Author's Note: Thought of it on the way to school today. What if Sara had left at the end of "Burden of Proof"? How would the lab have taken it? A short Greg fic. Not any pairing really. Based on the characterizations of seasons 1 and 2.
BTW, I don't own CSI or Greg or any other character, nor do I own the Blink 182 song "I Miss You."
Come Back to Me
She had left without as much as a backward glance. Much to everyone's surprise, Grissom came into work the next night and announced tritely that Sara Sidle had opted to return to San Francisco CSI. No one said a word.
Warrick and Nick looked at each other and a lone statement passed through their eyes. He lost her. They both found themselves silently angry at him. Grissom had single-handedly rejected that girl to the point that she... left. Somehow, Nick had always expected her to go out with a bang. Warrick had bet him $20 that she would leave silently one day out of pure frustration, with no note or anything. Nick had accepted the odds and placed his wager on a violent explosion of angsty feelings that would leave the lab gossip-ridden for days. Much to their mutual surprise, Warrick won.
Catherine tried to analyze how she felt. On one hand, Sara had been the new girl, the new female in her territory. Goodness knows they had fought over the year or so they worked together. Grissom often knew better than to assign them to the same case. But now that Sara was gone, Catherine felt the aching void in the psyche of her crew. No matter how much they scuffled, Sara was one of the team. Definitely past tense now though. Oh Gil, how could you let her go?
Greg looked like the proverbial kicked dog. He was obviously sullen, letting his shoulders droop as he swiveled in his chair aimlessly. They let her down. They let her go. His Sara.
He passed the rest of the meeting in brooding introspection. Greg barely registered that Grissom had dismissed them all and left. As the remaining three CSIs gathered to debate what actually happened, Greg made a beeline for his lab. He had to think, and thinking required one main thing.
Music.
-------------------------------------------------------
Three days later, Warrick knocked on the door to Grissom's office, leaning on the door frame. "Yo, Grissom. We, uh, have a problem. Our labrat has been playing—."
Grissom interrupted him, waving his hands fiercely. "Playing the same song over and over. I know. I wish he'd get a new song but—."
Warrick's tone stopped him dead. "But it doesn't bother you that she's gone? That she just up and left the lab with no note or explanation? I know that's not what you were gonna say Grissom, but that's what I'm hearing."
His supervisor's face was set in stone. "Then you hear incorrectly. I miss her. We all do." Grissom looked down at the multitude of papers littering his desk. "We just all show it in different ways."
A moment of respectful silence passed between them. "Grissom. Come with me."
Unquestioning, he rose and followed Warrick through the familiar halls of the lab. Thirty feet before the DNA lab, the sound began. The closer they got, the louder it got. Inside the four glass walls sat a somber Greg (complete with dark circles under his eyes and marginally semi-clean hair and clothes) and a grim Nick. Both were staring off into space.
The song began again for the millionth time.
(I miss you, I miss
you)
Hello there, the angel from my nightmare
The shadow in the
background of the morgue
The unsuspecting victim of darkness in
the valley
We can live like Jack and Sally if we want
Where
you can always find me
We'll have Halloween on Christmas
And in
the night we'll wish this never ends
We'll wish this never
ends
(I miss you, I miss you)
(I miss you, I miss
you)
Where are you and I'm so sorry
I cannot sleep I cannot
dream tonight
I need somebody and always
This sick strange
darkness
Comes creeping on so haunting every time
And as I
stared I counted
Webs from all the spiders
Catching things and
eating their insides
Like indecision to call you
and hear your
voice of treason
Will you come home and stop this pain
tonight
Stop this pain tonight
Don't waste your time on me
you're already
The voice inside my head (I miss you, I miss
you)
Don't waste your time on me you're already
The voice
inside my head (I miss you, I miss you)
As the chorus repeated the third time, Greg turned to look at Grissom.
"I miss her. She was my edge of light and dark. I wish she'd come back to me."
Nick grasped the younger man's shoulder. "We all do Greg, we all do."
Greg's gaze remained locked on Grissom's. Awkward seconds ticked by until Greg found his answer. He slowly reached over and turned off the boombox.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to drive everyone crazy but... I had to do that until everyone felt it, until everyone knew the meaning. Until Grissom knew exactly how important she was to everyone, and how we'll never be able to replace her. No one can fill her shoes. No one will be quite the same."
Grissom looked away from the compounding stares. "No, no one will."
THE END
Author's Note: Okay, brief non-canonical fic. Ho hum R&R.