AN: It seems like everyone's happy to have the gang in the story, and there will be more of that because soon it'll be time for Sara to get back to work! First this little chapter, though, hope you like it. And a big thank you for the feedback on the last chapter
Disclaimer: I don't own anything relating to CSI
Chapter 17
Sara looks up when Grissom appears in the doorway. "She's out?"
He nods, taking a few steps into the living room. "We didn't quite finish the book."
"I figured. Even I get exhausted by too much socializing, I can only imagine it must be worse at that age."
"Probably." He hesitates for a moment. "I guess I should head out too?"
She has to smile. "Are you asking me or telling me?"
"I thought you might want some alone time after all that socializing," he replies with a smile of his own.
"Well, I need to start working on my sleep schedule, so if you don't have anywhere else to be, I wouldn't mind some company. I was going to watch a movie or something to stay awake until at least midnight."
He comes further into the room and joins her on the couch, leaving half a cushion between them. "How will that work with Shelby in the morning?"
"Lindsey's taking care of breakfast and then they're going to the park, so it should be fine," she assures him.
"They're getting along well, aren't they?" he muses.
"Shelby absolutely loves her. I'm already anticipating the tantrum when we move out."
"How's that going, by the way?" Grissom asks.
"I have two viewings tomorrow," she tells him. "But I'm not too optimistic, honestly. One looked fine in the photos, but the rent's a little more than I was hoping to pay, and the other one didn't have any photos, which is usually a red flag. But those were the only ones that weren't tiny studios, ten room mansions or four grand a month. It seems like the Vegas rental market isn't exactly booming at the moment."
"Have you thought about buying?"
Sara nods. "I have, and I might. I want to see what's available to rent first, but if I haven't found anything in a month or two, I'll talk to the bank."
"Let me know if I can help in any way," he offers.
"Actually, if I could drop Shelby off with you while I go look at the apartments tomorrow? Catherine would probably offer, but…" She's pretty sure it's not the kind of help he was offering, but she doesn't want to address that issue right now.
"Of course. What time?"
"The first viewing is at three and the second one at three forty-five, so probably two thirty until four thirty or so?"
He nods. "Where are the apartments?"
"They're both in Centennial. I wouldn't mind being a little closer to the city center, but the commute's not too bad and it's close enough to your place and the daycare center."
"It's a good area," he agrees, and then frowns. "Where did Catherine disappear to?"
Sara laughs. "She told me she had a date."
Grissom's eyes widen at that. "Catherine? With who?"
"I don't know why you're asking me; I've been gone for three and a half years!" she exclaims with a laugh. "And I didn't know much about Catherine's personal life even before that."
For a moment, she's afraid reminding him of her absence is a bad idea, but he just snorts.
"I just thought she might have told you."
"Nope, she was being secretive." She locates the remote and turns the TV on. "What're you in the mood for?"
They end up watching some new comedy that's not interesting enough to keep her completely focused, and every time one of them moves on the couch, she's on hyper alert, even though they're far enough apart there's no risk of accidentally brushing up against each other. Unfortunately.
"Tonight went well, right?" Grissom asks after a while.
"Yeah, it was great. Too bad Doc and David couldn't make it, but I guess I'll see them sooner or later."
"Hard to avoid the morgue for too long, unfortunately." He pauses. "And nobody said anything…"
She figures out what he means when he trails off. "You mean Warrick? Catherine told me about his son."
He sighs. "It's been hard on him. Apparently, Tina – his ex-wife – she had some problems with addiction when she was younger, got mixed up with a bad crowd. She's been clean for over ten years, but her new boyfriend is a bad influence, according to Warrick. So, he's trying to get full custody of Eli, but the courts…"
"Usually side with the mother unless there are severe extenuating circumstances," Sara finishes, and for a moment, she wonders if he's considering that. To try to get custody of Shelby. Depending on the judge, he might actually have a good case, considering she disappeared for three years. But he wouldn't go behind her back, would he?
