A/N: Okay, here's a little challenge: I ask somebody to review who has not done so before. :)

Thanks for reading! :)

Chapter 15: Sense

“Where did you get my number?” she questioned.

“From Greg, of course.”

“You're lying,” Sara blurted out, before she could stop herself.

“I'm not,” Charlie replied, sounding too certain for Sara's liking. It couldn't be. The thought whirled around in her head, while Charlie continued talking about something that Sara was not really listening to.

“Oh, shut up,” she said finally, realizing that she should just shut off the call and doing so. She looked around, remembering that she had finished at the scene, wondering what to do, what to think. She had the firm belief that nothing what Charlie had said was true. There was no doubt in this. But why did she feel so doubtful then? Why did she feel that she had to go somewhere where she was alone, and could just think, where she didn't feel like everybody outside was still watching her?

Sara looked at the smashed window of the shop. She would not believe anything Charlie said, she knew all too well that he was not quite right in the head. Nevertheless, there was still the question where he had actually gotten her number. There were ways to obtain it, of course, and she believed easily enough that he would tell her he got it from Greg just to mess with her. On the other hand, as far as she remembered, Charlie had usually told the truth – or more precisely, what he believed to be the truth. He had usually made his own messed up sense of reality known. So in a way he did maybe believe that Greg had actually helped him in contacting Sara, however this had actually happened, considering that Greg had said that he had not had any contact with him. Not lately that was, as Sara remembered that Greg had visited Charlie in jail a while ago, as he had told her. She could not imagine Greg handing Charlie her phone number back then. This one did not make any sense either.

She needed to think clearly. There had been rational solutions to way more absurd situations. And maybe, the now needed solution would even tell them where Charlie was.

Her phone rang again and seeing that it was the same number as before, she answered the call, and told Charlie in a fierce voice, “Don't call me again.”

She figured that tracking the call was probably a solution, but she was here, pretty much alone at the scene, safe for all those people enjoying the show outside on the street, and there was not much she could do. She shut off the call again, knowing that she would have to call somebody herself now.

She did it reluctantly, guessing that everybody would pester her even more so now, but she figured that she had no choice. Packing her last stuff back into her kit, she closed it and dialed Brass' number.

“Hey, it's Sara.”

“Sara, where are you?” Brass asked indignantly, and Sara remembered that she had basically sneaked out of the lab, leaving Greg behind with Brass.

“I'm at a scene,” she replied matter-of-factly.

“Ah,” Brass left it at that for the moment. “So why are you calling?” he wanted to know, sounding as if she'd interrupted him in his Sunday morning sleep. “I guess it wasn't to tell me where you are,” he added laconically.

“Charlie called me.” She said it almost resignedly, unwilling to face all the trouble that would be connected with it. She wanted him back behind bars, of course, but was pretty sure that it would rather increase the security level that was deemed necessary for her.

“He called you?”

“Yeah, I shut him off, figured that it would be of no use to talk to him, as the call wasn't tracked or anything, and he was doing the crazy-talk again-”

“Sara, where are you?” Brass interrupted.

“201 Maudlin Street,” she replied. “People have piled up outside, enjoying the show. I hope they're going to move on at some point.”

“Okay, stay inside and wait until I come over,” Brass decided.

“Jim, you can't come and get me from every damn scene. I'm going to finish up here and come back to the lab anyway.” Sara knew Brass did not like this, but she liked his suggestion even less. “I don't think Brody is around here,” she offered in order to calm him. “He didn't say he was here, and I'm sure he would've, if he were anywhere around here, watching me.” Once she had said it, Sara wasn't quite sure anymore that mentioning this scenario was a smart move.

She thought she heard a grumble, but apparently Brass chose not to answer.

“I'll see you at the lab,” she added quickly, and ended the call, before Brass had any chance to say anything more. Sara sighed. If things kept going on like this, she wouldn't get any scenes to work anymore. She wondered how much Ecklie knew by now. That he was still blissfully ignorant she could only hope.

