Growing Up

Part 18: Reinforcements

Summary: Sara has to go to work and faces some uncomfortable questions.

A/N: I know it took me a while, but finally the other CSIs get some action.

xxxxx

It was an hour later when they returned to the townhouse with a sleeping Amelia.

The girl had fussed a bit at first, and after the second block, Grissom had to carry her for a while before she settled down again.

They had been able to discuss what should happen until the Knightleys returned. Sara would have to go to work tonight; there was no way around it. Grissom would stay at the house, watching Amelia. Then in the morning, Sara would be back.

They were very careful undressing the girl and putting her to bed, but they shouldn't have worried – Amelia slept through everything.

For a few minutes, both gazed into the bed.

Sara was lost in her thoughts again. She looked down into the angelic face and suddenly had a hard time holding back her tears. A lot of suppressed memories were resurfacing the longer she was around the girl. With that also came thoughts about the future and the fears of what kind of a world would be waiting for such a sweet child. She had probably seen almost everything, on and off the job, and her imagination was running wild.

One glance over to Grissom told her that he was not having entirely pleasant thoughts either. Thinking was such a huge part of their life that sometimes they couldn't stop, which lead to worrying and over-thinking.

There was no time today to work through another life story. She was ready.

Now she only had to hope he was too.

Right now, she did not want herself or him to sink further into their dark thoughts, so she tore herself away from the bed. She wrapped her hand around Grissom's and pulled him away, hoping to steer his thoughts into a more positive direction.

xxxxx

"Hey, Sara. How was your night off?"

Nick wandered into the breakroom, ten minutes before shift.

"Okay." She didn't even look up from her reading, but Nick detected a little smile that Sara tried to hide.

"Must have been good."

The comment was meant to provoke and Nick got the reaction he had aimed for. Sara looked up, a bit confused and angry, which told him that she hadn't been aware that she had given herself away.

She tried to deflect him with a glare, but Nick was not so easily scared. "Does he treat you right?"

The question would have been strange from someone else, but this was Nick. He worried about her, going into some kind of big brother mode, wanting to protect her. Maybe it was his upbringing, maybe pure affection, or maybe he was remembering her last attempt at dating.

It should have made her angry, but her mood was good enough that she decided to let it pass.

Sara went back to her reading, trying to ignore Nick.

"Sar..." He wandered over and sat down next to her on the couch. His voice was soft, the teasing note gone. "Just tell me that he's treating you right."

Now he had put her in a bind. What should she do?

If she confirmed that there was indeed someone, he would get back to this. Maybe not today, but he would. If she told him to get lost or simply said nothing, he wouldn't leave her alone until he found the truth.

She was not good in these interactions and she cursed herself for not being able to hide her feelings.

Just when Nick was about to ask again, Catherine and Warrick entered the breakroom.

"Hey guys, guess what? No news. Seems like the bugman is really out for the weekend." Catherine sounded a bit too cheerful for Sara's taste.

"What about Grissom?" She had to ask, anything else might seem suspicious. After all, she shouldn't know anything about him and the little lie he had fed Catherine.

The others looked surprised, obviously having forgotten that Sara was not there the night before.

"Uhm," Nick started but didn't know how to tell her the news. He didn't want to worry her.

When he didn't continue, Catherine took over. "He left work last night because his mother had an accident and broke her leg. He flew out and probably won't be back before Monday. We're on our own."

She tried to look seriously worried and succeeded since Warrick hastened to reassure her. "Catherine spoke to him on the phone. He didn't sound too worried."

With a curt nod, she turned to Catherine and looked expectantly, waiting for the assignments.

xxxxx

Sara groaned as she crawled from under the car. She had to help Nick with a hit-and-run. The car, which had been reported stolen a week ago, had been found later on, dumped in a ditch. She had gotten stuck with the examination. The odd thing was, there seemed to be no trace of the actual hit.

There was no damage to the car, but they had several eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen a car with this license plate.

At that moment of frustration, her pager went off. 'Call me. Bear'

"What?" A grin broke out on her face as she figured out what the message meant. He had actually used code, a very strange but cute code at that.

"Whoa, don't let that see Nick."

She hadn't heard Warrick come in, and now he was standing right behind her, reading over her shoulder. She sent a glare his way, and he held up his hands in defense.

"I won't tell anyone. I promise."

Sara trusted Warrick. If he gave his word, he meant it. Nick would never leave her alone if he got wind of this, and although they were buddies, Warrick had given his word.

"Why are you here?"

Warrick moved away from her and went to inspect the car. "Grissom called and I thought you'd like to know."

There was a light undertone, but it was hard to pinpoint what he really wanted to say. He knew that under normal circumstances, she would be worried about Grissom's absence. Things got more complicated now that Nick was speculating about a new man in her life, and Warrick himself had read the message on her pager. What would he think about her now? She couldn't tell; his voice and face not giving much away either.

"He said he might be back tomorrow after all. But I think the real reason he called is that he was afraid that Catherine might beat him to it."

He smirked, knowing that his assessment was probably right on the spot. The man who was usually such a mystery was well known after all.

"Thank you."

Suddenly, she remembered her own phone call from Grissom. "Hey Warrick, I've got to make a call. Could you tell Nick that I found noth…" Sara stopped.

She had wandered around the car to stand next to Warrick, but she had noticed something she had previously overlooked.

"What does that look like to you?" She pointed to the rear license plate.

Warrick took a magnifying glass and bent down to inspect the plate. "Fresh scratch."

"So, is it possible that someone switched this plate to another car?"

Before Warrick could answer, Sara hurried out of the room to find Nick, her phone call forgotten.

xxxxx

It was almost an hour later when she was reminded of the message again by a new one. 'Urgent, call me. B'

"Shit!" she cursed, berating herself that she had forgotten to call. The case was hot, yes, but how could she have forgotten Grissom?

Nick was watching her, trying to figure out what had gotten her so riled up.

"I have to make a call. It's nothing about the case. Uhm, I'll be back soon."

He watched her go, shaking his head and wondering why Sara was behaving so strangely. Maybe it really was a new guy.

That thought made him happy and had him worried at the same time. Although he knew he should keep out of her personal life, he couldn't help himself. Sara was too important to him.

Once the decision was made, he decided to recruit some help. It would only get him into more trouble later on, but right now he didn't care.

He took his cell phone out to contact the reinforcement: Catherine.

TBC