Firstly, Thank you so much for the reviews. I only expected about 5! 14 is
completely astounding! Secondly, Sorry it's taken me a while to write this
chapter I've been snowed under with schoolwork.
Chapter 2.
Slowly placing the finished file on top of the tray marked 'out' Grissom heaved a huge sigh of relief. He stared at the daunting pile of paperwork and smiled with satisfaction that he'd finally managed to finish it, albeit now 11 o'clock at night. He also smirked at the fact he'd sent Nick off to finish his own paperwork earlier and from his deductions Nick was still snowed under with it. He rested his head back against the back of his leather recliner and closed his eyes contentedly. If truth be told he'd nearly fallen asleep in this chair many a time before whilst running a difficult case.
RING
Damn modern technology, he thought to himself. At first he tried to ignore the incessant, monotonous ring of his telephone but in the end he reluctantly reached over to it and placed the receiver to his ear.
"Grissom,"
"Hello Mr. Grissom I was just wondering what time Catherine would be off work."
"What do you mean? She left here hours ago."
"Well she hasn't come home yet and Lindsay's getting worse." Grissom could sense the sitters obvious annoyance at unreliable parents however Grissom's gut started to get that particular feeling again when something wasn't quite right.
"Have you tried her cell?"
"Numerous times."
"Then where is she?" Grissom wondered aloud.
"I don't know but I'm not paid for this. I really have to be somewhere else." The babysitter was growing more and more impatient by the minute and Grissom couldn't help but feel annoyed that she didn't care where her employer was.
"Well my shift has just finished. I'll be round to look after Lindsay in about half an hour. Wait for me to get there then you can leave." Concerned for his colleague's welfare, he drummed his fingers distractedly on the desk. Replacing the receiver on to its stand he sank further into his chair. He'd get one of the guys on it.
"Warrick!" he yelled from his office too tired to get up. Seconds later Warrick padded into his office looking just as worn out as Grissom felt.
"We've got a problem."
"What's wrong? Please don't tell me another case has arrived."
"No, it's worse than that."
"Then what?
"Well, I just had Lindsay's babysitter on the phone. Catherine hasn't been home."
"But she left here hours ago." Warrick could see the pieces of the puzzle starting to form and he hated what he was seeing.
"Get everybody in here. We'll try her cell, we'll get a uniform to do her route home check she hasn't broken down, then after that, assuming we haven't found her, we'll worry."
Warrick did as he was told and went about trying to round up the rest of the team. All assembled in Grissom's office 20 minutes later, all their faces displayed panic. They knew Catherine, if she'd broken down she would have rung one of them to give her a lift, she loved Lindsay to bits and nothing would stop her getting to her child. Numerous calls to her cell went unanswered and awaiting the report of the uniform doing her route home they all began to think the worst.
The chirpy ring of the telephone made everyone jump out of their thoughts and come back to reality where they were all sat haphazardly on one of Grissom's leather sofas. They listened intently to one half of the conversation and Grissom watched their faces fall as he tried to give instructions to the officer.
Hanging up eventually he relayed the new information to his colleagues. "We've now officially got a problem, Catherine still hasn't turned up home and I really need to get to Catherine's house before the babysitter goes AWOL. I'll phone you when I get there." Picking up his jacket he left them all in his office. Whilst on his way out of the building and finally out of earshot of the others he retrieved his cell out of his pocket. Dialling the number carefully, he waited for someone to pick up on the receiving end.
"Hello?"
"Yeah Brass, it's me, Grissom. We've got a problem."
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Grissom reached Catherine's house quickly knowing how mad the babysitter was going to be. However, on reaching the house he found the word 'mad' to be the understatement of the century. She was irate.
"Where the hell have you been?" she spat out at him. Finally losing his patience with the self absorbed teenager he snapped.
"If you cared about your employer then you might be worrying where she is right now not about your stupid boyfriend who you've probably got to get to. Now sit down and shut up or I'm going to waste even more of your time." Backing down to the older man's authority she retreated back onto the couch and sank into the comfort of it.
"So has she had an accident or something?"
