Title: Survivor
Author: csiphile
Disclaimer: see first chapter
Notes: Sorry this took so long guys, FF went down and then I haven't had a chance to post the rest. So here is a big chunk and maybe if I get some nice reviews I will sent more very soon! Kidding, I will send it anyway, but the reviews would be nice too!
Before Grissom can get two words out at the lab Sara grabs the vial and takes it to Greg for comparison against the one male hair they found. She knows it's not much to go on, but hopes the DNA match will lead them to stronger evidence. Sara quickly finds Greg and puts him to work on the DNA, asking him to page her when he has the results. Leaving the lab, Sara runs into Grissom in the hall, literally.
"Oh, sorry." She says and looks up from her thoughts at the person standing in front of her. He is looking at her with concern filling his familiar blue eyes.
"No problem. Greg working the DNA?"
"Yep. Should be done soon I hope, then we can at least question him officially as a suspect."
"Sara" He starts slowly "you know that a hair is circumstantial at best, it may get us an interview and a warrant for his apartment, but that's it, it won't convict him."
"I know." She says quietly "I know, I just want to get him so bad Grissom, he did it, I can feel it."
He doesn't know what to say to her, so they just stand there, staring at each other. Grissom wants to use the opportunity to ask Sara about what in the journal set her off earlier, but the sad look on her face tells the story. Before he can say anything, a lab tech walking through the hall gently bumps into him, pushing him even farther into Sara personal space, he feels comfortable there, like it is where he belongs. Never breaking eye contact, Sara can feel the electricity when Grissom lightly touches her bare arm to steady himself. Upon regaining balance, Grissom moves neither closer to her, or away, nor does he remove his hand from her upper arm. He can smell her shampoo, something fruity, that surprises him for some reason.
Coming around the corner he is looking for Grissom, and what he sees only confirms what Nick had told him. They were standing what seemed to be impossibly close to each other, they were practically one person. He had one hand on her arm, and they were just staring at each other, oblivious to everything around them, including him. From a distance he can see the electricity they produce around each other, it almost glowed. Sighing, Greg turns and walks back to the lab to wait for Sara's test results, resigned to the fact that she truly did belong to Grissom, whether they where willing to admit it or not.
Before the moment gets out of control, Grissom reluctantly moves away from her, never breaking eye contact.
"Ummm, let me know what happens with the DNA." He says nervously. He knew she felt the connection they had, but did they want to act on it is the question of the day.
"Yea, I will." She sensed his confusion and chose to ignore it for now. They were at work, this wasn't the place or the time to act on any feelings they may have.
"You going to the DNA lab?" He asks her.
"Uh, yea. I will sit on Greg until I get the results." She told him, even if it was a little lie. She is planning on going to the lab, after she reads more in Gracie's journal. Sara just knew that would bother Grissom, so she chose not to mention it.
"Good, good." He says and instantly knows what she is up to from the look on her face, but decides not to mention it, figuring she can handle herself. Sara suddenly breaks eye contact, slides past him into the hall, and heads toward DNA. Once she rounds the corner, Sara stops momentarily and takes a deep breath to get herself together, Grissom standing that close had rattled her more than she would like to admit. While she wanted something more personal with him, and had for a while, until that moment in the hall, she wasn't sure if either of them would act on their mutual feelings. Shaking her head, Sara focuses on the task at hand, and heads to the evidence locker to get the journal out.
He watches her go and wonders what came over him. He is her supervisor, but at the same time, the feelings he had toward her were powerful. More so than with anyone he had ever been with. She is his equal, his friend, his colleague and his soulmate, he is sure of that now. What he isn't sure of is when something will happen, though he knows its inevitable. Casting one last glance toward the hallway she disappeared down, he turns the other way and heads for his office.
Sara pulls the book out of the box and looks at the cover closely, it is made of brown leather and in the middle is the victims initials engraved on a small nickel colored plaque. With latex covered hands, she carefully fingers the letters and tries not to let certain memories invade her thoughts. Walking out of evidence, Sara wanders into the layout room again to read. Finding that last terrifying sentence, she continues to read.
