A Breaking Point

By Jess aka willowaus

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI and I am in no way making any money from writing this, alas.

A/N: Cookies to AussiRayne for the beta. Sorry for the delay, being sick sucks, especially when you still have to go in and work with a bunch of sick kiddos. Big thanks to all of you for reviewing and reading.

Part Six

As he parked the Denali, Grissom cast a look towards the passenger seat, trying to decipher the meaning behind the body language being displayed. Sara was almost pressed against the side door, her fingers absently playing with the seat belt, her eyes focused anywhere but on him. He watched her quickly undo the belt as he turned off the ignition, her hand touching the door handle.

"Sara," he began and she finally looked at him, her eyes pleading that he not bring anything up right now.

He looked away from her, listening to the door open and close, knowing she was waiting on the outside for him. She had built her professional shell around her already, in an attempt to segregate herself from her personal feelings. It was ironic that when he was willing to discuss their feelings she was the one shying away from conversation. 'Nothing is ever easy between us,' he thought, as he removed the keys, unbuckled himself and met her on the outside.

"Catherine's going to want to know where we went," Sara said, looking at the building.

"We were not on shift and if she has questions, I will deal with them," Grissom replied, walking towards the door.

He looked at the handle, unsure of how to proceed. Should he open it for her, or walk through it first as he often did? Was there a happy medium and how would she react to any change in his behavior? A sigh escaped her as she walked around him, making the decision for him and opening the door on her own. He trailed behind her, his emotionless expression hiding the turmoil of thoughts surging through him.

"We're meeting in the conference room," Grissom informed her as he stopped at reception to obtain any messages.

The receptionist from earlier gave a quick, nervous smile as she handed him a stack of papers before going back to her other duties. He flipped through the messages, disregarding the ones he deemed pointless, as he walked towards the meeting. He looked up, watching as various personnel moved from his path, a tense aura surrounding them, causing him to wonder about his behavior earlier in the day. Making a quick stop in his office, he retrieved the file for the little girl's case and made his way to the conference room, nodding to Catherine, Warrick, and Nick as he took a seat, Sara walking in a few seconds behind him.

"Where have you been?" Catherine asked, her eyes moving between Sara and he.

Grissom ignored the question and opened the file he had, placing the photographs on the table. "Our Jane Doe," he said.

Warrick and Nick shook their heads at the broken child's body. "Not Jane Doe," Catherine replied, pushing an evidence bag with the picture of the little girl, alive and well, forward. "Her name is Julia Corbin. She was five years old."

She pushed forward pictures of the victim's from swingshifts case. "Meet her mother, Lilly, her father, Mark, and her seven-year-old brother, Ethan," Catherine said.

"Her family was found by the maid when she went to clean the room at 1:15 Saturday afternoon. They had been dead for fourteen hours," Warrick informed them, producing photographs of the crime scene.

"We searched that room top to bottom and there was never any sign of a little girl having been there," Catherine said, looking at the photographs.

"However, I talked to the hotel today, and they confirmed that there were four people in that room, two adults and two children," Nick said.

Grissom nodded and looked at the photographs. "They were all shot," he noted.

"No one heard any noise," Catherine said.

"They were staying in murder central," Nick added. "And no one was in the room next to them."

Sara shook her head, looking at the various pictures of the family. "Julia was found at nine pm on Saturday," she told the others. "Dr. Robbins puts her time of death at five pm."

"He didn't have her for very long," Nick remarked.

"Long enough," Grissom replied and silence fell over the table as they looked at the various pieces of their puzzle.

"Why did he use a gun on the family and a knife on the girl?" Warrick pondered allowed.

"The other members' deaths were a means to an end," Sara replied, looking at the photographs of the positioning of the bodies. The mother's body lay by the bathroom door, partway inside of the other room. The father's was near the door that opened to the hallway. The little boy's was halfway underneath one of the beds. "He killed them to get what he wanted."

"We believe Mark Corbin was shot first, most likely as he opened the door, alerting the others to the killer's presence," Catherine said, taking the photographs from Sara.

"If Mr. Corbin let him in, it was either someone they knew, or someone they had no reason to suspect of harming them," Nick offered.

"Someone employed by the hotel?" Sara asked.

"We lifted eight different prints from the Corbin's suitcases and various prints from around the room," Warrick said.

"No fingerprints, we did have several shoe prints," Grissom said, placing the photographs on the table.

"I'm still trying to narrow down the exact shoe," Sara said. "It's a new style."

"That may come to our advantage," Warrick said, smiling.

She nodded and looked down at the rest of the evidence. "What else?" she asked.

"No fibers," Nick said shaking his head.

"Nothing of a little girl's was in the room?" Grissom asked, looking at the inventory list.

The members of swing shift shook their heads. "And there were three suitcases," Warrick added, handing a picture of the matching cases to the supervisor.

Sara looked over his shoulder, mulling the different information around in her mind. "He took her suitcase," she said, looking at Grissom. "He took her and her things and walked right out of the hotel."

"She would probably have been kicking and screaming the entire way," Nick said.

"And people would have thought she was having a tantrum," Catherine said, sighing. "A/V has the video footage from the hotel. Unfortunately, the camera's that showed outside of the victim's room were malfunctioning."

"It was on their list of things to have fixed," Warrick added, bitterly.

"We need to get footage of the casino floor and other areas," Grissom said. "We may be able to catch them on one of those."

Catherine nodded. "Warrick and Nick are going back to the casino now," she informed him before turning to the two CSIs. "Talk with the manager and secure those tapes. Take one more run through the room."

Nick and Warrick nodded and stood, quietly exiting the room. "Sara," Grissom began.

"Shoeprint," she replied, standing. "I'm on it."

