Disclaimer: Again, I am but a poor college student who owns nothing more than what fits in my dorm. CBS and affiliates, please don't sue me.
Pairings: G/S, what else is there?
Rating: PG- 13, possibly R
Summary: This is my take on the way some of our favorite GSR moments should have gone, starting from the beginning.
Chapter Three- It's Why I Stayed
Las Vegas, Nevada
October 2001
"I worked in a slaughterhouse one summer. Looked a lot like this."
Grissom stood in the middle of the room, squatting down to swab the carpet for blood.
"The lease is in the name of Clifford Renteria. He lived here with his girlfriend till they snuck out in the middle of the night. Gee, I wonder why," Brass said with his usual sarcasm.
"For all we know, this is animal blood," Grissom replied without looking away from the crime scene.
"Yeah, sure. Deer, sheep, llama."
Grissom shrugged, "A deer hunter comes home from the mountains drunk decides to play butcher clean his kill. Chops his game up into oven-sized pieces for the winter. I mean, what does he care? He's renting."
Grissom pulled a clear plastic eye drop bottle from his field kit and tested the swab for human DNA. The swab turned purple and Grissom capped it, putting it in his kit along with the bottle.
"Victim's human," Brass said quietly.
"And a human has only eight pints of blood. So, whoever the victim is ... is now dead."
When Sara arrived at the crime scene with Warrick in tow, her eyes immediately searched the area for Gil's truck. It was parked in the lot nearest to the apartment they'd be working in and she smiled to herself, feeling suddenly flushed at the thought of working with him. Not that they didn't see enough of each other at home, it just seemed to Sara that, seeing him work, made things better between them. She scrambled to get out of the car, yanking the back door open and grabbing her field kit quickly.
"Whoa, girl," Warrick chuckled, taking his kit from the other side of the car, "The man's working a crime scene, he's not going anywhere."
Sara blushed, slowing herself down a little. She waited for Warrick to come around to her side of the truck before she headed off toward the apartment building. Warrick lifted the yellow tape for her as she flashed her badge to the officer waiting there and ducked under.
"Hey," Sara said, taking in the immense amount of blood she was seeing splattered on the walls in the small space.
Gil turned away from his task of measuring the blood droplets to smile meaningfully at her.
"Hey yourself," he said sweetly, "How was your vacation?"
Sara smiled and shrugged, "Boring I guess, I'm not a huge fan of weddings but Lauren was my best friend in Frisco, I felt obligated."
Grissom nodded, turning back to his work.
"Anything uniform about the spray?" Sara asked, knowing full well that they could have a more in-depth conversation about her trip when they were in the quite of their own home.
Grissom frowned, pulling back a little from the wall, "Average diameter is one millimeter."
"High velocity impact. Shot gun, maybe. But there are no bullet holes in the walls, ruling out murder with a firearm."
Grissom shook his head but smiled at her spontaneity, "Just acquaint yourself, Sara. Don't interpret just yet, okay?"
Warrick smirked slightly at the exchange, hiding it from Sara as he crouched down to spray the floor with luminal. Grissom and Sara watched him in silence, both of them slowly surveying the entire scene before them. When he was finished covering the floor, Warrick put the bottle into a loop on his belt and stood beside Sara.
"Show time."
Grissom moved away from the two to close the blinds and as the room filled with darkness, the luminal began to glow. The entire floor was covered in the glowing chemical.
"Damn, this looks like a multiple, Griss."
"What are the voids?" Warrick asked, taking a quick look around.
Grissom pointed to the large rectangular one, "Couch?"
Sara shrugged, taking a picture of one void after another.
"We've only got 30 seconds 'til this luminal disappears."
Grissom knelt down to get a better look at a smaller 'void'.
"Television?" he asked, pointing to one void, and to the other he said, "Magazine maybe."
Sara snapped another quick picture, "This one looks like a triangle... coat rack?"
"Hey guys?"
Warrick's tone of voice caused them both to turn to where he stood in the darkened room. Sara's vision shifted to the odd shaped void at his feet.
"What do you think that is?" Grissom asked, moving to stand beside the younger CSI.
Warrick shrugged, "Looks like an electric saw."
"High velocity, small spray," Grissom and Sara said together.
Hours later, after discovering that Cliff Renteria's girlfriend, Alison Scott, was still missing, Grissom and Sara stood in the living room of the suspect's former apartment. The lights they had set up reminded Sara oddly of a sound stage and she watched as Grissom pulled the covering off of a vent above his head. As he placed the cover on a nearby chair, Sara moved in a little closer to look over his shoulder and examine the vent.
"Fly egg casings," she said quietly, her breath against the side of his face. Grissom turned to smile up at her, silently remembering their earlier romp in the bedroom, wishing they were back there now. Stu Evans, the complex manager appeared in the door and Sara backed off slightly.
