Chapter Five: Piecing and Shouting
As soon as Sara put the empty soda can in the evidence bag and sealed it, she and Greg were out of there and heading back to lab as quickly as they could. A few times, which nearly caused Greg to take over the wheel, Sara nearly got them into many preventable accidents. Cold sweat and uneasiness caused Greg to feel very nauseated throughout the entire ride back to the Crime Lab.
"Why are you driving like this again?" Greg asked as he held on to his seat belt for dear life.
Sara laughed, "C'mon Greggo, live a little!"
"I do 'live a little,'" Greg said as he wiped some of his sweat on his arm. "I just want to be alive when we go back to the Lab and not in a body bag if you catch my drif-" Greg stopped as Sarah swerved into the right lane without even looking in her mirrors, which caused the vehicle beside them nearly be run off the road. "AH, Sarah! Stop doing that!"
She only continued to laugh, "Sorry about that!"
Luckily, a few minutes later they came tearing into the parking lot of their destination safe and sound, well, maybe not sound. As soon as Sara parked, Greg unbuckled his seat belt and hastily opened his car door.
"Land!" Greg exalted as he knelt down and touched the hot cement while reminding himself to not take driving in a car with Sara for granted anymore.
When he got back up, it seemed like everyone who was outside was just staring at him as if he was some kind of head case. Greg smiled uncomfortably and waved at them, in return he received blank stares.
"Greg, get a hold of yourself," Sara said as she closed her door and adjusted her arm strap of her kit.
"Easy for you to say," Greg mumbled as he went to retrieve his kit, which he must've thrown as he exited the SUV. When he picked his kit up off the ground Greg turned around and noticed for the first time that the sun was about to set. He guessed that he was too worried about his life that he didn't notice that it was setting. "Hmm," he grunted.
Sara must've heard it and her curiosity was struck, "What?"
"Nothing," Greg replied brushing the thought off quickly and walked into the lab without waiting for her to keep pursuing the subject.
She followed him all the way until they reached their particular lab and then she practically joyous skipped over to the stainless steel large work table and set her kit down there. Sara unzipped it and then pulled out the evidence bag which held the soda can and she looked at it for a few seconds through the bag as if she was examining it for anything unusual or out of the ordinary other than its possibility of being a break through in the case.
"Sara," Greg said softly as he walked over there to join her, "are you going to dust for finger prints like Sherlock Holmes did or am I going to need to take a coffee break while you try to do so while it's still in the bag?"
Sara laughed, "Shut up, Greg."
"Right-o!" Greg said as he set his kit down next to hers and then picked his clipboard out of its designated pouch and added some notes he kept mentally while on the drive back like what he could remember from his first run in with Steve.
As he did this, Sara finally grabbed her clipboard and the notes of the soda can and took the piece of evidence over to the fingerprint analysis lab. She came a couple minutes later and sat down across from Greg, who had sat down at the table by this time, and searched through her kit again and pulled out the mysterious journal.
Greg sneaked a glance over a Sara as she delved herself into the journal and he smiled inwardly and outwardly. He had always loved that about her, how she was able to get so enthralled by her work. It showed reliability and attentiveness, for some estranged reason beyond himself that always had drawn him towards her.
"What?" Sara said without looking up.
Suddenly Greg felt his cheeks become warm and he finally noticed that he had been staring at Sara for probably at least a minute.
"Ugh- nothing! Sorry 'bout that." Greg then clumsily looked down at his clipboard and pretended to be looking over his notes. Words like "idiot" and "jackass" passed through Greg's brain as he stared down blankly at his notes.
"Whoa, Greg listen to this!" Sara said both excitedly and with shock.
Greg sat up straight and set his clipboard down on the table. His attention was focused wholly on Sara.
"Here I go, this is what the writer wrote, but someone- probably Johnson- highlighted. 'I don't know when I first felt this way about someone exactly, but I do know that it's for real. It's not like the movies tell you how it is or how your older sisters promise how you'll feel but it's like embarking on uncharted land that has never been touched before. His name is Chris Johnson and he's the one I've been waiting for my entire life! I suppose my dream will never come true because of what I am; he'll never understand me or love me the way I love him. He sees me as one of his best friends, someone he can throw a football with or talk about chicks with yet unwittingly know my own sexuality or secret life. I guess I always hoped for fate to change the path I'm walking and somehow crossover his… Maybe it will happen someday, after all what's worth hoping for if you give up on love?'" Sara stopped reading and looked deep in thought.
Greg was moved by the message, more so by the ending than anything else. He knew how that felt when the person you're in love with didn't love you back, at least not in the way you want. After all, she was sitting right in front of him and he faced that feat daily no matter how much it hurt. He shook the painful memory from him and cleared his throat.
"Well that's our motive," Greg said hoarsely as he roughly ran his hands over his face.
Sara nodded blankly, "I'm gonna go check on Walts' prints."
As she was getting up to leave, Greg didn't know what came over him. "Sara!"
