Introducing the magical world
After Piper's announcement, Grissom and Sara were speechless. Unsure Sara glanced at Grissom and saw in his eyes the same surprised, guarded, confused and intrigued look, as she was sure was now also evident in her eyes. She and Grissom locked eyes for a few moments, not sure how to proceed next, but feeling that both were thinking the same things and felt the same emotions. Still looking at Grissom, with confusion written on her face, Sara began to talk: "You are witches and you believe that Grissom and I have magical powers?" she said as she turned her head to look at Piper.
"Yes. That is correct." She confidently said.
"Well that doesn't add up. Witches by Wiccan way don't attribute magical powers to themselves or other persons. They attribute magical powers to nature." Sara said, looking at Piper. Sara remembered the time she had encountered a mental patient in a confined space, it had almost cost her her live. These people were making her feel exactly the same way, Sara didn't like the feeling. But at the same time she felt Grissom turning his attention to her, clearly surprised by this admission of knowledge, in her defence Sara turned her attention to him and said: "What?! I lived in San Fransisco! I had to do an investigation to these people here. Is it that odd for me to have knowledge on the Wiccan way? For God's sake you are knowledgeable on corsets! Give me a break." Sara laughed, seeing the glint in Grissom's eyes as she recalled his knowledge on corsets.
"You misunderstand us, we are not witches by Wiccan way." Piper admitted, effectively getting Grissom and Sara to turn their attention back to her.
"You are not witches by Wiccan way? Then by which way are you witches?"
"By the magical way."
"You will have to come with something more then "the magical way" to convince us." Grissom said, while he motioned Sara to sit on his desk, which she promptly did.
"Miss Sidle, maybe you can help me explain?" Piper looked at Sara.
"How might I do that?" to say that Sara was sceptical would be a slight understatement.
"Well, what was in those cases you investigated that made you conclude that we could not be pinned for those crimes?"
"I can not disclose specific information on those cases." Sara said.
"We have seen the cases and the evidence the police has on our name, and I am sure that mister Grissom will be discrete with the information."
"That doesn't matter."
"Well maybe there were strange but in descript facts that you found extremely interesting, facts that were seen in several cases, not just one. That wouldn't be specific to a case, would it?" Piper argued, willing Sara to tell them what had caught her eye, by that way they could show how those things came to being, namely with magic. Unsure Sara looked at Grissom, who with a small nod, told her that would be fine. This information wasn't going to get out in the open. With a sigh Sara gave in: "Okay, well for example, I had found several footprints, the matched yours, but they only led towards the scene, never away, as if you had disappeared into thin air. There were no car tracks or motorcycle tracks, to indicate that you had left with a car or a motor or any other means of transport."
"We can orb, we disappear and appear back home or somewhere else, in that way we can quickly travel from one place to another."
"Or leave the scene of a crime, without throwing suspicion on yourselves." Sara countered.
"You could see it that way, were there other things?" Piper asked, not denying the things Sara said.
"On other cases, I found evidence of small, well placed explosions, but there were no materials that could cause those explosions. Those explosions would have blown up only a small area in the room, sometimes only a vase. And sometimes the victims would have very strange wounds. In some cases the coroner was sure that the person had died from a high voltage shock, but there was nothing in the crime scene that could give that kind of shock. And I remember one case were the victims bled out through tearing of all blood vessels, no one could give a cause for that kind of tearing." Sara continued.
"I can blow things up and those strange causes of death were, most likely due to the interference of demons." Piper stated matter-of-factly. That admission only served to further worry Grissom more, as he started to wonder whether or not he should call security or the mental hospital. The more he listened to these people, the more he thought that these people only saw these things happen in their fantasy. He also started to worry about Sara's safety as he remembered how in the mental hospital she could have easily lost her live to Adam Trent. In order for them to get to the door, they had to get past these four women and man. Sara could feel the uneasiness that Grissom felt, but she could see that he was keeping that hidden very well. Keep these people talking Sara said to her self as she addressed Piper once more: "Demons?"
