A/N: I enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you enjoy reading it.

I also updated the story cover if you haven't noticed. Do you like it?

GG

Chapter 7 - Chances

"Archie, please tell me you have something," Grissom announced as he entered the AV lab.

AV technician Archie Johnson was seated on a stool, vigilantly observing several monitors at once while typing in different commands without fail. Clearly, this man was given the talent for intricate multitasking.

His eyes never leaving the screens, he responded, "As a matter of fact, I do."

Grissom sat beside Archie and attempted to comprehend what was taking place on the surveillance footages.

Archie spoke again. "If this place existed back when I was in college, camping would have been my hobby."

"Yeah. A nature themed bar, who could've thought? Probably more than half of the citizens of Las Vegas are now environmentalists," Grissom joked back.

Archie typed in some more commands which brought up different stills on each monitor. The first still clearly depicted the fight between Gray and Huxley. The second still showed the man wearing a baseball cap. The third still was of the bar entrance where baseball cap guy stood with Huxley.

He played the first video. "At 9:22 PM, the fight broke out. It lasted eleven minutes."

Starting from the 9:22 PM mark, the video showed Gray who was seated on a table, reveling in a few drinks with his friends. Huxley appeared and approached Gray's table. He appeared to be confronting Gray about something, most likely Lorena Ruiz as what the bartender recalled. Gray got up and pushed Huxley. In retaliation, Huxley started throwing punches on Gray who immediately fell to his knees, destroying some of the décor bushes in the process. Gray's friends instantly came to the rescue. They all held back Huxley who was violently struggling to free himself. The surveillance video ended when Huxley kicked some more décor and walked out of the bar. Gray, sporting a bloody nose and black eye, also left.

"This is where they got their wounds, obviously. That proves Gray was lying to us. He said that they fought over the gun in the dorm room. He didn't want us to know about this event," Grissom pointed out.

Archie nodded. He then directed his attention to the second video and played it. "Among those who came in contact with the bartender, there was only one who wore a cap. Of course you don't wear a cap inside an already dimly lit bar unless you're hiding something. He came at 9:47 PM. I enhanced the image to get a good look at the cap just in case. His face I really couldn't retrieve a clearer image though. It was totally obscured from the view of the camera."

He zoomed in on the cap. It was of the same color and design as the cap that Sara and Greg recovered from the motel.

"Yes, that's definitely our guy. Don't worry about the face Archie, we might have his DNA," Grissom identified.

"Good to know," Archie replied.

He zoomed out the image and played the video. The baseball cap man appeared on the screen and directly approached Marty the bartender. He handed Marty an envelope. Marty gasped upon realizing the contents. He quickly hid it in his back pocket and took out his phone to make a call, probably to Abigail Chambers since she admitted being called during the interview. Baseball cap man leaned in and spoke to Marty again. Marty took out the Bourbon bottle, which was also left at the motel, and handed it to the man. The man left, ducking to make sure his face wasn't captured by the cameras.

Archie moved on to the last still. "This last surveillance video was from the bar entrance. Timestamp is at 9:54 PM. Cap dude approached your victim. It looked like they knew each other. They crossed the road after, went completely out of the frame. They probably hailed a cab or got on a vehicle with a different driver. The parking's not that way."

Indeed, at 9:54 PM, baseball cap man approached and greeted Huxley. Huxley definitely knew the man because he acknowledged him in return. They talked for a few minutes, Huxley appeared to be venting out his anger because of what transpired earlier. Baseball cap man offered Huxley the bottle of Bourbon and he took it without objection. Huxley grabbed a swig from the bottle as the man patted him on the shoulder. As what Archie described, they left together, never to be seen again on the surveillance.

"How about the other one involved in the fight? Did you see him again after that?" Grissom inquired.

"Right after the fight, he went to the bathroom. Then he went to the parking lot, got in his car, and left," Archie informed him.

