Authors Notes: Thanks for the feedback everyone! Being new to this community of writers, I appreciate it very much.
Giving Up by
Kristen Elizabeth
Let me go
And I will want you more
- Cake
Exactly one week after the accident, Sara walked into the Las Vegas Crime Lab sporting a cast on her left arm and a fresh smile on her face. The time she'd been forced to stay at home and recuperate had proved to be exactly what she needed. Her bruises had nearly faded away, her ribs no longer hurt with every movement and she had figured out what to do about Grissom.
Get over him.
"Sara!" Nick Stokes jogged out of the print lab when he saw her pass by the glass wall. "What are you doing here?"
"I was on leave for a week, Nick. The week's up." She pointed to the sling holding her arm motionless. "This won't come off for another month. And if you expect me to take an entire month off…"
He laughed, giving in. "Perish the thought. It's good to have you back."
"Good to be back."
"Sara, are you really okay?"
She hadn't realized she'd been staring into space until he snapped her out of it. "I'm sorry. Yeah…yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking…and I wanted to thank you."
"Thank me? For what?"
"For coming to the hospital to visit me. For bringing flowers." Sara shrugged her right shoulder. "For being a friend."
Nick patted his chest in a mock sob. "Sara Sidle, I'm touched and flattered."
"Get out of here," she scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"On my way out." He backed up, heading for the locker room. "Have a good shift. Don't go pushing yourself, hear me?"
Sara flicked a salute. Once he was gone, she smiled and started for the break room. Her good mood took a nose-dive when she walked in and found Sophia sitting at the table, sipping coffee and reading a book.
The newest member of the graveyard shift looked up as Sara entered. "Welcome back."
"Thanks." It was a polite exchange, and fortunately over in seconds. Sara retrieved her mug from the cabinet and filled it with water. She was still on pain meds and preferred not to mix them with her usual caffeine intake. As she heated the water up in preparation to make tea, Greg bounded into the room.
"Hey, Sara," he greeted her with a huge, friendly smile. "We've missed you!"
"Now how is that possible?" Sara fumbled with a box of green tea bags; it was damn hard to open one with just one hand. "We've spoken almost every day since the accident."
Greg took the box from her, opened it and extracted one bag as he replied, "Not the same. It's been…" He glanced at Sophia. "…quiet around here without you."
"What are you working on?"
"Nothing exciting. A B&E, two assaults and a Quickie-Mart hold-up." Greg shot her a wicked grin. "Serious crime took a break in honor of you."
Sara shook head, amused. "Some honor."
Sophia looked up from her book just then. "It's been my experience that when there's a calm, a storm usually follows."
"A proven hypothetical." Grissom crossed the threshold as she spoke, two manila folders in one hand and a coffee cup in the other. "It's going to be a long night for us all."
The microwave beeped and Sara removed her tea from it. If he'd noticed her, he hadn't given any indication of it. She took a sip and burned her tongue. It was like she'd never been gone.
"Sophia, you're with Greg. A home invasion gone awry. One confirmed dead." He handed her the top folder. "Let him do the majority of the processing."
She pursed her lips as though the order was displeasing, but nodded.
Grissom turned to Sara, acknowledging her for the first time since he'd entered the room. "Sara, you and I have a decomp in the desert."
"Great." She indicated her cast. "Is this going to be a problem?"
"Not unless it's a problem."
Sara frowned. "Okay…"
Their supervisor set down his coffee. "Let's get to it."
With the blinding Vegas lights disappearing behind them, Grissom guided his SUV off the main highway and onto a rocky dirt road. He hit a pothole and the car jerked.
"Sorry," he said when Sara drew in a sharp breath.
"It's okay. Still just a little tender in some spots."
She'd brought up the accident and now it lay out in the open between them. Grissom glanced at her. Sara sat up straight in the passenger's seat, her belt buckled securely over her slender hips. She stared ahead, her chin level and her expression neutral.
"Sara, I want to apologize for not visiting you in the…"
"You had your reasons. And you don't owe me any apologies." She hesitated. "For anything."
Grissom clenched the wheel a little harder. She had a frustrating habit of letting him off the hook when he really needed to say something. "Just because I had reasons doesn't mean they were good reasons."
