Sara awoke in her hotel room alone, just has she had been when she fell asleep. She looked at her phone to check the time and scrolled through to see that she had a phone call with Grissom that spanned a minute and a half… close to midnight. The memory of which started to come back to her now.
She'd been so short with him, she realized. But it was the only way she knew to protect herself. It was hard enough as it was trying to move forward without him. His voice threatened to unravel all of that work.
Sara stood in the elevator as it descended to the lobby. She sighed heavily. Feeling the weight of her current lifestyle. She tried hard to cling onto what his voice sounded like last night, but the alcohol and sleeping pill combination made the memory too fuzzy.
She wished she could redo that conversation. Wished she had another chance to pick up the phone and hear his voice. She wished she'd viewed it as the birthday gift it was. That he was thinking of her. That he cared still. That maybe this wasn't exactly going smoothly for him either. But she hadn't. And she couldn't re-do it now.
"What are you doing here?" Sara looked up at the sound of Greg's voice. Kit in hand.
"Checking out… What are you doing here?"
"You stayed here? Homicide on 18."
"Oh. I'll ride with you." She stepped aside to allow Greg into the elevator.
"You just can't stay away hu?" He smiled as he hit the button for 18. "Happy birthday, by the way." He smiled.
As they walked down the hallway, she realized that they were headed in the direction of Tyler's room and then… there he was. His body lifeless on the hotel room floor. Castoff on the walls. Her stomach dropped.
"I need to talk to you." She sputtered at the sight of D.B. approaching.
"Can it wait?"
"No."
"Okay." The pair walked a little further down the hall to speak privately.
"I know him."
"The vic? What do you mean you know him?"
"I was in his room last night."
D.B. looked at her in shock, "Okay, you're going to need to give the detective a statement.
"Yeah, okay."
D.B. crossed the yellow tape to join Nick and Greg in the crime scene having just connected Sara with the detective assigned to the case.
"These prints just came back to Sara…" Nick said with utter confusion as he held up the wine glass with lipstick on it.
"Yeah. She was here last night." D.B. confirmed.
"What? What do you mean she was here last night?" Greg asked, eyes bulging.
"I don't know anything else. She just told me."
Nick and Greg shot each other concerned looks.
"This doesn't change anything. Process as you typically would, she's giving a statement to the detective now so we'll learn more soon."
"What the heck was she doing here anyway?" Greg turned to Nick a little while later.
"I don't really think we should talk about it." There was a bit of anger hinted in his tone.
"But I rode up the elevator with her. She didn't mention anything."
"Greg, I'm serious. I really don't want to talk about it, alright? Let's just… do our job." That's when Nick discovered a necklace behind the headboard. He held it up.
"That's Sara's. I recognize it." Greg's face was ghostly white now. "I don't get it."
"We need to collect the sheets…" Nick said through a pit in his stomach.
Greg moved to do just that but noted that the bed had been stripped. "Why am I so relieved right now?" Greg spoke absently.
"Because you just got out of having to process sheets for seminal and vaginal fluid that very well may have been Sara's."
"Yeah…" He felt nauseous at the very thought, "Nick…" He spoke hesitantly, "Do you think she'll call him? Tell him what's going on here?"
Nick stayed silent.
"So that's the consensus now? That I cheated on my husband?" She knew she couldn't' hide the divorce for much longer. It was getting dangerous to do so, but she just couldn't bring herself to admit it to the team. Not yet.
"Betraying Grissom is like betraying God to Hodges, and in his eyes, you did." Finn spoke through a shrug. "Boy I would like to meet him." Finn smiled, trying to lighten the mood a touch. "So I can see for myself what has everyone around here fawning over him."
Deep despair washed over her. The dull ache in her chest caused the sadness to multiple. The pain of which felt as real to her as the dislocated shoulder she'd suffered after her night out in the desert. Just as real as the fractures in her arm, her broken wrist… broken ribs. She cringed at the thought of her broken rib. It was acting up now for some reason and she couldn't understand why. She hadn't felt it this prominently in years.
"Are Greg and Nick back yet? I feel like I should talk to them."
"No, not yet." Finn replied. She softened a touch, "Sara, you should go home. You can't help here. Go do something to take care of yourself."
She reluctantly obliged. But not before stopping by to see Hodges. She felt compelled to clear her name. Felt compelled he knew. He was, after all, such a pivotal part of the original team. But he forbid her from entering his lab.
