Jeremy and his wife, Heather, were packing their bags in preparation for their upcoming trip to Las Vegas. Jeremy was on semi-forced leave from his job as a police officer in Seattle. Jeremy had many of the outcomes associated with growing up in violent homes. He had obviously become a victim to drugs, he had emotional as well as physical scars, and once in his mid-twenties he had hit his girlfriend while he was under the influence. That had been a turning point in his life. He realized he was turning into his father and the thought scared him. Since then he got clean, got a respectable job, and he never once has abused his wife in any way. In his current life he was determined to be nothing like his father. Jeremy could not handle domestic abuse cases at work and he often got too rough with the abusers. Most of the time his captain let it slide because he agreed that these men deserved it. However his last one had political connections and Jeremy was forced to take some vacation time to "cool down" as it was put to him.
Jeremy had a beautiful wife who he adored and a wonderful 3 year old daughter, Brittany. When Jeremy was forced to take some time vacation time they decided to go on a family trip. Heather suggested many places and he decided on Vegas even though Brittany would be too young to enjoy most of it. Heather had never been and he thought that the lights and the glamour might distract him for a while anyways. Vegas seemed to be the perfect escape from reality which was exactly what he needed.
Sara Sidle had a strange relationship with her boss, Gil Grissom, to say the least. Quite often it was hard to define. Were they enemies, co-workers, friends, or something more? Their relationship or lack there of, was often subject to the rumor mill at the lab since the day Sara showed up. Since then Sara often questioned were she stood with Grissom but as of late, she could confidently say they were friends and secretly she hoped they could become more than that but for the moment she would settle for Grissom's friendship. They were both working hard on their relationship and that was good enough for Sara.
It started improving after he showed up on her doorstep after the incident with Adam Trent at the mental hospital. He was worried about her and he thought it would ease his mind to see her. So after much inner debate, he went to her apartment to make sure she was okay.
"Grissom," Sara said as she opened the door. She tries to hide the surprise in her voice but she was not very successful.
One look at her and Grissom's heart broke. She looked like she had been crying for hours. He wished he could have been there to hold her in his arms or better yet to prevent the incident from happening in the first place. His heart cursed his mind at that moment. He knew that he could have been there for her. She had offered him that and would have given him so much more.
Grissom did the only thing he cold in that moment, he gave her a hug. He wanted to take her in his arms and chase away her fears and protect her from all the crazy lunatics in the world. She flinched originally, surprised that Grissom was hugging her but she let down her tough exterior and allowed herself to cry freely in his embrace.
They were able to give each other the comfort they needed that right and since then they had built upon their fragile relationship to the point where they were now friends and on the verge of becoming lovers. That was inevitable as it was the next step that Sara and Grissom were working for. But being the intelligent people they are they realized they had to build trust and friendship first. They had been out together, as friends of course, a couple times but quiet often Grissom would just stop by Sara's place and make her dinner after a tough shift or Sara would rent movies and bring them by the townhouse when she was lonely.
The rest of the reunited graveyard shift were left to gossip and bet on what caused the shift between their resident love birds. Grissom didn't seem as serious all the time and could often be found smiling. Sara seemed to return to her old self, at least for the most part. She would smile and joke around with the boys and was even friendly with Catherine. She didn't argue with Grissom as often. Of course Sara was still affected by certain cases and when it affected her it affected Grissom as well. Everyone quickly learned that if Sara was sullen and withdrawn it was best to avoid Grissom for he would be very short tempered and snippy as Greg witnessed first hand.
Greg, Sara, and Nick had been assigned to a double homicide in Henderson. It was the death of a young woman and an elderly woman. Nick and Sara had been part of the autopsy while Greg did the necessary research to link the victims. Doc Robbins had performed the autopsy and as soon as he pulled the x-ray of the younger victim's skull Sara could feel a chill run up her spine. She started to slip into the past. She barely heard Nick and Doc Robbins confirm that majority of the fractures had not been recent. She was able to pull herself back into the present and pay attention. It was a skill she needed to use quite often. Dr. Robbins estimated the oldest fractures to be around six years old. Nick and Sara thanked him and started back to the lab.
They knew the elder woman was Audrey Williams the owner of the house. The younger woman had no ID on her and they were working to see if she was Audrey's daughter, Elizabeth. The women resembled each other to same extent and DNA confirmed they were relatives. Audrey didn't have any recent pictures of her daughter in the house the newest ones were of Elizabeth's high school graduation and prom.
Greg was able to find that Elizabeth was currently residing in Dallas with her husband George Windsome. He had reported her missing two weeks ago and they called him in to identify her body. He had also conveniently taken a business trip to Vegas at the time of the murders. He was a very important business man and claimed he didn't know his mother-in-law lived in Las Vegas or why his wife would visit her and not tell him.
