Chapter 6:
Teamwork at the Diner-
"Well, Catherine it looks like Sara was trying to find out why she should or should not be angry with three people, can you guess who any of them are?"
"Um...is one of them Gil Grissom, by any chance?"
"Why yes one is Gilbert Grissom, and judging by this it seems like the fight was about 2 other women and one more than the other."
"What does it say? Who are the two women? Why do you think that she angry with one more than the other?"
"Well the two names are: Lady Heather and Sofia Curtis, and I think she is more angry at Gil, than the two women, but she is also pretty mad at Sofia."
"Wow, not good at all, but I understand why she isn't all that angry with Heather, if I remembered correctly she was the one to convince Gil to go after Sara, so there wouldn't or should I say shouldn't be anything going on between those two."
"Yea, there is a lot of information on here like...." He scans the pad with his index finger and lands on Grissom's name. "ohhhh, this one is a really good one."
"Well, what does it say?"
"This one is under reasons to be angry, apparently Gil answers the phone whenever Sofia and Heather calls because it is more important then him making love to her."
"Wow, so Sara believes that Gil is having an affair and by the sounds of it, he is acting like he is cheating on her."
"Now wait a minute Catherine, Sara even admits that there isn't much that can happen over the phone, look she wrote it down right here under reasons why she shouldn't be mad at him."
"Jim, hate to tell you this and burst your bubble but actions speak louder than words, and Jim my friend, she is acting like she doesn't believe that they are just friends, and Gil's actions that she sees is telling her that he is more than just friends with them, do you get what I am saying?"
"Yea but at least she is attempting to trust him, right?"
"Look how drunk she was Jim, she is hurt really bad by this, she needs to deal with it not attempt to pretend that there isn't anything going on."
"She's really hurt isn't she?"
"Wouldn't you be?"
"Yea, I know the feeling of being cheated on."
They walk into the diner where they see Nick and Greg sitting in a booth discussing different plans when Catherine and Brass sit down. Catherine sits next to Nick and Brass takes the sit next to Greg. Nick looks at Catherine with a smile of hope.
"So how did everything go with Sara?"
"Well, we got some bad news, some really bad news, and a tiny bit of good news. Which would you like to hear first?"
Nick's smile of hope quickly removed from his face, he knew that it that if there was more bad news then good, then they weren't able to find much out from her or the fight was a really big one and that Greg and his prediction about a divorce was most likely dead on. Nick looked at Greg who seemed like he had the same conclusion as himself, then he looked back at Catherine.
"Well, I think it's best to hear the good, then listen to the bad news and go from there."
Brass looks at Catherine to show that he would tell them the good news.
"The good news is that we know what the fight is about..."
Nick and Greg both looked at each other and their smiles of hope quickly resurfaced, Greg then turns back to Catherine.
"That's great, so does that mean that their talking? It couldn't have been that bad or big of a fight if Sara told you what it was about right?"
Catherine held up her hand before Brass could answer the eager, young man, signaling to Brass that she could handle being the bearer of bad news.
"Sorry guys but she didn't tell us anything, except that Gil needs to clean up his act before she would even think about considering to talk to him."
Nick looked really confuse and Greg put his head down so nobody could see his disappointment.
"Well now I'm really confused, how do you know? If Sara didn't tell you does that Grissom called you and let you in on what the fight was about?"
"Again sorry but no he hasn't called me since we last talked.."
Brass then felt the need to cut her off since the two younger men weren't letting her finish spilling the bad news, he new that they didn't dare interrupt him while he was speaking.
"Listen how about I start at the beginning and you guys just listen...Sara got off the plane drunk, so trying to get any information out of her didn't go has plan, but the good news is that she dropped her notepad in the car, by the time I noticed it she was already in her apartment and we were already driving home, so I couldn't take it back to her.."
Catherine felt the need to put her own two cents in to his story.
"I wouldn't have let him take it to her if he could have, Sara and Gil are very privet people so this would be the only way to get inside her head."
They all laugh know that Catherine was right and if Nick and Greg were there they wouldn't have let Brass return the only evidence they had. Brass rolled his eyes, they all knew that him and Sara were like father and daughter, and that he was very protective of her like he was of his own daughter.
"Now for the bad news if you don't mind..after reading her notepad we have found out that the fight between our two geeks, is about two other women. With that being said the really bad news is that both Cath and I believe that this fight isn't going to be resolved anytime soon, and that it's going to be even harder to get these lovebirds to start talking again."
Nick curses under his breath while Greg says the same thing loud and clear for everyone to hear.
"Shit. Bullshit. That asshole!"
Catherine understands both of their anger and frustration, she tries to lighten the mood by attempting to make the situation sound better than it really is.
"Well, maybe Sara will be a little more clam and reasonable tomorrow and hopefully allow me to help her work through her anger and allow me to help her figure this whole thing out, remember we only have her side of the story even if it is just written down and not from the horses mouth, so to speak."
They all let out a little chuckle and Catherine smiled at her success of lighting the mood a bit.
"It seems to me by her notepad that she was trying to figure it all out by doing somewhat of a pro and cons list.."
Brass now felt the need to chime in a little.
"Well it is actually a why or why not list and it list reasons why she should and shouldn't be angry at Gil and these two women."
Nick looks from Brass to Greg, then to Catherine. Then shifts in his sit while scratching his chin.
"Well, no offense Cath but I'm like her big brother, I think I would get more information and maybe able to reason with her then you." He was now supporting a nervous look as Catherine started to laugh. She quickly calmed down and explained her reasoning.
"Nicky, no offense taken, but you are a man and right now, she truly believes that Gil is cheating on her, so more than likely she will take it out on you, so with my own personal experience of being cheated on I can tell you it doesn't matter if your her best friend..." She looks at Greg, then at Brass. "her father figure or..." she then looks back at Nick, who was a little frustrated by what she was saying. "a brother figure to her. Believe me when I say there wouldn't be anything left of any man who tries to help her."
