SLOW BURN
~ Chapter 31 ~
"There you go." Carefully placing a steaming mug and a box of crackers in front of Sara, Lily smiled at the younger woman as she took a seat opposite. "A nice cup of ginger tea and a couple of those will make you feel better in no time."
"I thought I was over all of this." Reaching into the box, Sara extracted a single Saltine and took a cautious bite. "I haven't had morning sickness for months now."
"Well, it's not unknown for it to return in the last trimester but, in your case, I think it's probably got more to do with stress than anything else."
"I have to admit, finding out you're about to be arrested on an attempted murder charge is a little stressful." With a weary sigh, she shook her head. "You know a large part of me still wants to storm down to the lab and demand answers."
"And right after you did that, you'd probably be taken into custody," Lily shrugged. "What happens then, Sara? What happens to Gil, what happens to Ben and maybe, most importantly right now, what happens to that baby that you're carrying? Do you really want that child being born with detention center officers by your side instead of your husband?"
"No, of course not," Sara took a sip of her tea, "I just feel like I've been blindsided by all of this, that's all." Despite the circumstances, she chuckled. "Trust me, I don't have a doubt in my mind that getting out of the state is the only way to keep us together but that doesn't necessarily stop me from fantasizing about heading downtown to find out what attempting to kill someone actually feels like."
Raising her own cup to her lips, Lily sighed. "I can't believe my daughter is involved in all of this; she's known you for years, she can't possibly think you'd try to harm Gil."
"Catherine's just doing her job," Sara reasoned with a shrug. "And, after hearing what Conrad had to say, I'd probably have come to the same conclusion myself."
"What would happen if Gil told them he didn't want to press charges?"
"It wouldn't change a thing." With a tight-lipped, mirthless smile, Sara shook her head. "That decision won't be up to him; to make sure that they can hold me, they'll emphasize the domestic violence aspect of all of this and, in DV cases, it's the State that presses charges not the victim" Her eyes dropped as she stared at her wedding ring. "Besides, it's not going to matter what either of us say, if Maddie Klein's determined to make an example of me, then that's what she's going to do."
"Don't think like that, Sara," Reaching across the table, Lily covered her hand with her own. "Something's gone seriously awry here but what you need to do now is concentrate on yourself and your baby - not on the lab, not on Catherine and definitely not on that Klein woman." Seeing Sara look up again, she smiled. "And if that happens to involve taking an extended vacation with your husband and son then so be it. Gil says he has a plan so let him take the lead; he's not going to let anything happen to you."
"It might have been nice if he'd filled me in on what that plan actually involves," Sara rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Or why it took him almost four hours to get here from the hospital."
"He didn't get much of a chance, remember," Lily grinned. "After fending off an overexcited toddler, breaking the news to you about everything that Conrad had to say and then listening to you rail against the stupidity of Las Vegas law enforcement, the poor man was dead on his feet."
"Dead to the world in your recliner, you mean." Sara turned to look at the navy-blue lounger now happily occupied by her son, the toast he'd insisted on for breakfast long forgotten as he stared transfixed at the end credits of Mutt & Stuff. "He hasn't been able to lie flat for days thanks to the immobilizer he's wearing but the moment he realized he could stretch right out in that chair, nothing was going to keep him awake." She sighed. "What time did Jim get here?"
"A little before three-thirty," Lily told her. "Ben got up when he heard their voices so I followed him through." She smiled as she reached for a Saltine for herself. "No matter what I tried, he refused to go back to bed so the two of us have been watching TV ever since."
"You should have woken me," Sara insisted. "I'd have gotten up with him."
"You needed to sleep, sweetheart," Lily reasoned. "You looked almost as tired as your husband did last night." She glanced up at the wall clock. "You should probably start getting ready, Gil said that he wanted to be on the road by six at the latest."
