Who would have thought? –

 

Review - Binx_349@hotmail.com

 

Disclaimer – Not mine...None of them, bar one.. who I wont mention so as not to give anything away ; ) All are owned by A. Zuiker, Jerry Bruckheimer etc. Don’t sue me, I have nothing.

 

Spoilers –Up to the end of Season 4, set post Bloodlines.

 

Archiving – I would be honoured but I doubt it will happen. Just tell me where and I won’t mind.

 

A/N – I’m really sorry about my “abysmal” grammar and punctuation, I try really I do. I like to blame the fact I cant bear to read my own writing, so my proof reading tends to be rushed. With that said.. on with the story. Reviews are always appreciated, they make my day.

 

 

 

The bodies lay sprawled on the tarmac, a sticky pool of blood seeping out beneath them.

 

"This is a little unusual." muttered brass as he lifted the crime scene tape and led the two

 

criminalists towards the two prone forms.

 

"I have come to learnt that nothing in this job is usual." Grissom passed an objective eye

 

over the scene and came back to rest on the woman at his side. "Has the coroner

 

confirmed yet?" He aimed at Brass once more.

 

"Yeah, the guy is Richard Wiesman, 39. The horse was stabled here and is known as

 

Willow . The woman who found them also has livery here but not for long and says she

 

doesn’t know him. I’m hoping to speak with the owner of the Horse and the stable

 

manager within the next hour or so.”

 

Sara wandered over snapping on a pair of latex gloves as she went and crouched down

 

beside the mans body.

 

“What’s a guy doing with his pants down in a stable?” Sara said over her shoulder while

 

still eyeing the mans awkwardly placed body.

 

“Don’t make any conclusions yet, just go with the evidence.” Grissom had moved over to

 

the body of the horse and was carefully taking a swab of something he had found.

 

“I’m surprised no one heard the shots. The farmhouse isn’t far and his liver temp placed

 

his TOD as 7 hours ago. It would have been 5pm. Someone should have been about.”

 

Something caught Sara’s eye as she said this and her gaze shifted to the upturned bucket

 

nearby. She carefully lifted the footprint she found on the bottom of the bucket and

 

examined it briefly. Before placing it aside and standing to retrieve her camera and take

 

photos.

 

Things were still strange between herself and Grissom. She had hoped it would get

 

easier as the weeks passed, yet the awkwardness remained. It had been one night and

 

something she had regretted the moment he left. The same old excuses again and again

 

were starting to get stale. The age difference, sleeping with the boss, all made it a very

 

bad idea. Sara knew all this and wasn’t surprised by his reaction. It didn’t mean she

 

thought it was right and her feelings ran deeper than that, but his apparently did not. As he

 

had said, his job was more important to him than she was, and that wasn’t going to

 

change.

 

She sighed and quickly muttered something about getting samples back to the lab before

 

scuttling away from his curious watching eyes.

 

 

 

Doc Robbins pulled the sheet back from the pale body. “The results from the Equine

 

necropsy should be back to the lab by later tonight. Meanwhile I can tell you your cause of

 

death for this guy. Not too difficult. He was shot twice. First one entered the abdomen

 

through and through exit wound in the lower back and the second was the one that killed

 

him, entry wound in the chest, I recovered the bullet from the spinal cord, he would have

 

died instantly.”

 

Robbins handed the bullet to Grissom and watched as he examined it and absently

 

thanked him before leaving the morgue.

 

“Anytime” Robbins called to his retreating back, before shaking his head slightly and

 

returning the sheet to its place over the body.

 

 

Sara was examining the victims clothes and personal effects. The swab she had been

 

passing over the jacket turned a bright blue. She yawned and placed it to the side as

 

Catherine entered the room behind her.

 

“You could catch flies with that.” Her opening comment surprised Sara who hadn’t noticed

 

her entrance and spun to face her. Nearly losing her balance as a wave of dizziness

 

overcame her and she leaned heavily on the table.

 

“You should wear a bell or something, so people know you’re coming.” She muttered

 

regaining her composure.

 

Catherine chuckled quietly. ”A little on edge today are we.”

 

“A little” Sara admitted. “I have a lot on my mind is all “ The side of her mouth twitched

 

involuntarily into a slight wry smile as she kept her attention on the task at hand.

 

“So fill me in, days off make me out of the loop.”

 

“Dead man, dead horse, both shot. He has GSR all over him, COD came back as bullet

 

lodged in his spine. No real surprise there.” She pointed in the vicinity of the other corner

 

of the table. “You could get started on the footprint comparison if you need something to

 

do. The vics shoes are over here and shoes from a couple of the stable hands.”

 

 

It was only a couple of minutes before Catherine had her match. “Matches our vic.

 

Wonder what he was standing on a bucket for? Seems odd.”

 

Sara looked up from her microscope and shrugged. “Could be any number of reasons.

 

I have to get these blood samples over to Greg. They’re probably just this guys and

 

the horse but you never know.”

 

As she left Catherine watched her friend lean on the doorframe for a couple of seconds

 

before leaving the room. Alarm bells were starting to ring in her head. That’s the second

 

time in a very short period of time she’s done that. Some impulse in her made her decide

 

to scrutinize a little further, female intuition or something was what she would later

 

tell herself. She would have to keep an eye on her, she thought as she

 

returned to her assessment of the various shoes on the table in front of her.

 

 

Sara dropped the samples off to Greg, and not in the mood for his playful banter, quickly

 

made her way to the locker room. Where she sat on the bench. Her elbows on the knees

 

and head in her hands. She just needed the quiet to sort her head out. She spent what

 

must have been 10 minutes admiring the lovely linoleum flooring before Catherine’s

 

entrance jerked her out of her reverie. Having seen Sara enter and not leave again

 

curiosity getting the better of her Catherine had decided to investigate and check up on

 

the younger CSI.

 

“You’re not looking so good today. You feeling OK Sara?” Before she could get any kind

 

of answer. Sara was up and halfway across the room before being violently sick in the

 

sink. “I’m gonna take that as a strong no then.” she muttered before putting the two

 

Styrofoam cups of coffee on the side and making her way to the other side of the room.

 

“Maybe you should go home.”

 

Sara splashed some water on her face and turned back towards Catherine.

 

“Its ok. I’m fine.” She replied grabbing a couple of paper towels and drying her face before

 

checking herself momentarily in the mirror.

 

“You’re obviously not fine or else you wouldn’t be …” Catherine trailed off as a new

 

thought entered her head.

 

Putting two and two together she took a step closer to her

 

friend. “There something you aren’t telling me?”

 

“I wouldn’t say its anything you need to worry about. My problem, my solution.”

 

“Sara, are you pregnant?” she quietly asked. The quiet release of breath and

 

distracted running of her hands through her hair told her all she needed to know. “Have

 

you taken a test?”

 

“I don’t need to. It doesn’t take a genius to work it out”

 

“You should take it just to be sure, you know that.”

 

“Yeah, but that just makes it real.” Sara was now intently examining her fingers and

 

avoiding the eye of the older woman. Catherine put her hands over Sara’s shaking ones

 

as she lifted her head to look into her eyes. Catherine could see the fear and uncertainty

 

in her gaze. “You should go home, you want me to come with you?”

 

Sara gave her a grateful nod and a small smile. “But it’s the middle of shift, we cant go

 

anywhere.”

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell Gris you’re not feeling well and I’m taking you home. Its entirely the

 

truth and he can’t tell me not to take you when you’re getting dizzy like this. Come on.”

 

 

 

 

Sara pushed open the door to her apartment and waved a vague hand at the sofa in the

 

centre of the room. “You want a coffee or something?”

 

“How about I get us both some coffee and you go and take the test. Stop procrastinating.

 

Its better to get it over with.” Catherine took the bag from the counter, placed it in Sara’s

 

unwilling hands and gently pushed her in the direction of the bathroom. “I’ll see you in a

 

minute OK.” Sara began what appeared to be a death march towards the bathroom.

 

Nervously twisting the bag between her hands.

 

She returned just a few minutes later this time fiddling with the test itself. “I haven’t felt the

 

need to look at it just yet.” Catherine gave a sympathetic nod and took a sip from her

 

coffee as Sara sat beside her. “I don’t know anything about kids. I’ll be a mess.”

 

“You’re good with Lindsey. Once you have one of your own you get the hang of it pretty

 

quick.” Catherine was getting the gist from this conversation that if she really was

 

pregnant she would be keeping the baby and in a way the thought relieved her a little.

 

“You have to find out for sure first though.” she pushed gently.

 

Sara seemed to stop breathing at this point and stared at the table in from of her she

 

slowly turned the test over and let out a long breath. “Its positive. Not like I wasn’t

 

expecting that anyway” There was a loaded pause and Catherine glanced back at the

 

woman beside her.

 

“You going to tell the father then?” Catherine was digging for information in what she

 

hoped was a subtle gesture.

 

“I… he’s going to find out eventually. I just don’t really know how I’m going to tell him.”

