A/N: Another great chapter from co-author JellybeanChiChi. A fantastic job as always

CHAPTER 55

It amazed Sara how refreshed she felt an hour after having such an eye-opening, yet frustrating and painful, conversation with Catherine Willows.

Catherine owning up her to her role and responsibility in isolating Sara could have devastated Sara emotionally. And it did make her heart sink. But it also empowered Sara in a way. She always believed she and her husband had been treated poorly and treated wrong, and Catherine's apology gave credence to that.

And truth be told, the mother hen might have presented that edict to the guys on her former shift, but they choose to follow it. Sara hadn't seen Warrick since he came over the house with Nick, Brass and Catherine after Grissom's arrest. Like the rest of them, they left after about 20 minutes. That was the last time she had heard or had seen of him.

Nick had offered an apology after Grissom's kidnapping. But when Sara showed up at work following Grissom's nightmare, Nick immediately reverted back to being full of pompous judgments, once again not displaying trust in Sara's instincts. It hurt not being able to confide in Nick, but had shown his colors too many time in the last few weeks when it came to Grissom and Sara. She saw Nick a couple of times at work, but he quickly slunk away hoping not to catch her eye. Maybe it was remorse. But Sara wasn't in a place to explore what his feelings were. Maybe she would in the future, but she had other things in her life that needed her attention now.

Then there was Greg, Sara's closest friend at CSI. Sometime before everything happened with Jake and Grissom, Greg had been away on a continuing education course. Sara couldn't even remember how long the course last. With her whole world turned upside down, Sara wasn't even sure when Greg left for the course or when he came back.

In the midst of all the craziness, there were moments Sara wondered why she hadn't heard from Greg. Since she got married and left the shift, things had changed between Greg and her, but she still felt they were close. She always thought the two of them were the type of friends who could pick up where they left off, no matter how much time had passed.

Then why didn't Greg reach out to her?

Hearing Catherine say he pitched a fight about staying away made Sara feel hopeful. Yes, she questioned her relationship with Catherine and Warrick, and she needed a little more time to pass before she might consider mending fences with Nick. But she felt she needed to know as soon as possible what went on with Greg.

That spurred her last minute call to Greg. She woke him from what was most likely a deep sleep, but she could practically hear him pop up in his bed after he heard her voice. Sara could have sworn it was surprise and relief in his voice. "I've been thinking about you," Sara said to him, which garnered a pained response from him, "Probably not as much as I've been thinking about you."

The silence from both of them followed those opening statements. Clearly small talk wasn't a good idea for the conversation, so Sara asked, "If you're not busy now, you feel like a coffee or a drink or … something?"

He recommended the place — one not too far from Sara's house — and said to meet in about an hour. That gave Sara plenty of time to close up her responsibilities at work and call Grissom to say she was making a pit stop before getting home.

Despite the place being on the other side of town from Greg, he was sitting at an outdoor table for her. When she approached the table, she was surprised by the disheveled person before her. Mustering her best smile, she said, "Hey Greg."

In response, he stood up and grabbed her in big hug. His voice caught in his throat as he spoke. "I can't believe you called me."

Sara drew back. "I know it's been a while and It's been crazy, I'm sorry…"

"No!" Greg exclaimed. "Sara, I'm the shit. I thought you dropped me like a rock and you'd have every right. I just…" His voice cracked again. "It's so good to see you. I'm sorry for not being the friend I should be."

Sara had to swallow the lump in her throat. She could feel the impending tears threatening to stream down her face. Greg must have recognized it too and drew her back into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Sara. For everything," Greg said in a soothing voice. "I screwed up and I'm sorry. Thank you for letting me be here with you."

After a minute Sara calmed and Greg took a step back. "It's hot out here. Wanna go inside?"

Sara smiled and grabbed Greg's hand. "Come on. You're paying."

It was relatively empty inside the coffee house/cafe. The two friends stared up at the vast menu board.

"So am I getting you the jumbo mondo Cafe Latte with whipped cream, no cinnamon or the super jumbo mondo?" Greg asked.

"You mind if I get something other than coffee?"

"Other than coffee?" Greg said, putting the back of his hand upon her forehead. "How long have you been this hysterical? Did you drive a Hummer here?"

