Chapter 86

Andrew

For the next few days, life seemed uneventful, peaceful and calm, that was up until midway through a shift on a Friday night, Gil had been on his way to his office when a commotion caught his attention – there seemed to be a guy at the cause of it all.

The guy looked like he didn't belong anywhere. Jacket that looked as if it hadn't been washed in a good long while, boots caked with mud, jeans dusty and torn at the knee. Collar of his t-shirt was loose and torn, and the baseball cap the guy was wearing had a white stain from months of dried in sweat.

Gil could already see the distress in the secretary Judy's face, she was standing behind the reception desk and struggling to explain something to him to which he was unwilling to listen.

"I'm afraid I can't give that information out, sir," Judy was saying, her voice was slight, but high.

Gil was poised at his door, watching the scene play out. Somehow it registered in the back of his mind he should perhaps intervene, but felt himself glued to the spot, observing.

"I need to see her, she's gotta be here somewhere."

"As if I've already explained, sir, she's not in the building."

"Call her, she must have a cell phone, everyone has a cell phone. And tell her it's urgent. I can't wait here all day."

"I'm afraid I can't do that without her supervisor's consent," Judy admitted, she was standing behind the counter.

How did this guy get this far into the building anyway without a visitor's pass? Gil had to ask himself, he momentarily forgot what he'd been doing, the case he'd been working on, and made his way over.

"Mr. Grissom," Judy seemed relieved, "this gentleman is looking for Sara Sidle."

Gil looked at the younger man with a critical eye. He had large green shifty eyes, tufts of bleached blonde hair peaked out from beneath the baseball cap. He looked tired, and grimy, and he obviously hadn't cleaned his fingernails in weeks.

"I'm afraid Sara isn't here right now," Gil spoke up. Who is this guy, and what does he want with Sara? Gil felt a strange protectiveness over Sara. Was this some ex-boyfriend? Or perhaps someone she'd once helped convict?

"I need to get in touch with her right away," the guy retorted, his tone suggested this was a demand more than a request.

"Out of the question," Gil responded, he tried to sound firm, but polite. "If you leave a message with Judy here, she'll make sure Sara gets it."

"I need to see her NOW," the guy growled.

"I'm afraid we can't accommodate you," Gil changed his tone, trying to sound a little more intimidating than usual.

"Who the fuck are you anyway?" the guy asked, he made no attempt to curb his language. Gil already felt himself at the end of his tether.

"I'm Gil Grissom – Sara's supervisor," he growled. Why am I answering to this guy? Who the hell is he to demand I tell him who I am? "Sara is out on the field at the moment, and I'm afraid she won't be back for some time."

"Call her. You're her 'supervisor', you have 'authorisation'."

"Who are you?" Gil asked suddenly. No visitors past, he'd never seen the guy before in this building. He looked like a down and out.

"None of your business," the guy uttered, "get me Sara, on the phone now."

"Judy, call security…" Gil turned to Judy, "have him removed from the building."

"You fucking—" the young guy began, and took an intimidating step towards Gil.

"Andrew!" came a familiar harsh yell.

Gil snapped his head to the side to see Sara jogging down the hall, she looked thoroughly annoyed.

"Judy…don't call security," Sara stated.

"You know this guy?" Gil asked, drawing his breath.

"Yes…I know him," Sara sounded incensed.

"This isn't a good time, Andrew. I'm at work," Sara pointed out.

"Sara…" Gil began, he put his hand on her shoulder, hoping to calm her down, she seemed rather outraged and he didn't want to see her lose her temper at work – it would give Ecklie more than a reason to fire her.

She shook his hand off, "don't," she warned him, and Gil felt slightly affronted that she'd turned him away.

"I need—" Andrew began.

"I don't care what you need, you don't come to my place of work and start causing havoc!" Sara yelled.

"Sara…" Gil leaned to mumble in her ear, "this needs to end right now…this is a place of business…"

Sara stepped away from Gil, which disturbed Gil even more. "I know, God…"

What's going on? Why is she taking her anger out on me? Gil thought in dismay.

"Andrew…I can't talk right now. I'll catch you later. I get off at six. If you meet me outside—" Sara began.

Andrew shook his head, "no, it can't wait that long, Sara…I need cash…"

"Andrew, not here!" Sara hissed.

"It can't wait!" Andrew said urgently, "I need it…up front. Like…right now…ASAP..."

"Not here…" Sara said through gritted teeth, "Grissom, can I use your office?"

"Sara…" Gil began, but before he could get out anything else, Sara had grabbed the guy by the jacket sleeve and led him to the office, the door shut behind them both.

Judy gave Gil a questioning look. "Should…I still call for security, sir?"

"No…don't call security," Gil replied hoarsly. He glanced at his watch. He had needed to get a file from his office, and it looked like he didn't have the opportunity anymore. For the moment, it seemed like his office had been confiscated. He felt completely insulted by the way Sara had completely pushed him away from the situation altogether and hadn't even waited for his confirmation that she could use his office before barging past.

