Chapter 88

You're the Boss

"Eight days Eight…miserable…depressing…days."

"Hmm?" Catherine raised her head to hear Gil's complaint, she was bent over on the floor taking a swatch of a carpet at a crime scene.

"Eight days. You know. That's a week and one day."

"Since…?" Catherine asked distractedly, slicing into the carpet.

"Since everything. I haven't seen Sara ALONE in eight days," Gil complained stubbornly.

"Oh. You mean because of her brother…" Catherine replied. She picked the piece of carpet up and bagged it.

Gil sighed dejectedly, he couldn't concentrate on work anymore. It had been building up during his whole relationship, but right now, he felt absolutely ashamed to admit even to himself that he wasn't able to give his full attention to a crime scene anymore. No matter how hard he tried, his mind would filter off to Sara.

"So…you're…what, sexually frustrated after eight days of abstinence?"

"It's not that," Gil replied, "not that I think you need the details of my sex life, but I've gone longer without."

"I figured. You went without a date for over two years. I used to think you'd become celibate," Catherine replied. "So if it's not lack of sex driving you crazy, what is?"

"All our plans have been put on hold. I can't call her…her brother answers the phone…I swear he must sit by that phone day and night. And he starts asking why I'm calling when I do – I have to make up stupid stuff like I needed to know where Sara had put files, stupid stuff…" he made a face. "I haven't seen her outside of work. When I do see her at work we're too busy to even discuss our private lives – not that we really should because we're trying to keep our work relationship and personal relationship separate…"

"Never stopped you before," Catherine teased.

"Anyway, it's driving me crazy. I don't know what to do anymore."

"Does…this Andrew guy know about you?"

"No," Gil replied abruptly, "Apparently he doesn't like me…I think Sara may have painted him a rather elaborate picture of truth on my past behavior that may have poisoned his mind and helped him form a rather unkind opinion of me."

Catherine stood up, "what are you going to do?"

"What can I do?" Gil queried, "Family come first."

"Then all you can do is be patient," Catherine suggested. "Why does she spend so much time with this brother of hers anyway? Every morning after shift he's there at the door to meet her…"

"Maybe they're close," Gil shrugged, trying not to worry too much about it.

"So close that she's never told anyone she had a brother."

"She told me."

Catherine cleared away the items from her field kit, "she talk about him a lot?"

Gil paused, "no. She just told me she had a brother."

"If they were that close she'd have at least told you more about him…" Catherine shrugged.

"Maybe he's lonely…maybe that's why they spend so much time together," Gil reasoned, trying to be open minded about it.

"Well, if that's the case then maybe Sara shouldn't be focusing all her time on him, shouldn't he be getting out there and meeting people?" Catherine asked.

Gil sighed deeply, "maybe."

"Why don't you ask Greg if he'd be interested in showing Andrew around Vegas?" Catherine asked, "I'm sure Greg wouldn't mind…it's his night off after this shift…if he met with Andrew this morning it'd give you some time during the day before the start of the shift to be with Sara."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Gil asked suddenly.

"Because you're too preoccupied to be thinking clearly," Catherine smirked, and nudged him, "Do you think now you have a possible solution that you can maybe focus on the case now?"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It took Gil almost until the end of shift before he'd eventually managed to find Sara in one of the layout rooms looking at several photographs all neatly laid out on the table.

"Sara, I've been looking everywhere for you," Gil stepped in and shut the door behind himself.

"I just got back from another crime scene," Sara replied, "big one, took four hours to process. Doc Robbins is performing the autopsy right now, I'm just going over photos until the end of shift."

"What are you doing at the end of shift?"

"Taking my brother to breakfast, probably," Sara raised her eyes to look at him, "Why?"

"Does Andrew have any friends in Vegas?" Gil asked.

"Nope."

"I was thinking, maybe Greg could show him around Vegas…show him all the best hang outs, where the best place to party is no matter what time of day it is…"

Sara paused, "I don't know…Greg and Andrew? It's like oil and water…"

"I'm not saying set them up to be friends for life, I'm just saying that maybe they could hang out for a bit together and let us be alone…" Gil moved over and stood beside her at the table.

Sara chewed her lip as she stared down at the photos, she seemed to be considering it.

"Might be good for Andrew to go out and meet other people – so he doesn't need to rely on spending all his time with you," Gil suggested, trying to sound enthusiastic. "And I'm sure Greg could introduce him to a few people…" Gil added and placed his hand on her shoulder. To the casual onlooker who might look through the glass in the door, there would seem nothing wrong at all with such a touch. To Sara, Gil knew it would mean more. He squeezed her shoulder tenderly, and looked at her hopefully, waiting for her to respond.

Come on, Sara. What could go wrong? Just for a few hours, just so me and you can be together, and talk and maybe hold hands or...just something. We've spent eight days apart, I'm not in the mood to spend anymore away from you, Gil thought desperately.

"Fine…fine…" Sara gave in finally, seeing the pleading in his eyes, "I'll ask him when the shift is over – he'll be outside waiting for me…"

"I'll go ask Greg," Gil smirked.

"You haven't asked him yet?"

"No…I was saving it as a surprise."

"What if he doesn't want to hang out with my brother?" Sara pointed out.

