Author's Notes: Sorry it took so long to get this out...I've been on an angst-kick lately, as many of my readers have seen. Anyone who's particularly fond of Grissom...or GSR...I'm sorry in advance.
All mistakes are my own, my trusty beta reader is working, as I should be doing.
Jenny
Chapter Two:
Catherine Willows had never been a particularly patient woman, nor a very patient driver. So when she wound up sitting in dead-stopped traffic on the highway, instead of working her awaiting crime scene, she was a very unhappy woman.
She tapped her hand anxiously against the steering wheel, leaning slightly to the left to see if she could tell how far traffic was backed up. With a scowl she realized the produce truck in front of her was blocking her vision completely, and she silently fumed, wondering how much trouble she'd get in if she took the shoulder and flipped her sirens on.
Sure, she wasn't going to the accident, but the crime scene wouldn't wait forever. Besides, the hot Vegas sun was already pounding on her black SUV, her skin sizzling. The longer she waited, the less powerful her air conditioning would become, and the more irritated she'd become. It would be a lot easier to just use her LVPD authority to breeze through traffic...
She edged onto the shoulder of the highway, not too surprised to see the plethora of squad cars, fire trucks, and ambulances ahead. Flipping her lights on, she made her way to the front of the commotion, only feeling slightly guilty as she passed the unfortunate motorists that had to wait for this mess to be cleared before moving once more.
Catherine was nearly ready to duck off onto a side street when she noticed the familiar silver car. She slowed down, her heart racing as she pulled out her cell phone. Plenty of people owned silver Fords, it wasn't as if Grissom had the only one on the market. Still, it never hurt to double check. With trembling fingers, she dialed her boss's number, waiting with baited breath for an answer. After two rings, his voice mail picked up, and Catherine slammed her own phone shut.
It couldn't be Grissom, he was taking the day off to rest. They had been working hard on a serial case, and after he and Sara had run themselves ragged trying to piece together the evidence, both had taken the night off to catch up on the basics, such as eating and sleeping. He was probably at home, in bed, getting some much needed rest.
She hesitated, glancing at the wreck once more. It couldn't be Grissom's car, if he wasn't at home, he'd definitely be working. He wasn't the kind to take off of work so he could joyride around town, he loved his job too much for that. She slowed to a stop, waiting to get the officer's clearance to proceed. And that's when she saw the hysterical, blood soaked brunette violently pulling away from the paramedic trying to tend to her. Hastily putting her SUV into park, she jumped out of the vehicle and rushed over to the scene.
"Oh my God, Sara, what happened?" Catherine asked, grabbing Sara by the arm as she tried to move back towards the car, "Sara!"
"Let me go!" Sara screamed hysterically, "Grissom! I need to get him, I need to help him!"
Catherine waived her badge towards the paramedic, and he took a step back, giving the two women some space. Grabbing Sara by the shoulders, Catherine asked urgently, "Sara, what happened? Talk to me."
Tears spilled onto Sara's cheeks as she motioned towards the car, "They won't help him. They're just leaving him in there. He needs help! He's hurt."
Raising her hand to Sara's bleeding head, she gently soothed, "I'm going to go check on Grissom and see what's going on. You let this nice paramedic look at your head, you're bleeding."
"No!" Sara sobbed, pulling away from Catherine, "I've got to get to Grissom!"
Catherine grabbed Sara as the brunette made a beeline for the car, holding her back as she exclaimed, "Sara! Stop it!" Feeling the brunette slightly relax, she continued firmly, "I'll go check on Grissom. You need to get looked at, you're hurt."
"I'm fine." Sara muttered, struggling to break free from the blonde's grasp, "Grissom's hurt."
"That may be true, but you're hurt also." Catherine replied calmly, motioning for the paramedic to come over, "Let..." She glanced up towards the paramedic questioningly.
"Phillip."
"Let Phillip examine you, and I'm going to step right over here and check on Grissom. I promise I'll come right back and tell you everything, okay?"
After a few moments of deliberation and a few strangled sobs, the incoherent Sara nodded, letting the medic lead her to a nearby gurney where she immediately sank down, her body shaking as she started intently at the mangled car, oblivious to the treatment being administered to her. Phillip's voice began to fade, and she was vaguely aware of her body feeling numb as the world grew black and she slumped over, unconscious.
--
Catherine nervously moved towards the metal heap that used to be Grissom's car, holding up her badge to the officer working the scene, "What do we have?"
"Vehicle one veered into the southbound lane, causing vehicle two to swerve and lose control of their vehicle. The driver of vehicle one was eject, DOA. The occupants of vehicle two are your people...CSI Sidle, as you can see, isn't cooperating with the paramedics, they had to saw her out of the vehicle. CSI Grissom hasn't been removed, but the paramedics are deeming him DOA. We're waiting on the deputy coroner."
"I need to see him." Catherine said softly, the news knocking the wind from her. Dead? Grissom? It couldn't be. She had seen him only hours earlier, and he had been perfectly fine. A bit tired, but otherwise healthy.
The officer shook his head grimly, holding his hand up to stop her from getting any closer to the car, "I don't think that's a good idea, he's pretty...banged up."
"I have to see him." Catherine insisted, her voice carrying a twinge of hysteria, "Grissom is my best friend, I need to see this in order to believe it."
