Title: Returning Home

Author: Elizabeth Kelly

Rating: PG-13 (T)

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

Summary: GSR – How do you forget the past, when the past come back to haunt you?

A/N: Post Bloodlines

Chapter Fifteen

Previously…

Sara tuned out all of the legal talk and concentrated on listening for those few words.

"Jury? How do you find the defendant?"

"On the charge of two counts of kidnapping, we find the defendant, Timothy Isaacs, not guilty by reason of mental defect."

Now…

"On the charge of two counts negligence we find the defendant guilty. On the charge of two counts of child endangerment we find the defendant guilty. The jury recommends that the defendant be placed into psychiatric care," the juryman finished.

"Thank you," the judge said, sighing as he mulled over his sentencing decision. Judge Anthony Walker always hated criminal cases involving children and this one had particularly pulled at his heart strings, he had two young granddaughters. However, he knew that he had a job to do and he couldn't let his personal feelings rule the case.

"I hearby sentence Mr Timothy Isaacs to eight years in the custody of Daystone Mental Institution, release pending a full psychiatric review. Ladies and gentleman of the jury, thank you for your time. This court is adjourned."

Sara sat numbly in her seat. Eight years. Eight years in a mental hospital. Eight years for taking five years of her daughter's life. It didn't seem fair. The chattering of the court spectators slowly began to grow louder and louder as the news sunk in. The sentence, didn't seem like enough. Nothing could seem like enough. Nothing could erase the mental scars that the girls would carry for the rest of their lives.

She felt a warm sensation and looked up through her tears into Grissom's caring face. The tears fell faster and faster, as Grissom gathered her up in a hug, whispering comforting words into her ear. She felt a tug on her right hand and turned to see Maddie standing in front of them. Immediately, Sara opened her arms and Maddie collapsed herself into them. Sara held her daughter close and looked up at Grissom, who had his arms around both of them.

"It doesn't seem like enough," she whispered.

"I know it doesn't, but it's over, Sara, we can move on and carry on with the rest of our lives. Maddie will be 20 years old when he is released. Let's go home and live our lives, together, as a family," he said, smiling at her. Sara nodded her eyes still misty.

"Let's go home."

"Where the hell have you been?" a furious voice called out from behind her, turning around she came face to face with her father.

"I stayed behind after school to ask Mr Jacobs a question about my biology assignment and then I had to stop off at the library to get some books." She could smell the whiskey on his breath.

"You were supposed to be back here two hours ago!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Sorry isn't good enough, I need your help around here, this place won't run itself. When I ask you to be home, you come straight home. You know the rules and you broke them, now you must face the consequences."

It was during times like these when she would focus all of her attention on the sweet and charming man he would be when he wasn't drunk. The father that indulged his daughter, with the things her mother would never have let her have; ice-cream before dinner, a new book, a new record for her collection; the father that took her to the zoo and made sand castles with her on the beach, the man that would sing her to sleep with his song of the month; the man that never beat her, or her mother; the man who used his belt to hold his jeans up, not as a form of sadistic punishment.

She would remember thinking how strange it was that a beverage could impart such a difference upon a person. As the punishment would continue she would remember saying to herself, 'it's just the alcohol, it's just the alcohol', over and over again.

After it was over, she went to her room and crawled under the covers. Tears poured down her face as she mentally tried to come to grips with this latest round of punishment. A short time later, her father entered her room.

"Did I say you could go, Sara?" he asked her. She shifted nervously under the blankets. This was new, he had never followed her before.

"N-n-no," she stuttered, as he glared at her from the door.

"That's right, I never said you could leave, did I, you bitch. You are becoming just like your mother, you know." Sara's eyes grew wide in fear, as he began to approach her bed, leering at her. He climbed onto her bed, pinning her down with his hands. Using all of her might, Sara shoved her knee into his crotch, and used his preoccupation and alcohol-inhibited movements to make a quick escape out of the door, down the stairs, through reception and out of the front door. She never stopped to look back, she just kept running.

She ran and ran for what felt like forever, taking every cross-country way she could find to ensure he couldn't follow her. She only slowed when the sun began to set and darkness crept over the land. She sat down on a park bench cold, tired and hungry. She must have sat there for hours, until the need for food overcame her.

