Chapter 5: Spaghetti and a B&E
On the day Sara's arm cast was to be removed there had still been no word on Hank. Sara wasn't worried anymore. She figured that if he was coming after her to finish the job he would have come already.
Sara and Grissom had cemented their relationship and Catherine had taken to the habit of calling them boyfriend and girlfriend. Everyone else in the lab referred to them as bugman and rabbit.
Sara woke up feeling refreshed and excited to the sound of Grissom's cell phone ringing.
He snatched it from his position in the chair that he had been sleeping in.
"Grissom." He answered.
"Griss, it's Catherine. The sheriff needs to see you in his office ASAP."
"But Catherine, I'm supposed to take the little rabbit to the hospital today." He wined.
At the sound of her new nickname Sara's head shot up from the couch.
"What are you talking about? You don't have a rabbit." Catherine asked, confused.
"Catherine, are you a CSI or not?" He asked with a chuckle. "I meant Sara. She's getting her cast removed today."
Catherine let Grissom's sarcastic question drop. "Well then I'll take her. I need to get away from these guys. And I'm sure that Sara would prefer some female company."
"But Catherine…" Grissom started to complain.
Catherine cut him off. "Grissom you have a month's worth of cases on backlog. The sheriff wants to know what's going on in your lab. I'll be at Sara's apartment in half an hour. I expect you to be ready to go to the lab when I get there. And if you're a good boy maybe I'll bring Sara in to see you once she gets used to her crutches. I'll see you soon." She hung up.
Grissom just stared at the phone.
"What just happened?" Sara asked.
"Um, that was Catherine; apparently I'm in trouble with the sheriff. So she is going to take you to the hospital."
Okay. But what did you do to get the sheriff so hyped up?" She asked.
"Uh, I didn't do any paperwork." He said sheepishly.
"Grissom." She laughed.
"What? Come on let's get you ready. The boss lady will be here in a half an hour."
The bell rang as soon as Grissom had finished helping Sara dress.
"Are you excited? Soon you'll be able to dress yourself." Grissom said as he went to answer the door.
'Aw man.' Sara thought. She had to admit he had a good sense of style for an old man. For example today she was wearing a black tank top, kaki cargo pants, and her right Converse sneaker. 'At least he's going to stay here until I can walk.'
"Hey Sara." Catherine called from the door. "Are you ready to get away from the bugman?"
"I resent that." Grissom said as he walked over to where Sara was seated in her wheelchair. "Bye Honey." He said, planting a quick kiss on her cheek.
"Bye Gil." Sara said as he walked out the door.
"Did you just call him Gil?" Catherine asked.
"Yep, are you ready to go?"
"Sara, I'll never understand you guys." Catherine said as she wheeled Sara out to her Tahoe.
Sara just laughed as Catherine helped her climb into the passenger's seat.
"The boys are excited that you're coming back. I'm still jealous that you won't have to work a decomp. I had one last week and I still haven't completely gotten rid of the smell." Catherine complained.
"Lemons, Cat, use lemons." Sara smirked.
"Whatever." She grumbled. "Well here we are." She said as they pulled into the Desert Palms Hospital parking lot.
Catherine wheeled Sara up to the receptionist's desk. "Hi, Sara Sidle has an eleven o-clock with Dr. McClenon to have her cast removed."
"Sure, he'll be out shortly." The receptionist said.
They had been waiting for about five minutes when the doctor walked up.
"Ah, Sara, how are you feeling today?"
"Good thanks. I'm excited about going back to work." Sara said.
"I'm sure you are. Or did you break your little promise and go back last week?"
At the guilty look on Sara's face the doctor knew the answer. "Sara…" He started to reprimand her.
Catherine jumped to her defense. "It's my fault sir. I called our boss, her boyfriend, into work. And he couldn't leave her alone so he brought her in."
"Relax, I was just kidding you." He said with a smile as he led them into his office.
"Finally!" Sara exclaimed as she rotated her wrist. She grabbed her crutches and hobbled over to Catherine. "Can we go to the lab now; I want to get back to work."
"Sara, the doctor said 'take it easy'" Catherine reminded her as they went to the car.
"Cat, I've been taking it easy for the past two weeks. If I can't go back now I'll probably kill someone. And you'll never find the body." Sara half-joked.
"Well that's why I'm trying to stay off your bad side." Catherine said. "The boys have probably gone home, so why don't I take you to my place until Griss is done at the lab, and then you can go in when shift starts."
"Fine." Sara said.
On the way to Catherine's house they stopped by Lindsey's school and picked her up.
"Hi Sara." Lindsey said as she hopped in the back seat.
"Hey Linds." Sara greeted her, turning around in her seat.
Lindsey then turned her attention to her mother. "Hey mum, can you drop me off at Carol's, we have a project to work on."
"Sure." Catherine said.
Once the two women had gotten to Catherine's house Catherine called Grissom. "Griss, how long 'til the sheriff will let you leave?"
"Um, I have two more cases on backlog then I'm done. Is Sara with you?"
"Yeah I bought her to my house. Pick her up when you're done. She has an appointment in two months to get her other cast removed. We're going to have lunch. We'll be done by the time you get here. See ya later." Catherine hung up the phone. She turned to Sara, who was seated at the kitchen table. "How does spaghetti sound? It's about the extent of my culinary skills."
"Sounds great, I'll chop up some onions if you want." Sara volunteered.
"Okay, but do it at the table. I don't want you to have to stand up a lot."
Catherine brought a cutting board, a knife, and an onion over to Sara. "Don't cut yourself. I really don't want to go back to that hospital for a while. Last week I had three interviews there."
"Don't worry Cat." Sara grinned. She was glad that she and Catherine were becoming friends. It was much more pleasant than butting heads with the redhead.
'I'm home.' Sara thought when she and Grissom pulled up to the lab. She grabbed her crutches and hopped out of the car.
"Sara, I need to go to my office for a few minutes. I'll meet you in the break room." Grissom said.
Once Sara got to the break room she was greeted by Nick and Warrick, each of whom pulled her into a big bear hug.
"It's great to have you back Sar." Nick said.
"You don't know how great it feels to be back." She returned.
Before anyone could comment Grissom rushed in to pass out cases. "Catherine, Nick, Warrick, you have a decomp in the desert."
"Another one!" Catherine groaned.
"Yes, and I have a B&E at 58 Dakona Circle."
"What about me Griss?" Sara asked.
"Stay here, I don't want you to get tired."
'Oh wrong thing to say man.' Warrick thought.
"Grissom! Do you really expect me to stay out of the field for the next two months? I'm fine. At least let me work the B&E with you."
"Okay." Grissom consented.
Once they got to the Tahoe Sara pried for information. "So what do we know?"
"The house belongs to a woman; she was home when the prep broke in. She sustained a superficial head injury fighting with the intruder. Paramedics patched her up at the scene. You can question her while I do a walk through." He paused. "Sara, I wasn't trying to keep you out of the field. I just don't want you getting hurt."
"I know Griss, its okay." She looked out the window. "Here we are." She said.
As she hopped out of the car and hobbled over to the curb where the victim was waiting she realized that the house looked familiar.
"Sara Sidle?" A voice broke her out of her thoughts.
Sara looked down at the vic. "Elaine Alcott?"
"Yeah, long time, no see."
"So, Elaine, what happened here?"
"Bastard broke in and threatened me. Then he hit me when I told him to leave. He left once I shoved him out the door."
"Okay." Sara said. "Does this 'bastard' have a name?"
"That's why it's so ironic that you are here. It was Hank."