A/N: Wow…my utterly sincerest apologies for my drunken rant at the beginning of the last chapter. I can't believe I actually dissected my entire Christmas haul for you guys. As if anyone could possibly care. What a dork I am. At any rate, thanks for the positive reviews—I'm glad the drunken part of the chapter wasn't too terribly written. And you'll all be happy to know that I woke up sans hangover. My husband was in the Army for six years, so as you can guess, he knows all about the act of, er, consuming far too much adult beverage. He taught me years ago to just down a huge amount of water and pop a couple of aspirin before bed, and you'll be good to go. I have to say, though, wine does things to me that no other alcoholic beverage goes. For example, like any proud Southern gal, I can hold my own when it comes to hard liquor. I can knock shots of whiskey back like it's going out of style, and beer doesn't even faze me. But get a couple of glasses of wine in me, and I'm three sheets to the wind. I'm not subtle about it, either. Nooooo. It's like I'm on a mission from God to be the rowdiest, most obnoxoius drunk ever. Classy, huh? At any rate, thanks for putting up with my wine-induced idiocy. Now back to the show.
The next morning, Grissom rolled over and climbed out of bed as gently as possible, determined not to wake Sara. The previous night had been a little emotional, as they had driven their Tahoes to the lab and left their keys, cell phones, badges, and firearms at the front desk. They were bending to Ecklie's demands, but they were determined not to give him so much as the time of day while doing so. Grissom had decided that while he had been willing to grovel to Ecklie in an effort to get Sara's job back, he would not allow Ecklie to rob Sara of her dignity.
Grissom shrugged into his robe and walked out the front door to get the paper. Slipping the rubber band off of the Sun, his mouth fell open in shock. Rebecca had promised to try to get the story close to the front page, but this was amazing. There, at the bottom of the front page, ran the headline Firings Prompt Scandal, Walkout at LVPD Crime Lab.
Grissom remained rooted to the spot, his surroundings forgotten, as he devoured the article eagerly.
Special to the Sun
By Rebecca Bishop
The Las Vegas Sun has learned that a top-level investigation is underway at the Las Vegas Police Department's nationally-renowned crime lab following the dismissal of two of its top CSIs, Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle. Dr. Grissom, the night shift supervisor, and Ms. Sidle, one of his team members, were dismissed two days ago by recently promoted Assistant Director Conrad Ecklie for what is being termed "unauthorized leave." Grissom and Sidle are now alleging that they were fired by Ecklie for "personal reasons." The Sun has learned that Grissom and Sidle have filed a joint civil lawsuit against the LVPD, asking for $2 million each in damages. In a copy of the lawsuit obtained by the Sun, Grissom and Sidle cite their "numerous awards and publications…extremely high solve rate…" and "willingness to work even without pay at times when the maximum amount of compensated overtime had been reached" as evidence of their work ethic.
The remaining members of the nightshift team have reportedly refused to work without their colleagues, leaving the crime lab in a precarious position. According to Catherine Willows, a senior member of Grissom's team, as well as his likely replacement, "it takes years to build a perfect team, one whose members can read each other without speaking, who have a deep camaraderie, and most importantly, who trust each other with their very lives. We felt that we finally had the pieces of the perfect team in place, and that was taken from us. We can't work without them, and we won't."
A source close to Mr. Ecklie claims that Grissom and Sidle were terminated because they had "begun a romantic relationship, which was completely inappropriate under the circumstances, since he was her supervisor. However," the source said, "romantic relationship notwithstanding, Grissom and Sidle took unauthorized leave of a week's time under the guise of personal illness and a family emergency."
When asked to comment about this allegation, Ms. Sidle said, "Dr. Grissom and I feel that the nature of our personal relationship is of very little importance to anyone but ourselves. However, I would like to point out that there is not currently an anti-fraternization policy in place at the LVPD. Frankly, the suggestion that our personal relationship could affect our working relationship is ludicrous. It implies that we are less than professional in our work ethic, and as I think our records will reflect, we are consummate professionals."