Brass and Greg smile, holding in their laughter not fully believing the last part of Catherine's little speech. Nick sits back and nods his head to show her that he understands but Catherine could tell that he didn't want to believe anything that she said. He then leans forward and puts a fake smile on so she couldn't tell that he was hurt by what she had said.
"Yea, your probably right."
Catherine did notice but decided to leave it alone, she didn't want to harm his ego anymore than she already did.
"Great, so I will talk to Sara, woman to woman, and you three men can talk to Gil, just make sure it is one at a time, he might become defensive if you all talk to him at once, he might feel like his is being ambushed and shut down."
Brass shakes his head in agreement with Catherine then turns to address the two men.
"Out of the two of you who has less of a friendship with Gil?"
Nick and Greg look at each other, Greg points at Nick, but Nick laughs and shakes his head "no" then gave Greg a sympathetic look and pats him on the back. Greg looks up at Brass and raises his hand, not wanting to speak and not really wanting to know the reason behind the older mans question, he saw smile, it look like a wicked smile, it kind of made him feel a little uneasy about this situation he would soon find himself in.
"Great, so you should be the first one to have a heart to heart conversation with him over the phone, no e-mail, you got that?"
"Fine but I have no idea what I should say or talk to him about."
Nick sees the uneasiness of his buddy and looks at Brass for approval to take the lead, Brass looks at Nick and shakes his head encouraging Nick to help.
"Greg just talk about a case, say that your having a really hard time dealing with your emotions and tell him that Catherine only told you that him and Sara were in a fight and that you wanted to make sure that it didn't matters worse between them if you went over to her place to talk."
Greg's eyes got real big, he was really nervous but at least he wasn't going to be telling a lie, stretching the truth yes but it wasn't really a lie because he did on occasions go over to Sara's to watch movies and talk.
"So then we can see how he reacts?"
"Yea and to see if he tells you anything about what happened, maybe he will feel like confessing something. I will wait a few hours or maybe even a day before I call him, I'll tell him that I am cheating on my fiancee', that I really love her but I am having mix feelings about this other woman, and that I could really use some advice."
Brass has a big smile 'Catherine's got a really good team, really creative too.' he laughs to himself, then realizes that it was his turn to tell his idea for when he talks to Gil. 'dam, I cant beat these two, they have such good ideas it makes it harder since I am really like a father figure to her and his best friend.'
"So Brass whats your plan when you talk to him?"
"Well I was think I could pretend that I am really drunk when I call him, but I don't know, he knows I am her father figure, and his best friend so he would know something is up if I try to lie to him? I was thinking that maybe if this isn't resolved in a week or so that I should take some leave a go to Paris and kick his ass for being a idiot, and for breaking my little girls heart."
They all laugh, once their laughter subsided Catherine raised her eyebrow, and got a huge smile on her face.
"Well going to Paris would be perfect, it's very hard for him to lie to his best friend to his face, and there you wouldn't have to lie, you would tell him everything that you know, you wouldn't have to worry about getting Sara's side of whatever he tells you, you could even bring her notepad with you just in case he attempts to lie."
"That's a great idea, I will put in my leave paperwork tomorrow night, hopefully everything goes well, it's going to cost a pretty penny to get a flight to Paris. Their lucky I love them both."
They all start laughing again, once they stopped all three men looked at Catherine for her plan of action to get Sara to open up.
"Well I guess that leaves me and my plan, Okay I figure that I would pair us together on a case when she comes in, in two days. I will try to do the whole girl talk thing but she isn't the girly type so I doubt that it will work but I will try and hopefully we can bond. If that doesn't work and again I don't think it will, I will let her know that I found her notebook and read the whole thing."
All three winced at the imaged that popped into their heads, Brass leans forward to grab her attention as she was looking at each of them with a confused look.
"Cath, that doesn't sound like such a good idea, sounds like it could end up in a fight, you know that Sara has a really bad temper."
She gives a really big smile at all three of them as she leaned back in her sit as if she just won a big pot of money at one of the casinos. She laughs to herself 'I truly amaze myself sometimes.'\
"I'm planing on her getting angry and defensive, what I think will happen is that it will back her into a corner and make it seem like since I already know she can tell me everything that is going on and how she is feeling since it's already on the paper I already read, I will tell her that I support her and that I will help her with anything she wants me to help with. Then after shift I will take her to get coffee, so that we can sit down and talk about the whole situation."
Greg half smiles at her plan only because he is still really nervous about his part in talking to Gil, Nick gives her a whole smile, giving her more confidence, and Brass smiles and winks at her, then Nick gives her a half of a hug careful not to invade to much of her personal space.
"Sounds like a perfect plan, corner her with the evidence, like we do with stubborn suspects, and keep grilling her until she confesses everything, then let her think about it during work so that by the time shift is over she will be tired and exhausted of trying to come up with excuses of why she can't talk to you about it, so then when you won't let it go, she will break and let you hear her side, the true reason why she is angry and what she is feeling and why she is feeling that way."
They all laugh and give her a hug showing her support on her plan.
"I thought it was perfect too."
Brass calls the waitress over a politely asks for the bill, telling all of them that breakfast was on him this time. Once she returned with the bill they all got up and Nick put a tip on the table. Brass paid the bill then looked at Catherine.
"Chivalry is dead, next time your paying for all of us men to eat."
They all laugh, Catherine folded her arms in a joking manner.
"Fine, tomorrow I pay for breakfast but you better not be late or you will pay for your own."
They all laugh again and quickly agree. They all walk to the lab to pick up their vehicles and drive their own way to get some rest before their shift that night.