Chapter 5: Happy Valentines Day
Sara looked up at Grissom, his words sinking in. He slowly reached up and touched her face lightly, caressing it. She leaned into the touch, not believing what was happening.
"Let's get out of here" he suggested.
She nodded in agreement.
They followed each other back to her place, giving each some silent time to think about their encounter.
She opened the door to her apartment, and let him in. They found their way to the couch, where he gently took her hand. Both sat transfixed for a few moments, unsure of what to say. It wasn't until Sara touched his face lightly, that he leaned in and kissed her. Her eyes fluttered shut, as the kiss deepened. His hands roamed down to her waist, and she let her own explore the base of his neck and hair.
They broke for air, and again sat starring at one another, unsure of the reality of the situation. Finally she broke the silence.
"Is this for real?" she whispered, praying he wouldn't hurt her again.
He nodded.
"I promise you this is real."
She smiled and this time she initiated the kiss.
Sara and Grissom did a better job of keeping their relationship private at work than Nick and Emma had. But the change in the relationship soon became hard not to notice. It was hard not to notice the way they looked at each other, the way they would talk to each other, the way they would sometimes arrive at work in the same car, or leave together. It took the team about a month, but they did figure it out, even though no one was to surprised. A year quickly passed, and soon another February 14th quickly approached and it didn't go unnoticed. Although their relationship continued, Sara and Grissom kept it under wraps, and no one at work was wiser.
Nick stood in the locker room, changing when Catherine walked in.
"Hey Nicky"
"What's up Cath?"
"Heard you got the night off tomorrow. Big plans for Valentine's day?"
Nick nodded as he smiled. He had asked for Valentine's day off two months in advanced, and he did have something big planned. He turned back to his locker, and took something out of it.
"May I ask what your plans are?" Catherine asked.
Nick faced her, and held out a small box to her. Inside was a diamond engagement ring. It took her by surprise.
"Nick, I'm flattered but I don't think it will work."
He laughed.
"Do you think she'll like it?"
"Of course."
"I know it seems like we've only known each other for a short time, but Emma's the only one for me, and I know it."
"As long as your sure. How are you going to ask her?"
"Well we have reservations for dinner at this exclusive restaurant she's been dying to go to, then I've arranged for a horse drawn carriage ride in the park. We're going to end up in this secluded area, where there will be a blanket and wine waiting under the stars. Then I'll do it."
"That sounds absolutely perfect Nick."
"Thanks."
"Well good luck then."
Elsewhere in the building, Sara approached Grissom's office.
"Hey" she greeted him, standing in the doorway.
He glanced up from his work, smiling at her.
"So, do we have any plans for tomorrow?" she asked coyly.
"Besides any new cases?" he answered.
Sara gave him a look.
"You do know what tomorrow is don't you?"
"The fourteenth, why is that significant?"
"It's Valentine's day."
"You mean an overrated corporate holiday that's just a big cash grab?"
"I guess you could put it that way. So we're not doing anything then?"
"No" Grissom answered, returning to his reading.
Sara gaped at him for a moment before stalking off, unable to believe that he was going to blow off Valentine's day to her.
Grissom watched her leave then picked up the phone.
Early the next night, Nick and Emma prepared for their evening out.
"Nicky, you gotta tell me where we're going" she pleaded with him.
"No, it's a surprise" he smiled slyly.
"How will I know what to wear?"
"You'd look gorgeous in anything."
She blushed.
"Casual or dressy?"
"Dressy."
His cell phone rang, and he picked it up off the bed.
"Stokes"
Emma watched as Nick's smile faded from his face.
"You've got to be kidding me" he said into the phone.
Nick continued to listen, pacing the room.
"Fine! I'll be there soon" he finished, pocketing his phone.
Emma gave him a puzzled look.
"Baby, I'm so sorry…"
"It was Grissom wasn't it."
"It's a big case and they need everyone there."
"It's alright, it's work" she sighed.
"No it's not Emma. I wanted to take you out."
"Go, maybe you'll get off early."
"I'll try to get out of there as soon as I can" he said, pulling her into a hug.
Nick arrived at the crime scene half an hour later. He stalked into the hotel and asked an officer where the primary scene was. He was directed to a room, and on his way he nearly collided with Sara.
"Hey" he said to her.
"Hey."
"Where's Grissom? This is supposed to be my night off to take Emma out. I need to get out of here as soon as I can."
"At least you have plans for tonight" she said sarcastically.
