A/N Thanks to everyone who's reviewing, you guys are the greatest - I love to hear from you! Those who are reading and not reviewing - just look at my puppy dog eyes! C'moooon, you know you want to!
Chapter 4
Nick exhaled slowly and looked at the table, laden with papers and folders, in front of him. "Okay," he said finally, "I'm going to ask the obvious - any of her friend's say that Melissa visited Paula's food shop?"
Sara shook her head, "No - she never went that side of town. according to them."
Nick nodded, "But both grew up in Vegas - both have family here, both single?"
"Melissa was single, Paula lived with her boyfriend."
"Any bad break ups? Ex-boyfriends. death threats?" Nick was clutching at straws.
"Hey Nick, do you think if any of them had received death threats that I'd be sitting here with you reviewing the same small pieces of information that I've been going over all last night and today?" Sara said, frustrated and tired.
Nick smiled sympathetically, "You really should sleep some time Sar."
"Hmm," Sara hummed and closed her eyes. She let her head sink onto the table in front of her. Maybe if she went to sleep, she'd wake up and they'd suddenly have a lead - or maybe a suspect. She hated cold cases. Especially when the crimes were so horrific - it was just wrong that there was no trail of evidence for them to follow. She allowed her mind to wander, picturing Grissom talking to the boyfriend of Paula Randal. That's where he was now - with Brass. She'd wanted to go with them, but was also slightly glad that she wouldn't have to go through the heartbreak of watching the boyfriend in pain. She'd already seen him just after he found out - that was enough emotional trauma for at least the next 24 hours. Maybe she should go back to the dump spots? Maybe she should go back and talk more with Melissa and Paula's friends. Maybe if she went back to the bodies she'd find something that she missed the first three times?
She felt a warmth surround her and let herself sigh loudly. She heard herself mumble something that sounded a bit like 'Grissom' but she couldn't be sure, and then a louder, yet softer, voice filtered through her groggy mind.
"Sara." she was shaken lightly and then the voice started again - this time closer to her ear, "Sara, come on - wake up, I'll drive you home."
She willed herself to open her eyes and looked at the sweet, bearded, face a mere inch away from hers. He smiled, "Come on."
She frowned to herself as her helped her up and looked around the otherwise empty room, "Where'd Nick go?" she mumbled to him.
"Nick's gone to talk to some of the victim's friends again," Grissom told her, his voice still soft.
"Why aren't you talking to Tim?"
Grissom's smile grew at her sleepy confusion, "Sara, you've been asleep for at least an hour."
She looked at him incredulously, "Are you kidding me?"
He shook his head and continued to guide her down the hall towards the parking lot.
~~
After they'd clambered into the car and driven half the way to Sara's apartment in a comfortable silence, Grissom suddenly reached out and grabbed Sara's knee.
She'd been leaning her head against the window, eyes closed - though not asleep. When she felt his hand on her knee her head lifted as she stared at it. He'd done this before - though not for a while now. It happened when, after a particularly emotionally draining day, his need for human touch became even too much for him to bear. She didn't know whether he'd done it to Catherine, and she couldn't imagine him suddenly grabbing Warrick or Nick's knees whilst in a car with them. She suddenly realised how much this case was getting to him and how awful his questioning of Tim - Paula's boyfriend - must have been. She rested her head against her seat and placed her hand over his.
When they finally reached her apartment, Grissom turned the engine off and sat back in his seat, sighing loudly.
Sara watched him for a moment and then asked in a whisper, "Do you want to come in?"
He looked at her then, and she completely understood just how much anguish he was going through. She was still a little surprised though, when he said yes.
~~
She opened the door to her apartment and entered - striding through the lounge room to find the light switch on the opposite wall. The light came on, but only for a second before the bulb blew and they were plunged into darkness again.
"Damn," she muttered and then turned to where Grissom was standing silhouetted in the doorway. He walked in and closed the door quietly as she reached down and clicked on a lamp. She smiled nervously at him, looked around the slightly messy room and asked, "Do you want a drink?"
Grissom shifted uncomfortably before sitting down in an armchair. He cleared his throat, "Uh, yeah - thanks."
Sara went into her kitchen and opened her fridge. She didn't have much - a couple of beers and some orange juice. She grabbed two beers and headed back out to the lounge room, handing Grissom one as she came to a stop in front of him.
"Thanks."
Sara nodded but didn't move from where she stood in front of him. "You. wanna talk about it?"
He looked up at her and suddenly puffed out a laugh, "No."
She smiled at him, though not because anything was funny. "Okay," she said and looked around her lounge room again. "I'm going to go and get ready for bed," she said finally.
Grissom raised his eyebrows, "Okay," he said slowly.
He didn't really know what he was doing there - he just knew he didn't want to be alone. It was funny, in a way, that after lecturing Sara on becoming emotionally involved in the case that he was suddenly finding it so hard to cope. When he and Brass had gone to question Tim again, he'd seen the happy photos of the two of them hanging on the walls - seen Tim break down when he'd come across a piece of Paula's clothing under one of the pillows on the couch that he hadn't realised was there. And then Tim had hugged him. It was one of the most bizarre experiences he'd had, and it had broken through the barriers that usually remained strong. He didn't even have to say anything to Sara - he knew she understood. And that meant a lot.
He put his unopened beer down on the coffee table and stood up to go and find her. Her bedroom door wasn't closed, the light wasn't on - but she was in there, and she was beautiful. He leant against the doorframe and watched her moonlit, naked body walk slowly from one end of the room to the other, bend down, and pick some clothing up from the floor beside her bed. She pulled on some underwear and flannel pyjama pants and, turning towards him, pulled on a singlet top. If she was surprised by his presence, she didn't show it. She simply walked towards him, stopping mere centimetres away from him. She reached up and placed both her hands flat on his chest, pushing them gently up, over his shoulders and under his jacket, slipping the garment off him and onto the floor. He stood there, in silence, watching her as she unbuttoned his shirt. She reached down to his belt and began to unbuckle it, her eyes darting down for a moment as she looked to see what she was doing. When she looked up again, their eyes locked. She stilled her hands. "Sleep with me," she said in a low voice.
Despite the fact that he'd just seen her naked and she was currently undressing him, Grissom knew that there were no implications in the words that she had just murmured. She'd said 'sleep' - that was what she'd meant. And it was exactly what he needed. He stepped out of his trousers and followed her to the bed.
Lying on his back, her body tucked closely into his side, he sighed and closed his eyes - sleep finally taking over his exhausted mind.
TBC