Chapter 1
Natural
"Something that has always puzzled me, all my life, is why, when I am in special need of help, the good deed is usually done by somebody on who I have no claim."
– William Feather
Grissom and Catherine stepped out of the black SUV and looked up at the hotel. Catherine sighed, turning to the back and withdrawing the CSI kits.
"Twenty-four year old Ellen Bizet was found dead in her room. No one knows how and there isn't a trace of blood to be found. There was a struggle in the other room, but it looks like she died naturally," an officer explained as he escorted the two CSI's up to the nineteenth floor.
"Do we know why she was here?" Catherine questioned in the elevator.
"Not yet. We're working on that." They walked down the luxurious hall to suite 1906 and crossed the yellow crime tape. Catherine and Grissom split up without a word, focused completely on their job. Catherine set her kit down beside the victim, eyes wandering over the dead form. She snapped on latex gloves and began her inspection of the body. A quick overview yielded nothing and so, Catherine was forced to slowly go over every inch of the poor woman's body. Her search yielded nothing yet again. It was disappointing really, that she didn't find anything. She dusted the hard tile floor around the prone body to check for prints. This time she found one.
"Cath? You might want to come and take a look at this," she heard Grissom's voice from the other room. With one look at the rumpled bed sheets and scattered clothing, Catherine had an idea of where Grissom was going to go. Without a word, she crouched beside a pile of blue satin and took a more thorough look at the pyjama pants the satin turned out to be. They were ripped in several places.
"Gil, they're ripped."
"They're pyjamas. She wasn't wearing them when she died, that much is obvious."
"Still, we'll take them and the sheets to processing. You never know what we could find." Catherine gathered the pyjamas and turned to find Grissom staring, watching. A witty comment was on the tip of her tongue but instead of vocalizing it she moved to the other side of the bed and tugged on the sheet.
"I could do with a little help." Grissom jumped at the sound of her voice and dropped to his knees to un-tuck the sheet. His knee landed on something round and hard. Wordlessly, though with a slight wince, he picked up the small dart.
"Tranquilizer dart," he said holding it up to Catherine's line of vision. Catherine rolled up the sheets into a pile before joining him on the other side. She carefully took the dart from his light grasp and inspected it careful not to prick herself on the tip.
"Was tranquilizer in it? At twenty-four she didn't die of natural causes," she pointed out.
"Greg certainly has his work cut out for him then, doesn't he?" Grissom said, more of a statement than a question, but she nodded anyway. They made their way out of the crime scene and back down to the lobby. Catherine made one stop, to gather security tapes, before they both headed out to the SUV once again. Catherine glanced at her watch, wondering how the rest of their team was doing on their own respective cases.
"We'll get an update as soon as we get back to the lab," Grissom said, as if reading her mind. She smiled slightly, realizing it must have been written all over her face.
"I still worry. Their cases seem harder than ours. She was raped and probably died of shock," Catherine said with a shrug.
"Then what about the dart?" Grissom asked, a smug note slipping into his voice. Catherine pondered that a minute.
"We still don't know what was in the dart. It could very well have been something that would make her pass out to make his job easier," she answered. Grissom nodded.
"When do you have to pick up Lindsey?" The sudden change of topic startled Catherine for a moment.
"7:30 to get her to school on time. Why do you ask?" She eyed him for a minute before turning back to the road in front. When there was no answer she turned to look at him.
"Gil?"
"What time Catherine?" He seemed annoyed and he was repeating his earlier question.
"7:30, I just told you that." She was becoming more confused by the minute. "Is there something you wanted to do?" Grissom seemed to ponder that for a moment before shaking his head.
"What is wrong with you? This is the umpteenth time that you haven't heard what some one says," Catherine said finally, her exasperation seeming to get the better of her.
"Nothing is wrong with me, Catherine."
