Budding

Chapter Nine

Carvallo was Grissom's intellectual and moral nemesis. They were professional on the outside, but given the chance, they would have liked to punch each other's lights out.

After the lab explosion, which revealed that it was Catherine's fault, but not intentional, Carvallo gave her five days suspension with pay. Catherine was furious, and Grissom had to get her out of the room before she said something she might regret. To Grissom, Carvallo was a coward. He claimed that the lab was his own, but he didn't have the cojones to work at his lab himself.

Grissom's blood boiled at staring at Carvallo again, and he tried his hardest to keep his control.

"Supervisor Grissom," Carvallo started. "I have heard that there are some rumors floating around your CSIs. Is there any truth to them?"

"First of all," Grissom started. "I don't listen to gossip, second of all if Ecklie was the one that told you, then you can forget about even talking about it. Tell him he needs to be supervising his team, not mine."

Carvallo sat up even straighter. "What's the problem with CSI Sidle?"

"Nothing, why?" Grissom asked.

"Well, I looked up her records and it showed that she's just been diagnosed as manic depressive," Carvallo explained.

"What?" Grissom asked incredulously. "No, that can't be Sara. She's never had a history of depression, nor has she told me she's been suffering from it."

"She doesn't have to tell you, that's confidential information and-"

"Then why did you look her up?" Grissom asked, his anger becoming more apparent.

"To make a point to you," Carvallo said. "On top of CSI Sidle's medical condition, the rumors about CSI Willows and Brown are floating all the way to me," he said. "I've even heard that they weren't doing what they were supposed to when you sent them down to New Orleans for that case."

"They finished the investigation, and they did a very good job down there," Grissom defended. "Look, I don't keep tabs on all my CSIs' personal lives," he said firmly. "What they do outside of work is none of my business. As long as they're doing what they're supposed to be doing on company time, I have no reason to meddle in on their lives."

"That's why Sidle suffers from depression," Carvallo said. "If you would pay more attention to your CSIs, you would know that, and fix the problem."

"So now my CSIs are a problem?" Grissom asked, just barely losing control.

"Obviously if what they're doing is distracting everyone else," Carvallo argued. "Especially the rumors about Willows and Brown. What exactly is going on?"

"Carvallo," Grissom said, trying to keep his anger at bay. "I don't know."

"Your CSIs need to pull it together," Carvallo said. "From the sound of things around here, Willows and Brown are heading into some dangerous territory."

"Dammit Carvallo!" Grissom shouted as he stood up. "These are people we're talking about! They're not just CSIs!" He shouted. "They have names, and feelings just like anyone else! My people are not expendable! We are people!"

Carvallo flinched at Grissom's tone. "That will be all," he said dismissively.

Grissom put his hands firmly on his desk to cool down. Carvallo opened the door to Catherine.

"Good evening Ms. Willows," Carvallo said before rudely shoving past her.

Catherine entered his office and sat down.

"Gil," she started tentatively. "What happened?"

"Carvallo just chewed my ass off for not treating you and the rest of the team like you're emotionless robots," Grissom quipped as he sat down. "He expects me to know every aspect of your personal lives."

Catherine sighed and tugged at the necklace hidden by her shirt.

"Well, I think you scared him off pretty good," Catherine sighed.

By then, Grissom had calmed down a bit and got his good mood back.

"So, I trust your mini sabbatical was refreshing," he said with a bit of a smirk.

"Yeah, it was," she chuckled. "I had to get used to actually sleeping at night."

Grissom grinned and nodded.

"How did you hold up without me?" She quipped.

"Just fine, actually," he said. "I guess we can be apart for more than a day or two."

Catherine laughed at this.

"Did I miss any good gossip?" She asked.

Grissom glared at her.

***

Nick caught Catherine once again playing and twisting her hidden necklace around her neck. It was starting to bug him.

"Catherine," he started. "You've been playing with that necklace the whole ride."

"Oh, sorry," she said, furrowing her eyebrows. "I had no idea that you kept looking my way every time I did it."

Nick glared at her.

