Chapter Two

Warrick Brown stepped off the elevator and stood staring at his friends. He was frozen in place. It suddenly felt so surreal to him. This could not really be happening. He felt as if he was floating somewhere far away from this all, watching himself. There was no way that his supervisor was actually dead.

"Warrick, man are you okay?" Nick asked on his way back from the bathroom.

"Huh?" Warrick visibly flinched.

"Come on," Nick steered him into the waiting room, "I found Warrick."

"Excuse me, are you the people here about Mrs. Grissom?" a man asked.

"Yes," Brass answered for them.

"My name is Dr. Craver, I've been working on her. I'm sorry to tell you this, but she didn't make it," he lowered his head.

Every one of the people in front of him was visibly shaken.

"We tried everything we could to save her, but the damage to her internal organs coupled with the blood loss was too extensive," Dr. Craver continued, "I'm very sorry for your loss."

Greg Sanders was the first to break the silence, "This can't be real."

"How could this happen?" Catherine asked softly.

"What do we do now?" Nick asked.

Warrick was the first one of the group to lose his composure. All of them had felt so numb and disconnected from reality. Once he stared, all of them lost it and the tears were flowing. It was hard to believe that two of their own were dead. It was still pretty unclear what had even happened. All they knew was that Gil and Sara were both dead.

-

Catherine Willows happened to be walking past the Layout Room when she heard the name "Grissom". Naturally, since her colleagues had died only a few days ago, her interest was piqued. She paused and identified the voice of Conrad Ecklie, Grissom's long time nemesis and Sofia Curtis, whom Catherine only know because she was on the Grissom's case.

"I don't know, Conrad, something just seems off," Sofia was clearly stressed out.

"Are you talking about Gil and Sara's case?" Catherine asked.

"Willows, what are you doing in here? You know you should be nowhere near this case," Ecklie snapped.

"I know I have an emotional attachment to this case, but I also know Gil and Sara better than either of you. AT least give me a run-through of what you know so far, maybe I can help you," Catherine crossed her arms.

For once in his life, Ecklie was not in the mood to argue with her, "Fine, but you are not putting yourself on this case, Willows."

"I don't intend to. I just want to know what happened to them," Catherine sighed.

"Our preliminary assessment is that someone broke into their home. They attacked Mr. Grissom first because his blood was inside her wounds, but not the other way around. What I'm having such a hard time with is that Mr. Grissom's TOD puts him dead for nearly an hour before the neighbor called 911. That puts Mrs. Grissom just laying there for at least an hour. It doesn't make sense to me that she just laid there while he was dead and she was dying," Sofia explained.

"I may know what that was all about, of course I wasn't there, but I know them," Catherine said softly.

"Why would that be?" Sofia asked.

"Sara loved him so much. She wouldn't want to leave his side as he was dying," Catherine wiped a stray tear on her face, "she loved him so much, maybe she just couldn't let go of him. What I don't see right in your story is how one guy managed to kill them both. They are, or were, both trained in weaponless combat. I find it hard to believe that Sara just slept while her husband was being murdered."

"So far we have insufficient evidence to prove or disprove multiple assailants," Ecklie supplied.

"Knowing those two, I'd have to say there was more than one. Do you have any good leads? Is there anything that you have that ties the murders to someone?" Catherine asked.

"I don't want to discuss that with you, that's getting yourself too involved, Catherine," Ecklie warned.

"Well thank you for what little help you are able to provide us," Sofia said, "I'm sorry about your friends too. It must be hard."

"Yes, I am sorry too," Ecklie added, "I know we don't exactly get along, but I am really sorry for your loss."

"Just try to find out who killed them," Catherine slipped away before they saw her lose it again.

A/N: This chapter was a lot shorter, I know, but I am incredibly busy with classes and all. I hope to update this story again soon, but don't count on it.