Ties That Bind

Disclaimer: Refer To Chapter 1…

Thirty minutes later, Grissom was standing over a dead body when his cell phone chirped. Sara filled him in on cases that were lying on his desk. He directed her on who got which assignment and whispered that she had better hurry because he missed her already. Her response was thwarted by people brushing past her in the hallway and she only told him she would see him soon.

Sara walked into the breakroom and grabbed a cup of coffee. Being thirty minutes early for her shift caused her to be in there alone waiting on the other nightshift CSIs to arrive. It was not long until everyone was sitting at the table expectantly.

She looked up from her magazine and slid the assignment sheets across the table towards the other CSIs. Sara attempted to be casual, but her stomach tied in knots. Her brain froze in the instant she did it, and her breath caught in her throat. It was in that moment that she realized people were going to take this the wrong way.

"What the hell!" Warrick shrieked, his eye twitching.

Everyone reacted just as badly as Sara feared. Nick glanced over at her, apprehension written all over his face. Greg merely sat there staring at the table as if it was in some way fascinating. Catherine, however, made a sucking noise through her teeth and glared at the assignment sheet on the table in front of her.

Catherine squared her jaw and looked determinedly at Sara. Their eyes met in a steely gaze. Sara winced inwardly, but in no way was she going to let this woman shake her down. The fact she had not even wanted to see Catherine that night and was now faced with squaring off against her almost made Sara elated and frightened at the same time.

"Where's Grissom, Sara?" Nick ventured as quietly as he could. He could find himself calling Sara and friend, and he found himself intensely scared for her for a moment.

"No way in hell this is happening," Warrick went on, interrupting the space for Sara to form her answer. "Catherine should be the one taking over – not you."

In that instant, Sara decided she was not going to tell them where Grissom was at that very moment. It was time to hash it all out – all those pent up years of animosity between her and the crew that seemed to just float around and get brought up a the most inopportune time. Grissom's whereabouts would be discussed after this impromptu intervention.

"Okay, here's the deal," she spoke to the room, not a person in particular, "You've been against me since the moment I got off that plane. Actually, probably before that, but, hell, I couldn't feel the tension until I got here, right?" She took a long deliberate sigh, seeing if anyone else was willing to speak.

Seeing everyone staring at her with the exception of Greg who felt he had just been dropped into quicksand, as he sunk lower into his chair. He never once looked up at Sara, and she knew he had never been a part of the problem. Sara glanced reassuringly at Greg for a moment, "Greg, I'm sorry you're here for this… but it's something I think needs to be said."

Sara continued on, "I came in here as the snitch, I know that. No one likes the tattle-tail. Grissom asked me on more than one occasion to look into things to keep them in-house. I did it… and wouldn't each of you, if he asked you?" As Nick started to open his mouth, Sara stopped him with a wave of her hand and her sharp words. "Rhetorical question."

This was tense, more tense than any of them thought possible.

"As much as you want to hate me, I think you should know that we're all really talented CSIs, and I enjoy working with each of you. … That doesn't mean that I like you every single minute of every day. We're all different and we work well together. We're a great team."

Her rant continued on, oblivious to there actually being other people in the room who might want a chance to speak. Sara had a lot of stuff on her chest that she needed to release. As much as she did not want to hurt Grissom, there was no way she could just sit idly by and let them be so… discourteous… to her. She would resign and save Grissom the pain if she felt it necessary.

"I've made mistakes, but at least I'm adult enough to admit to them. I've got problems, and I'm willing to try to work through them. You can each have your own opinion, and you're rightfully entitled to it. You can hate me, you can confront me… you can even go to our supervisor and tell him what a bitch I am. That's fine. I'm so over the animosity that some people harbor against me."

The moment Sara mentioned them going to Grissom, her entire mindset changed, and she wanted to run and hide. She had not changed her tone, but her mind shut down. It was in that instant she realized how hard this could really be. Grissom was right to feel hesitant to get in a relationship with her. Immediately, Sara could empathize with his hurt, pain, confusion over really getting into a personal relationship with her.