 

Catherine gave her a sideways glance which was returned by a “don’t-even-think-about-it”

 

look from Sara. Catherine raised her eyebrows slightly and returned her stare to her

 

steaming mug of coffee instead, realising there was little more she was going to get out of

 

her on the subject. “I’ll tell him when its necessary, not before. He doesn’t need to know

 

just yet.” Sara muttered staring at some undistinguishable point in the distance. Her mind

 

appeared to be elsewhere for the moment.

 

Catherine gave her a concerned look. “You should arrange a doctors appointment or

 

 

something.” Sara’s mind was clearly elsewhere and Catherine feeble attempts to bring her

 

back to reality were falling woefully short of their expected success. “Maybe I should leave

 

you for a while, get some rest. But call me of you need anything.” Catherine picked up her

 

bag from the floor and turned as she reached the doorway to take a last look at her friend

 

worry etched in her features as she watched Sara who was still examining the wall

 

opposite her.

 

 

 

 

In the end Sara never bothered to go to her room that night, sleep seemed to be evading

 

her despite how tired she was. Her thoughts rattled around in her head and would not let

 

her rest. She just kept imagining his response. He’d never struck her as the child-loving

 

type although Lindsey was the only one she had ever seem him with and he always

 

seemed fairly comfortable around her. Having said that she had never thought of herself

 

as coping very well with children and yet with the thought of her own felt she was rather

 

coming around to the idea. The fact that it was Grissom’s gave her a vaguely satisfied

 

feeling that even if he didn’t want her she still had some part of him to keep with her. In an

 

odd way this made her feel a little safer. It seemed odd to her to feel this way but

 

comforted herself in the fact that he need never know.

 

Sara slowly pushed herself up from her sofa and stretched out the many kinks that

 

sleeping there had caused in her back. Slowly making her way to the kitchen to find

 

herself a glass of water and an aspirin for her headache. Her lack of sleep was taking its

 

toll and her only hope was that she could get some kind of decent rest before shift began.

 

Falling asleep at a crime scene would not be a good way of impressing the boss. Taking a

 

firm hold of her water and heading towards her bedroom to at least attempt a decent rest

 

even if there was no way she was going to get any sleep. It seemed a useless

 

gesture but necessary nonetheless.

 

 

Shift seemed to come round way to fast for all of the CSI’s that night. Sara had got very

 

little sleep and even Nick and Warrick weren’t their usual cheery selves. Their case didn’t

 

appear to be getting anywhere. The mans wife seemed oblivious to her husbands

 

activities stating that he could have been in Timbuktu and she would not have cared. The

 

relationship was not ideal and he was known to stray but there was no physical evidence

 

pointing to her presence at the scene so nothing could be done. She did however direct

 

them

 

towards his workplace. His secretary was particularly helpful in pointing out his many

 

indiscretions and pointing them towards his latest mistress a bible touting intern on one of

 

the upper floors of the office building. Her highly religious attitude had found her at the

 

centre of many topical arguments and it seemed that she had few friends other than the

 

victim. She seemed very subdued during her interview and revealed no useful information

 

and so was allowed to leave soon after. They had come to a complete dead end. Before

 

any headway could be made they needed to find the weapon which was easier said than

 

done.

 

 

Sara sat in the break room catching up on the latest forensic journal which she had

 

neglected to read the previous night. Her concentration was not really on it and she was in

 

fact rather relieved when Nick and Catherine entered discussing the merits of some new

 

gadget that Warrick wanted for the lab and whether he might actually be able to persuade

 

the department to buy it. They poured a cup of coffee each and made their way to sit with

 

Sara at the far end of the table.

 

Nick eyed his friend and took in her pale features and the bags beneath her eyes. “You

 

look tired you really should get more sleep Sar.” Catherine gave her a meaningful look

 

reiterating his words with some choice ones of her own. “I’m fine” she snapped “I’m a little

 

pre-occupied maybe but its nothing to worry about.”

 

Grissom entered and Sara clammed up instantly her eyes locking with his. Catherine

 

watched the subtle emotions on his face and Sara’s stony look. Having know him as long

 

as she had she knew there was more to their relationship than met the eye, but had never

 

interfered. Whatever went on between them was evidently way to complicated for anyone

 

else to understand, but she suddenly felt there was at least one thing she thought she

 

might finally be understanding and her eyes widened slightly before dismissing it and

 

regaining her composure and questioning him for the latest on the case.

 

“We have received the results from the equine necroscopy. Cause of Death was the same

 

as the man, bullet wound. It just bled out. The unusual thing they found was the presence

 

of semen.” Grissom took in the confused looks before repeating himself a little more

 

clearly. “Human, semen.”

 

Catherine’s intensely creeped out look said it all. “Wh- ….. do I even want to ask for an

 

explanation for that?”

 

“There are a few people who like to have sex with animals, they find it particularly

 

arousing.”

 

Nick gave an apologetic look and a weak smile. “I watch too much discovery channel as

 

You’ve all mentioned before.” Sara who had remained quietly disgusted at the state of

 

humanity quickly stood up muttered an apology and raced out of the room with her hand

 

over her mouth. The remainder of the group watched her departure with more than a little

 

confusion and worry. “Since when has Sara been squeamish, that’s just not like her.” Nick

 

quietly questioned his eyes still watching the doors she had just departed through.

 

“Does someone want to go check on her?” said Grissom looking pointedly towards

 

Catherine who returned his glance with one of her own and quietly got up from her seat.

 

“Fine, I’ll go check on her. I’ll be back in a minute.” She muttered.

 

 

As Catherine entered the bathroom she was greeted by the sight of Sara splashing water

 

on her face, the scene was giving her a distinct sense of deja-vu. “You’re going to have to

 

tell him. He has every right to know.”

 

“It wont interfere with my work so there’s no need to say anything yet.” Sara replied

 

distractedly.

 

“There’s more to it than that and I know it.”

 

Sara breathed out shook her head and lowered it a little rubbing the back of her neck in a

 

agitated gesture. “Its really none of your business. I’ll sort it out myself when I feel ready.”

 

“Just at least get yourself a doctors appointment, I’ll bet you haven’t.” Said Catherine as a

 

departing gesture

 

as she left. Sara groaned slightly realising her secret was out and if she didn’t do

 

something pretty soon herself, Catherine might take it into her own hands.

 

 

 

 

Catherine re-entered the Break room with inquisitive looks from the two men inside. “She’s

 

fine, She’ll be back in a minute”

 

“Well as I was saying I looked up a little about these “zoophiles” There is a big ethical

 

debate over whether it is wrong or not. Greg is as we speak matching up the DNA to make

 

sure we are right and it was our Vic. If it was we have motive.”

 

 

 

 

Sara’s re-entry to the Break room was met with confused looks from the men, she noted

 

that Warrick had now joined them and had obviously been told of her speedy exit. To avert

 

the impending questions she asked for an immediate update on the case and sat down

 

beside Cath in a manner that showed it was forbidden topic.

 

“We have just left samples with Greg we should have the results back by next shift. He’s a

 

little bogged down at the moment with training this new girl and running the samples left

 

over from a busy day shift.” Warrick told her. “I asked him to put a rush on it but don’t

 

expect anything too quick.”

 

“Well would it be ok if I went home a little early, I’m sure you can handle a few hours

 

without me.” The look of shock gained from the rest of the room silenced her for a

 

moment. The idea of Sara taking time away from the lab voluntarily was definitely not

 

normal. “Is that ok?” she asked once more.

 

All the response she gained from the rest of the room was assorted nods and worried

 

glances. “I’m just a little tired is all. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Before leaving a quiet room

 

behind her. Going home early was definitely not normal Sara behaviour.

 

 

When Sara returned home at about 7am after collecting a few bits of shopping she made

 

herself some toast put on a CD and sat quietly on the sofa where she seemed to have

 

spent most of her time over the last two days and munched her way through the toast, her

 

stomach didn’t feel ready for anything more right now.

 

She picked herself up again about 5 minutes later and searched her sideboard for her

 

organiser to find her GP’s number and organise an appointment for later that morning. It

 

was only a couple of hours later she found herself leaving her apartment once more on

 

the way to her first doctors appointment. The nerves were really starting to kick in as she

 

turned her car into the hospital car-park. The time in the waiting room seemed to last

 

forever before her name was called by the nurse on duty. She seated herself on the edge

 

of the bed and twiddled her fingers for a few seconds before the doctor entered.

 

 

“Good morning Miss Sidle, I’m Doctor Hyatt- Williams. I’m going to need to take a little

 

blood from you first I’m afraid. Run it through the labs just to check. Meanwhile you’ll need

 

to fill out a few of these forms and I’ll do an ultrasound. “ He handed what seemed to be a

 

book of forms to her and turned around to find something from a drawer in the cabinet

 

beside her.

 

“Ugh… I hate paperwork.” She muttered under her breath. This was greeted by a slight

 

chuckle from the doctor as he went about removing a needle and syringe and taking her

 

blood.

