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Chapter Sixteen

Sara took her seat on the plane, her black holdall at her feet. It was 9am, her flight due to get into Vegas at midday. Her stomach was full of butterflies, and she passed when offered any food or drink by the air hostess. What was she going to say to Grissom? Did you miss me? Do you still want me? Sara had played with the idea that this was all some sort of ploy to get her to Vegas so they could re-start their relationship, but she knew Grissom too well, if he wanted to be with her he would have contacted her personally. No, this was strictly business, wasn't it?

She pulled her notebook from her holdall, yanking down the small plastic table attached to the back of the seat in front of her, and although she had intended to write down thoughts about the Vegas investigation, or contemplations regarding the case she'd just been involved in at San Francisco, she ended up mindlessly doodling as the butterflies in her stomach increased, the plane taking off into the air.

Once in Vegas, Sara made her way through the airport. She scanned the crowd for signs of Grissom, or anyone connected to the lab that may have come to meet her, but there was no one. Hailing a cab outside, she climbed in and gave directions to the lab. The driver drove her in silence, and she paid him once outside the building.

Heading into reception, Sara took in all her surroundings. The building was large, the interior clean and minimal, there were lots of corridors coming off the reception room, and people hurried around the space, passing papers over to each other. Walking over to the reception desk, Sara smiled at the woman behind the desk, "Hi, my name is Sara Sidle, I'm here to see Grissom… Gilbert Grissom." She felt her voice waver slightly with nerves and her cheeks blushed with embarrassment that she could be so nervous.

"Grissom is on a case at the moment, he said you'd be here…" the receptionist passed a piece of paper over the desk to Sara, "he left you the address where he is. One of the guys will drive you." She motioned over to a police officer who was in conversation with another.

He smiled and led Sara back out to the parking lot. Sara could feel herself heating up, dressed in her khaki trousers and green jumper. Las Vegas was boiling hot compared to the drizzly rain of San Francisco that day. She unzipped her jumper and tied it around her waist, revealing a pink tank-top. Throwing her holdall into the backseat of the police car, she climbed into the passenger seat and the cop drove her to the crime scene.

When she arrived, all she could see was a crowd of people standing in a circle, held back by yellow crime scene tape. She knew instantly who they were looking at, only Grissom could create such interest. Thanking the police officer, she grabbed her bag and made her way to the yellow tape line. Ducking underneath it, she watched as Grissom photographed three dummies that were lying on the ground in various positions. The sight of him made her whole body surge, her skin tingled, her heart felt like it was about to burst from her chest. She tried to remain calm, she didn't want to make a fool of herself, this was purely work. He didn't want to be with her, but she felt all the emotions of being with him flood back to her. How his kisses felt on her skin, his hands on her body, how he felt inside of her, his wonderful smile as they had lay in bed together.

"Norman jumped… Norman pushed… Norman fell." Grissom said to himself.

"Wouldn't you if you were married to Mrs. Roper?" Sara dumped her bag on the floor and crossed her arms.

"I don't even have to turn around. Sara Sidle."

"That's me." Sara grinned. How wonderful it was to hear his voice, to hear him say her name. He looked the same as he did two years ago, his hair was greyer, but everything else was the same. Perfect. She took her sunglasses from her eyes as he turned around to face her. "Still tossing simulation dummies, there are other ways to tell, you know." She teased, but was slightly serious - He was using old fashioned techniques, as under-funded as San Francisco was, almost everything was computerised.

"How? Computer simulation? No thank you. I'm a scientist. I like to see it. Newton dropped the apple. I drop dummies."

"You're old school."

"Exactly, and this guy was pushed." Grissom explained.

They shared a glance, holding eye contact. Sara could have gotten lost in his gaze, but changed the subject to why she was in Vegas. Thomas had emailed her with all the details about the investigation Grissom had asked her to carry out. Holly Gribbs, a new CSI, had been left solo at a scene by Warrick Brown, and had been shot, was in a critical condition in the hospital. "How's the girl?" she asked.

"Still in surgery, she's not doing very well."

"That's too bad." Sara knew how anxious she'd been on her first day at the San Francisco lab, being left solo at a scene was unthinkable. She didn't like to pre-judge Warrick Brown, but she couldn't understand what could have been more important than a team member's safety.

