Chapter Eight
Sara sat down beside Dani's bed. The little girl was crying. Dani wasn't looking at Sara, she was staring at the wall, but her mind was somewhere else. Dani's mind was probably exploring forgotten memories, which made her cry. If Sara were to ask what was wrong, she knew what answer she'd get. The little girl would say 'nothing'.
"Dani..." Sara started.
Dani cut her off. "I almost died."
"What?"
"You were going to ask what was wrong. My answer is that I almost died." Dani answered through the tears. Sara stared at her half-sister. How did she know that? "I'm smarter than you think."
"I didn't think you weren't smart." Sara said. "I wasn't going to ask what was wrong. I wanted to know how you could attempt suicide at your age."
"Depression isn't an emotion that comes with age, so it doesn't matter how old I am." Dani said. Grissom came into the room and sat down beside Sara. "What do you want?"
"You're intelligent." Grissom said, ignoring Dani's other comment.
"How do you know that?" Dani asked.
"I looked at your school records. Your lowest mark is 89." Grissom explained.
"Yeah." Dani said. "What are you getting at?"
"Just making a point." Grissom said calmly. Sara walked out of the room. Grissom followed her all the way to the car. Sara got into the passenger seat and stared out the window. Gil got into the driver's seat. He stared at Sara.
Grissom waited for Sara to speak. He didn't start the car, he just waited. Sara kept staring out the window, lost in her thoughts.
"Sara..." Gil started.
"I don't want to talk about it." Sara said quietly.
"You have to. You can't run from what's happening." Gil said.
"I can try." Sara said quietly.
"Sara..." Gil said again.
"No. I said I don't want to talk about it, and I meant it." Sara said firmly.
"You may not want to, but you have to." Grissom still tried to convince Sara to talk to him. Sara shook her head. "I'm not driving until you talk to me." Gil added.
"I guess we'll be here a while then." Sara snapped.
Thirty-five minutes went by, and Sara wasn't going to give in. "Let's go back to my house, I'll make some coffee." Grissom said, giving in. He put the keys in the ignition and drove back to his townhouse. Sara sat down on the couch. Grissom turned on the coffeemaker and sat down with her.
Sara still didn't speak. Grissom poured himself and Sara a cup of coffee. Sara took a small sip, then stared into the cup. It kept her hands warm and gave her something to look at, other than Grissom. Sara knew that she would eventually have to talk, but she could wait. She could hide for a while, until Gil found her.