"Yes, demons, all they want is power and might, no matter how they get it. They live in the underworld. We battle with them frequently." These things were a daily occurrence for Piper and her sisters, but for the persons they were trying to explain all this to it was something from the realm of fantasies and fairytales. Phoebe could see that they were getting nowhere fast, with only talking. She could feel that Grissom and Sara were feeling uneasy and felt like they were talking to a couple of lunatics. She saw Grissom reach for the telephone: "Mister Grissom, don't call yet, tell me how we can prove to you that what we are saying is real and not just a fairytale." Deep in thought Grissom looked at Phoebe as he pondered what would be needed to persuade Sara and him that what these people were saying was real. He quickly looked at Sara, who with a small nod told him to proceed, once again they were on the same level. "Show us." Grissom challenged them.
"Okay." Phoebe calmly accepted the challenge Grissom had laid before them. "Let's go to the hallway."
"Why?" Grissom asked, reluctant to leave the confines of his office and trying to keep this lunacy right here, not out there were they would surely draw a crowd.
"Because we need a little bit more space." Phoebe explained, turning to leave the room, while Paige, Piper, Aelithe and Leo turned to follow her. The group gathered in the hall, were there was the usual buss of the various people walking and talking to each other, the sound of several machines and printers and the occasional cell-phone. Some people curiously looked at the group that came piling out of Grissom's office, but no one came up to greet them. Piper stepped to the front, making sure that Sara and Grissom could see her. She quickly flipped up her hands and the entire hallway froze. Confused Sara and Grissom looked around them, until they realized that no one was moving. They saw Warrick and Catherine who were just turning the corner, they were frozen mid step. In the various labs the lab rats were also frozen in time, Jackie was in the middle of taking a sip of coffee and Bobby had just fired a firearm, the bullet was frozen in space. Sara and Grissom turned around and took the scene in. Grissom was the first to ask Piper what she had done.
"I froze time, I can freeze time and accelerate it, in such a way that the things I point at explode. That would account for the evidence for explosions that you found Sara."
"You can make things explode, by pointing at them?"
"Yes, I can show you, do you have something that you don't need anymore, or you can go without?" Sara felt around in her pockets, finally finding a pencil, which she wanted to hand over, but before she could give it to Piper it vanished into a small cloud of blue lights. Sara looked at Piper questioningly, but Grissom had heard Paige say: "Pencil." While she held out her hand, and sure enough Sara's pencil materialized in Paige's hand. So Grissom said: "No, Paige has it, look." Sara looked at Paige's hand and saw her pencil lying there.
"How did you do that?"
"I can do telepathy and orb. But first I'll let Piper explode the pencil." With that she handed the pencil to Piper. Piper threw it in to the air and flicked one hand at it, causing the pencil to explode. Sara and Grissom looked at it, stunned.
Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Leo and Aelithe in turn looked at the reaction Grissom and Sara were having on the display of magic. Paige decided to give them one last show, she quickly grabbed Sara at her wrist. Sara turned towards Paige and started to ask her to let her go, but before she could finish she and Paige disappeared in a cloud of blue lights. Grissom had also turned and seen what happened, he was extremely worried when Paige and Sara disappeared, angry he turned around to face Piper, but she just pointed to the far side of the hallway. Grissom turned and to his great relief, saw a cloud of blue lights from which Sara and Paige appeared. Sara was still turned to Paige and appeared to finish the sentence that she had started. Then Sara realised that she and Paige were no longer in the group, confused Sara looked around and found that they were on the other side of the hallway. She and Paige walked towards the group, Sara saw that the other people in the hallway were still frozen in time. When they returned to the group, Grissom and Sara locked their eyes, as they had done so many times before, and Sara tried to reveal to Grissom that she was al right, but this time Grissom needed to hear it, so he asked: "Are you alright, Sara?"
