Chapter 14

What do you want?

Something better.

The words reverberated around Grissom's head as he followed Sara through the lab. She dropped off the evidence to the relevant department, stopping at DNA to ensure the blood comparisons took top priority. Grissom was surprised to see Henry Andrews, the toxicologist, working DNA.

"Dr Grissom, hi. Welcome back," the tox tech greeted him, enthusiastically.

"Hello, Henry. You're working DNA now?"

"Ecklie was fed up with all the DNA hires pulling a Sanders and jumping into the field. So, he started doubling up on the current lab rats." Henry shrugged as he started to look through the evidence Sara placed on his desk.

"Hodges has a pool going," Sara said. "To see how long it'll take before Henry converts to a field mouse." She grinned over at Henry, who only shook his head. "We need you to compare the DNA from these swabs," Sara continued, gesturing to the bag to her left. "Against the exemplars taken from Heather Kessler's bathroom, then run them through CODIS. Priority. Let me know as soon as you have the results."

"Yes, ma'am," Henry said as he started to sort through the swabs. Grissom and Sara left him then and made their way to the AV lab. When they entered, Grissom once more holding the door for Sara, they found Russell, Nick, and Archie all huddled around the computer screen. Sara looked up at the larger, mirrored screen and furrowed her brow.

"Lady Heather's court records?" She asked. Grissom glanced up and saw Heather's picture alongside some court documentation, dated ten months ago.

"Yeah," Nick said, glancing their way. He looked Sara over quickly before continuing. "From what we've been able to find, Lady Heather didn't use the court appointed therapist. She went to a private practice."

"Do we know the name of her doctor?" Grissom asked.

"Not yet," Nick replied. "There's nothing on the court record and the only other common number from her phone records was to a disposable cell."

"This might help," Sara said, and she placed Heather's laptop on the desk. "Lady Heather's computer." Archie took the laptop out of the bag and plugged it into his equipment. The large screen was instantly replaced with a mirror image of Heather's computer. A few clicks from his mouse, and strokes on the keyboard, and Archie was able to unlock the screen.

I need to double check the encryption on my laptop, Grissom reminded himself. It was far too easy for someone to break into technology these days.

"I also found these," Sara continued. Taking the bag of tapes from Grissom and handing them to Russell. "Patient recordings, probably from their sessions. There are three missing."

"There's a folder here," Archie said, as he clicked on the icon labelled 'Records'. "Could be patient files." The folder opened to a subfolder, containing, Grissom did a quick count, thirty other folders.

"Hold on," Sara said as she read the names on the screen. "Those are the names on the tapes."

Russell emptied the tapes onto the table behind them and he and Nick started matching names. Eventually, the two men went through every tape and three names were missing.

"Lacey Jones," Sara read aloud. "Adrian Kelly and Patrick Smith."

"Potential suspects?" Nick asked.

"Or victims," Grissom added.

"Open one up, Archie," Russell asked, and Archie clicked on the file that read 'Kelly, Adrian'. "There's a picture," Russell commented, pointing to a thumbnail in the corner. Archie opened it and Adrian Kelly filled the screen.

"That's the bomber," Nick said, looking over at Sara. "Why would Lady Heather send one of her clients to blow up a casino?"

"I don't think she did," Sara said. Grissom looked over at her and she met his eye. He didn't miss the other's looks of surprise as she spoke. Sara transferred her gaze to the other men in the room. "Grissom's right, this isn't her style. Whoever is behind this, is clearly targeting someone. If it were Lady Heather, she wouldn't bother with this whole show. She'd just…"

"Tie them to a car a whip them to death?" Nick asked pointedly, looking at Grissom. Sara brushed a hand against his arm, the touch grounding him as another wave of pain gripped him.

"I was going to say; go to the source. But if that's how you want to put it." Her voice was sharper than it needed to be. "Besides," Sara continued when Nick made to open his mouth again. "Whoever did this made sure to include Grissom."