**I don't know what to do now. I am terrified of him, if I leave he will kill me, I am sure of it. But I cant live my life like this anymore. Yesterday he beat me where there was exposed skin, he was so mad. I don't even know why honestly, I must have done something. I couldn't go to classes, my arms are so black and blue, I don't want to have to explain what's going on. I don't know how long I can do this for, my sister is beginning to suspect something I think. Maybe I should save him the trouble and kill myself, then at least I go on my terms, not his.**
Sara can feel her blood start to boil after reading this. She has to stop reading momentarily in order to get control, before she throws the book across the room and destroys evidence. Taking another deep breath, she looks back down at the pages, making note that Grace's hand writing is becoming more erratic as time goes by. Before she can start to read again, Sara's pager goes off. Looking down at the LED display, she jumps out of the chair, journal in hand, and heads off to find Greg. Sara meets up with Grissom just outside of the DNA lab, he makes note of the journal in her hand, but says nothing to her about it.
She only realizes that she is still carrying the journal when Grissom looks down at her hands, and mentally chastises herself for forgetting to stop by evidence on the way here. As they enter the lab together, Sara waits for Grissom to say something to her and is surprised when he doesn't.
"Hey you're here at the same time. You guys have telepathy with each other or what?" Greg says to them. After witnessing the exchange in the hall he has come to terms with the fact he and Sara will never be.
Grissom and Sara just exchange strange looks and then return their attention to the lab tech.
"What do you have Greg?" Sara asks her tone a level below annoyed.
"Well, we have a winner. The male mystery hair belongs to one Kevin Lasho." He says with a grin on his face.
Sara immediately looks up at Grissom and he notices the smile on her face. They have something, a small something, but it's a start.
"Sara, don't get your hopes up. Her boyfriends hair in her dorm room is not unusual by any means." He says carefully.
"I know, but based on his own testimony that he never went to her dorm room, that has to at least be enough to bring him in and search his apartment. Right?"
"Let me talk to Brass and Mobley, ok? I want you to sit tight until I let you know." He tells her as they leave the lab.
"Ok. Thanks Grissom." She says and give him that grin she saves just for him. He nods and heads down the hall to convince Brass to haul Kevin in for questioning.
Sara looks down at the book again and heads back to layout to finish reading. By the infrequent date stamps in the journal, and occasional references to current events, she figures she is about 3 days before Grace was killed. Settling back into the chair she had occupied earlier, Sara opens the book and continues again. She reads a few pages, with nothing of interest until she gets to the last paragraph Gracie Roberts ever wrote, on the day she died.
**It feels like a weight has been lifted. I left him, I am going home for a while. Get some order in my life and then decide if I want to come back. It was hard, I just packed up what I had at his place when he wasn't there and I left. No one understands. I know that he was seeing Hope at the same time. It's not her fault, he manipulates people into doing what he wants them to do. I don't blame her, though I did try and warn her, she just got angry with me, said if I couldn't make him happy, she could. I tried, I really did, she wouldn't listen. I am sure once I am out of his life, he will start beating her too. He doesn't give up easily, that's for sure. I will miss school and my friends, but I made this choice for me. I saw him following me today, I know it was him. I will be happy when I am 200 miles from this place and I cant see him everyday. I think he has been following me for days now, it scares me.**
Sara quietly shut the journal, wiping the tears from her eye. She knew Kevin Lasho killed Grace, she didn't know why, obsession maybe, but he did. Sara looked at the cover again and then noticed she is no longer alone in the room; Grissom is standing in the door, watching her, with a concerned expression on his face. She gives him a wan smile and places the journal in the evidence bag again, this time avoiding eye contact with him.
"Sara.." He starts and advances on her, quickly moving to her side.
"There wasn't much else useful except Kevin was following her the last few days, she saw him that day actually. Maybe that will help." She says softly while fumbling with the evidence bag.
"Sara." He starts again, and takes the bag from her. "Sara, look at me. Brass is fetching Lasho to interrogate. When he comes back though, I don't want you in the room."
That got just the reaction he was expecting "Grissom! Its my case too, I deserve to be in there." Her eyes flashed with anger at him.
