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Author: Caitlin-Todd (a.k.a Isabelle)
Name: Fireworks
Rating: K+
Pairing: GS (Duh!)
Spoilers: Maybe slight spoilery for "Nesting Dolls" but it's very subtle!
Status: Finished - Yay!
A/N: Some of you might recognize this story and wonder why it's been updated. Well it's quite simple really; I realized it needed a make-over and so I edited it from the beginning to the end. Hopefully there won't be any grammar errors left and it will all make sense. Also, I hope more people will review but of course that's not mandatory or anything. Just is a sign that I should keep uploading my fan fictions on here. And speaking of that; a new CSI fan fic is in the works right now. Hopefully it will be better than this in a few ways. You guys decide that. Enjoy!
It was time for assignments and for the first time in years Sara Sidle was actually late. She nearly ran through the hallway and as she was getting closer to the break room, she slowed down a bit. But kept cursing herself for being late even if nobody would blame her. She was usually one of the first in and sometimes never even left the office; instead ended up spending the night on the couch in the break room. One too many times.
"Hey! Sorry I'm late…traffic was murder!" she said with a blushed smile as she walked through the door. Everybody looked up at her with assignments in hand and didn't say anything at first.
"We were wondering when you would show up…rough night?" Nick asked with a teasing smile and Sara narrowed her eyes at him before walking over to the empty seat at the table.
"Wouldn't you like to know? Okay, so what do we got?" she asked and looked at Grissom.
"Warrick and Nick's got murder out on I-15…Catherine and I have rape/murder in Henderson" he said flatly while avoiding Sara's look. The others could tell that she wasn't going to be pleased since she was either hooked up with Nick or Warrick. Earlier rape cases she had taken too personal and since then Grissom refused her working one. At least not for now. They had never really talked about it before and Sara didn't think they needed to either.
"And what do I get? Pushing papers?" she asked sarcastically and now she got Grissom's full attention. He slowly took off his glasses and gave Sara a confused look.
"I didn't say that. You can go with Warrick and Nick" he said after a while and Sara sighed. Now the others knew for sure that she wasn't going to settle with any other case then the rape case. And once Sara had made up her mind there was hardly anything stopping her.
"Why not the rape case?" she asked and Grissom turned his attention to the others.
"Could you guys excuse us for a moment?" he asked with a troubled expression and Catherine was the first one to get out of her chair. She hinted at Nick and Warrick to come with her, while Sara refused to take her eyes of Grissom.
"Okay…now I know I'm not just being paranoid! Why won't you let me work the rape case? Afraid I'm going to ruin the investigation?" Sara asked and leaned back in the chair with her eyes focused on Grissom. He sighed and turned around his chair to face her.
"Actually that's exactly what I'm afraid of. Cases like this isn't in your best interest to get involved with, Sara…not after what has happened in the past" he said compassionate.
"Grissom, you can't keep me from doing my job! Okay, I admit it; I got too carried away on those cases but like you said it was in the past. What makes you so sure I haven't learned from my mistakes? I thought you trusted me" she said and leaned forward.
"I do trust you, Sara, and if you were ready then you wouldn't react like this…" Grissom said and looked Sara straight in the eye, trying to get through to her somehow. He knew how stubborn she could be and in other situations that's what he admired about her. But right now he just wished that she would drop the whole thing and move on with another case.
"Don't you see, Grissom? If you really did trust me then you would let me work this case; no matter what my reaction was. Which, by the way, is totally called for considering that you have apparently deliberately place me on non-rape case for months now…I just never connected the dots until now" Sara said after a while and got out of her chair.
"Where are you going?" Grissom quickly asked when he noticed her heading for the door.
"To work on the case" Sara said flatly while turning around, facing him again.
"Well I'm sorry, but that's not possible. I'm your supervisor and you're not gong anywhere near this case" Grissom said while getting out of his chair. Sara just stared at him without saying anything at first. Grissom could tell that she was mad at him but he still wasn't going to change his mind. Even though it meant getting the silent treatment for weeks to come.
"You know, sooner or later I'm going to end up with a rape case. We are already a few men short as it is…you can't protect me forever, Grissom" she suddenly whispered and walked out the door before he even had time to respond. She quickly walked down the hallway and turned around the corner before walking into the locker room.
"How did it go?" Catherine suddenly asked as she closed her locker. Sara glanced at her before sitting down on the bench. There was no answer needed since Catherine knew Grissom better then anybody, and she knew he did what was possible to protect his team. Especially Sara since it was obvious that she had gotten too emotionally involved in several other cases before.
"Not good" Sara said and starred at the lockers in front of her. She really wasn't in the mood to talk to anybody, especially not Catherine since she would probably report it back to Grissom in the end.
"That bad, huh? Well, can't say I blame him" Catherine said and Sara glared at her.