He punched in a command and brought up a new still on one of the monitors. The timestamp showed 9:41 PM. Gray was walking on the parking lot towards his car, furiously jabbering on his phone. He got in his car and drove away.

"Thanks, Archie."

Grissom got up and thought of visiting the other labs to follow up on results. All those thoughts were instantly washed away, however, when he caught a glimpse of Sara sitting alone in the break room.

Every nerve in his body screamed that it was finally their chance to have a heart to heart talk. No matter how hard he protested, his own feet betrayed him eventually, carrying him towards the break room.

His presence alerted her. There was no turning back. He wanted to run away and hide in his office, but that would be downright stupid.

Without thinking of a viable plan, he sat beside Sara and pretended to review the case files. It was a moment when he genuinely did not despise paper work. If he didn't carry it around with him, he would not have anything to disguise his true intentions.

He scanned through the documents, but didn't take any essential information at all. He pursed his lips as he stole glances at the woman beside him.

Sara wasn't oblivious to Grissom's peculiar behavior.

"Is there something you want to say Grissom?" she asked while her focus remained transfixed on the magazine she was reading.

"Succinyl choline is very dangerous when used as a poison. It stays in the body for the shortest amount of time, a few minutes at most, and then it's gone, completely untraceable. It provides you the perfect murder weapon and a perfect getaway. You can trace for some of its components though. It's undetectable as a whole, but if you break it down and check for remnants of those components in a tissue sample, you could still identify if a person died by succinyl choline OD," Grissom proudly explained, referring to the article that Sara was reading.[1]

Her eyes still remained on the magazine. "Thanks," she sarcastically replied. "You didn't go all the way here just so you could personally give me a lecture on what I read, did you?"

Strike one. He chose a wrong conversation starter.

His footing was entirely wrong. Geek talk would not let him accomplish anything. In fact, it was the last thing he needed to do at the moment. He must tackle this problem with a different strategy if we wanted to go out alive unscathed. The issue they should be discussing about was their relationship status and not some magazine article. His nervousness only made the situation more awkward than it was already.

"I'm sorry, no. Actually, I came here to talk about something important."

"About the case?"

"No. It's not related to the case, but it's still important."

This caught Sara's attention. She put down the magazine and turned to Grissom. She lost interest in reading anyway. She rested her head on one hand and continued to guess.

"Am I in trouble again? Did Ecklie ask you to reprimand me?"

"Still a no. I know the case is important. Your relationship with Ecklie is important as well. What I'm about to tell you is important from a totally different perspective. I believe that you deserve to know whatever it is that I'm going to say. I am not making any sense, am I?"

He felt her stare burn against his face. He admitted defeat. He couldn't make him blurt out his feelings. Then he remembered what Brass said. He should start first by asking her out to the ball. It was best to take small steps instead of moving forward by leaps and bounds.

With every fiber in his body trembling, he grumbled, "Sara, would you like-"

"Grissom, Sara! Our mystery baseball cap man is not so much of a mystery anymore!"

Strike two. He didn't expect to be interrupted.

The two turned around to find Wendy beaming at them, bearing results.

Sara was all ears while Grissom looked disappointed to Wendy's surprise. She relayed her findings anyway.

"DNA on the cap got a hit in CODIS. It came back to a Wesley Cannady. He has a record for extortion," she said as she handed a folder to Grissom.

"Thank you, Wendy," Sara said.

She turned back to Grissom who was now intently reading the file from Wendy.

"Grissom?"

"Hmm?"

"You were about to ask me something before Wendy came in."

He was momentarily sidetracked by the progress of their case. His senses came back whirling when he realized he wasn't there to manage the case. His pulse soared through the roof.

"Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. I was considering if you would like to-"

"I have identified the fingerprints from your crime scene, fellas," announced fingerprint technician Mandy Webster.

Strike three. He regretted not checking up on the labs first before coming to converse with Sara.

Grissom let out a grunt which was fortunately inaudible to both women.