"Sara, I have not taken you off the case despite the fact you are obviously emotionally attached. Don't force me to do it now. You can watch, but you are not going in there. Are we understood?" His tone of voice told her he was deathly serious, and he is right, she shouldn't have been on this case.
"Fine." She responds shortly.
"Good, I will let you know when he gets here." She just nods at him and leaves the room, leaving him holding the journal in the evidence bag.
Sara has been sitting the break room for twenty minutes, silently, moving only when the position she was in becomes uncomfortable. Nick had been watching her for the last five of those twenty. Concern for his friend evident on his face. Everyone knew about Sara's habit of getting emotionally involved. As of late she had been able to hold those emotions in check, but this case had done some serious damage to the tenuous hold she had. He entered the room and approached the couch she was perched on from behind.
"Sara?" She almost jumped out of the position she was in when his voice broke the silence.
"Nick. God damn, don't do that." She said, turned in position and looked at him, a distant expression on her face.
"Sorry. Are you ok? You have been sitting here for who knows how long, staring into space." He walked around the couch and sat on the table in front of it, so they were now facing each other.
"Yea. I am fine, just waiting for Brass to come back with our suspect."
"Sara, if you need to talk to someone, you know you can come to me right?" He asks her, knowing Sara can be as fiercely private as Grissom, but takes the chance.
Sara looks at Nick and has to smile, he really is a good guy, she can see why he's the people person of the group. "Thank you Nick, but I will be ok." She smiles at him and places one hand on his that is resting on his knee. "I appreciate the concern though."
"Sara..just remember I am here if you need me." Nick says and gets up, still worried, but at least she knows she can come to him. Sara truly has become the little sister he never had as a kid, and he feels protective of her. Nick hated to see anyone in pain, emotional or otherwise, that is part of the reason he took this job, to ease the victims families minds. As he leaves the room he looks at the back of her head and is jolted when she suddenly moves out of position, and grabs her pager.
Sara read her message, got up, and brushes past Nick on the way to interrogation. Kevin Lasho is here.
tbc.......
Author: csiphile
Disclaimer: see first chapter
Notes: Sorry this took so long guys, FF went down and then I haven't had a chance to post the rest. So here is a big chunk and maybe if I get some nice reviews I will sent more very soon! Kidding, I will send it anyway, but the reviews would be nice too!
Before Grissom can get two words out at the lab Sara grabs the vial and takes it to Greg for comparison against the one male hair they found. She knows it's not much to go on, but hopes the DNA match will lead them to stronger evidence. Sara quickly finds Greg and puts him to work on the DNA, asking him to page her when he has the results. Leaving the lab, Sara runs into Grissom in the hall, literally.
"Oh, sorry." She says and looks up from her thoughts at the person standing in front of her. He is looking at her with concern filling his familiar blue eyes.
"No problem. Greg working the DNA?"
"Yep. Should be done soon I hope, then we can at least question him officially as a suspect."
"Sara" He starts slowly "you know that a hair is circumstantial at best, it may get us an interview and a warrant for his apartment, but that's it, it won't convict him."
"I know." She says quietly "I know, I just want to get him so bad Grissom, he did it, I can feel it."
He doesn't know what to say to her, so they just stand there, staring at each other. Grissom wants to use the opportunity to ask Sara about what in the journal set her off earlier, but the sad look on her face tells the story. Before he can say anything, a lab tech walking through the hall gently bumps into him, pushing him even farther into Sara personal space, he feels comfortable there, like it is where he belongs. Never breaking eye contact, Sara can feel the electricity when Grissom lightly touches her bare arm to steady himself. Upon regaining balance, Grissom moves neither closer to her, or away, nor does he remove his hand from her upper arm. He can smell her shampoo, something fruity, that surprises him for some reason.
Coming around the corner he is looking for Grissom, and what he sees only confirms what Nick had told him. They were standing what seemed to be impossibly close to each other, they were practically one person. He had one hand on her arm, and they were just staring at each other, oblivious to everything around them, including him. From a distance he can see the electricity they produce around each other, it almost glowed. Sighing, Greg turns and walks back to the lab to wait for Sara's test results, resigned to the fact that she truly did belong to Grissom, whether they where willing to admit it or not.