 

“Ok, now if you’ll just lie down a minute, roll up your top and undo the top button of your

 

jeans for me.” He gently squirted a little of the gel on to her now flat stomach and ran the

 

scanner over her flesh. Probing gently until she found what she was looking for. “Oh, there

 

you are.” He prodded for a couple more seconds before continuing ”everything looks good

 

to me. I’ll have to take a few measurements, but from the information you’ve given me and

 

these pictures I would say you’re about 8 or 9 weeks along. You’re quite late for a first

 

check-up really.”

 

He carefully cleaned the gel from her stomach with a paper towel and handed her a bunch

 

of leaflets along with a printout of her scan. During the appointment she had said very

 

little. But now she had left the hopeless feeling she had felt as she had entered had been

 

replaced by a certain guarded optimism. Being a single parent was never going to be

 

perfect but she was feeling better about it than she had before, all she had to do now was

 

tell Grissom.

 

 

Grissom was sat in his office with a large pile of paperwork that seemed to stay the same

 

size however long he worked. He had accounted this to the fact he had no concentration

 

that night and wasn’t actually doing anything productive. It had been a few hours since

 

shift had ended and yet as usual he was still there. He heard a gentle cough from the

 

doorway and looked up surprised to see Sara stood leaning against the door frame.

 

He looked back down to the paper in his hand trying desperately to disguise the leap in his

 

heart he felt every time he saw her and swallowed slowly. Her brown eyes seemed to be

 

boring into him and the temperature in the room seemed to fall with the additional tension

 

even though neither had said a word. “I thought you went home Sara.” He settled with in

 

the end. This situation reminded him of one just a year before, one he had regretted since

 

it had happened. It had added a new level of discomfort to their already strained

 

relationship and it seemed to Grissom that since then things had gotten exponentially

 

more complex and it was partly his fault. He had given in to his impulses but knew that if

 

he didn’t back away quickly he wouldn’t be able to. He knew he had hurt her but his

 

feeling was that it was necessary and probably better in the long run although it didn’t feel

 

like it at the moment. It was becoming more difficult to concentrate on anything that

 

resembled comprehensible thought.

 

“I did. Then I came back…. I need to talk to you.”

 

“well then, come in.” he replied.

 

“Not here. Would you like breakfast? “ Sara asked nervously twirling her hands and

 

attempting to hide the fear she felt was playing all over her face.

 

There was a long pause. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

 

“You say that a meal is a bad idea, yet you follow through with things that would be on

 

your terms a far worse idea.” Sara said eyes glinting angrily in the dim light of the office.

 

“Sara this isn’t the place.” He replied calmly still trying to look anywhere but her afraid of

 

the anger he would find if he looked in her eyes.

 

“You think I don’t know that. Why do you think I want to go somewhere else.”

 

“Sara…” he said warningly and finally raised his eyes to hers where he was shocked to be

 

met by the tears glowing in the corners of her eyes. She gave a final defeated look gave a

 

quiet “ugh” and stormed out of his office and marched down the hallway.

 

Grissom looked back down to his paperwork and told himself it was for the best. She

 

would find someone her own age who deserved her soon enough and until then he would

 

have to get over her. He took his glasses off stuck the end into his mouth and attempted

 

to outstare the glazed eyes of miss piggy with little success.

 

 

 

Sara sat in her car and leaned her head forward onto the steering wheel .The tears that

 

had been threatening to burst forward came and there seemed to be no stopping them.

 

Maybe It was just the hormones but the release she felt with the tears just letting them out

 

was just what she needed.

 

Un-known to her Grissom was watching the entire scene playing out from the other side of

 

the car park. It made him want to run to her hold her and make all the pain disappear.

 

Instead he turned and headed towards his own Denali and made his way back to his

 

empty and lifeless home. Sara meanwhile dragged herself out of her own reverie and did

 

the same. She knew how he felt, his job was far more important to him than she was and

 

she would just have to live with that. She’d heard it loud and clear and tried to deny it to

 

herself for too long. Why tell him when he just doesn’t want to know.

 

 

 

 

Shift the next day brought new information and new leads. “We’ve got those DNA samples

 

back, and not surprisingly the semen matches our Vic.” Informed Grissom “This gives

 

motives to both the wife and mistress.”

 

“Who wants to be cheated on with a horse. Its gotta be the worst scenario for a girl.”

 

Warrick noted with a hint of a grin.

 

The looks he gained from the rest of the group was enough to shut him up and he gave a

 

light shrug turning back towards Grissom.

 

“Nick and Sara are going to go search the guys house, talk to his wife see if you can get

 

anything else of use from her. Warrick and Catherine, you take the Mistress, we don’t

 

have a warrant for her house but you can but try, see if she will submit to it willingly. I have

 

some paperwork to be doing, check back with me when you’re done.” Grissom

 

immediately turned and marched out of the room.

 

 

 

When Nick and Sara arrived at the Vic’s home they found his wife knew of her husbands

 

strange activities and stated quite happily that their marriage had not been particularly

 

happy of late. But could provide very little other information. None of her clothes tested

 

positive for GSR or blood so there was nothing suggesting any foul play on her part. They

 

left rather frustrated and made their way back to the lab in the hopes that someone else

 

had come up with something more probative.

 

 

Warrick and Catherine had far more luck however. Although they were not able to search

 

her home they were luckily able to search her garbage which was outside the perimeter of

 

her property. This being where they found a plastic bag containing a set of clothes which

 

were immediately taken back to the lab to be tested. The GSR, didn’t mean anything

 

without something to link the shirt to the crime scene and allow them to get a warrant.

 

 

“Brass is bringing her in. The epithelia’s inside the shirt match her and the blood matches

 

him. It’s a closed case.” Catherine sipped carefully at her steaming coffee and looked up

 

at Sara, “you going to watch the interrogation?”

 

“Might as well I guess, when is it?” Sara replied.

 

“Bout 20 minutes, lets head over there”

 

The quick walk to the PD didn’t allow much time for questions and Sara was glad, the 3 rd

 

degree from Catherine was not what she needed right now but the looks she was getting

 

made her think that if Catherine didn’t get some information pretty soon she might

 

explode.

 

The young woman entered the interrogation room her face the picture of serenity. If she

 

was nervous it certainly didn’t show. Her green eyes scanned the room and came to rest

 

on the one way mirror, she seemed to stare through it and it was a most disconcerting

 

feeling to both on the other side.

 

“We know what you did” Detective Vartan, never one to sugar coat things got straight to

 

the point. ”We have your shirt, Gunshot residue and his blood, all of which point to your

 

guilt” The woman smiled mysteriously and tucked her shoulder length hair carefully behind

 

her ear.

 

“I was simply doing what was right.” She stated a satisfied smirk growing on her face. “It is

 

one of the laws, I was just putting it into practise. Something that should have been done

 

years ago.”

 

“There is no law allowing the shooting men or horses.” Vartan assured her.

 

“Gods laws hold no bounds, if I do his command he will protect me.” She leaned back into

 

her chair and continued slowly. “it is written that any man who lies with a beast shall be

 

put to death, and the beast too. I was helping him, and you.” Detective Vartan waved a

 

hand at the officer stood in the corner of the room who began to cuff the woman and led

 

her from the room while he watched on and shook his head slightly.

“Isn’t one of gods commands ‘do not murder’ ?”

 

“It wasn’t murder… it was justice.” The girl allowed a slow vindictive smile to grace her

 

features.

 

 

 

In the following weeks Sara found she was questioned innumerate times by Catherine as

 

to when she would tell “Him”. Sara really had no idea if she really knew who she was

 

talking about of was just pushing for information. It could have been either and she still

 

wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction of getting the details or being right.

 

At nearly four months it was beginning to be a problem finding jeans that actually fitted

 

and tops that would hide her bump that seemed to grow daily.

 

Sara let out a deep breath and surveyed herself in the full length mirror in her room. They

 

were going to guess eventually and it was becoming more and more difficult to disguise.

 

She didn’t really want to resort to maternity clothes just yet but there was only so far her

 

present ones would take her and baggy tops would hide. She was surprised that no one

 

had noticed yet and that the resident rumour mill in the lab hadn’t picked it up and spread

 

it like wildfire. She had only a moment to reflect on her good fortune before her pager

 

began to bleep insistently. It was her night off and she inwardly groaned. Back to work.

 

 

 

 

Sara walked into the break room sitting herself at the table and immediately busying

 

herself in a book. She didn’t even look up at the entrance of the rest of the team and

 

eventually Grissom who called the attention of the room to hand out assignments.

 

“I have a male DB in a park downtown, for Warrick. Nick and Cath have a robbery down in

 

Summerlin. Sara and I have a body in a tree, lets go.” The group were about to set off in

 

their separate directions when a quiet gasp from Sara echoed round the quiet room. All

 

gazes turned to her a nervous grin forming on her face. Her hand rested on her stomach,

 

the only person to whom this had any significance was Catherine who gave her a knowing

 

smile. “Sorry, I uh… just realised I forgot something” She smiled once more and speedily

 

left the room. Nick simply raised his eyebrows and decided he didn’t want to know before

 

following Catherine. Warrick and Grissom also shared a look before also leaving the room.

