11
Sara walked into the room after Barry Sims left and found Grissom with his face in his hands. She had tears streaming down her face. What for? She wasn't sure. She couldn't tell whether she hurt for him or for herself. All she knew was that she hurt.
Grissom finally broke the silence, "I know I have no right to ask this, but will you take me home, please?"
"Wait in the car while I go talk to Ecklie. What do I tell him about the bugs?"
"Sara…I don't know." Grissom burst into tears and she couldn't take it any more. She walked out to find Ecklie.
She found him in his office, "Ecklie?"
"Sara! What's going on with Grissom? I heard about an argument in reception."
"Grissom needs some time off."
"For?"
There was no use in lying, but she knew Grissom didn't like his privacy invaded. "He has some personal family business he needs to take care of. Someone close to him died and has left him with a few things to take care of."
"That's pretty vague."
"That's all I can tell you other than the fact that I need a couple days also to help him."
"Help him? Since when does Gil need any help with anything?"
Laughing at using Grissom's words, "Since he met me."
"Yeah. You always have been his little time bomb. Fine. You can have a couple days. Tell Grissom to call me when he figures out how much time he'll need. Policy says three to five days for a death in the family I think."
"I don't much care about policy."
"Yes, I know. Have him call me anyway."
"Fine." She turned to leave. "Oh! There's also all those bugs in his office. I'll brief Catherine before I leave on the case, but someone will need to take over Grissom's experiment. You need to call in an entomologist." Without waiting for his response she went to find Catherine.
When she finished with Catherine, Sara found Grissom reclined in the passenger seat of her car with his arm over his face. Feeling like he'd probably need to be in his own home, she drove to his townhouse. Neither of them spoke the whole way there.
When they walked into his townhouse, he walked toward his bedroom. When he got to the doorway, he broke their silence, "I need to take a shower. I'd like you to stay, but if you need to leave, I'll understand." There, he'd made her the offer. It was the easiest he could make it for her. Every part of him hoped she'd be there when he got out, but everything told him she'd be gone.