"I'll fire him," Gil teased. "I'll have him meet your brother at your apartment around nine…"

"And then?" Sara asked.

"Come over to my place as soon as they've left. I'll make you breakfast," Gil promised, he gave her a wink. The new prospect of seeing Sara for even a short time had lightened his dark mood considerably. He felt as excitable as a child at Christmas, a feeling he hadn't felt for some time.

He left the layout room and went on a search for Greg, finding Greg in the locker room just about to leave as the end of shift had come.

Greg was pulling on his jacket and zipping it up. Gil blocked the door before he could take a further step.

"Got a favour to ask," Gil stated.

Greg looked at him, he knew what kind of favours Gil could ask, past experience had taught him that. "Is this one of your weird experiments?"

"No," Gil leaned against the doorway, folding his arms, "Sara's brother is in Vegas."

"Oh, the crazy guy from the hallway?" Greg asked.

"Yeah. He's got no buddies here."

"So…?"

"How'd you feel about maybe cutting me and Sara…" Gil lowered his voice considerably so no one passing would hear, "some slack, and uh, show this guy around Vegas…the hang out spots, where you go on your days off."

"This isn't a date, is it? This guy isn't gay is he?" Greg asked in concern, "not that I'm homophobic, I just—"

Gil laughed inwardly but kept a straight face, "no, Greg, it's not a date," he interrupted, "it's just an excuse to get Andrew away from Sara so I can see her for the first time in eight days."

"Eight days…man, you must be ho—"

"Missing her," Gil interrupted, "I'm missing her."

Greg laughed a little to himself, "When?"

"This morning. Say…around nine? Keep him occupied for as long as you can?"

"Man, I've had no sleep…" Greg pouted.

"You're young, your body can survive a few extra hours without," Gil assured, "I'd be very grateful."

"Does this mean I'll get a raise?"

"No," Gil replied, "it means…maybe the next time you need a favour, I'll oblige."

"I'd rather have the raise," Greg tried.

"Nice try," Gil smirked, "you going to do it or what?"

"I guess."

"Great. I want you to pick up Andrew at Sara's apartment at 9am sharp. That gives you at least three hours to get some sleep."

Greg sighed, "I don't know what I'm going to show him at 9am on a weekday."

"Everywhere and everything…the best casinos, tourist attractions, you'll think of something…" Gil shrugged.

"I think I deserve the raise."

"How about I promise not to fire you?" Gil asked.

Greg sighed, "if that's all you can offer…"

"For the moment, it is," Gil took out his wallet and began searching for cash, "That…and this," he handed him a wad of bills, without counting. "It's all I have on me."

"A hundred and twenty bucks, you're paying me to take this guy out?" Greg asked, "I'm beginning to feel like a prostitute…"

"I get the feeling Andrew is going to be broke," Gil replied, "Everywhere you go it's likely you'll need money. Just don't tell him that money came from me, and don't tell him it was my idea to set this up."

"Doesn't he know you and Sara are—?"

"No, he doesn't," Gil said, "and Sara plans to keep it that way for now. Be discrete, and don't blow the money in a casino, that's all I ask."

"You don't ask often, but when you do ask, you ask for a lot," Greg teased, "Do I have to pay this back?"

"No..." Gil replied, "go home, get some sleep, and DON'T forget to pick Andrew up at nine."

"You're the boss."

"Yes. I am."

This chapter may seem a little weird but it's expositioning something for later on ;) As always I know it's OOC. it's hard to stay IC when you're writing with a throbbing headache.

Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing, I've had SO many nice reviews about the OOC police thing. Honestly, I still find it so funny, and I still laugh about it.

Thanks to:

CookieK2, lemonish, NimrodDuckie, csids9, Aidrianna, Mystical Panther, jtbwriter, some1lostme, silence89, Upright8Infinity, lilegyptiangoddess, princesspink, sarah makinson, jbr12476, gsrfan817, CSIfreak92, Anti-OOC Police (lol about that name), leddy, kristy87, Almeida's-Angel24, wandaa, and lauren

jbr12476: I know what you mean about the chapter seeming force, it's because it actually started out as something seperate but eventually I felt it wanted to become part of this story instead and it seemed to fit. I don't take offense to the observation though, lol. As for it seeming "vague" there's still some stuff to come later which will better explain it.

lilegyptiangodess: that "ten times better" comment made me blush, lol.

silence89: thanks for the kind words! and about Sara, I feel the same in relation to her family that she might want to drop everything else in her life for a moment to focus on her brother (or else I wouldn't be writing it, lol). Some people say she wouldn't give up on Griss so fast, but if it was important, I think she might. ;)

jtbwriter: You're right, Andrew is a leech. Why is he leeching? Only time will tell ;)

lemonish: I always feel I have Greg a little unbelievable. People say I do Catherine quite believable but not Greg - thanks for saying I have him down quite well ;)

There's so many things I wish I could say to each and everyone of the wonderful people who reviewed and supported me with the whole OOC police thing, but I'm having trouble focusing with a throbbing headache - I need some paracetomol and to lie in the dark for a while so I need to end the authors notes for now. Thank you SO much for all your support and kind words, you are the best.

Big hi to the people at YTDAW (thanks to the people who recommended my fic).