"You mean you and Grissom don't have any plans tonight?"
"No. He thinks it's a meaningless corporate holiday."
"Ouch."
"Tell me about it."
"Maybe he's saving a surprise for the end of the night. Didn't he do something special for you at Christmas?"
"Yeah," she said smiling at the memory.
"See, maybe he still has something up his sleeve."
"Doubtfull. We have our hands full tonight with this."
"What do we have?"
"Triple homicide. We've got three girls, murdered in the same way, in three different hotels. Warrick and Catherine are at the other two crime scenes. I think Greg is with Catherine. We're here, and Grissom is floating between the three."
They approached the room and Sara opened the door. Inside was a woman on the bed, and Nick nearly gagged at the sight. There was a whole in her chest and blood everywhere.
"Each victim is missing their heart. We think that the vics probably knew their attacker, were brought to the hotel rooms, drugged, then killed."
"Somebody doesn't like Valentine's day. How did this guy manage to kill these women and not walk out of here covered in blood?"
"Well he didn't dump any dirty clothes, but the shower curtains are gone from each room. He might have covered himself, worn gloves, then taken the curtain with him, possibly in an overnight bag."
"Are the victims connected besides murder? Did they know each other?"
"Haven't gotten that far yet. Grissom was checking up on that."
"Alright, then lets process the room."
The room provided little evidence. The body was taken to the morgue, in hopes that it would provide more clues.
Later the team sat in the break room, trying to put their ideas and the evidence together.
"All three hotels said that the victims checked in alone, under their own names. All three hotels didn't notice a man coming in after the victims, they said tonight is a busy night" Grissom stated.
At his last remark, Sara shot him a discontented look.
"Archie is reviewing security footage for us, and hopefully that will give us something. We know all of the victims were killed in the same way. Dr. Robbins determined that each victim had their heart cut out with a large knife, as the cuts were messy, so we can rule out any surgeons or doctors. Tox results confirmed each victim was chloroformed before the removal of the heart. We know the shower curtains are missing, and that with the lack of prints, the killer wore gloves. Assuming this was a crime of passion, then the victims knew their killer. I found out that all the victims worked at the same office. The employees are being rounded up for questioning right now by Brass. So we have to find out who has three human hearts in their possession. Any ideas?"
Nick glanced down at his watch, noting that the reservations he had with Emma were now worthless. He didn't pay attention to what Catherine was saying. He finally clicked back into reality when Brass stuck his head in the room.
"We have all the employees here. Out of fifteen, ten have solid alibis that involved plans for tonight and disgruntled significant others now that we have pulled them away from said plans."
Nick looked at Sara who was sitting across the table from him. She rolled her eyes and Nick sighed in agreement with Brass' comment.
"So what about the five others?"
"Two female, three male. Two girls claim they were home alone. We are waiting on phone record confirmation for both. One guy says he was at a bar all night, again waiting for that to check out, another says he was sleeping, and the last one said he was at a casino."
"Let's go talk to them" Grissom said.
The two females both got confirmation of their stories and were cleared. The guy who said he was at the bar got the bartender to verify his story, leaving only two men left. Both knew the three victims. Between questioning, Nick approached Grissom.
"Grissom, do you think, now that we have narrowed our suspect list, that I could get out of here? It's my night off, I asked for this off two months ago."
"No Nick, you know I still need you here. If we get anything that gets us a search warrant for either of their cars or homes, I need you to process them."
Nick rubbed his neck, trying to contain his frustration.
"Fine" he said flatly.
Grissom left to check on Archie, leaving Nick in the hall.
"Man you look pissed" Warrick commented as he approached his friend.
"Just because he has no intention of doing anything special tonight with Sara doesn't mean he's gotta keep the rest of us here to suffer as well."
"You know we need to be here."
"But its under control. We have two suspects. I could be on call instead right now. Instead my plans for Emma tonight have been almost ruined. If I leave now, we could still make it to the park" Nick answered, shaking his head at the time.
"Sorry about the plans, but I think their dead. We're going to be here for awhile still."
Nick swore under his breath and pulled out his cell phone to apologize to Emma again.
Catherine wandered into Archie's lab.
"What have we got?" she asked the men starring at the computer screens.
"One suspicious looking guy. Watch" answered Archie.
He played three videos from the hotels, showing the same man entering about ten minutes after each victim. He wore a hat, the brim low, shielding his face from the surveillance cameras. He carried a black duffle bag with him. In each video he entered the hotel in one set of clothes and exited in another.