As strained as it had been for them with the unresolved tension between them, it sure had to be a lot better than she was making things now. How could she go home in the evenings and face him when she screwed something up? How could he reprimand her for something she did wrong? How could she ever believe that their lives could peacefully coexist between work and home?

Distractedly, Sara backed away from the table. Her cell phone rang a few feet from the table as she was almost at the door. "Hi. … No, I'm just leaving the lab now. … I know. … I'll be right there," Sara replied into the phone and clicked it shut.

She turned around before leaving the breakroom and stated firmly, "Grissom, by the way, is at a body in the desert. He called me to see if I wanted to head there rather then come to the lab first. When I told him I was already here, he asked me to read the assignments to him." She heaved a small forced chuckle. "He's the one that delegated your assignments."

Sara walked away leaving each of them pondering what the hell had just happened.

Sara had been silent since her arrival at the scene. She picked up evidence, scrutinized the area, and maintained her professional demeanor. After all, there were other Law Enforcement personnel around, and she had a job to do.

Grissom watched her with interest. She was far too quiet, and he could tell there was something weighing her down.

When the body was packed up and on its way to the morgue with David, Grissom told the officer on duty that he could vacate the scene. They had all the evidence they could find on the first walk-through. Brass was on his way to run down some leads after getting the address of the vic's ID.

Sara tossed the last few pieces of evidence in the back of the Tahoe and took one last glance at the scene. Somehow, a little of her anger had dissipated over the time she had been there. The outburst almost seemed as if it had never happened.

"Sara, talk to me. What happened?" Grissom approached her once the last patrol car had left them alone.

"What makes you think something happened?" Sara asked, not looking up from the evidence bin she was absently moving items around in, purposely avoiding Grissom's eyes.

Grissom placed his hands on top of hers. "This is what makes me think something happened."

Sara sighed long and heavy. She knew she had to tell him what happened. Knowing that still did not make her feel the least bit better. She was trying to prepare herself for him to get angry at her outburst. "I kinda said some things to the team, and now they're angry at me. They're probably going to complain later," she said as vaguely and simply as possible.

"What kind of things exactly?"

Sara turned to face him, ready to be yelled at. "I handed them the assignments like you said, and they started throwing a fit about me being the one to give them out. So, I told them I was sick of the animosity… amongst other things."

When Sara thought she was prepared for his reaction, she was wrong. Nothing could have prepared her for his response. "I'm sorry I put you in that position. I should have thought more about it. I just wanted to get to the body. You should have come here while I went to the lab first."

Sara could not contain her shock at what he said. Her jaw literally slacked and dropped an inch. Her mind wondered whether she should be hurt or happy. He was taking responsibility for it and not yelling at her for confronting them, but he was also implying that she should not have the right to hand out assignments.

Grissom went on to explain when he saw the confused look on her face. "The team does not take well to changes. When Holly Gribbs was shot, and I took over when Brass was sent back to Homicide, I was really apprehensive about it. Me being put in that position was a shock to everyone. No one takes well to being passed over. And, to them, it probably seemed like I just handed it off to you for no reason at all. Then, factor in what Catherine was feeling recently along with her being a previous supervisor, I can see how people would lash out at you. And, for that, I'm sorry. I should not have put you in that position."

"You do this on purpose, don't you?" Sara was finally about to force her mouth to move.

"Do what?" Grissom asked, confused, hoping he had not said the wrong thing again.

"Do the thing I least expect. I thought you'd yell at me for making a scene. And, I was all ready for it until you went all comforting and responsible on me."

"Well, what did you say to them?"

"Basically, that I knew they hated me, but that I liked working with them because they're all good CSIs."

Grissom was awestruck for a moment. "You said that?"

"That sums it all up pretty much." Sara looked sheepishly at him and heaved a small shrug of her shoulders.

"I'm not sure whether to be pleased, perplexed, or concerned."

"Let's head back to the lab and start processing before people miss us. Last thing we need is any of them being pleased, perplexed, and concerned over where we are and what we're doing. We'll go back to life as usual. We'll ignore each other, I'll sulk, and you'll be disagreeable. They'll never know."

Grissom leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips. "See you back at the lab, you revolting CSI."