A/N - This next chapter finds itself getting posted the moment our new flatmate moves in. Lulu (or Laura if you wanna be picky) is a fantastic person and I love her to bits. So this chapter is dedicted to Lulu and all the good times I know that wwe are going to have!

Chapter Five – Bedroom Dancing

"Ecklie's taking you off the case"

Sara felt her anger explode from her chest and bounce around the walls of Grissom's office.

"What! Why?"

Grissom remained calm in the face of Sara's anger, allowing her to vent.

"You know why. You are too close to this Sara. Far too close for it to be safe"

"I can handle this, you know I can. I can work it hands off."

"Sara, we both know you can't do that."

"Yes I can. Tell Ecklie that I want to stay on this case and I will remain hands off until it is solved. I will work by your side, hands in pockets, mouth shut. I need to be on this one Grissom. Please"

The last word was a plea and it was one he could not ignore. He had made exceptions to the rules before for Catherine and the others, so why should Sara be any different? If he said no, she would bring up his tendency to allow Catherine on cases that she should really not be on. If he said yes, he would defy the very orders that Ecklie had given him. Rock-Grissom-hard place. There was nothing he could do.

"Fine. I'll tell Ecklie but I mean it when I say hands off ok?"

"Ok. I can do that."

Sara sat back down in her seat, her arms crossed over her chest, her pride hurt. How could Ecklie want her off the case? She was good at her job and there was no way in hell that she didn't want a part in this case. She wanted to see justice for Elizabeth more then anyone else. How can her being off the case help in anyway, shape or form? She watched as Grissom picked up the phone and dialed Ecklie's number and for a split second she felt a little sorry for him. This was not the first time he had laid it on the line to allow her to have her own way. Sara felt herself justifying the situation by how nothing bad had happened in any of those situations so how could this time be any different? She could hear Ecklie's yells down the phone and she could see Grissom was stressed by the entire situation. His voice was calm and even as he tried to reason with Ecklie but he was failing. Eventually he hung up the phone in the middle of Ecklie's tirade and gave Sara a small, sad smile.

"He agrees with me."

"Liar. The lab techs could have heard all that yelling"

"Yeah well Conrad knows nothing about what is good for the case and what is not. Let me decide what happens with my team."

Sara gave Grissom a short nod before leaving his office. She didn't need this distraction; she needed to work the case.

The call came in an hour later, while Grissom was trying to sort through the paperwork that had become piled on his desk. A murder in Melissa Guthrie's apartment. Grissom was torn between telling Sara and not telling her. Dealing with a pissed Sara was far more preferably then dealing with a pissed off boss. Going against his better judgment, he paged Sara and told her what was going on. When they arrived at the crime scene, Catherine was already there, making her way slowly around the small, dirty apartment. He gave Grissom a hard glare as he and Sara walked past and it didn't take a genius to know why. Ecklie had obviously informed the others as to what the situation was and Catherine had expected him to do as the boss wanted him too. He just gave Catherine a slight nod and continued into the room, Sara following him. He slipped on his gloves and examined the scene before him. A woman in her mid-thirties lay on the floor her throat slit from ear to ear, the blood polling beneath her.

"Melissa's mom"

Grissom looked at Sara who was pointing to a picture that was stuck to the fridge. Grissom moved over to her and looked it over. They did look alike and they could past for mother and daughter.

"We need her wallet or something to confirm ID"

Sara nodded and made a move to head towards the room, pausing mid step.

"Right, hands off. You do it, I'll be outside"

He watched her leave before heading to the room. Sara stood outside the door and watched as Catherine worked the door handle and door frame, looking for fingerprints that may be used to identify the killer.

"You shouldn't be here Sara."

"Sorry?"

Catherine paused in her task and looked at Sara with a hard glare.

"You should not be here. You should be at the lab doing another case."

"Grissom said I could be here as long as I am hands off"

"Grissom would do anything for us, you know that. It's about time you made your own decisions and you know that this is not the right one."

"Yes it is. I can contribute more by being here then I could in the lab."

"You are move of a risk here then at the lab. Grissom could get fired for going above Ecklie's head, you know that right?"

Sara crossed her arms and returned Catherine's hard glare with one of her own.

"So it's ok for you to be knee deep in a personal case but not for us? How is that fair Catherine?"

"It's not but that is beside the point. You have much more to lose then I did"

"So when you were in the middle of the case with Eddie and the suspected rape you nothing at all to lose? That's bullshit Catherine and you know it. Good to know that someone can see my side of things"

Sara pushed herself off the wall and walked outside needing air. She felt hopeless and it was the worst feeling in the world. She was still trying to figure out what to do when the movement caught her eye. Her curiosity got the better of her and she moved around the corner of the dimly lit alleyway. Melissa seemed as lost as Sara felt but the difference was that Sara wasn't carrying around a large butcher's knife dripping with blood.

