And Out of the Ashes 2?
By Caity
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI or any of its characters.. If I did all of the CSI guys would be at home waiting for me in my bed...
Rating: PG-13… for now..
Author's note: OMG.. I amm sooooooo sorry for reposting the intro.. rolls eyes My computer is stupid... grr... Well.. HERE'S the next part!
Thanks: Thanks to my lovely beta, Firedrake! All hail her!
Reviews:
ayesha84: Thanks! I am continuing..
Odeepblue, Denese25, and Kasjdogg: I am soooo thankful you guys reviewed and notified me.. THANK YOU! This chapter is dedicated to you guys!
Chapter 1
It took the speechless man a seemingly endless moment to respond "Sure...yeah… come in..." He motioned his hand at her as he opened the door open wider. "Come in…"
Sara silently shuffled into Grissom's townhouse, clutching the blanket around her shoulders to her for warmth. Glancing around her boss's townhouse, Sara could remember only one other time she had been here. It had been the Strip Strangler Case and it had been the whole team, not just her. But now that she was here on her own, Sara realized how barren Grissom's apartment was; it only had the bare necessities. In fact, it hardly felt like anyone lived there; it was missing that homey warm feeling. Another thing the CSI noted was that her own apartment was the complete opposite of Grissom's. While his was neat and orderly with few decorations and very white and plain, her apartment had been cluttered and entirely unorganized, each separate room decorated in a different wild color.
Sara's eyes wandered without focus or purpose, until she caught sight of the only adornment to the plain room, a glass-covered collection of hundreds of multi-colored butterflies that dominated the wall where it hung. There were so many of them, so many different species and colors, that it was completely magnificent.
"They're beautiful..." she said, quietly going over and fingering the delicate display of pinned insects. As she touched the display one individual butterfly, delicate blue-green insect the size of her palm, caught her eye. A single precious wing had somehow fallen off the tiny creature, as if someone had reached into the display and had plucked the wing right off. Even if it were alive it would never have the chance to spread its gorgeous wings and fly again. It would never have the chance to touch the sky.
With a small sigh, Sara turned around and faced Grissom before settling down upon his black leather couch.
"Sara… Wh..." He paused looking for the right words. "What happened?" Grissom finally said quietly, his baby blue eyes wordlessly pleading her to talk to him, to confidein him like she once did.
Sara looked down at her feet, wishing the past few hours hadn't gone by; she would give her left arm to reverse time. Her eyes flickered momentarily upward toward the plain white ceiling she started to spill everything to Grissom, her voice taking on a detached and lost tone. "I woke up to the sound of the alarm going off. Flames everywhere. Everything… everything was on fire. There were screams, so many screams… The next thing I remember I was on the side walk. Watching the flames... It all went down in flames."
The distressed brunette sighed as she tried to deal with the nights events. She then brought her soot covered hands up to her face to automatically mask the single clear tear that fell from her coffee brown eyes, wiping away a tiny stream of filth from her face.
Grissom watched Sara wordlessly, fighting the temptation to go over and wrap his big arms around her to comfort her. Instead he bit his lip ever so slightly before saying to her, "Sara, maybe… Maybe you should go clean up. You could use my shower. And I can lend you some clothes that might fit you…"
Sara looked up at him and opened her mouth slightly to speak but found her throat trembling and ready to give away to tearful sobs. Becoming aware that her voice would give away how vulnerable she felt at the moment, she swallowed and nodded solemnly at him. With slow tired movements, she stood up and shuffled toward the bathroom, unable to look back.
TBC..
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