"Don't you have a case to solve?" she asked sarcastically with a devious look. Catherine could almost feel the anger streaming out of her, and decided to shut up for the time being.
"I'm gone" she said and walked past Sara out of the room. Just as the door closed behind her, Sara banged her head against one of the lockers and cursed herself. Grissom was the reason why she was so pissed and not Catherine. This day was going to be very long and for once she hadn't overtime enough to take some time off.
"Why not?" Catherine asked as she pulled the Tahoe into the parking lot. Grissom sighed and glared at her without saying anything at first. He knew all to well why Catherine had suddenly a change of heart. It was due to a little conversation with Sara earlier in the locker room; after that she had been nagging Grissom about perhaps letting Sara work the case. To prove that emotions wouldn't get in the way of the investigation this time.
"Cath, you know that Sara isn't ready yet. Don't make me look like the big bad supervisor" Grissom said and Catherine couldn't help but smile at him.
"I think you're doing a mighty fine job of that yourself, Griss. She hates your guts" she said with a devious smile and turned off the car engine. They were at the crime scene now but both remained seated in the Tahoe. Grissom had that puzzled look on his face and Catherine knew that he seriously considered letting Sara in on the case after all. There was nothing saying that she couldn't handle it; perhaps this case would show him that she was ready.
"Well then I will have to get used to that, wouldn't I? Cath, it's obvious why you're doing this but it's not working. I stand by my decision" Grissom finally said and stepped out of the SUV. Catherine rolled her eyes and opened up the car door.
"So she's going to have a murder case instead? Call me crazy but some people would say that those cases are worse…what if she gets too emotionally involved with the victim there? We both know how easily things like that happened; especially to Sara" she said and walked around the car with her field kit in hand. Grissom glared at her once last time before walking through the front door.
All the shades were down, lamps dimmed and the smell of bleach hit the two CSIs as they stepped into the hallway. Catherine made a face and tried holding her breath but gave up when she realized that the smell wouldn't go away so easily. They put on their gloves as usually and looked around the room.
"Oh man…the guy did some serious over-cleaning before leaving! God!" she said and waved around with her hand, trying to make the thick layer of bleach smell disappear.
"Probably thought he could wash away all the evidence" Grissom said and turned on his flashlight before starting his walk-through in the house. Catherine put down her field kit on the floor for a moment and turned on her flashlight as well.
"Where's the girl?" she asked as she followed Grissom. He pointed his flashlight at the half-opened bedroom door and she walked over to it.
"Neighbor heard the screams and decided to call 911 since the victim apparently lived alone. Knew straight away that something was up" Brass said as he walked over to Grissom, looking down his notepad. Catherine glanced at him over her shoulder before slowly opening up the door with her other hand. She almost reluctantly stepped into the room and sighed loudly when she saw the young women lying across the bed. Her brown eyes were wide opened and staring up at the sealing, mouth half-opened in a silent scream and all the blood on the sheets almost made Catherine sick to her stomach.
"Poor thing…" she whispered just as Grissom walked into the room with the camera. She glanced at him and then turned her attention back to the dead body. It was never easy on these types of cases and if Catherine almost had a problem with it, Grissom didn't even want to think about what Sara would do. A simple murder case would do her some good and also prove what a damn good CSI she was.
"Hey, Sara, wait up! What's the rush?" Nick yelled out suddenly and Sara stopped immediately.
"There's no rush. I'm just…eager to do my job like always" she said flatly.
"Yeah right! Which is why you're slamming doors and giving us the silent treatment? Besides, you never enter a crime scene this fast" Nick said with an amusing smile. Sara glared at him without saying anything. Shen then slowly turned around again and continued walking towards the small crowd of coroners and police officers. Nick had been right; she had never acted like this before and especially not on the job. It wasn't news to any on the team that Sara could get too emotionally involved in some cases but that was the same for everybody. Both Warrick and Nick knew her bad mood was a result of the heated argument with Grissom just before they left the lab.
"You wanna talk to her?" Warrick asked and Nick looked over at Sara, whom was putting on her gloves and already taking a closer look at the body.
"Nah…she'll be alright. As long as it doesn't affect the case, there's no need to force it out of her" Nick said after a moment of silence and crossed the yellow tape.
As they were walking up towards the dead body, Sara glanced up at them and took out a swab from her kit. Nick put down his kit and got down on the ground beside her, also taking a closer look at the victim.
"Well I think it's safe to say that he died from a blow to the head" Nick said as he pointed at the open wound. Sara couldn't hide her smirk and when Nick looked over at her, the smirk grew even bigger.
"I hate to break your bubble, but he didn't die from that…" she said and picked up an empty bullet case from the ground. She held it up for Nick to see and the smirk stayed firmly in place when he realized that she was right. Which happened too often and gave her the pleasure to walk around with that smirk on her face the rest of the shift. But after all the years working together Nick was used to it and didn't even brother to argue with her. Because he knew that Sara would in the end get the last word.