"Melissa, what are you doing here?"

Melissa whipped around and looked at Sara with dark eyes. Her glasses were gone, her hair bedraggled and almost as bloodied as the knife that she held in her hand.

"She knew. She knew"

"Who knew?"

"Mom. She knew. Elizabeth and the baby. She knew"

Sara moved a little closer, he hands in front of her.

"What did she know Melissa?"

Melissa started shaking her head, her voice low as she talked to herself.

"Peter was not right for her. The he had sex with her and made her pregnant with his evil seed. She didn't know, she didn't see what I did. How could she do that? How could she do that to me?"

"Melissa, you need to put the knife down."

"He told me he loved me. My pop told me that he wanted to show me how much he loved me but nobody believed me when I told them. Elizabeth did and that was why she was my friend. She didn't hate me for what happened."

Melissa continued on, lost in a circle of her own thoughts and for a moment Sara didn't even think that Melissa knew that she was there. That was until Melissa turned to her, her face a mask of fury and began to scream.

"THEY MADE ME DO IT! THEY ALL MADE ME DO IT!"

Melissa thrust the knife towards Sara but she managed to block it with her hand, the knife sinking into the soft flesh. Melissa screamed again before pulling the knife out and running. Sara made a move to run after her but her head started to spin. She examined the would the best she could, which wasn't very easy considering the amount of blood that was flowing from her hand and landing on the pavement. It was deep, almost the other side of her hand and the pain was incredibly. She started to make her way back to the block of apartments, every step harder then the last before she finally got to the front of Melissa's apartment.

"Grissom!"

"What?"

He took one look at her hand and pulled out his phone, calling the paramedics.

"What happened?"

"Melissa stabbed me"

Sara couldn't stand any more and she found herself sliding down the wall landing hard on the floor. Grissom grabbed her wrist and raised her arm high in the air to try and stem the flow of blood. He took off his jacket, then his shirt which he wrapped tightly around her hand.

"Sara, how do you feel?"

"Dizzy"

"The paramedics are on their way and then we'll get that hand stitched up. Tell me what happened"

"I went outside to get some air and I saw Melissa and followed her. She was ranting and raving and I didn't even think she realized I was there until she swung around and stabbed me."

"What kind of knife was it?"

"Big and sharp. Sufficient enough to kill her mother. It was covered in blood."

"Did she say anything?"

"Just that her mother knew, that Elizabeth knew. She also mentioned her pop and said that he had shown her just how much he loved her. I think she is a hugely disturbed girl."

"We need to find her. What way did she go?"

"I have no idea. After she hurt me I started feeling dizzy and then I headed back here. We're I trouble aren't we?"

"What do you mean?"

"With Ecklie. He's going to love this."

Sara could hear the faint sound of sirens, straining her ears as they got closer and closer. Grissom helped her stand up and go outside to meet the ambulance there.

"Are you coming with her sir?"

Sara shook her head at the round faced paramedic.

"No he's not. Grissom I'll give you a call later ok?"

Grissom said nothing, just nodded slightly and watched them load her into the ambulance. As they drove off, the sirens were silenced and Grissom felt the distinct, heavy weight of dread sit on his shoulders. All hell would break loose once he arrived back at the lab.

Ecklie broke a new record. Grissom was only in the lab for five minutes when Ecklie burst into his office, his face a deep crimson, his hands shaking with rage. He pushed the door closed with his foot before approaching Grissom's desk.

"Gil, what does hands off meant to you exactly?"

"She was not working the case. She was getting fresh air when it happened."

"And when she saw the suspect she didn't think to call for back-up?"

"There was no need too"

"Your CSI sees a girl with a bloodied knife and she does not think that she needs back-up?"

"Sara just took the situation into her own hands. It's only a minor injury"

"But this entire situation is far from minor. A CSI, one that was not even meant to be on duty, let alone on a case that has a personal effect on her, gets stabbed while under your watch? You know what this means Gil, don't you?"

Grissom tried to keep his own anger in check, deciding that releasing it would do little more then aggravate he situation.

"You tell me Conrad."

"I have the mayor breathing down my neck over this. He wants you and Sidle to both be punished"

"How? The naughty step?"

"Don't get smart assed on me Gil. I let you take it too far this time. I should have put my foot down. When it comes to Sidle, you cannot be trusted"

"What the hell do you mean by that Conrad?"

