Chapter 5
Sara was speechless. Jeremy was coming to Vegas. Not only did she have family but she had family who wanted to be near her.
"I take it by that response you do know who he is." Brass said with a hint of amusement in his voice. If just the mention of Jeremy Sidle made her this happy, Brass knew he would have to hire him. He protected Sara like his daughter and wanted her to be happy especially after the rough couple of years she had.
"Yes I know who he is." Sara suddenly became aware that Nick and Brass were looking at her strangely. She hadn't mentioned her brother to anyone but Grissom and him coming to Vegas would bring about questions that she would be unable to answer. She didn't want them to pity her or feel sorry about her childhood. She wanted Jeremy to come but she would have to let him know that she was uncomfortable sharing with her coworkers, even if they were also her friends.
"And I can give him an interview and you won't be upset if he is hired?" Brass asked with concern. She had looked very happy and then turned very serious in a matter of moments. She wanted to make sure that her mental health would be okay with Jeremy around, whoever he was to her.
"Huh? … Oh yeah. Give him an interview and I would be happy if you hired him."
"Okay, I will call him up." With that, Brass exited the room.
"Who's Jeremy?" Nick spoke for the first time in the conversation. He could tell that she was avoiding telling him and Brass who he was but he wanted to know.
"None of your business," Sara responded as she went back to their crime scene photos with a small smile on her face.
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"Yes I can come in on Thursday for an interview…. No in person is okay. No need to set up a telephone interview. Thank you very much." Jeremy hung up the phone and returned to the kitchen to help his wife with the picnic lunch she was packing up for them that night.
"Who was on the phone?"
"Jim Brass' secretary. There is an opening at the LVPD and he is going to give me an interview."
"That's great, honey." She said as she turned to face her husband. He did not look as excited as she thought he would at the news. Ever since leaving Vegas he was always talking about Sara. "What's wrong?"
"Well, I didn't mention anything to Sara about applying to get transferred. What is she doesn't want me there?"
"Why wouldn't she want you there?" Heather approached Jeremy and wrapped her arms around his waist. "She loves you. I could tell."
"I hope so. Anyways my interview is on Thursday and I thought I would try to layover in San Francisco to visit mom."
"Good idea. Can you go get Brittany ready to go?"
Jeremy went to get his daughter ready to go while hoping that he would soon be working in Vegas.
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Sara had barely made it through her shift at work. She couldn't contain her emotions and she was cycling through them fairly quickly. She would go from being ecstatic about Jeremy coming, to nervous about the team finding out about her childhood, to worrying about what Jeremy would think about Grissom.
From the short time she had spent with him she could tell that he would still be very protective of her like he always was. She remembered him threatening her kindergarten boyfriend and how she was so mad at him. He was always watching all the boys that she would play with and Sara was glad that he wasn't around during her foster child and Harvard days. He would be so disappointed in some of the choices she made and the losers that she slept with. Although it might have been nice to have him scare them off. She wanted him to like Grissom and be happy for her and she wasn't so sure he would be. She decided to put off telling Jeremy until the right moment.
She couldn't wait to call Jeremy and verify that he was thinking of moving to Las Vegas. She had talked to him almost every day since he had done back to Seattle and he never mentioned the thought of moving. She wanted to make sure she wasn't mistaken before she got her hopes up for nothing.
She had gotten off around lunch time and couldn't wait to call Jeremy and ask him about what was going on.
She dialed his number at waited patiently for someone to answer the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi Heather, it's Sara."
"Hey Sara, how are you?"
"I'm good. I actually heard some interesting news today."
"Oh really?" Heather knew what she was referring to and knew that Jeremy would want to talk to her. "I'll just get Jeremy to talk to you."
"Thanks."
Heather walked down the hallway and found Jeremy getting Brittany in her jacket for the trip to the park.
"Sara's on the phone," Heather said as she passed it over and moved to help Brittany.
"Sara! How are you?"
"I'm good. I had an interesting talk with Captain Brass today." Sara still wasn't ready to make small talk with Jeremy. It seemed awkward to talk about the weather when they had been so through so much. Plus, she was eager to get conformation that he was indeed moving to Vegas.
"Really? About what?" Jeremy knew exactly what she was talking about but he wanted her to say it. He wanted her to be able to ask him anything and he thought that starting by making her ask the easy things then she might become more at ease.
"About you moving to Vegas."
"That is interesting."
"Is it true?" Sara asked after taking a deep breath.
"I applied for a transfer and if he offers me the job we will move to Vegas I if you want me there."
"You don't have to move your whole family just for me. I'm okay by myself."
"You are my family too. And I know you are okay by yourself but I want to be near you if that is okay with you."
"It's okay with me." Jeremy could hear her smiling through the phone and he was glad he made the right choice.
"Well I am flying in on Wednesday and I was wondering if I could crash in your spare bedroom?"
"Of course. Call me with your flight details and I'll pick you up from the airport." Sara was very happy that she had upgraded to a two-bedroom apartment because now her brother could stay with her instead of in a hotel room.
