"Sara Sidle."
"Ms. Sidle, can you tell us about your relationship with Dr. Grissom?" Andrews asked.
"Grissom and I were lovers."
Catherine squirmed in her seat. Gil grabbed her hand.
"The only person I make love with…have ever made love with, is you," he whispered in her ear. "Don't ever forget that."
Catherine relaxed slightly and rested her head against his shoulder. "I won't," she whispered back.
"And Matthew was a result of this relationship?"
"Yes."
"What relationship?" Gil murmured. "It was a couple of times, maximum!"
Catherine put a soothing hand on his arm. "Shh. It's okay."
"Tell me about the first five years of Matthew's life."
Sara took a deep breath. "He was a colicky baby, and he kept getting sick a lot. It was hard taking care of him while I was working."
"Why didn't you tell Dr. Grissom about his son?"
"I was so scared. I knew he was in love with Catherine, and I didn't want to hurt that."
Catherine's eyes almost fell out of her head, as did Gil's.
"So, you were trying to safeguard their feelings for each other?"
Sara nodded. "Absolutely."
"Why did you change your mind, five years ago?"
"I felt Matthew needed to know his father." Sara replied.
"So you came to Vegas with Matthew."Sara nodded. "That's right."
"Why did you leave him here?"
"When I saw how happy he was with Grissom, I was guilty that I'd kept them apart for so long. So I told Catherine I was leaving, and I left Matthew there."
"So, it was actually Mrs. Grissom that left Matthew alone?"
Sara shrugged. "I guess."
Catherine's eyes widened and Gil became angry.
Lindsey Dole jumped up. "Your honor, that's perjury!"
The judge banged his gavel and ordered the two lawyers to come up to the bench.
"Mr. Andrews?"
"I don't know what Ms. Dole is talking about."
Lindsey growled and turned towards the lawyer. "That was perjury you little weasel, and you know it."
"No name-calling, Ms. Dole," the judge sighed.
"If it's perjury, prove it," Andrews told her. "You can't prove that Ms. Sidle didn't tell Mrs. Grissom she was leaving."
"And you can't prove that she did!"
The judge rubbed his forehead and motioned them back. He turned to Sara. "Ms. Sidle, I remind you that you are under oath. My courtroom will not support perjury." He turned back to Lindsey. "However, Ms. Dole, there has been no evidence shown to me that supports whether Ms. Sidle is committing perjury or not. You are free to bring it up in your cross-examination, but for the moment, the statement stands."
"No further questions," Andrews decided.
Lindsey Dole stood up. With a small smirk, she cracked her knuckles. Sara jumped.
"Ms. Sidle. You don't like Mrs. Grissom very much, do you?"
"I have great respect for her."
Lindsey arched an eyebrow. "Oh really?" She walked up a little closer. "I do recall that once you asked Mrs. Grissom if she felt "threatened" by your return."
"It was in the heat of the moment."
Lindsey nodded. "You have a lot of heated moments, don't you, Ms Sidle?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh really? Then you don't remember the night you saw Mrs. Grissom and started taunting her about having her husband first?"
"That was the same heated moment."
"Right. You said you and Dr. Grissom had a relationship and that you were lovers?"
"That's right."
"How many times did you have sex?"
Sara blinked. "Huh?"
"How many times did you have sex?"
"Twice."
"Twice. What happened the first time?"
"What do you mean?"
"Isn't it true that the first time Dr. Grissom called you something else?"
Sara frowned. "Yes."
"Would you mind enlightening the rest of us as to what he called you?"
Sara fidgeted. "Catherine."
"Ouch. That had to hurt. So, you had sex a second time and then all of a sudden it stopped. Why?"
"What?"
"Who broke it off? You or Dr. Grissom?"
"I did."
"That's right, you did. You left town. Poof!" Lindsey snapped her fingers and made Sara jump again. "Just like that."
"Yes."
"Why did you leave town?"
"I was pregnant."
"To Dr. Grissom?"
"Yes."
"Did you tell him?"
"No."
"So you left town, pregnant and didn't tell Daddy to be?"
"No. He was in love with Catherine."
Lindsey smirked. Gotcha, she thought. "Ms. Sidle, you were talking earlier about safeguarding a relationship. Who's relationship was that again?"
"Grissom and Catherine's."
Lindsey looked confused. "That's funny. Grissom and Catherine weren't in a relationship when you left. In fact, Catherine was acting as supervisor while Grissom was on leave." She smirked at the look on Sara's face. "In fact, it was two weeks after Dr. Grissom's surgery that their relationship began, and you had left before the surgery was even done."
"I…" Sara was at a loss for words.
"Let's move on, shall we?" Lindsey said, a small smile on her face. "Let's fast forward five years. Matthew is born, and you turn back up in Vegas. Did you know they were married?"
"No."
"So you figured Dr. Grissom was still on the market. Here's cute little boy, why don't you have mom too? But you got railroaded, because he was married, and he had two kids, with a third one on the way."
"He was married when I returned."