"I found two sets of prints on the Bourbon bottle. One came from your victim, Terrence Huxley. The other set was in AFIS, belonged to a Wesley Cannady whose photo you are holding Grissom. Are you a psychic or something?" Mandy noticed the file containing Cannady's mug shot in Grissom's hand.

"Got this from Wendy. Thanks, Mandy. Let us know if you find more," Grissom said with all the calmness he could muster. He didn't mean the last statement in actuality. Inwardly, he wished for the exact opposite. He didn't want any more interruptions ruining what would turn out to be his most crucial admittance ever.

It was Sara who took the file from Mandy and reviewed its contents.

If it could, Grissom's heart would have erupted already. There was too much tension accumulating in his chest. His socially awkward soul was heavily battered and bruised by now.

He marveled at the sight of Sara beside him. It wasn't everyday that he got to appreciate this beautiful woman whom he fell for ever since they met. He was terrified of the outcome of this conversation.

He started again, "Sara, do you mind if I-"

"Tox panel results are in!"

Shit!

For the third time, Grissom was interrupted by, this time, toxicologist Henry Andrews.

"Terrence Huxley had GHB in his system. Ingestion was done via the whiskey most likely. The drink had a mix of the drug. Tests for Lorena Ruiz also came back positive. All drugs had the same concentration. I can safely assume they all came from a single source. We are really looking at a set-up here. You wouldn't take a club drug if you were planning on overpowering someone. That is crazy, outrageously crazy."

While in the middle of his untimely lecture, he was cut short when Grissom got up and grabbed the folder from him with excessive force that it made him step back in fear. Grissom seized Sara with his other hand, dragged her out of the break room, and led her to his office. He locked the door behind them and struggled to calm himself by drawing in deep breaths.

"Grissom, what the hell? You scared the shit out of Henry! You didn't have to do that!" Sara argued.

"Sara, I have something very important to ask of you. All I needed was the chance, but I was interrupted not once, not twice, but thrice!" Grissom bellowed.

"What could be more important than a case? That is so unlike you!"

"A lot of things! You and me for instance! Us!"

"You told me long ago that you didn't know how to deal with whatever's between us, if there is any to begin with."

"That's why I want to talk! I want to ask you if-"

Even with the two of them locked inside the room, insusceptible to any interventions-or so they thought, fate still had its way of wreaking havoc.

Grissom's phone started to ring at the most inappropriate time.

He closed his eyes in sheer frustration. His hands curled into fists. He bit his lip so hard that it nearly bled. He took out his phone and answered it. Because of his fussing, he accidentally shifted into speakerphone mode.

"Grissom," he spoke, voice as poisonous as it could be.

"Gil, I have a 419 here, apartment in Boulder City. Please send someone over."

"Fine. What else do you need?"

"That's it. Are you alright?"

"None of your business, Jim. Bye."

"I'll take that," Sara immediately offered. "We'll talk later if you insist so badly. Let's use this time to clear our heads."

Without waiting for approval, Sara left the office.

Grissom never felt so screwed up like this in his entire life.

"Hi Jim. Details?" Sara greeted Brass, attempting to cover her disappointment with a smile.

"Hey Sara. I wasn't expecting you. No offense meant, but you're working a different case. What is wrong with Gil?" Concern was evident in Brass's tone.

"Don't sweat it. I happened to pass by Grissom when you two were on the phone. I overheard the conversation so I volunteered to cut him some slack," Sara lied.

"I see. So, our victim's name is," Brass scanned his notes and found what he was looking for. "Wesley Cannady."

The only suspect they had as of the moment was now a victim as well. Sara panicked as she drew her phone and called Grissom.

"Grissom." His voice was now humane.

"Grissom, we have a problem. Wesley Cannady is dead."

[1] Based from a true story. If you're curious, read up on the case of Michael Swango.

Please don't hate me for what I've done with the chapter. They will have their moment, I swear.

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