"I just scrubbed every trace of you out of this lab. Don't even think about entering."
"So you're not barring me because you're mad at me? It's for protocol integrity?"
"Both." He replied.
"Hodges, I did not cheat on Grissom."
"If it quacks like a duck…"
Wendy walked over to Sara, "Don't waste your breath. You know how he is about Grissom." She shook her head, "Go get some rest Sara."
She sighed, "Yeah okay."
She got home and went straight for the bathroom to change into one of her silk robes. Passing photos of her and Grissom as she walked through the house. She couldn't bring herself to put them away. Even the bumble bee and butterfly were still hung in the study.
But as she walked back to the kitchen in her robe, she realized it may be time to redecorate. Maybe all this evidence was too difficult of a constant reminder for her subconscious. Maybe it was just making it that much harder to move on.
She opened the freezer to grab a handful of ice when suddenly, she became aware that the dishwasher was running.
She opened it to find a single steak knife.
"Sanders."
"Greg. I need you and Nick to come here."
"Where are you?"
"I'm at home…"
"Alright, we'll be right there."
Greg hung up the phone and looked over at Nick. By the time they arrived she'd changed back into her clothing and cleared the house.
"I need to search the rest of the house." Greg said to Sara, as if it were a question. She nodded as she stayed in the kitchen talking to Nick.
Greg walked around the home looking for possible signs of forced entry or anything that may seem out of place. He had only been there once before, when she first moved in just after Grissom had taken that job writing an entomology textbook.
He noted the pictures of her and Grissom, the photo of hank, the framed butterflies on the walls. The shelves full of crime novels and classic literature. He walked into the study and scanned the room. He was reminded of a different time of life upon seeing the radiated fetal pig sitting on a high shelf. He walked out of the study and made his way down the hall slowly. Then he walked into the bedroom. Case files stacked on the night stand, one folder sitting on her bed. He grabbed it and poured out the 8x10 photographs.
"Sara…" He returned to the kitchen where she and Nick were still discussing what was going on. "Who else has keys or the code to the house?"
"Just Grissom and you guys. That's it. Oh—and Harry."
"Now who the heck is Harry? Another guy?"
"What!? No. No. He's… my little brother. But he's in Boston right now."
"Remember how we said we're a family? You're going to have to start telling us things Sara."
"What are you talking about?"
"I found this in your bedroom."
"What is that?" Nick asked as he grabbed the envelope from Greg.
"Photos…"
Sara looked at the photographs in shock, "See! This proves that I'm right, someone is trying to set me up."
"What is this Sara? What's going on with you?" Greg questioned, unable to make sense of what his friends actions.
Nicks brows raised as high as she'd ever seen them before. "Let's go, we've got to talk to D.B."
"Guys. I didn't do this."
Nick shook his head in disappointment, "Just—let's go talk to D.B. Greg, could you process the kitchen and then lock up?"
Greg nodded in turn he looked in Sara's eyes and tried his best to read her. But all he saw was disappointment.
Nick and Sara sat in D.B.'s office as he flipped through the photos that Nick just handed to him.
"I have a real problem with you lying to me like this, Sara."
"I didn't lie to you… it was an omission." She shook her head in defense.
"Call it whatever you want. I still got a problem with it."
"Yeah but this proves what I've been talking about. Someone else is behind this."
"Sara. You knew the victim. You know how bad this looks." Nick chimed in.
"At the time I didn't think it was relevant to what happened at the hotel." She softened, turning her attention to Nick.
"Well when did you meet him? When was this?"
"Two weeks ago." She began, "It was the first and only time that I saw him. And when he came to my table last night it was a complete surprise."
"What's going on?" D.B. shook his head in disbelief, "C'mon. Pills. Alcohol. This is not you."
"Yeah according to the tox report, 10 hours after the fact your B.A. levels were still .03. And your sleeping pills, .9mg a liter."
"That's impossible. Not .9. I took a single 5mg sleeping pill. There's no way it could metabolize for 10 hours and still be that high."
"That's not the point, Sara. It's your behavior that's worrying me. I mean—you lied to me. You lied to him. And I know it's not my place to comment on your personal life but—"
"You mean my cheating on my husband?" She cut him off and watched as D.B. and Nick shifted uncomfortably with the very idea. "Truth is," She began slowly, "He's not my husband anymore."