As Sara hung up the phone she heard a knock on the door. She opened the door to see Grissom on the other side.
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Since Jeremy had been sober he had be visiting his mother in prison as part of his healing process. For the ten years he had been to San Francisco at least once a month. He watched as his mother grew weaker and weaker, but he took delight in being able to brighten her day by bringing family photos and telling her stories about Heather and Brittany.
He was nervous about this particular visit because it was his first after reuniting with Sara. He wanted to reassure Laura that she was okay but he knew that she would what Sara to come visit and he didn't get the vibe that she would want to. He knew that while they were growing up their mother would occasionally spank Sara as a form of discipline. But this was often too hard on Sara because she just needed someone to love her and her mother should be the one to take care of her. He could understand now why his mother did this after years of abuse and statistics on battered woman and corporal punishment supported his beliefs. But for whatever reason Sara still carried a hatred for her mother.
It was probably watching her mother kill her father or the fact that she didn't ever try to leave that made her angry. All Jeremy knew was Sara had avoided talking about Laura and had abruptly changed the topic when he had mentioned her.
As he signed in to the facility he knew it wouldn't be long until he had to address the situation with both of them.
He walked into the visitors' room and was greeted by his mother's warm smile.
"Hey mom. You are looking good."
"I could say the same for you. I didn't think it could happen but you look happier than I have ever seen you."
When Jeremy visited they always focused on his life and the conversation was never about Laura because nothing worth talking about ever happened to her and her time with him was her cause to live. He made her feel alive again.
"I am happy mom, real happy."
"That's wonderful. And what, may I ask, has caused this new found happiness?"
"I'm getting a new job"
"A promotion?"
"No, not a promotion. I am transferring to Las Vegas."
"Las Vegas? Why would you want to transfer there with all that sleaziness? My grandbaby's too good for Vegas." Laura looked at Jeremy like he had gone mad. She had meet Brittany on several occasions and absolutely adored the little girl.
"Mom, I'm transferring to Vegas because Sara is there."
He waited for that statement to register with Laura. She took in a deep breath and looked down to the table.
"My baby?" He could tell her eyes were filling up with tears. She knew that Sara had a worse childhood than Jeremy and she thought about her all the time. The thing she regretted most in her life was not being able to protect her children.
"Yeah. She is a criminalist in Vegas and I am interviewing for a position there to be closer to her and protect her."
"How is she? Is she pretty? Married? Does she have any kids? Does she seem happy?..."
"Whoo, whoo, whoo, Mom slow down. She is gorgeous. She isn't married or with any kids. She went to Harvard. She seemed happy to see me but I'm not sure if she is happy with life in general. I am hoping that some family will do her some good."
"Me too. Did you talk to her about me? I would love to see her. No wait. That is too selfish. She probably doesn't want to see me. I just want her to be happy." With that Laura finally started to cry.
Jeremy reached over and grabbed her hand. "I haven't talked to her about you. I will though. I'll see if she maybe wants to come visit with me once or at least let me bring you a picture."
"That would be wonderful." Laura smiled through her tears.
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Sara was curled up in Grissom's arms in her bed. He had come over and made her breakfast like he had been doing for the past few days. Today was different though because after breakfast they were too tired and just drifted of to sleep.
"You awake?" She whispered softly so as not to wake him if he wasn't.
"Yes"
"Can I have Wednesday and Thursday off?"
"Is this appropriate pillow talk?" he teased
Sara lifted her head to pout at him and he rolled his eyes.
"Why do you need time off?"
"Family reasons." He gave her a look asking her to elaborate. "Jeremy wants to transfer to Vegas and he has an interview with Brass on Thursday so I thought that if I could have those two nights off I could spend more time with him. Not that I need to if he is moving. But what if he doesn't then I wasted two days that he is in town for because I was working and spending my time with corpses instead of him and then…"
Grissom lifted her face and kissed her lips in order to get her to stop from rambling. "Put a request on my desk and I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks," she said as she lay her head back down on his chest.
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Grissom was able to get Sara the nights off. With the graveyard shift being reunited he had more criminalist to schedule and his team was always willing to help each other. Greg was able to work for Sara Wednesday and Nick was picking up her Thursday shift.
So on Wednesday, Sara was able to go to the airport and pick Jeremy up from his flight. She waited patiently for the flight from San Francisco to get in and she wondered why he hadn't just flown direct. Her thoughts were stopped as passengers started to appear. She got nervous butterflies in her stomach at the thought of seeing Jeremy again. She knew it was ridiculous but she had missed him more in the last week than in the twenty two years prior. But probably not.
She saw him get off the plane and she stayed still because she didn't know what else to do. Why did she always have to be so awkward? Fortunately, Jeremy walked up to her and engulfed her in a large hug.
"Hey."
"Hi"
TBC
I'm so sorry about the delay. Please don't hate me. I'll get the next chapter up this week. (Please, please don't hate me)