"No," Grissom replied trying to calm himself, "She hasn't as far as we know. She's missing, not that you'd care of course. Anyway, there's more important things right now than relaying the whole story to you, where's Lindsay?"
The teenager pointed upstairs half shocked at the severity at the older man's words and half stunned at the revelation Grissom had just told her. Grissom knowing the house well found his way to Lindsay's bedroom quickly. He saw the 7 year old sleeping soundly in her bed, her face flushed and her eyes seemingly swollen; Grissom decided this was probably a result of earlier tears. Putting a hand to her forehead he could feel she was still burning up. Not having a paternal instinct he couldn't decide what to do but decided on going to the hospital. Even if it wasn't serious it was better to be safe than sorry. Gently stroking Lindsay's face, she woke up and stared wide eyed at Grissom.
"Grissom I don't feel well." Her bottom lip began to quiver and Grissom picked her up out of the bed and into his arms. Stroking her back lightly trying to soothe her he made his way downstairs still holding her in his strong arms.
"Can you call a ..?" Grissom's sentence tailed off, the babysitter had gone. On further exploration of the ground floor of the house he found himself to be alone with Lindsay. For a split second he thought about how strange this was and then shook his head free of the grasp of these thoughts. Lindsay needed a doctor and in the absence of her mother, he was the one who had to help her.
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Sara had received the call from Grissom minutes previously and in this time she had pulled some form of rank and decided how they were going to tackle this. Brass had come in to help Warrick with figuring out where Catherine had gone and Nick and Sara were going to the hospital. Greg was fighting to get the rest of his cases out of the way to make sure he'd be ready for this one. All going their separate ways they all tried to focus on the task in hand. Trying, and failing to distance themselves they all succumbed to the inevitable and started to panic.
Sara and Nick went down to the Car park and got into Nick's SUV. Speeding all the way to the hospital, the short journey passed in an uncomfortable silence. They hadn't been alone in a couple of days and that last time had been filled with confusion and a tangled web of mixed signals. They both knew they needed to talk about the other night but not now. It felt wrong and inappropriate to do this when their friend was missing and their boss had just rushed her daughter to hospital. But they both knew it was coming. sooner than either of them could have expected.
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After rushing into the waiting room, they found Grissom with his head in his hands. Staring at Nick anxiously expecting the worst, Sara nudged Nick closer to Grissom in a silent command. Following her orders, he stepped forward and crouched down next to Grissom.
"Hey Gris, what's wrong?" Grissom didn't jump at the words, he'd felt he presence of his colleagues before he even looked up. He turned to face the young Texan whose face was wracked with concern.
"It's Lindsay. She's got scarlet fever. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, we found it early so the doctors can treat it much quicker. She should be out in a couple of days, God willing."
Nick was taken aback. Grissom had never used that expression before. He must be really feeling it if he was coming out of his strictly atheist stance. Nick placed a hand over one of Grissom's and let the gesture speak for itself. Grissom could read the subtext, Nick knew he didn't need to explain.
Sara slowly made her way over from the door and tried to look natural about the way she avoided sitting next to Nick. She chastised herself for thinking she could hide from Grissom. He knew everything about her, surely he wouldn't miss this. Shaking her head lightly to rid the thoughts she turned her attentions once more to Grissom. Gently, she said, "Gris, we need you back at the lab. We've got Brass and Warrick working on the car park where Catherine's SUV was to see if we can get anything from that. We've got Greg clearing his schedule and although I did a good job of pulling rank," she stopped and smiled at her boss then continued, "I think everyone would much prefer it if you got back to being the boss again, including Catherine."
He knew she was right. Rubbing the heels of his palms into his eyes to try and eradicate some of the tiredness he felt, he spoke gently, "We have to find her, for Lindsay's sake."
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The journey back to the lab was just as uncomfortable as the earlier one to the hospital had been between Nick and Sara, however now Grissom had been added to the equation the effort had to be made. Checking the rear view mirror to make sure Grissom wasn't looking Nick mouthed to Sara, "We need to talk." Mouthing back "I know." She turned her attentions to pretend she was staring out of the window. In actual fact she was lost deep in thought.