They've been getting along great, haven't they?
"Hey, where'd you go?"
Grissom's gentle voice pulls her out of her thoughts, and she manages a weak smile. "Sorry, got distracted."
His eyes are too piercing, and she turns her attention back to the movie to avoid them.
"You're an amazing mother, you know that, right?" When she looks at him again, he's smiling at her. "I want to see Shelby as much as I can, but I would never take her away from you."
She swallows to get rid of the lump in her throat. "I don't really…"
"I know. But I don't want you to ever worry about that, OK? If you want to get some papers drawn up, we can do that. Put everything in writing, make it legal."
"No, no, I don't need that," she assures him. "Just… my thoughts got a little carried away for a minute."
"If you change your mind, just say the word. And let me know if I need to talk to Warrick."
"He was perfectly polite tonight," she says with a shrug. "I guess we'll see what happens at work. But I think I can handle him."
Shelby's sitting cross-legged on the floor, completely engrossed in an episode of Dora the Explorer, when there's a knock on Grissom's door, and he opens it to let in a tired looking Sara.
"No luck?" he assumes, and she grimaces.
"The place with no pictures was a dump, no surprise there," she replies with a sigh as he leads the way into the house. "And the other one, the first thing the landlord told me was that he'd had to raise the rent by three hundred because of some renovations on the building, so that's way too expensive. And it wasn't even that nice. I can stretch the budget for the perfect place, you know, but not for just anything."
Shelby looks up briefly before turning her attention back to the TV. "Hi, Mommy."
"Hi, baby," Sara replies, going over to ruffle her hair before joining him on the couch.
"You know Catherine won't kick you out until you find a good place," he reasons. "And if you feel like you've outstayed your welcome with her, you can stay here for a while. Shelby will have her own room as soon as the furniture gets here, and I do have a guest room."
If he thought she'd agree, he would suggest they just move in permanently, but as much as he would love to have both of them here all the time, he knows that's probably not a good idea at the moment. Especially not if he wants to pursue a romantic relationship with Sara – roommates turn lovers might be a popular trope in romantic comedies, but he doubts it actually works very well in real life.
"I know," she says with a smile. "And I appreciate that, I do…"
"But you want a place of your own."
"Yeah. Did everything go OK here?"
"Fine, yeah." He nods at the coloring book that was abandoned a while back. "She did some coloring, and then she had the snacks you brought, and then we had to go look at the butterflies upstairs again."
Sara smiles. "Of course."
"And now she's been watching Dora for maybe fifteen minutes." He pauses, suddenly unsure. "You did say it was OK to watch TV for a little while, right?"
"Relax," she tells him, sensing the uncertainty. "I don't want her sitting in front of the TV all afternoon or anything, but a few episodes is fine. Besides, it's not just my decision. I have some basic screen time rules, but she's getting older, and I was thinking about revising them anyway, so why don't we talk about it?"
"Now?"
She shrugs. "Why not? Unless you have plans, in which case we'll get out of your hair."
"No," he assures her, probably too quickly, but she doesn't seem to notice. "Dinner at some point and then I have a lecture on blow flies I've failed to watch for a week, but that can wait until tonight."
"Great!"
So, they sit on his couch and talk about screen time, which leads to more general topics surrounding parenting and pedagogy. Unsurprisingly, Sara's done way more research than is probably necessary and, even less unsurprisingly, they're on the same page about basically everything, so it's easy to decide on what rules will apply when Shelby's staying with him.
It's perhaps not everyone's idea of an ideal afternoon, but to Grissom, it's one step closer to being an actual parent and not just a babysitter. He wants, and needs, to be an authority figure when he's on his own with Shelby, not just rely on Sara's rules and instructions.
Walking through the doors of the lab for the first time in over three and a half years feels both like coming home and completely foreign.