The officer reluctantly took a step back, allowing Catherine to near the car. Peering in through the broken windows, she was able to see Grissom slumped over the steering wheel, his face filled with cuts and blood. How could he have been killed by just a few cuts to the head? His wounds looked less serious than Sara's. Her eyes trailed down to his chest before finally realizing that below his waist, nothing was connected. With horrified, sickened eyes she moved to get a deeper view into the car, pulling away and heaving on the pavement once she saw the bottom half of his body laying a few inches away.
She graciously accepted the bottle of water the officer handed her, and on shaky legs she stumbled away from the car, certain that the image of her friend, literally broken into two, would haunt her for the rest of her life.
She remained bent over, her hands on her knees, for a few moments, trying to calm down enough to get her mind into "business-mode". She had things to do, people to call...not to forget the crime scene that she had abandoned in her attempt to make heads or tails of this accident. There would be time to mourn later, now she had to handle the repercussions of this tragic event.
Exhaling slowly, she stood, reaching for her cell phone and dialing the first number she could think of.
"Brown."
She hoped that her voice hadn't waved too badly as she spoke, "Warrick, are you at the scene yet?"
"No, they had some sort of accident, Nick and I ducked off on some side roads, but they're redirecting traffic. What's up?"
"I'm at the accident scene now..." Catherine's voice cracked as she desperately fought the onslaught of tears, "It's Grissom and Sara. Can you meet me at the hospital? Can you call Greg, also? I need to take care of some things here."
"Is it serious?"
"That's an understatement." Catherine replied with a chuckle of nervous laughter. Glancing back towards Sara, who was now being strapped down to the stretcher for transport, she swallowed back bile and hoarsely added, "There's been a fatality."
--
"You don't need to do this...I'll be okay by myself." Sara huffed, her hands trembling as she tightly fastened her seatbelt, "I don't need a babysitter."
"I'm not here to babysit you, I'm here as a friend." Greg spoke softly, his words sounding hollow as he still tried to comprehend the day's events, "This is what friends do."
"Since when are we friends?" Sara snapped angrily, knowing she was being unreasonable, but unable to stop lashing out long enough to think clearly about the possible repercussions, "Working together doesn't make us friends."
"I believe it's the movie marathons, breakfasts and dinners together, and overall trust in each other that makes is friends, Sara." Greg reminded her, "I'm not the bad guy here, I'm just worried about you."
Sara crossed her arms, staring out the window, "Just because Grissom's dead doesn't mean I'm going to fall magically in love with you."
"I don't know what you're trying to do here, Sara." Greg replied calmly, "But it's not working. You can try to hurt me all night, but that won't stop me from caring about you."
"I don't want to talk to you." Sara spat, "You're infuriating."
Greg remained silent, occasionally stealing a glance at his best friend. He knew this was her way of trying to convince herself she wasn't hurting, her way of trying to isolate herself so she could grieve without an audience, but he wasn't willing to let her get away with that. Sometimes people needed to rely on the comfort of someone they loved, someone who loved them...tonight Sara needed someone to keep her sane, to keep her mind off of what could have been, what had happened, what she had lost. If anyone could handle that responsibility, Greg could.
They pulled into Sara's apartment complex, and Greg turned off the car, pulling the key from the ignition, "I'm coming in."
"I expected as much." Came Sara's cool reply, "I'm going to bed."
"I expected as much." Greg retorted, wrapping an arm around her as they climbed the stairs. She hadn't been banged up too terribly bad in the accident. Aside from a concussion, a few lacerations, and a sprained wrist, she had been unharmed. Compared to the two who had died, she had gotten off miraculously lucky.
They reached the top of the stairs, and Sara leaned her head against Greg's shoulder, "Greg?"
"Mhmm?" Greg responded, fighting to get her key out of his pocket.
Sara closed her eyes as a single tear rolled down her cheek. She had just lost her boyfriend, if she ran off her best friend as well, she'd be completely alone. Greg was always the perfect friend, he didn't deserve to be the subject of her verbal wrath. Wiping away the tear, Sara whispered softly, "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Greg asked, looking down to meet Sara's tear-filled eyes, "I'm used to taking your bullying." he teased, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug.
Sara sniffled slightly, a small smile on her lips, "I guess by now you should be..." her smile flickered out, and she laid her head on his shoulder, "Seriously, Greg, I'm sorry. You're being...great. I really appreciate it."
"That's what I'm here for." Greg replied, "Go get changed for bed, and I'll find us something funny to watch...it will make you feel better."
Sara nodded, forcing herself to at least try to go along with Greg's suggestion. Maybe he had a point, wallowing in self-pity would destroy her. A distraction would probably make this whole situation a lot more bearable. She stepped into her bedroom, her eyes instantly resting on a framed photo standing on her dresser. She picked it up, running her finger lightly over the glass. It had been taken a few months prior at an entomology conference that Grissom had convinced her to go to. They both looked so happy.
Sinking to the floor, Sara clutched the picture tightly, holding it to her chest as she began to sob. She couldn't find the strength to look up as Greg entered the room, only vaguely aware of the warm embrace that held her tightly until she eventually cried herself to sleep.
TBC