"Yeah, I probably should but there's something that we're going to do first." Sara took a large gulp from her cup before pushing it and the Saltines to the side of the table with a grin. "Since we might not have time when he gets back here and we're going to be who knows where for your birthday, you're going to get your present now." She turned towards the living room. "Ben, could you find my bag for me, please; I think I left it on the floor by the sofa."
Looking back at Lily she smiled. "And, before you ask, we've talked this over and it's something we'd both like to happen," she shrugged. "Provided, you agree, of course."
"Mommy bag." Clasping it tightly against his chest, Ben came to a halt beside his mother.
"Thank you, baby." Taking it from him, Sara put it on the table before placing a restraining hand on her son's shoulder. "Now…" she reached into the bag and extracted a brightly wrapped giftbox tied neatly with a bow. "It's going to be Lee Lee's birthday soon but we might not be here to celebrate it with her so we're going to do that now." She handed the gift to him. "Could you take this to her and wish her a happy birthday, please?"
With a solemn nod, Ben grasped the box carefully and navigated his way around the table. Clearly pleased with the way he'd carried out his task, he grinned happily as he arrived at the recipient's chair. "Appy birfday, Lee Lee,"
"Thank you, sweetie," Lily took it off him with a smile as she patted her leg. "Do you want to come up here and help me unwrap it?"
With a quick nod, Ben scrambled his way up onto her lap, his eyes shining with excitement as Lily placed the box on the table before him.
"It's from all three of us but, I guess, it's mostly from Ben." Sara smiled as she slid the accompanying birthday card across the table. "This goes with it and Ben would like you to read it out loud."
"Okay." Pulling the box close enough for Ben to get his hands on it, Lily shot his mother an amused smile as the two of them began pulling off the paper to reveal a plain white gift box. Holding the box firmly with one hand, she allowed Ben to lift the lid
The five-inch tall, hand-blown iridescent glass heart shone as the kitchen light hit it, the swirls of red, blue and green almost twinkling as Lily held it in her hand.
"Oh, it's beautiful!" She hugged Ben tightly. "Look at the colors, Ben; aren't they pretty?"
"There's a stand in there for it too," Sara commented as she nodded towards her son's outstretched hands. "Although, I'd maybe suggest you keep it up somewhere that little hands can't get a hold of it or maybe even just keep it in the box for now."
"Oh no, that's going on display; it's beautiful!" Handling it gently, Lily pulled out the stand and placed the glass heart carefully in the center of the table. "I think that's one of the loveliest things I've ever been given." Wrapping both arms tightly around her small charge, she smiled happily as she admired the gift. "Thank you, sweetheart, I'll treasure it forever."
"Don't forget the card," Sara smiled.
"Oops, we almost forgot." Picking it up from the table, Lily quickly extracted her birthday card, admiring the butterflies that adorned the face of it before she opened it up and began to read aloud.
"Happy birthday Lee Lee, thank you so much for everything you do for me and for letting us stay with you this week. I love you very much, Ben. P.S. Will you be my…"
She looked up quickly, her eyes wide with delight, locking instantly with Sara's.
"Really?"
"Absolutely!" Sara assured her. "Although I should probably warn you that it's a two-for-one offer." She patted her belly. "Grandma to one means grandma to both."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Grinning happily, Lily squeezed the toddler on her lap. "What do you say, Ben? Would you like me to be your grandma?"
"Yes!" Twisting in her hold, Ben wrapped both arms around her neck. "Loves Lee Lee."
"It's a deal then." Pressing her forehead to his, she stared happily into the bright blue eyes gazing back at her. "Nothing would make me happier than to be grandma to you and your little brother or sister."
"I checked with Lindsey to make sure that she was okay with it," Sara commented as she frowned curiously at the two sheets of folded notepaper poking out of her bag. "And she said that she's more than happy for us to make it formal."
Pulling both sheets free, she unfolded them and laughed, eliciting a surprised glance from her son and his newly dubbed grandmother.
"Well, everything else in our lives might be up in the air at the moment but…" Carefully refolding the paper, Sara slipped it back into her bag before looking up with a smile. "Girl or boy, it looks like we've finally managed to agree on names for the baby."