Sara doesn't recognize the young man at the front desk, and he clearly has no idea who she is either, judging by his welcoming but fake smile. She only hopes he's the swing receptionist, and that Judy is still manning the desk during grave.
"Hello, welcome to Las Vegas crime lab! Please sign in and put this on," he instructs her, pushing a sign-in sheet towards her and holding up a visitor's badge.
"Actually, I have an appointment with Conrad Ecklie and then I'm starting my first shift," she tells him, holding out her ID.
He scrutinizes it closely for a long moment, eyes jumping between the ID and her, as if trying to find differences or see signs that it's fake. Then he pulls a clipboard with another paper from a drawer and runs his finger down it until he, apparently, finds her name and puts a careful tick next to it.
"Welcome, miss Sidle. Assistant Lab Director Ecklie's office is…"
"I know where it is, thanks," she cuts him off and heads further into the lab before he can stop her.
It's still half an hour before the graveyard shift starts, so she doesn't recognize most of the people she passes in the hallways. Archie waves to her from the A/V lab and she thinks she spots Doc Robbins disappear through the door to the morgue, but that's it until she reaches Ecklie's office.
He's at his desk, focused on some papers, and she knocks on the door frame.
"Sara," he greets her. "Come on in. Close the door."
"Conrad," she replies, doing as he says. "That's not ominous at all."
"Just keeping nosy ears out of our conversation."
She doesn't really think that warrants a response, so she just sits down in the chair opposite the desk and looks at him expectantly.
"So," he starts, steepling his hands in front of him. "Good to be back?"
"It is, yes."
"And looking forward to seeing everyone again?"
She frowns. "Tonight's not going to be the first time I see them. I've been in town for a week, I'm staying with Catherine, and I met the guys for dinner the other night."
"Oh, I see. Probably for the best, yeah. And you and Gil have come to some sort of… understanding?"
She tilts her head a little to the side. "About what, exactly?"
She's not just baiting him; she truly has no idea how much he's been able to figure out. Whatever else you may say about Conrad Ecklie – he's not stupid. And he has access to her personnel file.
"You actually want me to say it?" he asks and she just shrugs. "Fine. Roughly seven months after leaving Vegas, you had a daughter. Shelby, I believe. It doesn't take a trained investigator to connect the dots on that one. Are you denying he's the father?"
What she really wants to do is tell him it's none of his business.
But she also doesn't want to get fired before her first shift has even started.
"No, I'm not denying that. But it won't have any effect on our working relationship."
He stares at her for a long moment, and she looks back placidly, even though anger is rising inside her. Who knew dealing with the temper tantrums of a toddler would make Conrad Ecklie easier to handle without going off the deep end?
"I assume you knew about this before you approved my transfer," she continues eventually. "I'm not sure why you did that if you're going to question our ability to work together now."
His eyes narrow slightly, as if he's annoyed that she's calling his bluff.
"And you're not in a relationship at this time?" he asks.
"We're colleagues. We're friends. We have a daughter together. Of course we have a relationship."
"You know what I mean. A romantic relationship."
"No, we are not in a romantic relationship at this time."
"OK. And yes, I did know about the kid before I approved your application." He pauses to consider her for a moment. "Which I assume is more than he did."
She can't kill him. Sure, she could probably cover up a murder, if she really had to, but not in Ecklie's office, with trained CSIs just outside the door. So, she takes a deep breath and lets it run through her, center her.
"I'm not sure what that has to do with this conversation."
"Nothing," he replies, turning his attention back to the papers on his desk, signaling the end of the conversation. "Just… confirming a hunch. Good to have you back, Gil has your new credentials and service weapon. You can find your way to the locker room, right?"
She takes another breath before answering. "Got it, yeah." She gets up and moves towards the door.
"Oh, and Sara?"
She pauses and takes yet another deep, steadying breath before turning around. "Yes?"
"If the status of the relationship between you and your supervisor changes, I want to be notified immediately. Or there will be consequences."