 

 

 

 

It had kicked, actually kicked. Ok so not really the beat of places and her explanation had

 

definitely been lacking in the creativity department. But that couldn’t be helped. She was

 

going to have to tell them all soon, its not like she would be able to hide it to much longer.

 

The Denali suddenly made a sharp right turn into a tiny track leading towards a small

 

group of stunted trees. The setting sun let enough light to make out a large dark shape out

 

in one which Sara was assuming was their reason for being called out.

 

She leaned her head

 

against the cool glass and took a deep breath as she felt a slight movement in her

 

stomach once more. The movement was what made it really real, she knew it was but in

 

these situations sometimes it just doesn’t seem to sink in until much later than you would

 

expect. The Denali pulled to a stop and as they got out of the car they were greeted by

 

Brass striding towards them. “Oh you’re going to enjoy this one” he called and motioned

 

towards the pair to go towards him. “Girl up a tree, no idea who she is how she got there

 

or who did it. An enigma of giant proportions for you two…. Well, Have fun I have get

 

going so it will just be you and officer Price here. It been a busy day for criminals in Las

 

Vegas.” Brass then promptly left and as the dust settled Sara voiced the question they had

 

both been thinking.

 

“How exactly are we supposed to get this girl down then?” asked Sara looking slightly

 

worried already. The officer didn’t seem to be the hard stomached type and had gone to

 

sit in the car so he was just near enough to help if anything happened but probably not

 

going to be any help getting the body down. “Could Brass not have let us have a few

 

people to help?”

 

 

“Well we are going to have to go up there I guess. The coroner wont be back for another

 

hour or so to help remove the body so until then we have to go up there.”

 

 

Grissom turned to Sara and looked expectantly at her as she turned even paler than

 

normal. Sara tried to sound nonchalant “I don’t get paid enough to climb trees. I’m keeping

 

both feet on the ground thanks all the same” She knew an outburst would follow but what

 

else could she do. It was just too dangerous for her at the moment. It was at times like this

 

she wished she had been honest and just told him weeks ago.

 

“You wont do it? Why not?” Grissom asked his voice growing low the anger building

 

behind it.

 

“Do I need a reason? Its dangerous and I don’t want to go up there. “ A steely edge was

 

growing in Sara’s voice too. The pair seemed to be attempting to stare the other down. It

 

was definitely an if-looks-could-kill situation. The two were as stubborn as each other and

 

something like this could go on forever before one or the other gave up.

 

Finally Sara broke the silence with a quiet but firm voice “Give me your hand”. Grissom

 

hesitated “You want my reason, just give me your hand”. He extended his hand slowly

 

only to have it grabbed by Sara and placed onto her swollen stomach where the baby had

 

kicked moments before. Only a second later it kicked once more and Grissom’s confused

 

stare became one of understanding and then shock. “That’s why.” She pulled away from

 

him then and strode back towards the waiting Denali leaving Grissom standing stock still

 

beneath the overhanging tree.

 

 

Sara was pregnant? The thoughts were racing around Grissom’s brain. His first thought

 

being how did he not notice. The second surprisingly was, was it his? Something he would

 

later think should have been his first thought. As a scientist he should know about these

 

things but when it came down to it he could think straight enough to work it out. Having

 

done some mental calculations as best he could he figured it was distinctly possible,

 

almost he would say a certainty. Now came the why, why didn’t she tell him? He was

 

going to be a father, so why did she not say anything? She could have at least found a

 

way to tell him something as significant as that. He shook himself out of his trance and

 

turned to follow the direction Sara had gone. He found her sat on the ground her back

 

against the wheel of the car deep in thought. His anger had dispersed into more a feeling

 

of regret and concern. He sat carefully on the hard dusty ground beside her and the pair

 

sat in silence for several minutes. He would never tell her but the thought she might be

 

carrying his baby made him happier than he ever would have thought possible. He didn’t

 

want to

 

think how it would affect him if it turned out it was another mans. Being a parent was one

 

of the things he had never really considered as he’d never found the right woman, he had

 

never expected it to happen to him. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before he

 

began to speak.

 

“I’m guessing its mine?” Grissom asked quietly resting his arms onto his knees.

 

“Unless there is something I really don’t know, then yes.” She looked at the ground again

 

and began drawing small swirling patterns in the dirt. “I know what you’re thinking and I

 

don’t want anything from you if that’s what you’re worried about. I can manage just fine on

 

my own.” There was another short silence.

 

“That’s not what I was thinking.” Grissom muttered. “Why didn’t you tell me? You could

 

have said something”

 

“I tried when I found out and you didn’t want to listen.”

 

Grissom dropped his head. “I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t help now. But I really am.”

 

Tears were building in Sara’s eyes, threatening to overflow. She turned her head away

 

slightly to hide them and rested her forehead on her hand.

 

Grissom stretched out his hand slowly, he was afraid of her response and how it could

 

hurt him. His touch was gentle and caressed her cheek wiping the tears that fell there. The

 

electricity between them was undeniable, it always had been. As he drew his hand away

 

Sara’s caught hold of it once more and rested it on her bent knee still holding his hand

 

with her own. It was then the coroners van began to approach the scene to remove the

 

body. Grissom stood still holding Sara’s hand and reached the other down to pull her up to

 

him. “We should get this body dealt with, but then we need to talk.” Sara nodded mutely

 

and their eyes met, just for a moment and she could see a sparkle behind them that she

 

hadn’t seen before.

 

David exited the van along with a forensic assistant whose name Grissom could not recall.

 

“So have you two got what you need to?” David asked.

 

“Not yet. I was waiting for your help to get the evidence from up there. I cant get up there

 

by myself.” Sara jerked her head up at his words and met his eyes once more.

 

David and Grissom turned and with the help of the forensic assistant and a ladder

 

Grissom was soon sat on one of the upper branches of the tree. David looked expectantly

 

towards Sara. “I’m sitting this one out I’m afraid. Keeping myself at ground level.” She

 

gave him an rueful smile and got to collecting some of the more accessible evidence.

 

 

 

 

On their return to the lab after a quiet car journey the two CSI’s dropped off varying

 

pieces of trace evidence at the lab and some blood samples off at the DNA lab before

 

leaving

 

again. Sara wasn’t entirely sure where they were going and was surprised when they

 

turned off into a quiet residential street, she didn’t recognise Grissom’s house until they

 

were outside it, having not been there for a couple of years at least. She looked across to

 

Grissom who appeared not to notice her surprise or if he did he wasn’t about to say

 

anything.

 

He pushed open the door to his small house and held it open as Sara entered. “Would you

 

like some coffee?” He asked as he gestured for her to sit.

 

“I’ll stick with water I think. Coffee doesn’t really agree with me at the moment.” Grissom

 

nodded and wandered through to the kitchen placing his keys on the sideboard as he

 

passed. Sara had found recently that the best thing about working graveyard was that no

 

one questioned her for wearing thick coats or fleece most of the time, but in Grissom’s

 

warm house she was forced to remove at least two of her layers. The top she had on

 

beneath was thin and tight enough that her swelling belly was now fairly obvious. Even

 

though she realised he already knew about it for some reason still worried her. She had

 

grown used to hiding it for so long it seemed strange not to. She put her coat and jumper

 

across the back of the chair and walked towards the collection of butterflies she found

 

mounted on the wall. Grissom re-entered the room with two glasses of water and walked

 

to where Sara was stood lost in thought staring at the butterflies. He placed the glasses on

 

the side table and hesitantly brushed his fingers over the skin at her shoulders. Sara

 

shivered at the contact and spun to face him. Her skin was tingling where he had touched

 

her and his glowing blue eyes shone in the half light of the room. They scanned her figure

 

taking in the new curves that came with her pregnancy with a sense of wonder and unless

 

she was imagining it joy. It re-awakened the dreams she had, had when she had first

 

found out she was pregnant, where everything would turn out well, dreams she had

 

quickly banished to the back of her mind for fears of getting her hopes up only to have

 

them dashed. She was still scared, there was the distinct chance he would tell her he

 

wanted nothing to do with her. He hadn’t said anything about how he felt about this turn of

 

events. Just that she should have told him and that he was sorry. Not exactly the

 

response she had hoped for. Although she had prepared herself for this sort of response it

 

didn’t make it hurt any less. His eyes met hers and she felt as if they could see through

 

her. See into the recesses of her heart like no one else could. The control he had over her

 

scared her and made her innumerably happy in equal measure when he was near.

 

“Are you happy?” Grissom murmured a look of concern and fear flitted across his features.

 

“about ‘this’ in any way?” he continued.

 

“I could be” Sara replied quietly her eyes falling from his to gaze at the floor in

 

contemplation. Before he could stop himself Grissom took a step closer to her and rested

 

his forehead against her his warm breath fanned her face. Her hands entwined with his.

 

“Griss” Sara breathed she took a deep cleansing breath before continuing ”you and I both

 

know that this scenario never ends well.” It felt to her despite her words that it was exactly

 

right and lord knew it was what she wanted. But it seemed that sense prevailed and

 

Grissom slowly pulled back and guided her to the sofa handing her a glass of water. Her

 

lips twitched as she smiled her thanks.

