Ch 1.5 –
A/N – I'm sort of stretching this story as I improve it, hence the chapter 1.5 It makes more sense in my head than re-numbering all the chapters on my computer.
As it turned out Bobby decided against a warning. Sara - unaware of the coming tirade - was still going over the man's clothing. She had yet to turn up anything of significance, and although she was no longer feeling ill, her mood was definitely not what anyone would describe as happy. When Greg had come to ask her if she wanted lunch she had all but bitten his head off and sent him away with his metaphorical tail between his legs. On occasion she found his company amusing, today was not one of those days.
Grissom rounded the corner and spotting Sara with her head down, all but stormed over to her. He stood watching her silently for several moments. Sara could almost feel the waves of anger wash off him. She stopped what she was doing and even though she didn't look up she could tell that she had annoyed him without even moving. Swallowing convulsively she looked to the side without meeting his eyes in a deliberate 'what do you want' gesture.
She wasn't sure why she was provoking him, it was something that she normally avoided but today something snapped in her. His treatment of her was bordering on emotional abuse, and she was sick of it. This was the closest she could get to a rebellion without getting herself fired. There was no way this would get on the departmental radar, he couldn't risk his job like that. Their friendship was effectively ruined already, so what did she have to lose now? He had ruined any chance of repairing it when he left. Treating things as if they didn't happen was not a way to get around the problems they caused. Sara was finding this out the hard way.
"Did you forget to mention to me about those casings by any chance?" His voice was icy and Sara was seriously regretting her decision to ratchet up the tension. This was not going to end well. Not telling him about the casings was not an intentional faux-pas. She has just been distracted by other things. Grissom being one of those things. A detail which annoyed her most of all. What it all came down to was that this was at least partly his fault and she desperately needed someone to pin blame on for her predicament. He seemed very much the best choice of contributor.
"I hadn't seen you yet to update you on the situation. I was going to bring you the results once Bobby was done." She had to fight to keep the tremble out of her voice.
"That's really not the point. I should be getting updates as soon as they occur, from you! I should not be having to hear them second hand from Lab. techs."
"I did what I could at the time, I couldn't find you so I went ahead and got the evidence processed to save time." Sara got up and deposited the shirt deftly back into the evidence bag and sealing it carefully. "Normally you don't mind us doing our jobs, or maybe this is just about me." The challenge in her voice was palpable.
Grissom chose to ignore the obvious in the comment, although his jaw clenched noticeably. Sara had all the information that she would need for blackmail, if it ever came down to that. She knew that she would never use it against him. But the threat was always there and it kept him from saying anything more.
"Is there anything else you've failed to update me on?" He made a somewhat futile attempt at keeping the edge out of his voice.
"Not that I know of." She snapped back, picking up the bag and walking out of the door.
Catherine drawn as usual by raised voices, or anything that might represent gossip, watched the entire scene with amazement. Whatever was going on between the two of them, they normally kept whatever it was away from work. When it started to overflow into the lab then was the time to worry. Warrick let out a low whistle from her side. "What was that all about?"
Catherine shrugged with a bemused look. "Honestly? I have no idea." Her mind was working in overtime, she and Gil were going to have to have a little chat. He had obviously not taken her 'get your head out of the microscope' speech the right way. People were going to start talking if he kept that up. She watched him storming out of the room moments after Sara and locking himself into his office.
Catherine decided for the time being to go after the slightly easier target that was Sara. She was still one of the most private people she knew but compared to Gil, getting a straight answer out of her would be a piece of cake. Grissom would probably just tell her to butt out of his life, probably worded rather differently, but the gist would be the same. She would try and work on him if she got no joy from Sara's end.
She found Sara in the locker room again leaning her forehead heavily against the lockers on the right hand side.
"You Okay."
"As can be expected." a mumbled reply was all the response that Catherine gained.
"That was quite a display for you two. " Sara remained silent giving her a sideways look. "You want to talk about it?"
"No."
"I know he can be an ass, but that wasn't all about him. What's gotten into you?"
Sara mumbled something almost incomprehensible, that Catherine could have sworn sounded like 'him', before pushing away against the lockers. She
Sara blinked rapidly and putting her hand to her head. Catherine took hold of her arm to steady her and she dropped gratefully onto the bench nearby. She scrutinised Sara for several moments, putting several things together.