Sara was convinced he was their killer and she was becoming increasingly more frustrated at his feigned ignorance and the speed at which they were processing evidence. Nick and Sara were talking about it in the break room when Grissom over heard. He had just closed his homicide and was going to get a start on his paperwork but he could tell Sara was on the edge so he offered to lend a hand to help speed up their investigation well the husband was still being co-operative and willing to stay in Vegas. Grissom was really concerned based on Sara's history with domestic abuse but she was keeping it under control and he didn't want to upset her by saying the wrong thing.
He went to get Greg to run some samples and DNA for them and help Mia who was swamped in the lab. He found him in the layout room looking over the victims' clothing.
"Greg, you need to go run our DNA for the case, I will look over this stuff."
Unfortunately, Greg would not go back to the lab willingly, he was tired of being push and pulled around. He started to argue but Grissom was not in the right frame of mind to listen to the young CSI.
"GREG, NOW!"
Greg started to turn sheepishly to head to the lab. He was very hurt because he was always to trying to impress Grissom. Just then Sara returned to the lab with a huge smile on her face. It seemed to change Grissom's mood instantly.
"We found email correspondence between Elizabeth and her mother. She was running away from her abusive husband but she was scared that he would hurt her or kill her. Husband must have found the files and gone looking for her. Mia matched the DNA at the crime scene to the husband and PD went to go get him right now."
"Excellent," Grissom said while turning to Greg as Sara left, "Greg, I'm sorry about yelling at you I really didn't mean it. You're a very good CSI."
"Thanks. I understand you were just upset because of Sara." With that Greg left the room leaving Grissom to stare after him.
Brittany was a very cute little girl. She had brown curly hair and big brown eyes. Jeremy thought see looked just like Sara and she was almost as stubborn. Jeremy spoiled her rotten because he was determined that she would have the childhood that Sara and he had only dreamed of. Heather was often upset by the fact that she did most of the disciplining but she understood why Brittany was able to wrap Jeremy around her finger.
Brittany was a very happy child and her parents worked hard to make sure she stayed that way. However, because of Jeremy's inability to tell her no, she was becoming very spoiled in her young age. After a lengthy talk Heather convinced Jeremy that he couldn't give her everything she wanted. He needed to know that setting limits would make him a better parent than giving into her would.
Jeremy walked into his little girl's room to help Heather with packing up Brittany's stuff. This was often a challenge because Brittany always wanted to bring all her stuffies along. The old Jeremy would have allowed her to take all the toys she wanted to bring but the new Jeremy was going to back up his wife and help Brittany chose that number of her stuffies. As soon as he entered Brittany's room he knew that a tantrum was probably on the way.
"Hey Baby, are you and Mommy done with your packing?"
"No, she won't let me bring any of my animals." She ran to her daddy's arms and started to pout. It was very cute.
"She won't let you bring any of them?" he asked disbelievingly as he carried Brittany to the bed and sat down with Heather.
Heather rolled her eyes at her daughter's dramatics and held up two fingers for Jeremy to see over his daughter's head that was buried in his shoulder. He nodded in understanding. He turned Brittany around so she was looking in his eyes.
"Didn't Mommy tell you that you can bring two?"
"Yeah but they all wanna come." She was still pouting and her eyes were starting to tear. Jeremy smiled at her statement.
"The animals that stay at home won't be too sad. They will have their own party with no one around to watch over them so they will be okay with not coming on the trip."
Brittany seemed to be considering this so Heather decided they should leave her alone for a few moments to pick out her two. That way no one would be around to listen to her arguments if she changed her mind.
"Why don't you pick out two while Daddy and I finish our packing, k, Princess?"
"OK," she relented while looking at her toys. The girl had so many toys.
As soon as they were down the hallway Heather gave Jeremy a quick hug and kiss.
"Good job honey. How do you feel?"
"Pretty good I guess. It's just hard."
Heather gave him a small smile of understanding and led him back to Brittany's room. They returned to Brittany explaining to her toys why they all couldn't come with her but that she would be back real soon.
"So who's making the trip?" Heather smiled as she asked her daughter.
"Teddy." No surprise there. She slept with him every night. "And Suzie." Suzie was her favorite doll and Jeremy, Brittany, and Suzie often head tea together.
"Good choices now you need to get some sleep before tomorrow."
After getting Brittany to bed they decided they needed to sleep early as well. When they were in bed Heather decided to find out what was clearly bothering Jeremy.
"What's on your mind?"
"The usual. It's hard not to think about it when it's the reason I have all this extra time."
"You know you could try to find her on the internet. They have lots of sites just for that purpose. Or you are a cop you know plenty of detectives that could help you out."
"I know I probably could find her if I wanted to but she probably has forgotten all about me or she would be angry that I left her behind. I failed her just like our parents did."
It always broke Heather's heart to hear him like this. He had been carrying the guilt for so long and it wasn't healthy.
"Babe, listen to me." See waited until he made eye contact before continuing. "None of that was your fault. You were not responsible for Sara. You protected her as best as you could and she will appreciate that."
"I guess. I wonder what she is like now."