 

“Does anyone else know?” He asked quietly.

 

“Just Cath, and I haven’t said much about it to her anyway. I think she way have some

 

ideas of her own though.” She took a sip of her water and reached down towards her bag

 

producing a copy of a sonogram picture and handing it to Grissom. “You can keep that. I

 

have another copy.” Sara paused for several long moments watching his reaction before

 

continuing. “How about you, are you? …Happy I mean?”

 

“More than you would ever know.” Grissom said quietly without missing a beat. Sara’s

 

heart leaped at his words. His response meant more to her than she had realised and that

 

it was positive made her face glow with relief before clouding over once more. There was

 

another pause before she voiced her final question.

 

“Then why do you push me away?” her voice cracked betraying her inner anguish.

 

“For all the reasons we’ve always talked about, but that doesn’t mean I ever wanted to.”

 

He reached his hand over once more to hold hers. “I would never want to hurt you. I

 

thought I was protecting you, protecting myself.” He exhaled slowly, he was still gripping

 

the sonogram in his right hand. “You have to know that.”

 

He gently put his arm around her and pulled her form tightly against his chest. She relaxed

 

into him knowing that was exactly where she wanted to be. It made her feel completely

 

safe for the first time in a long time. She knew inside that it would not last, it never did, but

 

for the moment it felt pretty damn good.

 

 

 

 

When Sara woke the next morning she found her movement blocked by something that

 

turned out to be Grissom’s arms around her body. One over one arm where he was

 

gently tracing circles on her hand and the other rested gently on her stomach. She could

 

almost feel his relaxed smile though she could not see it. It felt as if she hadn’t slept as

 

well as she had in those few hours in years.

 

They both simply lay there for several minutes, basking in the relaxed atmosphere. They

 

seemed to be able to communicate all that they felt for each other without needing the

 

clichés that often seemed to come with words. A touch or a look conveyed everything that

 

words could not, even though these were sometimes misinterpreted by both parties.

 

“What should I tell them all? I don’t have to say its yours if you don’t want.” She

 

murmured. Tipping her head back further into his chest.

 

“Its mine and I wouldn’t want it any other way. We’ll just tell them. They’re just going to

 

have to get used to it.” He softly kissed the top of her head “Would you like some

 

breakfast?”

 

“Cant manage anything more than toast right now. But that would be nice if you’ve got it.”

 

Grissom gently unwrapped himself from around her and pushed himself up from the sofa,

 

“Sure, I’ll see what I can find.”

 

He wasn’t entirely sure where this was going as although he would be more than happy to

 

be with her he wasn’t sure that she felt the same. He returned to the room to find Sara had

 

curled up and gone back to sleep. Grissom simply sat and watched her. Her mouth was

 

moving slightly as if she were talking without sound in her sleep. Isn’t it said that you know

 

you love someone when you can spend the entire night just sitting, watching them sleep. It

 

was only now that Grissom could really see how this was possible. He carefully scooped

 

his arms under her sleeping form and cradling her into his body he lifted her gently and

 

transported her into his room laying her gently out on his bed pulling the covers up to her

 

chin and kissing her on the forehead once more before seating himself on a chair across

 

the room.

 

 

It was not long before Sara woke again, normally she slept no more that four or five hours

 

a night at the most, eight hours was a kind of record for her. The warm cocoon that was

 

surrounding her relaxed her in a way she had never felt before. It took her a few moments

 

to realise she was not in her own bed, nor on Grissom’s sofa anymore, rather in his bed. It

 

surprised her that such a private person as Grissom had voluntarily put her into his own

 

bed. It was somewhere she had never been before and hoped it might be somewhere she

 

would be again, but that may be but a hopeless wish. She was still almost fully clothed,

 

minus her shoes and jacket and seeing as there was only a few hours until the beginning

 

of shift figured it might be a very good idea to go home have a shower and change. She

 

saw him sat in the chair across the room and it saddened her to think that it seemed he

 

didn’t even want to be in the same bed as her, after everything she thought he might have

 

at least stretched himself to that. She pushed herself up put on her shoes and found her

 

jacket before leaving a note stuck to the pillow. – Sorry, Sara. – Hoping that he would at

 

least understand her choice and not hate her for it.

 

 

 

 

Sara arrived back at her apartment with little over an hour to grab the fastest shower she’d

 

ever had in her life, change clothes, and with little thought over hiding her secret rush out

 

the door once more. Arriving at work about 10 minutes late in the end she speed-walked

 

into the break room sitting down opposite Warrick with the whole team looking on. “Sorry, I

 

had a little bit of a rush on tonight” The strange looks she gained from the rest of the

 

nightshift made her stop and look around. “What? You lot have got to learn not to give me

 

these weird looks it could really hurt my ego you know.”

 

“You just got to stop giving us the reasons girl.” Warrick smiled and raised and eyebrow at

 

her. Sara gave a wry smile turned and folded her coat onto the back of the chair before

 

turning back to the others. “So where are assignments?”

 

“Just waiting for you.” Grissom stood in the doorway, “was wondering where you’d got to.”

 

Sara didn’t miss the double meaning behind his words and blushed slightly.

 

 

“Sorry, had a busy day.” She smiled slightly, a smile which was returned by him, and

 

watched closely by Catherine who was quietly reading into the subtle body language.

 

Catherine’s conclusion seemed to please her and she leaned into Sara who was sat

 

beside her, “Nice to know you finally got round to it. Tell me when you tell the rest of them

 

so I don’t drop you in it.” Catherine said under her breath, she gave Sara a wicked grin.

 

“You wouldn’t” Sara whispered back her eyes widening. “If you don’t get on with It I might

 

explode, two months is a long time for me to keep something like this under wraps.” The

 

two shared and silent battle of wills. “Fine, I’ll do it today.” Sara relented. Their whispered

 

conversation had not gone un-noticed by the men and their interest forced them to finish it

 

a little earlier than they had hoped.

 

“Right, you lot. We have only one crime of the moment, an arson attempt at the palms.

 

Nick, you finished up your case yesterday am I right?” Nick nodded slightly. “Right, then

 

this is yours, you’re working it solo, have fun. Cath you can help Sara and I. Warrick, I’m

 

sure you have something to finish off, if not I have plenty of paperwork for you.”

 

“That’s ok, I’m sure I’ll be able to think of something” Warrick chuckled slightly, before

 

leaving he retorted “Man, what a choice.” The thee remaining CSI’s left the break room

 

and started their journey down the corridor.

 

“Sara we have an ID from our girl up a tree, Robbins has her in autopsy now, you can fill

 

Cath in on the way.” I meanwhile have a pile of paperwork waiting for me, you know where

 

I’ll be if you need me.” He gave a ironic smile and turned into his office. The women

 

carried on with their journey to autopsy. “How did you know I told him?” Sara questioned

 

she older woman as they entered Doc Robbins domain.

 

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you take your coat off without an substantial top on

 

underneath. I figured you weren’t too worried about anyone finding out anymore.”

 

Catherine gave her a knowing look. “Four months right?” Before Sara could say anything

 

Doc Robbins rounded the corner and both women were immediately silenced. Sara gave

 

wide eyed look at Cath and a look of worry crossed her features.

 

“Hey Al, what’ve you got for us?” Cath broke the quiet of the room.

 

The older medical examiner hobbled deftly across the room towards a covered gurney

 

with what the women assumed to be their victim. “Her name is Samantha Aster, 17, she

 

was on the missing persons register. Her parents reported her missing 3 days ago.

 

Rigours fixed, puts her TOD at about 18-20 hours ago, so you didn’t find her that long

 

after. Her tox report is pending but she doesn’t have any signs of drug abuse or long term

 

illness. From what I can see, she died from exposure probably was alive when she was

 

left in that tree.”

 

 

Robbins paused for a few seconds before continuing eyeing Sara closely.

 

“She has multiple breakages, one leg, several ribs and a fractured wrist, also quite a lot of

 

defensive wounds on her hands.”

 

 

“Sexual assault?” Catherine questioned.

 

“it would appear so. I’ve sent the kit to Greg.” Robbins pulled the sheet back over the

 

body. “I cant tell you for sure until the tox screen comes back what the cause of death is

 

but I’ll page you when I get it.”

 

“Thanks.” Muttered Sara rubbing her forehead distractedly and staring at the ground as

 

she turned to leave.

 

“Oh and Sara, Congratulations.” Her head jerked up her eyes wide once more, catching

 

his eyes with her own, and noting the cheeky grin on his face. He had known exactly what

 

they were talking about. Sara smiled slightly back.

 

 

“That wasn’t so hard was it.” Catherine said to the brunette by her side once they had

 

arrived at Greg’s lab where it appeared he had taken a break, so they simply stood to

 

wait.

 

“That’s cause I didn’t have to say anything. I’m dreading Nick and Warrick… and Greg

 

actually.”

