Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to CSI or it's affiliates. I am merely a fan whose would like to take already established characters into a story of my own rendering.

Burn

Chapter 5

"So, how have you been lately, Gil?" Asked Catherine, while keeping her eyes on the road ahead. Shortly after the meeting was over, she and Grissom decided the best place to start was at Melissa Rogers' house. Since there wasn't a sign of a struggle and all toxin reports showed that there were no traces of any drugs in her body. Not even aspirin. Catherine, like all of the others, were exasperated to find out just how the women were killed in such a brutal manner. Not blunt force trauma, no drugs, no restraints. It was as if the killer asked them if they wanted to die by several tiny burns and swallow the afflicting marker? No, there had to be more than they knew. But she had become lost in her thoughts and now Catherine wasn't sure if Grissom had responded to her question. Looking over at her friend in the driver's seat, she instantly knew he too was lost in his own world.

A world no one knew how to reach him in.

"Gil?"

Grissom faintly heard his name being called, but ignored it. Why was seeing Sara lately bothering him. Usually he was so focused on him work and was able to separate himself from her and everyone else until after the case was solved. It was one of the reasons he couldn't have a relationship. It's hard to squeeze in love in between crime scenes.

Until a case was solved, Gil Grissom did nothing but engross himself in the evidence. Nothing, not even feelings, whatever they may be, could come in the way.

Until now.

Seeing Sara hug Nick in such an intimate way had bothered him since the meeting. It was all he was able to focus on. Even the Debbie Marlin case wasn't this hard. But then it was like looking at Sara when he looked at Debbie. At one point, he almost imagined that it might have been her he was investigating. It had been that case that told him that a relationship between them could never happen. He would never be able to focus on work.

Again, his name was being called. Again, he ignored it.

So, if was so determined to give her up, why shouldn't he be happy that she could move on? That was it. She could move on. He wanted her for himself. He wanted Sara to pine for him and only him. Even if he would consummate a relationship, he sure as hell wasn't going to let anyone else do it.

It was easy to understand why Dr. Lurie killed Debbie Marlin. Why any man kills the woman he loves and possibly her new love. If you can't or won't have her, then no one can. The perfect motive for murder. That was easy.

But the current case wasn't. Why were these women so willing to die? Was it something in the evidence that hadn't been processed yet that would break the case. Not likely. This killer seemed too careful. Since the crime scenes were so clean, they had to be the secondary crime scene or just a dump site. Perhaps a warning to the next victim that she better say her goodbyes.

"Gil!"

Catherine. Why was she yelling? Gil looked over briefly at Catherine with a slightly annoyed look on his face, "You know the surgery was a success. You don't have to yell."

The expression on Catherine's face told Gil that it wasn't the first time she'd try to get his attention. "Sorry. I was thinking about the case."

"Yeah, well so was I. I was also thinking about the time we're wasting since you just passed up the street that Melissa Rogers' house is on."

If Gil Grissom had ever blushed in his life, no one had ever seen it except Catherine Willows. He was more candid with her than anyone. Looking slightly sheepish, he turned the Denali around and made his way back to Peach Street, all without saying a word.

As much as Catherine wanted to say something about what he was really thinking about, she decided against it. They were pulling up to 13645 Peach Street. Melissa Rogers' house. The first victim. Hopefully she would be able to tell them who her killer was. Let the evidence speak.

Gil parked the SUV in the driveway, where it's shadow covered the small Taurus that belonged to Jim Brass, who was standing at the front door awaiting for his colleagues to arrive. He wore his usual smirk when they walked up to him. "Taking a Sunday drive?"

"Gil got lost." Catherine said with a smile. It wasn't every day that someone could pin one on Grissom. She was lucky.

Brass' smirk became a full smile. "Oh really? Didn't think you one for making mistakes Gil."

"I didn't. I just got lost in my thoughts." Gil was getting angry. "Now let's get moving. We're wasting time."

Brass opened the door and the trio walked in. On the outside, Miss Rogers' house was a pretty one story stucco with a few cacti ornating the dirt lawn. On the inside, they found a simply decorated three bedroom home whose main feature would be the large open floor plan. Hoping to find a struggle, they only found what would appear to be a clean house with a hungry cat.