"Something is wrong. I have known you how long, and I can tell when something is bothering you. Come on, Gil, it's me you're talking to. What is going on?" If he was surprised at her outburst, he didn't show it. Instead, he continued to watch the road silently. She was fed up with trying to break though. It was exhausting for her and she was sick of exhausting herself when he didn't want to share, to feel better. She let out an exasperated breath and turned to look out the window. He pulled into the CSI lab parking lot and turned off the car. Catherine moved to get out, but he stopped her with a gentle grip on her arm. She tried not to acknowledge the shivers and sparks that ran up and down her spine from the contact as she met his eyes.
"Cath I… I'm sorry for not sharing… It's not an easy…" But she cut him off.
"If you don't want to share it Grissom, fine. I'm sick of trying to break through your sixty mile thick walls," she said, trying in vain to pull her arm out of his grip. She was strong, but his grip had tightened with her frustrated words.
"I want to tell you Catherine." His voice was quiet, which was what convinced her to stay and listen than the fact that he was going to tell her.
"Well?" He took a deep breath at her prodding.
"I'm going into surgery." He heard her gasp, having moved his eyes away before telling her.
"Wha…? Why? What's wrong?" To say Catherine was terrified would have been an understatement. What could be so wrong that he had to go into surgery for?
"I have a hereditary hearing disorder that the doctors told me I could get fixed through surgery before I go deaf like my mother." Catherine let out a heavy breath she didn't know she was holding. At least it wasn't anything too serious, like a double bypass.
"What was that for?" Catherine smiled at him slightly.
"I thought you were going to tell me you were going in for heart surgery or something much worse," she admitted. He looked at her strangely and she shrugged.
"You didn't give me much of a choice you know." He nodded slightly, considering her argument. She gently pried his fingers off of her arm and opened the car door.
"Gil? We need to get processing those pieces." For the second time in as many hours, Grissom was startled out of his thoughts by her voice.
"Coming."
The lab was eerily deserted as they made their way through the halls. They dropped their evidence off in Greg's office before making their way to the break room for some much needed coffee. That's where they found their team and all of the other workers in the lab it seemed. Catherine glanced around the room. They were missing some one and the silence in the room reflected it. Then she looked to the screen. There was their missing team member. She gasped.
"What on earth is going on? That's a CSI, what are we waiting here for?" Grissom bellowed. The other members looked to him sadly.
"There's nothing we can do Griss," Warrick said carefully. Catherine stared unblinkingly at the picture. Without a word, she turned and left. She could hear Grissom yelling at Nick, Warrick and the others in the break room from the front door and couldn't help but feel the beginnings of jealousy rise in her veins. Sara Sidle would always be Grissom's prized student, but now, she was in danger. Sara had dropped, fainted at her crime scene and Warrick, who had been standing beside her, immediately called 911.
Thank God for quick thinkers. She pushed open the glass doors, pulling her keys out on the way. She was headed to the hospital.
Meanwhile in the break room, Grissom wasn't quite finished interrogated the people seemingly trapped in there.
"What the hell happened?"
"She just fainted, Griss. No one knows why. They're checking her out at the hospital right now," Nick said carefully, as if treading on thin ice. He turned to look for Catherine, to check if she would go with him to the hospital but she was nowhere to be found.
"Where did Catherine go, now?" His frustration was beginning to show and grate on the nerves of the room's occupants.
"Catherine and Sara were… are friends. She probably went to the hospital to make sure Sara's okay," Warrick answered. Grissom's nerves were on end. He didn't know where Catherine was and one of his best field agents was unconscious in the hospital. Without another word, he picked up his keys and left.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
And Chapter 1 is completed!! I tried not to make the end to cliff hangy but I'm sorry if I did. This is my first CSI fiction so please be slightly kind. I can deal with flames but I'd rather not if I don't have to.
Next chapter:
What made Sara collapseSara pushes Grissom to talk about his feelings with Catherine
Evidence leads to 2 suspects
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS WHAT I THRIVE ON!! If there's something wrong or something that doesn't fit, please tell me and I'll see if I can fix it.
See the little button? Press it and you can say nice things to me!
~Kavi Leighanna