Chapter 7
A/N: Thanks once again for the reviews, it's encouraging. I try to get the chapters up regularly but sometimes work interferes.
Disclaimer: You know, the usual, don't own any of the characters except the ones I made up.
Some Questions Answered?
When Sara arrived at work the next morning she headed for the locker room and put away her gear. Next stop was the break room, where she poured herself a coffee before heading off down the corridor to the supervisor's office.
At Sara's knock, Rod put down his pen and gave her a welcoming smile.
"Good morning sunshine, you're early."
"Yeah…. Can I talk to you Rod?" she asked entering the office and taking the chair across from him.
"Always Sara. What's up?" he asked.
Sara caught the hint of concern in his voice and hastened to reassure him.
"Oh! It's nothing major. Well not major for you, but maybe major for me. I mean there's nothing really wrong…." She broke of as she realised she was rambling, something she did when she was nervous or unsure of herself.
Rod raised his eyebrows, he had never met this Sara before and it intrigued him He wondered what on earth had got her worked up. He didn't say anything though; content to let her continue when she was ready.
Sara took a deep breath before continuing.
"I need to ask you something and I want you to tell me the truth. Ok? Did you lie to me when you told me that you did not tell Catherine Willows who had done the insect time line?" she spoke rapidly, well aware of the fact that she was accusing her boss of lying.
His initial reaction was one of anger, then he looked at her flushed face and realised that it had not been an easy question for her to ask and that his answer was important to her.
"Not exactly" he raised his hand to forestall the imminent interruption. "Let me finish Sara. When I spoke to Ms Willows I told her that the person handling the investigation had worked extensively with Dr. Grissom in the past and I guess she put two and two together because she asked if it was you and before I realised what I was doing I had confirmed it. I'm sorry if that was the wrong thing to do Sara." he finished looking closely at her.
"No…that's…..Yeah that's ok. I mean I know Catherine and she's pretty good at getting any information she wants, did she say anything else?" Sara asked, hoping that Catherine had not.
"Nothing other than offering to be a liaison between us and Dr. Grissom. I guess he is just too ill to do it himself. Look Sara, I know that it's none of my business but if there is a problem, you know, with Ms. Willows knowing where you are then I am sorry. I was under the impression that you came here to further your career, if that was not the reason, that's ok. Just know that I'm here if you ever need to talk about anything."
Sara knew she probably needed to give him some sort of explanation, but she was not ready to tell him exactly why she left Vegas.
"No…No there is no problem, really. It's just, well I know Catherine, and I know how….persuasive….she can be.(And how nosy she can be) Sara thought.
" I did want to further my career and things were piling up on me in Vegas. I just needed a change like I told you during the interview. I…I hadn't told her where I was going and I was just waiting to get settled before I let everyone know where I am."
Sara hoped he would accept that explanation.
"That's ok then. Well if there's nothing else I can help you with I need to get on with this paperwork, I swear it's multiplying on its own." He raised his eyes to hers. "Sara?'
He had sounded so like Grissom then that Sara couldn't help but smile at him.
"I would never deliberately lie to you or anyone else on this team. You know that don't you?"
"Um…yeah, I'm sorry, I do, really, it's just…." She trailed off and stood to leave. "I'll be finishing off the paperwork for the Randwick case if you need me, I'll have it for you to sign off by end of shift" she smiled again as he rolled his eyes at the prospect of even more paper work.
After she had gone, he stared at the doorway for a while. He was sure there was a lot more to the story than that, especially because of the way she had acted. He had never seen Sara Sidle hesitate over anything. That's what made her such an asset to his team. Still, she had already been here for six months and he had to admit he was curious as to why she hadn't already told everyone where she was. But that was her business; he would just have to wait until Sara was ready to tell him.
He did not pry into his teams private lives unless it affected their performance and he would not start now. He would however keep a watch on Sara, he had already realised that this energetic and intense woman could become immersed in a problem to the detriment of her own health.
At roughly the same time in Las Vegas, Grissom was having a conversation with Catherine on a pretty mush the same subject. She had dropped off some more files and was taking time out to share a coffee with him
"Catherine, did you know that it was Sara who had the lead on this case?" he asked her as he shoved the file across the table to her.
A look of shock briefly passed over Catherine's face; it was not often she was ambushed by Grissom.
"Umm…..What makes you think it's Sara Gil?" it didn't take her long to recover from his surprise question when she saw which file it was. "I'm sure there are plenty of people capable of doing that sort of thing."
Grissom looked at her as if she had two heads.
