A/N - I'm glad that this story has been greeted happily and I am glad that you are all enjoying it. I'm find it fantastically easy to write which is why I have capter two after just 24hrs. Enjoy and please reveiw...
Chapter Two – What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted
Sara did not expect him to be home when she had walked in but was somehow still surprised by the cold silence that greeted her. The house seemed so empty without him there. She had a long hot shower before settling in bed, her old yearbooks open in front of her. She had met Jaime quite by accident one afternoon. She had crashed into her and spilt her frappacino over the front of her shirt, staining the white fabric a horrible brown. Sara had stumbled a quick apology but was stunned when Jaime had begun to laugh. She thought the entire thing was hugely funny and they had been friends ever since. Unfortunately, life had gotten in the way and they lost contact over the years, reconnecting every once and a while, whether it be by letters or the odd coffee. Sara had been there to see Amelia being born and had even helped name her. Now Jaime was dead.
"Sara? Are you home?"
Sara swung her legs out of bed and padded into the hallway. Grissom was hanging up him coat on the antique coat hanger, a thick folder in his hand.
"I didn't think you would be coming home tonight."
"Neither did I. I want to apologise."
Sara felt a smile tickle the corners of her mouth, suddenly relieved.
"Me too. I'm sorry for just running into the scene Grissom. I panicked."
Grissom pulled her into a hug and Sara could smell a variety of chemicals on his shirt.
"I'm sorry too. I should have taken the time to understand why you did that."
"Oh you talked to Catherine didn't you?"
Grissom smiled as he released her and followed her back into the bedroom.
"Wise woman that one. What are you doing?"
"Just remembering how I met Jaime."
Grissom nodded as he began to strip off his work clothes, throwing them into a pile in the corner, slipping on his large terry cloth robe.
"I really am sorry about her death Sara. I promise that I will do everything I can to make sure her killer is found."
"Does that mean I can come back onto the case?"
"No you can't. You know that."
Sara felt the anger rise in her chest again, all thoughts of forgiveness now gone.
"That's not fair. You've let Catherine investigate cases involving Eddie and Sam! Why can't you let me be a sideliner? Hands off?"
Grissom sighed, sitting heavily on the bed, his voice tired.
"Because if something happens in this case the DA will bring it up. You know that Sara."
"But those rules didn't apply to Catherine did they?"
Grissom felt the anger rise in his chest, felt his patience snap like an overly stretched cord.
"YOU ARE MY GIRLFRIEND! DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MEANS? ANYONE WOULD LOOK FOR CHANCES TO BLAME ME FOR FAVOURITISM! I GIVE YOU ANY SORT OF LEWAY AND MY ACTIONS, OUR ACTIONS WILL BE QUESTIONED!"
It took Sara a moment to absorb his words; his shouting was more of a shock then what he actually said. He had never shouted at her and it made her take a small step back, unexpected tears coming to her eyes. He stepped forward and tired to touch her but she reeled back, her voice hard.
"Don't touch me."
She stalked out of the bedroom and Grissom fell back onto the bed, his head coming to rest on some of the yearbooks, trying to contain his anger. Sara had always been fairly open and honest about their relationship if people asked her, she didn't see the need to lie and keep things covered up. He on the other hand had to deal with the stares from those people who thought he was over stepping the line between boss and lover. He wanted to tell them that he did Sara no favours and she worked as hard, if not harder then any of his other team, that she was responsible of her own actions and he didn't cover for her. But he couldn't. They would never believe him. He sighed again and decided to have a shower before settling down to bed with the file. When he re-emerged from the shower, some twenty minutes later, Sara was back in bed, the file open in front of her.
"I didn't know Jaime was married."
Grissom hung his towel on the back of the door before hopping into bed beside her.
"Yeah she was. To a Robert Wolf Peters. Their relationship was quite a violent one judging by her hospital records."
"Do you think he did it?"
"He's a likely suspect. Brass is picking him up tomorrow and we'll be interviewing him then. Hopefully we'll get a good lead or a solid suspect."
Sara nodded as she closed the file and dropped it onto his lap before rolling over, her back to him.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"You've never done that before."
