A/N: I merged a few episodes together here. A notable quote from the show is placed into different a episode to fit the story better here, (nothing pivotal).
Thanks again for all of your comments and support. Enjoy!
Brass watched Grissom carefully as he made his way through the house and to the DB, a man in is early 20's laying facedown in the living room. Sara followed close by.
Something was off, Brass noted to himself, knowing full-well it wasn't the crime scene. He watched Grissom carefully again. Sara had made her way to the opposite side of the living room. Looking through the window, at the drapes, shinning a flashlight at an angle on the wall. Brass watched as he watched her. Grissom's eyes followed sara's movements through the room. His eye trail made its way from her feet, up her long legs and finally rested on her face, partially covered by hair as she leaned in to exam some blood spatter on the wall.
A ghost of a smile etched of Brass' lips.
Grissom and Sara worked the scene for the next two hours. Just as they released the body, his phone rang.
"Sara," He called from the other room and suddenly she appeared in the doorway. "Just got a call from dispatch, there's hit and run in a bad area off the strip."
"Nick or Greg available?"
"They wont be able to arrive for another hour. Elements outside, exposed." His voice trailed off, "Let's head over there and let Greg take over here when he's available."
Sara nodded and made her way back to the other room to finish bagging, labeling and organizing evidence.
They arrived on the new scene to find a young woman dead in the street, An Ally Sullivan, an apparent hit and run victim.
Grissom and Sara worked the new case closely together. He came up next to her as she leaned over the layout room table, going over the desert map. Her sent filled him as he breathed in. His mind suddenly assaulted with the images of their night together, their actions that had taken place just hours prior. Her long legs, smooth and bare wrapped around him.
She turned her head to him an smiled softly.
"I believe our trace results are ready." He breathed into her ear.
"Gil." She moved a step away hesitantly. He quickly realized what he was doing and stepped away from her as well. She looked around to see empty hallways surrounding the glass encased layout room.
"We have to be careful." She urged and he nodded almost ashamed, child-like.
They made their way to Hodges' lab to find him leaned over, taking a sharpie to his hair.
"Vanity, thy name is Hodges." Grissom smiled with amusement realizing the tech was attempting to fill in some if his grey hairs with a sharpie.
"Hodges, don't you know grey hair can be very attractive." She pursed her lips and made eye contact with Grissom. His bewilderment evident, but not as strong as Hodges', he who evidently thought the mild flirtation was aimed at him.
"Hypocrite." Grissom later whispered as they left the trace lab and made their way back to layout. she stifled a smile.
The rest of shift went on status-quo. She made her way to Grissom's office to find a familiar scene. Grissom sat behind his desk, signing off on the night's paperwork.
"Hey." He looked up to see her in the doorway, waved her in. "My overnight bag is still at your house." She spoke quietly. He stood, a boyish grin replaced the more serious facial expression that occupied his face just minutes prior.
"I guess you'll just have to come over."
"Guess so." She shrugged, playing innocent.
"I'll meet you there." He said as he handed her a key, "I just need to finish up the last of these case files.
Grissom spent the next fifteen minutes diligently working through signing off on the night's cases to make it out of the lab. Once done he grabbed his coat and flipped off the lights.
"Grissom." Brass' voice called from the hall. "You headed out."
"I am." Grissom continued to walk with Brass now by his side.
"I can't remember the last time I saw you leave so close to the end of shift." Brass pointed out lightly but was not rewarded by a response from Grissom.
"Got yourself a date?" He joked.
"I do." He quipped quickly, "With my bed." and Sara in it. The idea filled his core with great warmth.
"Have a good rest." Brass signed off making his way down a connecting corridor.
"You too."
Grissom made his way upstairs to the bedroom to find that sara was not in bed. His attention quickly turned to the bathroom as he registered the sound of the shower water falling.
He gently knocked on the door before entering. She clearly hadn't heard him as he disrobed and joined her in the shower. She gasped.
"Grissom!"
She laughed in his embrace, feeling silly for being so jumpy.
"I left your key in the front by the coats."
"The key?"
"The one you leant me to let me in tonight."
"Oh right... that's for you. It's yours."
February 2006
"Jane Doe is Zoe Kessler." Brass spoke as he entered Grissom's office. Grissom had been stood there reading through textbooks and literature on lobotomies. "Mother saw the photo on the news and came in to identify her estranged daughter. I did a DMV check," He continued, "And I have her last known address."
"Good, I'll come with you." He placed the textbook down on his desk.
"There's something you should know. The mother's a friend of yours."