"Mmm…. Maybe! Did you know that there is not one mistake in this report? That in itself is unusual. But this report reads like one I have written" he paused and studied her face. "Don't you think that's a bit odd? The only person I know of with the knowledge to do this mistake free and write it up like me is Sara, because she is the only one who has worked with me extensively enough" he waited for her reply. When she didn't speak straight away he glared at her and asked her the question she had hoped he would not.
"How long have you known where she is Catherine? Am I the only one to not know?"
The sorrow in his voice was evident.
Catherine sighed. She knew she would have to own up. She had to hand it to him he certainly had not lost his edge. His investigative intuition was right up there still.
"Yes Gil, I did know it was Sara. But before you go off at me let me explain."
Grissom nodded for her to continue, his anger at her admission kept firmly in check. For the moment.
"When the FBI called, you had just got out of hospital and there was no way you would be able to go to Washington. They couldn't get anyone else and when they told me they had someone who had worked with you extensively in the past I put two and two together and came up with Sara" Catherine paused to see his reaction and when he just nodded again she continued.
"It was actually her boss that I was talking to and he confirmed my suspicions. I told him that you were not well enough to deal with it but if there were any problems that I would liaise with you. I figured you did not need any more stress Gil. Let's face it, you were a wreck when Sara left, you did not need……."
"Don't you think that is for me to decide Catherine? Not you. It's bad enough that Nicky, Greg and Warrick have been in touch with her……" he stopped speaking when he saw the look on her face.
"Yes Catherine," he sighed. "I know that they have kept in touch. I would have expected nothing less They are her friends. Why they felt it necessary to keep it from me I don't know, but I'm sure they had their reasons. I thought you were my best friend, Cath? Do you want to tell me why you kept it from me or should I guess?" he could not keep the anger from his voice as he glared at her.
Looking a little uncomfortable, Catherine could not bring herself to look directly at him as she answered. Before he could continue she spoke, her voice quiet.
"I am your friend Gil. It was intended to spare you any more hurt. I saw what it did to you when Sara left. We all did. It turned you into a recluse; you became a tired, worn out shell." She paused, frowning at him.
"Let's face it, Gil, you didn't even want to go out in the field. I know how much you love your job. It's always been your life's work. For God's sake, you made yourself so ill you almost died. I figured if Sara wanted you to know where she was she would have told you. I'm sorry, maybe it was wrong of me, but I would do it again in a flash to protect you from yourself if I had to. Please believe me I only did it because at the time it felt like the best thing to do for you."
There was an almost pleading quality to her voice by the time she had finished and Grissom realised that she was telling the truth, that she truly believed what she had done was the right thing and also that she really did care about him.
With a smile he reached out and took her hand resting on the table and gave it a gentle squeeze, his anger all but gone, he felt Catherine relax.
"I think I understand why you didn't tell me. I guess I forgot that there are many ways to show friendship" he told her reassuringly before continuing.
"You might be interested to know that Sara contacted me a few days ago. She was…. concerned….about my illness and must have coerced one of the boys into giving her the details" he paused and Catherine had to smile at the grimace that showed briefly on his face before he gave her a grin .
"She told you off didn't she?" Catherine interrupted him, a smile on her own face at his expression.
"You…could….say that" he replied, with a laugh.
Catherine watched him. It was the first time in months she had seen a smile on his face, let alone heard him laugh. God! What had they done? Maybe if he had known where Sara was, and that she was ok he would have taken better care of himself.
It's true what they say about twenty- twenty vision in hindsight.
She would have a talk to the boys when she got back to the lab. For now she was just glad that their friendship was intact and she was relieved that he was a little happier.
She was startled out of her thoughts by his next statement.
"We are going to try to repair our friendship long distance via email" he told her.
"It may take some time but I'm hoping we can fix it, at least we are both going to give it a try.
"That's wonderful Gil, I'm glad you have talked to her. I hope it works out" she told him and she really meant it. Those two were made for each other; they just had to work that out for themselves.
"I gotta go; Nick will be by in the morning to go over those reports with you. Call if you need anything ok?" She stood and headed towards the door.
"Gil?" she turned to look at him from the door.
He raised his head from the file he was looking at and raised his eyebrow in question.
"I really am glad you know. Just don't mess it up this time" she told him.
He nodded at her.
"I won't Catherine. Believe me I won't"
The door closed and Catherine headed to her car. She had heard the sincerity in his voice and hoped with all her heart that it all worked out. As she headed home, she couldn't help but smile when she thought about the reaction she was going to get when she told the guys about this conversation.
