Title: Returning Home

Author: Elizabeth Kelly

Rating: T (PG-13)

Disclaimer: CSI, its plot and characters, belong to CBS Worldwide Inc., and Alliance Atlantis Productions.

Summary: GSR - What if something you thought was lost forever, returned home?

Chapter Ten

Grissom found himself sitting in the small hospital cafeteria, sitting across from Catherine, who was talking non-stop on the phone. He tried to remember how he ended up sitting here instead of next to his sleeping daughter and wife. He remembered swaying on his feet and Catherine mumbling something about eating, then being forcefully led out of the room and down to the cafeteria. Sighing, he eyed his egg sandwich, with its limp lettuce and grey colored filling. Taking a small bite, he couldn't help but think that it was no where near as good as Sara's egg salad sandwiches. He would always try to get her to reveal her secret ingredient, but she would never yield.

The sound of Catherine's phone snapping shut, brought him back to the present.

"You need to eat Gil, you look like death," she said in a motherly tone. Grimacing, he forced himself to take another bite of the flavourless sandwich. "The boys are glad to hear that Maddie is alright. Greg said he would contact Emily and let her know." Grissom nodded in silent appreciation.

"Did you tell them about Sara and I?" he asked swallowing a mouthful of orange juice. Catherine smiled faintly.

"No, I thought it was something you and Sara should tell them together." Grissom smiled gratefully at her.

Catherine took a bite of her chicken salad sandwich, contemplating how to approach her next subject.

"So, Andrew told me he has been on Maddie's case since the beginning," she began glancing up to catch Grissom's reaction.

"Yeah, he never gave up. He put up sith Sara's nagging and her theories. He had failed to give up hope when I just about had. He was there for Sara when I wasn't," he paused. "We wouldn't have made it through this if it wasn't for him."

"He and Sara seem very close," Catherine said, silently cursing at the hint of sharpness in her voice. Grissom looked at Catherine confusion on his face.

"Of course they are, it's not completely unheard of," he replied sarcastically. Catherine choked the bit of sandwich she was chewing.

"You know about it?" Catherine cried. Grissom cocked his head, looking confusedly at her. "You know that she visits him twice a year in San Francisco, you know that she calls him all the time!"

Grissom stared at Catherine as though she had lost her mind.

"Of course I knew, just because Sara and I had separated, does not mean that I didn't know what she was doing."

"How can you just sit back and let her do it? I know you love her, it's obvious to anyone who has spent two seconds in a room alone with you two, and I know that she loves you too, but... God, Grissom how can you just sit by and let her do that to you?" Grissom stared open mouthed at Catherine.

"I'm sorry, Catherine but you are making absolutely no sense. What the hell are you talking about?" Catherine stared wide-eyed at Grissom.

"You don't know?" she whispered. Grissom shook his head in confusion, fear building in the pit of his stomach.

"I'm only telling you this because you are my best friend and I don't want to see you get hurt. So, here goes," she paused and took a deep breath. "I think Sara and Andrew are having an affair."

Grissom stared past Catherine, not moving a muscle. Catherine watched him nervously trying to gage his reaction. His face remained frozen, then the unexpected happened. A smile began to form on his face, the first genuine smile she had seen from him in months. The smile turned into a grin. Catherine stared at him. 'He's gone crazy,' she thought.

"Gil?" she questioned touching his arm lightly as Grissom chuckled.

"You think that Andrew and Sara an affair?" he asked. When he saw the look on Catherine's face, he realised that she was being deadly serious. Dropping the smile, he shook his head at her.

"Catherine, Andrew's Sara brother." Grissom watched as Catherine's jaw dropped.

"Sara has a brother?" she asked. "But they have different last names," she pointed out. Grissom took a sip of his orange juice before answering.

"He's her foster brother," he replied quietly.

"Her foster… Sara was in a foster home?" she asked, her voice level rising. Grissom nodded.

"But why? When?"

"I don't think it's really my place to say," Grissom replied.

"Oh, right of course," she paused then slapped her hand to her forehead. "Oh God, I'm an idiot." Grissom smirked.

"No, you just jumped to conclusions before you had all the facts. It was very un-CSI like of you."

"I know, I know."

"It's ok, just as long as you don't mention it to Sara or Andrew. They are a bit sensitive of accusations like that, especially Andrew. His ex-wife, who Sara and I never really like in the first place, didn't like the close bond that Sara and Andrew shared. She accused him of cheating on her with Sara a couple of weeks after Maddie was taken. She took away their two children, their house, everything. Now, he only gets to see his kids one weekend a month." Grissom looked up from his sandwich to see Catherine's pale face staring back at him.

"Hey Cath, are you…" He stopped when Catherine stood up suddenly.

"Sorry, Grissom, I have to go, I've go to get back to the station," she said, before hurrying out of the cafeteria, leaving a confused Grissom alone with a half eaten egg salad sandwich.

"He seems to be very confused," Dr Evans, the psychologist, said to Sheriff Watson and Andrew after completing an hour long session, with Timothy Isaacs.

"How do you mean?" the sheriff asked, as Andrew stared through the two way mirror at Isaacs.

"He remembers that his wife died in a fire. He couldn't tell me where or how, but he could tell me when."

