EPILOGUE – Part 3 of 5
April 22 - 9:00 p.m.
Standing in the doorway of their bedroom, Grissom watched Sara sleeping peacefully. He was happy to know she was finally catching up on the sleep she had lost over the Rodgers trial.
Deciding he missed the scent of her perfume, an indulgence only worn on non-work days, he slipped into bed to spoon her.
His arms wrapped around her, he appreciated the warmth of her body, the softness of her robe and the gentle rise and fall of her chest. All of which lulled him further into a sense of security about their relationship, which was growing stronger all the time.
In the safety of this room, which Sara had decorated in soothing tones and sensual fabrics, they always shared their most intimate moments…their most revealing conversations. It was their sanctuary. It was also where they overcame their first relationship challenge…
In the middle of their heated discussion about Lady Heather, Grissom would have found it unfathomably that the awkward incident would end up enhancing his spiritual and physical connection with Sara, but as he often learned on the job…sometimes the oddest path leads to the truth.
Standing in the darkness, having survived their first fight they started discussing the physical boundaries of a healthy relationship.
Sara explained that as a child watching her parents blend passion and pain on a daily basis she was damaged from the mental trauma. The fact that her parents' passion one day escalated into the ultimate act of violence left her terrified, wondering what all people were capable of in the heat of the moment.
Places, like Lady Heather's were especially confusing. A place where pain and sexuality mixed, sometimes to the point of bordering on physical endangerment; it horrified her. When they worked cases in those types of places, the sights and the sounds, brought back painful childhood memories and stirred her darkest fears.
Holding her tight Grissom assured her that violence would never be a part of their relationship in any aspect and the only activities they would ever explore would be consensual, occurring safely within the boundaries of monogamy.
In the honesty of the moment, he delicately suggested they work through Sara's issues and in doing so, enhance their intimacy.
Once the communication was flowing and her fears allayed, over the weeks, they were finally able to openly express themselves.
Fondly recalling the passion they had shared hours earlier, Grissom knew they definitely bridged the last of any remaining insecurities.
Moments later he saw her eyes flicker open.
"What time is it?" She inquired in a dreamy tone.
"A little after nine."
"We're going to be late."
Smoothing her hair, he whispered, "But it's your night off so you can stay in bed."
"Oh that's right." A smile unfurled over her lips as she turned to face him. "Mmm…how are you? Was it…"
"Fantastic." He brushed a kiss over her lips. "And how do you feel?"
Her eyes sparkling, she said, "Awesome."
"That's great to hear."
Their buzz was cut short by the sound of Sara's stomach grumbling.
Laughing she informed him, "I didn't eat anything after our outrageously exhausting romp and now I'm too weak to make it to the kitchen."
"Stay right here and I'll bring you something." He replied before stealing one more kiss.
Walking side by side through the streets of Paris, Nick continued to sell Carrie on the virtues of living in Sin City.
"If you ever want to change careers, Nick, you should seriously consider working for the Visitor's Bureau." She teased, "I think you've managed to give me two hundred reasons why I should relocate. Are you always this enthusiastic about the city?"
"I usually stop after ten reasons." He broke into a smile as radiant as the Eiffel Tower looming over him. "But I'm feeling especially motivated tonight. Hope it's working for you, Carrie."
Stopping in front of the tower she sighed, "Well, if I leave here tomorrow and never return to this fair city again..." Dramatically she batted her eyes at Nick. "We'll always have Paris!"
She cracked up and Nick immediately joined in the laughter.
"Damn. Am I trying that hard?" Nick said as he struggled to recover. "I used to be much smoother."
"I probably wouldn't have liked you back then." Her laughter quelling she caught her breath.
"Ah…it's my desperation attracting you."
"Did I say I was attracted to you?"
"Are you?"
"I am now that I know you can laugh at yourself." Grinning she started down the cobblestone path again.
"So desperation and humiliation are the qualities you look for in a man."
"There are a few others."
"Like what?"
"I can't tell you because if I told you then you would try to show them to me."
"So I'll keep talking and hope they ooze out of me."
"I certainly hope they do." She replied before winking at him.
"So…" Nick moved closer. "Have you checked out job prospects?"
"I have several offers on the table actually but I'm most interested in working with the Prosecutor's office here. Unfortunately Vegas has a lot of child abuse cases. I know I would be busy. "
"Yeah…well. The city has it's virtues but they're outnumbered by the vices I suppose." Turning serious, he asked, "How did you pick your career? It has to be tough and you're…and I'm not saying this as a come-on, you're a really fun person. What made you pick such a heavy job?"
