Precious Things by SLynn
Spoilers: Up to 'Nesting Dolls'
Rating: R for violence and disturbing content
Disclaimer: Not mine – well, some are mine, just not the ones you recognize.
Chapter 2: Escalation
Sara hadn't seen Greg this bad in a long time and it was frightening.
She knew she should have said something sooner. That she should have forced the issue before now, but truthfully she'd hoped that it was just exhaustion.
Sitting across from him at their kitchen table she knew that it wasn't.
"Greg…" she started but didn't finish.
Sara really didn't know what to ask. She had an idea what was wrong but nothing concrete. He'd given her no real clue as to what has happening inside his head.
"I stopped going to my appointments two weeks ago," he supplied.
Sara bit her tongue to keep from responding. She didn't want to be confrontational; all her experience with Greg had taught her that he didn't really respond to that.
"Today I told Dr. Jennings that I wouldn't be coming back."
Sara looked down at the table with a frown. It was a mistake. He needed to go. She'd accepted that he couldn't tell her everything, at least not right away. Dr. Jennings was his outlet when she couldn't be.
"It's not helping," he continued by way of explanation. "The more I talked about it with her the worse it got."
She couldn't let that pass.
"Are you still having nightmares?"
Greg's look was one of complete surprise. She didn't see why he should be. They both had nightmares; it was just something they never talked about. There were countless times when she'd woken up crying only to find he'd already put his arms around her, was already comforting her. He never pried, never even brought them up, and in return she did the same. Until now.
"Greg," she explained, "you do sleep right beside me. I've noticed. It just seemed that lately they haven't been as bad."
"No, they're still bad. I just haven't been sleeping as much."
Sara nodded. That she hadn't noticed. She was so worn down herself. Everyone was. They'd had an influx of cases lately. It was as if the city as a whole knew they were down a man and was going out of their way to make things as difficult as possible.
She reached over and covered his hands with her own.
"I don't want to talk about them," he said with a small smile as he looked up at her.
She returned the smile and squeezed his hands once.
"Have you thought about taking something to help you sleep?" she asked.
Sara knew how he felt about that sort of thing. It was something she hadn't known about him before. Greg didn't like to take medication of any kind. The strongest drug he'd take on his own was aspirin. A large part of that was because of the chemo. Having had leukemia twice, she couldn't say she blamed him for not wanting to take anything more then needed.
"No," he said shaking his head as expected, "No I couldn't do that."
"I don't know what to do for you," Sara admitted. It hurt to do so.
"I don't expect you to solve my problems."
She smiled at him. He was too good sometimes.
"You should get some sleep," he said, standing to emphasize his point. "Just because I can't sleep doesn't mean you shouldn't."
Sara reluctantly got to her feet.
"Lay down at least," she said pulling him along with her.
"Yeah, I can do that."
She smiled at him. He looked like he might pass out from fatigue. Sara almost hoped he would. They'd just gotten to their room and into bed when the phone rang. For once it wasn't the cell but their actual land line.
"That can't be work," Greg grumbled as Sara reached for the phone.
"Hello," she said as she checked the clock. It was ten till noon.
She sighed and sat back up as she listened to the voice on the other end. Greg reluctantly did the same.
"Yeah, I know where it is. We'll be right there."
She hung up the phone and Greg shook his head.
"You know, I'm beginning to think the other shifts don't really take cases."
Sara smiled at the comment. She felt that way too.
"Come on," she said standing; there was no point in delay. "There's a body waiting for us."
Greg trailed behind Sara carrying both their cases to where Sofia stood waiting for them.
"You two took an awfully long time," she said with the odd humor they'd come to associate with her.
"Greg had to do his hair," Sara said, smiling back at him briefly.
"You can tell why I love her, can't you," Greg countered sarcastically, coming to stop beside Sara.
Sofia laughed as Sara gently cuffed him on the arm.
"When's the big day?" she asked.
"Why is that the only thing anyone asks anymore?" Greg returned.
"Because we all want to know when you two are going to stop living in sin and make it legal."
Sara and Greg both laughed at that.
"Ask Sara," Greg said after a pause.
Sara looked a bit baffled at how straight forward he was with Sofia. She knew that they'd spent a lot of time talking while he'd been assigned to days, but this was almost too much. When most people asked them that question, and they got it a lot, they simply hemmed and hawed until it was dropped. They hadn't set a date, just a time frame really.
"December?" she asked more then answered.
"As long as it's definite," Sofia said.
"We haven't set one yet," Greg said letting Sara off the hook, "but probably by the end of the year."
Sara knew it was a subtle hint from him to her. She was the one holding it up. Every time they'd discussed it she'd either changed the subject or deferred to his opinion. Not that they'd discussed it in awhile. After telling everyone the topic had been left virtually untouched between them.
"So, why are we here?" Greg asked after a pause.
"Ask your boss," Sofia said pointing to the top of the rock pile Grissom could just be seen standing on. "He had me call you two and Warrick."
"And what?" Greg teased, "Days couldn't handle it?"
