PART 2: She went "home"
Chapter 6
2 months had elapsed since the Seminar, and everything had gone back to the way things were before the trip. The Detective and the Investigator had worked a couple of crime scenes together, frequently met in the break room, or gone out with the gang for breakfast, but apart from that the two of them, hadn't been in any contact with each other.
In the beginning the brunette had acted friendly and flirted with the Detective, but feeling, how the Detective had withdrawn herself from it; the Investigator had soon gone back to her natural illegible self, whenever she was around the blonde.
This had left them both in a situation, where both felt frustrated and uncomfortable, and without any idea how to solve the problem!
Sara was sitting in the break room with a mug of coffee and a forensic journal, waiting for the shift to start. She had already been in for a couple of hours going over an old case, so a normally day, for CSI Sidle!
"Hey," Nick said, not surprised to see the brunette already there. "You're in early, something come up?" He asked, walking over to get himself some coffee.
"No, just going over an old file," she smiled looking up at the Texan, "but I didn't come up with anything new."
Nick sat down beside her and smiled back, "you will sooner or later you always do, you don't have the highest solve rating in the lab, for nothing," he grinned.
"Thanks," the brunette said bashful, "but I think Grissom's is higher, than mine."
"Grissom's what is higher than yours?" Warrick asked walking into the room.
"Her solve rating," the Texan told.
"No I don't think so, especially since Grissom don't go out into the field as much as he used to, before he became a supervisor," Warrick said, giving her a decidedly pointed stare.
"Well, it doesn't really matter, we work as a team," Sara said shy.
"What? The team doesn't matter?" Catherine said very annoyed. She harshly looked at the brunette, as she walked into the room. "Well sorry, everyone can't be a work alcoholic, but some of us do have a life!"
Sara instantly felt her temper rise!
Why the hell is Catherine always in my face, what have I ever done to her, -but tried to be her friend?
She didn't even know why she bothered anymore; it was never going to changes, anyway. Sara sighed and shook her head, "Catherine it…" but before she could say more, Nick cut her off.
"Well Catherine, if you could stop being such a bitch for ones and think, you would know Sara would never say a bad thing, about our team. So please stop comment on things you obviously haven't heard the whole thing of" Nick half-hissed.
Catherine, who was unnerved even before coming to work, after she'd been fighting with Lindsay, went furious. "Well, aren't you the little bodyguard tonight?" she said to the Texan, "but let's see if you still are the next time she screws up!"
Greg had been standing in the doorway almost afraid to breathe. The last thing he wanted was to be trapped in the middle of this, he liked his co-workers, and he hated to choose side, especially not knowing what it all was about.
Nick never got a chance to answer Catherine, before a voice sounded from the door, making Greg jump. "I think that's enough!" Grissom said, "You may not like each other that much, but you will all treat each other with respect. This is a workplace not a kindergarten! If anyone has a problem with what, I suggest you find another place to work," Grissom looked at them. "Are we clear?"
Nick looked down on the table, "crystal" he replied, Catherine didn't said anything she just sat down, Sara closed her eyes thinking, "this is going to be a long night."
Grissom sat down. "Well, back to work then. Nick, you have a robbery down town take Greg with you. Warrick and Sara, you two have a missing child; Curtis will meet you there and fill you in. Catherine, you're with me, we have a double DB on the Rampart and Brass is waiting so let's move." With what they all got up and left.
Sara put her kit in rear end of the Denali and jumped in to the driver seat, after a few minutes Warrick crawled in, and they took off.
Sara looked at Warrick, "where are we going?"
"Seven Hills, this is definitely in the high expensive area, we are talking millions for a house, so a kidnapping maybe?"
"Yeah maybe," the brunette groaned already feeling fatigued.
"Are you okay? Look, you can't let Catherine get to you. I know she was out of line but she's going through a rough time with Lindsay these days. You just got caught in the line of fire."
"Warrick, you don't have to apologize for her, if it isn't Lindsay it's something else, let's face it she hates me, have from the day I arrived, guess I just never have understood why. I could understand if it was you, thinking back how we first met." Sara said with a smirk, "but to hell with it guess you can't get along with every one!"
