Disclaimer: If it bothers you that much see previous chapters.
Just in time for (insert holiday of choice here). Took longer than I planned. Procrastination is a bummer. But anyways here it is, without further ado...
Day 2 11:30 AM
"Hello, Sara! Ty here!"
Sara, Catherine and Lindsay, who had her iPod headphones jammed dangerously in her ears and was doing a marvelous job looking bored, were sitting around a patio table with the Pacific a brilliant cerulean stretching out behind them. On the bamboo tabletop in front of them sat a laptop, a video playing across the screen.
Ty was his usual chipper self as he pointed the camera at Sara's soon to be destroyed home. "Take one final look at it Sara, because this is the last time you'll see it."
He rotated the camera back to himself and smiled cheerfully. "What you may not know though is we have a little competition involved here."
"I'm sure you remember these guys." Warrick, Nick, Greg, and Grissom were all lined up a few yards from her house decked out in their CSI coveralls, hardhats, and goggles, armed with sledgehammers. On the other side of the yard was the design team, dressed in much the same way.
In the background Ty was explaining the "competition." "How it works is that each team has one hour to demolish as most of the house as possible. The losers have to put on a talent show at the end of the week."
Sara and Catherine laughed as the criminalists' faces fell. Obviously this was the first they'd heard about a talent show. Ty was unfazed though and held his bullhorn to his lips. "Teams ready! On your marks! Get set! Go!"
They all took off towards the house. Warrick reached the front door first, followed closely by Paige and Nick, who got stuck in the door for a moment. Last in was Grissom having not been in as great of shape as the rest of them. He headed straight for the back of the house avoiding the chaos in the living room.
Grissom stood in front of the hallway wall, his head tilted in concentration. Then he picked up the sledgehammer and hit the wall in two spots. His lips tilted slightly as the sheetrock caved in and left a huge gaping hole.
Down the hall Greg had watched Grissom's technique. He tried it out in the bathroom with similar results and chuckled to himself.
Ty acted as commentator. "Well it seems the Forensics team has taken a lead, but I have a feeling the Design team is going to be getting a little help soon." As he said this the roar of an engine erupted from outside.
The next image was of both teams running out the front door as the backhoe of an excavator extended out over the roof. Sara's eyes immediately went to Grissom, who was stuffing one of his specimen jars into his coveralls. She didn't give it a second thought though as the clawed bucket came crashing down. Soon her house was nothing more than a pile of rubble.
Cheers broke out and Ty's face came back on screen. "See you soon, Sara. Hope you and Catherine are having a good time." With a wink and a wave he was gone and the video went black.
Sara knew that Extreme Makeover always did a good job and that at the end of the show the families were always overjoyed with their new homes. But until this moment she had felt a sort of foreboding that she had made the wrong choice in allowing complete strangers to build her a house that she might end up hating. Now though no remorse or regret came rushing forth. Instead a feeling of impending excitement elated her to no end.
After conveying these feelings somewhat for the camera, Catherine patted her back in a friendly gesture. "Lindsey and I are going to head over to the pool. Want to join us?"
If it had been any other time Sara might've turned her offer down. In fact she had brought a mountain of books she'd wanted to read. They could wait however. She gave Catherine a smile, "Let me just go change into my suit."
"The Aeschna rutilus can be found throughout the southwest and central parts of the United States. It is more commonly referred to as the Red-eyed Hawker and is the smallest species of Hawker's to date. It feeds on bugs it catches in the sticky span of its wings. Stays around bodies of water, but will wander in search of food." Grissom closed the book he was reading from and set it on the desk next to a small bug carrier. Inside was the dragonfly in question. "You're a long ways from home little buddy."
The dragonfly just stared up at him with its glossy ruby eyes. Grissom picked up the carrier and brought it over to the habitat he'd created in an old fish tank. Inside were a few plants, soil, and a pool of water. He released the Hawker into its new home where it contentedly buzzed around, getting a feel for it.
A small knock echoed through his office. "Excuse me, Gil."
Grissom sighed, "Just leave the results on my desk, Hodges."
"Um, Hodges?"
He turned to see an increasingly recognizable man. "Oh, Mr. Pennington. Sorry, I thought you were someone else." Grissom walked back over to his desk and sat. "No camera crew?"
Ty transferred the bag he was holding to his other arm. "No. A guy with a massive bald spot chewed us out the first time. Said that we were interfering with the integrity of the lab or something."
"Yeah, he seems to say that a lot. Please come in."
Ty eyed the various jarred specimens warily as he entered and took a seat.
"So, what brings you to our humble lab?"
He leaned forward and handed Grissom the plastic shopping bag. It was heavier than he expected and he had to hold it with two hands. "I found that while we were going through Sara's house."
Grissom pulled the object out of the bag. It was a book; a thick book. Imms' General Textbook of—oh. He'd never thought he'd see that book again. The one time he had bought a Christmas gift for a woman. "It's an entomology textbook. What does this have to do with me?"
"Well the inscription inside says, 'From, Grissom.' The design team and I have been wondering if it's just a gift from a boss to an employee, or mentor to pupil, or maybe man to woman."
"You want to know what Sara is to me." It wasn't a question, but Ty nodded anyway. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "That, I'm afraid, is a long complicated story that neither of us have time for."
"The contractors are laying down the pavement, Paige and Michael are out shopping for appliances, and Daniel and Eduardo are at Home Depot. I however, am free at the moment."
Grissom glanced at the clock. Technically their shift didn't start for another two hours. He had come in early hoping to get some paperwork done. Looks like that ship had sailed. "I met Sara about nine years ago…"
For the next hour Grissom recapped all the moments he remembered that had Sara in them; the good, the bad, the cringe worthy moments that still made him want to kick himself in the shins. At the end of his retelling, Ty was quiet for a while, contemplative.
"That's all very insightful, but, sir, it still doesn't answer my question."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Pennington. I don't think I have one."