Lady Heather was walking through the Dominion, checking on each of the rooms. Ever since one of her employees was killed on the premises, she was much more aware of what was going on within her business. She just passed the schoolroom setting, where one of her more talented dominatrices was involved in the humiliation of a man she knew to be an EMT. All of a sudden, there was an irritating beeping noise from the corner of the room, where the man's belt was. He immediately told his dominatrix to stop and walked over to his belt. He picked up his pager and looked at the message. He turned to the woman and apologized profusely for having to cut this short, but he needed to take this call. She merely nodded her acquiescence and he left, stopping at the front desk to make an appointment for the next week. He hadn't had time to put his pager on, so he just set it on the desk. Lady Heather picked it up and looked at it, noting the message read: 'EmergRnCrimLabStat.' She jerked her hand back as if burned. She told herself that there were so many other employees at the lab, that it was a very small chance that it could be him. But despite this logical expression, she still felt concerned.
Once the EMT had left, she told her desk clerk that she was leaving for a bit and to have Devon put in charge for the rest of the evening. She walked calmly out to the parking lot and got in her car, driving to the Crime Lab. She attempted to look unconcerned and she mostly succeeded, at least to herself. She walked up to the receptionist's desk and spoke in her authoritative tone, "I'm here to see Gil Grissom."
"I'm sorry, he's not here at the moment," the little woman at the front desk said, "he was taken to Desert Palms Hospital just a few minutes ago." Heather walked back out the door without even thanking the other woman. She got into her car and allowed herself a moment with no witnesses to break down and cry. She then composed herself and drove to Desert Palms Hospital, looking for a member of the crime lab. She found Captain Brass pacing back and forth in a hallway. He looked up when he saw her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her, his voice tinged with suspicion. She met his suspicious, yet anxious, gaze with her own calm one.
"I heard about what happened, one of the EMTs was at the Dominion when the call came in."
"So, why are you here?"
"You don't know? Really, Captain Brass, I would have thought your detective skills would be better than that." She allowed just a hint of pain to enter her voice. Brass' eyes widened as he understood her implications.
"Oh," was all he said.
"How is he, Captain?" her voice went back to the calm, controlled, no-nonsense voice she used at the Dominion.
"He's comatose. We were just comparing notes. Catherine and Nick know a lot more about this than I do. The problem is that the doctors here are idiots!" his voice rose a few decibels before he could calm himself down.
"Relax, Captain, he hasn't been here for all that long. I'd wait before making that kind of snap—" she was cut off as an alarm sounded throughout the wing.
They looked at each other, eyes widening when they heard cries of "Code Blue! Get the paddles!" from just down the hall. She looked over his shoulder while he turned around to see a female nurse escort Greg, Nick, Catherine, and Warrick out of the room, while two male nurses were required to drag Sara out of the room. Heather arched an eyebrow when she saw Warrick touch Catherine's arm with concern etched on his face. Nick and Greg seemed to be more concerned with Gil's—had she ever called him that?--status than with what was going on in the hallway outside. Catherine, however, noticed Heather immediately. She just locked eyes with the other woman, emerald-green meeting sky-blue. No words were spoken, none needed to be said. Sara, on the other hand, felt otherwise.
The slender brunette pulled free of the nurses and marched over to Heather. "What are you doing here?" voice laced with accusation. Heather looked her up and down and didn't bother to answer, reading the emotions behind the question. Sara, however, took that as a slight. She stepped closer to the other woman. "I said, what the fuck are you doing here?" as she spoke, Sara reached out to grab Heather's arm. Just as Sara's slender fingers closed around the other woman's elbow, Heather reacted, her other hand lashing out like a viper, latching on to Sara's wrist like a vise and applying pressure with the tip of her thumb. Sara cried out, her other hand moving to attempt to pull Heather off. Heather's bearing changed. She became the persona that she put on for the public at her job. She reached out with her free hand and slapped Sara across the face. As everyone else looked on in shock and amazement, Heather turned into Lady Heather. Then, with a hard voice filled with the air of command and tinged with contempt, Lady Heather spoke for the first time since a Code Blue was called, "I didn't give you permission to touch me, bitch." Her voice softened, "I understand you're feeling grief right now, and that you are attempting to cope with the only way you know." Then it hardened again, "That's pathetic. You have no inner strength, do you? Your emotions are out there for anyone with the wit to see them. I can see it in your face right now. You're in love with him. However, you will not be the one to have him. Did you know that he was losing his hearing a few years ago? I'm guessing he did not tell you. But I knew. When you were seeing Hank, did he look at you with anger and jealousy in his eyes? That's how he looked at me when I gave him the DNA sample for the worthless piece of shit who killed my daughter. And, since I know that his people skills aren't the best, and that he relies too much on what he observes, has he ever made a trip to apologize to you for some remark or action that hurt you deeply? He did for me." Her voice was not raised, it was pitched calmly. However, after every remark, Sara flinched as though she had been slapped again. Sara's mouth moved, but no sound came out. Lady Heather, ever perceptive, read the other woman's lips, and discovered repetition of the word 'no.' Lady Heather released Sara, who promptly dropped to the floor. Again, Lady Heather's bearing changed, becoming just Heather. She reached into her purse and pulled out a slip of paper. She handed the paper to Catherine with a smile. "I'm sorry I caused a scene here in the hospital, Catherine. I just wanted to see how he was. This is my private line. I would appreciate it if you would call me with daily updates on his condition."
Catherine smiled broadly, "Of course, Heather." Heather didn't say anything, just smiled back, turned, and left. As the men all watched her go with amusement and amazement etched on their faces, Sara worked her way up off the floor and walked briskly into the women's restroom, sat down on a toilet, and cried.
Heather walked out of the hospital to her car, allowing a small smile to grace her features. It had been a while since she had personally dominated someone else and she had forgotten how much fun it was. She shook her head at how easy it was to read and break Sara. In fact, unless she missed her guess by a mile, Sara would soon be coming by the Dominion to taste being dominated again. However, her smile faded when she entered her car, and she again allowed herself to cry a little. She composed herself once again and returned to the Dominion.