Warrick smiled, "it should be the house over there!"
Sara pulled over and killed the SUV, they both got out, Brown went over to talk with the Detective, and Sara went to get their kits.
Detective Curtis was waiting for the CSI to arrived, hoping that Sara would be one of the Investigators, in cases like that she was the best CSI you could get.
"Hello Detective, what do you have for us tonight?"
"A 6 year old girl have gone missing, when the limo driver went to pick her up after her ballet class, she wasn't there. The driver went back to the house, thinking that her mom, Mrs. Grant, had picked her up. When that wasn't the case Mrs. Grant called all her daughters friends, but none of them had seen Carrie, since school. Then Mrs. Grant called one of Carries ballet friends, who confirmed that Carrie had been to class, but she never came back after going to the bathroom. Then Mrs. Grant called us."
"Well, we better go talk to Mrs. Grant and see if we can figure out, if she has any ideas about who would get anything out of taking her daughter." The Investigator said walking towards the house, the Detective right beside him.
Sara was looking up at the house; she really didn't want to go in there already knowing what to expect. A brokenhearted woman who wanted answers they couldn't give and probably almost no evidence to collect. Sara leaned against the car and closed her eyes, trying to gather her thoughts and get her emotions in place. This was going to be another tough case, it always was then it involved kids. She almost jumped, when she heard Warrick call out for her.
"Hey Sidle, are you coming?" Warrick called, looking at Sara with concerned eyes.
"Is she alright?" The Detective asked, with just as much concern in her eyes.
"Yeah…, she just had a face to face with Catherine before we left, so she is probably just regrouping her emotions, a typical Sidle thing always a pro in her job."
After entering the home, Warrick and the Detective sat down on the couch with Mrs. Grant, while Sara went for the girl's room. After taking pictures and dusting the room for prints, there was nothing more for her to do, so she went to the bathroom and collected the girls brush and toothbrush for DNA. Since there wasn't more for her to look at inside, she went outside.
The Investigator knew she was supposed to bring the Detective along, but she didn't really care, since the kidnapping hadn't happened here, the changes for any danger wasn't that big. It wasn't that she expected to find anything outside, but anything was better than listened to the despairingly crying Mrs. Grant. The Investigator instinctively went for her gun, when she heard footstep behind her, a man was coming towards her, his clothes told her that it was the limo driver, so she relaxed.
"Hello, finding anything?" He asked.
Sara cocked her head as she watched him. "I'm afraid not, but since she wasn't taken from here, I didn't really expect to. Do you have any idea of who could have taking her?"
The limo driver looked down on the ground, his face turning pale. "Uh well.., I work here, so I don't think it would be very wise of me to say anything. Mrs. Grant is a very private person, and I do like my job," he said, shaking his head.
"I do understand that, but Mrs. Grant is also in chock, so there are a lot of things she can't remember right now, so anything you can tell can only be a help to bring Carrie home again. For right now, we don't have much to go with," the CSI pointed out.
"Well, you don't have it from me! But I think you should look at Mrs. Grant ex-husband, Mr. Jack Grant; his business just went bankrupt four months ago" the driver said after a momentary pause.
"Why do you think, he would take his own child?"
"Jack grew up with money, and I don't think he knows how to live without them. And the fact that he never liked Carrie, but knows that Mrs. Grant will pay anything to get her back. No… I wouldn't be surprised if he got her."
"He doesn't like his own child! Why?" Sara asked softly, watching him carefully.
The driver nodded his head, only willing to look at her briefly. "He was disappointed when she was born, he wanted a son. He never even asked for shared custody when they separated, and he have never visit her after he moved out of the house, which is over two years ago. But it's just my theory," the limo driver said.
Sara nodded, "yeah, but at least it's a place to start, thanks for talking to me, I'll do what I can, to keep your name out of this" she said honestly.
"Thanks," he said over his shoulder, walking away, from the Investigator.
Sara walked down to the car and put the kit and little evidence she had pick up in the back of the SUV, and then she lit up a cigarette and rested up against the car, waiting for the two others to come out.
