Night sky
By Dany
Summary: Time forces two CSIs to show their hands GSR
A/N: Response to an element challenge by csipal at YTDaW. The required elements were 1. the dimming glow of the flash light, 2. the line, "Did you happen to catch the news this evening?", 3. a pipe bomb (in honor of DtD), 4. a torn soccer jersey, 5. a ten dollar bill
Thanks to ITB & CSIReader!
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI.
xxxxx
"Where the hell are they?" Sara was pacing in front of the house while Grissom leaned against the car, trying to appear calm to balance Sara's bad mood. "They should have been here hours ago."
They had arrived at the crime scene about thirty minutes ago. A call had come in that there was a B&E at this address, but they were alone, no cops. They couldn't do their work without the police clearing the crime scene first, so they were restricted to waiting.
"Sara…" When she threw him a look that could have cut straight through him, he kept any further comment to himself. Instead, he took his phone out of the pocket and dialed Brass' number.
"Brass."
"Hey Brass, where are your men?" He wanted to clear things up before Sara exploded on him.
"Did you happen to catch the news this evening? It's all over the place." Only now did Grissom notice that Brass sounded winded.
"No, what happened?" He motioned for Sara to come over. Finally she stopped pacing and joined him at the car.
"There was a bomb threat directed to the Police Department. Guess what. No pranksters. They found the baby on the roof. A nice little pipe bomb. Everything is shut tight. We're trying to keep sending out officers, but it could take a while."
Grissom was stunned by what he heard, but his professionalism kept him from reacting to the shock. "Do you need us to secure the evidence?"
Now Sara's head shot up knowing something was wrong. "No, Warrick and Cath are here. They had an interrogation so they just stuck around."
"Okay, we'll wait here. Just try to send someone over. Tell Cath to page me if there's any trouble." Grissom reached inside the car to turn on the radio.
Sara watched him curiously trying to determine what was going on.
"Don't do anything stupid, Gil. Stay out of the house." And with this last warning Brass hung up. He knew the duo well enough to know that this was necessary. Both were not exactly known for their careful procedure.
Turning the volume on the radio up Sara could hear why no one had come for them yet. "Oh my god," she gasped. "Do we need to head back?" Her anger seemed to have dissipated.
"No, they're going to send someone, but no telling when that will be." He could see it was itching her to go back and work on that case, but they couldn't leave this crime scene.
"What are we supposed to do until then?" Her anger was rapidly returning and often that was just an outlet for her frustration.
Grissom had to tread carefully now. "We wait. We can't go in until an officer had gone through the house." His words were not exactly calming her, he knew that, but at the moment he couldn't give her anything else.
Without another word, Grissom opened the car door and sat down on the passenger seat.
xxxxx
Sara could not shut off so easily. The confines of the car unsettled her so she decided to stay outside. She went back to her kit at the side of the road and sat down beside it.
Pushing her hands into her coat pocket she stubbed her hands on her emergency flashlight. She always carried a small one in her pockets just in case. She pulled it out and switched it on.
Her eyes followed the beam up into the sky.
She hated the sky above Vegas – too many lights to see anything clearly. Only out in the desert it showed its true beauty.
Beauty… what would Grissom say about the beauty of the night sky?
The beam of light moved down until it fell onto the car – and Grissom. He didn't seem to notice her scrutiny and so she took the chance to study him in this obscure lighting.
Why did he always seem so cold? But when she looked at him like this she could see the heat that was trapped within. That was what made her hold on to her hope. If only he would let go.
xxxxx
He was not as unaware of her gaze as she thought. He could always feel her eyes on him, and now was no different. But he ignored it as always.
He returned to his previous thoughts, wishing he was out in the desert, having an unobstructed view to the stars.
There were only a few things he called beautiful: baseball, butterflies and the night sky. Sara. True beauty.
He couldn't keep his thoughts away from her for long.
When he returned to the present he noticed that it had gotten even darker. He looked over at Sara and saw her fumbling with her flashlight. The dimming glow of it told him she needed new batteries, so he opened the middle console and picked up the package he always kept handy.
Wandering over to Sara he spoke, "I believe you need these." He held up the batteries.
Sara looked up gratefully and took them to swiftly exchange them with the old energy cells.
xxxxx
"Sara, please!" What did he want?
"Get inside the car. It's getting cold." Where did he get this bout of concern when he usually only showed disinterest? The car still seemed to cramped for space, but seeing his searching gaze she couldn't do say no. What was it about this man? Everything and that was the problem.
