Chapter 24

Twenty minutes later, Sara slammed the journal shut with a groan. "Fine, you're right, I need to vent." Archie smiled. "But you have to swear to me on the safety of your video equipment that you're not going to tell anyone what I talk about."

"You know me better than that, Sara. I'm not going to say anything. Consider it CSI-tech privilege. Now spill." He set his chin in his palm, leaned on his elbow, and raised his eyebrows at the woman across from him.

Sara drew a deep breath. "Well it all started two nights ago . . ."

Archie listened as Sara described the trick she and Catherine had played on the men, Grissom waking up in Sara's bed, their disastrous dinner, and a confusing description of what Sara called "acknowledged tension." When she reached the part about walking in on the gossiping CSIs tonight, he winced. Sara was too intensely private to not want to tear into people who violated that privacy, but Archie knew she was so upset that she couldn't see that they had meant no harm. "That's just . . . what people do, Sara," he ventured.

She looked with him, eyes glittering with either pain or anger. "Well that's not what they do when it comes to me. They can gossip about each other all they want, but they can just leave me the hell out of it!" She punctuated this assertion by pounding her fist on his table.

Reaching out to steady a tottering stack of VHS tapes, Archie tried again. "But Sara, they really didn't mean any harm. I mean, you've heard them talking about each other like that before, and it's never offended the person in question. You work with a team of intensely curious people, and you just can't do something even slightly odd without them wanting to get to the bottom of it."

Her face fell. "Yeah, well maybe they just don't understand that I am offended. If they have a question about me, they should bring it to me, not each other. Maybe I'm just weird like that."

"You need to tell them that, Sara. Everyone in this building respects you, but they can't read your mind. If it really bothers you, you have to say out loud, 'Please don't psychoanalyze me without coming to the source for details' or something."

"I guess I kinda know that, Arch – but it just felt like high school, where the 'in' group decides who you are without knowing you." She thought for a moment. "But yeah, I know what you're saying, and I guess maybe I can try to lighten up." Archie breathed a sigh of relief. "– But I haven't even told you the worst part about tonight yet," Sara added.

The words "uh-oh" flashed in big neon letters across his mind. "Let me guess – does it involve Grissom?" he asked. Sara nodded. "Wow this really hasn't been a good night for you. Come on, tell – and you're going to have to give me the details, not just weird euphemisms."

Sara groaned. "I don't even want to talk about this, I'm so mad at him." Archie tried to look sympathetic. "Ok so what happened was, there I go around the corner near Grissom's office about 10 minutes after I hear the team gossiping, and I hear Catherine and Grissom talking. Not being a gossip, unlike some people, I just kept walking. Then when I was almost out of hearing distance I hear Catherine bugging Grissom to tell her what's going on between us." Archie made commiserating noises.

"So I decided to just listen for a few seconds, to make sure he wasn't going to actually TELL her anything. So I'm standing there, and Catherine goes, 'Oh come on Grissom, you know you want to tell me," or something like that, and I couldn't hear Grissom's answer, but then a few seconds later I hear Catherine again, 'Wow I didn't think you'd actually tell me, that's so funny!'" Banging on the table for emphasis, she added in case Archie didn't get it, "He told her what happened between us!"

"Now wait, Sara," Archie cautioned. "Do you know that he really did tell Catherine, or are you just guessing that based on what she said?"

She stared at him for a moment. "Well what else do you think 'gee I didn't think you were actually going to tell me' translates to?"

Sara had a point. Archie couldn't think of another good reason for Catherine to have said that – but he also didn't think Grissom was the type to kiss and tell. "Why don't you ask Grissom?"

            "Hah! He'd probably just go running to Catherine to tell her that, too!"

            Archie sighed. "Sara, you need to chill out. I know you're angry, and if things happened like you think they did, you have a right to be, but what if you're extrapolating in the wrong direction? Think about it. Before tonight, would you have thought that Grissom would spill his guts to anyone in a situation like this?" She shook her head.

"Right," Archie continued. "And Grissom does happen to be a very intelligent guy. So what if he made something up to just get Catherine off his back? Or what if 'I didn't think you'd tell me' meant exactly that – he didn't tell her?" Sara opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it and frowned.

"My point," he concluded, "is this: people can't know what's going on in your mind unless you tell them – so conversely, you should be careful in assuming you know what's going on around you unless you've heard the details straight from the source. And that means talking to Grissom to find out whether you really do need to beat him up."

Sara thought for a moment. "Well damn," she muttered.