AN: It does start lightening up a bit after this chapter
Even though it didn't take him long to realize the car had indeed been thoroughly processed. Grissom went over it again with a fine tooth comb. He tried to ignore the pang he felt at the shattered windshield and all the blood, while seeing that the interior of the car was relatively undamaged. "If only they had worn their seatbelts," he couldn't help but think before trying to regain any sense of objectivity towards the vehicle.
After analyzing every detail of the car he could see that it apparently happened exactly the way as had been described to them. Not that he had doubted it so much, but still had felt a need to be sure of it himself, both for his sake and for Catherine's.
Arriving back at his office, he saw that the case file had been placed on his desk, along with the box of belongings taken from the car. Still leaving the box until last, he started going through the file. He scanned it slowly, agreeing silently with all the verbal reports he had received about how well Ecklie had ensured the case was handled. He felt a lump in his throat as he scanned Doctor Robbins autopsy report, confirming what Jim had already said about the cause of death. He fingered the USB jumpdrive sealed in a small evidence bag and stapled to the folder; logic telling him this was the ipod recording taken from the player, but he couldn't bring himself to listen to it just yet.
Taking a deep breath to try and steel himself against what he knew was coming next he opened the box, seeing the three bags inside with the girls names written on them. He first looked through the Schaeffer sisters' bags, noting the ipod contained in Elena's bag, before moving on. He knew he was going to look in the third bag, yet felt himself trying to avoid it at the same time. Finally he pulled it to him, trying to ignore how his hand trembled as he opened it to empty the contents on his desk. His heart lurched as he saw the familiar pink purse land in front of him. Feeling as if he were intruding he opened the small purse slowly, gently extracting some crumpled bills, a compact and tube of lip gloss before a small slip of paper that simply said "Brett, 555-3182" with a heart drawn underneath it. Seeing nothing else in the bag he gently slipped everything back in the purse and returned it to the bag and into the box.
Having saved the hardest part for last he slowly opened the evidence bag that contained the jumpdrive, plugged it into the USB port on his laptop and waited as the computer sensed it and pulled up the menu. Double-checking to make sure his door was still closed, he selected the play audio option from the menu and waited. Jumping as he heard the loud music start to blare some unrecognizable beat, he turned the speakers down as the song continued. He lost track of time as he listened to several tracks of the same unrecognizable tunes until he could detect the change in tone and volume and increased the volume again, the laughter of the girls almost like a knife to his heart as he heard their voices.
"Hey I want to listen to country." A young girls voice that Grissom assumed to be Lizzie's, since he didn't recognize it, rang out into his quiet office.
"I'm trying to drive here." The more terse tones of her older sister cut in to interrupt her sisters sentence.
"We can't make a recording on this thing singing to country." Lindsey's said as she joined the argument, her voice causing Grissom's eyes to close as he continued to listen.
"Guys, I'm trying to drive, jeez." Elena Schaeffer said again, obviously irritated at the commotion. "I wish I'd never agreed to chauffer you two kids around."
"You had to, remember, or I'd have told Mom and Dad how you and Bobby Jenson were doing a little more than just watching a movie on the sofa Saturday night." Lizzie giggled, obviously pleased to have such good blackmail material. "Now you're driving too slow, c'mon, the speed limits 55 until we get into the city." She urged.
"Fine, but if I get a speeding ticket I'm going to make *you* pay for it." Elena retorted before the faint sound of the car starting to accelerate could be heard.
"Come on guys, stop fighting. We need to hurry up at the mall and get back before lunch is over." Lindsey said, trying to get the two girls to stop arguing.
"Ok, whatever." Lizzie finally sighed in agreement. "So what song are we going to record on this cool iPod my sister got for Christmas?" She giggled again as she began flipping through radio channels.
"You'd better not break it." Elena threatened, obviously not thrilled at having her kid sister and friend playing with her new iPod.
Grissom listened as the laughing and debates continued as they roamed various radio stations until they apparently found one they could agree on.
"Hey I like this one," Lizzie squealed excitedly as Grissom heard a somewhat familiar tune starting.
"Oh, I do to, especially since Madonna remade it." Lindsey agreed. "Going to join us Elena?" She asked right before the song started and they began to sing along with it.
Grissom could feel the lump growing in his throat as the words to the song began. He listened almost reverently as the three girls started to sing along with it, obviously just having fun with the recorder as they giggled and laughed throughout their attempt to follow along with the song. His gut tightened as they again reached the unknowingly prophetic chorus at the end of the song.
"Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin' this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die."
The laughter continued even as the song faded out from the radio as they talked about how they needed to do another song. The radio search was apparently on again when sound from the car told Grissom that the final moments had begun. He wanted to turn it off as he knew what was coming, but was frozen in his chair, unable to do anything but listen as he was absorbed into the drama unfolding in the car.
"Sis, you're moving to far towards the curb." Lizzie screeched in apparent alarm. Grissom could hear the car almost groan as the steering wheel was pulled sharply before being followed by the sound of tires squealing. Grissom could almost visualize Elena desperately trying to regain control. There was a loud sickening thud that could only be the sound of a car hitting a curb too fast. Grissom could feel the tears rolling down his cheeks even as the screams began. The screams were unintelligible as they heightened in intensity and volume as the girls apparently realized that they were going to hit the wall. Grissom's eyes flew open as he heard what he knew to be Lindsey's sobbing voice scream out "Mommy" just before the sound of crunching metal and breaking glass was heard.
The rest of the recording was lost to Grissom as he surrendered to the overwhelming sorrow that consumed him and did something he hadn't done in a many years - he wept. Not a quiet dignified sniffle but gut wrenching uncontrollable sobs. This continued for several minutes until he felt his sense of awareness return and could feel another presence in the room. He was suddenly flooded with a feeling of embarrassment as he hastily tried to dry his eyes before looking up to see Sara watching him. He had apparently not heard when she entered his office to check on him after the team had started to get worried about the length of time he had been in there. He was waiting for the look of amusement or pity that might come with seeing a grown man crying like a baby, especially the generally reserved supervisor of the night shift, but instead all he saw was a look of understanding.
"I'm sorry," he tried to apologize, wincing as he heard the gravelly tone in his voice before he cleared his throat.
"Sorry for what?" Sara looked at him strangely. "You don't think the whole lab was crying after hearing that recording. Relax, it means you're human," Sara added gently as she gave him a quick reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I'll go tell the guys you're ok." She added as she moved to the door, stopping as she saw that Grissom continued to look embarrassed and thoroughly unconvinced about what she had said.
"Seriously Gris, it's OK....we all cried, even Hodges had tears in his eyes and he didn't know any of the girls. You were closer to Catherine and Lindsey then any of us. It's OK for you to grieve also," she assured him one last time, and with those parting words left Gil alone in his office.
He stared at the door, still shaky from the force of the recording, knowing for sure that it would be a long time, if ever, before Catherine could handle listening to it herself.