Sara playfully swatted Greg's hand away. "I'm not hysterical, Greg. I have to layoff caffeine for a while."

"How long?" Greg asked suspiciously.

"A grand total of 40 weeks."

"Oh my God, you're pregnant?"

"Yes, Greg I'm pregnant, and, before you ask, no, Greg, we are not naming the child after you."

After feigning mock disappointment at their inside joke, Greg put his arm around Sara's shoulder. "OK, so if I remember correctly from the last time you were with child, let's find the most disgusting smoothie on the menu… OH! I see raspberry creme with citrus and kale, that's sounds absolutely frightening."

"Actually, that sounds kind of good," Sara said

"No shocker there, Sidle," Greg said. "Now, it needs to be paired with something that in no way matches the texture and flavors of said smoothie… Shall I also get the cinnamon/raisin scone?"

Although Sara knew she was the butt of his joking, she couldn't dispute the fact that particular scone looked appetizing.

After ordering and getting the food, Greg had Sara sit down and arranged the goodies in front of her. He had a coffee for himself. Sitting across from each other, Greg offered Sara a lopsided smile. "I hope the news of another baby made you and Grissom happy."

"Yes. Very happy," Sara said sincerely, which caused Greg to take a cleansing deep breath. "With everything that's been going on I didn't know how or when to tell Gil, but it slipped out one morning while we were having a teasing argument … it was actually funny."

"I bet."

"Yeah," Sara said softly, recalling the moment in the kitchen. "And his mother was absolutely thrilled. She immediately got her car keys and said we needed to go shopping. She insisted. So we got in her car and she drove to a department store where she made a beeline for the children's section and bought Dan three outfits that read, 'I'm gonna be a big brother.'"

"Grissom must have loved that," Greg said with a laugh.

But Sara's face faltered a fraction. "Actually, he still had the ankle bracelet on. He couldn't go to the store with us."

The dynamic of the visit receded back to the atmosphere when Sara first arrived — two friends filled with awkward anxiety. Greg slumped in his chair slightly and made a death grip on his cup of coffee. "I couldn't imagine how it felt for you to go through that. Hell, I couldn't imagine what Grissom was going through. All those years. All that dedication and …" Greg snapped his fingers loudly, angrily, "just like that he's immediately viewed as a murderer. Almost without a second thought."

"Where you in town when he was arrested?" Sara asked. "I… I don't remember even when you left for that seminar, much less when you came back."

"You have had a shitload of stuff on your mind, Sar. I wouldn't expect you to remember," Greg said. "I left before that guy Jake got into town."

"Oh OK. Right. I think I emailed you about if you needed a ride to the airport…"

"It was a six-week course on looking at DNA from all sides, and by the time I came back the lab was like a fucking tornado," Greg said. "I got the flight back maybe two hours before shift and when I arrived Catherine gave me case in Elko that kept me occupied for a week of double, sometimes triple shifts up north."

"You were solo?"

"Yeah, but that's been happening a lot lately," Greg said with a sigh.

"I remember you saying months ago that you and Catherine didn't see eye-to-eye," Sara said.

"Yeah, and it hasn't gotten any better, with her or the guys," Greg said. "Jeez, Sara, I don't mean to bitch about anything… this shouldn't be about me."

"No, Greg, don't think that," Sara said. "I … I need to know what's going on. These past couple of months… they've…"

"They've been hell for you."

"Yeah, and I called you because Catherine came to see me," Sara said. "She told me some things and I'm just… kind of floored me. I'm not sure what to think about anything when it comes to the lab."

Greg nodded his head. "It's not the same place, Sar. Not even close. I never would have thought one guy leaving would make such a difference, but, when Grissom left, it changed. Became really political, really fast." He downed the rest of his coffee and rubbed his hands along his thighs. "Sara, I'm not trying to make excuses, but when all this shit went down with Grissom, I didn't get a phone call or a text or anything."

"Nick didn't tell you?" Sara said with surprise. "I mean, you guys are close."

Greg shrugged, but his expression said volumes. It made Sara a little more sad inside. "But you said when you came back you were immediately slammed with a case. So, when did you hear about it?"

