Chapter 8
Only two days back at work and the logged hours were pressing down on her tired body. Both Nick and Warrick had voiced their concerns, which were starting to pressure and really aggravate Sara more than she would like.
"Hey, you are the one that wanted me here Nick. I can go home if it'll stop you mothering me." Sara snapped, sitting at the break room table in the middle of shift.
Nick looked at Warrick for help, but only got a 'you got yourself in to this mess, you're on your own' look. Turning back to a tired Sara, Nick swallowed hard. "I'm only looking out for you Sara."
Pushing her chair back, Sara nodded. "So now I have you and Brass giving me the same line." She turned to the other man in the room with a glare. "You want to say it too Warrick?"
He shook his head and went back to reading the paper.
"Good, now if you don't mind, I've got work to do." She left the room and headed towards the layout room that housed all the evidence to hers and Grissom's case.
When Sara entered the room, she noticed Grissom studying something under the microscope. "What did you find?" She asked, walking across the room to stand beside him, her pissed off attitude fading to nothing.
Grissom sighed and raised his head, pushing his glasses on in one motion before stepping away from the scope to let her look. "David cast the wounds for us and found a fleck." He shook his head, trying to think. "I can't make it out."
Sara bent over the microscope to get a better look. She adjusted the magnification and studied the fleck. "Metal?" She voiced, adjusted more knobs.
"Could be. I sent a sample to Hodges, but he won't have anything until next shift." Grissom rubbed the back of his neck as he watched her stare into the scope lenses.
"Could be from the knife, OR whatever was used to stab him." Sara mused quietly.
Grissom nodded to himself.
"Hey," He began, thinking it was as good a place as any to discuss the seminar. "I got a call from a friend of mine an hour ago. He said that the seminar was rescheduled for three weeks on Monday."
Sara turned with the slide in her hand. She nodded for him to continue.
"And though the weather knocked out some pylons and the electricity was down, classes start on the Tuesday." He paused and glanced up. "You're still up for this, right?" He didn't wait for an answer because he knew she wanted to have a go at teaching. He had known ever since he went to Connecticut last year for a three day seminar. "Cuz, I'm looking forward to working with you."
Slightly amused and confused, Sara's brows raised questioningly. "Don't we already work together?"
Grissom quirked an eyebrow. "We do, but not like this. We're going to be teaching a class of possibly 30 to 40 students-"
Sara's stomach flipped. "40?"
Sensing her stage fright, Grissom shrugged. "Could be less. It depends on the weather. A storm and lots of rain flooded the hotel grounds and local tourist attractions."
"Yeah, but 40 students?" Sara asked again, suddenly feeling numerous butterflies taking residence inside her. She placed the slide she was holding back on the scope before turning back to Grissom. "Griss, I don't know about this."
"About what? Teaching hoards of forensic geeks?" Grissom joked. "It'll be fun. We can introduce a demonstration into the lecture. It'll be fine Sara. We can talk through what we are going to do." Thinking about the seminar in more detail, Grissom shrugged and leaned back against the layout table. "You can come over mine after shift and we can start going over the things you're not sure about. Start reading up and even plan this demonstration. I wasn't going to have one originally…"
Sara rubbed her hands together nervously before folding her arms over her chest. "I don't want to change what you've already planned Grissom. It must have taken you months to sort out. I can't do this." She shook her head and looked down at the floor.
She knew it had taken him months to organise and going to his home, was out of the question.
Grissom sighed. "Sara, it's ok." He stepped forward and touched her left arm. "We can discuss this over coffee and you can read my notes. Don't worry about what I've already planned. I can always use the help even if you decide not to go up on stage." He explained gently, not wanting her to back out.
Taking a moment to collect her thoughts, Sara was torn between backing out and forgetting about the seminar completely or breaking out into a grin and going for it. Teaching was something she never thought she'd get the chance to do. Sure, she'd given Greg some pointers on crime scene collection when Grissom had him with them sometimes, but a lecture?
"I'm still unsure about this Grissom, but I'll do it." Sara shrugged. "Can't hurt to try." She paused for a minute, trying to think before she spoke. "But I won't be able to get out the lab for a few more hours. How about the diner?"
He nodded. "That's fine. I'll go home and get my notes after shift."
Sara leaned back against the table, waiting for him to leave. "Around 8?"
Grissom gave a lopsided smile. "Great." He turned to leave. "And you never know," He said as he reached the doorway. "This might be a good opening for you to do seminars every year. That's if you like it."
Sara turned to the microscope and looked down at the evidence with a thoughtful expression.
Pushing an extra bottle of body lotion into her hold-all, she pulled a sweater over it to keep it from moving around. Reaching for her long sleeved shirts and placing them on top of the sweater, Sara looked around the room once again to see if she had forgotten anything.
Grabbing her wash bag and walking into the bathroom, she found her toothbrush, soap, shampoo and anything else she'd need. Her fleece gloves were already packed along with her high neck jacket and two sweatshirts. All she needed now was something to eat and drink before she met Grissom at the airport.
It was nearly 9am on the Monday morning and Grissom was supposed to be waiting at the entrance to McCarran Airport. He was nowhere to be seen.
Sara waited ten minutes, then twenty, then half an hour before she finally caught sight of him pulling off the road and into the airports large car park. He looked like he was still in his clothes from the night before and he hadn't showered by the looks of him either.
"You ok?" Sara asked worriedly as he jogged up to her with a large holdall and small knapsack in one hand and a laptop case in the other.
Grissom struggled with the knapsack. "I got called into Ecklie's office for a meeting about some budget." He grumbled. "All the jerk wanted was to make me late. He did it deliberately."
"How'd you know that?" She asked, reaching for the knapsack to place it on the cart with her bags.
"There was no meeting. He wanted to grill me about taking you with me. Apparently the lab is short staffed as it is and that I should have notified him." Grissom shook his head and stacked his bags on the cart with hers.
Sara looked at him concerned. "I thought you said it was cleared for me to come along?"
He nodded and took the cart from her to push it into the airport. "You are. Since Cath died, shifts been short staffed, but that doesn't mean that Warrick, Nick and Greg can't handle shift for a few days without us."
Suddenly this wasn't such a good idea anymore. Sara stopped and shook her head. "I should stay then Grissom."
"Sara-" He sighed, not wanting to argue. He'd just had a few rounds in the ring with Ecklie and he wasn't in the mood.
"No, Griss, listen." She interrupted. "If it's just Warrick and Nick in the field and Greg in the lab, then who's actually going to run the lab?"
Grissom shrugged. "That's not my concern. Not now anyway." He turned back to pushing the cart towards the check-in desk. "We're going to miss our flight."
Sara didn't like this. She knew she wasn't needed on this trip. She could easily stay at the lab and help get the lab work done. "Grissom-" She almost whined.
Stopping short of the line, he turned. "Ok, how about I ring the lab regularly and get updates? If things get too behind or out of control, I'll leave you at the seminar and I'll rescue my lab." He paused to emphasise. "My Lab, Sara. Warrick and Nick will be just fine. Greg's going to work beside Warrick until we get back. He's got help in DNA and the other lab techs have volunteered to pull doubles if needed. Now stop worrying and help me get these bags onto the plane."
Staring at him through narrowed eyes, her shoulders dropped and her resolve dissolved. "Fine. Your choice."
"Yeah, it is." He replied with a hidden smirk.