AN: Time for the team to find out about Sam! This was actually completely different originally, but I decided to do a little rearranging, so I hope it reads ok… Thanks to WalkerTRngr for the beta help

Disclaimer: I don't own anything relating to CSI

Chapter 7

By Wednesday night, Sara's starting to worry Grissom won't get called in this week, which would mean either postponing the planned get-together with the team on Sunday, or having to deliver the invitations by phone, which she knows he was hoping to avoid.

Luckily, the first case on the agenda is two bodies found at Clark County Wetlands Park.

"Insects a-plenty," Catherine tells them. "I already talked to Gil, he'll be in tomorrow to help us with the timeline, so for now, we're collecting and processing the scene. Nick, Riley, this one's yours."

Sara has an open case she's working on, so she wasn't expecting to get the new one, but she's still a little disappointed.

"Greg, DB at the Golden Nugget, if Sara wraps her case she can join you, otherwise you're on your own."

"No problem."

"And I've got a suspicious death at a truck stop in Jean, so I'll probably be gone most of the shift. Try to play nice while I'm gone, children."

Everyone scatters to their respective assignments, and Sara gets the evidence for her case checked out of the evidence locker and set up in a layout room before digging her phone out of her pocket.

"Hey."

His voice over the line makes her smile – she's given up pretending that it doesn't. "Hi. I heard you're coming in tomorrow."

"I am, yeah. You're working, right?"

"Yup. I'm not on your case, though, Nick and Riley are handling it, I'm still working on my missing college student," she says.

"Hmm, any leads on that?"

They talk about the case for a few minutes while she gets everything sorted on the light table, then she sighs. "I should probably actually get some work done."

"And I should probably get some sleep," he replies with a sigh.

"Yeah. I was thinking, though – Greg's off tomorrow…"

"It's like the universe is looking out for me," he jokes.

"Yeah, yeah. The reason I mentioned it is because I thought maybe I should talk to him before we leave work in the morning, invite him for Sunday," she explains. "He's probably more likely to accept if it comes from me anyway. And unlike the others, he actually knows I live in your old place, so you won't be able to trick him into coming to a renewed housewarming."

"Probably a good idea, yeah. Sure, if you want to talk to him, go ahead."

"I will. OK, see you tomorrow."

"See you then."

She does manage to wrap her case in time to help Greg with the evidence when he gets back to the lab.

"You find your college freshman?" he asks.

Sara snorts. "Yeah, she dropped out of school, but instead of just going straight home, she decided to take a cross-country road trip – without telling anyone. Probably before Daddy cut off her credit card. She finally caught the story on the news in… Albuquerque, I think, called her parents."

"Well, it's nice that she's not dead or kidnapped or something," he says. "But sucks for you, a whole shift wasted on nothing."

"Yeah." They work in silence for a while. "Hey, do you have plans on Sunday?"

"Nope. You want to catch a movie? It's been a while… I've been wanting to check out Zombieland."

There's a stab of guilt, because she knows she's been neglecting Greg since she started spending time with Grissom and Sam. They usually try to hang out at least a couple of times a month, but the last time was in late September.

"You know I don't do horror movies," she points out, to buy some time and figure out how to tell him that no, she's not asking for a movie night, she wants him to come over to listen to her ex, who he still hates for leaving her, explain why he left.

"It's not a horror movie! It's a comedy, I think. Looks cool from the trailers."

"How about we do that next week?" Sara suggests. "Wednesday? We can catch the eight o'clock and grab dinner before shift?" She makes a silent vow to spend more time with Greg going forward.

"Yeah, OK," he readily agrees. "But what about Sunday?"

"Right, uh…" She pauses, but there's no good way to put it without actually explaining, and she can't do that. "Grissom wants to get the whole team together in a more… laid back setting, away from work. He hasn't really gotten everything unpacked yet, so I offered to have everyone over to my place."

Greg's quiet for a long moment, studying a piece of paper that was found in the victim's pocket and looks like it's been through a washing machine. He could be focusing on the work, but she's pretty sure he isn't.

"I assume you want me there, or you wouldn't have asked," he says eventually, voice carefully void of emotions.

"Yeah."

"OK. But it's not because he wants to… whatever." He looks up at her. "Got it?"

"I get it. Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah."