"Why would that change anything?" Russell asked.

"Lady Heather is capable of many things. I have no doubt, if she wanted to, she could pull something like this off. But she would never involve or target Grissom."

Sara looked up at him then, and Grissom saw it. Worry. Fear. They all knew, since the bomber mentioned him by name, he was caught up in this somehow. But this was the first time anyone considered that he might be the target.

The thought didn't bother Grissom as much as it should, he knew he would be safe. Neither Sara, or Catherine, or any of the team would let anything happen to him. But Grissom could see that Sara was scared. Scared for him, though she was trying to hide it.

Sara slipped a hand into her pocket and Grissom saw her clench her fist around something. Her ring. She still had her ring. Carried it in her pocket.

He wasn't sure what that meant, or if it meant anything at all. But right then, Grissom wanted nothing more than to hold her in his arms. To relieve the clear fear shining out of the eyes he knew so well. To tell her all the things he should have said when he first arrived in Vegas.

"Open up the other files," Russell said to Archie. "Print out their photos and see what else you can find on them." The AV tech opened the folders and brought up the pictures of the other two patients.

Sara's eye widened as she took in the picture of the woman.

"She looks a lot like Lady Heather," she said.

"Yeah," Nick replied. "They could be sisters."

Lucy Jones was a young woman, possibly in her late twenties. Dark brown hair, thin face, high cheek bones. Pale complexion and wide, deep brown, eyes. It was like looking at a younger version of Heather. The version he had first met all those years before.

Sara's mouth opened slightly, and her brows constricted. Grissom knew that look. She had worked something out, or at least had the beginnings of a theory. She looked between him and the picture, trying to decide how best to voice her new hypothesis.

Before she could say anything, however, Hodges walked in.

"I analysed the trace from the bomb fragments, from the Eclipse. Nothing out of the ordinary. Looks to have been made with C4, though the concentration is lower than I would expect," he said, handing the file to Russell.

"Lower concentration, smaller explosion," the supervisor mused. He frowned a little as he read the results. "Why?"

"As I've said, many times, that's your job," Hodges replied in his usual abrasive manner. Grissom saw Sara and Nick share a quick smile before they returned their attention to the two men. Apparently, Hodges didn't bug them as much as he used too.

Just another change you've missed, Grissom. You've been gone too long.

"If the guy wanted to blow up the Eclipse," Nick added. "He would have used more."

"Unless that wasn't the point," Sara said.

"Then what was the point?" Grissom asked her.

"You," she replied. "Whoever is behind this clearly wants your attention. What better way to get it than setting off a bomb in your friend's casino and shifting the blame onto Lady Heather. Anyone who knows you, knows you would come running the moment she's in trouble."

Sara's voice was steady, almost emotionless. But Grissom could see the hurt behind the mask.

She doesn't know, he thought. She doesn't know why I came.

"We need to look over the bomb fragments, see if we can piece them together," Russell said.

"I'll do it," Grissom offered. He hadn't been much help so far, he wanted to do something. Maybe get a chance to speak to Sara. Work with her over the bomb…

"Great," Russell replied, nodding to him. "We also need to talk to the other patients from the missing tapes."

"I'll go and speak to Lucy," Sara offered, but Russell shook his head.

"No," he said. "You need to go home."

"I'm fine, Russell," Sara argued.

"Sara, you've just been released from the hospital, and you were almost blown up. You need a break."

Sara opened her mouth to argue some more, but Nick cut across her.

"You should at least go and change. Maybe have a shower," the Texan put in. "I mean this in the nicest possible way, Sara, but you stink." He ginned at her, and Sara responded with tight lipped, but amused smile. Still, Grissom could see that she wasn't about to back down. Their talk will have to wait.

"You should also go and see mom," he said. "She's probably worried sick." Those were the magic words. Grissom watched as Sara's shoulders sagged in defeat and she nodded her head in agreement.