He watched Catherine watch him as the door shut behind them. "What's going on?" the swing shift supervisor asked, looking behind him at Sara's retreating form.

"What are you referring to?" he asked, collecting his case's evidence.

She looked back at him, rolling her eyes and leaned back in the chair. "You know precisely what I am referring to," she answered.

"I don't believe its any concern of yours," he replied, stacking the papers on one another.

Catherine sighed before she began, "You have no professional perception when it comes to her."

His head snapped back to her. "I think that's where you have it all wrong," he said. "My perception has been entirely professional when it comes to Sara."

'That was my problem,' he added silently to himself.

An undignified snort left Catherine. "You let her get away with too much, Gil," she said.

"Oh?" he asked. "I don't believe Sara has ever used the lab to her own advantage, Catherine. Nor has she accepted money from suspects."

Catherine's eyes narrowed. "Just leave it alone," Grissom said and exited the room, ignoring the chill trailing behind him.

xxx

Sitting down and looking at the piles of shoeprints in front of her, Sara sighed and pulled a stack towards her. 'I don't think I even skimmed the top of the new prints,' she moaned to herself and begun the comparison. She tried to keep her attention on the materials in front of her, forced her eyes to remain fixed on the table instead of allowing them to wander to the observation room. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the door to the other room open, and she cast a glance towards it, watching as Grissom left the room, leaving behind an annoyed Catherine.

Sara shook her head and refocused on the comparison she was meant to be doing, struggling not to think about what they two had been discussing. The two supervisors were friends, but from the look the swing shift supervisor was directing towards Grissom, Sara wondered about the stability of their friendship. She shook her head, forcing the thoughts away, reprimanding herself for not focusing on work.

'This little girl deserves your full attention,' she scolded herself, placing another print in the elimination pile. She picked up another paper, a smile forming on her face as she completed the comparison. "Got it," she said and swiveled her chair towards the phone.

She heard someone enter the room as she talked with customer service and held up a hand, gesturing one minute, before she thanked the representative and hung up. She turned in the chair, offering a hesitant smile to Grissom who stood in the doorway. "I found the shoe," she told him, lifting the print for him to see. "Skechers boot, Comfort plus four."

He nodded and she continued, "They're sending me a list of all stores that have sold the boot in the Las Vegas area. Might be a long shot, but you never know."

Grissom nodded again. She waited a few seconds for him to speak, wondering what had brought him to where she was working. "Stores are all closing up, so I'll come in early tomorrow and start searching that angle," she said when he failed to comment.

"You're already maxed out on overtime for the month, Sara," he said, stepping into the room.

She folded her arms across her chest and rolled her eyes. "Well, it has to be done," she countered.

"Sofia can stay after for a few hours and complete it," he told her. "She has overtime still available."

"She doesn't know anything about the case," Sara said, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"Bring her up to date on it," Grissom said, his voice implying that the discussion was over.

She held back from commenting further, standing from her seat and cleaning up the work she had been doing. "Fine," she replied, and scrawled a few quick notes on the paper she had been using for notes. He hadn't left and she looked up. "Anything else?"

"Assignments in five minutes," he told her and turned to leave.

Sara shook her head, looking up at him when he said her name. "Five minutes," he repeated and exited the room, leaving behind a frustrated CSI.

Grissom walked towards his office, needing a few minutes to gather his thoughts before having to deal with passing out assignments. He entered the room and walked towards the terrarium, peering inside to see his tarantula resting underneath the driftwood. He smiled gently at the creature before taking a seat at his desk. A frown settled on his face as he realized that there was more paperwork to go through.

He looked up, intent on taking his mind away from the mind numbing task, and watched as Sara walked by, carrying the papers towards the evidence room. A sigh escaped him as she passed and he looked back at the papers. He knew she wanted to deal with the shoeprints herself, but as supervisor he couldn't afford to let her take anymore overtime. She was angry and he was frustrated, hating that his position was interfering with their personal relationship before they even truly had a personal relationship. He closed his eyes, possibilities of future disagreements running through his head.

He had no idea how to balance the professional with the personal. Opening his eyes, he sighed, wondering if it was even possible. 'There is a reason why fraternization between employees is frowned upon,' he reminded himself, looking at the papers.

"Are you planning on handing out assignments?"

Grissom looked up, surprised to see Sara standing in his doorway. She smiled at him and headed towards the break room. Perhaps she wasn't angry with him. He shook his head, wondering how he could look at a piece of evidence and see what had occurred at a crime scene but when it came to Sara, he could barely keep up with what would happen in the next few seconds.

He stood, grabbed the assignments from the desk, and walked towards the other room, watching Greg and Sara converse as he entered the break room. "Hello, Grissom," Sofia greeted as she sat down at the table.

Sara and Greg took their seats, looking towards him. "Greg, you have a breaking and entering on Charleston," Grissom informed the younger man, handing him the slip. "You're going solo. Take your time, and if you need assistance, call."

Greg nodded, smiling happily as he took the paper. "Sofia, missing person," he continued, handing the slip off.

"Sara, you're with me," he informed her, ignoring her raised eyebrow. He looked at the other two. "These are not going to solve themselves."

Everyone rose from their seats, and Grissom glared as Greg whispered something to Sara as he left, his expression souring as he heard Sara laugh in response. "So, what do we have?" Sara asked as Sofia exited the room.

"We're going to try and retrace the Corbin family's steps over the last couple of days," Grissom replied, handing her a slip of paper. "According to the hotel, they checked in on Wednesday at three pm."

"So, they may have met the killer sometime between Wednesday afternoon and Friday night," she said, reading the information.

He nodded. "The Tangiers has a list of all the activities they did at the hotel," he told her. "We'll start there."

TBC