"Very much married." Lindsey nodded. "Did you tell Dr. Grissom straight away that Matthew was his son?"
"No."
"No? You travel back to Vegas, after five years, hoping to hook up with the guy who you've been carrying a torch for, with this fantastic bargaining chip…and you didn't tell him?"
"I told Catherine."
Lindsey cocked her head to one side. "Okay, I'm confused. You two have had a rocky relationship since you first met…believe me, I've heard details. You come back, find out she's married to your old sex partner, and you tell her about your son with her husband first? That's some twisted logic there, Ms. Sidle."
"She had sent Grissom away with the children."
Lindsey grinned. She had been hoping Sara would introduce that. "Of COURSE! Because Matthew was thirsty, wasn't he?"
"Yes."
"In fact, Matthew had been thirsty for a few hours, hadn't he?"
"We didn't have a chance to…"
"Of course you didn't! You had to go see your guy first! But instead, he gets all paternal towards all these kids surrounding him, and you get stuck with your arch-enemy! Ain't the world cruel?"
"Ms. Dole," the judge warned.
"Withdrawn," Lindsey replied. "So, this conversation with Mrs. Grissom. You threaten her, she shoots you down, you get offended and you tell her about Matthew. Correct?"
"Something like that."
"Something like that. Of course. So, you take Matthew and go on your merry way to your motel. Let's fast forward to the next day. You're at a former colleague's house for a wedding shower slash baby shower. You turn up with Matthew…and to your horror, bonding between father and son begins!"
"I never wanted to stop them from being together."
"Please, Ms. Sidle. We don't have time in this trial to get into that hypocrisy. So you go to the party and Dr. and Mrs. Grissom are being very lovey-dovey and parents with their children and the jealousy rages. But STILL you don't tell Dr. Grissom. Why?"
"I wasn't going to ruin the party for Greg."
"Mr. Sanders. Who was having the wedding shower."
"Yes."
"Who was the baby shower for?"
"Grissom and Catherine."
"Did you want to ruin that?"
"Of course not!"
Lindsey feigned shock. "Of course not? Why not? You don't like Mrs. Grissom, remember? You're bitter!"
"Ms. Dole."
"Sorry, your honor."
"I didn't tell him because the children were there."
Lindsey blinked. "Sorry to be blunt, but aren't the children the POINT?"
"No. Matthew is the point."'
"Or Dr. Grissom." Lindsey paused. "Withdrawn. So, Ms. Sidle. When DID you tell him?"
"A couple of days later. At the office."
"The office. You chose the office to tell him about his son. Okay, fair enough. What happened?"
"I told him."
"And? Did he scream, did he cry, did he get angry?"
"He was angry that I hadn't told him. Then he got angry because I told his wife first."
"Normal reaction." Lindsey looked at her. "Didn't he also get angry when you told him to, and I quote, "keep his dick in his pants" and then that "it didn't take him long to find someone else to screw"?"
"Heat of the moment," Sara mumbled.
"Ah, another heat of the moment, moment," Lindsey replied. "Was when you asked him to tell his wife to stop accusing people of trying to break up her marriage, also a heat of the moment, moment?"
"Objection!" Andrews cried.
"About time," Sara said under her breath.
Lindsey smirked. "Withdrawn. Ms. Sidle, you went back to your motel then, correct?"
"Yes."
"And over the next two months, Dr. Grissom and his son spent some time together?"
"Yes."
"Were you jealous?"
"Excuse me?"
"Matthew was having a fantastic time with Dr. and Mrs. Grissom. Were you jealous?"
"Grissom is his father."
"So you were jealous of Mrs. Grissom?"
"That's not what I…"
"Two months later you went to Dr. Grissom's office again, correct?"
"Yes."
"Who was there?"
"Catherine."
"But you wanted to see her husband, correct?"
"Yes."
"That was when you had your engaging argument with Mrs. Grissom, which culminated in you leaving the office."
"Yes, but she started it!"
"How comforting. Later that night, you left."
"I went home."
"Leave anything important behind in Vegas?"
Sara blinked. "Huh?"
"Your SON, Ms. Sidle," Lindsey reminded her.
"He had strict instructions not to leave the motel room. I left him enough money for pizza and he had clean clothes."
A broad smile broke out onto Lindsey's face. Gotcha twice. "So, you didn't leave him with any other instructions?"
"No. Like what?"
"Well, earlier you testified that you told Mrs. Grissom you were leaving. According to your statements now, the last time you had contact with Mrs. Grissom was when you had the argument with her. Then you just left Matthew."
Sara's eyes widened. "Well…I…uh…I told her during the argument."
"Of course you did," Lindsey placated her. "So, apart from the fact that you left your son in a motel room, and Mrs. Grissom went to get him, and that you kept him from knowing his father for five years, you were a good mother."
"Yes," Sara said firmly.
"Okay. So, now you returned, after ten years of silence, and you decided you wanted him back."
"He should be with his mother."
"He's got a mother."
"A biological one."
"Oh, so not the one that kept him from starving to death in a motel room?"