"Sara, please look at me."
After a moment of pause, she turned and faced him, her eyes red from crying.
"I didn't mean to yell."
"I want on this case"
"You can't."
"Yes I can. If you can let Catherine do it, then I can too. Our relationship has nothing to do with work, ask anyone who knows us. It took them all weeks to figure out that we were together and even then they weren't 100 sure. Please let me do this Grissom. Let me help."
The pleading in her voice made him soften his resolve and he gave a slight nod.
"Fine. Hands off only ok? No touching the evidence and you go through me or Catherine for everything, understood?"
Sara nodded as she gave him a smile and snuggled closer to him, laying a kiss on his law.
"Thank you Grissom."
"Please don't make me regret this Sara."
"I won't. Now sleep, we have along day tomorrow."
Robert Peters sat on the very edge of the seat, almost as if he expected to leave any second, so he didn't want to get too comfortable. He was quite good looking, with longish dirty blonde hair, a defined jaw and full lips. Sara suspected that people would tell him he looked rather like Brad Pitt. He sat sullenly as he waited to be questioned by Brass, ignoring the coke that had been brought to him when he had first arrived. Brass walked into the room with the same casual air that he walked everywhere, almost as if he had accidentally walked into the room and he didn't know quite why he was there.
"So Robert, do you know why you are here?"
"I suppose it's something to do with Jaime. She's the only reason I get pulled into these places."
"Jaime's dead."
Robert's reaction was what one would expect. He shouted and yelled, hammered his fists against the table, tears falling unabashed before he finally turned back to Brass.
"How?"
Brass opened the file with a practised sweep of his hand and read over the words, as if he had never seen them before.
"Murdered. Beaten to death to be more precise."
"But who would do this?"
It took a second of silence before Robert seemed to absorb just why he was there.
"You think I did it?"
Brass shrugged as he settled himself in a seat across from their main suspect.
"Give me a reason why we should look else where. We pulled her hospital records and you really gave her a whipping."
Brass pulled another section from the file and began to read off the extensive list that Sara had read briefly in bed the night before.
"A broken nose, a fractured wrist, cracked ribs and several black eyes. You must have really loved her."
Robert took a deep breath, releasing it through his nose.
"Did you pull my records? Did you see the injuries she gave me?"
Sara saw the confusion on Brass's face before he pulled out his police radio and made the request to one of his officers for the records.
"Did Jaime suffer?"
Brass, obviously still not completely convinced of Robert's innocence, slid a pile of pictures his way before fanning them out like a terrible winning hand of cards.
"What do you think?"
Sra herself had yet to see the pictures, suspected that Grissom had left them at work on purpose when he came home last night but she wanted to see them, wanted to see what was left of her friend. Judging by the vomiting that Robert was now doing, the pictures did not paint a good picture. Sara stepped aside as an officer came barrelling into the room, dropping yet another file on the table before leaving again. Sara watching as Brass thumbed through the file, his eyes getting wider and wider.
"I need you to do one more thing for me Robert."
"What?"
"I need you to strip."
Robert swore softly under his breath before standing and stripping down to his jocks. He spun slowly for Brass before giving him a hard look.
"Happy?"
Brass nodded.
"Very. You are free to go but don't go leaving the state for a little while yet."
Robert left and Sara entered the room to sit across from Brass, giving the circle of vomit a wide berth.
"Why did you let him go?"
"Look at the pictures Sara."
The pictures were more shocking then she was prepared for. She didn't recognise her friend, her face seemingly replaced with what looked like a pile of raw meat, blood still seeping from her wounds. Her hands were torn, her nails gone, fingers very obviously broken and bent in unnatural positions.
"She fought hard Sara. There was no way that her killer came out unscathed. Robert, as much as I like him for it, is innocent."
Sara sat heavily in the seat.
"Did Doc get back with the autopsy yet?"
"No. But it should be soon. Want to grab a coffee before we get that page?"
"Yes please."
They made small talk as they headed to the break room, which was empty, and Brass made them cups of coffee while Sara went in search for something safe to eat in the staff fridge, re-emerging a few moments later with some slices of cold pizza.