 

“He’ll be so upset his dream girl’s taken.” Catherine said her hand over her heart in a

 

mocking gesture. Sara gave her a look and gently cuffed her arm. “actually, you’re going

 

to have to tell all these love-struck lab rats, I don’t envy you.” Catherine then turned a little

 

more serious. “You know they’re all going to speculate about the father. If Cavallo, or even

 

Ecklie finds out you could both lose your jobs.”

 

“I know, that’s why I’m not going to say anything yet, can you just sit on it for a while?”

 

Sara sighed “I’m not too worried about Nick, Warrick, or even Greg. But for the rest its

 

probably better not to say anything. The rumours are gonna fly enough as it is.”

 

Catherine nodded. “You sure you don’t want to sit down or something?”

 

Sara glared at her “I’m not fragile, besides, I cant sit down comfortably in these trousers

 

anymore, they already don’t do up properly.”

 

“I think we need to get you some new clothes.”

 

“No, I don’t need to resort to that yet. I can wait.”

 

“Why will you not just admit you need them?”

 

“Need what?” Greg entered his lab and eyed the two women stood by his desk.

 

“What I need are my DNA results.” Sara replied quickly shooting Catherine a ‘don’t-you-

 

dare’ look.

 

“OK, well here they are, ran the results through CODIS, Nada. But I did get a hit on our

 

very own PD database.” Greg handed the results sheet to Sara who examined it carefully,

 

Catherine leaning over her shoulder.

 

“Uh oh, we got war” Cath groaned slightly remembering the last time they had tackled

 

members of law enforcement. It wasn’t pretty, it was kind of a one rule for us one for

 

everyone else kind of deal. Unfortunately they all knew what happened when you mess

 

with cops. “This could be interesting.”

 

“Thanks Greg.”

 

As the two left Catherine made time to say “I’m still taking you shopping after shift.” just

 

loud enough that Greg could overhear. Sara glared at her.

 

“We’d better go tell Grissom we’ve got a fight on our hands.”

 

 

 

 

Catherine entered Grissom’s office to give him the news. Leaning both her hands on the

 

desk she smiled deviously at the man across the desk. He took the end of his glasses

 

from him lips in a typical gesture and appraised her carefully before phrasing his question.

 

“I’m guessing you have news.” He said in a way that hinted at something a little deeper.

 

Her smile grew wider. “I have that.” Catherine paused before continuing more seriously. “I

 

also know who the girl was and the guy who raped her. We have an in-house match. Ray

 

Miller, LVPD. Could cause us problems.”

 

Grissom’s face too fell slightly at the news. “We still have to follow it. The evidence take it

 

out of our hands.” Catherine nodded resolutely.

 

“I’ll go talk to Brass, have him brought in.”

 

 

 

 

Sara soon found herself being dragged forcibly, at least part of the time, around more

 

maternity clothes shops than she had believed existed in Vegas. It was about getting quite

 

late and she was tired and still found it impossible to believe that in all of the shops they

 

had entered not one had Plain dark colours. Apparently it seemed that all pregnant

 

women wanted to be clothed in bright colours, patterns and frills. Functional Black and

 

grey seemed to be out of the question.

 

“I don’t get it. All I want are a couple of pairs of black trousers. You would have thought

 

that was the perfect pregnancy thing. Black’s supposed to be slimming right?” Sara

 

grumbled eyeing a rack of clothes like they were something that had crawled out of a dead

 

body, one of Grissom’s bugs perhaps.

 

Catherine gave her a despairing look before relenting slightly, “Ok so this isn’t really what

 

you need I guess. I might have something a little more appropriate in my cupboard at

 

home.”

 

Sara breathed a slight sigh of relief before breathing in again. “I think maybe I should just

 

pick up a pair of stretchy waist-banded something’s before we go. I cant handle these

 

jeans much longer. “ Catherine simply smiled at her in a kind of told-you-so gesture.

 

Before grabbing a pair of moderately tasteful trousers from a rail and handing them to

 

Sara.

 

“Don’t think I haven’t realised you’ve not told Nick and Warrick yet. I haven’t forgotten you

 

know.” Sara’s look said it all, it was one of “Damn”.

 

“Tomorrow.” She replied, getting a sceptical look from Cath. “If you Just wait until

 

tomorrow, I’ll see what I can do. Its not that easy. They’re my best friends, I’m four months

 

pregnant and I didn’t tell them. I’m gonna give them trust issues or something.”

 

 

 

 

It seemed such a short while ago she had just got off shift and yet here she was out to yet

 

another scene with Nick and Warrick while Catherine and Grissom dealt with the leftovers

 

of the case they had previously been working on. Sara knew in the back of her mind that

 

Grissom had ulterior motives for removing her from the case, and it was convenient that a

 

multiple had been called in that needed processing. Their drive out was companionable

 

and she was finding she had missed the relaxed banter she could share with her two

 

friends. On arrival the place looked almost deserted with only one light on outside and an

 

officer stood nearby.

 

“Where’s the coroner?” Nick questioned as they approached the lone officer.

 

“Came, confirmed and went, you guys are late.” The man turned waving his arm towards

 

the house. “Top of the stairs, second door on the left, two victims, Anna Francis, 45 and

 

her son Cody, 12. I’ve cleared the house. Do you need me to come in with you? Its not

 

pretty.” He leaned back against the railings and pulled out a cigarette.

 

“We can handle it, Thanks.” Warrick replied.

 

The three began a preliminary walkthrough Nick revolved his mag-lite pointing it to the

 

origin of a damp patch in the ceiling, grimacing slightly at the dark red-brown colour. “I’m

 

guessing he wasn’t kidding when he said it wasn’t pretty. The smell lends me to believe

 

decomp.” He sighed slightly and muttered some thing incomprehensible about lemons

 

giving Sara a knowing look and leaving Warrick completely confused.

 

 

 

The Stairs gave an unhealthy creak as they ascended and entered the master bedroom

 

as directed. The house would have once been a lovely home, but years of neglect had

 

taken its toll, leaving it an empty shell.

 

Sara reeled back slightly at the smell as she entered the room, even after all these years it

 

still affected her more than she liked to admit. She was startled slightly by a thud behind

 

her and spun to face Nick who held up his hands in mock surrender. “Not afraid of the

 

dark after all this time are you?” She gave him an annoyed glare and turned back to her

 

inspection of the bodies, taking out her camera she began to snap shots from various

 

angles of the bodies as Nick and Warrick checked the other rooms.

 

It wasn’t until it was too late she noticed the movement beside her and strong arms grab

 

her from the darkness, a gun shoved into the small of her back. She gasped muffled

 

slightly by his hand firmly over her mouth.

 

Nick and Warrick entered the room moments later followed by another unknown man

 

pointing a revolver in their direction. Nick made a movement towards her before hastily

 

retreating realising their position. None of them had weapons anymore, Sara’s was now

 

held by the man behind her, Nick and Warrick seemed to have lost theirs in a similar

 

situation. Sara’s hope was dwindling by the second.

 

The second man smiled genially, “I took care of the cop downstairs, he wont bother us.”

 

“Good to know, now its what to do with this lot. I didn’t plan on this, I thought they would

 

have found and cleared this out weeks ago. But man, does it smell. I think a room change

 

is in order.” He shoved Sara forwards nearly knocking her over. She grasped the table

 

beside her a wave of dizziness threatening to overcome her. “Lets move, come on.” His

 

voice had an almost acidic quality to it which scared her more than anything. She wrapped

 

her arms around herself took a shuddering breath and followed the rest of the group from

 

the room the gun was still pressed into her kidneys.

 

“This seems as good place as any.” He murmered propelling Sara forward into the chest

 

of drawers hard, she stumbled back clasping her arms around her belly and whimpering

 

slightly.

 

“What do you want with us. We haven’t done anything to you.” Nick could hear the fear in

 

his voice and desperately hoped that they could not.

 

“Sorry ‘bout that. Crime of opportunity you might say. We were just collecting something

 

we forgot. You three just made it that little bit more fun.” The man smiled sadistically.

 

“Lucky for you two, you’re not really my style. This pretty little brunette however…” He

 

walked over to Sara brushing his hand across her face.

 

Warrick seeing this lashed out at the second man who without a second thought hit him in

 

the back hard with the butt of his gun watching as he crumpled to the floor for a second he

 

lay motionless before pushing himself up slightly and bracing himself back against the

 

nearby wall. “If you touch her.”

 

“You’ll What?” he paused raising his eyebrows ” I’m waiting for your ingenious plan you

 

know.” He looked at Warrick again his eyes ice cold and mocking. “I didn’t think so. You

 

keep out my way, you might get your girlfriend back at the end. You have any more input”

 

he directed at Nick whose wide eyes met Sara’s with the same fear embedded in the

 

depths. The second man was still stood over Warrick watching in case either made any

 

move to aid their friend.

 

Sara fought desperately against his hold, but his strength was way above hers and she

 

struggled in vain. He pushed her against the wardrobe behind them and ran his hand

 

experimentally over her body running down her side and across her stomach. He then

 

unexpectedly thrust her hard into the wall and

 

reflexively she clutched her stomach and pulled her knees into her chest. All the thoughts

 

of fighting back like she had always been taught seemed to go out the window when the

 

situation actually arose.