"I thought I heard someone banging around in here," Evans said, "You find that bastard Renteria?"
Sara scowled at him, "You'll have to take that up with Captain Brass, sir."
She leaned forward, handing the guy a business card. When she turned back to Grissom, he was reaching for something with a pair of tweezers. She moved back into him.
"What do you got?"
Grissom held his capture up for her to see, "Either Paul or John."
"A very important beetle," Sara said with a smirk.
"The most important. The Syphilis Beetle typically feeds on decomposing human flesh."
Sara looked around, "There's a dead body in here."
"Mr. Evans?" Grissom asked, looking up at the manager in the doorway, "Do you think you can get permission from the owner to break into these walls?"
Mr. Evans raised an eyebrow at Grissom's question, "I guess, but, how many walls and what for?"
"Unfortunately Mr. Evans, I can't divulge that information with you... but we made to break up all of the walls."
"In every room?" Evans asked.
Grissom nodded, "Yeah."
"You CSIs going to pay for the replastering?"
Grissom tossed a sidelong glance at Sara, "No, Mr. Evans, we don't do that."
"But you can submit a form to the city for reimbursement," Sara finished.
"No way," Evans said, shaking his head, "I don't even have to ask the owner, there ain't no way he's gonna let you bust down these walls."
Stu Evans turned and exited the apartment.
"What now?" Sara asked.
Grissom handed her the container with their lone beetle, "Take Paul here to the DNA lab. He may be the only chance we've got to get in these walls."
Warrick stood beside Sara in the lab, both of them leaning over the beetle Grissom had collected at their scene.
"So we know that this guy only feeds off of human blood so what's with the stomach contents?" Warrick asked, watching Sara remove the lid from the jar. He picked up the beetle and held it to the table while Sara took a small needle and extracted a sample from the bug.
"Not necessarily, according to Grissom -- my Bug Man -- sephilid beetles, will feed on any decomposing mammal. We need the human DNA to get our warrant to bust down those walls."
Warrick shook his head, "Well, I hope this guy got to chow down before you and Grissom snatched him up."
"Heading home?" Warrick asked as Sara sat down in front of her locker, starting to unlace her boots.
Sara shrugged, smiling up at him, "Soon, I guess. I think I'm just gonna hang out in Gil's office for a while, wait for him to finish his paperwork before heading home."
"Sounds like a plan," Warrick said, closing his own locker and leaning down to kiss Sara on the top of the head, "Have a good day, kid. I'll see you tonight?"
"Not tonight, its my -"
Sara was cut short as the locker room door swung open and Grissom stepped in, a warrant in hand.
"That our warrant?" Sara asked, passing a glance at Warrick.
Grissom nodded, "Paul was full of human DNA. Brass got us a judge."
Warrick nodded, turning and grabbing a large hammer, "Let's go knock down some walls."
Warrick headed out first and as Sara stepped up beside Grissom, he placed his hand on the small of her back. Sara gave him a quick peck on the cheek and whispered, "Well, this new development certainly ruined my morning plans."
"No, honey, it just postponed them."
Warrick swung again for what seemed like the umpteenth time, letting out a heavy sigh when his handy work only revealed more insulation.
"One wall down... fifteen more to go."
Beside him, Sara shook her head, lifted her hammer and prepared for another swing.
"I'd hold off on that for a minute Sara," Brass' voice said from behind her. She lowered her hammed, "Sorry to interrupt your fun, but I'd like to introduce you to Cliff Renteria's girlfriend."
"You're Alison Scott?" Sara asked, somewhat bewildered.
The young blind nodded and Sara felt Grissom tense uneasily at her side.
"Look, Cliff has this way of ... showing off, it's part of the reason I left him," Alison explained, "But I've known the guy forever and trust me, he may be an asshole, but he's not a murderer."
Sara tossed a glance and the other men in the room before speaking again, "Miss Scott, we found some blood on one of Cliff's lamps."
"I stubbed my toe on that damn lamp almost everyday," Alison explained.
"You by chance wouldn't be willing to give me a blood sample would you?" Grissom asked, "Just so I can compare?"
"Sure, whatever you think'll help."
"Thank you," Grissom said, turning to the man beside him, "Warrick, would you?"
"On it," Warrick replied, taking Miss Scott by the elbow and leading her from the house, followed closely by Brass. Sara and Grissom were left alone.
"So," Sara asked, "What now?"
She and Grissom stood side by side in front of the damaged wall. Grissom didn't respond and Sara quickly allowed herself to follow his gaze. It didn't take long for her to figure out just what Gil was seeing. They both turned and exited the apartment.
A few moments later, Grissom and Sara stood outside Stu Evans apartment. Sara knocked once only to have the door pulled out from under her knuckles and Evans appeared. He gaze flickered between the two CSIs.
"What do you want?" Evans snapped.
