Part Three
The ringing of Grissom's cell phone caught them both off guard and Grissom glanced in the general direction of the living room. He hesitated and looked down at Sara.
"It's all right," she told him, "It's probably important. Go answer it."
He hesitated again before heading off to find the offending phone.
Sara wrapped herself up in the bed sheet and followed Grissom out of the bedroom, heading off toward the refrigerator as he answered the phone.
"Grissom."
Settling herself on the couch, Sara watched Gil as he paced across the living room. She took in his relaxed appearance, his blue boxers and white T-shirt that read "Entomologist: lover of the bugs", a customized gift he had received from Greg for his last birthday. His hair was slightly tousled from sleep and he reminded Sara of a little boy. She smiled to herself, snuggling deeper into her sheet on the couch.
"Yes, Jim, I know the address," Grissom said tersely, "I'll be there in twenty minutes."
Silence on his end for a moment as Brass spoke.
"No, no, that's fine. I'll call Sara and Greg in on it," Grissom said again, shooting an apologetic glance in Sara's direction. She smiled at him in return as he spoke to Brass again, "No, I don't want Sofia called in on this. No, Jim, I don't particularly like her. No need to call her in when I can call Sara and Greg. We don't all need to be there."
Grissom disconnected his call with Jim and stared at Sara for a moment. She stared back, giving him a weak smile. Holding out a hand to her, Grissom helped Sara off of the couch and led her back to the bedroom.
"What's going on?" Sara asked, sitting on the bed while Gil searched for clean clothes for her.
"Homicide found a 419 at a residence in Hendersen," Grissom explained, handing Sara a pair of slacks and her underwear, "It really is a good thing that you keep clothes here, honey."
Sara nodded as she got dressed, watching Grissom do the same.
"Do you want me to call Greg?" Sara asked, finishing the last three buttons on her blouse.
"No, I'll tell Jim that I changed my mind, it doesn't take three of us to process a body," Grissom said, coming back into the room from the bathroom, "We can handle it. Unless, you don't want to go."
Sara shook her head, "I'll be fine. I need a break from this anyway."
Grissom nodded. Neither of them spoke and they stared at each other. Sara broke first, dropping her eyes to her hands that lay in her lap.
"Thank you for being here, I mean, I really needed-"
"Shh, honey," Grissom sat on the bed beside Sara, pulling her into his arms, "I'm always here for you, Sara, I hope you know that."
She nodded against him and sniffled, fighting back another round of tears. They sat like that for a few minutes before Gil pulled away, brushing stray hair from Sara's eyes.
"We should go, Jim's waiting."
As they pulled up to the scene, Grissom glanced at Sara's sleeping form out of the corner of his eye. They hadn't been on the road for ten minutes when he realized that she had fallen asleep. He didn't wake her. He knew better, she needed to rest. In some way, Grissom had always known that Sara hadn't had an easy past, but he had never imagined the pain she had gone through at such a young age.
"Sara, honey, we're here."
Sara stirred slightly and sat up straighter in her seat. She glanced out the windshield and recognized Brass' car. Glancing over at Grissom, she smiled and rubbed her eyes a little.
"How long was I out?"
Grissom smiled back as he undid his seatbelt, "Forty minutes... the entire drive here."
"I'm sorry," Sara muttered, "I guess I was more tired than I thought."
"It's all right, Sara."
They both exited the vehicle as they noticed Brass moving toward them. Sara grabbed their field kits from the backseat, listening as Grissom and Brass spoke at the front of the car.
"Mitch Hastings, forty-five. Single GSW to the head. Wife found him in the backyard when she came home. Says she's been in Seattle on business for the last three days. No signs of forced entry and we didn't find the weapon."
Sara moved to stand beside Grissom and Brass gave her the once over.
"Where's the kid?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at Grissom.
"Changed my mind," Grissom said, shrugging, "It doesn't take three CSIs to process a 419, Jim."
"Right," Brass said before turning and leading the two CSIs toward the house. Grissom's hand found it's way to the small of Sara's back as they made their way into the Hastings' home.
The lab seemed to be over run with cases and Grissom and Sara didn't have time to talk. Sara spent most of the day in trace, helping to process the fibers she and Grissom had found on their 419 while Grissom worked with Bobby in ballistics.
"Sara, have you seen Grissom?" Sofia asked, sticking her head into the lab.
Sara glanced up from her microscope, shaking her head slowly, "Last time I checked, he was in ballistics working on our case with Bobby. I didn't think he was calling anyone else in on this case."
"He didn't. Another case came in on top of yours and Jim called me," Sofia explained.
Sara nodded, "Oh, right, well, check ballistics for Grissom."
"Right," Sofia muttered, turning and heading out the door toward the ballistics lab.
Sara stared after the blond for a few minutes before lowering her eyes back to the microscope. She had grown to like Sofia to a certain degree. No, not like, Sara thought, tolerate. Deep down she wondered if the other woman was just some sort of spy for Ecklie, strategically placed on the nightshift to find some flaw in Grissom's leadership skills. Not that Sara didn't feel that Grissom had his flaws, she knew he didn't follow the book, but honestly, who followed every rule? Grissom wasn't the best supervisor, she could easily admit that. But it wasn't because he didn't know how to do his job, it was simply because he wasn't the best with people.