After getting that little information, Mrs. Grant was able to give, the Detective rose and went down to the girl's room, wondering, why it took the Investigator so much time looking the room over. When she opened the door the room was empty, so she went to the bathroom but it was empty too. On her way back, she ran into one of the staff member, she asked him if he had seen the Investigator.
"Yeah, she went outside a while ago," he replied.
"Thanks," the detective said, she was furious.
What the hell is Sara thinking? She knows, she isn't allowed going out, without any protection!
The minute Sofia came back to the living room; Warrick could see that something was wrong. "Thank you for your time Mrs. Grant, we will do all we can to get your little girl home, and please call if you remember anything," he said. "We will see us self out." As, he cord up with the Detective he asked "What's up?"
"Sidle..!" The blonde answered. "She went outside without anyone to look after her back. Why the hell doesn't she ever listen? Or follow protocol? I swear, she is going to be my dead, if she not going to get herself killed first!"
Warrick couldn't help but smile, "she got to you to, huh..? You really care about her, don't you?" He quizzed grinning.
"Huh..? No..," The detectives face turned red, "how am I suppose to protect her, if she just run off whenever if fits her? 'Like' has nothing to do with this!" Sofia groused, trying to ignore Warrick's chuckles.
Warrick shrugged, "if you say so! But then you're the first person I have met; Sara hasn't mastered to get under the skin of, because she has done it to everyone else, without even trying. You can't stop caring for her, even if she doesn't want you too."
Sofia knew he was right, but right now she was mad and scared, most of all scared, knowing anything could happen to Sara outside.
When they got outside the Investigator pointed towards the car. "There she is, excuse me but is she smoking?"
"Yeah, she took that up when we were in Frisco. And now, if you will excuse me, I have someone to kill!" The detective said.
Warrick shook his head and smiled, but didn't say anything. "Oh yeah, Sara is certainly, under the skin, of that Detective!" He thoughtto himself.
Sofia narrowed her eyes and gave Sara a death glare, "what the hell do you think you are doing?" The detective shouted to the brunette. "You know better than to go outside by yourself. Have you ever thought about the police is here for a reason, and not just because we don't have anything better to do? Don't you ever, disrespect me like that ever again, or I swear, I will report you to your supervisor!" She said her tone deadly.
Sara was still leaning up against the car with her eyes closed, but she heard every word the blonde was saying. The brunette knew that most of the things Sofia was telling her were true, she had broken the rules by going out by herself, but she was a big girl, she could take care of herself, and for crying out loud, this wasn't even the crime scene.
Sara slowly opened her eyes, "Jeeze…why is it that every woman I meet today has to be so bitchy…" She groaned.
The detective, almost drop her jaw; she could not believe her own ears. Never ever before had she ever wanted to strangle someone as bad, as she wanted to strangle Sara right this minute! She had to get out of there.
Sofia turned to Warrick, "are we finish here?" She asked, pissed off.
"Yeah, he nodded, "I don't think we goner find anything else here, so we might as well go back to the lab and look at the evidence we have. See you later Curtis," he said, before getting into the car.
"Later..!" The detective said, crawling into her own car.
Sara was halfway in the car, before she called out to the detective. "Thanks for asking! And yes, I do have a suspect," and with what, the car door slammed and the Investigators took off, burning rubber halfway down the street.
Sofia leaned back in the car, and closed her eyes. "Dammed..!" She knew she'd gone too far, but Sara's little stunt had really scared her. Warrick was right, she did care about Sara. Care ha… Who the hell was she kidding? She was well aware of; she had fallen deeply in love, with this dark enigmatic angle known as, Sara Sidle. But she couldn't go down that path, no matter how much she wanted too.
Not so much because of her career, she knew that Brass would never hold it against her, and even if … She was ready to sacrifice that, for a life with Sara. No, the real problem was her family! They would never understand! Her mom would probably never talk to her again, and one thing was her own career.
But what about my mother and brothers' career?
No, as much as she wanted Sara in her life, she knew it could never happen; she would end up hurting too many people around her.
The detective put the car in drive, and started driving back to headquarters. Then she suddenly remembered what Sara had said. Isn't that typical, we go by the book and come up with nothing, Sidle breaks the rules and she comes up with a suspect. Sofia couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Damn girl, slow down, I want to get back to the lab in one piece" Warrick told her, trying his best to keep his cool.