"Pull it out," he said. "What's on it?"

"It's just an empty locket Lindsay gave me for Christmas," she said. "Nicky when you do that kind of nosy stuff, it seems like there's another woman on this shift."

"Ha," he said dryly. "I didn't know you had a gig as a comedienne."

She smiled and continued to play with her necklace.

"Oh, I forgot to ask," Nick started. "How was your two week vacation?"

"Good," she said.

"You know, Warrick had the same two weeks off as you did," Nick said, looking at her suspiciously.

"Really?" She said. "That's cool."

"The SAME two weeks off," Nick emphasized.

"Yeah, and?" She asked.

"Why are you trying to make me the one that's crazy?" Nick asked, now thoroughly peeved. "There's something going on."

Catherine shook her head. "Nicky, there is such a thing as coincidence."

"No," he said firmly. "No, I'm not going to fall into that trap," he said. "I'm not. You're trying to play with my mind again, but it's not working this time."

"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, Nick," Catherine quipped.

"Stop!" He said. "I know you and Warrick are up to something!"

"Oh because gossip is so reliable and because you yourself see us with your own eyes," Catherine teased. "Oh, yeah, big conspiracy."

"See, there's a reason why my dad told me to avoid women like you," Nick said with a smile.

"Good," she quipped. "That's one down, all the rest of the men at CSI to go."

Nick glared at her.

When they got to the scene, Catherine twisted her necklace once again before grabbing her kit and headed to the scene.

"What have we got?" Catherine asked as she bent over the victim.

Nick tried unsuccessfully to see what was on her necklace, which meant that he couldn't sneak a glance with out looking down her shirt.

Catherine truly honestly didn't know that Nick was being that nosy, and she continued to bend over the body. Nick kept looking intently, determined to find out what was on her necklace. Whatever the charm was, it was being hidden by her bosom and cradled by her bra. Nick felt guilty beyond anything, but he had to confirm that there was something going on.

"It looks like there was a little hand to hand com-" she paused when she looked at him. She noticed that his eyes weren't on her own. She looked down her shirt, gasped and straightened her posture.

Nick blinked.

"Oh, sorry!" He said.

Catherine regarded him strangely before this time kneeling down in front of the body instead of bending over.

***

Sara was in an unusually good mood even for herself. She was smiling more times in this shift alone than Warrick could count on all ten fingers in the years that he knew her. Every little thing made her giggle or smile, and it concerned him, because she was never known to be chipper on the job. It wasn't her style.

"What has got you into such a good mood?" Warrick asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "I guess I'm just a little hyper. Probably from the coffee."

Warrick didn't buy that. The woman was thirty something odd years old, and she lived off of coffee. She never got hyper off of a cup of company coffee. It was a commodity for her.

This shift, she had been acting strange. She would go from stoic to humored in a flash, and Warrick could never tell what kind of mood she was in, so he decided that he would only talk to her about the cases.

Grissom came into the layout room in search of Sara.

"Sara, can I talk to you in my off ice?" He asked.

"Yeah," she said and bounced out the room.

They entered his office and Sara sat down in the chair across from his desk.

"Sara," he started. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, why?" She asked in that tone of voice that he knew so well. The voice that pretended to be happy, but really underneath, she was struggling.

"Well, you've been acting strange all night long," Grissom pointed out. "You've been in and out of moods. That's not your normal Sara."

Her face quickly changed. She had a deep frown and her eyes…he didn't even want to start on her eyes.

"What are you saying Grissom?" She asked in a harsh voice that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Sara, I've been told that you're manic depressive," Grissom started. "Is this true?"

"No," she said.

"Sara, it's okay," he said. "You don't have to pretend in front of me."

"Yes I do," she said meekly, tears falling. "I have to pretend that I don't love you so that I can move on with my life. So that every time I see you, it becomes easier to push those feelings away," she paused to look at him. "So when you're close to me or touching me, I pretend that I don't love you so that I won't want you anymore."

Grissom looked deep into her brown eyes. They were full of emotions he couldn't read.

She got up and left.