Sara looked at Grissom as he said, "We need to look at your wall."
Evans stepped back and Grissom lead Sara into the house, keeping her close to him. He didn't like the way Evans had been eyeing her.
As they entered the small kitchen Sara was the first to speak.
"Do you smell that, Grissom?"
Grissom took another strong whiff of the air, "Scented candles, huh?"
"Some food went bad in the fridge," Evans shrugged, "I wanted to cover the smell."
Sara's eyes locked onto the wall to her left, noticing the different texture on a large portion of the wall.
"Have you replastered this lately?" she asked, running her gloved fingers over the rough surface.
"Rain damage," Evans said with another shrug. He seems to have an answer for everything, Sara though. She took that moment to look at Grissom and it seemed that his train of thought was headed in the same direction.
Grissom moved a little closer to her and reached out to take a painting off of the wall in front of them.
"Mr. Evans, do you mind if I take a look at your vent?" Grissom asked.
"Do whatever you need to do, Gil," Brass said as he entered the apartment, "I got us a new warrant. This one covers Mr. Evans apartment. Seems his wife is missing-" Brass turned to Evans "- Funny how you forgot to mention that earlier."
Sara moved to set up a small ladder for Grissom and once he was standing on top of it, he reached up and pulled the cover off of the vent, handing it to Sara.
"Did you know that this vent is connected to Cliff Renteria's apartment as well?" Grissom asked.
"Sure," Evans said, "Me and Cliff were always fighting about the temperature."
Grissom took the flashlight Sara offered up to him and turned back to the vent.
Sephilid beetles and flies. Grissom handed Sara her flashlight as he climbed down the ladder.
"Sara?"
"Yeah..."
The look on his face was all the command Sara needed. Grissom moved the ladder aside and took the hammer that Sara handed him. Together they began to tear down the wall.
"Hold on, hold on," Sara said suddenly, causing Grissom to cease his movements mid-swing. He watched as she reached into the wall and removed a white blanket.
"Alkylid. There's blood on this blanket."
Grissom raised an eyebrow at her, "And Dermestidae Masculatus."
Sara smirked, "That's Latin for 'You're hiding a dead body'."
"What's wrong?" Brass asked, noticing the beads of sweat forming on Stu Evans' forehead, "Didn't realize how bad a corpse can smell?
"So, you can tell us where the body is now or we can, well, we can tear this place apart piece by piece."
Evans looked between Brass, Grissom and Sara, not saying a word.
Sara shrugged, "I guess we get to do a little more destruction."
Less than an hour later, Sara, Grissom and Warrick had torn down several walls of Stu Evan's apartment with no luck. Warrick moved to the next wall as Sara swiped at the sweat rolling off the end of her nose with the back of her hand. She watched Warrick tap the wall before he turned to Grissom.
"I've got a hollow section."
Grissom gave him the go ahead to cut it open and Warrick took a box cutter from his kit and dug into the wall. When he pulled down the section of the wall, an ironing board dropped and he and Grissom both let out heavy sighs.
"Damn, are we in the wrong apartment?" Warrick asked.
Grissom shook his head, "I don't know... just, start with the floorboards, I'm going outside."
With that, Sara and Warrick watched their supervisor as he stormed away from the scene. They stood in uncomfortable silence for a minute.
"I should probably go after him," Sara said quietly.
Warrick nodded, "Go ahead, girl. I'll be okay in here. Take care of your man."
Sara smiled at her partner, silently thanking him for being so understanding. She turned on her heel and followed Grissom's path out the door.
When Sara found Grissom outside the apartment complex, his fore and middle fingers were pressed tightly to his throat and his eyes were on his watch.
"Ninety."
"Wow, a little more than seventy there, sweetheart," Sara said, sauntering over to him, placing her hands on the sides of his face, "Who are you mad at this time?"
"I don't know... I just, there are ten people in there working this case, Sara, and we've got nothing! There's a body in there and that guy knows where it is!"
He stopped to catch his breath and Sara waited. When he finally looked up at her, she smiled, "What's your pulse at now?"
"Its better," he said, removing his baseball cap and wiping sweat from his forehead.
Sara took a step toward him, lacing her fingers behind his head and leaning her forehead against his. She pressed a gentle kiss to the tip of his nose and smiled, "You wanna take a walk around the block? Just to cool off a little?"
Gil shook his head, rubbing his forehead on hers and making her smile, "I'll be fine. We should probably go back inside, Warrick's waiting for us."
Sara sighed, "All right, if we have to."
Grissom kissed Sara quickly, not really wanting to let her go. Reluctantly moving apart, Grissom and Sara were quiet as they entered the apartment again.
"I'm gonna go get cleaned up," Grissom said, breaking away from Sara once again and heading toward the bathroom.
When they heard the door shut, affirming that their boss was out of earshot, Warrick and Sara turned to each other.