Not that Warrick was afraid, Sara was the best driver he'd ever driven with she was pure talent behind the wheel. Whenever, they had to get to a scene fast, it was always Sidle who was driving. He and Nick had frequently talked about, where she had learned to drive like that, but both knew better than to ask.
"Where's the fire?" He asked stonily.
Sara exhaled. "No fire.., I just always speculated about, if this piece of shit actually could burn robber, guess it can," she grinned.
Brown knew she was lying, but he ignored it. "Sooo… You and Curtis, -ice and fire, except I would have expected you to be the fire," he exclaimed.
"What are you talking about?" Sara asked, looking into a pair of green eyes.
"Come on Sidle, the only one else you can make that mad, without even trying is Catherine. I could practical see the spark flying between the two of you, so what's the story?"
"Story? There is no story between us. I broke the rules, she got mad, end of story," Sara snorted. "Not that I know why, it's not like there was any danger out there," she murmured.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Warrick said frowning, "if anything had happen to you, it would fall right back on Sofia, she would be stamped the Detective who didn't do her job. But I think it goes deeper than that! She was really worried about you; I could see the fear in her eyes when she discovered you were gone. You know, she really do care about you, whatever you like it or not."
"Yeah well, not the way, I would like for her to care," Sara thought. "Look, I know I screw up, and I will apologize next time I see her, so can we drop the topic?"
Warrick raised his eyebrows. "Okay, but I do have one question? Where are we going; this is not the way back to the lab?"
"I thought we might take a look at the ballet room, to see if the kidnapper has left anything behind, for right now we don't have very much to go after" Sara explained.
"Okay and you don't think we should have brought Curtis along?" Warrick asked teasingly.
"No, the police are already there talking to the teacher and other staff members, so we should be alright. But if you got a problem with that, I can swing by the lab and let you off, I don't want to get you into any trouble." Sara clarified.
"No I'm cool; just want to know where we are going. So who is this suspect you have?"
Sara told him, what the limo driver had told her; "at least I think we should take a look at him."
"Guess so, it's not like we have much else to go by," Brown replied.
They arrived, talked to a policeman, and went into the ballet room but found nothing, so they went into the changing room. Sara dusted the room and Warrick went through the girl's locker. When there was nothing more for them to do, they went back to the car and drove back to the lab.
After checking in with Brass, the Detective went back to the lab searching for the Investigators to hear about the suspect, but they were nowhere to be found. So she went by Grissom's office. "Hey have you seen Brown and Sidle?"
Grissom looked up from the papers he was reading. "No, I don't think they are back yet, are everything alright?"
"Yeah, I just thought they would be back by now, since they left before me. Well, I'll come back a little later" Sofia retorted.
Warrick and Sara were walking down the hall when they saw The Detective coming out from Grissom's office.
"Fuck.., she wasn't kidding about talking to Grissom," Sara said. "Well, I actually have to talk to him, anyway, guess I'll better do it right away."
"Look Sara, she did say next time, this could be about something else!" Warrick pointed out.
Sara narrowed her eyes and shrugged. "Yeah I know, but I do have to talk to Grissom. So will you take care of the evidence while I go see him?"
"Sure, meet you in the layout room afterwards?"
"Okay thanks," Sara smiled.
Sara walked into Grissom's office, and closed the door. "Hey, do you have a minute? I need to talk to you."
Grissom looked up, "sure, did you talked to Detective Curtis? She just came by, asking for you and Warrick."
"No I haven't seen her; we just got back." Sara went over and sat in one of the chairs.
"Well, she said she would come back later. So, what do you want to talk to me about?"
"Uh..." Sara hesitated, drumming her finger on the armrest, not completely sure about, how to get started.
Grissom looked at her, "I think I know what this is about. I talked to Nick, and he explained what happen earlier. I talked to Catherine too, and told her, that I won't accept that kind of behavior, anymore. She promised, it won't happen again," Grissom said with a smile.