Walking around the car, she stopped in her tracks when she spotted something on the other side of the road. Her newly refreshed beam had fallen into the front yard of their crime scene. Something had reflected the light instead of swallowing it. "Grissom!"
He turned to her and saw that her eyes were trained on the ground near the house. "What is it?"
"There's something laying under the bushes." His eyes squinted to identify the object.
"Think we can check that out?" She was tired of doing nothing but waiting. They would not be going into the house, only checking out the front yard.
xxxxx
"Sara…"
"Come on, it's just the yard." He sighed and nodded knowing she would not rest until she could do her work. "But let's be careful."
Now they pulled out the big ones simultaneously and lit up the night. Stepping closer they saw it appeared to be some kind of cloth.
Sara pulled out a pair of gloves while Grissom kept an eye on the surroundings. He was actually glad he was carrying a gun today. If push came to shove he might be able to protect Sara.
She was just using the tweezers to pull the fabric free. Holding up the cloth at its edges they were surprised by what they saw. It was a torn soccer jersey with blood on it.
"Bag it!" Grissom moved his flashlight around, searching for more clues and keeping his eyes open for any possible danger.
When Sara stood up and made to move towards the house he reached out and stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Where do you think you're going?" His tone was a bit harsher than he intended and was immediately sorry.
Her head hung and could feel the pain radiating off her.
"Sara, there was a bomb found in the Police Department. I think that's enough for today. Please let's not risk anything." She puffed out a breath, but relented again.
They returned to the car and she actually got in this time.
After a while of silence, Grissom felt like hitting the steering wheel with his head. But that would set the airbag off and it wouldn't help the situation at all.
Sara was shutting herself off. She was probably angry with him for blocking her off constantly.
How the hell had he painted himself into a corner like this?
Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Sara reaching for the door handle. "Sara," his tone was not angry, but resigned. What could he do to make her stop?
Suddenly it hit him. It was absurd and shocking, but everything else had failed.
He fumbled, reaching for his wallet. He pulled out a ten-dollar bill and held it out for her. She lifted her head and turned to him not taking the money. "I only got ten right now, but if you stay in the car I'll raise to one hundred."
Her eyes widened and she gasped, "What?"
"I've tried everything else. I told you how dangerous it is, I asked, I pleaded and I ordered, but you won't listen. Short of taking my handcuffs out and tying you to the car I'm out of ideas. So… bribery it is." He shook his head in disbelief, not really wanting to think about what he was doing here.
"I… You…" At least it kept her in the car. She shut her mouth, swallowed hard and collected her thoughts before she tried again. "You want to pay me for staying inside the car?"
"Yeah," he chuckled. He couldn't help himself. The situation was just too weird.
"Ohhhkay," she drew out. "But I'm not that cheap."
He blinked, trying to determine if she was serious. She was. In this moment she had seen her chance to move forward. "I want breakfast. And not just a coffee and a donut to go."
He knew this was it – the moment of truth. If he said no again it would be over, once and for all. Was that what he wanted?
"And, I want you to keep inviting me for breakfast. No one time thing."
He swallowed hard. What did he want?
"I'm just asking you to work on us. Nothing more." She looked straight into his eyes, making him melt.
"Yes!" As soon as the words left his mouth he felt lighter. He had expected to feel trapped, but he only felt relief that he had made a decision.
xxxxx
Sara's heart also felt considerably lighter. He had not turned her down again. "Good!"
She settled back into her seat trying to relax, but her heart was still beating way too fast to do so.
In that moment, they finally saw a police car come down the road along with an unmarked one and when the two cars parked, they saw Brass get out.
Before Grissom could get out of the car, though, Sara held him back. "Griss…"
He looked back at her, wondering why she wasn't already outside getting ready to start their work. "I… If you don't want to and only said yes because you felt you had to…"
The fear had taken hold of her again, making her doubt herself and Grissom. Her question made him think and he contemplated his own reasoning.
"No." Sara's face fell. There was the 'no' again.
"Sara, I want this." The firmness in his voice made her look up again. His voice showed determination but his eyes told her that he wanted it for himself as well.
A smile lit up her whole face knowing she had just been allowed to see a part of him that not many had the privilege to.
Her hand reached over to cover his. She gave him a reassuring squeeze. "Let's go catch a bad guy."
Maybe they would be able to see the beauty in the night sky together sooner than she thought.
The end