out of his way.

"Let him go Judith. If he wants to get himself shot." The jerk professor said moving Judith out of the way. "We are locking the door and not opening again until we get the all clear."

"Fine with me." Grissom said walking out the door, having no idea where to look for Sara and Jade. The lecture room maybe. They could still be outside. Gil decided to try the lecture room first.

He ran down the hallway to the room. When he opened the door he stopped wishing he had looked outside first. The gunman looked Grissom in the eyes, raising his weapon so that it was level with Grissom's head. "Where are they?"

AN: BTW should probably give credit where credit is due:

Chapter 1 song: Another Lonely Day by Ben Harper

Chapter 2 song: What Hurts the most written by Jeffery Steele performed by Aaron Lewis and most famously by some country band that I am not allowed to mention or else I'll get punched in the balls.

Chapter 3 song: Rest in Pieces by Saliva

And there is a story within the story using the songs. Once i reveal something I'll explain.