Nick's face completely dropped, "Why? What happened?" He spoke delicately.
"Ask him, I'm sure he'll say he had my best interest at heart." Her voice began to crack toward the end of her sentence, unable to hide her emotion much more. "So… yeah. I've been struggling a little bit."
"Sara…" Nick began. Tears welling in his own eyes. She avoided his gaze. It was too much for her. "When did this happen?"
"We finalized it a few months ago."
"I see." D.B. placed the photos back in the envelope.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Nick asked.
"He's so revered around here, there's no way I don't come out looking like the bad guy… and… I guess I still haven't really accepted it myself."
Despite having come clean about the divorce now, things got worse. Sara was booked and processed on suspicion of assault after Ronald showed up to PD bloodied.
Hodges contemplated what he was about to do. He heard the CSI's talking, that they had no intention of informing Grissom of what was going on. But he was convinced that Grissom know. Know so he has a chance to come home.
"Grissom."
"Gil, buddy. Hi."
"Hodges…?" Grissom sat up a bit not having heard this man's voice in a long time. "How'd you get this number?"
"Sara's emergency contact information, actually. Has the detective or D.B. reached out to you yet?"
"What happened? Is she alright?" Hodges could hear the irritation melt away from his voice, replaced with urgency and concern.
"She's okay. Physically she's fine. But she's been arrested. They just finished processing her."
"What is she being charged with?"
"Right now assault, but she's also a key suspect in a murder… a stabbing."
Grissom wiped a hand over his face unable to steady himself at the information. "Should uh, should you be talking about an ongoing investigation with outside parties?"
The question struck him as odd, "Protocol is to inform a spouse—and I was concerned that they still haven't called you."
"Hodges." He cut him off, the irritation returned to his voice, and a hint of sadness too, "Does Sara know that anyone planned on contacting me?"
"I don't think so."
"Hodges… just, uh, okay thanks for letting me know."
Grissom hung up the phone, feeling an intense migraine coming on. His head was heavy and hot and his vision began to blur. He quickly dialed a familiar number.
"I didn't expect to be hearing from you so soon." Dave spoke on the other end.
"Dave, I—"
"What is it, Grissom?" Grissom could hear the irritation in Dave Crow's voice. He was short and monotone and obviously angry with how he ended things with Sara. But he had to push through the tension.
"I think Sara's in some sort of trouble, and I don't think it would be received well for me to intervene."
"What kind of trouble?"
"All I heard was that she's been arrested."
"Wow. Okay. Thanks, Gil. I'll get to the bottom of this."
"Wait, Dave—"
"Yeah?"
He swallowed hard, "Will you, uh, could you let me know that she's alright?"
Dave softened a bit in hearing the desperation in Grissom's voice, "Yeah, I will."
Nick and Greg spotted Sara sitting in the interrogation room in the department red holding scrubs.
"You processed her already?" Greg spoke in anger.
Nick turned to him, "Greg, man. This is reminding be a lot of Warrick. He was struggling with his divorce from Tina. He got arrested. And we may have gotten him off, but we did keep him safe." The layers of regret lacing his speech were unsurmountable.
Greg breathed in the weight of Nick's observation.
"We need to keep her safe. I'll never forgive us if she's not okay at the end of all this."
Greg looked into Nick's eyes, seeing the shift in his attitude toward Sara suddenly.
"What did you learn? You had such contempt for her an hour ago."
Nick glanced at Sara in the holding room before turning his attention back toward Greg, "They got divorced. Grissom left her… months ago."
Greg's jaw dropped. His voice was stuck in his throat, the new information catching him completely unprepared, "Are you serious? Why didn't she tell us?"
"I think she's afraid we would side with him."
Greg shook his head sadly, "Crap."
"You didn't call him, right?"
"No." Nick shook his head, "You?"
Greg shook his head as well.
"There was a DHS record on Sara in our files. Anyone know anything about this?" D.B. asked as he joined the team in the layout room. Everyone on the team looked on confused, everyone except Greg. "Greg?" D.B. narrowed in on him.
"Grissom said he would take care of that. That shouldn't have been in the files." Greg started talking a million miles a minute.
"What is it?" Nick spoke up.
"It's a record of her time as a ward of the state."
"Prison?" Morgan spoke shocked.