As to the allegation of unauthorized leave, Dr. Grissom commented, "As often happens in this line of work, Ms. Sidle was rapidly approaching the point of burnout. I strongly suggested she take a vacation, and she pointed out that I rarely take my own advice. I conceded her point and agreed to take a vacation of my own if she would take a break. I have a friend that has a vacation home on the coast of Florida, and we decided to travel there together. I knew the request for leave would never be approved by the administration, but I knew how important it was for the well-being of my entire team. For a team to be effective, the entire team must be healthy—both physically and mentally. Therefore, I concocted a "cover story," as it were, to explain our sudden leave. In hindsight, this was a regrettable action, but one that I felt absolutely necessary at the time. Ms. Sidle had ten weeks of accumulated vacation time and I myself had almost fifteen. I assumed our absence would not be a problem. Apparently I was wrong."
Ms. Willows said that when she and her team mates informed Mr. Ecklie that they would not work without Grissom and Sidle, they were threatened. "Our team has lost its heart," she said. "Gil and Sara are the best CSIs we have."
Under a Freedom of Information Act request, the Sun was able to obtain the personnel records of both Dr. Grissom and Ms. Sidle. Grissom and Sidle have the two highest solve rates in the department, and both have unblemished records. Grissom obtained his BS in biology at UCLA and is the LVPD's resident forensic entomologist. He has written grants for departmental equipment purchases totaling nearly half a million dollars. Ms. Sidle earned a BS in physics at Harvard, and did her graduate work in theoretical physics at UC Berkeley. She specializes in materials and element analysis.
A spokesman for Sheriff Rory Atwater said that he could not comment on pending litigation.
"Judging by the look on your face, it must be good." Grissom jumped when he heard Sara's voice to his right. Turning to face her, he saw her standing in the doorway of the townhouse, dressed in one of his old sweatshirts and a pair of running shorts. She looked incredibly sexy, and for a split second, the newspaper article was completely forgotten as he contemplated tackling her right there in his doorway.
"Helloooo…Earth to Grissom…newspaper article? Ecklie? Losing our jobs? Any of this ringing a bell?" she joked, trying to get his attention back to the matter at hand.
"Sorry," he smiled with a sheepish look on his face. "You just look…really good."
"Well, I'm glad to have your approval, Dr. Grissom," she returned his smile, "but I'd really like to read the article." She stepped forward and pulled the paper from his hand. "Whoa! Front page?" she looked up at him in awe.
"Looks that way," he shrugged. "They put the bit about burnout in there," he said, wincing. "I know you hated that, but since no one can prove otherwise, it really seemed to be the best tactic for getting you your job back," he said apologetically.
Surprisingly, Sara just smiled and nodded. "It's okay. Besides, it wasn't really that far from the truth. I've been really close to burnout more times than I'd like to admit," she said quietly. Grissom frowned at that. 'I'll have to get to the bottom of that later…' he thought.
They went back inside and Sara sat at the breakfast bar, poring over the article as Grissom got started on a batch of his world-famous pancakes. He was just setting a plate down in front of Sara when the phone rang. "I got it," he said amiably. "Grissom," he answered, out of habit. "Oh, hi….really…now that's interesting, isn't it? Ok, yeah, we'll see you then…bye." He hung up the phone and turned to Sara, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"What?" she asked impatiently. "What is it?"
"That was Jeff Miller. Seems that Atwater had the LVPD attorney contact him to set up some negotiations. We're supposed to meet Jeff at the lab at 1 o'clock this afternoon." He raised his eyebrows at the small triumph, and Sara squealed and jumped into his arms.
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Grissom and Sara met Jeff Miller in the lobby of the crime lab at 12:55. Grissom was wearing a dark gray suit, and Sara looked smartly dressed in her navy blue business suit. When the receptionist announced that the LVPD attorney was ready to see them in Conference Room 3, Sara looked at Grissom nervously, and he gave her a reassuring smile as he held out a hand to help her to her feet. Grissom and Sara entered the room on the heels of their attorney, exuding a confidence neither of them felt. Miller, Grissom and Sara sat on one side of the long back table. On the other side sat the LVPD attorney, Sheriff Atwater, and Conrad Ecklie, who looked as if he was on the wrong side of a murder investigation—pissed, terrified, and jumpy, all rolled into one scrawny, bald package.
When everyone was settled, and the LVPD attorney introduced himself as Jimmy Logan, Miller got right to business. "It seems you would like to speak to my clients regarding a possible out-of-court settlement of their lawsuit. We're all ears," he said coolly, leaning back in his chair.
