Disclaimer: I still don't own CSI and I am beginning to think I never will.
Caution: Contains spoilers for Mea Culpa if you haven't seen it and don't want it ruined, don't read this. This takes place directly after Mea Culpa.
Breaking Grissom
Chapter Two: Where's Grissom?
The next night, the new graveyard shift had yet to learn of Grissom's departure. They sat waiting for him to appear and hand out assignments.
"Where's Grissom?" Greg asked impatiently.
"He's never late," Sara worried, "his office was dark when I walked past. Maybe he's taking the night off."
"He probably did take a night off, he seemed pretty upset when we were talking to Ecklie," Sophia's voice went cold upon mention of her former supervisor.
"I hate that man," Sara narrowed her eyes, "he's a terrible person."
"I can't believe he broke us up," Greg sighed, "I was enjoying working with everyone and now half the team is gone."
Catherine entered the lounge, looking a little dazed, "Uh I guess I'm back on nights."
"You're kidding," Sara said.
"No, unfortunately I'm not kidding. Grissom, he quit this morning. He's gone. Cleared out his office and left," Catherine shook her head, "and guess who's replacing him."
"What?! He left? As in Vegas, did he leave town?" Sara jumped up.
"I don't know, all I know is when I came in this afternoon, all Grissom's stuff was gone," Catherine explained.
"Can't someone go see if he's at his house?" Greg asked.
"I actually never thought of that," Catherine's eyes grew huge, "screw whatever stupid case we've got waiting for us, let's go."
"Wait, I'll take that case," Sophia offered, "the last thing we need is Ecklie finding out we all abandoned our jobs."
"Thank you," Catherine said, handing Sophia the single sheet of paper describing the night's lone case.
Sara, Greg and Catherine ran out to the parking lot. They were all about to climb into Catherine's SUV when they noticed Grissom's parked next to it.
"Isn't that Grissom's?" Greg pointed to the vehicle.
"I think it is, but I thought you said he wasn't here," Sara turned to Catherine.
Catherine suddenly felt sick, "He must have brought it back. It's not his now that he quit."
"Oh," Sara sighed in realization, "come on let's go before it's too late."
"It may already be too late," Catherine said.
The drive to Grissom's place was spent in silence. None of them knew what to say, they could only hope that he hadn't already skipped town. They pulled up and all jumped out of Catherine's SUV practically before it stopped. They ran to Grissom's door and knocked frantically, praying he'd be there. There was no response, so they knocked again, only making sure to be louder this time.
"He's not there," a woman announced, "if you're looking for Dr. Grissom. He left a couple hours ago. He said that his friends would probably come looking for him."
"Where did he go?" Sara asked.
"I'm not sure, he just said he was leaving when I saw him," the woman said, "by the way, I'm his neighbor. Oh, is one of you Catherine Willows?"
"That's me," Catherine stepped forward.
"He left an envelope for you, it's under the door mat," she gestured.
Greg stepped off the mat and lifted it, finding an envelope with Catherine's name on it. He picked it up and handed it to her.
"Thank you," Catherine told the neighbor as she returned to her own home.
"What does it say? Does it say where he is?" Sara asked.
"Let me get it open," Catherine said.
Catherine tore the envelope open, not even trying to be careful with it. Inside there was a folded piece of paper. Catherine's fingers fumbled as she tried to quickly unfold it. She opened it to find the words "Goodbye to my family." She flipped the paper over frantically.
"That's it?" Greg asked.
"Just goodbye?" Sara mumbled.
"He…he didn't even tell us where he went!" Catherine exclaimed.
"He can just disappear, can he?" Sara was near tears.
"I think it's his way of saying to let it drop, I think he wants us to just forget him," Greg said, holding back laughter.
"We can't just forget him!" Sara Catherine snapped.
"I know, he's crazy," Greg couldn't help laughing now, he was sort of hysterical.
"This is all Ecklie's fault," Sara stated.
"I could just kill him," Catherine snarled.
"Maybe we should go have a word with him," Greg suggested.
"I don't know if I can look at his face," Sara sniffled.
"I have never hated anyone as much as I hate Conrad Ecklie, just saying his name makes me mad," Catherine headed back to her waiting vehicle.
"What do you want?" Ecklie asked irritably as three of Grissom's former crew stood in his office.
"You made Grissom leave!" Sara accused.
"Hey, he quit, I didn't fire him," Ecklie said smugly.
"You know damn well you are the one who drove him to it," Catherine snapped back.
"Well, the point is he's gone. There's not a thing any of us can do about it," Ecklie smiled, "particularly if he already skipped town."
"I quit," Sara suddenly piped up.
"What?" all three of the other people in the room turned to her.
A/N: To be continued in the next chapter.... Also, I decided I had to update it tonight because I got so many reviews. Thanks for the interest in the story, I will try and update as frequently as possible.