She can tell that he's still upset, and it's frustrating, not being able to really talk to him. But she comforts herself with the fact that she will, soon. Still…

She rounds the table and slides her arms around his waist from the side, resting her head on his shoulder for a moment. "Seriously, thank you."

He's quiet for a second, frozen. Then he wraps an arm around her and squeezes back. "Don't worry about it."

For once, Sara's not the first person in the break room, but only because Catherine's had meetings with Ecklie most of the afternoon. She's got her head in her hands, a mug of steaming coffee in front of her, when Sara gets there.

"That bad, huh?" she asks as she gets herself a cup.

Catherine groans. "Worse. Budget meetings…"

"Ah, I feel for you."

They make small talk until the others arrive, and at the start of shift, Catherine glances at her watch. "Gil should be here by now…"

As if summoned, Grissom comes hurrying into the room. "Sorry, sorry, I had to…" He cuts himself off, eyes widening as they flash to Sara, and she realizes he was about to say something relating to Sam. "Accident on the highway."

Luckily, nobody seems to notice his mid-sentence change of direction. Really, it's a miracle neither of them has slipped up and mentioned Sam before now.

"No worries. You're working with Riley tonight – everyone else, we've got a probable gang shooting at some underground club, multiple fatalities."

"Before everyone rushes off," Grissom starts, "I wanted to invite you all to a… housewarming, I guess you could call it, on Sunday."

Catherine's eyes narrow. "Are you trying to grow a social life, Gil?"

"Maybe I am, would that be so bad?" he shoots back.

"Just surprised." She shrugs. "But sure, I'm in."

He turns to Nick and Warrick, who exchange a look and then nod in unison. "Yeah, I'm down for a hang-out at Casa Grissom," Warrick says.

"Riley?"

Her eyebrows shoot up. "I'm invited?"

"Of course, you're part of the team now," Grissom tells her before turning to Sara. "I already talked to Jim, and you said Greg's agreed, right?"

She nods. "Yeah."

Nick looks like he wants to question that, but Catherine steers the conversation back to work. "OK, everyone's agreed, let's get going."

Sara ends up riding with Nick, and he fixes her with a look when they're on the road.

"Greggo seriously agreed? What'd you bribe him with?"

"Nothing!" she insists, focusing on the road.

"Come on, we both know he's barely said a word to the boss man since he got back. You trying to tell me he just… agreed?"

She considers for a moment. "I might have promised to go see some new movie with him next week. But it wasn't a bribe!"

"The things that boy will do for you…"

"Shut up!"

Sara Sidle, you have a visitor at the front desk. Sara Sidle, visitor at the front desk.

Sara frowns at Warrick next to her and he shrugs. "You're not going to find out who it is if you don't go check," he points out, and she rolls her eyes, swatting him lightly over the head as she passes him, ignoring the 'hey' he throws after her.

She's not sure what she's expecting at the front desk at one in the morning, but it's definitely not a pajama-clad Sam, crying, arms wound tightly around herself as if she's cold.

"Sam? What are you doing here?" she exclaims, drawing the girl's attention. "Where's your dad?"

Instead of answering, Sam throws herself into Sara's arms. She exchanges a look with Judy behind the front desk, but the woman just shakes her head, indicating that she has no idea what's going on.

Somehow, Sara manages to get Sam down the hall to the empty break room, closing the door behind them before sitting down on the couch and pulling the girl into her lap.

For a long moment, it seems like the tears will never stop, and she just holds the girl tightly, rocking back and forth and murmuring soothing words in her ear. Eventually, though, the sobs turn to hiccups and then Sam pulls back to wipe at her eyes.

"Do you think you can tell me what happened now?" Sara asks gently, catching a few stray tears the girl missed. "Where's your dad?"

"The hospital."

The two words make her insides turn to ice.

"The hospital? What happened, is he OK?"

"Grandma," is all Sam says, but it's enough to calm Sara's nerves. Then she immediately feels guilty, because he must be going through hell if something happened to his mother.

"Do you know what happened?"

"Dad said… her heart?"

"Did she have a heart attack?" Sara concludes and Sam nods.

"I think that's what he said."

"And he just… dropped you off here?" It seems unlikely, and extremely out of character, but then again, if he's in shock… maybe he called her first? Her phone's in her locker… but wouldn't he have called the lab if she didn't pick up? Or come inside and explained?

The guilty look on Sam's face tells her it's not the case, though.

"No, he left me with the neighbors," the girl admits.