Grissom didn't even bother to look up as he rearranged the books on his desk, what friends? "Who's that." He spoke absently.
"Lady Heather."
Brass attempted to approach the subject delicately but the look in Grissom's eyes told him that it wasn't gentle enough. Though, Brass mused, he wasn't sure what other way he could have gone about it.
Brass studied Grissom's facial expression for the few brief moments that he held his shock viewable. Was his reaction because he had not spoken with Heather since he slept with her? Yes he had know, he had confronted Grissom on his suspicion at the time, and chastised him for a foolish error in getting involved with a suspect. He remembered telling Grissom that a sports car was a much better mid-life crisis option.
Was his reaction because he had, indeed, shared a communication with Heather since then? Or, he wondered, were his new suspicions of a romantic budding relationship between Grissom and Sara correct, and Lady Heather's presence could cause friction on the delicate affair?
Unfortunately, Brass knew that he wouldn't not easily find an answer to these musings. The two made their way out of the lab and off to the last known address of Zoe Kessler. Brass and Grissom spotted Catherine and sara walking down the hallway.
"Catherine, were headed to the vic's last known address." He motioned his head for her to join them.
The fact that Grissom had chosen Catherine was an observation not lost on the seasoned detective. Neither was the fact that Grissom used the innocuous term 'vic' rather than her real name 'Zoe Kessler.'
Later that night, Grissom waited outside of autopsy knowing that Heather was inside with Doc. Robbins to say goodbye to Zoe. He waited patiently in the hallway just beyond the double swinging doors. She then emerged.
"Hi." His eyes were soft squinted in shared pain, showing his sympathy for her current situation. "I'm so sorry about your loss." His voice small and lined with emotion.
He hadn't seen or spoken to Heather Kessler since the last case she was tangled in.
"But you need to ask me some questions." Heather's gaze was intense and unwavering.
"I'd like to know some things about your daughter..."
He was keeping Sara at arms length, something that was not lost on her. It had been months since he had treated her this way at work. She tried hard to quiet her mind and inner self-consciousness but was finding it increasingly difficult.
She gave into her curiosity and watched from behind the two-way glass as Grissom spoke with Heather in a smaller interrogation room.
"You have to stay away from him." Grissom warned, referring to her rouge involvement in hunting down Dr. Wolfowitz, the man she was sure was responsible for her daughter death.
Sara could hear the difference in his tone. He was gentle and sympathetic with her. A tone she heard him use rarely.
"You forfeited the right to give me advice some time ago. thank you." She stood and left. Leaving Grissom sitting there alone and Sara standing undetected and confused.
Grissom ran into Heather in the parking lot. Her eyes empty and speech steady. She told him about Zoe, about why they stopped talking. How it all steamed form her being pregnant with her therapist's child.
"I assumed you might need a DNA sample from Mr. Wolfowitz." Heather then pulled out a ziplock bag from her purse. Grissom hesitantly took it from her.
"How did you get this?" He asked realizing that inside the baggie was a used condom.
"The rage was stronger than the repulsion."
He suddenly felt sick realizing what Heather was confessing to.
"People have used sex for much less worthy causes." She offered as justification.
"When did you...'
"Last night."
"You may not approve, Grissom. But you can't arrest me for sleeping with him. He was consenting." Grissom's stomach turned with the idea. His brows furrowed in anguish as he ran the timeline through his head.
"I am playing by your rules." She continued, "But if I had it my way, this man would die the same way my daughter died."
"He's already dead."
"What?"
"He's been dead for two days." Grissom was still trying to wrap his head around what he was feeling in that moment.
"That's not possible."
Grissom sped down the deserted highway looking for Heather after finding her necklace in the Wolfowitz house. He jerked her car to the left, spotting something in the distance until he got close enough to see Heather. She had him tied down to the grill of her car and was whipping him mercilessly.
Grissom jumped out of the car and ran to her.
"Heather! Stop it!" He screamed. But his voice was fallen on deaf ears. "Heather!" He tried again, running toward her. When close enough he grabbed the whip from her as she went to whip him again.
"Stop!" He yelled. Tears were running down Heather's tired face. "You cannot do this!"
"Let go!" She pleaded through her cries, tugging at the whip to get it free from Grissom's grasp.
"Heather." His voice softened and he held onto the whip with all of his mite. "I'm saying stop." She finally calmed. He made her way to her and wrapped her into a hug. She sobbed against him.
Sara had gone to Grissom's town house that night. They had had plans to spend the evening together after shift. But she fell asleep waiting for him. He never came home.