She stopped and stared at him, but didn't reply to him with a 'what' or 'huh', she just stood there and stared at him.
"What do you see in Rogers?" Greg asked a little shakily. His heart was racing and he couldn't control his nerves.
"Greg-" Sara started but Greg interrupted.
"No, I just want a reason; I don't need an explanation of why you would never go out with me." Greg said steadier than his question before.
Sara looked down at the floor, "I suppose it's his confidence, charm, and his ability to laugh at my dry sense of humor."
Greg nodded and put his head in his hands, "Are you going to go out with him?"
"What does this have to do with the case again?" Sara asked, outrage was clearly be shown in her tone.
"It doesn't have to do with the case!" Greg stood up hastily, anger running through his veins now. "It has to do with you and your feelings."
"Yeah, my feelings not yours," Sara yelled back at him.
Greg threw his hands up in the air; he was facing the dilemma that was staring him down the entire day and he was going to back out of it yet. "Yes, your feelings that are going to be hurt if you let this guy in, Sara!"
"And how would you know that, Sanders?" She was red in the face from shouting and her hands were trembling.
"How do I know? Because I overheard the bastard in the restroom making a bet with his partner about how long it will take him to sleep with you!" Greg yelled as equally as loud as Sara's last outburst.
Immediately pity for Sara consumed his whole being. She looked shocked, hurt, and confused all at the same time. Her face became contorted by trying to keep her tears from falling.
Slowly and shakily she asked, "When did you find out?" Sara started fidgeting with her hands.
All Greg wanted to do was walk over to her and hug her and try to show Sara that she wasn't alone, but all Greg could do was stand there and helplessly watch her fall apart. He knew she would just run away if he walked over there; she didn't like showing any weakness even if that meant holding it in as it slowly eroded her heart away.
"Today" he said softly.
She nodded quickly as if she understood. "Well, I guess I should've known that would happen." And then she slowly turned around, "I'm gonna go get the fingerprint analysis; I'll be back in a few minutes."
Greg only nodded; he wasn't able to speak. His throat hurt from the sorrow and the burden of it he had just laid on Sara's shoulders a moment ago and it was tearing him up. He didn't want Sara to be oblivious of what was happening around her, but Greg didn't want to see that sad and shredded either. It was a win-win situation no matter how Greg looked at it.
Sara came back a few minutes later with a file in her hand and the evidence. "It's a match," she said quietly, a voice much unlike her own.
Greg nodded, "I guess we'll get the warrant in the works tonight and then go up there tomorrow and search Walts' room and arrest him."
"Okay," was the only thing Sara said on the matter. It was apparent that she was already starting to build a resistance between the outside world and her; the wall was already blocking him out. It was her defensive mechanism that made many people give up on having an intimate relationship with her, but it was going to shove him away. Greg though, knew he needed to give her some time to heal.
Greg cleared his throat, "All right," he pointed at his stuff. "I guess I get going then, I'll take care of the warrant on my way out."
"No, that's okay. I'll do; I'm going to be here a while longer so I might as well do it." Sara said as she went over to the computer desk and picked up some more files.
"Are you sure because I can do that," Greg said making sure. He really didn't want Sara to be consumed with her work just to numb the pain she was experiencing.
She looked over at him, "Seriously Sanders, shut up and get out of here."
Greg nodded quickly, "O-okay."
He picked up his kit and his clipboard and started to walk out, but he stopped himself as he reached the door.
"Sara," Greg started as he turned around.
"Sanders if you don't get out of here, I'm going to creatively stick my foot up your- what?" She stopped herself when she must've seen the concern on his face.
"I just want to you know that I'm here for you, y'know that right?" He asked her as he looked at the floor. Greg wasn't very as comfortable as he would like in the situation, but he wanted Sara to know she wasn't alone.
She didn't answer right away, which made Greg a little bit more uneasy.
"Yeah, I know," Sara said as she started to shuffle through the files she was holding.
Greg didn't believe her, but he wasn't going to push her buttons either. He just wanted her to know that he was there for her like a friend would be.
"Okay," he said quietly and then he finally left their lab on a lower note than when he entered an hour earlier.
He didn't know want he was going to do with his feelings only that he needed to keep in check because his and Sara's relationship was strictly business. Greg knew he was going to face a standoffish Sara tomorrow considering the news he had to break to her and he knew he would be able to handle it for the remainder of the case, which was closing quickly. Greg just wanted Sara to happy for once even if it meant that he wasn't the "guy" in her life she came home to each night.
Author's Notes:
I wanted to say thanks to everyone who reviewed, I love hearing what you thought of the chapter or of a particular character. I laughed when I saw that some of you hate Rogers, I do too and I made the guy! Lol! Um, thanks for your patience as well seeing as I don't update very often and I apologize for that. I know how it feels when a story you're reading isn't updated when you want it to so I just want to say thanks and I'm very much obliged. Hopefully you all liked this chapter and it wasn't too cliché. If it was, just please tell me. Thanks very much!