DISCLAIMER : I don't own CSI nor it's characters. Everything belongs to the brains behind this wonderful show. Props go out to them. :D
AUTHOR'S NOTE : Set Post-Butterflied. Still unsure as to how this story is going to unfold and I like it that way. I could surprise the readers and myself. :D
The title may also change.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
CHAPTER VIII
"Is there something you need to tell me about?" Grissom's voice rang from behind Sara. She had been immersed in analyzing what little trace evidence they got off of Mrs. Adler from the hospital. Sitting alone in the Layout room, she hadn't heard him come up. She momentarily thought of buying him a cow bell to warn people that he was arriving. A smile he didn't see, spread across her face.
"Well, ummm... Catherine has gone to our vic's place while I ... I'm still trying to piece something coherent from the things we got off Mrs. Adler from the hospital." Sara answered his question, not bothering from straightening up from her bent position over the layout table.
"That's not what I meant..." Grissom softly spoke. Sara used to love the way his voice would drop to a mere whisper and just how it sounded. These days though, it did nothing but anger her.
"Well, then just say what it is you do mean." Sara replied, pushing herself away from the table to look squarely at him.
"I heard that you ... encountered somebody at the hospital." Grissom simply said, ignoring the pointed look that Sara was giving him.
Sara visibly tensed up at the mention of the incident. Grissom noticed this and gave her a frown, waiting for her to say something.
"I ... may have said some harsh words to Peddigrew, but I don't necessary believe he didn't deserve it." Sara lied. She knew exactly what he was referring to, she just didn't want to talk about it with anybody, least of all with Grissom.
"Sara ..." Grissom's voice held warning.
"Catherine told you, didn't she?" she asked, a sarcastic snort accompanied her question.
Grissom raised his eyebrow as if in affirmation and contined to stay silent. Sara stared at him, not continuing and hoping that at some point he'd simply drop it.
When at length, Sara realized that he wasn't going to let it go, she sighed and gestured in defeat.
"Fine! What do you want me to say?" Sara's eyes flashed. "That I'm pissed that the minute I forget about the Marlin case, Lurie approaches me out of nowhere? That it made my skin crawl being around him? That I absolutely have no idea how he knows me and that scares the hell out of me?"
"He must have seen you," Grissom interrupted Sara's outburst.
"What?"
"He must have seen you ... sometime during the case." Grissom explained, his words sounding matter-of-factly.
"How could he? I was practically hands-off on that one! You wouldn't even talk to me on the phone." Sara's voice had started to gain volume and she had to mentally remind herself that this was still her boss she was talking to.
"As supervisor, I had my reasons Sara." Grissom pathetically replied.
"Oh yeah, you had your reasons all right." Sara's anger grew.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Grissom asked, his voice now slightly elevated as well.
"I was there Grissom! I heard ... I heard all of it." Sara spoke quickly. Her voice took on a much colder tone. "I cannot believe you ... I just ... you know what? Forget it. I promised myself I'm through with this." Sara flipped her hair angrily and turned her back on Grissom. She pretended like she was studying the things laid out on the table when in fact she was silently praying that he would just walk away and leave her.
"You were not supposed to be there..." Grissom murmured more to himself than to her. It sounded like he was trying to justify the fact that he said all of those things to Lurie.
"Whatever Griss." Sara replied coldly. Deep down she wanted to ask a thousand questions but she told herself that she was not going to do down the route again. "I'm through trying to figure you or your actions out. It's history, so can we just drop it?"
Grissom heard the resignation in her voice and his heart constricted. Despite the fact that he really did not want to argue with Sara, he knew that she never gave up this easily. It made him want to run to her and just hug her and apologize for the stupid things he had said in the past.
Instead, Grissom stared at Sara's head as she resumed working, pretending that he didn't exist.
When Sara heard Grissom's sigh and his retreating footsteps from the room, she heaved her own sigh and dropped her head in her hands. She tried her hardest not to break down right there and then from all the emotions that little confrontation gave her.
That was how Catherine, who had just returned from their crime scene, found Sara.
x x x x x x x x
She hadn't intended to say anything about the whole Lurie encounter to Grissom. But seeing that Sara was visibly upset about it and she knew that she was never going to discuss it; she thought telling Grissom might help.
Catherine didn't know where these two stood these days. It seemed to her and to the rest of the team that Grissom and Sara blew ot and cold.
There were days when one would catch them glancing at each other like they were the only people in the room and then there were days when they could hardly stand being in the same room. The latter was true for the past months. It seemed like they didn't know each other anymore.
Catherine wanted to smack the back of Grissom's head during the break room fiasco earlier. It was bad enough that he mistakenly assumed the roses were hers but to witness such a pathetic excuse for an apology? Geez! Grissom needed lessons!
"Hey," Catherine greeted her colleague causing the other CSI to turn to her and acknowledge her presence.
Her greeting gathered nothing more than just a small grunt from Sara and Catherine immediately knew that Grissom had already approached her. Catherine had to admit that she was very curious as to how that went.
"So, I take it that Grissom's been here?" Catherine asked, standing on one side of the layout table, facing Sara.
"What did you say to him?" Sara replied, her face showing a bit of anger.
"I merely told him that I found it disturbing that Lurie approached you in the hospital..." Catherine defended herself. Of course she left out the part where she told Grissom about how Sara registered fear upon recognizing Lurie.
Catherine saw Sara pout and she continued, "Look, I'm sorry. I was just worried. Doesn't it seem strange to you that you got those roses from someone you don't know that then Lurie walks up to you in the hospital?"
"Don't you think I haven't thought of that? Don't you think I haven't berated myself enough for being so stupid and forgetting to get the name of the florist?" Sara spoke, her voice really irritated now. "Why do you think I stuffed every single rose down the frickin' drain the moment I got back here?"
"You did?" Catherine was shocked that Sara would do such a thing.
"Yes... I did. I may not be sure if it was really from Lurie but I'm not the type who enjoys receiving things from somebody I don't know." Sara lowered her head into her hands again, shaking it seconds after. "I ... I just can't believe the day I'm having!"
"Yeah, tell me about it." Catherine smiled and received a smile back from Sara who lifted her head at her statement. Catherine thought that now would be a good idea to switch topics and so she led the conversation back to their case.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A/N : Thanks for the patience and the reviews. I'm so glad that you guys found Lurie creepy coz that's exactly how I want him – obsessed and creepy! ;D Thanks so much for the feedbacks!