"Right…and the plot thickens" Nick said and Sara bagged the bullet case with a grin.
"Anything on the bullet case?" Sara asked as she walked into the lab, seeming more awake then the rest of the CSIs working the graveyard shift. But as they all knew she hardly ever slept so this was no longer any surprise or shock to them.
"Well I can tell you that it was fired with a .38 caliber but that's about it" Bobby said and Sara leaned in to take a closer look at the computer screen.
"Right…which means I have to return to the other evidence. Thanks, Bobby" Sara said and vanished down the hallway with an annoying expression on her face. And it only got worse when she noticed Grissom walking in her direction, his eyes focused on some papers in his hand. Deep down Sara wanted to turn the other way or walk through an invisible door to get away from him in that moment, but knew how that would look. So she just hoped that Grissom would be too busy to even notice her. For once that would be a good thing. But just a few seconds before they passed each other Grissom looked up and Sara continued walking right past him.
"Sara!" he called out and Sara reluctantly froze in the middle of the hallway, refusing to turn around.
"How's the murder case going?" Grissom asked and Sara could hear him walking towards her. The sound of his footsteps made her want to run away and hide, but she still didn't move.
"Fine" she said flatly. The anger still hadn't settled and even if it did she refused to let Grissom know.
"Really? Because I just talked to Nick and apparently it's not fine" Grissom said and Sara could sense that he was right behind her at this point. She quickly turned around and gave him an icy look.
"Have it ever occurred to you that we don't always need your help? There's really no need checking up on us every five minutes; we know what we are doing! Now if you excuse me I have a non-rape case to work out" she said and headed down the hallway. She could hear Grissom calling out her name again but this time she didn't stop. She rounded the corner and walked straight into Nick who was just coming out of the break room.
"Whoa! Going somewhere?" he asked and Sara glared at him before walking into the break room. She walked up the counter and poured herself a much-needed cup of coffee.
"Are you okay?" Nick asked from the doorway and Sara took a sip of the coffee before turning around.
"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" she asked, leaning towards the counter and took another sip. Nick could tell from a mile away that she was lying through her teeth but didn't know how to drag the truth out of her.
"Oh I got a few theories but I doubt you wanna hear 'em!" Nick said with laughter and Sara just glared at him over the coffee cup.
"You're right; I don't" she said and in that moment Grissom appeared next to Nick in the doorway. Sara took one last swig of the coffee and froze up. She had hardly ever talked back to Grissom like that and knew that it would have consequences, but she wasn't sure she was ready for it. Not today of all days anyway. But she could tell that Grissom wasn't happy and Nick could tell that something was wrong.
"Uhm…I'm gonna go and check out the rest of the evidence" he said and glanced over at Sara before slowly walking away. Sara wished she could do the same but instead she put down the coffee cup on the counter and waited for Grissom to say something. But he just stared at her without a sound and finally Sara couldn't take it anymore.
"If you got something to say then say it…!" she said grumpy and looked him straight in the eye. Grissom stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.
"So I take it you're still upset about this morning?" Grissom asked and Sara didn't know if she should laugh or cry at this point. The man was either incredibly stupid or just really sarcastic.
"Thank you for finally noticing…what gave me away?" she asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. But she didn't look at him even though she could feel his gaze on her.
"Well, you don't try to hide it…at all. And you've never acted like this before here at the lab" he said in a sickly calm tone and Sara knew exactly what he was talking about. And she refused to bring it up for the hundred times because she was so tired of talking about it.
"There's a first time for everything" she said and finally glanced up at him. This time the anger seemed to have faded away and Grissom wondered if she maybe was just having a really bad day.
"For some people perhaps…but not for you. I don't want to blow this thing out of proportion but I think its best if you take a break" he said after a while and now he got Sara's full attention.
"A break? And you call this 'not blowing things out of proportion'? Grissom, we had an argument which was hardly the first or the last time…and for that I need to take a break? Please say you're kidding! You are…right?" Sara said and stared at him. When Grissom didn't say anything, she went cold.
"You're actually serious? You want me to take a break? For once when I'm actually not maxed out on overtime?" she snapped and Grissom just stared at her with the folder in his hand. The door was still closed and he was blocking the only exit while she was trapped on the other end.
"This is not about overtime, Sara, and you know it. It's not even about your behavior; that hasn't been appreciated by the way. I just think that a few days away from here would do you some good" Grissom said and a loud grunt suddenly escaped from Sara's mouth.
"And if I refuse?" she asked and with a dark look in her eyes all of the sudden.
"That's up to you…I'm not trying to act like your boss in this matter. If you feel that you don't need a break then there's nothing I can do about that" Grissom said and shrugged. Sara gave him one last look before walking past him and swinging the door open before disappearing out of the room.
TBC... (And it gets better in case anybody feels this chapter seemed kind of boring or whatever)
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