Before the moment gets out of control, Grissom reluctantly moves away from her, never breaking eye contact.
"Ummm, let me know what happens with the DNA." He says nervously. He knew she felt the connection they had, but did they want to act on it is the question of the day.
"Yea, I will." She sensed his confusion and chose to ignore it for now. They were at work, this wasn't the place or the time to act on any feelings they may have.
"You going to the DNA lab?" He asks her.
"Uh, yea. I will sit on Greg until I get the results." She told him, even if it was a little lie. She is planning on going to the lab, after she reads more in Gracie's journal. Sara just knew that would bother Grissom, so she chose not to mention it.
"Good, good." He says and instantly knows what she is up to from the look on her face, but decides not to mention it, figuring she can handle herself. Sara suddenly breaks eye contact, slides past him into the hall, and heads toward DNA. Once she rounds the corner, Sara stops momentarily and takes a deep breath to get herself together, Grissom standing that close had rattled her more than she would like to admit. While she wanted something more personal with him, and had for a while, until that moment in the hall, she wasn't sure if either of them would act on their mutual feelings. Shaking her head, Sara focuses on the task at hand, and heads to the evidence locker to get the journal out.
He watches her go and wonders what came over him. He is her supervisor, but at the same time, the feelings he had toward her were powerful. More so than with anyone he had ever been with. She is his equal, his friend, his colleague and his soulmate, he is sure of that now. What he isn't sure of is when something will happen, though he knows its inevitable. Casting one last glance toward the hallway she disappeared down, he turns the other way and heads for his office.
Sara pulls the book out of the box and looks at the cover closely, it is made of brown leather and in the middle is the victims initials engraved on a small nickel colored plaque. With latex covered hands, she carefully fingers the letters and tries not to let certain memories invade her thoughts. Walking out of evidence, Sara wanders into the layout room again to read. Finding that last terrifying sentence, she continues to read.
**I don't know what to do now. I am terrified of him, if I leave he will kill me, I am sure of it. But I cant live my life like this anymore. Yesterday he beat me where there was exposed skin, he was so mad. I don't even know why honestly, I must have done something. I couldn't go to classes, my arms are so black and blue, I don't want to have to explain what's going on. I don't know how long I can do this for, my sister is beginning to suspect something I think. Maybe I should save him the trouble and kill myself, then at least I go on my terms, not his.**
Sara can feel her blood start to boil after reading this. She has to stop reading momentarily in order to get control, before she throws the book across the room and destroys evidence. Taking another deep breath, she looks back down at the pages, making note that Grace's hand writing is becoming more erratic as time goes by. Before she can start to read again, Sara's pager goes off. Looking down at the LED display, she jumps out of the chair, journal in hand, and heads off to find Greg. Sara meets up with Grissom just outside of the DNA lab, he makes note of the journal in her hand, but says nothing to her about it.
She only realizes that she is still carrying the journal when Grissom looks down at her hands, and mentally chastises herself for forgetting to stop by evidence on the way here. As they enter the lab together, Sara waits for Grissom to say something to her and is surprised when he doesn't.
"Hey you're here at the same time. You guys have telepathy with each other or what?" Greg says to them. After witnessing the exchange in the hall he has come to terms with the fact he and Sara will never be.
Grissom and Sara just exchange strange looks and then return their attention to the lab tech.
"What do you have Greg?" Sara asks her tone a level below annoyed.
"Well, we have a winner. The male mystery hair belongs to one Kevin Lasho." He says with a grin on his face.
Sara immediately looks up at Grissom and he notices the smile on her face. They have something, a small something, but it's a start.
"Sara, don't get your hopes up. Her boyfriends hair in her dorm room is not unusual by any means." He says carefully.
"I know, but based on his own testimony that he never went to her dorm room, that has to at least be enough to bring him in and search his apartment. Right?"
"Let me talk to Brass and Mobley, ok? I want you to sit tight until I let you know." He tells her as they leave the lab.
