April 2008
Grissom stirred a large pot of soup on the stove through sniffles and intense coughs. He felt like absolute crap. His head fuzzy and heavy, his sinuses clogged. He hadn't felt this sick in years.
It had been a few months since Warrick's incident at Pig Alley and his subsequent suspension. He'd been back at work for a week now, making it much easier for Grissom to take a sick day. They still hadn't found a replacement for Sara since she'd originally moved to swing, and they were so short. He took a sip of the soup, but it didn't really matter. He couldn't taste anything anyway. Hank whined by his side, watching him closely.
He'd put on one of his favorite classical records to relax him but the sound of his cell phone ringing continued to interrupt. The lab, over and over again.
Grissom got on the phone with Catherine who relayed the scene to him. She walked him through the debris path, taking and emailing photos to him as she went. He did what he could to help process the scene from the comfort of his couch. The Deputy District Attorney, Maddie Klein, wasn't letting up. She wanted Grissom on this case. Walking pneumonia or not.
Later in the day a knock at his door revealed Maddie there, box of case files in hand.
"Well you look like hell." Maddie pushed past him and invited herself into the loft. "I need sugar. You got a soda?"
"Nice to see you to, Maddie." Grissom walked to the kitchen to grab her a drink and rejoined her on the couch.
"You're the only one who won't screw it up."
"My team won't screw it up."
"Oh right." Maddie rolled her eyes, "Your team. Warrick Brown, got mixed up with a crooked judge. Sanders ran down a civilian while on duty. Mrs. Willows lied about being at a crime scene—among other things. Can't forget Stokes, your straight arrow—suspected of killing his hooker girlfriend. How does it go? You call me up, I get him out of it. If it weren't for me, you'd have no team."
"Are you done?"
They spent the next 30 minutes discussing the case.
An hour or so after Maddie had left there was another knock on the door. Catherine.
He coughed profusely as he opened the door for her.
"God, you sound horrible."
"Hi Catherine," He sighed between exhausted sighs. Hank bellowed past him to see Catherine.
"Hank! Hey buddy."
"Thanks for coming," Grissom made his way back down to the kitchen with Hank following closely, "I've got to be in court in 30 minutes."
"Okay, is that Chicken soup I'm smelling?" She smiled as she took a look around. She had never been in this loft before.
"My mother's recipe" He called back to her.
"Really? Cute."
"I've got to get dressed, fill me in will you?" Grissom disappeared down the hall to the bedroom.
"Okay, Um..." Catherine put down the box of files she was holding and walked back toward the front door and the front closet as she spoke. "Greg found burnt skin on the seatbelt release." She continued to talk as she allowed herself to take a look around a bit.
A thick book of Shakespearian sonnets laid open, facedown on the couch. She flipped it over to see it was open to sonnet #44 highlighted. Speaking to long distance relationships:
Injurious distance should not stop my way;
For then despite of space I would be brought,
From limits far remote where thou dost stay.
No matter then although my foot did stand...
She moved on to open the closet, seeing a women's silk bathrobe hung there between his sweaters.
"Are you still talking? I can't here you?" Grissom rolled his eyes as he threw on his suit pants. He could hear as Catherine's voice trailed around the apartment, obviously looking around for herself.
"I'll-Uh, I'll speak up." She called back and she continued to look around. She closed the closet and walked down the stairs to the kitchen area. She took a look at the bookshelves. Entomology, physics and classical books lined the length and width of the walls. Photos scattered around of Hank, the CSI team, one photo of Sara and Hank together another of Grissom and Sara seemingly taken within the last year or so.
She picked up the lid of the sauce pan to let the chicken soup aromas fill the air. She now walked over to the refrigerator, a specific photo catching her eye. She took the magnet off the photo and picked it up to get a better look at it.
A very young looking Sara and Grissom stood closely together in front of the Golden Gate bridge. She flipped over the photo to see a date, but instead saw Sara's handwriting, giving Grissom her email and phone number. Could this be when the first met? Grissom returned to the kitchen to see Catherine looking at the photo.
"Listen, Catherine, when you're done with your investigation, could you take Hank out for a pee? I've got to get to court." He walked up the stairs, only turning around at the sound of Catherine's voice:
"How long have you and Sara been together?"
He hesitated, "I've—uh—got to go. Thanks,"
"And to think," She called after him, "all these years, I thought you were this lonely workaholic."
He gave a half smile and conceded "That photo's from nine or ten years ago—I've really got to go." He provided as he rushed out the door leaving Catherine standing alone in his kitchen, photo still in hand. She studied it a little closer, noticing how close their bodies were to each other. Sara's handwriting on the back gave a San Fransisco number and SFCL email, telling Catherine that this photo was taken before she began working in Vegas.
