Disclaimer – Please see chapter 1
A/N – Thank you so very much to those of you that left a review for the last chapter. I really do appreciate you taking the time to give me any and all feedback you send. Story is beta'd by myself so any remaining mistakes are all mine, so I apologize in advance. R & R Enjoy!
Fall Out Boy – Chapter 5 Break & Thoughts
Sat in the small cafeteria, burger, fries and coffee before him, Grissom ate slowly as he thought out an apology, and how to make steps towards strengthening their friendship further than before.
He wasn't sure how long he'd been sat there looking out of the window in thought eating, a half, or maybe even a full hour when his cell phone rang.
Pulling it from his pocket then glancing at the call display which read 'Stokes', he flipped it open to answer "Grissom" in his usual supervisor tone "You find anything Nick?" he asked straight away hoping he had some paperwork on the way to him, then maybe any relatives of the boy could be contacted.
"Yeah, the kids name is Kye Anthony Meridian, born in New York in 2000, he'll be six next month, no father is listed on the birth certificate. Looks like the mother and boyfriend were home schooling him, which would account for no record of the kid in the community schools or kindergartens. But also it could be because it looks like the boy has a very high IQ, so the local schools may not have been able to accommodate his intelligence in their classes" Nick paused as he shuffled through the pages of the file.
"There's no medical records for the kid as such, apart from an immunization record card. It has several different medical practices authority stamps on it from a few scattered states" Nick relayed to his boss "We can follow that up back at the lab" he added.
"There's also nothing to point us in the direction of any known living relatives of any of them either. But I'll ask the local PD to have a check into that for us while we are still here, then hopefully someone can be located to take care of the kid".
Nick took a breath then went on to explain Greg and his theory, adding some of the bits of information and evidence backing their theory up "So we could do with the kids DNA sample to put into the state & nationwide database to see if throws out a possible suspect for us" Nick said almost finished with his current details on the case.
"It's a long shot Nick" Grissom mused thoughtfully.
"Yeah, but right now that's all we got as a possible link to a suspect, and until we can get this scene finished up and all the samples back to the lab and processed we're working blind here" Nick said finishing, eagerly wanting to get on with the rest of the scene so they could get back to the lab.
"Do you need me back at the scene with you guys to finish up?" Grissom asked a little worried he'd left them too much to tackle on their own.
"Nah, we got it covered Griss. Maybe another couple of hours then we'll get everything back to the lab" Nick replied.
"Okay, I'll get that sample for you Nick. If you get an officer to bring me out that file you have, for me to give the hospital the boys details, I 'll give him the sample for you to take back to the lab" Grissom said standing and putting his empty dishes on the tray.
"Okay no problem....Hows the kid and Sara doing?" Nick asked a little tentatively.
Letting out a long sigh, and nervously rubbing his temple briefly, Grissom spoke "Sara's staying with the boy for now because he's still very scared and unsettled. He's sleeping right now and child services are coming back in the morning" he said hoping Nick wouldn't ask any more questions, especially about how Sara was emotionally "I'll Sara back to the lab with me when we're finished up here" he finished saying cryptically.
"Okay we'll see you back there then. Bye" Nick said ending the call knowing that his boss never did the goodbye thing on the phone.
Clearing away his dishes to a trolley nearby, Grissom then went over to the food counter with an idea in mind and looked at the display as one of the ladies behind it watched him.
Spotting what he wanted he spoke up "Could I have an egg salad sandwich, a Chicken sandwich, a fruit smoothie, a carton of OJ and a snickers to go please" he said pulling out his wallet ready to pay.
The lady bagged up the items in a paper bag and handed them over taking the money Grissom offered.
When he got back to the floor with the room he needed, he approached the nurses station seeing Clare sat there tapping away at a computer "Hi again. I need to know if we can possibly get a DNA sample from Kye, we need it for our ongoing investigation?" he asked as she looked up at him.
"Sure that would be no problem. We drew blood samples from him earlier as standard practice when anyone is admitted, especially if we have no records of the person. I'm sure we can spare some of the samples for you" she said riffling around on the desk and in a basket marked Lab testing out.
Pulling out 3 clear plastic marked and bagged vials of blood samples she handed one over to Grissom "Will that do you?" she asked him.
Looking at the label marked with the date and only Kye's first name and room number, he nodded, then proceeded to add his signature and the boys surname Meridian to the label "Yes thank you" he said then looked up adding "I'm expecting an officer to come and bring me a file and collect this sample shortly. Is there a chance you could give him this when he arrives, then have someone bring me the file please?" he asked the smiling nurse.
"No problem, leave it with me here" she said happily.
Shuffling a little on his feet and looking towards the hospital room that Sara and Kye were in, he then looked back at Claire and held up the bag in his hand "I got Sara some food, she's probably not eaten in hours. I also got something for Kye. Is he okay to have it?" he questioned the nurse.
Smiling now Claire nodded, oh this guy has it bad, and I don't even think he realizes how he acts lovingly and caring towards Miss Sidle, she thought "Yes, that's okay. He's probably hungry with all this going on for him and his emotional state. He was awake when I last passed the room. Go ahead" she said looking back down at her monitor with a slight knowing smirk.
Grissom approached the door and glanced through the window, Sara was sat up on the bed with her back against the pillows facing him, as Kye sat facing her, close his back to the door.
Catching Sara's eyes, he tilted his head in a silent question to see if it was okay for him to enter the room now that the boy was awake, the nod she replied with had him pushing the door open slowly.
Kye quickly turned around to look, then seeing a strange man coming in scuttled up into Sara's lap grasping his arms around her, hiding his face in her shoulder.
