Title: Entreaty

By: Manigault

Thank you for your patience. I hope that someone is still reading this story.

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Wiping the back of her hand under her eyes, Olivia sniffed, "I can't tell you. If I say anything then they will kill Andy."

This brought another round of barrelled questions directed at the girl who was beginning to retreat once again under the scrutiny. Not wanting Olivia to escape inside of herself again, Grissom snapped at Brass to clear the room or get everyone to shut up. Brass looked at the ceiling and then spoke with authority at the room in general.

"Shut it up now folks, or clear out of this room. You are terrifying the girl."

Clayton huffed a protest and glared at Brass, "you are the ones scaring my Olivia, sir. You and Mr. Grissom."

"I've heard enough," Tom said from beside the table where he had moved to stand beside the seated Grissom. "You need to tell us who it is you are afraid of and why you think they will kill Andy. You said in your confession that he took off for New York," he glared at the teen, "no more lies."

Olivia shuddered at the harsh tone and tears crept down her cheeks once again. "I can't tell you. I can't..."

Exasperated with the girls refusal to answer the question, Tom was about to demand she give them some name when Grissom's cellphone announced he had a call. Pulling the object from his pocket, he glanced at the caller id and hit a button.

"Nicky?"

Grissom's expression became incredulous as he listened to whatever it was Nick was informing him of and slowly a frown creased his forehead. "Thanks, Nick, I'll talk to you soon."

Placing his cellphone on the table, Grissom did not say a word for a full minute as all eyes landed on him and everyone waited. When he finally spoke it was without satisfaction or relief.

"Nick and Warrick found the Cessna that was used to attack me and Sara in the desert." Grissom looked up at Tom and then turned to stare at Olivia, "your boyfriend Paul Hanson has an uncle that owns that Cessna."

Olivia shook her head and her lower lip trembled. "Paul doesn't have anything to do with this," she turned wild eyes towards her parents and insisted, "Paul did not take Andy. He didn't."

Grissom knew that Nick and Warrick had circumstantial proof that the Hanson's Cessna was involved and were gathering the evidence. Brass was bringing Burke Hanson in for questioning.

"Paul asked you to write that letter didn't he Olivia?" Grissom asked with sudden insight.

"No! Paul loves me. Why would he ask me to confess to killing anyone? Andy did it. Andy killed his dad because of drugs." Olivia's voice held no conviction and she started to rock back and forth in the chair, "Paul loves me. He told me he loves me."

Sitting back in his own chair, Grissom studied the teenager as he waited for the tears to ease. Glancing over and up at Tom's stoic face, Grissom decided it was time to address Olivia once again.

"Olivia, you and Andy grew up together didn't you?"

She nodded, but kept her eyes on the table and refused to speak. She was listening though, and that was what Grissom wanted.

"You and Andy were best friends," Grissom pressed with a gentleness that made Tom scowl.

Olivia sniffed and took the tissue that Bess handed out for her to use. "Andy used to be my best friend," angry eyes flew up to meet Grissom's, "until he tried to break up my relationship with Paul. He kept harrassing me to break up with Paul, telling me that I was being used and was in danger of being hurt. Andy was the one that was hurting me."

Tom watched the scene unfold and silently thanked Grissom for keeping his cool. All he had wanted to do was pick the teen up and shake the answers out of her and bypass the bullshit. Now he understood where Grissom was going with his easy manner.

"Andy loved you and tried to help you," said Grissom without breaking eye contact with Olivia.

"No. Andy did not love me or he would have been happy that I found someone that I cared about. He would have left me alone instead of trying to get Paul and his friends in trouble. He had the nerve to think that he could trick me into helping him trap Paul and his cousins." Realizing that she had said too much, Olivia pressed her hand against her lips and looked at her hands.

The anger had vanished from Clayton as Olivia's words had sunk through his denial. "Olivia. Darlin', please tell me what you know about what happened to Kyle Giles and Andy. You knew them all of your life. Kyle was a good man and Andy is your best friend."

"Andy stopped being my best friend when he kept interferring with my life." Olivia insisted her pretty face scrunched up in a scowl. "I'm hungry. I don't want to talk anymore."