"I think this is safe. Looks like Nick's dinner from last night."
They settled down to eat and drink, a comfortable silence falling as they waited impatiently for the pager to go off, for Doc to get them informed.
"So did Grissom give you the ok to come to the autopsy?"
"So he told you about all the restrictions he's got me on huh?"
Brass smiled at Sara.
"I've been friends with him long before you were out of your diapers, young lady. He wanted me to make sure that you stayed inside the boundaries."
Sara, her appetite gone, tossed the pizza on the paper plate.
"I feel like a child."
"Grissom does that to the best of us. He's just covering your backside, his and the lab's. You can understand why he's doing it, right?"
Sara nodded with great reluctance. She knew exactly why he was doing it.
"And he's right. But it doesn't make me feel any less of a child. He's scared of being accused of favouritism just because we're together. He called me his girlfriend last night."
"And that's new?"
"Oh yeah. Granted he yelled it, but he still called me his girlfriend. He's never done that before."
"Well congratulations. Sounds a little high school though doesn't it? You're his girlfriend."
"Better then just being Sara."
Brass shifted slightly in his seat before his eyes found Sara's again.
"Can I ask you a personal question?"
"Sure."
Brass shifted again, taking a deep breath before continuing.
"Do you love him?"
"With all my heart. Why?"
Brass, who seemed mightily relieved by her answer, relaxed further into his seat.
"Because he doesn't have many friends and someone needs to watch his back. I just don't want to see him getting hurt."
Sara shook her head as she was overcome by a wave of affection for the old, gruff detective.
"I won't be doing that. I love him too much, despite the fact he drives me mad. Have ever seen the way he squeezes toothpaste?"
Brass laughed.
"Yeah, I know. What is with that?"
"I have no idea. He says it's an old habit."
Sara finished off her coffee and began to feel very restless.
"Do you think Doc would be too pissed if we just wandered down there to see how he is?"
"Yes. But let's do it anyway. I'm sick of waiting."
They exchanged smiles before they made their way down to the cold ad silent halls of the morgue. Sara dealt with death everyday; saw the repercussions of anger, jealousy and hate but the morgue still left her feeling unnerved. Aside from the chatter from Doc and his right hand man David and the occasional music, it was so quite. Sara took a deep breath before matching into the morgue, bracing herself for Doc's wrath if they had come too early.
"Good timing you two, I was just about to page you. Grissom's on his way."
Doc was a rather short man, with a beard and a head of hair that was heading south for the winter. Even though he has lost his leg quite a long time ago, his movements were as fluid as those of an able bodied person. He didn't live for work though, like the rest of the team, he had a family that he went home too. He had a fantastic ability to keep his two worlds separate and Sara admired him greatly for that.
"Come closer and I'll tell you what I found."
Sara pulled on the required shapeless blue scrubs before moving in for a closer look at Jaime's body. The pictures didn't do the injuries justice. In real life, in real time, they were far more vivid and violent then could have been captured on any kind of camera.
"What killed her Doc?"
Doc exchanged a worried glance with Brass before proceeding to answer Sara' question.
"Internal bleeding. One of the blows to her back severely damaged a kidney. If she had been taken to hospital, she could have survived."
He shifted Jaime's body to allow them to see her back and Sara winced. A large, very blue bruise was spread over the entire lower back.
"Find anything else for us Doc?"
Doc reached out to a table behind him and handed over a small plastic bag that contained several fibres.
"Found these in some of her wounds."
They chattered for a little longer, Brass gaining what information he could before leaving the Doc alone in his domain. They were almost back into the break room when they crashed into a very shocked looking Grissom.
"Sara, I need to speak to you."
Sara exchanged a quick look with Brass before following Grissom into his office, taking a seat across from him.
"What's wrong?"
Grissom was busy looking over a large piece of paper, his hands shaking slightly.
"I thought you said that you hadn't had contact with Jamie in a number of months."
"I haven't, not since Amelia was born. What makes you think that I have?"
"Because I have Jaime's last will and testament here. And you're listed as Amelia's godmother."