"Hey, come on Kye, this is a friend of mine, Grissom. He wont hurt you sweetheart" Sara said enclosing her arms around him in a gentle embrace "I promise" she added rubbing his back soothingly and adjusting the open back of his gown to cover him, as she watched Grissom hesitate to walk into the room any further.
"We work together, and he's here to try and help you" she said looking down at Kye, but using one hand to signal for Grissom to come further into the room.
Not sure he should stay in the room now that the boy was obviously displaying fear of anyone he didn't know entering, Grissom shuffled nervously on his feet watching Sara try to reason with Kye, Grissom held up the paper bag containing the food and stepped gingerly towards the end of the hospital bed.
"I brought food for both of you.......I can just leave it here and come back later" he said softly keeping eye contact with Sara waiting for his cue as to what to do next.
"Thank you That was very thoughtful of you.......Umm just grab a chair" Sara said with a slight smile then looked down at Kye.
Grissom placed the bag at Sara's feet so she could reach it when ready, then he spotted a chair in the corner so went and sat down making sure he kept his distance, so as not to worry the child any further than he was.
"See Kye, he wants to help, he brought us something to eat" she said trying to ease the boys grip around her as she tried to turn him in her lap at the same time, which he was mildly resisting.
Managing to turn him so that he sat sideways facing towards Grissom now, she leaned over and grabbed the bag, as Kye kept his face buried in her chest hiding.
"You must be hungry, we've been here hours without food.....We need to eat....You hungry little man?" she asked opening the bag to take a look as he shook his head against her keeping his head inward and down.
"Come on.....Please Kye...For me......Eat just a little.....We got chicken or egg salad sandwiches and drinks too" Sara said trying to entice him to eat "Which one do you want?".
A muffled and quietly spoken "Chicken" could be heard as Sara pulled out the whole contents of the bag.
"Okay, chicken it is then" she said opening the packaging for him "Hey if you can eat most of this up, there's even a candy bar for after" Sara said trying to encourage the boy to want to eat, he'd refused everything his nurse had offered so far.
"You need to drink too Kye, you've not had one in hours...So there's OJ or a smoothie" She said holding one round of the chicken sandwich to him "Here".
Kye took the sandwich and timidly lifted his head "Thank you" he whispered as his eyes searched out the stranger in the room immediately, but when they met Grissom's own friendly looking eyes he broke the contact, taking a nibble of the food in his hand looking away from him.
Grissom sat quietly transfixed watching the interaction between the two, he was amazed at how natural Sara seemed to be with Kye, very paternal towards him, more paternal that he'd seen some mothers with their own children.
Knowing now of the brief glimpse he'd been given into her childhood, and learning the news that she had spent time in the precarious world of the child services system, he wondered how she managed to portray such a motherly aspect to her personality now, with her past role models she must have had herself.
Also her previously shown awkward and sometimes deficient social skills, much like himself, and especially where Catherine with Lindsey, or other children were concerned in past years, had him surprised and perplexed by this new Sara persona.
Silently Grissom watched as they both ate and communicated between each other, Sara offering a drink or encouraging him to eat more, Kye nodding or shaking his head as he kept flicking his gaze over at the man in the room nervously.
Some time later they finished up and Grissom discarded the trash for them before retaking his seat again, as Sara spoke quietly with Kye asking him if it was okay to just step out of the room to talk with Grissom, that she would stand by the window to show she was still close for him if needed.
After some deliberation from the child he nodded with a bit of uncertainty, Sara helped him into the bed and under the covers tucking him in for a nap, as Grissom stood then left the room so that Sara could reassure him without his presence there.
Just as Sara stepped out of the room holding a hospital property bag, an officer previously at the crime scene, came strolling down the corridor towards her and Grissom stood just outside the door, he was carrying the file that he was delivering off Nick "You Dr Grissom Crime Lab?" he asked as he came to a stop.
Pulling the ID out of his jacket pocket Grissom quickly flashed it at him "Yeah. That the file I requested?" he asked without greeting holding out his hand.
"Sure thing, here. And I'm supposed to collect a sample from here, and the kids cloths as evidence to take back to your guys too" officer Gonzales spoke up handing over the file then smiling at Sara "Maam" he nodded in greeting to her, as she handed over the hospital bag to him.
"Thanks" Grissom said taking it, then walking over to the nurses station a short distance away to get the sample.
"Sorry about the bag I didn't have my kit with me so had to improvise" Sara said weakly, receiving an understanding smile from Gonzales.
"Our guys also ran a check on those names Stokes gave us and nothing came up for any family for any of them in the nationwide search database. Maybe you guys will have better luck tracing some in that fancy lab you have back in Vegas" Gonzales said smirking at Sara obviously trying to flirt with her.
Walking back over to the two with the sample, Grissom caught the guy wink at Sara as he finished his words, so giving the man a stern look he held out the sample "Here, you'd better get that back to my colleagues ASAP, then we can get on with that then" he said a little sharper than was needed dismissing the officer abruptly.
Sara shot a look at him frowning at his tone and manner with the officer, then slightly shook her head and watched as Gonzalez shook his own head and walked off mumbling something to himself.
Busted! I wish these damned abrupt, jealousy feelings wouldn't catch me unaware like that all the time. I can expect and prepare for them at the lab with Greg and Nick always flirting with her, but not when almost every damned red blooded male strips her with their eyes.
A/N - I hope you all enjoyed this chapter with a few more case details thrown in with the bit of fluff I gave you today, but don't hold your breath it's probably gonna be a little while before you see much more. Prepare for some twists coming in the next couple of chapters. Those that know my writing by now will know I love to tease and keep you all in suspense every now and then, blame all the other brilliant authors who's stories I read and learn from!
You know what to do to encourage me to post sooner than previously stated, Yep! Leave a review then I can be persuaded! I really do love reading them and appreciate them immensely.