"Lividity was fixed." Grissom's brow was furrowed as considered the position the body had been in at the crime scene. David the assistant coroner had just removed the body and there didn't seem to be much evidence near where the man was found to determine exactly what had happened to him. Hopefully the autopsy would give them more information.
"So then he was killed here." Sara added as she tried to keep her mind on the crime scene they were investigating rather than on the fact that Grissom hadn't said a word about the fact that she was dating Nick. After he'd walked in at the most inopportune time before the briefing, his face had registered momentary surprise and then he'd put on his most professional face and had handed out assignments without so much as acknowledging the information.
Sara wasn't sure what was more irritating; the fact that Grissom knew she and Nick were dating and didn't say anything, or the fact that he'd paired her with himself to investigate a crime scene. Not that the crime itself wasn't interesting or that she didn't like working with Grissom. The man was a brilliant criminalist and she had learned a great deal from working with him; she just wanted him to acknowledge her relationship with Nick. Relationship. At the thought of that word, a smile stole across Sara's face. The fact that she was looking for traces of blood or anything else that might indicate the manner of death that the victim had suffered aside; she was looking forward to having breakfast with Nick after shift ended.
"Did you find something?" Grissom looked at her curiously from over the rim of his glasses as he noticed the smile on her face. He really didn't want to think that her smile might have come from what he'd heard in the briefing room.
Sara looked up at him a bit startled. "What? Uh, no...I was just thinking about...something else." She focused her attention back to the edge of an end table near where the victim lay as she considered whether the contusion on the dead man's head might have been caused by hitting it on the edge or corner in some sort of fall. She pulled out a swab and then tested it for traces of blood with a little phenylthaeline. She furrowed her brow in frustration as the swab failed to turn pink.
Grissom just stood there with his lips pursed with a look on his face that usually came over him when he was on the verge of having some sort of crime scene epiphany.
Sara chuckled softly as she regarded him. "Let me guess, you've discovered that he killed himself by accidentally hitting himself over the head with a block of ice or something?" All of the other CSIs were always a bit mesmerized with how Grissom could figure out the most bizarre scenarios with the scantest evidence.
Grissom's eyes widened and then he looked at Sara as if she'd solved the case and then he abruptly left the room to follow through on whatever thought had been going through his head.
Sara just shook her head and continued to process the scene. Grissom was definitely a paradox. As she noticing something odd on a dark lampshade she sprayed it with luminal and her eyes widened at the spray of blood which had appeared to have been wiped off. She was about to go find Grissom when he reappeared toting a bag of golf clubs.
"Would you prefer a wood or a putter?" Grissom had a sort of half smirk on his face.
"That is some heavy artillery." Sara commented as she considered that a golf club could be a formidable weapon.
Grissom gingerly pulled a driver out and quirked an eyebrow. "I found blood here, but not here." He pointed at different sides of the club. He had obviously sprayed them to test for blood.
"And?" Sara had never really played golf and she wasn't really picking up what he was implying.
"If you were addressing the ball you would use this side of the club where it's flat; the blood is on the other side, suggesting that he was struck mid-swing." Grissom concluded. "I think we need to talk to his roommate again."
"So it may very well have been accidental." Sara considered as she noted golf paraphernalia dotting the décor in the living room where the body had been.
In the end Grissom had been correct, the roommate confessed that he had been practicing his golf swing inside the apartment and the victim had been dancing around with headphones on, completely oblivious until he'd been struck on the head, never regaining consciousness.
Sara couldn't help but snicker at the ridiculous nature of the whole thing as Grissom drove them back to the lab.
Grissom quirked an eyebrow at her. "What?" He knew that he was going to have to say something to her eventually about the fact that she was dating Nick; he just wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't exceptionally pleased about it, he didn't think romantic relationships within the lab were conducive to a productive work environment, but given that Ecklie had already established a precedent that allowed it, he couldn't exactly reprimand her. His own conviction that coworkers shouldn't see each other had been one of the primary reasons that he hadn't pursued her himself, despite the fact that she had made it clear that she'd been interested in him.
Sara cast him a glance from the passenger seat. "Just that you never know how long your life is going to be. But what a way to go, with someone else's bad golf swing."
"An exceptionally bad golf swing at that." Grissom's lips twitched into a half smile and then he let out a bit of a sigh as he realized that he needed to say something to her about Nick. "Sara, Nicky's a good man." There it was out; he hadn't needed to touch on the fact that he thought she was making a mistake on a professional level, and he certainly didn't have to acknowledge any of his own feelings for her.
Sara looked at Grissom fully as she considered that his statement was probably about as much as he was ever going to volunteer. She simply smiled. "I know he is; that's one of the reasons I'm dating him." She wanted her status to be as clear as possible so that Grissom couldn't say he'd never been informed.
Grissom wasn't sure what to say. When she'd seen Hank, she'd never actually admitted that she was dating him, even on the witness stand in court. Grissom had always gotten the impression that Hank was just a substitute for him; that she'd drop him in a heartbeat should he ever decide he wanted to pursue her. For some reason, he wasn't getting the same impression about Nick from her tone of voice.
Sara continued. "I know that we're coworkers, but we work different shifts and we're both professionals." She wasn't sure why she felt compelled to continue; maybe it was because through her DUI and the confession to him about how her mother had murdered her father it had put him in the position of being a confidant, and since she knew he'd never pursue her, it felt safe. "We're not going to let our love life interfere with work."
Grissom didn't really hear much else, just a word here and there that stood out; love, date, relationship, and a tone from Sara that bordered on giddy. He felt a sinking feeling that he'd definitely waited too long and he suddenly felt regret. Regardless of whether he would have ever found the courage to risk his career for her as his subordinate, he was obviously too late.