My Best Enemy
Chapter Eight
CSI Lab…
"How was your night off?" Catherine asked from the doorway of Grissom's office.
"Interesting." He replied with a chuckle and motioned for her to enter.
"Really?"
"Yes really, Catherine. I had dinner with Warrick. But, I'm sure you had nothing to do with it."
"Uh…" Not wanting to lie. "That bad, huh?"
"Actually, it was…pleasant." He could tell that Catherine was surprised. "I thought I asked you to stop meddling into my personal affairs?"
"I wasn't meddling." She watched his eyebrow rise in disbelief. "Okay, so I meddled a little. I'm just worried about you."
"Warrick's pretty smooth." He continued on, deciding to let his best friend off the hook - this time. "He should run more interrogations."
"Really? Do tell."
"Would love to, but it's time for assignments. Wouldn't want to be late, would we now?" Grissom quipped, knowing that Catherine was dying to know what he and Warrick had discussed.
"Oh, shut up!"
Grissom grabbed the assignments slips from Judy, the receptionist, and quickly made his way to the break room. He was anxious to see Sara.
Break room…
Warrick, Greg and Nick were positioned in front of the play station as usual; Catherine sat at the end of the table reading a magazine looking rather smug. What could she havegotten into since he left her only minutes before? What could she have possibly gotten into that quickly? Sara, lastly, sat alone near the head of the table, staring into a mug of coffee.
Grissom breathed a sigh of relief. After Catherine's warning the day before, followed up by Warrick's visit later that evening, he was afraid that he would return to CSI to a 'Dear John' letter from Sara. The remainder of his day off was used to reevaluate his feelings for Sara and to develop a plan of action. He was ready to step off of their emotional roller coaster. Grissom was ready for normal, or what ever society deemed as normal these days.
Sara appeared to be fine, until he moved further into the room. He gasped out loud when he saw her hand.
"Sara! Honey, what happened to your hand?" He rushed next to her, oblivious of the scene he was causing. Nick, Greg and Warrick jumped up to see also. Each had seen the injury the night before, but Catherine warned them to stay clear. At this point, they were more interested inGrissom's reaction.
"Uh?" Sara was stunned, to say the least. Did Grissom just use a term of endearment with her in public? More mixed signals.
"What happened, Sara?" Grissom asked again, twisting her wrist slowly to inspect the bandages.
Sara shot Catherine a glare. Snitch. "It's just a few cuts." Althoughshe was enjoying the feel of Grissom's hands on hers, she slowly inched her hand from his and onto the table.
Sensing her embarrassment, Grissom decided to leave it for now but would definitely revisit it later, in privacy. "All right, let's see what's going on tonight." Clearing his throat to signal the beginning of business. "Catherine and Warrick, you have a B&E with sexual assault. The third one in a ten block radius this week. He's escalating. The severity of the assault increases with each new crime. The victim is at Desert Palms. Sara-"
Accepting the slip, Warrick glanced at the address. "Wait. This is like three blocks from where you live, Sara."
Grissom cringed.
"Let me see that." Sara snatched the slip. Her eyes raced across the paper then up to meet her supervisor's. A variety of unreadable emotions flashed by before he could decipher them. "I want in on this one Griss."
"Sara…"
"Uh uh. You weren't ever going to tell me crimes where being committed within walking distance of my own home?" Hurt was clearly evident on Sara's face, but she continued on, not giving Grissom a chance to respond. "There's no way I'm handing this one off. I'll meet you guys outside." Sara tossed over her shoulder, leaving open mouths in her wake.
Mildly stunned but not completely surprised, Grissom cleared his throat again before continuing. "Please give this to Sara." He pushed a thick folder across the table to Catherine. "Swing shift passed this on. I want her to revisit the first two victims and crime scenes a few blocks away. We need to find the commonalities and possible motive. Nick, you have a DB at the Circus Circus, take Greg with you. I'll be here working on the timeline from my DB if anyone needs assistance." He finished with a nod and left the room.
"That was weird." Warrick huffed.
"Anyone know what in the hell just happened?" Catherine demanded.
"No, just happy that I'm not working that one. Come one Greggo, we've got a DB with our name on it." Nick called as he the vacated the room behind Grissom.
Later that shift…CSI Lab…
"Hey Sidle! Wait up!" Dana jogged down the hall.
Sara stopped to allow her friend to catch up. Things seem to have gotten back to normal between them and Sara couldn't have been more relieved. She didn't need any more stress.
"You got those B&E's from your neighborhood?"
"Yeah." Sara answered wearily.
"Any leads?" Dana inquired.
"None. I'm at square one."
"Let me know if you find anything. You up for dinner tonight?"
"I don't think so. Maybe tomorrow." Sara offered, not trying to blow of her friend completely. "I need to stay on this while it's hot. You know how it is."
"Yeah, I do. Okay, tomorrow it is. So keep me updated. Later."
"Later." Sara returned heading for the nearest pot of coffee.
In route to the break room, the night turn receptionist stopped Sara. There was a message from Grissom, requesting her presence at 04:00 hours.
"Shit." Glancing at her watch, it was already ten after. She knew it was only matter of time before she was reprimanded for her previous tantrum during assignments.
Grissom's Office…
Sara knocked softly then opened the door.
"You're late." Grissom waved her in.
"Yeah. Sorry about that. I- uh, just got your note."
Grissom nodded, accepting her explanation.
"About earlier, Griss…" She slid into the seat opposite of him, "I want to apologize. I don't know what to say…I should have listened instead of mouthing off…It was very unprofessional…" She petered off nervously.
"It was." Grissom let Sara squirm for several seconds. "How are you coming with the case?" Deciding to change the subject that was uncomfortable for the both of them. He would need to speak with her about the insubordination but it would keep for another day.
"Slow." Sara was relieved he didn't take it any further. She had sheepishly accepted the case files from Catherine and went on to complete her assignment. If she would have kept her mouth shut and stuck around long enough for Grissom to explain, she could have spared her boss and herself embarrassment. "Swing did a tacky job. I had to re-interview the victims, witnesses and process the scenes again - what was left of them."
"I read the preliminary; the report alone was inconsistent with the statements. Something's missing. We need to go back to the beginning. You have a knack for details, that's why I assigned this part to you."
Now Sara really felt like shit. Grissom wasn't purposefully excluding her from the case; he was making her the primary. Nice going Sidle.
Their eyes met. His reflected confidence and another emotion she was unfamiliar with. Grissom's reaction to her outburst was not at all what she had expected. She basically questioned his judgment and showed a complete lack of trust and respect for him in front of her peers. Yet, he seemed unfazed. As a matter of fact, Grissom appeared…relaxed. Was that a glint of humor in his eyes? Damn he was sexy!
"Have you eaten?"
"Huh?" Sara was still list within the depths of his eyes and missed the question.
"Have you eaten? I took the liberty of ordering lunch."
For the first time, she noticed two wrapped deli sandwiches and drinks on the desk in front of her.
"Cucumber with lettuce, tomato, light balsamic vinegar dressing and extra sprouts on rye." Grissom recited feeling plenty smug. He had pulled some strings at the nearby deli to order her favorite sandwich.
"Thanks." This man never ceased to amaze her. She was searching for more to say when Catherine knocked on the door.
"Hey guys, our B&E with sexual assault just turned into a homicide. The last vic died from her injuries."