Post-Butterflied
Disclaimer: I still don't own CSI and get no profit from writing these stories…yadda yadda yadda.
Chapter Four
"Are you planning on sitting there all night?" Warrick asked.
"Oh, wow, you drive fast," Sara quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and slipped out of the SUV before more questions could be asked.
"I didn't speed or anything, you just kind of zoned out there," Warrick raised his eyebrows, "you sure you're okay?"
"I'm all right. I guess I'm still a little foggy from the cold medicine I took last night, but I'll be fine once we get to our scene," Sara assured him.
"Okay. If you're still sick, maybe you should go home," Warrick suggested.
"No, I'm not that sick. I'll be okay when I have something to concentrate on. Riding in a car is just sort of monotonous," Sara explained.
"Hey Warrick, Sara," Brass greeted them, "how you doing?"
"I'm okay," Sara gave him a look that told him to be quiet.
"Right, the vic is a 40 year old male. His girlfriend found him in their hotel room," Brass led the two CSIs toward the hotel.
Sara took a deep breath and cleared her mind of all thoughts of Grissom on the elevator ride to the floor where there victim was. She had to just focus on work right now and it would be a lot of work pretending that everything was normal. She followed Brass and Warrick down the hall to a room where there was a uniformed police officer standing. They entered to find a man who had his throat slit and there was blood all over the place.
"This looks fun," Sara sighed.
"Obviously the first impression is that COD was exsanguination due to the slit to the throat," David popped his head up when the CSIs entered the room, "liver temp puts death at seven hours ago."
"Thank you, David," Warrick said, pulling out his camera to start snapping pictures of the body before David took it away.
"I'm going to go get a statement from the girlfriend," Sara decided.
"Okay, come back here when you're done, I'm sure I'll still be working on this," Warrick gestured to the bloody mess.
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Now it was Grissom's turn to feel sick. He had decided he needed to talk to Sara. Brass had been right about things. Grissom didn't want to die a lonely old man, there was no real reason that he couldn't be with Sara. It was ridiculous for him to be so unhappy and alone when Sara was right in front of him. He tapped his hands nervously on his desk, not able to concentrate on his paperwork. He kept checking the clock so he would not miss the end of shift. He wanted to catch Sara before she left.
The second shift was over, Grissom couldn't wait anymore. He went toward the break room, hoping to spot Sara. Greg, Nick and Warrick were there, but not Sara. He breezed past the room, not even pausing when Greg had said hello. He was on a mission to find Sara and nothing would stop him. He had to speak to her before he chickened out. He turned into the locker room and froze when he heard Catherine and Sara talking.
"Wanna join the rest of us for breakfast?" Catherine was asking.
Grissom stayed just outside the room, knowing he really should not be listening in.
"I don't know. I was going to just head back to my place. I'm pretty tired," Sara yawned.
"Are you sure?" Catherine asked.
"Yeah, I'm not in the mood today," Sara sighed.
"If you're worried about Grissom, we didn't invite him," Catherine said.
There was a silent moment before Sara spoke, "Well…I guess I could go then."
"Good, it'll be fun," Catherine stood and closed her locker.
Grissom's jaw dropped and he quickly walked away before he was spotted spying on the girls. He was a little upset that he was not invited to their breakfast, but not entirely surprised. Lately, all he did was turn down offers of going out. What really hurt him was the fact that Sara was going along because he was not. Maybe he had made the wrong decision after all. He slipped into his office, closed the door and sat at his desk without even turning the light on. He put his head down on the cool desk and let his mind process the conversation he'd overheard again.
A knock on his door startled Grissom and he nearly fell off his chair, "Uh, come in."
"Okay, what's going on?" Brass asked suspiciously, fumbling for the light switch.
"Nothing," Grissom said straightening up and blinking in the sudden brightness.
"Right, nothing's going on. You always hang out in your office with the lights on, silly me," Brass said sarcastically, "come on, Gil, what's wrong?"
Grissom sighed, "I just had a long day. That's all."
"You know you're a terrible liar? This have anything to do with a certain female CSI?" Brass asked.
"How do you do that?" Grissom shook his head.
"Do what?" Brass was confused.
"How on earth can you tell what's bothering me all the time?" Grissom snapped.
"I've known you for a long time. Sometimes I make a wild guess and I'm right. The rest of the time, it's related to Sara," Brass explained.
Grissom pursed his lips, trying to decide if he should repeat the conversation he'd just heard, "I've been thinking about Sara nonstop since the other day. I want to talk to her, but I can't catch her alone. I don't want the whole lab to know I'm talking to her because they're all too nosy as it is."
"I see," Brass said, "she usually comes in early. Catch her before shift tomorrow."
"You're right, but it seemed like as soon as I was ready to talk to her, she was avoiding me," Grissom told him.
"It's probably your imagination," Brass stated, not wanting to tell him that Sara had overheard him. That would just freak him out and Brass didn't want him to change his mind about talking to Sara. He needed to just do it and whatever "it" was that he decided needed to be taken care of.
"Probably. Did you need anything else?" Grissom asked.
"No, I just thought it was odd that you were in here with the lights off," Brass stood, sensing Grissom wanted to be alone, "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye Jim," Grissom sighed and decided to work on the mountain of paperwork that he had let slip for nearly a week while. He'd stayed at their crime scene for shifts and then he had been too busy thinking about Sara and working his latest case to actually get any work done.
A/N: Just so you know, I did not drop off theface of the earth!I had intended to post this chapter on Sunday night or Monday, but there has been no internet access. I finally have access restored to my computer so I can upload more chapters. I may or may not post another chapter soon. CSI is on tonight and so is ER, so I may not have time to get online and post another chapter. So sorry for the delay, it was making me very angry. Thanks again for your wonderful reviews, they always make my day.