"I mean that every time she bats her eyes or quivers her lip, you're ready and waiting to give her what she wants. I also discovered recently that you are living with her. You know what this looks like right?"

Grissom stood and pushed his face close to Ecklie's, daring him to speak that words that would allow his to knock the narrow minded asshole to the ground.

"You tell me?"

"You are in a relationship with a co-worker. You know what they say about fishing off the company pier right?"

"Not that it's of your business but she's only staying with me until the heat comes down from this case. She lives next door to Elizabeth Jennings parents. That is why she is living with me"

"Are you sleeping with her?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but no. Sara and I are coulleges and friends. I would do this for any of my team."

"Either way, consider Sidle and yourself off the case and on suspension without pay until further notice"

Grissom felt his fists curl completely on their own accord. He lashed out without even realizing, his fist connecting with Ecklie's jaw. Worse still, as Ecklie cursed and moaned, he didn't feel on bit of regret. As he walked out of his office, he pushed the files that were piled on his desk onto the floor, some of them becoming smudged with Ecklie's blood.

"Fuck you Conrad"

Grissom ignored the glances that he got as he walked down the hall. He needed to get home.

Sara was already there when he walked in, Charlie on her lap.

"How's the hand?"

Sara waved her heavily banaged hand at him.

"Fine. Thirty-nine stitches but not permanat damage. She missed all the muscle and veins."

He could feel her watching him as he moved into the kitchen and removed the six pack of beer from the fridge and proceeded to down half a bottle in one swallow.

"That bad huh?"

Grissom sat on the sofa across from her, kicking off his shoes.

"That bad. You and I are suspended until further notice."

"Shit. He was pissed then?"

"Yup. He also found out that we were living together"

"How did he find that out? I haven't told anyone"

"Neither have I. Maybe someone say us or realized that we keep arriving and leaving together, jumping to the natural conclusion that we were sleeping together too."

"But we're not"

"I know that Sara. It didn't stop Ecklie from jumping to that conclusion."

"I'm sorry Grissom, I know that I should have stayed away but I couldn't. Now we're both out of the loop"

"Not quite. Do you remember the last time I was suspended?"

"Yeah"

"That's the reaction I'm expecting. Nick, Greg, Warrick and Catherine hate Conrad, so I have a nice feeling that we won't be as out of the loop as you think we might be."

"Yeah but we won't be on the case and that's what gets me.'

"You do realize that the case will be closed once we track down Melissa."

Sara sat back, her hand lost in Charlie's thick fur.

"Do you really think that she did it?"

"I'm not sure but she is a very disturbed girl."

Catherine resisted the urge to hate Grissom for this. As soon as he had stormed off and Ecklie had finished stuffing his nose with toilet paper to stem the flow of blood, he had come to her telling her the news; she was temporary supervisor. She hated the fact that she had gotten the job on Grissom's stupidity. She also hated the fact that she had to spend the time looking away while the rest of the team did their best to keep Grissom and Sara in the loop of the case. Also, her feelings were a little hurt over the entire situation with Sara and Grissom living together and the fact that he never told her. She had sent Nick, Greg and Warrick to do a little more investigating on where Melissa Guthrie was but to no avail.

Catherine started working her way through the pile of neglected file that had gathered on Grissom's desk but gave up soon after starting, she was too distracted. She never would have thought that Grissom would punch Ecklie. Catherine did not feel any kind of sympathy towards the bald, narrow minded day shift leader but she was concerned about Grissom's reasons behind the sudden burst of violence. She knew that Sara was a sensitive topic when it came to Grissom but when had it become so taboo? What had changed since the last time an outburst like this had happened? She had never doubted Grissom before, had never really had the need to but right that second she did. Had he let his guard down and slept with her? Had he crossed the line that he had promised himself that he never would cross? He was a strong guy, but in the face of Sara, he was nothing more then putty in her hands. That was why he allowed her to stay on the case, which was why she was almost always the focus of his concern. If he had indeed crossed a line, what would it mean for the rest of the team? Catherine liked Sara, she really did but Grissom was her friend first and fore most. He had been there for her through everything and she felt a strange sense of devotion and kinship towards him. But this was something else entirely. There were only two ways the chips would fall at this point. She would either break his heart or something real could happen between them. The question was, would the rest of the team be able to deal with the consequences of their actions? Worse still, would they be able to keep their jobs considering on how much the department frowned upon co-workers being together? Would Grissom risk everything for Sara? He already had risked his job just by allowing her to stay on the case, the suspension that Ecklie had handed down could be permanent and then where would Grissom be?