 

The man gave another sadistic grin something finally coming together in his mind. “Aw,

 

that’s kinda sweet.” He looked over towards the two men at the far wall. ”Yours maybe?”

 

The confused looks from across the room didn’t give him much to go on. “Or maybe she

 

just didn’t tell you, huh? You’d have thought you might have noticed.”

 

He pointed his gun towards her “Get up.” His command rang out thorough the house,

 

mustering all the pride she could under the circumstances she leaned heavily on the table

 

pushing herself to standing. She found herself grasped by the arm and dragged to the

 

centre of the room, his gun now pointing at her abdomen. “Maybe this will get more of a

 

response, you know how parents get about their kids.” He raised his eyebrows slightly at

 

the lack of response, rather a slightly shocked silence. He removed the gun from her

 

stomach and as he did so and his guard was down she elbowed him squarely in the face

 

triggering a similar response in Nick who stuck out at the second attacker who didn’t

 

appear to know what he should do. The first man recovered from Sara’s attack quickly and

 

with what seemed like superhuman strength threw her across the room and into the

 

bedpost where she slid to the ground.

 

Warrick who had grabbed the gun abandoned on the floor aimed it at the first Man.

 

Pulling out his cell phone he dialled and gruffly requested an ambulance and police

 

assistance at the address. He flipped it shut once more and returned his full attention to

 

the man in front of him. Blood trickled from the his swollen nose, proof that Sara had got

 

her licks in. “What do you think of our master plan, worked better than you

 

expected huh?”. Nick seemed to have knocked out his attacker and was stood a couple of

 

feet away watching him with distain. He grabbed his arm and dragged the unresponsive

 

man across the floor leaving him next to his friend, before running across the room to

 

check on Sara’s limp form. “Her Pulse is there but, its weak.” He ran his hands over her

 

limbs checking for any breakages, her shoulder was at a particularly odd angle which

 

couldn’t have been healthy and she had a large gash on her head but other than that

 

appeared to be unharmed. Nick ran a hand too over her ribs and stomach, he looked up at

 

Warrick a question in his eyes. “He was telling the truth, unless there’s something I’m

 

missing. Why didn’t she tell us?” Warrick shrugged slightly, their conversation cut short by

 

the arrival of the paramedics. Once the men were removed and Warrick found he could

 

relax a little the full weight of the situation hit him. The paramedics set to

 

work on Sara, Nick hovering over them.

 

“Nick, Man, Sit and let them do their work.” Warrick shouted, giving everyone a

 

shock and forcing Nick to sit back down next to him.

 

“We have to get her back to the hospital, she’s still unresponsive. You can follow, we’ll

 

be heading over to desert palm.” The paramedic turned back to help his co-workers.

 

Warrick grasped his car keys and pulling Nick along with him left the house for the fresh

 

air outside, it seemed like hours they had been inside, it turned out it was only 45 minutes.

 

It didn’t take much to persuade them to leave the scene in the care of the remaining police

 

officers and follow the ambulance as it sped away.

 

 

 

 

“I cant get a hold of Grissom or Cath. I don’t know where they went but they’re out of

 

range or something. “ Nick was agitated and pacing the corridors. “I’ve told Brass to

 

contact both of them and get the message to come out here.”

 

“Bro, Sit. You’re making me nervous with all that pacing. You checked her over yourself,

 

just a head wound and dislocated shoulder you said.”

 

“I know squat. Why the hell are you so calm?” Nick now stood in front of his friend

 

clenching his hands together in a frustrated action.

 

“I am not calm, I just hide it a lot better than you.” Nick sighed and sat heavily on the

 

plastic seat nearby and rubbed his temples and forehead with his fingers.

 

 

 

 

Grissom and Catherine as it turned out were sat on the roof of the Lab just trying

 

a little experiment. They had a large white board and partially frozen blood to see how the

 

splatter pattern was affected. They were oblivious until a pale faced Greg appeared.

 

“Grissom, everyone’s looking for you.”

 

“Tell them I’m busy. This is very time sensitive.” Grissom then immediately turned back to

 

his work leaving Greg at a loss.

 

“Its important, its Sara, there was an incident at their crime scene.” Grissom spun back

 

round to face him dread in his eyes. “They sent her to desert palm about a ½ hour ago.”

 

Cath’s eyes widened slightly and watched as Grissom left without a word. She followed

 

him at speed.

 

 

 

It didn’t take them long to get to the hospital, much faster really than it should have taken

 

them but Catherine wasn’t about to comment on the state of his driving in the condition he

 

was in. He might bite her head off. Not something she wanted. Instead she kept silent and

 

watched the road just in case.

 

On their arrival they rushed straight into the ER and Grissom set in on the poor nurse on

 

duty. “I’m looking for Sara Sidle, she would have been brought in about half an hour ago.”

 

Nick and Warrick sat at the other end of the corridor overheard the persistent questioning

 

and made their way to their colleagues. “Hey where have you guys been, we tried to get

 

hold of you.”

 

“Is she ok?” Grissom asked quietly. Warrick nodded, “Doctor came out a minute ago,

 

she’s a little out of it because of the drugs but other than a dislocated shoulder and a bit of

 

concussion she’ll be fine given time.”

 

Grissom swallowed slightly spoke so quietly it was almost a whisper. “and the baby?”

 

Warrick and Nick’s metaphorical jaws dropped. Nick regained his composure first

 

enough to reply “F-Fine” he paused, “how did you know about that?” Grissom glanced at

 

Catherine in a plea for help, getting in return a look that simply said “Your Problem”.

 

It was strange how Grissom in his floundering silence managed to put across the truth far

 

more succinctly without meaning to than he ever could have done in words.

 

Warrick raised his eyebrows slightly muttering “oh, that’s a reason I suppose.”

 

Cath smiled slightly at the boys slightly shocked expressions, “Sorry, I was sworn to

 

secrecy until she told you herself. Otherwise I would have happily mentioned it. But I

 

feared for my life if I said anything”

 

Nick was still in shock staring at Grissom, his mind not quite comprehending the

 

information.

 

How had he missed that? The Grissom/Sara dynamic had always been weird, but

 

this…definitely not what he had expected. He collected himself rapidly. “Should have

 

guessed really, its not like she’d had a boyfriend as far as we knew, and not a one for a

 

one-nighter.”

 

A derisive snort came from Grissom’s direction at his words. ”You’d be surprised” he

 

muttered under his breath. He attempted to remedy their stunned and confused glances

 

muttering. “Its not like I knew until a couple of days ago. Cath knew months ago and didn’t

 

say anything.” Cath backed away carefully from their accusing gazes. “Hey, I couldn’t

 

break her confidence, its not like she told me willingly.“

 

The doctor returned moments later saving Catherine from further questioning.

 

“I’m afraid that at the moment I can only allow family to visit her, we need to wait for her to

 

wake up before allowing anyone else.”

 

Grissom stood up, “Can I go in and see her?”

 

“Are you family?” The doctor gave him an exasperated look, knowing full well from the

 

earlier explanations that her family lived out of state and would not be coming. Grissom

 

frowned giving the young doctor a death stare of the highest proportions before growling.

 

“I’m the father of her baby, isn’t that enough?” The doctor appraised the older man silently.

 

“I’ll see what I can do, if you’d like to come with me.” He replied icily. The two walked

 

down the corridor turning into an elevator to the right.

 

Nick puffed out a breath. “Wow, he actually admitted that out loud. He still hadn’t

 

confirmed what we thought before that.” He turned to Warrick, “you can’t tell me you

 

weren’t still thinking we could be wrong up till then?”

 

“Oh I still had my doubts, but, doubts gone now.” Warrick muttered.

 

Catherine decided her input would be valued at this point “its not like either of them had

 

actually admitted out loud it to me either. I just gathered from everything that happened.

 

Sara’s not exactly forthcoming when it comes to that kind of thing.”

 

“So are they actually together or what?”

 

“No, I don’t think so.” Catherine replied “But hopefully they’ll fix that soon enough”

 

Warrick choose this moment to voice the thoughts of all of them. “What about when we

 

get back to work? What are they going to tell everyone?”

 

“From what Sara said, she’s just not going to say, pregnant women’s prerogative. She

 

said she’d tell you two and Greg and leave it at that. Everyone else can make up their own

 

minds.”

 

“Greg’s going to be so upset Man, he’s had that crush on Sara for years.” Warrick smiled

 

cheekily. “You think I could tell him? I just want to be able to see the look on his face.”

 

Catherine gave him an admonishing look “No, leave the poor guy alone, you can have

 

your fun later.” She then smiled wickedly, “then I can join in and not get into trouble.” The

 

three shared a calculating look before resuming their conversation about the best way

 

to “Get Greg”.

 

 

 

 

Grissom hovered in the doorway of the room, he was surprisingly nervous and not sure if

 

he really wanted to enter or not. Getting over this feeling he made his way across the

 

room to the sole bed occupying the room against right hand wall. Even from where he

 

stood a few feet away he could see how pale she was and the rise and fall of her chest.

