When Grissom let himself into the house, he heard the sounds of Sara throwing up. He threw his jacket on the back of a chair and went to investigate.
In the bathroom, Sara was sitting on the floor, one hand precariously holding her head over the toilet. Grissom sat on the edge of the tub and rubbed soothing circles into her back. Sara threw up a few more times and dry heaves took over. When she was done, Grissom got her a cup of water, and she washed out her mouth. Grissom helped her up from the floor and led her into the bedroom. Once she had gotten comfortable sitting up, Grissom slid in next to her and rested his hand on her lower back. "What's going on Sara?" he asked, his voice soft and comforting.
"I don't feel so good," Sara croaked, still clutching the top of her stomach.
Grissom reached over to the side table and picked up the note he had left that evening. "See, I did leave you a note," he spoke, dangling the note in front of her face.
Sara groaned. "Gil, I don't care about the damn note anymore."
"What happened with Darius?"
"Oh, he just asked a whole bunch of questions about the sheriff and what he said to me. It took half of the shift to answer his questions and write out a statement."
Sara rubbed her hand across the top of her stomach, trying to massage out the pain. "Are you okay?" Grissom asked, concerned.
"I don't know, my stomach just feels odd, it hurts."
"You're too stressed Sara," Grissom spoke, smoothing back some hair from her face.
"Well, I can't really do much about that right now. Everything that has happened is being drudged up, and I've got to answer a whole bunch of questions about things I don't want to talk about."
"I'm sorry Sara, I should have told you ahead of time that I was going to go in to talk to a department representative."
"You could have woken me up and told me you were leaving. I was worried when I couldn't find you in the house."
Grissom brought his arm back down around her and rubbed her side. "You looked so peaceful, and I thought you could use the extra sleep. Next time I'll wake you up."
"Okay," Sara nodded.
"What happened with the rest of shift?" Grissom asked, trying to get to the root of why Sara was so annoyed with him before.
"When I was done with Darius I was kind of angry that I had been cooped up in his office for so long. I went down to your office, and I was going to give you a piece of my mind, but you were out in the field. So, after I momentarily lost my cool, Greg told me that I could help him out in the lab. I really didn't feel like going out into the field."
"Were you feeling like this before?"
"The longer I was with the department rep, the more my insides stirred up. I guess I got a little antsy. I didn't really feel so hot with Greg either. Then when I blew you off and came home, I felt extremely nauseous as soon as I walked through the door."
"You need to stop worrying about things and relax," Grissom kissed her cheek.
Sara nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry I lost it before. I just had a lot of feelings stirring up inside of me, and I felt like crap."
"You think next time you might try calling and yelling at me instead of getting yourself all worked up like this? It's not good for you Sara. We have enough stress at our jobs, you don't need more."
"You want to tell that to the sheriff for me?"
Grissom chuckled. "That's what we're working on right now honey, we just have to stick it out."
Sara nodded. "I'm worried about how the sheriff is going to react."
"Well, you know he isn't going to take it well, but you can't worry about what you can't change. His house of cards is finally going to fall apart."
A brief smile crossed Sara's face. "I know you're right, but all kinds of thoughts keep flowing through my mind. I just wish sometimes that they would stop."
"Well, why don't you try getting some sleep?"
"I don't want to attempt laying down yet. My stomach is still bothering me."
Grissom shifted on the bed and propped two pillows up behind him. "Well then, you are going to try to rest, just not laying down."
Grissom carefully pulled Sara over to lean on his chest and rested his hands on her stomach. Grissom reached one of his hands under her shirt and carefully stroked her stomach. "Thanks Gil, this means so much," Sara yawned.
"Well, someone has to keep you sane," Grissom joked.
Sara nudged his stomach and nestled into his embrace.
When Sara woke up the next evening, she still didn't feel very well, but she tried not to let it show. She hadn't eaten anything at home, and Grissom was worried about how she was really feeling. "Sara, do you want to stop and get something to eat before we got in?" Grissom asked when they were on their way to the lab.
Sara grimaced even at the mention of food. "No Griss, we better just go in to the lab."
Even though she had tried to conceal the grimace, Grissom caught it out of the corner of his eye. "Sara, if you don't feel well enough..." Grissom started, but Sara cut him off.
"I'm alright Gil, I've just got to take it easy."
Grissom dropped the subject and continued the drive to work.
When Darius returned to work that evening, he immediately went to the sheriff's office. "Sheriff, I need to speak with you," Darius spoke, peeking his head through the door.
"Come in Mr. O'Connell, what can I do for you?"
"I have to speak with you in an official capacity. Complaints have been brought up against you regarding your work ethic."
"By whom, Sidle and Grissom?"
"Sir, I am afraid I cannot divulge that information. I am here to take your statement regarding some events that have occurred in the past couple of weeks."
