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Chapter Twelve
CSI Lab…
"I got a call from Gillian tonight." Grissom informed Sara as he guided her to his office out of earshot.
"You did? Is…everything okay?"
"Yes." He chuckled. "Although, I have to admit that, her call in the middle of the night almost gave me a coronary."
Sara smiled in return. Her first late night call from their daughter made her heart patient material also. "Gillian is a night owl."
"Apparently. She also wants to know if she could work the graveyard shift when she gets older."
"Certainly not the usual child aspirations."
Grissom nodded in agreement. "So, you'll be able to make the talent show on Friday?"
"Yes." Sara confirmed. "I'll leave right after shift."
"Good. If things are slow, you could head out a little early. I'll pack the roaches and bring them in Thursday night."
"Ugh. I forgot about the roaches."
"Are you sure you'll be comfortable handling them?" Not in the least put off by her reaction. He knew that his pets took some getting used to.
"Of course."
"Because Madagascar cockroaches are-"
"They'll be fine." She interrupted the oncoming lecture. "Don't worry. Besides, she'll only need a couple, right?"
"I suppose a couple will do since she won't be racing them."
"Whatever happened to bringing in pictures of your dog, favorite doll or something less…" She paused searching for a word.
"Unpleasant?"
"I was going to say creepy, but that works."
Locker room…
"So, are you in or not?" Warrick was loosing patience with Catherine. He had a plan to help Grissom and Sara spend more time with their children but he needed the remaining CSI's participation. Nick jumped at the opportunity to help, while Catherine had been reluctant.
"I don't know Warrick. I- uh, I don't want to interfere."
"Since when? You've been digging all in their business since Sara got here. All of a sudden now, you hesitate? What's up with that?"
"Nothing's up."
"Then you're in?" He pushed.
"I wish you'd make up your damn mind!" Catherine snapped. "One minute you're chastising me for checking Sara out and in the next you are asking me to go behind Gil's back. What makes your motives any better than mine?"
"Spare me the drama, Catherine. You know there's a major difference in our motives. I'm trying to give them the opportunity to be a family while you're trying to destroy it."
"Who's being dramatic now, Warrick?"
Catherine was frustrated. The truth was so close she could smell it. But until she had hard evidence, she was working on gut instinct. She wasn't just being a super bitch or jealous friend, she was genuinely concerned about Grissom.
Fact was, things were not right with Sara. Of course, she wanted the woman to check out all right. Of course, she wanted Grissom to be happy and enjoy his life with his children. But didn't she have an obligation to look out for him when he was too blinded by the possibility of a fairy tale ending? Unlike Grissom, Catherine wanted the truth. Grissom told her long ago that he never told her the truth about Eddie because it wasn't his business. Well, as a friend, it was her business. It was her job to look out for him when he couldn't do that for himself.
No one had witnessed the state he returned to Vegas in all those years ago. The guys would never understand how much it broke her heart to see the strongest man she had ever known reduced to nothing. It took years to get him back to the point where he was actually living instead of merely existing. Only to have her come back.
She had hoped that the woman that had killed Grissom's spirit had fallen off of the face of the earth or at least had the decency to contract some terribly painful, disfiguring disease. But no, she waltzes right back into his life and picks up like nothing's wrong. What kind of monster would do that? And she kept his children a secret. If this had been a case file, her co workers would be working just as hard beside her to find the answers.
"When are you going to drop this?" Warrick questioned wearily.
"What if I'm right? What if I'm right about Sara and we're handing her Gil's heart on a silver platter?"
"She's done nothing to you, Cath. Sara's here everyday putting the bad guys away for a living - just like us. At the same time, she is trying to get her family together. I would think you could relate on how difficult that must be. Undeniably, there must be issues there, but let them work it out. If there's something Sara's hiding, let her be the one to tell him or let Grissom find out on his own. You won't win any points for being the one to crack this case, Catherine."
"We'll see."
Warrick rubbed a hand over his face in frustration, then glanced up suddenly. "Cath, please tell me that you are notstill investigating Sara." His mouth dropped open when Catherine's eyes shifted guiltily to the floor. "I can't believe you. You know it's only a matter of time before she finds out. It's not your business! God, it's like…I don't even know you anymore."
"You know me Warrick. I'm the one that would do the same for you if I thought that someone was trying to hurt you. Don't make this a 'thing' between us." Acknowledging out loud, for the first time, that there was actually something building between them.
Warrick snorted in disgust. "Us, is the least of your worries right now. If you keep this going, you're going to loose your best friend." He warned moving towards the doorway. "Let me know what you decide before assignments."
"Yeah." Catherine finally answered well after the room was empty.
Maybe Warrick was right. She silently pondered. Grissom certainly had not appreciated her appointing herself his personal savior, thus far. She needed to take a step back before she lost all objectivity. Catherine was never one to give up on a fight, but she also knew when, on most occasions, to let things go. At least temporarily. If something was there, it would surface sooner or later. Whatever it was, it was not worth losing both men in her life.
A little while later…Conference Room…
"It's been my understanding that the supervisor calls the meetings in this lab." Grissom complained as he entered the Conference Room after receiving the request on his pager.
There, Warrick, Catherine, Nick, Greg and Sara were already gathered at the table . He frowned while racking his memory. Was it someone's birthday or had he forgotten evaluations again? "What's going on?"
"Don't look at me." Sara shrugged. "I was also summoned."
"Well, we came up with a solution to your problem." Nick motioned between Sara and Grissom.
"We have a problem?" Sara asked, her confused expression matched Grissom's.
"Yes. So, here's what we came up with. This…" Catherine passed out several sheets of paper around the table. "Is a revised work schedule, effective immediately."
"Last time I checked, the supervisor made the work schedules." Grissom grumbled again.
"Stop your bellyaching, Gil." She fussed, catching Warrick's approving glance. "This is for your own good."
"Hold on, since when do I get every other weekend off?" Sara wanted to know as she perused the new assignments.
"Since now." Warrick answered for the group. "You've got about six or seven weeks before the kids are done with school and moving here, right?"
"That's the plan." Sara confirmed.
"So, we're going to cover the weekends for you both until then."
Grissom and Sara where speechless. The gesture was overwhelming.
"I don't know what to say." Grissom was the first to finally speak.
"I'll second that." Sara nodded. "I can't believe you guys are willing to give up your weekends for us."
"For you and the twins." Catherine clarified.
"You deserve it. And, you'll owe us big time once the munchkins come home." Nick added.
"Well, thank you." Sara was still mildly astonished. "We both appreciate this."
"Yes." Grissom affirmed with a nod.
"You're both welcome. Uh - Gil," Catherine turned to face him. "You'll have to be on call though. In case of an emergency or an Entomological consult."
"No problem. Now, if it's okay with you all, let's pretend that I'm in charge so that we can review our cases and go home."
Sara eyed Grissom with a wide smile when the room cleared later.
"What?"
"We can both make it to Show and Tell."
"Yes."
"And, we can spend the weekend as a family."
"A family." Grissom repeated as he weighed and tested the unfamiliar word on his tongue. "Yes. I'd like that."
"Good. Let's call Gil and Gillian."