'Hopefully he will be asleep by now,' she thought, as she turned and headed for home. Arriving at the bed and breakfast she could hear the yelling from the street. She hesitated, trying to decidewhether or not she should go in. In the end she decided to sit out on the porch. She had only been sitting there a few minutes when everything, suddenly, fell silent.

'He must have passed out," she thought as she entered her home.

There were several guests standing around the entrance, and all of them looked at her as she entered. Some, she could tell, looked scared; others seemed relieved thatshe was ok. Sam, the night manager, had the phone to his ear talking quietly. Later, Sara had found out that he had been the onethat called 911.He gave her a reassuring smile.He had helped Sara and her mother many timesafter nights like this.This time however, seemed different. Everything was eerily quiet, too quiet. Slowly she made her way towards the private residence. Mr Robinson, from room three, grabbed a hold of her preventing her fromentering.Sara struggled against her restraint, something was very, very wrong. The door to the private residence opened, and through it walked her mother, covered in blood, and a knife held loosely in her hand. Several of the guests screamed, one or two fainted. Laura Sidle looked out of it. Sara, broke free of Mr Robinson's grasp and raced towards the residence.

In her entire life, Sara knew that she would never be able to erase that image from her head. Her father, lying crumpled in a pool of his own blood. The coppery smell overpowering all of her other senses. She didn't know how long she stood there; all she could remember was someone leading her away from the body of her dead father. The abuse, the suffering, the pain, the yelling, the fights, all of it was over; and her life would never be the same again.

Sara sat up suddenly, scaring Grissom, who had been trying to wake her ever since he had started to hear her moaning.

"Honey?" he asked softly. "Are you alright?" Sara, took in deep gasping breaths, her fear consuming her. He wrapped his arms around her. "It's ok, Sara, I've got you. Everything's going to be alright." Tears fell down Sara's face, and Grissom lovingly wiped them away.

He placed his arms around her, and Sara found herself melting into them. He wondered what it was that had her so terrified. He remembered her telling him, soon after shehad cometo work for him in Vegas, about having nightmares about her cases, and he wondered if it was another one of those. She had only been working as a consultant for the last couple of months, none of them had seemed to affect her too much. Maybe, he had been wrong.

"I'm sorry," Sara mumbled into his chest after awhile.

"That's ok, you know that I am here for you anytime, right?" he asked, uncertainly.

"Yeah, I know that," she replied, softly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. "Is it a new one?" Sara shook her head.

"It was mom and dad," she whispered. Her voice broke Grissom's heart, and he tightened his hold on Sara.

"Are you going to be able to sleep?" Sara shook her head.

"It's only a couple of hours till I would normally get up anyway. You should some sleep, make the most of your night off."

"I'm awake now, anyway," he said getting up off of the bed. "Come on, I'll make us a coffee."

"I'm sorry," Sara started to apologise, but Grissom hushed her with a wave of his hand. Coming round to the other side of the bed, he enveloped her into another hug. "You've got nothing to be sorry about."

Sara sighed a soft thank you into his chest. Grissom had changed so much since Madeleine's return, he was back to being the old Grissom that she had first fallen in love with; not the closed in Grissom, but the, not completely open, but easily accessible Grissom. She smiled as she followed Grissom out of the bedroom, down the hallway and out into the kitchen. She sat down at the counter, and watched as Grissom went about getting their coffee. Sighing softly she wondered how her life had gone from bad to good, to bad to good again.

For a long time after her father was killed, Sara had a problem trusting authority figures and especially men. It was a long time before she trusted her new family. While Joan and Thomas Charlton were lovely people, and nothing at all like her parents had been, the entire time she had lived with them she had kept a back pack hidden under her bed in case she ever felt the need to run away. Andrew had played a large part in helping her get over her fear of men.He had been through a similar traumatic childhood, before Joan and Thomas took him in.It had been Grissom, however, that had helped her overcome that last hurdle and let someone into her heart.

"Here," Grissom placed the steaming mug in front of her.

"Thanks," she replied, savouring the warmth radiating from the mug in her hand.

"Did you sign Maddie's field trip form?" Grissom asked, leading her over to sit on the sofa.

"Yeah, I gave it to her last night."

"Oh, good she reminded me yesterday morning, but I completely forgot."

"That's alright, I know that case has been getting to you." The team had been working on the death of five teenagers at a party out in Henderson. So far they only had one lead, and it was sketchy at best.