"Well, I won't be answering any questions without my lawyer present."
"Sheriff, there is no need for a lawyer. This is not an official investigation yet, I am just trying to gather information and decide whether or not an inquiry is needed."
"I will not be answering any questions without my lawyer. Since it is late and this is not an official investigation, we will not be speaking until tomorrow morning. Goodbye Mr. O'Connell," the sheriff said, practically pushing him out the door.
The sheriff closed his door and slammed his fist on his desk. Dammit, they opened their big mouths, now I have to fix some of my problems in other ways.
When Sara walked into the locker room, the sheriff was waiting for her. "What can I do for you sheriff?" she asked, at least attempting to be pleasant.
"I think you deserve an apology. This might take awhile, would you come up to my office?" the sheriff asked.
Sara didn't like the idea, but did not want to appear hostile. "Okay," she spoke, closing her locker door.
Sara followed the sheriff up to his office and sat in a chair across from him. "Ms. Sidle, I realize you have been under a lot of stress lately, and I can understand that your work performance may not have been up to par," the sheriff started.
"Excuse me?" Sara said, alarmed, "I thought you were going to apologize to me, not rationalize your behavior."
"I am merely stating that you probably didn't belong at the scene to begin with. I would have given you leave if I had known you were going to react that way."
"How did you think I would react?" Sara started defending herself, "Someone close to me had just died, and you put me through the extra stress of forcing me to stay here."
"Like I said Ms. Sidle, I do apologize."
"You're just trying to do this to clear your own conscience."
The sheriff disregarded that comment. "I think this matter can be dealt with internally," the sheriff stated, "there is no need to drag down the whole lab with this petty matter."
"So it is okay to try and drag down the lab with all of the crap that you keep pulling? You just want to be able to run for mayor, and you probably won't be able to if word gets out to the press. You can't use bribery to try and hush me up. I believe this conversation is over."
The sheriff was absolutely livid. As Sara turned to walk out the door, the sheriff grabbed her right arm and twisted it behind her back. Sara felt something in her wrist snap, and she cried out in pain. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I do that?" he smirked.
Sara panicked when she felt the sheriff's hold tighten on her wrist. "I suggest you tell the department rep that you were an emotional wreck and delusional when you talked to me. If this matter doesn't get dropped, things could get a lot worse for you."
"No, things are going to get worse for you sheriff. You see, the second you laid a hand on me, you just sealed your sentence. You're not going to get away with this. Now get the hell off of me!" Sara yelled, jerking her arm away from him.
Sara felt another fiery pain race up her arm when she pulled away, but she managed to get free of the sheriff's grasp. She reopened the door and charged down the hallway.
After Sara escaped, the sheriff picked up his phone and punched in a number. "Gil, Sara is headed your way. She seems to have injured her wrist slamming my door, I thought you should know."
A chill ran down Grissom's spine, and he could feel his rising pulse in his ears. "What did you do to her?" Grissom practically roared.
"She was the one who got angry, and she managed to catch her arm in the door when she tried slamming it. As her supervisor, I thought you should know. I need to get back to work Gil," the sheriff hung up the phone.
Grissom chucked his cell phone at the wall and felt his face flush with anger. Grissom was just about to search for Sara when he heard Nick's shout from the hallway. "Griss, you better come quick," Nick yelled.
Grissom hurried out into the hallway and found Nick with his arm around Sara. There were tears streaming down her cheeks, and her right arm was cradled into her stomach. Grissom quickly moved to her side and replaced Nick. "Sara, what happened?"
"The sheriff twisted my arm behind my back, I think he snapped my wrist."
"Nick, call Brass, get him to take the sheriff into custody. Make sure he doesn't leave the building before Brass gets here."
Nick nodded and pulled out his cell phone to call Brass. Grissom helped Sara down the hallway and out into the car. Sara leaned over in her seat and continued to cradle her arm to her stomach. Grissom ran his hand across her back as he started the drive to the hospital. "He's going to pay Sara, don't worry, he's going to pay," Grissom said with determination, more for his own assurance than hers.
I couldn't protect her, what the hell was he doing? Why was she up in his office? What really happened up there?
"Gil, pull over," Sara moaned, breaking Grissom out of his reverie.
"What?" Grissom was alarmed.
"I'm going to be sick, pull over," she demanded.
Grissom pulled over and Sara flew out of the car. She doubled over on the side of the road as her stomach started heaving again. Grissom raced to her side and tried to hold her up without causing her any more pain. When Sara started to try to stand upright again, Grissom immediately helped her back into the car and speeded toward the hospital. "Gil, slow down, I'm not going to die from this, I don't need you to kill me in a car wreck," Sara groaned.
Grissom listened to her and dropped the speedometer a few tics. Within a few minutes, he was helping Sara into the emergency room.