On arrival back at the lab serious progress had been made. Warrick and Brass had found an earring on the floor in the car lot. However, unless Catherine wore skull and crossbones earrings then it was a safe bet it belonged to her kidnapper. Greg had worked his ass off to make sure that his schedule was free for the work he knew he'd be getting within the next couple of hours. Using his initiative, he took the earring for DNA testing before Grissom had even thought to ask and rushed the results. Logging the newly found data into his computer system he concentrated hard on the screen as AFIS worked on finding the kidnapper. Rubbing his temples trying to ease a headache that was forming he jumped at the beep the computer made. A match had been found. but who? Greg stared at the screen his eyes open wide with shock. This case was not looking good so far. Pressing the print button he collected the paper from the tray and rushed to try and find Grissom.
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Brass felt the vibration in his pocket and identified this as his phone. Picking it swiftly out of his pocket he answered it in a flourish.
"Brass."
"Hello, this is Officer Trentham. We've just found an abandoned SUV out on one of the roads out of town. I thought it best to call you due to your earlier request that if we found such information we should report it to you."
Brass winced at the boy's formality. He could tell he was a new kid on the block. "Ok where exactly?"
"Well you see that's what I needed to tell you. A tow company came to pick it up after it was reported and."
"Is there a point to this son?" Brass snapped and immediately apologised.
"Sorry sir. Yes the point is that the inside of the SUV is almost completely covered in blood. It's not good sir. The tow company are already bringing it to the lab so that you can investigate."
"Thank you son. Good work." He hoped this made up for his earlier irritation with the young lad and hung up. He needed to tell Grissom the good and the bad news. A thought instantly popped into his head, "Why am I always the bearer of bad news?" Willing himself to try and think of how exactly to phrase this he decided honesty was indeed the best policy. Making his way to Grissom's office he banged right into Greg who looked like he'd just been running a marathon. They both said in unison, "I've got news." Opening the door, Brass motioned for Greg to go in before him. This was going to be a long night, or rather morning as Brass fixed his gaze wearily on his watch finding the time to be 4AM.
Please R&R.
Chapter 2.
Slowly placing the finished file on top of the tray marked 'out' Grissom heaved a huge sigh of relief. He stared at the daunting pile of paperwork and smiled with satisfaction that he'd finally managed to finish it, albeit now 11 o'clock at night. He also smirked at the fact he'd sent Nick off to finish his own paperwork earlier and from his deductions Nick was still snowed under with it. He rested his head back against the back of his leather recliner and closed his eyes contentedly. If truth be told he'd nearly fallen asleep in this chair many a time before whilst running a difficult case.
RING
Damn modern technology, he thought to himself. At first he tried to ignore the incessant, monotonous ring of his telephone but in the end he reluctantly reached over to it and placed the receiver to his ear.
"Grissom,"
"Hello Mr. Grissom I was just wondering what time Catherine would be off work."
"What do you mean? She left here hours ago."
"Well she hasn't come home yet and Lindsay's getting worse." Grissom could sense the sitters obvious annoyance at unreliable parents however Grissom's gut started to get that particular feeling again when something wasn't quite right.
"Have you tried her cell?"
"Numerous times."
"Then where is she?" Grissom wondered aloud.
"I don't know but I'm not paid for this. I really have to be somewhere else." The babysitter was growing more and more impatient by the minute and Grissom couldn't help but feel annoyed that she didn't care where her employer was.
"Well my shift has just finished. I'll be round to look after Lindsay in about half an hour. Wait for me to get there then you can leave." Concerned for his colleague's welfare, he drummed his fingers distractedly on the desk. Replacing the receiver on to its stand he sank further into his chair. He'd get one of the guys on it.
"Warrick!" he yelled from his office too tired to get up. Seconds later Warrick padded into his office looking just as worn out as Grissom felt.
"We've got a problem."
"What's wrong? Please don't tell me another case has arrived."
"No, it's worse than that."
"Then what?
"Well, I just had Lindsay's babysitter on the phone. Catherine hasn't been home."