"Yes, I am fine, I didn't even know what was happening. But this does explain the missing footprints." Sara said. Grissom put his arm around her shoulder and turned to the Halliwell sisters: "Okay, you have given us much to think about, what do you want from us?"
"We want to talk to you." Piper said.
"About the Debbie Marlin case?" Grissom asked.
"Yes, I think that would be a good starting point." Piper said.
"A good starting point for what?"
"Hopefully for finding some answers."
"You are not sure what you are looking for, do you?" Sara asked.
"No, but we are sure that you two are key players." Phoebe answered.
"How come?"
"I have the power of premonition and I had a premonition of the Debbie Marlin case, that premonition led to you." Phoebe explained. Aelithe could see the doubts that Grissom and Sara still had: "Why don't you do your work, think about what we said and showed you. Here is my address and telephone number. Please contact me or come visit us, when you have made up your mind. It doesn't matter whether or not you decide to help us or not, just come and tell us, please." Aelithe handed a card to Grissom. "That is all we ask. I think it is time that we left." With that Piper waved her hands and the people in the hall resumed their works as if time hadn't stopped at all. Warrick and Catherine were walking towards Grissom, and from the other side Nick called out: "Grissom?! Do we have assignments?"
"I'm coming, Nick." Grissom called back. He then shook the hands that the Halliwell family presented him: "We will consider all that you have said and shown, you will hear from us."
With that the Halliwels and Aelithe left the labs, to go home. Grissom and Sara walked to the break room, were Grissom appointed Greg and Nick to the only case that had come in, leaving Sara and himself free to think about what had happened this night.
Opening his office door to let Sara pass and stepped in to his office after her and closed the door. Sara sat down on one of the chairs that stood in front of the desk, Grissom sat down on the other chair that stood in front of the desk. Sara and Grissom were still stunned, but Grissom broke the silence: "So, first blush?" Sara looked up, slightly dazed, looking into his blue eyes, Sara spoke up: "First blush? They are witches; they can do things that I don't understand. My brain tells me that a person can't stop time, but here someone did. I have no idea what I think. What do you think?"
"The same thing you just said. Scientifically speaking the things did, can't have happened, but yet they did. What do you want to do? Do you want to meet them?"
"I have no idea, but I am wondering what they want from us?" Sara wondered.
"Yes, I wondered the same thing. They thought that we had magical powers, but I can't remember ever anything happening around me, that I couldn't explain. Accept maybe, what made me fall in love with you, and why you love me." Grissom said as he grabbed Sara's hand. The confusion he could see in her eyes, mirrored the confusion he felt on what had happened this night. Before Sara could react Brass charged in.
"Hey Grissom, I just got a call. Your little buddies are calling your name." Brass handed an assignment slip to Grissom.
"Well at least it is something I can deal with." Sara smirked at Grissom's comment. "Sara, you want to join me and capture some insects?"
"Sure Grissom, insects I can handle, about witches I am not sure." Sara said as she rose from her chair. Brass glanced from Grissom to Sara, understanding what they were talking about: "You met Aelithe." Brass stated.
"Yes, according to Judy they were directed here by you."
"Yes that is correct; I said that she would have more success in reaching you here."
"She and the Halliwell family came here to talk to us." Grissom explained and walked towards the door.
"Griss, just one moment. I know it is hard to deal with in the first instance, but Aelithe is a good person, really. She helps me occasionally when I get a case that involves her world. She only tries to make the world a better place to live in. I know she is sometimes not quite sure what she is searching for, but in the end she really helps. Give them a chance." Brass said.
"Okay, we will, what do you say about this Sara: We do our jobs and we talk some more back home. That way we have some time to consider everything." Grissom asked.
"That sounds like a good idea. Now let's go see your favourite things." Sara said, anxious to get going, she had a slow week, with a lot of paperwork and some fieldwork would be a great diversion from what happened at the start of shift.
With Grissom, Sara drove to the scene to do their jobs as they did every night.