Sara looked at him, "what's all very fine Gil, but what's not why I'm here." The brunette took a deep breath and said, "Gil I'm here to give you my resignation, I'm leaving Vegas! I'll give you a two weeks' notice, or as soon after, we have solve this kidnapping case" she said, giving him a tired, half smile.
Grissom leaned back in his chair totally aback, not quite sure about what to say, finally he spoke up. "What is it this time? And what can I do, to make you changes your mind?"
"As you put it, - this time - there is nothing you can do, a plant won't change my mind. Look Gil, this has nothing to do with my job, you know I love it, it's everything else or lack of it. I don't know if you did me a favor, when you send me to Frisco. But after meeting old friends, I realized how miserable my life has become. The only thing I do is work, and that's just not enough anymore. I want more out of my life!" Sara sighed.
Grissom closed his eyes, there was no doubt in his mind that Sara meant it this time, he could see it in her eyes. But he really didn't want to lose her, she was a damn good Investigator, slowly he opened his eyes and looked at her. "Sara I can't let you go, the lab needs you, hell we all need you. Don't you think you can find all these things you want here in Vegas?"
"No I don't, if I thought so I wouldn't leave. Sorry Gil, but this isn't your decision! I'm just tired, -tired of pretending, -tired of my life, -tired of myself, -simply just tired. I need to leave, need to start all over again somewhere else. Please Gil; don't make this any harder than it already is!"
"Okay Sara, I know I'm not goner be able to changes your mind. But does it have to be a resignation? Can't we make it, a leave of absence? At least you can come back then" Grissom argued half-heartedly.
"I don't know Griss, it will make it so easy, to come running back if the world gets to rough. Maybe I'll be better off if I just cut all strings!" Sara inferred.
"Come on Sara, I know you better than that, you are way too stubborn and proud to ever do that," Grissom told her quickly.
Sara was poised to make a sarcastic comment on that but instead she stayed silent for awhile, "if I agree to that, I want at least a six months leave, with the possibility to come back with a two weeks' notice."
"Done," Grissom replied.
"And one more thing, before I say yes to this agreement. I want you to promise me, that you won't tell anyone that I'm leaving, until I'm gone!" Sara insisted.
Grissom looked surprised at her, "you don't want to say goodbye?"
"No, not for a leave, so… do we have a deal?"
He nodded. "Yes we do, and Sara I hope you find what you're looking for."
Sara got up, "thanks Gil I'll miss you. Well, I better get back to work," and with those words she left his office, and went looking for Warrick.
Sara found him in one of layout room with Detective Curtis. She just stood in the doorway watching them, none of them consciously a wear of her presence. Sara turned and went to the break room, not quite ready to face them after her talk with Grissom. She picked up a mug of coffee, and went outside; she sat down back against the wall, and lit up a smoke.
In the layout room Warrick looked at his watch, "wondering, what's taking Sara so long?" He said out loud.
"If she's with Grissom, she's probably getting a lecture about bugs," the detective smirked.
Warrick shook his head. "No I don't think so, Grissom just walked by. Maybe, I should go find her it's not like her to be doing something else but work, especially when it's a case like this."
"Your right," the detective said, "come on, I'll help you look for her!"
They split up and went searching for the brunette, the detective finally found her outside. The blonde just stood for a moment looking at the Investigator, she seemed so lost in her thoughts the detective slowly went closer and rested up against the wall, beside Sara.
Sara eyes just looked in to space, her mind miles away, so she didn't hear the detective coming up beside her.
"A penny for your thoughts" …nothing… "A penny for your thoughts," the blonde said a little louder, making Sara jump a little.
Sara slowly lifted her head and locked gaze with the detective. "I don't think so!" She said looking away.
"Fair enough," Sofia said. "So, do you think you're ready to come inside, and take a look at our case?"
"No not really, but guess I don't have a choice," Sara said killing the smoke.
As she started to get up, she noticed the hand stretched out towards her, but she ignored it and pushed herself on her feet. Then she walked around the blonde and went inside.
As much, as it hurt Sara to treat Sofia this way, it was all she could do. She new, Sofia had made her choice about the two of them, and as much, as it sucked Sara could deal with that.