In a fearless voice she replied, "When I was eight, I was molested by my swimming coach. He got away with it because I didn't have the knowledge or the power to do anything about it when it happened to me. Then I grew up and found a way to take my power back. Now I help kids who find themselves in similar situations."
"Whoa." Nick stood in awe of Carrie. "You just flung that right out there."
Standing in front of him she confidently said, "Absolutely. I have nothing to be ashamed of because I was the victim. That's the number one reason so much of this stuff goes on for so long. The kids hide it because they feel ashamed when it's never their fault."
Sensing he was concerned she smiled warmly. "That was twenty three years ago and I'm fine now. You can't deal with something if it's locked away so that's why it's important to be open. People say that's why I'm so effective at my job. I can empathize and encourage kids, showing them through example that they can persevere. If I hid my story, they would hide theirs and the cycle would continue."
Nick remained silent as he contemplated her points.
Sighing she smiled, "Yep…I'm climbing up on my soapbox right here on the streets of Paris. You can take the girl out of her stuffy suit but she's still an advocate looking for an ear to educate. That's me, from fun to preacher in five minutes flat." She chuckled. "This is why I don't get a lot of second dates. See…I laugh at myself too."
Finding his voice, Nick asked, "Would you like to go out again tomorrow?"
"Really?" Then she sadly announced. "I'd love to but I have a seven p.m. flight."
"Then how about an early dinner and a ride to the airport?"
"I'd like that."
"Good."
They started walking down the street again.
"So enough about me, let's talk about you. You said you were a cop first and now you're a CSI. So you enjoy putting away the bad guys too. What made you choose your career?"
Once again Nick stopped walking. "I…"
Turning, Carrie looked up at him.
After finding courage in her eyes and from her earlier message, he admitted the truth. "Same reason as you. I was nine. She was a babysitter. Only two other people know, you met them today. Catherine, I told her a few years back and Sara, I told her a few months ago when she told me about her past. That's why she and I started the backpack program to help kids. This whole issue…it's not something I can talk about but since you were so candid I thought..."
Reaching out she took his hand in hers. "If you ever do want to talk, you know who you can call." Gently she tugged him, urging him with a smile to keep walking and talking.
Holding her hand, he asked, "Do you think something like that always impacts the way you live your life?"
"Yes but it doesn't have to be a negative impact. It's how you look at it."
In an upbeat voice she said, "You chose your job because of what happened to you. How many bad people have you put away because of the job you do? And in return, how many good people are safe because you put those people away? If that one horrible incident didn't happen to you, you might have grown up and become a car salesman instead of a cop or a CSI. Then a hundred creeps, including Mike Rodgers, might be walking the streets today because you weren't there to nab them. Nothing bad should ever happen to a kid but if it does…we are what we are today because of what happened in the past."
Now she stopped walking. Looking over at Nick she smiled. "Like I said…it's how you look at it.
"I believe you're right about that."
"I tell people, you take the good with the bad. You can't dwell on the past, you have to deal with your issues and move forward. Sometimes you can do it alone, sometimes you need therapy and sometimes it takes the security of another person propping you up to help you through. Sometimes it's a combination. It's just a matter of finding the right way for you."
"Carrie…" For the first time in his life, Nick Stokes found himself flustered by a woman. "I…you know…do you…do you have to make that flight tomorrow?"
"Well…the sooner I go back, the sooner I can pack." She broke into a wide, open smile.
Squeezing her hand, he made an alternative suggestion. "How about catching the red eye?"
"Now that was smooth."
Covering his face he said, "Uh oh…you said you didn't like smooth operators."
"Yeah but it was also an honest thing to say."
"Another good quality?"
"Yep and you're oozing it tonight."
Laughing together they left Paris behind and moved in a new direction.
"I got the mail." Grissom announced as he walked into the bedroom. "And you got a package." He held up a shoebox-sized box.
"I don't remember ordering anything."
"Did you get enough to eat?"
"Yep." Sitting up in bed propped by a pile of satiny pillows, Sara set her drink down and asked, "What's in the package?"
"I don't know. I didn't open it"
Grabbing the remote, she shut off the TV.
Standing next to the bed, he grumbled, "Were you going to watch Bridget Jones again?"
"Don't make fun of me. I love it." The movie reminded her of her own 'Darcy moment' with Grissom and after such a wonderful day together she was in the mood for it.
Grissom rolled his eyes as he walked across the room to open a window. "That movie is totally unrealistic. How could Darcy be such an astute barrister but be such an inarticulate ass with the girl."
"You are kidding me, right?"
"No." He paused to reflect before asking, "Why?"
"Nevermind." Laughing, she teased, "You have bugs for friends, I watch movies repetitively, do you really want to debate who the bigger nut job is?"
