Just Listen

Less than an hour later Grissom had finished up his bug analysis and found that the bugs couldn’t help the crime scene. There had to be cross-contamination of some sort because they just didn’t match up with the timeline. It didn’t really matter since the police had someone turn themselves in with a confession, and Doc Robbins found cause of death to be a simple heart attack. The big media frenzy turned out to be a homeless man who died in his sleep, and a friend placed his body where it would be found quickly so he could have a decent burial. Grissom caught up with Sara as she was in the locker room to head home.

“What’s this? Sara Sidle not pulling a double?” Sara smiled as she walked over to him leaning on the doorway. “Well I have it on good authority that working to the exclusion of everything else, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. So I’m taking a former supervisor’s advice. He told me once I deserved to have a life.” “Really? Well how about I take you to breakfast and you can tell me all about it?”

“I can’t this morning, Griss. I have a doctor’s appointment later so I really need to go home and get ready. But I’m off tonight, barring any lunatics killing half of Vegas. So why don’t you call me later on and we’ll see if I’m up for anything.”

Grissom looked puzzled. “Are you feeling alright?” “Yeah I’m fine. Why?” “You have a doctor’s appointment and you’ll see if you’re up for anything later? It just sounds like something is wrong.”

Sara sighed. “No Griss it’s just a routine appointment. It just isn’t any fun and I’m not always up to doing anything after.” “Well as long as you’re alright.” “I’m fine. I’ll see you later.” Grissom watched her walk down the hall toward the parking lot and had a sinking feeling that there was something wrong.

Later that morning Grissom’s phone woke him from a sound sleep. Warrick needed to go over a case with him. The case was over 14 months old, but motions had dragged on and on postponing the trial date. Now a date was set and everyone involved needed to be up to speed on the case, including Grissom who was primary on it. They met in the conference room and went over the evidence in the log once more. Grissom remembered the case all too well: A husband had raped and killed his wife. A neighbor heard the screams and called the police. The police arrived and saw the carnage through the window, breaking in as the husband was tearing the house apart as if he were looking for something. Warrick and Grissom were processing the house when Grissom found what the man was looking for: two little girls were hiding in the bottom of a desk; both of them badly beaten and one had obviously been raped. That night Brass read two uniforms the riot act for not properly clearing the scene and came very close to having to book his friend. Grissom always took cases involving kids hard, but this one was the worst in a long time. Brass had taken a very drunk Grissom home and dumped him into bed on more than one occasion right after that case. Now they were going over the evidence logs with extra care, making sure all T’s were crossed and I’s dotted to ensure this guy went away for a long time. They were just filing everything away again when Catherine ran into the conference room. “Warrick I need you.” She stopped when she saw Grissom with him. She hadn’t even noticed he was there when she saw Rick in the conference room.

Warrick went to Catherine and followed her down the hall as she was trying to lose Grissom on the way to the parking lot. Catherine quietly explained things to Warrick on the way out but once they reached Catherine’s Tahoe, Grissom was right there. He saw Sara curled up in the backseat of the Tahoe looking miserable. Warrick reached into the back and moved Sara over a bit. “Girl this is worse than last time, isn’t it?” Grissom was stunned. There was something wrong with Sara and both Catherine and Warrick knew about it. “What last time? Sara what’s wrong?” “Relax Griss. I’m ok. Or at least I will be once I get home.” “No worries there girl. Cath and I will get you home like always.”

Grissom hopped into the passenger side of the Tahoe and looked at Catherine. “Now will someone tell me what’s going on here? What last time? What’s wrong with Sara, and why do you two know so much about it?” Catherine gave him a disgusted sigh and promised to tell him everything she knew once they took care of Sara.

Once at Sara’s apartment, Warrick carried her up the stairs much to Grissom’s dismay. Together with Catherine he had her resting in her bedroom with her heating pad, Advil, and her forensics journals. The two worked so well together that nothing had to be said. After Sara was resting a bit more comfortably, Catherine and Warrick ushered Grissom out of Sara’s apartment and headed back to the lab. “What is going on? Should you be leaving her alone?” Catherine held Grissom back as he sat in the Tahoe and made him listen to her. “Gil she’s fine. This happens every time she sees her doctor. Once it started getting so bad that she couldn’t make it back to her place on her own, she started calling me when she was finished and I took her home. Then the last time I had to get Warrick to help me with her because she couldn’t even walk on her own. Give her a couple of hours and she’ll be fine.” “You’re not answering me Catherine. What is wrong with her?” “Gill I can’t answer you because I don’t know what’s wrong with her. All I know is when she sees her gynecologist for an exam it hurts her. Even after the exam is over it’s a couple of hours before the pain totally subsides. She says everything is fine and this is just how it is for her. I have no reason to doubt her.” “Catherine, you’re a woman. You know that isn’t normal.” “I hate to burst your bubble, Gil, but for a lot of women it does hurt. I don’t know anyone that has this much pain with it, but hey who am I to judge. The other dancers thought I was an oddity because I never thought it hurt at all.”

“So you’re telling me there’s nothing we can do for her?” “Gill we’ve already done it. She’s home, she’s lying down, she has her heating pad and her Advil. She’ll probably take a little nap and she’ll be fine. Give her a call later this afternoon and you’ll see.”

Grissom hated feeling helpless, but he had a feeling Catherine was right. Sara would be all right in a few hours. He would just have to wait to talk to her. He considered going back over to her apartment, but if Catherine was right and Sara was napping, he didn’t want to bother her. Catherine had seen this happen to Sara before, and she knew the outcome. Maybe he was overreacting. Maybe this was just something Sara dealt with. It didn’t matter. He still wanted to take care of her. If this was something Sara dealt with each time she went to the gynecologist, then there was no reason for her to go through it alone anymore.

Catherine talked him out of going back to Sara’s apartment right then. Since she was probably sleeping, it was better to let her rest and talk to her later. After Grissom finally left to go back to his place, she took a chance and called Sara to give her a heads up on Grissom. She could tell her friend appreciated the call and the warning that Grissom may show up at her place at any time, but she also knew Sara was stressed about something. She wasn’t sure what, but whatever it was, it was big.

Sara hung up the phone and lay back on her bed. She never intended for Grissom to see her after her appointment. She knew he would be upset that she was in pain, he would want to help, and that would lead to a whole explanation of the problem. Sara couldn’t do that. She couldn’t talk about it to anyone, especially not to Grissom. It was embarrassing enough for her to accept. As a man he could never understand. Anytime she told her boyfriends about it, they laughed. They made it seem unimportant, or worse; they made her feel inadequate and a freak. She couldn’t bear for Grissom to look at her with disgust the way the others had. She loved him, but she could never tell him the truth. But it would be difficult for her to hide it if she was in a relationship with him. As much as she hated the thought, she had to end it. If he never got that close to her, he would never know the truth. She silently cursed herself for not thinking of it before she started seeing Grissom, before she confessed her soul to him, before she fell in love with him.

She had to come up with a plan to end it. It had to be subtle and not seem like she was pushing him away. She needed it to seem like things just weren’t working out between them. At least that way she could live with herself and not break Grissom’s heart. He didn’t deserve that. It was her own fault she was in this position. Sara Sidle wasn’t a woman who deserved to be loved, especially not by a man as wonderful as Gil Grissom.