"But she left here hours ago." Warrick could see the pieces of the puzzle starting to form and he hated what he was seeing.
"Get everybody in here. We'll try her cell, we'll get a uniform to do her route home check she hasn't broken down, then after that, assuming we haven't found her, we'll worry."
Warrick did as he was told and went about trying to round up the rest of the team. All assembled in Grissom's office 20 minutes later, all their faces displayed panic. They knew Catherine, if she'd broken down she would have rung one of them to give her a lift, she loved Lindsay to bits and nothing would stop her getting to her child. Numerous calls to her cell went unanswered and awaiting the report of the uniform doing her route home they all began to think the worst.
The chirpy ring of the telephone made everyone jump out of their thoughts and come back to reality where they were all sat haphazardly on one of Grissom's leather sofas. They listened intently to one half of the conversation and Grissom watched their faces fall as he tried to give instructions to the officer.
Hanging up eventually he relayed the new information to his colleagues. "We've now officially got a problem, Catherine still hasn't turned up home and I really need to get to Catherine's house before the babysitter goes AWOL. I'll phone you when I get there." Picking up his jacket he left them all in his office. Whilst on his way out of the building and finally out of earshot of the others he retrieved his cell out of his pocket. Dialling the number carefully, he waited for someone to pick up on the receiving end.
"Hello?"
"Yeah Brass, it's me, Grissom. We've got a problem."
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Grissom reached Catherine's house quickly knowing how mad the babysitter was going to be. However, on reaching the house he found the word 'mad' to be the understatement of the century. She was irate.
"Where the hell have you been?" she spat out at him. Finally losing his patience with the self absorbed teenager he snapped.
"If you cared about your employer then you might be worrying where she is right now not about your stupid boyfriend who you've probably got to get to. Now sit down and shut up or I'm going to waste even more of your time." Backing down to the older man's authority she retreated back onto the couch and sank into the comfort of it.
"So has she had an accident or something?"
"No," Grissom replied trying to calm himself, "She hasn't as far as we know. She's missing, not that you'd care of course. Anyway, there's more important things right now than relaying the whole story to you, where's Lindsay?"
The teenager pointed upstairs half shocked at the severity at the older man's words and half stunned at the revelation Grissom had just told her. Grissom knowing the house well found his way to Lindsay's bedroom quickly. He saw the 7 year old sleeping soundly in her bed, her face flushed and her eyes seemingly swollen; Grissom decided this was probably a result of earlier tears. Putting a hand to her forehead he could feel she was still burning up. Not having a paternal instinct he couldn't decide what to do but decided on going to the hospital. Even if it wasn't serious it was better to be safe than sorry. Gently stroking Lindsay's face, she woke up and stared wide eyed at Grissom.
"Grissom I don't feel well." Her bottom lip began to quiver and Grissom picked her up out of the bed and into his arms. Stroking her back lightly trying to soothe her he made his way downstairs still holding her in his strong arms.
"Can you call a ..?" Grissom's sentence tailed off, the babysitter had gone. On further exploration of the ground floor of the house he found himself to be alone with Lindsay. For a split second he thought about how strange this was and then shook his head free of the grasp of these thoughts. Lindsay needed a doctor and in the absence of her mother, he was the one who had to help her.
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Sara had received the call from Grissom minutes previously and in this time she had pulled some form of rank and decided how they were going to tackle this. Brass had come in to help Warrick with figuring out where Catherine had gone and Nick and Sara were going to the hospital. Greg was fighting to get the rest of his cases out of the way to make sure he'd be ready for this one. All going their separate ways they all tried to focus on the task in hand. Trying, and failing to distance themselves they all succumbed to the inevitable and started to panic.
Sara and Nick went down to the Car park and got into Nick's SUV. Speeding all the way to the hospital, the short journey passed in an uncomfortable silence. They hadn't been alone in a couple of days and that last time had been filled with confusion and a tangled web of mixed signals. They both knew they needed to talk about the other night but not now. It felt wrong and inappropriate to do this when their friend was missing and their boss had just rushed her daughter to hospital. But they both knew it was coming. sooner than either of them could have expected.