"Then how did you get here?"

Sam shrugs. "I know the address; I waited until I was sure they were asleep and then I called a cab."

"You took a cab all the way from Henderson here? In the middle of the night?" Sara exclaims, making Sam shrink away a little. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you, sweetheart. But you know you absolutely cannot do that, it's dangerous! What if something happened to you?"

"I didn't want to be with the stupid neighbors, I don't know them. I wanted to be with you."

It's touching, of course, to know that Sam would pick her in a situation like this, but that's beside the point. "I understand that, but you can't just go off on your own like that, OK? Can you promise me you will never do anything like that again?"

Reluctantly, Sam nods. "I promise."

"You can always call me, though," Sara offers. "If you'd called me tonight, I would have come and gotten you if that's what you wanted."

"Really?"

"Of course. But what if I wasn't here? I could have been out at a scene. And what about when your neighbors wake up and discover that you're gone? They're going to panic, and so is your dad if they call him."

To her credit, Sam looks apologetic. "I didn't think about that."

"I know, kiddo." Sara gives her a tight hug and then nudges her onto the couch next to her. "But I still need to call him, OK?"

"He's going to be mad," Sam mumbles.

"Probably, yeah, but I can't lie to him. And even if I did, I assume you're not going to let me take you back to your neighbors' house, so he would find out eventually anyway."

"I guess."

"OK, just hang out here for a bit. I'm going to call him, and then we can go get some food from the vending machine, OK?"

Sam nods and Sara slips out into the corridor, closing the door behind her. Sam doesn't need to hear her dad yelling over the phone.

She hurries to the locker room and grabs her phone and wallet, then continues to the front desk – she assumes Sam didn't have any money, so there's probably a pissed cab driver outside.

The street is empty, though, and she approaches Judy again. "Did you see a cab outside?"

"Oh, yeah, the driver came inside, saying someone needed to pay for the fare," Judy replies. "I took care of it, don't worry."

"Thanks, Judy." Sara opens her wallet. "How much was it?"

The woman just waves her off. "No, it's fine. I, um… is… Sam OK?"

The expression on her face tells Sara that she must have figured out who Sam is, or is at least suspecting.

"For now." She sighs, figuring she might as well confirm. "But I'm about to call Grissom and tell him that she took a cab here in the middle of the night, so no promises…"

Judy grimaces. "I certainly don't envy you. And… don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks." Sara offers a smile – she has a feeling that the whole lab will know about Sam before the end of shift, but the sentiment is appreciated – then moves back down the corridor for some privacy and pulls out her phone.

"Grissom?"

"Hey, Griss, it's me."

"Sara? Listen, I can't…"

"Sam's here," she interrupts him before he can get any further.

"What do you mean? Here where?"

"At the lab."

"What? I left her with the neighbors, she's supposed to be there, not across town at the lab. Why would they take her over there?"

"I know, she told me." Sara takes a breath before just ripping off the band aid. "And they didn't take her here. She waited until they fell asleep and called a cab."

"She did what?!"

"It's OK!" she hurries to assure him. "Or, I know it's not OK, and you can yell at her about taking a cab across town all you want later, I already got started on that, but she's here and she's fine, OK? That's the important thing, right?"

He's quiet for a long moment, and she can practically see how he's taking deep breaths and pinching the bridge of his nose to calm down. "OK, I'm not actually sure what to do," he finally says. "I can't leave the hospital right now, and I can't ask you to take her back to the Mitchells."

"You could," she replies. "But she came here because she didn't want to be there, and I… I don't want to turn her away. It's a slow night so I'm on lab duty – Warrick and I are just working cold cases. I'll hang out with Sam, get her something to eat, and I bet she'll fall asleep on the couch in the break room within the hour. Just let the neighbors know she's here, so they don't panic, and focus on your mom. How is she?"

Grissom sighs. "She's doing OK. The ER doctor thinks it's just a partial blockage, and he's optimistic that they'll be able to handle the condition with medication. But they're admitting her to the CCU over the weekend, at least, and running some more tests in the morning," he explains. "I don't want to leave her until she's settled, they haven't been able to get an ASL interpreter in."

"Of course not," she assures him. "Stay as long as you need. If you're not here when I get off shift, I'll take Sam home, OK? It's Saturday, I don't have any plans, I'll just hang out at your place until you get home."