"I hate cats." Brass said.

Catherine picked up the yellow tabby and examined the fur closely. Nothing. But looking at the dirt on the fur I'd say that kitty here is mostly an outside cat."

"Well then, it looks like 'Teddy' is not part of our immediate investigation and will probably only contaminate evidence." Grissom pointed out while examining the name tag on the collar.

"I'll call animal control. Just to be safe I'll make sure he isn't given away to a good home until after the case is close. Just to save myself some time later." Brass said as he took the cat from Catherine and walked out the door, leaving the two senior CSIs to look for anything that might help with this invisible killer.

Grissom walked immediately towards the bedroom, which was a habit, due to the fact that most sexual crimes occur there. The room was decorated with light purple walls, a mahogany bed and accessory furniture. Gil examined the photos on top of the dresser that looked to be of family, a few friends, but none revealing the other three girls that were somehow linked by death. The room itself looked untouched. Either the killer cleaned up after himself or Melissa never made it to her room that fateful day. Placing orange security glasses on his face, he turned off the light and turned on the alternate light source, or ALS to try and find what is not present by the naked eye.

Starting on the bed, Grissom carefully pulled back each layer of sheets after he was satisfied. Finally coming to the mattress, he examined it corner to corner. Finding nothing, he moved on to the floors both under the bed and around. After eventually covering the whole bedroom in just under a half hour, Grissom gave in to frustration and left the room to start on another.

Catherine was having better luck than her counterpart in the kitchen. She too had wielded the ALS and had found what might be blood on the counter top. Testing the substance with phenolphthalein, it was indeed a match for blood. Scraping up a sample to be tested for DNA at the lab, she was content to leave the kitchen for the living room.

Three hours came and went and two criminologists moved by and by in the small stucco house on Peach Street. When they finally emerged, they had, besides the blood found by Catherine, a few fibers in the spare bedroom and a hair from the living room. Exhausted, Gil reluctantly gave Catherine the keys and she eased them out of the driveway and back to the lab for analysis.

"I don't think we have much to go by forensics-wise." Catherine said.

"I know." Gil replied as he rubbed his throbbing temples. He was getting a headache. "With the exception of the blood you found, and the address book I found, we don't have much to go on. The house looked clean, but not too clean."

Catherine nodded while still looking ahead, "Which means that the killer may have never even been to her house. He could be picking them up somewhere else and then taking them to his next victims house."

"We can't assume anything yet. All we can surmise is that so far we have two victims and tabs on a possible third. Until we get all the evidence in, I'm afraid all we have to do is go to the first crime scene again and look for more evidence."

"It might help since Jenna Rhimes' souse was the site of the first murder and is now the home of the second victim." Catherine paused in thought, "There's a strong possibility the killer has already been in the victims houses you know. Like Nick's stalker from a few years back. He knew them somehow."

"I doubt our killer's living in their attics, but I agree with the theory. These women aren't random. He choose them somehow. The question is how?"

Catherine smiled, "Gym?"

Grissom shook his head, "Grocery store?"

"Mall?"

"Lab."

"Lab?"

"Yes, lab." Grissom smiled, "I believe it's your turn to miss the turn."

Catherine tried to retaliate, but he was right. "Playing games with you like old times gets me distracted." She pulled the Denali in the back parking lot of the police station and parked the car in the designated spot. Turning off the engine, she sat still for a moment and looked over at him. Gil was still waiting for an answer.

"A few hours ago you were quiet and dark. Now you're happy and you genuinely smiled for the first time in I don't know how long. Did you come back for a visit or is the old Gil Grissom here to stay."

Gil was stunned. More like confused. "I never left."

"You did, Gil." Catherine opened the door and looked at her coworker with eyes she reserved for when she was truly serious, "You did. Just. Just come back to us. If you do, we might have a chance to be a team again. We all need you."

Gil got out of the car and the two of the gathered their evidence and walked in the building. Hopefully the others were having better luck.