"I am so glad I don't live on the same street as you."
Making their way back towards the driveway they'd left barely ten minutes earlier, Jim shook his head in humorous disbelief. "The look on the poor man's face when he opened the door to us; I'm pretty sure the words 'home invasion' were running through his head the whole time."
"He's got a similar security system to mine so all he had to do was check his monitor to see who it was," Grissom pointed out. "Besides, the first time I met him, he made a point of telling me that he's a Notary and that if I needed his services at any time to just drop by." He shrugged. "If he didn't want me knocking on his door at four-thirty in the morning, he probably should have phrased it differently."
"You're lucky he's a nice guy, my neighbor would have decked me." Jim glanced back to see the home they'd just left in darkness once again. "You sure Sara's going to be all right with all of this? She didn't seem too impressed last night."
"Last night she found out she was being accused of something that, I'm sure, has never even crossed her mind; she was angry and upset which, I think, is perfectly understandable." Keys in hand, Grissom unlocked his front door and disabled the security alarm before leading Brass through to his office. "She was sleeping soundly when I went in to check on her this morning so I think it's safe to say she's come to terms with it."
Rifling through the top drawer of his desk, he pulled out a small notepad and reached for a pen.
"Okay, the code for the security system is 4193; you've got sixty seconds and three attempts to get it right before the alarms are triggered." Grissom looked up with a wry grin. "Please don't mess it up; I've already annoyed one neighbor, I'd hate to have you piss off the rest."
"I think I can manage it." Brass commented as he watched his friend write down his email address and what was clearly a password.
"We'll download the security company's app onto your phone before we leave here, that'll give you remote access to everything including the cameras."
Dropping the pen, Grissom picked up the paperwork his neighbor had witnessed.
"Now, when they turn up to search the house, I'd rather not tip them off to the fact that we've gone for more than just a couple of days so tell them that the pool guy is due this afternoon and I asked you to be here when he comes." He held out the sheet of paper. "Only use this if they insist that you leave them in here alone; that power of attorney will ensure that they can't kick you out."
"Like I'd ever let them do that," Brass quipped as he pushed the POA into his jacket pocket. "Okay, what's left?"
"There's not much more." Undoing the wide belt that encircled his chest, Grissom ripped the Velcro straps free, eased his left arm out of the sling he'd been wearing and flexed his shoulder as he spoke. "I'm going to pack some of the things we've bought for the baby into the back of the Explorer along with the bags Sara packed for the hospital and some of Ben's toys and books then I think we're all set."
Jim frowned. "You really think you'll be away long enough to need the baby stuff?"
"I have no idea but, having just spent a small fortune on it, I'd really rather not have to repeat those purchases if something happens before we're back home." He tossed the immobilizer on his desk. "Okay, I'll go get the things from the nursery if you could grab those bags for me; they're both on the chair in our bedroom." He thought for a moment. "And could you get my beard trimmer out of the bathroom while you're there as well as the bottle of Motrin that's in the medicine cabinet?"
"You got it." Brass nodded towards the abandoned sling. "You're going to put that thing back on before we leave, right?"
"Nope, the damn thing just gets in the way." Reaching across with his right hand, Grissom patted his injured shoulder. "It feels good now, just a little achy but the Motrin will take care of that."
"Sara will make it really achy if you're not careful," Brass advised with a grin. "Just don't lift anything too heavy, okay; leave anything like that to me."
Muttering unintelligibly under his breath, Grissom turned and disappeared towards Ben's room leaving Jim chuckling to himself as he made his way to the master bedroom.
The bags were easy to locate and lifting both onto the bed, he wandered through to the ensuite bathroom. Having been relegated to the far reaches of his own bathroom when Helen moved in, he bypassed the first set of drawers in favor of the second and, pulling open the top one, found the beard trimmer and laid it on the countertop before pulling open the mirror-fronted cabinet door above.
