Irrefutable chapter 19

By: Manigault

Thanks for the patience of anyone and everyone reading this story! I've some problems with loading my documents to Sigh.

Thanks for the nice comments and reviews. I do hope to finish this before the new season starts.

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Lurie settled down behind the monitors and scanned over each one looking for Sara. Nothing. She had not returned to her home and she had not been in her car that night. Discouraged, he turned to the one that should have shown Grissom and Heather, frowning when he saw the monitor was blank. He picked up the phone and dialed the number that would connect him with Grissom and heard the voice mail pick up after the fourth ring. Anger simmered in his eyes as he dialed a second number and waited for Sara to answer.

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A sensation of sound and feeling assaulted Grissom as he tried to pry open his eyes, only to close them quickly as a low groan emitted from his lips. Reality slowly crept back in as he forced his eyes open and found himself staring up into the faces of strangers.

"What happened?" he asked, his eyes darting from one unfamiliar face to another while trying to assimilate what had transpired.

"You were in a car accident."

It rushed back to him as he recalled his determination to thwart Heather and displace her weapon. Heather. His eyes widened as he remembered the sound of the gun firing in the seconds before he lost consciousness.

Gripping the arm of the female EMT who had answered his question, Grissom inquired to the whereabouts of the woman that had been with him.

"Your friend has been transported to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the lower leg." She studied the prone man with questioning eyes and couldn't disguish her curiousity. A nudge in the side by her partner, brought her back to the present and she scowled slightly.

"Is she okay?" asked Grissom, struggling to sit up on the gurney. Gentle hands pushed him back down and he didn't resist as waves of pain clutched his mind.

"She should be fine," the EMT assured him as she pulled the strap over his chest and snapped it into place. "We're taking you to the same hospital to be checked out."

"Sara," murmurred Grissom as he reached for his pocket searching for his phone. He had to get in touch with Sara.

"Is that your friends name?"

Confusion warred within Grissom's mind as he tried to determine what this EMT was asking him. "Sara's my life. I need to talk to her and let her know I'm okay."

"You'll see her at the hospital."

"Sara's at the hospital?" Grissom shook his head in an attempt to clear the cobwebs from his mind. "Sara's in Vegas. I need my cell phone."

Grissom felt himself lifted on the gurney and transported to the ambulance.

"You can see her when you get to the hospital," the EMT reassured him again, not understanding the Vegas reference. He was obviously confused. She exchanged a bemused look with her partner and mentally noted to add that to the report she would give the nurses.

Grissom opened his mouth to protest when another wave of blackness swept over him.

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Sara shook her head as Nick and Warrick both took turns fussing about Grissom and his insensitivity.

"What was he thinking? I can't believe that Grissom could allow himself to be run out of town on a wild goose chase." Nick knew that his voice was unsteady as he tried to take in everything Sara had filled them in on.

"I didn't tell you all of this so you would be angry with Grissom," said Sara with a sad frown.

Warrick reached for her elbow and squeezed it gently. "We're not mad at Griss," he sent Nick a look of steel and dared him to object.

Taking the hint, Nick nodded slightly. "I'm worried about him, that's all," he sighed and then added, "and I'm worried about you."

"I just need to speak with him and know that he's okay." Picking up her phone, Sara almost dropped it as it began to ring. Recovering quickly, she stared at the caller id and shuddered. "It's not Griss."

Warrick and Nick watched as the sadness that had been weighing her down, turned to anger as she answered the call.

"What do you want?"

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Hearing the anger in Sara's voice, Lurie had to struggle to contain his own irritation. His well thought out plan was unraveling. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen and he quickly reassured himself that Sara's anger was directed at Grissom for running off with Lady Heather and not at himself who was doing everything for her. She would see that he wanted nothing but to prove his love.

Pushing aside any shred of rationality he spoke plainly as he heard Sara's question.

"I want you, of course."

The silence that greeted him caused a few seconds of distress, but he quickly dismissed it as he continued with his plan.

"Sara? Did you hear me?"

"I heard you," she said, her voice betraying the slightest unsteadiness.

"When are you going home?" asked Lurie.

"Home? When am I going home?" Sara's voice was slicing through the wire and the anger made him wince.

"I know that your're upset that Grissom ran off with Lady Heather, but we can talk about it. If you go home and relax then we can talk about everything without anyone overhearing."

Lurie stared at the monitors that showed Sara's empty house. He could rewind some of his tapes and watch her undressing for bed or getting ready for a bath, but somehow he wanted to know that she was physically present as he watched her actions.

When Sara didn't respond to his statement, he said with a firmness that he was certain could transform over the voice changer, "I insist that you return home."

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When Lurie insisted that she return home, Sara stared at the concerned faces of Warrick and Nick and held up one hand to keep either man from snatching the phone from her hand. She would handle this lunatic.

"I'm not returning home until Grissom is back," she said with determination. She didn't care that he knew Grissom was on his way back to the lab and now was as good a time as any to state that fact.

The eerie laugh that reached her ears made her shiver, but she held on and kept her confidence.

"He should be back anytime," she continued, mentally daring him to challenge that information.

"No, Grissom is not on his way back," Lurie considered the whereabouts of Grissom and took a chance. "If you don't listen to what I'm telling you then the odds of you ever seeing Grissom again will become zero."

Sara heard the threat and pushed back the sick thought in her mind that he could somehow reach across the miles and harm Grissom. The sudden image of some type of detonator in his car sprang to mind and she found herself reaching out for the counter where she could lean against some solid surface before she did the unthinkable and collapsed. She was allowing her imagination to run away with her and in the process giving Lurie an advantage.

Ignoring the questioning eyes of her friends, Sara drew in her breath and said firmly, "You're a coward. You use a voice disguisher to hide your own voice and you expect me to believe anything you say? You sent Grissom on a pointless search so that you could get him away from Vegas, away from me. Why? I'm not Debbie Marlin."

Sara shrugged off the warning hand of Nick on her forearm and stared at an invisible spot on the wall as she waited for his reaction. It wasn't what she expected as he chuckled softly and this time without the voice diguisher concealing the masculine tone. The absence of the voice disguisher startled her almost as much as the next words he spoke.

"You think that you know who I am and that you have me figured out? Go home, Sara, and then I'll talk to you."

Sara stared at the phone as she heard the dial tone and immediately tried to connect with Grissom.

"Voice mail," she muttered, a deflated expression flitting over her face. "I'm going home."

"You can't!" exclaimed Nick with Warrick closely seconding his adament statement.

Sara gave the men a tired smile and shook her head as she began walking from the room determined to grab her things from the locker room and head home. "I'm not playing his games anymore."

"You are playing right into his hands by going home because he request it?" Nick looked up and down the hall in the hope that someone would appear who could talk sense into Sara. If only Grissom would walk through the lab doors.

Warrick leaned against the locker room door and watched Sara gather her stuff, including her gun. "Will you wait and talk to Brass? We'll see if he found anything out and then maybe he can arrange someone to stay with you."

Sara slammed her locker door shut and turned to face Warrick and Nick. "I'm going to end this."

The determination on her face gave both men the uncomfortable feeling that Sara was about to do something that could jeopardize her life. "You aren't going over to Lurie's? What if it's not him?"

Sara pushed back Nick as he was asking the question and shot her answer back over her shoulder. "I'm going home. If some unwelcome visitor appears while I'm there then the law should be on my side."

Warrick glanced at his watch before turning to Nick, "I believe we're off shift. You coming?"

"I'm with you War," said Nick, "let's go."

TBC