 

He had never seen her like this and it scared him more than he would ever acknowledge.

 

He moved over to the seat beside her bed sitting down and entangling his fingers with

 

hers. He leaned his head into the side of her bed and rubbed his thumb over her fingers

 

absent-mindedly, as if trying to warm them.

 

 

 

Sara did not wake for several hours but the sight that greeted her when she finally awoke

 

warmed her heart. Grissom had fallen asleep with his head leaning against her good

 

shoulder his hand still wrapped around hers. She almost didn’t want to wake him, but the

 

ache in her other shoulder became rather more as she moved causing her to grip his hand

 

harder than she had intended.

 

He began to stir at her grip. She felt as if she had been hit by a ten tonne truck and was

 

aching all over and yet still managed to smile at Grissom’s semi-waking confusion as he

 

nearly lost his balance on the chair.

 

“Morning, I think?” Sara muttered her voice not quite up to anything more.

 

“Actually, more like afternoon, its just gone midday.” Grissom seemed to have recovered

 

his poise and managed to look quite awake considering. “How do you feel?”

 

“Ok, I guess. You’re more likely to know how I am than I am I think.” She replied absently,

 

the drugs appeared not to have quite worn off yet and her head was still slightly fuzzy.

 

“A Dislocated shoulder and concussion, you got quite a bad head wound. Other than that

 

you will be fine. You can go home later this afternoon as long as someone can keep an

 

eye on you for 24 hours.” Grissom paused for a moment before he carried on. “The baby’s

 

fine.” Sara smiled slightly knowingly.

 

“I know. I can feel it moving.” She responded quietly. She

 

took hold of his hand again and moved it to her stomach where he could feel the slight

 

bumping beneath the surface. For the first time that morning he smiled back when their

 

eyes met. Their moment was slightly broken by the entrance of the rest of the team, led by

 

Catherine with a large bunch of flowers.

 

“Hey Girl, how you feeling?” Warrick asked as he wandered across the room.

 

Catherine too crossed the room, presenting her with the flowers quite proudly. “Lindsey

 

picked them out” she gave by way of explanation.

 

“We were way to manly to be buying flowers so…” Nick dragged out a teddy. “it’s a guy

 

teddy to make us feel better ‘bout it.” He gave a wide grin, placing it ceremoniously on her

 

bedside table. Her grin widened at the sight.

 

“Thanks guys, I’m feeling fine really, my shoulder hurts, and my head a little but other that

 

that I’m just a bit achy.”

 

“Good, that means we can lay into you without feeling too guilty. Why didn’t you tell us?”

 

Warrick’s grim tone was offset by the smile on his face.

 

“I’m sorry, I really meant to, I just didn’t really know how.” She gave an apologetic look, “I

 

guess I was just scared of your reactions.”

 

“Since when have you cared what we thought, and besides were really happy for you….

 

Both of you.” Nick watched her reaction with interest as she glanced to Grissoms

 

impassive face. “He slipped up earlier in case your wondering how we know.”

 

“He is oh so smooth.” Warrick added. “What can you expect?”

 

Sara gave an unreadable look, “Well at least I don’t have to worry about breaking that

 

news.” She commented dryly. “When am I allowed to get the hell out of here? I really don’t

 

like hospitals… plus my medical insurance is taking a beating here. I was on no claims

 

until today.”

 

“We’ll see what we can do.” Grissom replied. “They said this afternoon so long as you

 

were awake, so I cant see any reason for them to change their minds.”

 

 

Grissom nudged the door of his apartment open the rest of the way with his foot while

 

grappling with a duffel bag and some shopping at the same time. Sara who entered

 

behind him gave him a despairing look. “Look I said I could carry some of that. I’m not that

 

invalid.” He simply grunted in reply and marched off towards the kitchen. She was finally

 

out of hospital, but it was becoming clear that she would still be under the same kind of

 

scrutiny as if she had remained there.

 

She would find it difficult to do anything without his disapproving looks following her

 

wherever she went. “I suppose going back to work tomorrow is out of the question?” She

 

said calmly trying to gauge his reaction from her view of his back.

 

He turned smiled and replied “I have a note from the doctor, at least a week off.” He

 

turned back to putting various items into their respective places in the cupboards. “You

 

should really get some rest you know. “

 

“I’ve been sleeping all day, I would rather do anything else.” Their banter seemed to have

 

so far delayed any of the awkwardness that was now beginning to set in. She was sat in

 

his house, not knowing what she was supposed to do. If she went to help him in the

 

kitchen she would probably be told to go sit down again and rest, but as it wasn’t her

 

home she just wasn’t comfortable, maybe one day, but certainly not yet.

 

She had so far seemed to block off most of the memories of the attack, it was like the

 

brain had a way of protecting itself from things it would rather not remember. Things came

 

back to her at intervals, as long as it came bit by bit she could quash it quite convincingly.

 

After many years of practise, hiding her emotions from everyone around her had become

 

almost second nature. She’d taken to retreating into a shell around herself, keeping quiet

 

and getting on with her work. Something she’d once taken such enjoyment in. There were

 

so many times she could remember jokes from other members on the team, about her

 

passion for her work or teasing her saying that she lived at the lab.

 

It was at times like this however when she realised that she really didn’t seem to fit in. She

 

was effectively, alone, even when she was at work. She had grasped over the years that

 

this was just how it was going to be. The last relationship she’d had, turned out to be a

 

disaster. Even before that, back in San Francisco, she’d never found anyone she wanted

 

to stay with for long. It seemed that sometimes people were just meant to be alone. Even

 

people you’d thought of as friends seemed to turn on you. She let out a soft sigh and

 

pulling her shoes off curled her feet up underneath her body and leaned back into the

 

leather of the seat closing her eyes slightly.

 

“I thought you didn’t want to sleep.” Grissom’s voice broke into her thoughts and her eyes

 

snapped open.

 

“I was just thinking. Not sleeping, I couldn’t sleep right now.” Grissom nodded silently, he

 

was carefully watching her fingers as she twirled her keys between them, deep in thought.

 

His eyes flicked to the watch on his wrist and wryly noted it was only a few hours until

 

shift. After all the signing of paperwork and waiting around for doctors to give the all clear

 

the time seemed to fly by in a way that he hadn’t quite realised. It was only this morning

 

that she had been attacked.

 

Ironically when he least wanted to be at work it was where he seemed to live and vice-

 

versa. He contemplated taking the night off, but reconsidered, taking into account they

 

would already be down one CSI already, missing another would be problematic at best. It

 

was thinking this that made him realise he hadn’t really thought this scenario through. He

 

didn’t have a spare room as such, it was more of an office/storage room and full to the

 

brim of habitats. The only real bed was his own. When his mother last came to stay, he’d

 

had time to borrow a zed-bed from a neighbour for a couple of nights, but that was a

 

couple years ago now. The neighbour had moved and his mother no-longer visited him

 

due to her health.

 

It hadn’t seemed necessary. He didn’t have a problem with having Sara in his bed,

 

he would have been quite happy to keep it that way. He was now however very worried

 

about her reaction. The last time he had kissed her she had in essence told him, “no”. It

 

seemed almost better that he headed off to work and left her to figure it out for herself

 

while he was gone, it would certainly save his embarrassment if she flatly refused. Which

 

he figured was distinctly possible. He took this time to wonder why he was so worried,

 

she’d already slept with him once already and it had to tell him something that she had

 

agreed to stay with him in the first place. She had an offer from Nick as well as passing

 

offers from Cath and Warrick. He smiled to himself at the thought that he had been her

 

first choice. He shook himself out of his train of thought and looked back at Sara to check

 

if she had noticed his trance. She however had not moved and was still twirling her keys

 

just as she had been before.

 

He sat beside her on the sofa and gingerly put his arm around her back avoiding her

 

shoulder and hopefully all the bruises. He pulled her gently into his body and relaxed as

 

she released her keys in favour of his fingers. She leaned back into his chest and

 

moulded herself to his form. He gazed down at her tranquil features her previous tension

 

had drained leaving her simply looking tired and delicate, she had stopped the

 

nervous movement of her fingers and was now simply examining his hands as of a work

 

of art. Rubbing the pad of her thumb over one of his nails she sighed and turned her head

 

burying it into his shoulder. His second hand settled around her securely pulling her closer

 

and running gently over her abdomen before settling on her hip. He could have stayed like

 

that forever. It took him several minutes to realise from her shallow breaths that she had

 

indeed fallen asleep. ‘So much for not being tired’ he thought to himself quietly sliding out

 

from beneath her and cradling her body in to his as he lifted her from the sofa. He grunted

 

slightly as her weight became an issue. He walked swiftly towards the bedroom lowering

 

her reverently to the sheets and prying her fingers from their grip on his arm. He brushed

 

his fingers across her cheek. Grissom watched her silently for several seconds before

 

tearing his eyes away and walking hesitantly to the door, closing it quietly behind him.

 

======== TBC -->

 

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