Present Day.

"With all due respect, Miss Sidle, I'm from Child Services and you are the guardian of one Anthony Jack Blackwell."

Dragging the sheet up over her body to clutch tightly to her chest, Sara frowned at the ceiling. "Um, Ms Blossom, is it?"

"Yes."

"Ms Blossom, I'm afraid I don't understand. You see, my brother died almost three weeks ago." She turned her eyes to Grissom, who was sitting up on his elbow watching her. "I was told that my nephew was being well cared for by his mother."

A paused on the line was filled with rustling of paper. With a slight click, the voice was back. "Miss Sidle, according to the papers I received this morning, you were supposed to have collected your nephew from a, Mrs Sally Briggs, last Sunday."

Sara slowly sat upright. "What? Are you sure?"

"Positive, Miss Sidle." She paused. "Are you tell me that you do not have Anthony Jack Blackwell in your custody, Miss Sidle?"

"Gil," Sara whispered fearfully, the phone slipping from her slack hand as her right hand covered her mouth.

Taking the phone, he shifted his body closer to slip his arm around her. "Ms Blossom, my name is Gil Grissom. Sara is upset, can you explain to me what is going on?"

"Mr Grissom, if what I'm piecing together here, Miss Sidle has neglected in her care for her nephew. Who is currently unaccounted for. As of last week, Sunday in fact, Miss Sidle was supposed to collect the boy from a friends home in Los Angeles. I have legal papers that need to be signed by Miss Sidle and called her. Now I fear something has gone wrong."

Clearing his throat as he tried to piece together what was going on, he ran his hand up and down Sara's bare arm. "Ms Blossom, I'm a CSI with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I'm going to give you my number and a number of a detective. I'd like you to call him in an hour. I'll call and explain things to him and he'll start looking into this. Is that alright with you?"

"Certainly Mr Grissom."

Sara pushed the sheets away and slipped from the bed. She stooped to grab her robe as she moved towards the bedroom door. As she slowly pulled on the robe, she walked to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water.


10 Minutes Later.

Sweatpants and a sweater, Grissom padded barefoot into the kitchen. "Jim is already calling Richard and Sally. Within an hour he should have something." He gently rubbed her back as he stood beside her at the sink. "You ok?" He asked softly.

She shook her head. "I can't think. I-" She sniffed and turned into his chest. Sinking into his warmth, she sighed shakily.

"We'll get dressed, make some phone calls," He cupped the back of her head. "We'll find out what's going on."


42 Minutes Later.

The grey cell phone sat on the kitchen unit, silently vibrating across the surface. Grissom grasped it as it shook against the plant pot sitting against the wall in between the toaster and the house phone. With a quick and familiar twist to open it, he answered with a crisp greeting. "Anything?"

Without a greeting or beating around the bush, Jim Brass delved straight into the details. "Sunday morning, Sally Briggs was rushed into hospital with a suspected miscarriage. The Blackwell baby was left with a neighbour, who is also the babysitter. When Mrs Briggs was booked into the hospital for three days of observation, the husband was away on a business trip abroad.

"The neighbour tells the story with confidence and I believe her. The mother collected the baby on Monday with ID and no apparent cause for suspicion. The neighbour didn't realise anything was fishy until Sally Briggs called and asked about the kid. The neighbour freaked and called the authorities. Since then the local force has been trying to locate the mother."

"Why wasn't Sara called and informed?"

"Apparently the communication chain was broken somewhere after the funeral. Mr Briggs said that he was to hand custody papers to Sara before the funeral, but couldn't do it."

"Yes. Richard mentioned something about needing Sara's signature on some paperwork, but wasn't sure she was up to it so soon."

"The local cops didn't realise there was a guardian to be informed. Apparently Sara's involvement was overlooked. Mr Briggs says he was told of Sara's acceptance of guardianship and didn't think at the time to contact her about the baby's disappearance. I'd expect a phone call from him. His guilty conscience almost made me sick."

Grissom rubbed the back of his neck. "Anything else?"

"Well, Mr Briggs says he sent a colleague from work to deliver the papers by hand, but get this, the colleague was involved in a six car pile up on his way out of Los Angeles."

"Coincidence?" He asked.

Brass breathed heavily down the receiver. "Nothing. The accident was caused by a driver falling asleep at the well of a dairy truck. Four dead on impact and two critical. The two are still in hospital."

Trying to get his head around the personal angle of the issue, Grissom pulled off his glasses. "The baby?"

"Nothing yet. I'll keep you posted." With that, he hung up.


Later That Day.

Sitting down at the table across from a silent and worried Sara, he placed two blue mugs of coffee on the placemats piled in the centre. "Here." He pushed the white coffee towards her. "Sara." He reached out and covered her hand, which was curled around a cold mug.

She took a large breath and let it out as she spoke in worried tones. "I didn't know. I honestly had no idea." Her eyes looked up at his with desperation and confusion. "How could he do this? He never even mentioned something like this. His own son."

Grissom squeezed her fingers. "Sara, listen to me. Your brother obviously set things into motion before he died. Ms Blossom is going to be at the station in a couple of hours with the paperwork she received from the lawyers office your friend Richard works. Something more must have happened. Lets wait for the evidence to get here before we think about anything else."

"He's a baby, Gil." She whispered. "How could Tony do this without telling me?"

"Please don't worry, Sara. And I know you're feeling that it isn't possible not to, but please wait a little longer. We'll have answers soon."

"What if we don't?" She asked.

Hesitating, he gently stroked her fingers with his own. "If that's the outcome, I'll be here for you."


To Be Continued.