Disclaimer: Not mine.

Authors Note: This case does involve the death of a baby. I've tried to keep the details to a minimum. Please let me know what you think. Thank you!

Grissom and Sara stood at one side of the autopsy table while Doc Robbins was on the other side. Sara kept looking at him to make sure he was still with them. She had never seen him so quiet and reserved. "C.O.D. was strangulation. His larynx is badly damaged and as you can see, there are abrasions on his throat. There's deep bruising on his upper arms to suggest he was roughly held and possibly shaken." Grissom closed his eyes tightly and reopened them when Robbins continued. "I also found more bruising on his back, legs, and face that are older, maybe three or four days. This little guy was definitely abused days before he was killed."

Grissom looked to Sara then to Al. "Thank you Doc." He walked out of the room and reached for his phone. "Jim, are you still holding Parks?"

"Yeah, I wanted to wait to see if you guys had anything from autopsy first."

"Good. We're on our way." As he flipped his phone closed, he turned to see Sara. "Now, we can ask Parks a few more questions."

As they walked down the hall they saw Brass talking to a very irate woman. When they got closer they were able to hear what she was saying. "I just don't understand why you people won't just let us be! You should be out there trying to find my son's killer. You've had Andy here for almost 24 hours now. He would never hurt Jimmy. He loved him!"

Brass noticed the CSI's approaching. "Ms. Starkly, this is Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle of the crime lab. They just have a few more questions for Mr. Parks."

Sara looked to the woman sympathetically. "Ms. Starkly, I'm sorry for your-"

Grissom interrupted her. "Did you or Mr. Parks ever hit James?"

Offended, she responded. "NO! To hell with you for even asking!"

"We found bruising on James' body that are 3-4 days old." Brass looked to Sara and she nodded confirmation.

"I uh…I don't know anything about that. Look, whatever bruises you found have to be from the animal that killed him!"

Taking a deep breath, he shook his head as he stepped past her and spoke softly. "I couldn't agree with you more, Ms. Starkly."

Sara joined him in the room. "Mr. Parks we just have a few more questions."

"This is ridiculous!"

Grissom ignored him. He had fire in his eyes. "If you didn't touch James or go near him, and if you dried off before you went back inside the house, then why did we find chlorine water on James's clothes?" Sara looked at Grissom with confusion because she knew they hadn't gotten the results back from Hodges yet.

He sat there agape. "I…I must have…yeah, yeah you know what, I did check to see if he had a pulse. Some water must have dripped off then."

"You may want to work on that. You'd think by now you would have your story straight. Why did you do it? He was just a baby, an innocent baby." His last sentence was barely a whisper. Sara had a sudden feeling that it was the calm before the storm.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Grissom stood and grabbed Parks by the shirt. He threw him against the wall and held him there.

"Grissom! What are you doing?" She looked to the door, silently praying that Brass would come running in.

"Did you really think we wouldn't find out? Most of the bruising on James' body is from days ago. How exactly would you like to explain that?"

Parks broke down, sobbing uncontrollably, looking like a cowering dog. "I didn't…I didn't mean to. He…he wouldn't…shut up. He just kept crying. I even…tried to leave. But…I could still hear him." Sara was stunned and Grissom, still with his hold on Parks, was hit with a wave of nausea. He released him and Parks fell to the floor.

"You disgust me. Why didn't…" He stood there with a dark scowl and decided not to bother with anymore questions. All the questions in the world couldn't make him understand why anyone would harm a baby.

Brass came in with an officer to arrest Parks. They had seen everything through the glass. Sara glared at Brass wondering why he let it go so far, than realized that Parks may not have confessed otherwise. She looked back to Grissom but he was gone.

"I actually didn't think it would work. We have the mother on accessory charges. What a waste." Brass looked up to see Sara staring at the door. "Let him cool off Sara. He'll be okay."

A tear rolled down her face. "I don't know Jim. Something snapped in him when we first got this case." She sniffled and wiped the dampness from her face. "I need to go find him."

Brass understood. He too knew that his good friend was not himself. He put a hand on Sara's back. "Okay. Call me if you need anything." He made eye contact with her. "Please, anything at all."

She slowly nodded and left the room. She first went to his office, no luck. She called his cell and paged him, also with no luck. After an hour of searching she decided to call Brass. They found his car in the parking lot of a local dive bar. She talked Brass into letting her go in alone, but only because she agreed to him waiting out there for them.

There were only a dozen, or so, people in the place. She was surprised there were that many. It was just early afternoon, but this was Vegas. Her eyes searched and found him at the end of the bar, alone. She watched as he took a shot of something and chased it with his beer. She wondered just how many he had already had. Leaning on his right elbow, he ran his right hand through his hair until it came to rest on the back of his neck to support his head. He didn't even flinch when she sat beside him and started to talk.

"Hey. We uh…" She looked to the bartender as he approached. "Just a water. Thanks." She focused on Grissom again. "Brass got the mother for accessory and Parks, well, I'm sure you know." She stared at him for a moment. He looked so empty. She took on a different tone. "You're scaring me Grissom. What's going on? This isn't like you."

He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "It's not my intent to scare you Sara." He turned to look deeply into her eyes. "I would never want that."

"I know that Griss. I do. But, please, talk to me."

He wouldn't break the eye contact and it was making her extremely nervous. "Can I ask you a question?"

She was reluctant to answer, fearing what the question would be. "Sure."

He shook his head. "Why do you still care about me? After all the times I have hurt you. Why do you still put up with me?"

She thought for a moment and decided to be honest with him. "I don't know. Maybe I'm a masochist." He shot her a disbelieving look. "Or not. Look, Grissom, you are an incredible guy. True, you have hurt me on more than one occasion, but not on purpose. You never meant to, I know that. And I do know that you care about me. You've shown me that on more than one occasion. Lately, you've been there for me when I've needed you." She put a hand on his arm. "Let me be there for you. What's going on?"

He looked back to his beer and asked the bartender for another shot. He took it and chased it with his beer. Noticing that that was the end of his beer, Sara thought now would be a good time to try to get him out of there. "Griss?" With her left hand on his arm, she began to rub his back with her right. "Will you at least let me take you home?"

He looked back up to her and nodded. His eyes were bloodshot and he knew he needed to go home. She smiled and was thankful that she was able to get him to agree on something.

She helped him out to his car and got him into the passenger seat. He closed his eyes as soon as they got his seatbelt on. She walked over to Brass. "I think we'll be okay. I'll call you later and let you know how he is. Can you call Catherine and let her know we won't be in tonight? I doubt that he's going to be in any condition to go anywhere and I don't want to leave him alo-"

Brass put his hand up to stop her. "Say no more. Don't worry about it Sara. Just take care of him for us."

She looked back to the car. "I'll do my best Jim. Just keep your phone close by."

"You bet."

With that, she walked back to Grissom's car and got in. Brass watched as she drove away. He didn't understand what was going on but he knew if anyone could get Grissom through it, it would be Sara.