"Archie, can you focus in on his face?" Grissom asked.
He typed something into the computer, and the man's face was magnified. Archie put stills of the man from each hotel beside each other for comparison. The man wore the same hat in each one. In two of the stills he wore glasses. They could only see a bit of his face. Catherine starred at the picture, and noticed something on the man's upper lip.
"Can you magnify his lip some more?" she asked.
Archie did, and they all noticed a scar slicing through the man's upper lip.
"I've seen that before, on Andy Kent, the first guy we questioned" Catherine said.
"Let's get a warrant for his house and car then" Grissom answered.
Nick and Sara were sent to process the car, while Warrick, Greg and Catherine took his house. In his basement in a garbage bag, Greg found his bloody clothes, the shower curtains and a knife.
They returned to question him again.
"So where are the hearts Andy?" Grissom asked.
The man was silent on his lawyers advice.
"We found your bloody clothes, and all we have to do is match the victims blood to it" Nick added.
Andy looked up at the men.
"I hated those three. They toyed with my emotions…"
"Mr. Kent, that's enough" his lawyer interjected, but he continued.
"I lured them to the hotels, left them notes from secret admirers, knew they would fall for it, stupid love sick women. I ripped out their hearts, like they ripped out mine. The hearts I buried in the vacant lot down the street from my house. I hate Valentine's day."
The police arrested Andy Kent and Nick left the room, eager to finally be going home soon. He drove back to the lab with the others. He was writing up his report in the lab when Catherine walked by.
"Hey, Warrick wants to see you in the break room" she said.
Nick nodded, and got up. He approached the room, and did a double take when Warrick wasn't in there. Instead, Emma stood inside. She was wearing a pale pink dress that Nick thought looked stunning on her. On the table were take out containers, and soft music was playing in the background.
"What are you doing here? What's all this?" he asked, approaching her.
"Well, I thought that if we couldn't go out, I would bring Valentine's day to you."
"That's really nice of you" he said, taking her hands.
"I got us some food, thought that you could take a little break from this case."
"Emma, I'm sorry tonight didn't work out. I really wanted it to."
"Shh, you already apologized several times, and I already said it's fine. Just dance with me" she whispered, putting a finger to his lips.
She placed his hands on her hips and then put hers around his neck, pulling him closer. They swayed to the music together as she rested her head on his chest.
"This is all I need right here" she murmured in his ear.
He gently pulled away from her, looking into her eyes.
"You're incredible you know that?" he told her.
She smiled and kissed him.
"I love you so much Emma" he quietly said to her.
"I love you too Nick."
He let go of her, and took her hand. He wasn't going to do it the way it had been planned out, but he realized that no matter where he did it, it would be special and somehow being in the break room didn't matter anymore. He slowly dropped down to one knee, reaching into his pocket.
"Will you marry me Emma?" he asked, pulling out the ring.
She gasped and tears began to form in her eyes as she answered,
"Yes"
From the doorway, the team watched as Nick placed the ring on Emma's finger and the two kissed.
Sara sighed and walked away, giving the couple some privacy. She was done for the night and decided to head home.
Fumbling with her keys she opened her apartment door and flipped on the lights. Her mouth dropped open as she noticed the vase of roses sitting on her counter. She walked over and picked up the card that went with them, trying to figure out how they got into her kitchen. Shocked, she read the card twice. It said;
I do believe we should do something special today, even if it is an overrated corporate holiday. Happy Valentine's Day Sara.
"So do you still hate me?"
Sara nearly drew her gun as Grissom's voice broke the silence. He was standing in her bedroom doorway.
"I don't anymore" she replied walking over to him.
He kissed her lightly, and she drew him into an embrace.
"So what are we doing?" Sara asked.
Grissom raised an eyebrow at her, kissed her again, then pulled her into the bedroom.
Sorry that this story and my other ones have been horribly neglected. I just have no time right now with school keeping me busy. As it is, it's really late at night right now, and I need to go to bed. Thank goodness reading week is coming, and hopefully I will update "Truth in the Matter/Truth of the Matter" then. I may add another chapter to this one as well, but not as quickly. This is just fluff that I wanted to write for a certain date coming up. Sadly, my story has better plans then I do for Feb. 14th. Maybe I will call my friends for a single girls night. To all of you that do have some plans, Happy Valentines Day! (Please leave some feedback, its greatly appreciated!)