"Sara?"
Mia's voice caught her off guard and Sara was visibly startled. She looked up at the lab tech as she held out a print out to Sara.
"I have the results of the DNA test Grissom put in but I can't find him," Mia told her.
Sara scanned the print out before thanking Mia and heading out of the lab to find Grissom.
After coming up empty in ballistics, Sara moved from there and headed in the direction of Grissom's office. Leaning in the doorway of his office, she watched as he reviewed a file that lay open on his desk. Sara smiled, folding her arms over her chest.
"Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to come in?" Grissom asked, looking up in time to see Sara's smile widen.
"I have the results of the DNA test," Sara said, "And I identified the fiber we found on the victims T-shirt."
"And?"
"And the DNA under the victim's nails is a positive match to the wife who claims she was out of town," Sara explained, "And the fiber I found is synthetic silk, probably from a piece of lingerie."
Hearing the word lingerie come from Sara's mouth brought a grin from Grissom and she couldn't contain her own. Shaking her head, Sara moved forward and sat down across from his desk.
"How are you holding up?" Grissom asked, his voice softer and quieter than just a few minutes earlier.
Sara shrugged, "I'm all right, I guess, I sort of just want to go home."
Grissom nodded, "I know what you mean. It shouldn't be much longer."
Sara nodded, glancing down at her hands for a second before flashing Grissom her million dollar smile. He smiled back, unable to stop himself after seeing her happy. They stayed that way for a long time, neither of them wanting to break the trance they had fallen into. Yet again though, their trance was broken by the intrusion of another member of the nigh shift. Only this time it wasn't Greg, it was Sofia.
"Am I interrupting something?" she asked, stepping into the small space before she received an answer from either of it's occupants, "I have a leave of absence form I need you to sign, Grissom."
Sara glanced at the other woman, not paying her much attention as she handed Gil the form. He looked it over quickly before looking up at Sofia.
"Two weeks?" he asked, "Vacation?"
Sofia smiled and shook her head, "No, family matter. I need to fly back home for a few days if that's all right."
"It's fine," Grissom replied, jotting his signature down on the form and sliding it back to her, "I hope everything is all right."
Sofia smiled at him and Sara felt slightly revolted. She clenched the arm rests of her chair in order to keep herself from slapping the smile off of Sofia's face. The woman was openly flirting with their supervisor right in front of Sara and it made her sick. It didn't seem fair that Ecklie had always tried to use Sara's relationship with Grissom against them, even though he had no clue how close they had recently become. And here Sofia stood, Ecklie's minion, smiling and batting her eyes at Grissom. It was ridiculous.
"Was that all?" Sara snapped, "We were discussing a case, Sofia."
The other woman turned to Sara and gave her a weak smile, "Oh, right, I'm sorry. Thank you for your concern Grissom."
Sofia sent a silent bitch at Sara and left Grissom's office.
Sara shook her head and turned her attention back to Grissom. He was smiling but he didn't seem happy.
"That was uncalled for, Sara," he said quietly.
She shrugged., "She was flirting with you."
"Sara-"
"She was and I'm sorry that it bothers me but I can't help it," she said quickly before he could lecture her, "You're mine and I know that and so do you but she doesn't and sometimes I just want to scream at her. I can't handle watching someone else go after something that I worked so hard to obtain."
Grissom didn't say anything and Sara wondered if she was out of line. She glanced up to see him studying her as if she was some specimen under his microscope. It made her feel uncomfortable and she looked back down at her hands.
"I shouldn't have said that," she muttered, "I'm sorry."
She heard Grissom made some odd sound of approval before he spoke, "You were being honest and that's fine, but we shouldn't be having this discussion here."
Sara continued staring at her hands, suddenly becoming fascinated with the red nail polish chipping off of her clean cut nails. Grissom cleared his throat, drawing her attention to his face, and he smiled at her, "Why don't you take off early? I can handle what's left on this case and you need to rest. I'll check in with you later."
Sara frowned, "But-"
"No buts, go home and sleep, Sara. You need it and I can't use you on this case if you can't concentrate," he told her, his voice stern and his eyes pleading.
Sara didn't acknowledge him and for a minute, he didn't know what she would do; fight him on it or give in.
Sara shrugged, "I didn't drive."
Grissom looked at her, not sure what she was talking about, and then it registered in his mind. He smiled, handing her the keys to his truck.
"I'll have Jim drive me home."
Sara stared at the keys in her hand and then up at Gil.
"Call me when you get in?"
"Of course."
Sara pulled up in front of her apartment building but she didn't park the truck. She was debating with herself on whether or not she should go in. Grissom had been right, she should get some rest, but she knew that there was no point trying to sleep without Gil in her bed. Her nightmares would take her over and she didn't want to wake up in a cold sweat alone. Instead, Sara put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking lot.
She drove across town and parked the truck in the parking lot of the park closest to Gil's townhouse. She looked around before deciding on what she wanted to do. Getting out of the truck, Sara took the shortcut through the park to get to Grissom's house and she entered it quietly, going to the bedroom and digging up a pair of his sweatpants and one of the tank tops she usually slept in. She pulled on a pair of running shoes she kept in the bottom of his closest and locked the door on her way out. She started jogging and headed back to the park.
