Chapter 10
"Alright, Ecklie, what's going on?" Catherine demanded as she walked into Grissom's office and closed the door behind her.
"Sit down Catherine," Ecklie said motioning toward a chair. He had already seated himself behind the desk.
The site of him in Grissom's chair only served to anger her further. "Since you already have the seat assigned to me, I would prefer to stand."
Ecklie stood and moved from behind the desk. "Be my guest. It will be yours soon anyway."
"What do you mean by that?" Catherine asked. "You know, as well as anyone, that I gave up swing shift to work for Gil. What makes you think I want his job?"
"It may not be a matter of wanting his job. It may be a matter of filling an empty position." The look on Ecklie's face had Catherine's nerves jumping.
"Okay," she said, "I'll bite. What has Gil done this time? Not filled out a report? Not written a review? Not solved enough cases? Not made this damn lab look good by selling his time to enough seminars and lectures? What?" Her voice rose with each question until she was almost shouting.
"How about sexual harassment?" At her shocked expression, Ecklie nodded. "Yes, you heard right."
Catherine laughed harshly. "You must be joking. Who did he harass? Did someone file a complaint?"
"No one filed a complaint. Why would they? It is obviously in CSI Sidle's best interest to continue trading sexual favors for her job." The sarcasm dripped from his voice. "I expressly told Gil to fire her and he refused. Now I know why."
"Sara isn't trading sex for her job. She's a damn good CSI and you know it. Grissom stuck his neck out for her because we are a team. Not because she's sleeping with him." The minute the last sentence left her mouth she knew she had made a mistake.
"So she is sleeping with him. How long have you all been covering this up?" Ecklie said with great satisfaction.
"That's not what I meant and you know it," Catherine snapped out.
"Well, you see, Catherine, I saw something today that tells me otherwise. I know that you want to protect him but you need to be careful not to let him drag you down." With that Ecklie left the office.
After a moment's hesitation, Catherine left the building in search of Grissom.
She drove to Grissom's townhouse and parked in the driveway. She almost jogged up the walk and started banging on the front door. When he didn't answer she started calling his name. Finally, Grissom opened the door. "Go away, Catherine," he said and then turned away leaving the door open.
Catherine followed in him, closing the door. "Gil, are you okay?"
Grissom sat down on the couch and picked up his drink. "No, Catherine, I am not okay. I'm bordering on really bad." Grissom's voice was sharp.
"What happened? Ecklie says he has proof you and Sara are sleeping together. What kind of proof?" Catherine had taken a seat next to Grissom and laid her hand on his arm.
"If I told you it was none of your business would you go away?" Grissom asked. His blue eyes were cloudy and bleak. He leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"No," she paused,"My God, Gil, Ecklie is after your job. I want to help. I can't do that unless you tell me what happened."
Grissom sighed heavily. Slowly he began to speak. "This morning I was still at the lab when Sara got back from a case. I could tell she was upset about something. We walked out together. She needed to run a couple of errands and…Here's where the trouble starts." He laughed without mirth. "And I kissed her."
"Oh, Gil, what were you thinking?" Catherine asked.
"It gets better. She was going to pick up a few groceries and then come here. I walked over to my car and called back for her topick up something for dinner." Grissom had slid down, propped his feet on the coffee table and closed his eyes. "How could I have been so careless?"
"You know when you care about someone and are comfortable with that you tend to express it. That's not careless that's human." Catherine's smile was sad. How could the man be so brilliant and yet so dense? "Now what are we going to do about this?"
"I can't do anything until tomorrow. I already told Conrad that I would be filing an appeal first thing. Right now all I can do is wait." Grissom turned his head and looked at Catherine. "Who's taking care of the lab?"
"Don't worry about the lab right now. Everything is fine." Catherine paused before saying, "Everyone is going to want to know what happened. What do you want me to tell them?"
"Don't tell them anything," Grissom said. "They don't need to know."
"What? How can you say that? They care about you. They deserve an explanation." Catherine's eyes were blazing, her indignation palpable. "I can't believe you would say such a thing."
"What do you want from me Cath?" Grissom met her anger with anger of his own. "I knew this would happen. For years I did everything I could to stay avoid this. I knew the rules and I deliberately ignored them. What was I thinking?"
"Gil, did it ever occur to you that you aren't the only one this affects? What about Sara?" Catherine asked.
"What about her? It's not her career on the line," Grissom snapped.
"Gil, please tell me you don't intend to punish her for this. She isn't guilty of anything except loving you. Gil…" Catherine's eyes searched his face. "Have you even talked to her?"
"No, I haven't. She called but I couldn't answer. I don't know what to say to her." The anger seemed to drain from him. He leaned back against the cushions and closed his eyes again. "Please just leave me alone now. I need to think."
"Okay, I'm going but remember what I just said. I'm not going to lie to the guys. If they ask I'll tell them what happened." With that hanging in the air she left.