"It hasn't been going very well. The kids had been given a contaminated batch of ecstasy, when we questioned the guy that gave it to them, he didn't even care. He made me so mad," Grissom said punching the sofa beneath him.

"I know how you get during these cases," Sara said placing her hand over his. Grissom smiled at her, and raised his hand to brush her cheek.

"How are you doing?" he asked, and Sara knew he was referring to her dream.

"I'm fine, it's just been a while since I've had that one."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," Sara replied softly. "But thank you for offering." Grissom pulled her closer, and knowing that she wouldn't want to discuss it any further, he leaned forward and grabbed the remote control for the television. Turning it on, he flipped to the science channel and together they sat and watched a documentary about tornados.

Sara dropped Maddie off at school, and headed towards the lab. Grissom had decided to go in and work on the case. Sara had been asked to come in and consult for the day. She liked it like this. She could still do the work she loved, but it took away a lot of the pressure, and as an added bonus she could spend more time with Maddie as she mostly only worked school hours. Pulling into the car park, she spotted Grissom's car and took the free space next to it. Grabbing hers and Grissom's lunch, she climbed out of the car and headed inside.

"Hey Sara!" Greg called out, as he headed over to her.

"Hey Greg, still working?"

"Just heading home actually. How's Maddie?"

"She's good, she's going to Lake Tahoe today, her science class are studying ecology at the moment."

"That's great. Is she enjoying it?"

"She likes the parts that have to do with bugs," Sara chuckled.

"Like father, like daughter, huh," Greg responded laughing.

"Yeah, I have jars and jars of bugs all over my house!"

"Oh poor Sara!" Greg empathised, before stifiling a yawn. "Sorry, I better go home and catch so shut eye, before I have to be back here. Say hi to Maddie for me."

"I will, have a good sleep Greg."

"I just pulled a triple, so I will be sleeping like a baby," Greg said as he bounded out of the door. 'I wonder how many coffees he's had,' Sara wondered. Shaking her head, Sara headed for the break room.

Depositing their lunch into the fridge, Sara headed towards Grissom's office.

"Hey ya boss, what's up?" Grissom looked up from his mound of paperwork.

"Brass is bringing a suspect by in about half an hour for questioning?" He rubbed his face tiredly.

"Do you think it's the guy?" Sara asked curiously, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of Grissom's desk.

"No, I don't think so; he has no real reason to have poisoned the drugs. I think it was the guy that gave it to them, but he is smarter than I thought he was. He's covered up his tracks well."

"Is there anything that you would like me to do?" Grissom glanced down at the file in front of him.

"Yeah, actually can you try and find any other connection between Robert Godwin, the dealer, or Martin Jefferies, the distributor, and any of the kids at that party. Maybe it was intended for someone else."

"Sure, no problem."

"Thanks, if you need to go out into the field, take Vega with you."

"Ok. I put your lunch in the fridge." Grissom smiled at her.

"Thank you."

"Your welcome," Sara said getting up and coming round the other side of the desk. She placed a gentle kiss on Grissom's cheek.

"I better get back to work or my boss, might get upset," she teased gently.

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind," Grissom wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Please don't ever do that again," Sara said laughing. "I'll see you later," she said giving him one last peck on the cheek.

"Now here is a scene I cannot get used to," A voice spoke up from the door. Grissom and Sara looked up to see Catherine smiling at them. "You've both been different ever since Maddie got back. You both seem happier, more care free, not overworked and sad," she paused and stared at them again. "It's great to see."

"Thanks," Sara replied, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I should get started on that stuff right away." With one last glance at Grissom, Sara was gone.

"Family and marriage is good for you, my friend," Catherine said sitting down in the chair Sara had previously vacated.

"What can I do for you Catherine?" Catherine smirked at Grissom's avoidance.

"Brass wanted me to tell you that he's got the suspect and their waiting for you at the station." Grissom glanced at his watch.

"Damn, he's early." Standing up Grissom gathered his files together. "Thanks."

"No problem. I'm going home to get some much needed sleep. I will see you tonight."

"Sure, I'll see you tonight," Grissom said as he rushed out of the door.