No, what really made it hurt was the fact, that Sofia never had explained why. Sara knew that Sofia's feelings towards her was much more than friendly, so something was obviously holding her back, but she didn't knew what.
Well, I'm leaving, so does it really matter, anymore!
Sofia turned and watched as Sara went inside. Sara's behavior had really hurt her, but there was nothing she could do. She knew just too well, that this was the Sidle way to handle things. "Guess, I just have to live with it," Sofia sighed as she walked inside.
After going over the little things they had, Sara went to see if the fingerprints had come up with any name, but it hadn't. Sofia had gone back to her office to see what she could dig up about the ex-husband, so for now there really wasn't more for them to do. And since the shift almost was over, Warrick and Sara decided to go home.
For the next ten days nothing happen, no ransom was demanded, and Jack Grant was nowhere to be found. But as they were about to give up, Mrs. Grant's lawyer called and told a letter had arrived.
Curtis and Brown went over to pick it up. The ransom was ten mill $, and there was a description where to leave the money, and that the girl would be released after the money was delivered.
When they came back to the lab, Sara started working on the letter, there was no print to be found, but she did find saliva on the envelope.
After Wendy had made a DNA profile and compared it to Carries, there was no doubt about that the saliva belonged to Jack Grant, so at least now they knew who had the girl. Mrs. Grant assured that Jack would never hurt the girl, so it was decided not to go after Jack before the girl was brought safely home again.
That happened two days later, and ten hours later Jack was brought in by the police; they'd picked him up at the airport, walking around with ten mill $ in a handbag.
Sara walked into the lab; it was her last night before her leave, so she knew Grissom wouldn't send her out in the field.
Guess I'm in for a long night with old case files.
But finally the night came to an end; Sara went to the locker room. She put her gun in the locker and cleared out what didn't needed to be in there; she turned around and walked out of the room and out of the lab for maybe, the last time. Sara had almost made it to her car, when Greg's voice reached her.
"Heeey… Sidle, wanna go for some breakfast?"
Sara turned and faced him, "sorry Greg, but I'm really tired can I get a rain check? I really just want to go to bed."
"Sure," Greg smiled, "but I will hold you to it," he turned and walked to his own car, "later Sidle."
"Later," Sara replied with a little smile.
Sara really hated lying to Greg, but she simply couldn't face him right now, he was her best friend, and she hated doing this to him, but she also knew that he would understand.
Sara went into her car and drove home. When she got home she went straight to bed hoping to catch a couple of hours of sleep, before she went on her way. After two and a half hour, she woke up. Knowing she wouldn't be able to get more sleep, she got up and took a shower, got dressed and went to the kitchen to make some coffee.
Her bags were already packed. Not that she was planning on bringing a lot with her, some sleeping clothes in case she needed to stop for a sleepover and her laptop. After going over her apartment one last time, she went out and locked the door. She had prearranged with her neighbor to look after her apartment while she was gone, so she threw her key in the mailbox.
Then Sara went down to the underground garage and there it stood, her pride and joy, a blue and white BMW K1200s motorcycle, - 167hp, from 0 - 63 miles in 2.8 sec, and 168 mph as top speed. - Oh yeah, it was a killer! For an inexperienced driver this machine would by horrifying to get on, but for Sara, this was the closest she could come to feel totally free. The feeling of raw power under her, the vibration through her legs, and all the way up her torso the minute she turned the throttle and accelerates. It was pure joy, hell in her mind it was better than sex! Not that that meant a lot, since most of her former lover ever had managed to impress her that much.
Sara put her helmet on, turned the key and switch on the ignition, as she turned the throttle a little bit a deep roar went through the garage. Sara couldn't help but smile, this was the sound of life, slowly she rolled out and hit the traffic of Vegas, she had one stop to make before Vegas was behind her. Sara reached the police headquarter and went inside; she walked directly to the front desk.
"Hey," Sara said to the woman behind the desk. "I have a letter for Detective Curtis; can you pass it on to her, if I leave it with you?"
"Sure," the woman said, "I'll give it to her, when she comes in tonight!"
"Thanks," Sara said. She went outside jumped on her bike, and soon Vegas were behind her."
Tbc…