"No," Sofia answered easily with a slight incline of her head, "It's not our case apparently."
Greg and Sara both looked at her quizzically. She turned and motioned for them to follow. Grissom spotted and met them halfway.
"What's going on?" Sara asked all traces of humor gone.
"Dead body, female," Grissom started his look was intent, "Found this morning by a local construction company. They were surveying this area for a future housing development."
"And it's not day shift's because…" Sara said letting the rest of the question hang in the air.
"…it's not a new case," Grissom finished.
Grissom began to slowly make his way back up the hill. The three of them followed and continued to listen as he spouted off some other details about the crime. On the other side, at the foot of the hill they saw that Warrick had beaten them there. He was already kneeled beside the victim taking pictures. As Warrick stood up to get a different angle with his camera they saw her for the first time.
Greg felt frozen in place.
"Emily Harris," he whispered.
Grissom nodded.
"Same MO," he agreed, "She was strangled, there are signs of sexual assault and the perpetrator left his particular calling card."
But Grissom hadn't really understood him. Greg had thought, briefly, that it was Emily Harris. The girl, whoever she was, was about the same age, had the same blond hair and was positioned exactly as Emily Harris had been.
Grissom motioned them forward. Warrick walked up to greet them, his face looked grim.
"She can't be more then fifteen," he said shaking his head with a sigh.
"Any idea who she is?" Sara asked, equally as somber.
"None. She didn't have any ID on her," Warrick continued, "Brass if running a search through missing persons but so far nothing."
Greg was already putting on gloves and walking over to the body. Warrick was at his side momentarily, asking what he saw. Sofia soon joined them as she'd be helping out initially with this one. Before she too could go Grissom discretely pulled Sara aside.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"That it's escalating," she returned, "Whoever is doing this has gotten a taste and likes it."
Grissom shook his head and cast a glance towards where Greg stood. Sara nodded now, understanding the question.
"He'll be fine. Actually, it may be good. I think he needs some closure on the last one, this may provide it."
Grissom nodded in agreement. Sara knew Greg's mood better then her own. If she said he'd be okay with this then he believed her. For now.
"Damn it Nick," Amy called as she rounded the corner and found him holding up a vase, both arms above his head. "What part of the word convalescing don't you understand?"
"Hey, your insane cat almost knocked this off the shelf. I was just…"
"You were just doing exactly what the doctors have been telling you not too," she cut in, taking the vase out of his hands and not without tip toeing pushed it back into place. "Again."
Nick didn't argue it. He knew he wasn't supposed to move his be lifting or moving his arm much still but he couldn't help it. At this point it felt like he wouldn't be able to use it again, ever.
"And don't blame Baxter. Baxter didn't make you lift those boxes last week."
Nick smiled at Amy's defense of her cat. She loved that thing. Nick however was a dog person. Amy had rescued Baxter two weeks ago from a local animal shelter. The cat was a six year old fat calico that was meaner than hell to everyone but Amy. If Amy petted him he purred, if Nick got within reach he scratched.
On queue, hearing her sing his praises no doubt, Baxter jumped up on the couch to where Amy could scratch him behind the ear.
"Are you ready?" he asked her, not wanting to sit down and give Baxter a fresh opportunity to draw blood.
"Almost," she said leaning up and kissing him quickly on the lips with a smile, "Can I trust you alone in here?"
"No lifting, no arms above my head," he repeated, "I've got it."
She smiled again hoping he was being serious. It was still scary. Nick had been about a week and a half away from being cleared for work when he'd began to experience some pain in his elbow. He hadn't thought it was serious but it had come on so suddenly and grew to such intensity that Amy had taken him to the emergency room.
It turned out to be an arterial embolism. It was fixed with additional surgery, but he'd once more been lucky. If the embolism had traveled from his shoulder to his heart instead of the other way around, he could have died before he'd known there was a problem. Nick was still on blood thinners until his next and hopefully final appointment. Until then he had to be extremely careful.
Amy grabbed a light jacket from her closet and rejoined Nick in her living room. They were still maintaining separate residences but they rarely spent any time apart. Most days were spent at Nick's place and the nights Amy didn't work at hers. Tonight they were going to grab dinner out, something they hadn't done in a long time. Before they could get out the door her cell phone rang.
"Hello," she said into it, stopping in the doorway.
Nick saw her face drop and knew it was work. He felt so bad. He'd tried to do what he could, they'd been swamped lately, but aside from research and analysis he really wasn't much help. Despite that and being on medical leave, Nick still spent a good number of hours at the lab.
Amy was mostly listening and nodding her head to whoever it was on the other end.
"Okay, I'll be in soon."
She hung up and gave him a weak smile.
"Take out?" he asked knowing they wouldn't be sitting down to eat any time soon. He had every intention of joining her in the lab.
"Yeah," she said, "Might as well call ahead and see if anyone else wants."
"What's going on?" he asked curiously.
"They found another body that matches the Harris case."
Nick nodded knowing how serious this was. Greg hadn't been the only one obsessing over that case.
"We'll make it quick then."