She took a deep breath before she spoke. "Sara, are you pregnant?" she asked quietly not really expecting an answer. The quiet release of breath and distracted running of her hands through her hair told her all she needed to know. "Have you taken a test?"
"I don't need to. It doesn't take a genius to work this out." She waved her hand at herself absent-mindedly leaning against the side-rail of the bench.
"You should take it anyway, you know that. You need to know for sure."
"I've been avoiding that for weeks. I'm still in the stages of denial and you know what? I really like it there." Sara was now intently examining her fingers and avoiding the eye of the older woman. Catherine put her hands over Sara's shaking ones as she lifted her head to look into her eyes. Catherine could see the fear and uncertainty in her gaze.
"You should go home."
Sara gave her an assenting nod and dropped her head forward in defeat. "It's the middle of shift, I cant go anywhere." She pointed out.
"Don't worry, I'll tell Gris you're not feeling well and then I'm taking you home, you can't drive like this. Its entirely the truth and he can't tell me not to when you're getting dizzy like this. Come on."
Sara pushed open the door to her apartment and waved a vague hand at the sofa in the centre of the room. "You want a coffee or something?"
"How about I get us both some coffee and you go and take that test. Stop procrastinating. Its better to get it over with." Catherine took the bag from the counter, placed it in Sara's unwilling hands and putting a hand in the small of her back gently pushed her in the direction of the bathroom. "I'll see you in a minute ok."
Sara began what appeared to be a death march towards the bathroom. Anxiously twisting the bag between her hands. The nervous gesture spoke volumes and Catherine couldn't help but find her heart going out to the younger CSI. Whoever the father was he was evidently not anything serious or they would have heard something about him. A single parent herself Catherine knew only too well the difficulties, and couldn't help feel for her friends predicament.
She took the time while Sara was gone to give the room a quick once over. In all the years she had worked with Sara she had never actually been to her apartment. It was a comfortable home, not what she had expected. She had a vision of a Grissom-like existence of stainless steel, not the feminine vibe she got from here. The room was quite dark but had a cosy feel caused by the throws and cushions spread around the daybed and chairs. She fished around for coffee in the kitchen. The girl sure had a lot of caffeine.
Sara returned just a few minutes later, this time fiddling with the test itself.
"I haven't felt any desire to look at it just yet." Catherine gave a sympathetic nod and took a sip from her coffee as Sara sat beside her. "I don't know anything about kids. I'll be a mess." She mused quietly staring wide eyed at the unread test on the table in front of her.
"You're good with Lindsey. Once you have one of your own you get the hang of it pretty quick." Catherine was getting the gist from this conversation that if she really was pregnant she would be keeping the baby, and in a way the thought relieved her a little. "You have to find out for sure first though you know."
Sara seemed to stop breathing at this point and stared at the table in from of her she slowly turned the test over and let out a long breath. "Its positive." She paused. "Not like I wasn't expecting that anyway" There was another loaded pause and Catherine glanced back at the woman beside her.
"You going to tell the father then?" Catherine was digging for information in what she hoped was a subtle gesture.
"I… he's going to find out eventually. I just really don't know how I'm going to tell him."
Catherine gave her a sideways glance which was returned by a 'don't-even-think-about-asking' look from Sara. Catherine arched her eyebrows briefly and returned her stare to her steaming mug of coffee instead, realising there was little more she was going to get out of her on the subject. "I'll tell him when it's necessary, not before. He doesn't need to know just yet." Sara muttered staring at some undistinguishable point in the distance. Her mind appeared to be elsewhere for the moment. Probably somewhere in panic mode, Catherine knew she would be in the same situation.
Catherine gave her a concerned look. "You should arrange a doctors appointment or something." Sara's mind was still clearly elsewhere and Catherine feeble attempts to bring her back to reality were falling woefully short of their intended success. "Maybe I should leave you for a while, get some rest. But call me of you need anything."
Catherine picked up her bag from the floor and turned as she reached the doorway to take a last look at her friend worry etched in her features as she watched Sara who was still deep in thought apparently attempting to outstare the wall opposite her.