Brass displayed his disgust as he motioned Grissom from the room. Once the two men were outside, he spoke to Grissom with a shrug. "What do you suggest, Gil? Do we keep pushing this or do we wait and speak with Burke Hanson?"

"We need to have Paul Hanson brought here as well, Jim. These cousins of his as well," Grissom glanced at the door and released his frustration in a heavy sigh. "Let her eat and have a break. We can see if that does anything to make her talk and maybe her parents can get something out of her if she isn't on guard."

"Explain your theory to your bro-," Brass stopped midsentence and continued with an embarrassed grin. "Explain that to Tom, because I have a feeling that he will not agree with easing up on the witness."

No, he would not. Grissom felt the urge to ask Brass to wait five minutes and give himself time to retreat to his office, but he summoned his courage and opened the door to the room and met Tom's eye.

"We're going to let Olivia have something to eat and rest for a little bit, Tom." Grissom hoped that the other man would pick up that he had a plan and was not abandoning the idea of learning more from the teen. He prepared himself for the protest that didn't come and relaxed as Tom nodded and without a word brushed past him to leave the room. Grissom allowed his gaze to move around the room, landing on Olivia with a this is not over expression.

Tom stood several feet outside of the room, his back to Grissom, his posture tense as he waited for Grissom to explain. Within seconds Grissom passed him in the hall and waved his hand in a gesture for Tom to walk with him. Neither man spoke until they reached the CSI corridor that led to Grissom's office and then the silence was broken with a question.

"We're so close to getting answers, Gil, why are you letting her regroup?"

Grissom was prepared for the question, but the answer did not sound convincing to his own mind when it poured from his lips. "I felt that with some time alone with her parents she will relax and rethink her position. She was shutting off her emotions by asking for food and refusing to talk."

"So now you're a pop psychologist," Tom stated with a smirk. He wasn't in the mood to humor this girl that knew so much more than she was saying.

"In my buisness it's not a bad idea to have some knowledge of psychology," Grissom said. They paused outside of his office and he pushed the door open slowly not knowing if Sara would still be sitting in his chair holding a sleeping Mattie.

His chair was empty. Stepping into the room, Grissom let his eyes sweep the perimeters looking for any sign of Sara or Mattie. Without explanation, he turned from the office and walked with his distinctive lope towards the breakroom. The strong pull to find Sara unnerved him and he quickly dismissed it as some residual left over from being with her so much over the past several days.

He sensed a puzzled Tom following him along the corridor but had no awareness of the striking pair they made as they moved along the halls. So similar and yet so different, and obviously related.

Grissom's pace slowed as he neared the breakroom and he noted immediately that the blinds were not closed nor the lights out which indicated that Mattie was not taking a nap on the sofa.

Unexplained relief swept over him as he spied Sara sitting at the breakroom table, Mattie on one side and Greg on the other, a box of pizza in front of them. Sara glanced up as he and Tom entered the room, her eyebrow rising in question. Unspoken words passed between them as Grissom glanced over at Mattie and then back to meet Sara's stare. With a nod, she motioned towards the pizza.

"We have enough for both of you. Dig in."

As Sara spoke, Mattie spotted Tom and slowly lowered his slice of pizza, "I'm not hungry anymore."

"You've only had one slice, Mattie, and you were starving two minutes ago." Sara teased gently.

"I'm not hungry." Mattie said as he glared in the direction of his Uncle Tom.

Picking up on the boys anger towards him, Tom rubbed his jaw and thought furiously about how to respond. Did he ignore the situation or address it head on? He chose the latter and asked directly.

"Are you blaming me for not saving your dad, Mathew?"

The use of his full name caused tears to well up in Matties eyes. Nobody called him by his full name unless he was in trouble or unless they were very concerned about him. "Don't call me that." Mattie folded his arms at the elbows.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't save your dad, Mattie. I'm sorry." Tom's voice broke on the words and his shoulders slumped. There was not much else to say and nothing Mattie could dish out at him that would ease his own guilt.

Mattie's expression changed and his eyes clouded with tears as he pushed back from the table and moved around it to walk up to Tom. Without a word, he wrapped his arms around his uncle and let the tears fall again.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Tom. I'm sorry."

TBC