Logan pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes as he evaluated Grissom and Sara. After a moment, he spoke. "Let's get right to the point. What will your clients settle for?"
Miller bit back a smile of triumph. The LVPD knew they had a losing case on their hands. "Dr. Grissom and Ms. Sidle will settle for nothing less than full reinstatement to their positions, removal of any mention of this incident in their personnel files, and the immediate demotion, transfer, or outright dismissal of Mr. Ecklie," he stated.
Sara watched Ecklie with interest as that last bit left Jeff's mouth. He turned an interesting purple color and she thought, for just a scant moment, that smoke might actually start to pour from his ears in some twisted cartoon-come-to-life. He slammed his fists on the table and shouted, "Absolutely not!" as he half-rose from his seat in anger.
Sara choked on a snort of laughter. 'As if that was remotely his decision to make,' she thought in amusement. From the corner of her eye, she could see Grissom attempting to hide the same amused look.
The sheriff looked as though he could spit nails as he reached up, unceremoniously grabbed Ecklie's shoulder, and roughly yanked him back down on his ass. By this point, Sara barely had it under control, and she was desperately digging her nails into her leg to try to quell her rising laughter.
Jeff cleared his throat. "Ah, I wasn't finished," he said. "In addition, my clients would like the sheriff to guarantee that Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes, and Greg Sanders will not be professionally censured or reprimanded in any way for their parts in the nightshift walkout. My clients demand that the nightshift team remain intact, precisely as it was before they were terminated."
Atwater glanced at Logan and gave him a barely perceptible shake of the head. Logan looked at Jeff and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Miller, those terms are not agreeable. Perhaps we could discuss a somewhat, ah, less dramatic settlement?"
Jeff gave him a withering stare and stood up, calling their bluff. "I'm sorry, gentlemen. I believe I already said that those terms were the least that Dr. Grissom and Ms. Sidle would settle for. If the county will not agree, then we will take our case to court and the county will be out $4 million—not to mention two of the best forensic scientists in the country—and that's not including the other four members of the nightshift. Good day," he finished, purposefully gathering up papers.
The sheriff leaned in and quickly whispered something to the attorney. The attorney then cleared his throat and leaned forward. "Mr. Miller," he said. "We would like to continue this negotiation—without Mr. Ecklie present," he said, glancing over at Ecklie.
As Ecklie spluttered his protests to Atwater, Jeff looked at Grissom and Sara with a raised eyebrow. Grissom glanced at Sara, read what was in her eyes, and then looked back to Jeff with a small nod. Jeff sat back down, satisfied. "Very well," he said, looking pointedly across the table at Ecklie.
Ecklie continued to protest furiously until Sheriff Atwater fixed him with a steely glare and muttered through clenched teeth, "Conrad, get out. Now."
Ecklie gritted his teeth and looked across the table at Grissom. "You will regret this, Grissom," he growled menacingly.
Grissom raised a lone eyebrow. "Did that sound like a threat to anyone else?" he deadpanned.
Jeff patted the tape recorder on the table. "That's what this little beauty is for," he said.
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Half an hour later, all parties involved were shaking hands across the table. Atwater had agreed to reinstate Grissom and Sara to their former positions and there would be no mention of the incident in their personnel files. In addition, Conrad Ecklie would be demoted back to his former position as dayshift supervisor. Grissom and Sara would have preferred that he be fired outright, of course, but they knew they were lucky to be walking away from the table with what they had. Grissom and Sara signed the papers agreeing to drop their lawsuit, and Atwater signed the papers agreeing to the terms laid out by Grissom and Sara.
"Thank you, Sheriff," Grissom said sincerely as he shook the sheriff's hand.
The sheriff looked back at him and said, "I suppose I should thank you for not taking it to court," he said with a wry smile and a chuckle. "Listen, Gil, I really am sorry about all this," he said sincerely. "Ecklie's a good friend of mine, but this little stunt of his…" his voice trailed off. "Although, Gil, if you really needed the vacation time that badly, why didn't you just come to me?"
Grissom stifled a laugh. "Well, Sheriff, it's easy to say that in hindsight, but I still doubt that two simultaneous requests would have been approved."
The sheriff conceded his point with a shrug and said, "So I'll expect your team in on time for shift tonight?"
"Absolutely," Grissom said with a smile.