He saw the Motrin instantly and, reaching past the small collection of prescription medication vials it sat with, lifted the bottle free, swearing under his breath as the nearest of the vials tumbled off the shelf, hitting first the vanity and then the floor.
With the ibuprofen in hand, Jim bent to pick the small plastic bottle up, his fingers stopping just millimeters away as he stared at the contents inside.
Leaving the vial where it was, he stepped back and placed the Motrin beside the trimmer before walking back into the bedroom itself and heading for the door.
"Hey, Gil? There's something in here you really need to see."
"Well, at least he's asleep now." Sara grinned at the sight of her slumbering son and the well-loved toy duck that was securely clamped beneath one arm.
"I didn't think it would take too long," Grissom quickly glanced in the rear-view mirror at their backseat passenger. "He did get up kind of early."
"So Lily told me." Shifting around to face the front again, Sara adjusted the seatbelt comfortably across her pelvis. "You're not mad at me for asking her to be his official grandma, are you? I know we said we'd do it together but-"
"No, you did the right thing," Grissom shook his head. "It's not like we'd have had a lot of time to do it if you'd waited until I got back and besides," glancing across, he smiled, "that kid has been picking his family from day one; he gravitated towards Lily almost as much as he gravitated towards you when the two of you first met, even my mother commented on it." He fell silent and, reaching across, Sara laid her hand lightly on his thigh. Grissom looked down and smiled. "Since Mom can't be here to fulfil her grandmotherly duties, I think she'd be happy that Lily's taking her place."
"No one's taking her place," Sara assured him. "Both of our kids will grow up knowing their paternal grandmother." She shrugged lightly. "If anything, Lily is taking the place of my mother and I am perfectly okay with that. I've worried for months now that I was denying them something by refusing to have her in their lives but now, I don't have to; this is the perfect solution."
"And it'll piss Catherine off." Slipping his right hand over his wife's, he squeezed. "Which is definitely an added bonus."
"Yeah, it probably will." She studied him carefully, pleased to see how much better he looked compared to a few days ago although the sight of his left hand on the steering wheel worried her slightly. "Are you sure you're alright to drive? You were supposed to switch to a normal sling after the immobilizer, remember; not give it up all together."
"I know but it's fine, honey, really." He rolled his left shoulder as if to emphasise the assertion. "In fact, it feels better out of the sling than it did in it and, provided I don't do anything stupid with it and follow the exercise plan they gave me, I'm sure it'll be okay."
Knowing nothing short of another dislocation would get him back into a sling, Sara shifted tack.
"Do we know when they'll search the house?"
"No, Conrad's going to try and get a message out but that could be risky, so Jim said he'd make sure he was there from ten o'clock onwards." Grissom kept his attention on the slow-moving traffic around them as he spoke. "I doubt it'll be this morning though; Maddie has to finish up in court then they have to get the warrant and a team together…" he shrugged. "I'd be surprised if they make it before two."
"And you're sure Jim can't sell the house out from under us?"
Grissom laughed. "Not a chance, he only has my power of attorney not yours so he couldn't do anything without you agreeing to it. And, before you ask, that POA covers the house only, it seemed like the easiest way to ensure that he can be there when they conduct the search."
"I hate the thought of strangers going through our things."
"It's not the strangers that worry me, it the fact that I'm positive Maddie will ensure that she's hands-on with every element of this investigation; there's not a doubt in my mind that, by the end of the day, she'll have rummaged her way from one end of our home to the other."
"Just as well the whips and chains are still in storage then." Sara quipped with a grin.
"So last night you were up in arms and ready to take on the whole of Vegas law enforcement and today you're cracking jokes?"
"I'm resigned to it now, there's nothing I can do apart from protect my family so, as long as we're all safe, they can search whatever they like."
A large overhead sign advising them of the upcoming Boulder City exit loomed in the distance and Sara drew in a deep breath as her husband changed lanes to make the turn.
He frowned at the sound. "You okay?"