She turned her head to look out the window at the dark landscape. "There were reasons. That's enough."
"I sent a card," he offered.
"From the whole lab." He thought he heard her chuckle, but the sound seemed too bitter to come from her. "It was a nice gesture."
He ran one hand through his salt and pepper hair. "I'm just glad you're all right."
"You know what?" Sara looked at him with such intensity that it made him slightly uncomfortable. "I am all right. I think the accident was one of the better things that could have happened to me."
There were lights up ahead on the road, signaling their approach to the crime scene. Grissom eased his foot off the gas. They needed more time. "What do you mean? You could have been killed, Sara."
"Oh, so you noticed that?" Sarcasm was a tonic for her bruised heart; she continued, "The last time I could have been killed, it prompted me to make one of the biggest mistakes of my life. This time, I know better. This time I'm actually taking my second chance at life."
He had to hit the brakes. They had arrived. Grissom put the car in park and twisted in his seat to see her better. "Sara, I…"
She pushed open her door with her good arm and jumped out, ignoring him. In the headlight beams, Grissom could see Brass standing with a couple of uniformed officers. Sara headed straight for them. "What have we got?" he read her lips.
He sat for another second before turning off the ignition. Once he had retrieved both of their field kits from the back seat, he joined the group of investigators gathered around the body.
"Second stage pupa," he heard himself observing. The mass of maggots would keep him occupied for quite some time.
Thank god for insects and their predictability. If only humans could be more like them.
Several hours later, Sara found herself in the middle of a daunting task, made even more difficult by the fact that she only had use of one hand. Grissom had assigned her to go over the victim's tattered clothes for any trace, an assignment that required concentration and a lot of time. She was just grateful for the break from him. It was hard to stick to all her new resolves when he stood right by her side, just a little closer than a boss probably should. He didn't even seem to realize he was doing it.
Perhaps that was the most frustrating part.
Shaking her head cleared away her thoughts and Sara focused on the skirt and blouse in front of her. The stench was incredible, but she'd encountered worse. Breathing through her mouth, she set herself to the job.
She had no idea how much time passed before a knock at the open door broke her concentration, but when she stood up straight, the muscles in her neck began to ache.
"I'm sorry to interrupt." Sofia stood, waiting to be recognized. "How's it coming?"
"It stinks." Sara tilted her head to one side and heard her neck crack. "Literally. Two weeks on a dead body in the desert is something no detergent can ever get out."
"Next time you bathe, use lemons."
"You know, I have been doing this for awhile," Sara snapped.
The blonde woman held up her hands. "I'm aware."
"We do know a few tricks of the trade on graveyard; they're not exclusive to days."
Sophia smiled coolly. "Let's not cat-fight. Greg would enjoy that too much."
"Greg's really not a complete horn-dog," Sara said, suddenly defensive. "He's much more intelligent than he sometimes lets on."
"I believe it. Gil would never turn out a CSI who wasn't."
The use of Grissom's first name and the fact that it was Sophia who used it with such casual intimacy rankled Sara to the point where she nearly snapped her magnifying glass in half. "Did you want something? I have a lot of work here."
"Actually I wanted to confirm something before it became office gossip." Sophia took a step towards the lighted work table. "Are you dating Greg?"
Sara considered her answer for a moment. No matter what she told the woman, it was bound to get back to Grissom by way of the grapevine…or straight from the lioness's mouth. "We have dinner plans."
"Congratulations," the other woman said with an unsettling twinkle in her eye. "He is quite cute. A bit on the young side, but if you like that…"
"Age doesn't matter to me."
"To me, as well." Sophia pulled her straw-colored ponytail over her shoulder. "Although I've always preferred older men to younger."
"Fascinating." Sara returned her attention to the stained clothes. "Shouldn't you be supervising Greg?"
"I suppose I should." She backed up out of the room. "Good luck with that."
Even after she was gone, Sara could not get back her concentration. It was only after ten minutes of staring at a short strand of hair clinging to the fabric of the dead woman's skirt that she reached for a pair of tweezers to collect it.
"Pubic hair," she mused as she held it up to the light. "Raped, murdered and dumped in the desert. Life's a bitch and then you die."
To Be Continued