Laughing with her he changed the subject. "How about some music? Opera lite?" It was a collection of songs burned on a CD representing their middle ground…not too heavy for her but enough operatic quality for him to enjoy.
"Excellent choice." Propping another bunch of pillows she made a nest for them to share.
"Didn't you order a framed butterfly?" He inspected the package as he walked over to the stereo.
"Yeah, but I didn't think it would get here so soon because they said it was on backorder."
"Sometimes they don't update the website." He programmed the music. "They probably had it in stock."
"Did you call Catherine about the Diamante case?"
"Yes. I told her everything she needed to know."
"Did Lindsay's team win?"
"They won and Lindsay pitched a no hitter. Warrick is a very proud pseudo-papa." Sitting in bed beside her he chuckled. "Catherine also told me and I quote, 'Soon Warrick and I are going to be living in sin like you and Sara.'."
"When are they going to catch on that we've had a paperless union for a while now?" She smiled. "Let not the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove. Oh no! It is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken."
"What a day!" He grinned wildly. "A Shakespeare quote, you in that outrageous lingerie earlier, mind-blowing sex, two tickets to the opera, and one great victory for forensic science..."
"All that's missing is a partridge in a pear tree."
"That's what I'm serving for brunch tomorrow." Showering her neck with kisses, he teased, "But don't worry it's a tofu partridge."
The joke and the feathery kisses made her giggle. "You know…I've heard married people rarely have mind-blowing sex. It's the first thing to go."
"A good reason for bucking convention, maybe all people should be forbidden to marry by the County." Slipping the robe off her shoulder, he planted a kiss. "I love this robe on you…then again…off is nice too. Too bad I got dressed earlier." He tugged the pink cashmere a little further. "But maybe you could help me remedy the situation."
"Catherine told me this robe cost $500." His kiss made her purr her next comment. "Please tell me you know I don't need expensive gifts like this all the time."
"You know sometimes Catherine isn't very perceptive." He rolled his eyes. "The softest part of the robe is the outside and isn't that the part I get to enjoy? Like when I woke up earlier and found you wearing it laying next to me in bed...it's all about me so please don't worry."
"I see. And the house?"
"Totally selfish…I get to have you in it with me and do I really have to cite why that's a good thing after our quality time this afternoon? Yeah see…I'm one selfish bastard. I don't why you put up with me."
"Me either." She teased. "Maybe because you cook and bring me food in bed?"
"That must be it." With a cocky grin plastered on his face, he said, "Why don't you open your package now?" After returning her robe to her shoulder, he handed her the box, and pulled her in his arms. "Curiosity is getting the better of me."
"Now I'm certain we are married because you just stopped fooling around when you remembered there is an insect in this box." She continued to tease him while ripping open the brown shipping paper. "Some wives are football widows, I'm an insect widow."
"Just as long as you're not a black widow spider, honey." Taking the paper out of her hands he helped her take the lid off the box.
Anchored inside the box was a Tiffany-blue ring box. Sara shook her head realizing she had fallen for a ruse. "It's not a butterfly."
"Yeah…I knew that."
Fixing her gaze on him, she sweetly said, "Another selfish indulgence for you?"
"Absolutely." Reaching over he took the ring box and tossed the cardboard box aside. "But I certainly hope you'll enjoy it too." Taking her hand, he pressed a kiss to the back of it before saying, "Sara, if you were a bigger opera fan you might know what the Italian word for diamond is."
Suddenly getting the picture she sweetly replied, "Let me guess…diamante?" An anticipatory grin blanketed her face.
Holding up the box, he explained. "This is the diamante case. I told Catherine that if I was planning on cracking open the case tonight she couldn't disturb me unless all hell broke loose. That's what she called to confirm."
Gushing with excitement Sara blurted, "Now curiosity is getting the best of me!"
"Then let's crack the case."
When he pried open the box, Sara's jaw dropped. "It's gorgeous." Her eyes raced between the dazzling ring and his loving stare. The Tiffany bubble ring, a lattice work of platinum imbedded with two dozen petite round diamonds, took her breath away.
With pride he told her, "I picked it myself." Plucking the ring from its cushion he spoke softly. "The diamonds are crafted to look like bubbles in a champagne glass. Champagne is served in celebration and that's what I wanted to do…celebrate our union…our marriage of true minds like Shakespeare and more recently, you, put it."
"Yes." She whispered while staring into his eyes.
Holding the ring in one hand, and her left hand in his other, he spoke from the heart. "Sara, I've told you so many things over these past seven months but there's one affirmation I've yet to verbalize although you know I've felt it for a while. Something very hard for me, something I've never said before in my life." As he slipped the ring on her finger he said, "I trust you. I trust in your love. I trust we will always be together no matter what life throws at us."