"No." Greg pipped up finally, "Foster care. When we were still trying to identify the miniature killer, Sara was in charge of requesting records from DHS to get information on Dell's foster kids. Sara's name was on the request form and some administrator confused her name as the requesting CSI, with her name as the child's records in question. They released her records here by mistake."
"I didn't know Sara was in foster care." Nick spoke in disbelief, finding it hard to believe that someone he considers himself to know incredibly well, he apparently knows little about.
"I really don't think we should be talking about this. It's not relevant."
"Unfortunately Greg, it did just become relevant. I'd like to spare Sara from having to talk to us about this so I'll run the details through with you all. Her father died of seven stab wounds, the first to the heart."
"The same way Tyler was stabbed." Finn spoke, connecting the dots.
Nick hung his head low. Feeling a depth of sadness for his friend for what a terrible run of it she's had. He thought back to the spunky late 20's version of her when she'd first joined the lab. Back when he and Warrick were still placing bets on cases and Greg was just an eccentric lab tech. When he'd watch Sara go toe-to-toe with Grissom on the science and egg on her insubordination. He and Sara used to bicker like children to Grissom as they vied for recognition and promotions. It felt like a different life, worlds away. A simpler time, before the weather of life edged them.
Back in the lab, hours later after D.B. reinstated her, Sara stood in the break room and poured herself a cup of coffee. She felt their presence before she turned around, seeing Nick and Greg standing there, closing the break room doors behind them.
"It's a little late for an intervention, don't you think?" She joked.
"I just thought—"
"We." Greg interjected.
"We," Nick amended, "We just thought it might be a good idea to talk."
"Or listen." Greg added.
Sara smiled at her colleagues, her friends, her family. "Have a seat." She motioned to the table and the three sat down together.
She took a tentative sip of her coffee and settled into the chair, "I really didn't mean to shut you guys out, you know? I didn't tell you about Grissom and me mainly because I didn't really believe it myself. You know, we made that dinner reservation together before we split up and I sat there alone in the restaurant, and honestly, I expected him to show up. I know, it's stupid."
"What happened Sara?" Nick asked with concern in his eyes, "I never saw this coming."
"Neither did I, really. I'd like to say it happened all of a sudden, but the truth is, it's been coming for a long time. Neither of us wanted to be the one to admit it. Grissom just took the step to do something about it. I realize that now." She paused momentarily before continuing, "You know, I was only supposed to be here for a month or two until you found a replacement, and then I was supposed to rejoin him in France. But then, I guess I got comfortable. I started to enjoy the work again for the first time since Natalie Davis. I felt like myself again. Eager to solve cases and catch criminals. I felt like a version of myself from back when he and I first got together. And I didn't want to leave."
The guys nodded knowingly.
"Grissom is done with Vegas. And I guess the long-distance was working, until it wasn't. Our paths diverged somewhere along the way and we couldn't figure out how to bring them back together." She spoke honestly.
"I think we all like the idea of you two being together. And maybe that's because it's our way of hanging on to him a little bit. But, if it's over… it's over." Nick spoke comfortingly.
"I guess the silver lining is that there are no kids involved. Makes divorce that less messy, right?" Greg asked naively but immediately regretted his words when he saw the pain on her face, "Oh… Oh, Sara… I just—"
She tried to shrug it off, "It was discussed." She swallowed through a lump in her throat.
"He didn't want kids?"
She thought about ending the conversation right there. But her guard was already down, and she felt in a way, that she owed it to them, to be open. To let them in.
"It was me, actually. I was never as sure. But we did try for a while."
Greg placed a hand over hers gently. "I'm so sorry, Sara."
She smiled sadly for a moment before her eyes flickered up and caught someone's out in the hallway. Greg and Nick followed her gaze as she stood.
"Dave?"
He made his way to her and wrapped his arms around her, rocking her back and forth slightly.
"Hey, kiddo."
"What are you doing here?" She was so surprised to see him.
"What do you mean, I'm here for your birthday." He smiled and cocked his head to the side, "I took off before I heard you were cleared." He took her hand in his, "C'mon let's get you home. Susan sent me with some of her pumpkin bread."
"Um, guys, this is Dave Crow. She glanced at him with a smile, my supervisor from San Fransisco."
Nick and Greg nodded Dave's way.
"I'll uh, I'll catch up with you guys next shift. Thank's for not giving up on me."
As they walked out of the building Dave quickly sent a text,
"She's okay. I'm taking her home. Take care, Grissom."