"Ok. Thanks Grissom." She says and give him that grin she saves just for him. He nods and heads down the hall to convince Brass to haul Kevin in for questioning.
Sara looks down at the book again and heads back to layout to finish reading. By the infrequent date stamps in the journal, and occasional references to current events, she figures she is about 3 days before Grace was killed. Settling back into the chair she had occupied earlier, Sara opens the book and continues again. She reads a few pages, with nothing of interest until she gets to the last paragraph Gracie Roberts ever wrote, on the day she died.
**It feels like a weight has been lifted. I left him, I am going home for a while. Get some order in my life and then decide if I want to come back. It was hard, I just packed up what I had at his place when he wasn't there and I left. No one understands. I know that he was seeing Hope at the same time. It's not her fault, he manipulates people into doing what he wants them to do. I don't blame her, though I did try and warn her, she just got angry with me, said if I couldn't make him happy, she could. I tried, I really did, she wouldn't listen. I am sure once I am out of his life, he will start beating her too. He doesn't give up easily, that's for sure. I will miss school and my friends, but I made this choice for me. I saw him following me today, I know it was him. I will be happy when I am 200 miles from this place and I cant see him everyday. I think he has been following me for days now, it scares me.**
Sara quietly shut the journal, wiping the tears from her eye. She knew Kevin Lasho killed Grace, she didn't know why, obsession maybe, but he did. Sara looked at the cover again and then noticed she is no longer alone in the room; Grissom is standing in the door, watching her, with a concerned expression on his face. She gives him a wan smile and places the journal in the evidence bag again, this time avoiding eye contact with him.
"Sara.." He starts and advances on her, quickly moving to her side.
"There wasn't much else useful except Kevin was following her the last few days, she saw him that day actually. Maybe that will help." She says softly while fumbling with the evidence bag.
"Sara." He starts again, and takes the bag from her. "Sara, look at me. Brass is fetching Lasho to interrogate. When he comes back though, I don't want you in the room."
That got just the reaction he was expecting "Grissom! Its my case too, I deserve to be in there." Her eyes flashed with anger at him.
"Sara, I have not taken you off the case despite the fact you are obviously emotionally attached. Don't force me to do it now. You can watch, but you are not going in there. Are we understood?" His tone of voice told her he was deathly serious, and he is right, she shouldn't have been on this case.
"Fine." She responds shortly.
"Good, I will let you know when he gets here." She just nods at him and leaves the room, leaving him holding the journal in the evidence bag.
Sara has been sitting the break room for twenty minutes, silently, moving only when the position she was in becomes uncomfortable. Nick had been watching her for the last five of those twenty. Concern for his friend evident on his face. Everyone knew about Sara's habit of getting emotionally involved. As of late she had been able to hold those emotions in check, but this case had done some serious damage to the tenuous hold she had. He entered the room and approached the couch she was perched on from behind.
"Sara?" She almost jumped out of the position she was in when his voice broke the silence.
"Nick. God damn, don't do that." She said, turned in position and looked at him, a distant expression on her face.
"Sorry. Are you ok? You have been sitting here for who knows how long, staring into space." He walked around the couch and sat on the table in front of it, so they were now facing each other.
"Yea. I am fine, just waiting for Brass to come back with our suspect."
"Sara, if you need to talk to someone, you know you can come to me right?" He asks her, knowing Sara can be as fiercely private as Grissom, but takes the chance.
Sara looks at Nick and has to smile, he really is a good guy, she can see why he's the people person of the group. "Thank you Nick, but I will be ok." She smiles at him and places one hand on his that is resting on his knee. "I appreciate the concern though."
"Sara..just remember I am here if you need me." Nick says and gets up, still worried, but at least she knows she can come to him. Sara truly has become the little sister he never had as a kid, and he feels protective of her. Nick hated to see anyone in pain, emotional or otherwise, that is part of the reason he took this job, to ease the victims families minds. As he leaves the room he looks at the back of her head and is jolted when she suddenly moves out of position, and grabs her pager.
Sara read her message, got up, and brushes past Nick on the way to interrogation. Kevin Lasho is here.
tbc.......