Looking relieved, Russell turned back to Archie. "See what you can find on the computer. We still need to know the name of Lady Heather's doctor."

"I'll go and see Lucy Jones," Nick offered.

"Good," Russell replied. "I'll speak to Patrick Smith. Maybe one of them can shed some light on this." The two men left the room then, both heading for their respective suspects. Grissom turned back to Sara. She was looking at the two pictures on the screen, her face unreadable. Grissom wanted to say something to her, but with Hodges and Archie still hovering around he held his tongue.

After a few seconds, Grissom walked away without a word.

She thinks I'm only here for Heather. She doesn't know that I… They needed to talk. There were things that he needed to tell her, needed to make her understand. But now wasn't the time. Grissom could only hope that time would come soon.

She still has her ring. That thought alone let Grissom dream, for the first time, that maybe, just maybe, it might not be too late.

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Sara didn't look at Grissom as he left. She knew he wanted to say something. Knew in the way he hesitated. In the way he brought his hands together, clenching them into fists. But, with both Hodges and Archie present, he couldn't do it.

Only waiting a few seconds after his exit, Sara walked out herself. Not even acknowledging her colleagues as she went. Her thoughts went back to the glimpse of Heathers face, before the woman got into that car. When Sara had saw Lucy's photo, she thought that maybe… She couldn't say anything then. She wouldn't get Grissom's hopes up on a fragment of memory she wasn't sure she trusted herself.

Still, she couldn't keep it to herself. Someone needed to look into it. Russell. Russell will know what to do about it.

Once more, so caught up in her own thoughts, Sara wasn't aware that someone had followed her until Hodges called her name. She turned to him.

"I, uh," he said, a little awkwardly. "I wanted to see how you were?"

"I'm fine, Hodges," Sara said. "It's not the first time I've almost been blown up." She gave him a half smile, but Hodges just shuffled a little on his feet.

"I didn't mean about that," he said. "Although I'm glad, obviously. You know, we were all worried for a moment. Especially after the fire. You really should have gone home. Smoke inhalation is no joking matter…"

"Hodges," Sara said, interrupting him.

"Right, yeah. Sorry. I was talking about, uh…" He looked over her shoulder to Grissom's retreating back. She could see the conflict on the trace techs face. He was excited to see Grissom again. Wanted to go after him and work with him once more. Pick his brain. Probably kiss his ass a little... But he held himself back. Sara couldn't help but be touched at this show of solidarity.

"I know it was hard on you," he continued. "When you and Grissom… I-I just wanted you to know, I've got your back. That, um, if you need me…" He halted and Sara's face softened.

"It's ok, David," Sara said. "You're allowed to be happy he's back." She knew, even though Hodges was offering to take her side, he still hero-worshipped Grissom.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Sara's hand slipped back into her pocket and gripped her ring. "I am." She surprised herself at the admission, no less because it was to David Hodges. But it was true. Despite everything. The resurfaced pain. Constant questioning. The confusion and uncertainty. Sara was happy, truly happy Grissom was back.

Hodges smiled, his face lighting with excitement. With her permission given, he tapped her gently on the arm and ran after Grissom. Sara only shook her head in amusement as she watched him go.

Sara pulled the ring out of her pocket. She decided she would follow Russell's 'suggestion' and go to Catherine's. Have a shower and change before doing anything else. She needed some space. Somewhere to think where she wouldn't get interrupted by her colleagues, or the case.

Fingering the ring, Sara's mind wondered to Grissom. She knew he was only there for Lady Heather and, once this case was over, he would leave again. But she couldn't stop herself from pondering over his behaviour. His looks. His words. The gold band, she knew as well as her own. Still living on his finger.

They needed to talk. Sara still had questions to be answered. But right then, in that moment, she let herself hope for her 'something better'. Before heading to the car, Sara slipped the ring back on her finger.

The digit tingled, rejoicing as the warm metal slid home.