It's not like her, he thought.

Judy gave a shrug, the phone began to ring and she picked it up to answer. Gil moved away from the reception desk, sighing.

"What was all that about?"

Gil turned to see Greg at his side, Greg had a large pile of books in his arms, looked as if they all belonged in the DNA lab. Apparently, Greg had witnessed the whole thing as well. "I don't know."

"That guy was insane, man. Who is he?"

"Andrew, apparently," Gil remarked.

"Who's Andrew?"

"Friend, maybe?" Gil suggested.

"Ooh, ex-boyfriend, possibly," Greg put in.

"No," Gil replied. He didn't want to believe Sara would have had anything to do with the guy in her romantic past, although it was clear from the fact she knew his name and that she wasn't afraid to show her anger with him, that this was someone she knew well.

"Shouldn't you be in the office with them?"

"Apparently it's a private matter…and apparently, has nothing to do with me…" Gil uttered.

"But you're her Bo—" Greg began, and then seemed to remember himself, and left off with, "Boss…"

Without giving any reply, Gil left the area completely, leaving Greg standing with a pile of books in his arms, watching him leave.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Gil found refuge to do some work in the break room while Sara was using his office. He was half way through reading a report of Nick's when Sara came in, closing the door.

"I'm sorry about that mess in the hall," Sara said firmly. There was something in her voice that seemed to imply she was perturbed. There was still a glint of anger hidden in those dark eyes of hers. Gil knew how to look for it, spotted it instantly.

"It's fine," Gil replied quietly, although he wasn't sure why he felt he had to act so indifferent to her. Perhaps it was because of the way she'd acted towards him out in the hall, he wasn't sure.

"No, it's not," Sara sighed.

"Okay, fine, it's not," Gil put down the piece of paper he'd been reading. "How did he get in here, Sara? Two security guards at the main entrance, and he walked right by them looking like he just climbed out of the gutter. No visitors pass, nothing."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"He started a commotion – Judy felt threatened. We really should have called security and had him hauled out of here, Sara. If Ecklie had been here, you could have lost your job over having a personal argument's with your friends in the hallway in front of several members of staff…"

"He happens to be my brother."

Gil raised his eyes to Sara, taken aback. Of course, now he remembered, she'd only mentioned her brother once before. "You don't hold much resemblance to each other," he found himself remarking almost coldly.

"He looks like my father," Sara remarked quietly, she came across to the table, "It won't happen again. If you need to discipline me over it, just do it and get it over with."

"I'm not going to discipline you. Was obvious when you saw him that you hadn't expected him to show up anymore than I had…what did he need the money for?"

"Uh…what money?"

"He said he needed cash up front," Gil pointed out, "I was standing right there, Sara, I heard him."

"Doesn't matter…" Sara shrugged.

"Sure it does. Did you give him it?"

Sara shook her head, "that's…none of your concern."

"Isn't it?" he asked. Somehow, he felt it was. Andrew shows up, incensed over the fact he can't see her – needs money urgently, intimidates staff…tries to intimidate me…sure it's my business, he thought.

"Look…" Sara hissed, "Just because you're…banging me…doesn't mean that I have to answer to you for every single little thing I do – who I give money or don't give money to is none of your bus—"

Sara stopped abruptly when Greg stepped into the break room with a coffee cup in his hand, he looked at them both, noting the strained faces on both of them.

"Am…I interrupting?" Greg asked.

"Yes," Gil replied.

"No," Sara muttered, "I was just leaving. I have a suspect to interrogate."

Gil watched her dart out without another word.

"Is it just my imagination…or is she mad?" Greg asked. "What's she mad over? What happened? Is this about that guy?"

Gil sighed, "go back to work, Greg."

Probably a bit OOC and I'll probably get the OOC police all over my ass for this chapter anyway.

As for Sara's brother, it's been mentioned in various places she has one, although I don't remember a name ever being mentioned so I had to just throw in Andrew (first name I thought of).

Thanks to the following people for reviewing :)

Almeida's-Angel24, princesspink, cdmarcus, Aidrianna, Mystical Panther, Leddy, CSIfreak92, jtbwriter, silence89, lilegyptiangoddess, LGraziano, esther, lauren, psychotic chaos, Upright8Infinity, csi-ds9, kristy87, CSICubsFan,

Do you realise that I've had over 700 reviews in around a 2 month period? That's huge. That's more than huge, it's enormous! Thank you so much for continuing to review, it means so much to me :)

(As in reference to the "mines/mine" thing someone mentioned. I can't stop it. I'm a British (technically Scottish) subject, and this is just something that's a habit out of the way we speak here. I can't get out of it, and even when I look for it I don't always notice it. It won't appear in any other stories other than this though, because I have a wonderful Beta who looks out for such things - I just won't have her beta for this story because it'd be SO unfair to ask ANYONE to do something like that for 86 chapters).