She picked up her things and made sure once more that she had done everything she could do at the scene, before she walked out of the building, closely watching the crowd that had slowly started to dissolve. When people realized that she was on her way out, several more of them turned around, obviously deciding it was time to go for them as well. Sara was glad not to detect a familiar face among them. Before she got into her car, she could nevertheless not help glancing back to see if anybody was exhibiting more than the usual curiosity. Nobody seemed to be looking her way, and Sara opened her car, frowning at both her nervousness and the upcoming spectacle that awaited her at the lab.

The next person the frown fell upon was Greg who had been lurking around the reception, waiting for her. He greeted her, apparently relieved to see her, and Sara returned the greeting, but didn't stop to chat, walking swiftly past him towards the locker room, as she had not decided yet what she actually wanted to say to Greg. She wasn't sure if she wanted to repeat Charlie's claims, figuring they were too ridiculous to even bother Greg with them. On the other hand, maybe Greg had an idea after all how Charlie could have obtained her number which might even lead them to the man himself ultimately. Additionally - although Sara would not have admitted it happily - she was frustrated, most of it at the situation itself, but as she could not successfully vent her frustration at something untouchable as a situation, she found a willing victim in Greg.

So when Greg had caught up with her, and she had cast everything she wanted inside her locker, she turned around to face him.

“Charlie told me you'd given him my number,” she declared, curious on Greg's reaction.

“What?” was Greg's exclaim she was rewarded with. “I didn't-”

Sara shrugged. “I know.” She was even unwilling to hear Greg's unnecessary assertions. “Come,” she said, taking his arm and as he stepped closer to her, she leaned in to kiss him, hoping to relax some of the tension she was feeling.

“Okay, I guess you believe me before I've even really said something,” Greg said finally. “That's a nice touch, for a change.” Sobering up, he added, “What happened? Brass wasn't really explicit.”

“Charlie called me. He didn't say anything substantial as far as I'm aware of, besides that he claimed you gave him my number, of course,” Sara explained.

“Wait, but you don't think...?”

Sara shook her head. “No, not really.” She smirked. “I know that he likes to make up his own reality, and that's really a ludicrous claim. There's still the question how he got it though.”

“If not from me,” Greg contributed.

“Well, I had left that unsaid.”

“I don't know,” Greg admitted, returning to the question at hand.

“Well, if you knew, I would have liked to know beforehand anyway that I'm to expect such a nice call.”

Greg lifted his eyebrows, sensing her mood, if he had not already done so before.

“So what are we going to do?” he asked carefully.

“I'm going to drop off what I got from that fantastic breaking-and-entering that attracted so many people, and then I'm heading home.”

Greg nodded. “Okay, I guess I'll do that, too. Well, head home, I don't have any evidence to drop off.”

Sara remembered the original reason for Greg being at the lab now and also his earlier encounter with Brass.

“How did your interview with Brass go?” she wanted to know, while they were walking out of the room, Sara on her way to the trace lab and Greg apparently accompanying her.

Greg's expression darkened. “He asked me if Charlie had contacted me.”

“No, not necessary, as he called me,” Sara interjected. Greg glanced at her, but his expression remained serious.

“He also wanted to know if I had any idea where he could've gone, but I could only tell him that I had no idea, and then we noticed you'd disappeared.”

“I went to work. This isn't my definition of 'disappearing',” Sara pointed out.

Greg stopped. “Sara, if this weren't so serious-”

Sara stopped as well, glaring at him. “Greg, this guy is nuts.”

“The more impor-”

“I'm not going to hide in corners because of him.”

“Nobody expects you to,” Greg said, looking at her openly.

“Good.”

“Good.”

Sara sighed, motioning him to move on. “I'm going to be careful. As usual.”

“Yeah, as usual,” Greg nodded.

“But you, too.”

TBC