I apologise for the delay but the website would not let me upload
Thank you to everyone who reviewed I was surprised by the response so this stories getting longer…and thanks to my beta
Sara was bent down, staring at the movement of the centrifuge. This would have been alright as she was stationary and quiet, except that the DNA tech was in the room at the same time. Kerri usually worked days, but had recently helped out by doing some nights. Sara had wandered into the lab not even looking at the women, but staring at the jars and machines on the side. The colours and lights had attracted her, as well as the low hum that she thought was a beehive. Kerri had only met one member of the night shift - Grissom - so she just assumed that maybe they were all slightly mad. She chose to ignore Sara as long as she ignored her.
Becoming bored with the centrifuge, Sara wandered out the lab, walking as if she were slightly drunk. She wandered, weaving in and out of the lab techs in the halls until something caught her eye - what looked to be a black elephant clinging onto the wall. In actual fact, it was a chemical fire extinguisher.
"Hi, have you seen Sara Sidle?" Asked Cath, running into the lab so fast she knocked the entire table a couple of inches across the room.
"Hello, nice to meet you too. Are all of you this…eccentric?" Kerri asked, feeling slightly put out.
"Hi, Catherine Willows. Have you seen her? She's tall, skinny, brunette."
"There was someone in here; rude like you. She just wandered in, then out again."
"Where?" Catherine demanded.
"I don't know. Now if you've finished, perhaps there's a suspect you might like to interrogate instead of me."
"Yeah, right, thanks." Cath answered distractedly, not hearing a word because she'd just seen Sara pull a fire extinguisher off the wall and wander off down a corridor.
"Sara," hissed Catherine, jogging to catch up with her without causing a scene.
"Catherine!" Smiled Sara, waving the hose around.
"Sara, put that down," said Cath, realising that she was using the same tone she used when Lindsey did something wrong.
"Have you noticed how shiny these are?" Sara asked, almost stroking the extinguisher.
Cath didn't know whether to laugh or cry at what she was witnessing. On one hand, seeing Sara like this was funny, but on the other, when she came down she was going to be very embarrassed. Plus, she didn't really know if there would be any long term damage, including the sack if Ecklie caught her like this.
"Maybe we could find something else shiny to look at," suggested Catherine, as Sara pulled the safety tag out and waved it around.
"I've always wanted to use one of these," said Sara, seizing it while the hose was pointed at her hand. A sudden pain jolted through her hand causing her to shout and drop the extinguisher, giving Cath chance to apprehend her.
"Now we know not to do that," said Cath, as Sara waved her bright red hand around.
"COLD!" Sara shouted, stumbling around. Cath grabbed Sara by her middle, trying to keep her still.
"Maybe some coffee will help, works for alcohol," sighed Cath, as Sara turned so she was looking directly at Catherine.
"Coffee, why?"
"So you come down. Seriously, how much was up that chimney? I wonder if Brass is having better luck with Officer Whittle," sighed Cath.
In fact, Brass was having a worse time than Catherine. Officer Whittle had gotten his car keys and locked himself in Brass' car outside his home, and was now been talked out by his wife.
"You think I'm high?" Shouted Sara, as Cath shushed her.
"I don't think - I know. Sara, don't you remember that you were processing a house?"
"Yes, I set the plug on fire," giggled Sara.
"Yes, well you also burnt a meth stash at the same time."
"Oh…" Sara replied, raising her eyebrows.
"God knows how much you've inhaled, but judging by this I'm going to say a lot. Why I'm I telling you, you're not even listening." Cath sighed, as Sara had become more interested in her hand waving in front of her face than Cath. "What will it take to keep you still and quiet?" Sara sat on a chair and began wheeling herself around the room, pushing away from tables and walls. "Sara please don't do that, if anyone walks in," warned Cath, trying to grab the chair to keep her still.
"This is fun! We should go around like this all the time!" Sara said excitedly, now using her legs to propel herself away from Cath, who was chasing Sara around the room. If anyone looked through the window now they would think she'd had completely lost the plot. Sara thought Cath chasing her around was game and decided it would be much more fun in a bigger room.
In a bid to distract Cath, Sara kicked her shoe off across the room.
"Sara!" Cath shouted, realising she sounded like a mother telling off her child. She threw her arms up in the air in defeat and began crawling under the table to get Sara's shoe back. Using this opportunity, Sara wheeled herself right out the door.
"Sara," hissed Cath loudly, "damn." Cath grabbed the shoe and ran into the corridor.
Sara was happily going backwards down the corridor, her legs going like a bug that was stuck on its back, propelling herself down the corridor and straight into Bobby who was walking out a door.
"Wow," Sara steadied herself, somehow stopping her from falling off the chair by slamming her arms into the wall.
"Hey," Bobby had fallen back into the door.
"Sara, maybe we should do the experiment somewhere less crowded," shouted Cath, advancing on Sara.
"Race you," smiled Sara, pushing off the wall and going flying backwards, then falling off the chair and rolling so she was sat in the middle of the corridor - legs outstretched, giggling away to herself.
"Is she ok?" Bobby asked Cath.
"She's fine, you know how much Sara gets into experiments. I'd better go." Cath said, almost running up to Sara.
"Come on…oh no," Cath spotted Grissom approaching them.
"Catherine, I've been looking for you and Warrick. I thought I told you those cases needed writing up. Ecklie's ringing me every…." Grissom trailed off on seeing Sara Sidle sat cross-legged on the floor pouting.
"What are you doing?" Asked Grissom, stopping dead in front of Sara.
"Grissom, that's your last name. Why do you use that? I mean, it's better than Gilbert, or maybe you're trying to be cool," rambled Sara, staring at Grissom as if he was wearing a bunny suit.
"So Gil, I've nearly finished the paper work. We were just helping Sara with an, um….experiment," said Cath, not sounding convincing.
"Sara, honey, are you ok?"
"Honey, that's what bee's make," laughed Sara, getting up and wobbling around on the spot.
"Catherine, would you care to explain?" Grissom asked, raising an eyebrow as he watched Sara sway on the spot.
Cath stood like a deer caught in the headlights - an excuse, any excuse.
"Um, well… um, we… Warrick had to, um, go somewhere. Me and Sara were supposed to distract you, but clearly we're not very good at it," said Cath, getting a raised eyebrow from Grissom. "Come on Sara, we better go find Warrick and finish that paper work," said Cath, grabbing Sara's top and pulling her closer.
"Sara, how's that case going?" asked Grissom, deciding to ignore the strange behaviour of his colleges
"Santa left a present in the chimney," smiled Sara, patting Grissom on the side of his face. Grissom just stood in slight shock at the physical contact, while Sara used this opportunity to suddenly run off.
"You know she gets that from being around you - the cryptic clues. Well, better get back," said Cath suddenly, realising that now was a good time to escape. She power walked off down the corridor, checking for where Sara had disappeared to now.
TBC?