"What about the girls?" the sheriff pressed.

"He still claims that Emily and Maddie are Abby and Becky."

"What did he say about the day the girls were abducted?"

"He says he picked the girls up at lunchtime, and pulled them out of school. He said that they weren't being supervised properly and that he wasn't paying good money for his children to attend that school and not be supervised. He claimed that anyone off the streets could have come in and taken them." Andrew snorted. Sheriff Watson looked at him. It was the first sign of life he had shown in the last hour and a half.

The Playtime Snatcher case had been a large burden on Andrew for the last five years. Not only was it his first case as team leader, but his niece was one of the two girls that went missing. The fact that it had remained unsolved had been a thorn in his side for the last five years. Every time he saw Sara or Grissom, or spoke to them on the phone, he felt guilty.

He knew that while the case had been active, he had spent a lot of time with Sara. She was the one going through a traumatic experience after all. What brother would comfort and counsel his sister through such a difficult time? He never suspected his wife would accuse him of cheating, much less with Sara. The divorce had torn him apart. The pain of losing his children, was unbearable. He was only comforted by the fact that at least he got to see his kids once a month. Gil and Sara didn't have that option. Catherine's accusations had hurt him, more than he would care to admit. They may not have been blood brother and sister, but for the way they saw their relationship, they may as well have been.

With a shake of his head, Andrew brought himself back to the present.

"Honestly, he knows that it's wrong to take a child, but his problem is that he thinks that they were his children, and it isn't illegal to take your own children."

"So was he of sound mind at the time or not?" the Sheriff asked.

"No, I believe that he was not of sound mind. However, I'm not a criminal psychologist. Agent Charlton, I think it would be best if you get a specialist to sit down with him." Andrew nodded.

"Thank you Dr Evans, for everything," he said holding out a hand for her to shake.

"You're most welcome," she replied shaking his hand. "Now, if you'll excuse me gentlemen, I'm going back to bed." She smiled, then turned and squeezed the sheriff's shoulder gently, before winking at him and leaving. When the door shut behind her, Andrew turned to look at the sheriff.

"She's my wife," he said sheepishly. Andrew gave him a small smile and turned back to look at Timothy Isaacs, from behind the two-way mirror.

"Whose jurisdiction is it going to be? Your's or Vegas'," the sheriff asked, just as the door opened, to reveal a very out of breath Catherine.

"Catherine," Sheriff Watson greeted her. Catherine gave him a small smile.

"Hey Michael, could you give us a couple of minutes?" she asked him. Nodding, the sheriff left the room, leaving behind a nervous CSI and a reluctant FBI Agent.

"Listen, Andrew, I jumped to all the wrong conclusions without first gaining the facts and as a CSI, I should know better, and I'm sorry." Andrew continued to stare at Isaacs through the window, purposefully ignoring her. "You need to understand, Gil is my best friend, if it wasn't for him I don't know where I would be right now. Probably a drug addicted, broke, alcoholic former stripper, who is too old to get a job. I owe my life and my daughter's life to him. My only concern was to protect Gil from getting his heart broken." Still Andrew refused to acknowledge her presence.

"You see all of us back home, have known that Grissom loves Sara, it was obvious from the moment you first saw them together. We have spent the better part of four years trying to get them to admit their feelings to each other. None of us realised that they already had, never mind to the point of vowing to spend the rest of their lives together. When I found out that they had a child together and realised that they had had a relationship in the past, I wrongly assumed that somehow Sara had broken his heart, and that's why he always refused to give in to her advances. When I saw the two of you together, I assumed that Sara and Grissom had broken up over you. When I brought my concerns up with Grissom, he told me the truth, that you were her brother, and I felt so guilty for jumping to all the wrong conclusions. So, I sincerely apologise."

Catherine waited for a reaction out of Andrew, but when she didn't get one, she sighed and with slumped shoulders turned to leave.

"What kind of relationship do you have with Gil?" Andrew asked her quietly.

"Excuse me?" she asked incredulously, turning around to face him.

"What kind of relationship do you have with Gil?" Andrew asked again, still facing the window. The impulse to snap back that it wasn't any of his business was strong, instead she bit her lip, thinking.

"You feel protective of him right, you hate it when he is upset. You know that you can always count on him being there for you. You feel that you can be completely yourself around him and not have to worry about what he thinks. You feel like you can tell him anything, and you know that he won't judge you for it. You know that he would give up his life to save yours and visa versa," Catherine nodded. "It's like he's you second soul-mate the first soul-mate is you partner, your lover the one person that knows you the most intimately. Then there is your second soul-mate, the one you know is forever by your side, your friend and confidant, the one you go to, to bitch about soul-mate number one or more often than not, their absence." Catherine nodded again, tears forming in her eyes. "Sara's my number two soul-mate."

A/N: I am so sorry that I took a while to update, but I found that this chapter was so hard to write. It kind of leans away from the main story line, but it needed to be done, in order to move on so I hope you guys are bearing with me. I had a lot of trouble making it sound right. So if you have any suggestions on how to improve it let me know.

For all of those who are fans of Nick, Greg, Brass and/or Warrick, don't panic, I promise that they will be coming back, if not in the next chapter, then definitely the chapter after that. Thank you for all the reviews!