"Yeah, just a little apprehensive, I guess." She shook her head as if to clear it. "I know we want them to think that we've simply gone to Flagstaff as planned but is it wise to actually do that?"
"We're going for lunch and a visit to the courthouse only," Grissom told her as they made the turn. "As soon as we get Ben's birth certificate, we're heading down to Sedona; Jim booked us a room for tonight."
"And tomorrow?"
"A guy I used to work with at NAU has a house we can use, I called him yesterday and it's all ours for the next two weeks." He shrugged. "It's a nice place, Ben and I stayed there for a week when he was around a month old; I needed a break from my well-meaning family and friends who refused to take the hint that I needed time alone with my son."
"They'll track us, you know that; between our credit cards, our cell phones…" Sara shrugged. "It won't take long for them to find out where we are."
"It's just as well we don't have either of those things with us then, isn't it?" Grissom grinned at the look of surprise his comment elicited. "Jim has both of our phones along with all of our credit cards except one but that's strictly for emergencies." He tapped the screen in the Explorer's dash, "And between us we were able to disable the GPS so they can't track us that way either." He cocked his head towards the back seat. "Can you reach my jacket?"
Twisting around again, Sara managed to snag the dark blue jacket lying next to Ben's foot and pulled it through to the front.
"Now check the left hand inside pocket."
Slipping her hand inside, Sara extracted a brand new cell phone along with an unsealed envelope.
"Jim added another line to his phone plan, and he used cash to buy the phone so there's no tracing it back to us. He's the only one that knows that number too and he's promised to use it only if he has to." He watched as she opened the envelope fully. "And that is courtesy of Catherine."
Sara slipped the large wad of cash out into her hand. "You stole it from her?"
"Not quite, although the knowledge that I won it in her casino did bring a certain satisfaction."
"So that's why it took you four hours to get back to Lily's yesterday."
"Oh, that didn't take four hours," Grissom assured her with a chuckle. "The first hour was spent strategizing over a steak at Adiamo's then Jim dropped me off at the Eclipse while he went to sort out the phone."
Sara ran her finger almost reverently over the notes she held. "How much?"
"After tax was deducted and leaving five grand with Jim to cover any expenses with the house, a little over twenty-eight thousand." He shrugged. "You're holding ten thousand there and the rest is in my backpack, so I think that ought to cover us for a while; if we need more, I'll just find another poker game."
"You know, if I'd known you could make that kind of hourly rate, I'd have married you earlier." Opening the envelope fully, Sara slid the cash back in and put it, along with the phone, back into pocket she got it from before looking across with a sigh. "So, is there anything else I need to know?"
"Just one thing," Grissom added as they merged onto Boulder City Parkway. "When Jim and I were at the house he found something in the bathroom."
"I'm going to guess it wasn't my emerald pendant," Sara commented warily.
"No, it wasn't." His hands tightened on the steering wheel. "He found loose powder in the bottom of my med vials and also in a bottle of Motrin that was beside them."
"Okay…" Trepidation sounded clearly in Sara's tone. "What did you do with them?"
"The vials are still in the medicine cabinet, but the Motrin is sealed in a paper bag in my backpack."
"You brought it with you?" Sara frowned. "Why?"
"Because Jim's prints are now on that bottle and the last thing I want to do is drag him any further into this mess than he already is," Grissom explained.
"But my prints will be on the vials."
"As will mine and that's perfectly normal, honey; we share the bathroom and it's not exactly uncommon for a wife to touch her husband's meds and vice versa." He shrugged lightly. "I don't know about anyone else, but I'd actually be suspicious if your prints weren't there."
"I guess." Sara took a deep, calming breath as she absorbed all she'd been told. "It's Ben's big man, isn't it? He really was in our house."
Reaching across, Grissom took her hand. "Yeah, he was."
She sighed. "So, what do we do now?"
"We do exactly what we're already doing; we drive to Flagstaff, stop by the courthouse for that certificate, treat ourselves to a nice lunch and then we get as far away from all of this as we can."
A/N: Thanks for the beta, SylvieT.