"Thank you," he says quietly. "I… I know I shouldn't be grateful that my eight-year-old took a cab across town, but I'm just relieved she felt safe enough to come to you."

"Me too," she admits. "One thing, though – I don't think I can get away with not explaining who she is. I'm pretty sure Judy already figured it out, I don't know if Sam told her what her name is or what. Warrick's here, he's definitely going to ask, and the others will be back at some point. What do you want me to do?"

He's quiet for a moment. "I mean, I was hoping to be able to explain everything in a relaxed setting on Sunday, but… just tell them. You don't have to go through the whole background or anything, but tell them that she's mine and that I'll explain everything."

"OK, I'll do that," she agrees, knowing it's the only solution, really. "You just… focus on your mom, and keep me posted?"

"I will. And again, thanks. I don't know what I would have done…"

"Stop," she interrupts him gently. "Go look after your mom and don't worry, OK? I've got it under control on this end."

"OK. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah."

Sam's in the same spot where Sara left her, her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wound tightly around them. She looks up when Sara enters the room. "Is he mad?"

Sara sits down next to her. "He's not mad, he was just worried when he realized you'd come all the way here on your own."

"Is he making me go back?"

"No, he said you can hang out here with me," she says. "But you have to listen to me, OK? There are a lot of chemicals in some of the labs here, you can't just go wandering around."

Sam immediately shakes her head. "I won't."

"OK, good. Now, how about some food?" She nods and they leave the break room, passing the layout room where Warrick is still working on their way to the vending machine. Sara opens her wallet and hands Sam a few bills. "Get whatever you want, and a soda and something chocolaty for me, OK?" she says, and Sam nods again.

Sara steps into the layout room – the vending machine is at the end of the corridor, so she can still keep an eye on Sam through the glass walls.

"Hey," Warrick says, giving her a questioning look. "Who's the kid?"

"Grissom's mom had a heart attack and he's with her at the hospital," she tells him, hoping he'll figure it out on his own without her having to explain.

"Oh, shit, is she going to make it?" he asks worriedly.

"Yeah, I just talked to him, and he said she was OK considering, but they couldn't find an interpreter, so he didn't want to leave her yet."

Warrick frowns. "An interpreter?"

Right. He doesn't know about Betty either. "She's deaf. She can read lips OK but if she's tired and confused and in pain, it's probably not easy." It seems like he's forgotten about the strange kid, so she pulls the conversation back there. "I told him I'd keep Sam company, so I'm afraid I'll have to bail on you."

"Don't worry about it," he tells her, then frowns. "Hang on, what does Grissom's mom being in the hospital have to do with this kid? Sam?"

Sara takes a breath, glancing at Sam, who's still studying the machine. "That's what he was going to tell you guys about on Sunday," she explains. "Sam's his daughter."

Warrick just stares at her for a long moment, and she can practically see the questions flashing through his mind. In the end, he just nods, though. "OK. You focus on that little girl. I'll keep going through the evidence, and maybe I'll join you with a few case files later. You'll be in the break room?"

"That's the plan." She grabs a few of the case files from the stack they still haven't started on. "I'm pretty sure she'll fall asleep as soon as she's eaten something, so I'll start going through these."

He nods, squeezing her shoulder. "Do that. And let me know if you need anything?"

"I will."

Sam's made her choice when Sara goes back out into the corridor, and she takes the two soda bottles out of the girl's hands as they make their way back to the break room.

It's technically already Saturday, and given the circumstances, she figures it's OK. It's been a difficult day.

They get set up at the table in the break room, Sam picking at the sandwich she's picked out.

"Not hungry?" Sara asks gently, and she shrugs. "Listen, I forgot to give you an update on your grandmother. Your dad says that she's doing OK, and the doctors are saying they can probably help her with medicines, she shouldn't need any surgery. Your dad's staying with her until they can get her a room because the hospital doesn't have an ASL interpreter."

Sam chews her lip for a moment. "So she's not going to die?"

Sara sighs. "Well, you know as well as I do that we're all going to die someday, kiddo," she points out gently. "But hopefully, you grandmother has many years left."

The girl nods as she breaks off a piece of sandwich and pops it in her mouth. Sara takes a bite of the Milky Way Sam got her and waits, because she knows there's more coming.

"Thanks," Sam says eventually. "For… not sending me back. And for not talking to me like I'm a little kid."

Sara rubs a hand up and down her back. "Of course."