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After rushing into the waiting room, they found Grissom with his head in his hands. Staring at Nick anxiously expecting the worst, Sara nudged Nick closer to Grissom in a silent command. Following her orders, he stepped forward and crouched down next to Grissom.
"Hey Gris, what's wrong?" Grissom didn't jump at the words, he'd felt he presence of his colleagues before he even looked up. He turned to face the young Texan whose face was wracked with concern.
"It's Lindsay. She's got scarlet fever. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, we found it early so the doctors can treat it much quicker. She should be out in a couple of days, God willing."
Nick was taken aback. Grissom had never used that expression before. He must be really feeling it if he was coming out of his strictly atheist stance. Nick placed a hand over one of Grissom's and let the gesture speak for itself. Grissom could read the subtext, Nick knew he didn't need to explain.
Sara slowly made her way over from the door and tried to look natural about the way she avoided sitting next to Nick. She chastised herself for thinking she could hide from Grissom. He knew everything about her, surely he wouldn't miss this. Shaking her head lightly to rid the thoughts she turned her attentions once more to Grissom. Gently, she said, "Gris, we need you back at the lab. We've got Brass and Warrick working on the car park where Catherine's SUV was to see if we can get anything from that. We've got Greg clearing his schedule and although I did a good job of pulling rank," she stopped and smiled at her boss then continued, "I think everyone would much prefer it if you got back to being the boss again, including Catherine."
He knew she was right. Rubbing the heels of his palms into his eyes to try and eradicate some of the tiredness he felt, he spoke gently, "We have to find her, for Lindsay's sake."
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The journey back to the lab was just as uncomfortable as the earlier one to the hospital had been between Nick and Sara, however now Grissom had been added to the equation the effort had to be made. Checking the rear view mirror to make sure Grissom wasn't looking Nick mouthed to Sara, "We need to talk." Mouthing back "I know." She turned her attentions to pretend she was staring out of the window. In actual fact she was lost deep in thought.
On arrival back at the lab serious progress had been made. Warrick and Brass had found an earring on the floor in the car lot. However, unless Catherine wore skull and crossbones earrings then it was a safe bet it belonged to her kidnapper. Greg had worked his ass off to make sure that his schedule was free for the work he knew he'd be getting within the next couple of hours. Using his initiative, he took the earring for DNA testing before Grissom had even thought to ask and rushed the results. Logging the newly found data into his computer system he concentrated hard on the screen as AFIS worked on finding the kidnapper. Rubbing his temples trying to ease a headache that was forming he jumped at the beep the computer made. A match had been found. but who? Greg stared at the screen his eyes open wide with shock. This case was not looking good so far. Pressing the print button he collected the paper from the tray and rushed to try and find Grissom.
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Brass felt the vibration in his pocket and identified this as his phone. Picking it swiftly out of his pocket he answered it in a flourish.
"Brass."
"Hello, this is Officer Trentham. We've just found an abandoned SUV out on one of the roads out of town. I thought it best to call you due to your earlier request that if we found such information we should report it to you."
Brass winced at the boy's formality. He could tell he was a new kid on the block. "Ok where exactly?"
"Well you see that's what I needed to tell you. A tow company came to pick it up after it was reported and."
"Is there a point to this son?" Brass snapped and immediately apologised.
"Sorry sir. Yes the point is that the inside of the SUV is almost completely covered in blood. It's not good sir. The tow company are already bringing it to the lab so that you can investigate."
"Thank you son. Good work." He hoped this made up for his earlier irritation with the young lad and hung up. He needed to tell Grissom the good and the bad news. A thought instantly popped into his head, "Why am I always the bearer of bad news?" Willing himself to try and think of how exactly to phrase this he decided honesty was indeed the best policy. Making his way to Grissom's office he banged right into Greg who looked like he'd just been running a marathon. They both said in unison, "I've got news." Opening the door, Brass motioned for Greg to go in before him. This was going to be a long night, or rather morning as Brass fixed his gaze wearily on his watch finding the time to be 4AM.
Please R&R.