"Maybe a week after I came back from the seminar," Greg said, feeling and sounding completely and utterly contrite. "I was so slammed and so focused and so isolated, the only person I was in contact was Catherine."

"And she never told you?"

At that, Greg's face twisted and his demeanor changed. Sara could feel anger radiate from her friend, a man who possessed one of the kindest and patient spirits she ever encountered. "No. Not Catherine. Not Nick. Not Warrick," Greg said bitterly. "After I finished up in Elko, I get a text from Catherine about a court hearing on another case. I'm hanging around the hallways waiting, and you know who fucking told me? Patrick fucking Davies. Came up to me laughing it up, telling me the 'big savior of the night shift is nothing but a murdering piece of shit.' I had no idea what he was talking about and he smacks me on the back and said Grissom's getting buttfucked in prison." The second that last phrase left his mouth, he instantly regretted it. "Jesus, Sara, I'm sorry. I should never have said that."

Sara put up her hand. "You're being honest. Trust me, I know what the gossip was like," she said sadly. "I can't believe the team didn't tell you."

"Neither did I," Greg said. "Got my hands on the case file, and dammit, there were just little things that bothered me, so I approached Catherine about it. When I did both Nick and Warrick were in the room."

"Was this when Gil was in prison?"

"Yeah, he was."

"What kind of things bothered you?"

"You mean other than thinking Grissom committed murder, much less was sloppy about the evidence left?" Greg said. "Why would he just throw away the boots from the crime scene at his house, not to mention, walk to the park using a pair of shoes that had been chewed up by his dog? That didn't make sense. I begged them to let me run the DNA on the boots again."

"What did they say about that?" Sara asked.

"They said I was trying to look for evidence that wasn't there," Greg said. "Nick really took offense and got pissed. Said he did everything by the book. I told them with this one, he should have looked outside the box. Redo the DNA inside and out — literally."

That line especially caught Sara's attention. "Wait a minute. You actually said do the DNA on the inside of the shoes."

"Yeah. I remember Grissom had me do that for a case years ago. He said something didn't feel right to him, so he asked me to take DNA samples from inside a shoe," Greg said. "But Nick and Catherine said the case was done and the D.A.'s office thought the evidence was straight forward as if. The office wasn't interested in theories that might fit the narrative that our former coworker didn't commit murder."

"They didn't want to show favoritism."

"Yeah, well I call that politics over truly finding the truth," Greg said. "I know I'm the newbie there, but it was pretty obvious to me that once Grissom left, the D.A.'s office made a move to be more hands-on with CSI."

"That's what you meant by turned political really fast?"

"Yeah, you know how Catherine is. She doesn't mind smoozing, which isn't always a bad thing, I guess. Until… well, until it's a bad thing."

"You don't think she became a puppet for the office, do you?" Sara asked, knowing the thought made her sick to her stomach.

"No," Greg said adamantly. "But I think she weighed things at times, which… I don't know. She made it seem like it was part of the job, and I'm sure it is. I'm not in her shoes. I don't know what it's like to be a supervisor, much less a female supervisor in a male-dominated field."

Sara nodded her head. "I understand what you're saying. I'm guessing that's where you and she wouldn't see eye-to-eye sometimes."

"Yeah. It was," Greg said. "Nick said I couldn't understand how much Grissom hated Jake. That he saw the two of them fight before the murder."

"Yeah, but I told Nick that just because Gil threw a punch doesn't mean he could commit murder."

"Yeah, no shit," Greg said. "And from what Nick said, Jake got the best of Grissom, which is why it's kind of hard to understand how Grissom overpowered Jake in that park, especially since Jake had a knife on him."

"Wait," Sara said. "What knife? I don't remember reading that in the evidence report?"

"It was listed with Jake's personal belongings from the morgue," Greg said. "I went down there to find out. Jake had a bowie knife in a sheath around his ankle. If he was ready for a fight, why didn't he pull it out? And, no offense, if Grissom could get beat up in a parking lot, how did he manage to overpower Jake and crush his windpipe in the middle of the night without Jake pulling his knife?"

Sara shook her head sadly. "There was so much more to what happened."