"He wouldn't have starved to death."
"Sure, someone would have found him sooner or later," Lindsey said offhandedly. "Ms. Sidle, let's be realistic. Isn't this all just a ploy to get Dr. Grissom back?"
"No!"
"So that would just be a bonus?" Lindsey turned around. "Ms. Sidle, you said you wrote letters to Matthew during the ten year interim, during which time you didn't see him."
"I wrote him a letter every month."
"Once a month?"
"Yes."
"That's all."
"Yes."
"Wow. A bit brief with the letter writing, aren't we?"
"What would you call good letter writing?"
"How about every day that Matthew was at camp this year, his parents wrote him a letter a week, plus answered every single one he wrote them…even if that meant more than one letter a week?"
"That's just overprotective."
Lindsey arched an eyebrow. "Riiight. So, Ms. Sidle, did you ever get a reply from Matthew?"
"No."
"Did you know why?"
"Catherine probably stole them all."
"This is you being respectful? Do you want to know why, Ms. Sidle? Because he never read them. Never even opened the damn things." Lindsey went back to her desk and held up some of them. "But I did."
"Objection! Unfair surprise!"
The judge peered over his glasses at Mr. Andrews. "This is not a criminal trial, Mr. Andrews."
Lindsey opened one up and handed it over to Sara. "Would you please read the highlighted section?"
Sara looked at the letter and sighed. "This is totally out of context."
"Your honor," Lindsey complained.
"Please just read the highlighted passage, Ms. Sidle," the judge ordered.
"The world is often conspiring against you. Catherine Willows did that. She just HAD to have Grissom. She couldn't bear the thought of anyone else having him. And of course, Grissom is only a man. And Catherine flaunts herself at him. It must be torture living there with them. Always remember that you are my son. And that you are not related fully to any of those two girls."
Lindsey took the letter back. "Thank you, Ms. Sidle." She put the letter back on the desk. "So, this is you respecting, Mrs. Grissom. This is you being a great mother to your son. In fact, in not ONE of your letters, do you ask him about what he's been doing, what are his hobbies, nor do you tell him what you've been doing. Why is that, Ms. Sidle? Why does every one of these letters involve Dr. Grissom and Mrs. Grissom?"
"They were the ones looking after him."
"If you didn't like them, why did it take you this long to come back for him?"
"I don't know."
"Ms. Sidle, since you left Las Vegas, how many men have you been with?"
"Your HONOR!" Andrews said, jumping up.
The judge looked at Lindsey Dole. "Ms. Dole…"
"Your honor, the entire reason Ms. Sidle is here, is not because of her son. It's because of Dr. Grissom. She's suddenly realized she's not getting any younger, and she's been hung up on this man since she's met him."
"That's not true!" Sara said, jumping up. "Matthew is my son! It's not fair that Catherine gets him! He's not hers! He's mine!"
"Ms. Sidle, sit down!" the judge told her. "We are going to have a twenty minute recess. Court is adjourned!"
Catherine sat beside Gil on the bench.
"Wow."
Gil looked over at her. "You can say that again."
"Wow."
"I can't believe everything we just heard."
"I can't believe that I'm the cause of all this." Catherine looked up at her husband. "Can she hate me that much?"
"Catherine, no," Gil said firmly. "You are not the cause of all this."
"Gil, you were in there. You heard all of that. How can you possibly not believe I am the cause of all this?"
"Because I did hear everything in there. I heard a bitter woman who was jealous of another woman for having a man she was in love with. This is no one's fault but Sara's. She's created a mess and she has to clean it up."
"Then why is our family paying for it?"
Gil hugged her tight to him. "We're going to be okay, Cath. We have three wonderful boys and two amazing girls. And I've got you, and you've got me. And I know that I love you more than anything in the world."
Catherine looked up at him and smiled. "You know, for someone who doesn't say too much, you have a very good way with words."
"I save all the good ones for you," Gil grinned.
She leant up, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. "Thank you."
"Thank you," Gil replied, hugging her. "For being you."
"Right back at you, Dr. Grissom," came the reply.
When they returned to the courtroom, Sara was already in the witness box.
"Resuming my line of questioning from earlier," Lindsey Dole began, "how many men have you been with since you left Las Vegas, Ms. Sidle?"
"None of your business."
Lindsey looked up at the judge. She didn't need to say anything, because the judge already knew what was coming.
"Please answer the question, Ms. Sidle."
"Not many."
"Is this because of your lingering fascination on Dr. Grissom?"
"No. It's because we didn't suit."
"Because of your lingering fascination on Dr. Grissom."
"Your honor, Ms. Dole is badgering the witness," Andrews said, standing up. "And Ms. Sidle has already answered the question."
"Move on, Ms. Dole," the judge warned.
Lindsey nodded. "So, Ms. Sidle. Has emotionally scarring your son, acting like an immature child and trying to break up a very happy family made you feel better after dumping your son like the trash?" She saw Andrews start to rise from his seat. "Withdrawn. No further questions."