She thought back now, remembering the circumstances around why Sara came to Vegas in the first place, "She's someone I trust." She remembered Gil saying. What had been going on between them right under her nose all these years that she never noticed? She wondered. She replaced the photo on the fridge.
Catherine walked down the hallway off the kitchen to the bedroom. Hank followed her closely. She walked in to find the bed neatly made. Female body moisturizer on the night stand next to the left side of the bed. She opened the closet to see half of the clothing there was female as well. They lived together, she realized.
Catherine made her way to the master bathroom. The walls lined with pinned up butterflies. Only one frame was out of place, a bumblebee. She noticed a little note hanging behind it. Carefully she took the frame off of the hook and opened the small folded note tapped to its back.
Gil—
This journey hasn't been easy. I'm working to get better—for myself, but also for us. While I may be far away, I feel you close with me. Know I miss you with each beat of my heart. I know I need to do this. I knew I needed to go, as you now know too.
Before I left, you asked me a question to which I responded yes. I want you to know, that I'm still in if you are. It just may be some time before we can be together again.
This Apis Mellifera was taken from a colony that had CCD. The unique blue lining of the bee's alas suas reminded me of the ring so I thought it a fitting gesture, a symbol that we will be together again.
I love you. Be safe.
Love,
Sara
Catherine gasped audibly as she realized what Sara was saying. Were they engaged? She quickly returned the note to the back of the framed bee and rehung it. A smile formed on her lips, picturing what a Grissom proposal may have looked like.
She continued to look around. Seeing lavender shampoo in the shower, a woman's razor perched on a shower shelf. She opened the medicine cabinet, finding medication with Sara's name on the label: Pain killers and sleeping aids. She closed the cabinet and walked back into the bedroom, finding hank laying on the bed now.
"Come on buddy." She clapped for him to follower her, grabbed his leash and took him out for a walk like she'd told Grissom she would.
Grissom sat alone with Maddie at the Grand Jury's table after the case was finally wrapped.
"I guess now I owe you one." She spoke deflated.
"No, I don't keep score, Madeleine."
"You know what, Gilbert. You're the only man I know that's never let me down." His eyes softened as she continued, "Which means you're either a classic enabler or my soulmate." She paused briefly, "How is Sara, anyway."
"She's okay." He spoke hesitantly. "We're okay."
"She might be your only team member that you didn't wake me up in the middle of the night to get out of a sticky situation. Now she was a great CSI."
"Yes, she was." He sighed.
"I worked hard to make sure Natalie Davis couldn't get out."
"I know. Thank you."
"I'm sorry this happened to you." Madeleine put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
About five hours later Grissom returned home from court. Catherine was long gone, as he'd expected her to be. He quickly changed into something more comfortable and took Hank out for another walk, making it a rather quick one considering he still felt miserable.
He walked back inside and unleashed Hank who subsequently trotted down the stairs to his water bowl. He sat down on the couch and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel the weight of his head again as the cold medication began to wear off.
The phone began to ring.
Annoyed Grissom dropped the leash onto the coffee table and picked up the phone, expecting the caller ID to show the lab. But it didn't. He smiled now and leaned back to lay on the couch as he answered.
"Hi."
"You thought I was the lab, didn't you."
He laughed now, "I did." It was so good to hear her voice. It was exactly what he needed.
"How are you feeling?"
"Still under the weather. Better now though."
She smiled against the phone, "Did you get my package?"
"I did. The wings are beautiful."
"So..." She started, not knowing how to continue her thought.
"Yes, Dear." He smiled now, "Whenever you're ready, I'll be ready." He paused ever so briefly, "How are you."
"I'm well. Being out here has given me a lot of clarity."
"Have you seen you mother?"
"I have. Yesterday actually. It was um... It was tough." She admitted, "She's doing well and she was lucid but—she doesn't believe that she did what she did. To my father or to me, so it's just hard. But it was good to see her again. It helped me start to let go, to forgive."
"It sounds like you've been working hard to get better."
"I have." She admitted, "I really have." She paused briefly, "I miss you though." She could hear Hank now, the sound of what she knew to be Hank jumping up on the couch or bed, "And Hank." She added through a smile. "Tell me about your day."
Grissom proceeded to tell her about the case, about Brass, Madeleine and Catherine's visit to their apartment. About Catherine snooping around.
"What did you say when she asked?" Sara questioned as Grissom told her about Catherine finding the photo of the two of them in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.
"Just what I told Ecklie. Nine years."
Sara laughed on the other end, like he knew she would. It felt so good to hear that sound again. He closed his eyes to feel her laugh vibrate through him and smiled.