"Yeah, but to know about it, there had to be a lot more digging, and … I know that there was political pressure from higher ups, but... "Greg's voice faded off. "I feel so guilty for not being there from the beginning. I feel so foolish mentioning this stuff like a Monday Morning Quarterback."

The two of them stared in different directions, ideas swirling in their head. Greg picked up his cup, forgetting he had already finished his coffee. "You know, I've taken my share of hits from all of them over the past year, but I thought being a team was tantamount to being a CSI, but I guess that was one of the things we took for granted when Grissom was there," Greg said sadly. "Over the past year, I questioned how effective I could be as a CSI, and I felt like even though I was in a room full of my colleagues, who kept saying that mantra, 'The evidence doesn't lie, Greg,' all I could think about was how they wouldn't concede an alternative, especially with someone they knew and knew well. At one point Warrick said, 'People change, man,' and I thought if Warrick could think that about Grissom, then things have truly changed for the worse."

The reaction of the team was as bad as Sara imagined, perhaps even worse. She willed herself not to cry, but knew a tear or two might slid down her cheek. "Umm… so Catherine told me that she told you guys to stay away from me."

"Yeah," Greg confirmed.

"And… you all did."

Greg took a deep breath. "Yeah. We did, and, I…" Unlike Sara, Greg didn't fight the tears he knew would stream down his face. "What kind of friend am I? I choose my job over my friend?"

While it hurt Sara deeply to hear him confirm what she knew, she reached across the table to grab Greg's hand. It was a gesture that shocked Greg. "Sara, what are you still doing sitting here with me?"

She squeezed his hand. "I don't need to pee yet, so I figured I could sit here a little longer."

Greg let out a chuckle. "I totally understand if you crush my hand with your awesome pregnancy mama strength. I deserve it."

"But Catherine said you were the hardest nut to crack," Sara said. "I can see why."

"It was a bad scene, Sar. We're yelling at each other, and I hit a nerve with her ego, and she unleashed," Greg said. "I told her I was quitting, and she got really down and dirty. Said without a recommendation from her where would I go, and getting a recommendation from a former supervisor on prison stationary wouldn't help me either. Then when she said I would have zero contact with you, it got even worse. I said things just so she would fire me, but she told me she would never fire me just out of spite."

"Damn Greg," Sara said.

"Don't feel sorry for me," Greg said. "Like you said, I was like every single one of them — I followed that order to stay away. I don't deserve sympathy from you or Grissom. I don't know why Nick finally did look inside the boots for DNA, but I'm glad he did. I just wish he did it from the beginning."

"Me, too," Sara said, losing interest in the items on the table. So much was going through her head that it made her a little nauseous. She wished Greg had been there in the beginning, too. If there was one thing her friend and her husband had in common it was a lack of interest in office politics.

"You OK?"

Greg's question perked Sara up a bit. "Yeah. I don't know. It's a lot, you know?"

"I know," Greg said. He could tell Sara was tired and overwhelmed, so he stood up. "You need me to drive you home?"

"No, it's OK," she said with a smile as they two of them walked out of the cafe towards their cars.

"Are things at work, any better for you?" Sara asked as they reached her car first.

"No. How about you?"

"Kind of. Karson's a good guy and I get along with Kahlil. Otherwise, I don't know," Sara said. "Are you really thinking of quitting?"

Greg looked down at his hands. "Even before all this stuff happened, going to that seminar gave me a lot to think about. I don't have to be a CSI to make a difference. But until I figure out what I need to do, I need the paycheck and insurance."

"I understand that," Sara said, getting into her car. She had the same feeling about her situation. With her pregnancy a reality and her husband out of work, she needed her paycheck and insurance more than ever. "Thanks for meeting me."

"Thanks for not giving up on me," Greg said sincerely. "Will you tell Grissom I'm sorry and I've been thinking about him?"

"I'll tell him."

"I told Catherine I'd rather have Grissom's recommendation on prison stationary than her's on any piece of paper."

"You're kidding," Sara said with a proud smile.

"Yeah, I did. I just can't figure out why the two of us still don't get along," Greg added sarcastically.

Sara shook her head and chuckled while she put her car in drive. Then a serious thought popped in her head. She immediately put the car in park again. "Hey, have you ever thought of transferring to the day shift?"