"God, Sara, I have so many unanswered whys."

"There's only one why that matters now. Why did Warrick Brown leave that scene?"

Grissom nodded, "that's for you to find out for me, Sara."

"I will."

"If you want to go check in at your hotel, and then make your way to the lab, I'll be back there in a few hours. Start by talking to Catherine – Catherine Willows, she's on the case."

"Okay. See you then." Sara ducked back under the crime tape and got back into the police car which had waited for her. She felt no wiser as to her situation with Grissom, he had been friendly, but given away no signals as to his real feelings for her. Unless he felt nothing now? She was just a CSI from San Francisco that he knew would do the job? Running her hands through her hair, Sara could feel herself starting to get stressed. Maybe this was all just a bad idea.

After checking into her hotel, and swapped her holdall for a small rucksack, perfectly sized for just a camera and notebook, Sara got a taxi over to the lab. She received an ID badge from reception and made her way through the corridors, everything was so high-tech and new: this place obviously had a lot more money than San Francisco's. She eventually found Catherine, although she received a chilly reception to say the least; eventually they managed to get onto the case and Catherine shared her evidence and notes. Deciding Catherine was on top of it all; Sara went in search of Warrick Brown.

It was as she was leaving the lab the receptionist called her over. "Miss Sidle, there's a note left here for you, from the hospital."

Sara took the note from the receptionist. It simply said 'Holly Gribbs died during surgery at 15:10'. She felt anger well up inside of her that this could have been prevented, if not for the incompetence of another CSI. Determined to find Warrick and question him, she left the lab.

After searching numerous casinos, Sara found Warrick at a blackjack table. Suggesting they go somewhere to talk, Warrick suggested a diner nearby, and once there bought them both coffee. Sara knew straight away what had happened, it wasn't difficult to put two and two together with his obvious gambling habit, but she gave Warrick a chance to come clean, before making it clear that she knew what he was up to. Sara informed Warrick of Holly's death before heading back to the lab.

Sara met back up with Catherine, who seemed a little warmer towards her, almost friendly, and after making telephone contact with their suspect, Catherine invited her to come along to make the arrest. Sara hadn't been to very many arrests at all, was always too busy with follow-up paperwork whilst Thomas cuffed the bad guys, she had to admit to herself that she was a little energized about actually participating in some action.

With the suspect caught and behind bars, Catherine and Sara made their way to the morgue. Sara had no problem with dead bodies, which she wasn't proud of, but she'd been around so many now, it was like she was accustomed to it all. Still, the smell of the morgue stung her nose –thick bleach, with a trace of decomp., not pleasant. She stayed behind as Catherine walked up the corridor to the room where Holly Gribbs was being kept, needing a DNA trace from under her finger nails to match to the suspect for final confirmation.

Sara spotted Grissom at the doorway of the room, and watched as he and Catherine spoke. She knew they had a connection, she could see it as clear as day. Feeling a twinge of jealousy that this woman was so close to Grissom, she diverted her eyes to the floor, trying to make patterns into the marble-style laminate, keep her mind busy.

Grissom waited until Catherine was done in the morgue, before making his way back to the lab, acknowledging Sara's presence only with a quick 'hello'. Catherine and Sara made their own way back to the lab, Sara sticking by Catherine's side, meeting new people, hoping someone would say something that would clarify Catherine's relationship with Grissom. Maybe he'd left her to be with Catherine – she was very pretty, after all, but no one said anything, and Sara was still left lost about where she stood with him.

A few hours later, the lab tech. Greg confirmed that the suspect they'd arrested earlier was in fact the man that killed Holly. Catherine and Sara drove over to the interview building to see their suspect be transferred to Vegas prison.

"How's your report coming?" Grissom asked her.

"It's getting there." She replied, not wanting to say anything more whilst around Warrick. She could see Grissom was troubled, almost upset with the intensity of the Holly Gribbs case. To lose a CSI, especially one so young, and that had so much trust in the department and the team, must be agonizing.

"Let's go home." He said to his team.

Sara left them to go back to the lab, choosing instead to go back to her hotel room and write up her report so far. She wrote until her eyes could stay open no more, eventually falling asleep on top of her bed, notebook and pen still in hand.