"Is he all right?" Warrick asked, his concern evident in his voice.
"He's fine, just a little stressed," Sara said with a shrug, "Just give him time to cool off."
But when Grissom emerged from the bathroom, he didn't seem to have cooled off at all.
"Brass, when did Renteria say he lost his hot water?" Grissom asked, eyeing Stu Evans suspiciously.
"He didn't say. Why?"
"Mr. Evans, did you know that you have no water pressure for your hot water?" Grissom asked.
"Yeah," Evans said, "I got a plumber coming out on Saturday."
"You know," Grissom said, "My Uncle Herb was a plumber, maybe I can help. Where's your installation?"
Sara shook her head, smirking a little but hiding it from Evans and Grissom. Liar, she thought, Your Uncle Herb was a mathematician.
"In the basement," Sara heard Evans say.
"Let's take a look then."
Standing in the break room at the coffee pot with her back to the door, Sara missed Grissom's hesitant look as he entered behind her.
"Hey."
Sara's shoulders jerked slightly. Damn did she hate it when he did that. She turned and glared at him, sipping her coffee slowly.
"Yes?"
Grissom smiled at her terseness.
"Are you ready to go home now?" he asked, his voice becoming hoarse and seductive. Sara felt a chill ran down her spine and liquid heat dropped into the pit of her stomach.
"Hmm... I told Nicky and Warrick that I'd grab dinner with them," Sara said, but seeing the look on his face, she continued, "But I can always push it back. Let me go-"
"No, it's all right," Grissom told her quickly, "I'll go with you, maybe even drag Catherine along as well."
Sara looked at him, slightly stunned. It wasn't like they never went out as a group, the team had breakfast together at least once a week. But this time, right now, she didn't understand. She was almost positive that, by the tone of his voice, he was just as ready to go home as she was.
"Are you sure? Because I can always reschedule with the boys and the prospect of crawling into bed with you seems kind of hard to resist," Sara said, lowering her voice slightly as a couple of the day shift lab techs passed by the break room.
Grissom smiled at her, shaking his head and leading her by the elbow out of the break room.
"Patients, sweetheart, is not one of your virtues of late," he said quietly, "And, to answer your question, yes, I'm sure breakfast will be fine. Besides I have something important to share with the team."
At that, Sara glanced at Grissom out of the corner of her eye. Something to share with the team? She really had no idea what the hell he was talking about. But she did know that if she pushed him to tell her, he would make her wait, so she let it go.
By the time Grissom and Sara arrived at the diner, they were late.
Gil swore that he had forgotten something at home and that it was very important that he had it when they met the others at the dinner. Sara took advantage of his stop and changed her clothes and brushed her teeth. When they got back in her truck, Sara noticed that he wasn't carrying anything new, but she didn't push him.
Walking into the diner, Grissom smiled over Sara's shoulder at Catherine who was looking slightly nervous between Warrick and Nick. They made their way toward the team and Sara slid into their side of the booth first. Grissom joined her and the idle chatter began.
As a whole, they discussed their recent cases, Catherine and Nick's scuba diver in the tree and Warrick, Sara and Grissom's bleeder. Topics shifted and they talked about their personal lives for a while, learning about Nick's recent girlfriend and Lindsey's school play. It was then, when Catherine shot an odd glare at Grissom, that Sara realized that something was going on that she needed to know about.
"Hey," she said quietly, elbowing Gil gently in the ribs, "What's going on?"
He watched as she cocked her head in Catherine's direction and smiled to himself.
"Always the investigator," he muttered.
Sara scowled at his grin and he cleared his throat, getting the attention of the rest of the table.
"Hey guys, I have an announcement to make," he said, noticing the confused look on Sara's face. He turned halfway in the booth to face her and took both of her hands in his.
"Gil, what are you doing?" she asked quietly, silently praying that he was doing what she thought he was going to do.
"Sara, three hundred and seventy nine days ago, I asked you to come to Vegas because I needed your help. Two weeks later, I asked you to stay because I wanted you here with me. Now, one year later, I'm telling you that I love you, and I'm asking you to stay with me forever, I'm asking you to marry me," it came out just as he'd rehearsed it with Catherine that morning in his office. Nick handed him the leather jeweler's box, and he held it open to her, smiling at the tears in her eyes, "Sara, honey, will you marry me?"
She was shaking. For the first time in her life, Sara Sidle was speechless and the man before her had accomplished what no one else ever could. Yes, yes, yes, yes. The word repeated over and over in her head but she wasn't sure if she could say it out loud. She tried but it came out as a broken sob and she nodded her head fervently.
She watched Gil as he slipped the diamond ring onto her finger. She watched the tears form in his bright blue eyes. And seconds later, she felt the arms of the man that she would love for the rest of her life slip around her and pull her body into his, making her one with him.