Knowing the profound nature of his sentiment, her eyes welled and her heart soared.
The ring secured on her finger, Grissom moved his hand to her cheek, just in time to feel her first tear of joy cascade down. "When we do our jobs we're often challenged by confusing questions that result from us trying to comprehend the unexplainable or the unthinkable. I am eternally grateful to have you in my life. You are the one thing that makes sense when everything else doesn't. Your love is something I never have to question and I will always cherish it above all else."
"I…" She took a moment to glance at the ring on her finger and then refocused on his eyes. "I'm overwhelmed. By your words. By my reaction. By your gift…and I'm not only talking about the ring. "
In celebration of their love they shared a slow, drugging kiss.
When they finally parted, Sara tenderly said, "I've been thinking about a quote you once told me."
"Which one?" After all there were so many.
"Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss and ends in a teardrop." She could tell he thought it was an odd quote to be pondering during this moment which represented a beautiful beginning not a heartbreaking end. "I think anonymous had it right after all." She announced with conviction.
"I'm afraid you'll need to explain why." With a nervous laugh, he added, "And do it quickly before I have a heart attack."
Reaching out she lovingly stroked his cheek. "Our love did start with a smile and for a long time that's all we exchanged. Then we shared our first kiss and with every kiss since, our love has grown…sometimes in barely perceptible increments and sometimes, like during the kiss we shared a moment ago, it grows exponentially." Her voice cracked. "And there will be an end. We know it's inevitable. But it will be a natural end and the teardrop, a tear of joy cried by…you or me…while looking back and recalling the beautiful moments we shared…moments like this one…days like today."
"Now it's my turn to be overwhelmed." Cupping her face in his hands, his voice was heavy with emotion. "I've never heard or read more beautiful words than the ones you just spoke."
As they fell into a loving embrace, they continued to celebrate the strengthening of their union. Soon words were replaced with affection and music dominated the room. A Josh Grobin, Charlotte Church operatic duet flowed from the stereo, circulating around them and floating out the open window into the night…
Miles away from the peace of the Grissom-Sidle household, Catherine, Warrick, Nick and Greg were arriving in the field.
Rival gangs had opened fire and when the violence ended, two teenage boys and one girl were dead.
Catherine shivered as she stood over the girl's body thinking, she's only a couple of years older than Lindsay. Life is too precious.
"You okay?" Warrick asked.
"I can never be okay when I see something like this but it's my job and I'll get on with it." In charge for the night, Catherine gave the orders. "Nick and Warrick take the male vics and Greg you stay with me and we'll focus on the girl."
"Anything you say boss," Warrick replied, as he and Nick headed across the parking lot.
Nick teased, "You like calling her that don't ya? You guys carry these roles home with you or do switch it up on some sort of schedule?"
"I'd tell you but you're so hard up right now, Stokes, I don't think you can handle it." Warrick set his kit down. "Which reminds me…how was your date? What sights did you end up showing her? Did you break your chastity vow and end up showing her…"
"Hey!" Nick grinned. "You don't ever talk that way about the future Mrs. Stokes."
"Whoa." Warrick had never heard that line before. "That must have been one hell of a city tour, man."
"That it was." Nick opened his kit and snapped on a fresh set of gloves. "She's the one."
"You get a follicular root so you can check her DNA?" Warrick grabbed his camera.
"I'm in love with her mind and her soul, who cares about her DNA." Nick stood up with his camera."
"You are over the moon, Stokes." Laughing at his friend and himself, Warrick said, "What the hell is in the water in the break room that suddenly everyone is getting monogamous
"I've seen Greg drink the water and it's not having the same effect on him so I think it has to be something else."
The guys paused to look at each other.
Nick groaned. "You think?" He snapped a picture.
"I'm thinking that's it." Warrick took a photo of his vic.
At the same time they lowered their cameras and groaned, "We're old."
Across the parking lot, Catherine was showing Greg how to collect the shards of glass surrounding the girl. "It appears the bullet spray hit the store window while she was standing in front of it. Then this piece of glass." She pointed to a large fragment protruding from the girl's neck. "Sliced open her jugular."
Greg sighed. "So she was in the middle of a fierce gun battle but she doesn't get shot. Instead a piece of glass kills her."
"Yeah well…in chaotic situations the strangest things can occur. "Okay you start bagging the…
Catherine halted her words when she heard the screech of tires flying toward the crime scene.
The moments following were a blur of gunfire and screaming as everyone working the scene as well as the onlookers raced for cover.
When the gunfire subsided, one frantic scream was heard above the fray. "Code 444! Multiple personnel down!"