Catherine picked up the photo that sat in pride of place on Grissom's desk. She gazed at the photo of Sara, Grissom and Maddie, taken barely a month ago. All three looked happy. She had known Grissom nearly ten years and she had never seen him as carefree as he had been over the last few months. Of course when she had first met him, he had just lost his daughter, but still she was happy for him and Sara. They both deserved each other after everything they had been through. Placing the photo back down on the desk, she left Grissom's office, planning a shopping trip for Lindsey and herself after school had ended for the day.

Sara lent back in the chair, she had been in front of the computer for the last three hours and still she was no closer to finding a link between the suspects and the people at the party. Grissom had returned from the interview just over an hour ago. They hadn't really found anything that was of use, however, the search warrant for the dealer home had finally come through. So he was back out in the field again.

Deciding that she needed a break, Sara got up from her computer, and headed for the break room. Grabbing her sandwich and a bottle of water, she decided to head outside for a bit of fresh air.

Brushing stray crumbs off of her jeans, Sara looked up in time to see Grissom's Tahoe enter the parking lot. Standing up she walked over to greet him.

"Hey, how'd the search go?"

"We found aconite in the guy's house, I'm going to get Hodges to test it to see if it was the same poison used to contaminate the drugs. How's the search going?"

"Not very well, I haven't found anything yet. I needed a break, so I came out here. Come on you need something to eat." Nodding Grissom followed as Sara led him inside.

Mary Watson was on shift at the reception of the Las Vegas Crime Lab when a lady not much older than herself entered the building. Tall and of slight build, her clothes whilst plain and simple, were neat and pressed, and her greying hair was combed so that it fell down past her shoulders in soft waves. She looked nervous as she approached the desk, her eyes continually looking all around her. She looked like this was the last place on Earth she would want to be.

"Hello, may I help you?" Mary asked the woman, gently.

"Um, yes I hope so," the woman spoke in a soft voice. "I was wondering if a Sara Sidle or a Sara Grissom worked here." Mary smiled at the woman.

"Yes, she does consultation work for us. I'll just check to see if she is in today." Mary picked up the phone to ring through and check, when Sara and Grissom walked through the front door. Placing the phone back down in its cradle, she called out to Sara.

"Ms Sidle, there's a lady here to see you."

Sara turned when she heard Mary call out to her. Glancing at the woman Mary was gesturing to, Sara breathed in sharply. Grissom, who was standing beside her, placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. Although they had never met in person, Grissom knew who this woman was simply by looking at her. It had been over twenty years since Sara had last seen her, and apart from the extrawrinkles in the face and the grey hair, she remained exactly the same.

"Sara," the woman called softly.

"What do you want?" Sara replied bitterly.

"I wanted to see you, I wanted to talk to you," the woman replied almost desperately. Sara stared at the woman for a moment.

"Well I don't want to talk to you," she replied as she pushed past the woman and entered the lab. Grissom watched her go, knowing that Sara would need time to cool off before he went to find her. The woman turned to face him.

"I should have know that that would be her response," she replied wearily.

"She's just in shock. Today wasn't a particularly good day for you to make a reappearance in her life."

"You must be Gil Grissom," the woman said. "I'm –,"

"Laura Sidle," Grissom finished.

"I take it that you have heard about me."

"Sara doesn't really like to talk about her past, most of it I have had to find for myself."

"If I was Sara, I probably wouldn't like to talk about the past either," Laura paused. "Should you be going to comfort her?" she asked curiously.

"If I did that she would probably bite my head off. She needs time to cool off. Perhaps it would be best for you to come back here another day."

"Probably," Laura agreed. She looked him up and down before nodding slowly. "I see that she is being well looked after, thank you Mr Grissom." Laura Sidle gave him a sad smile and turned and headed for the exit. Grissom watched her leave, before heading into the lab to find his shocked wife.

A/N: Thank you for the kind reviews. I apologise for the wait for this chapter, but it is my longest yet so hopefully that counts for something. Thanks to all my loyal readers who have stayed with this story from the beginning, I thank you for your patience with me. I know Grissom and Sara are OOC in this chapter, but they are supposed to be. They are a family again, and have changed from the people that they were before Maddie was found. Also, as I am not an American, I am not positive of the way the law works in Nevada. So I acknowledge that my courtroom scene may have absolutely no resmeblence to what would actually happen in real life. It works for the story however, so I am going to leave it the way it is. Thanks for reading. – Lizzie.