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Valentine
Chapter
Eight – Valentine’s Day
The
evidence had been processed. The common link found. One of the suspects
identified. An APB for the suspect and her car had been issued and every cop in
Vegas had their eyes peeled.
Now
all they had to do was wait.
Waiting.
Not Sara Sidle’s favourite occupation.
She
sat in the layout room, drumming her fingers on the table, staring at the
photographs before her. Somewhere, wandering the streets of Vegas, were two
psychotic killers who had done unspeakable things to at least twelve teenagers.
Sara had no doubt they would kill countless more unless they were caught. And
that fact that it was now Tuesday, February 14th, she could only
fear that tonight they would kill more spectacularly than before.
A
profound sense of uselessness overwhelmed Sara. She excelled at finding the
evidence, interpreting it, solving the crime. But none of that was helping
close this case and she felt like she was waiting on the edge of a precipice,
with nothing to do but wait for the killers’ next move.
---
Director
Robert Cavallo was not a happy man. He had a busy life, filled with paperwork,
liaising with the press, having business lunches with the Sheriff, important
business men and politicians. He didn’t have time to field phone calls from an
irate Mayor regarding his night shift supervisor.
A
knock on his office door made him look up frowning from his desk. ‘Come in,’
was his irritable invitation.
Grissom
opened the door and gave the director a polite nod. ‘Robert? You wanted to see
me?’
‘Yeah,
Gil. Get the hell in here,’ Cavallo didn’t have time to beat about the bush.
‘What the hell did you say to the Mayor? He’s been yelling in my ear for twenty
minutes.’
‘I
told him I was working on an active investigation and couldn’t discuss anything
with him at this time,’ Grissom replied reasonably.
‘He
said you hung up on him!’
‘Not
that I recall,’ Grissom replied, his voice calm and even. ‘I believe I told him
I had a meeting to get to and that I would speak to him when I could release
more information.’
‘Grissom,’
Cavallo exhaled, attempting to keep his own voice calm. Grissom’s perpetual
calmness always succeeded in raising the director’s blood pressure. ‘I know you
have all the political savvy of a radish. But even you must realise that there
are certain ways of dealing with men like the Mayor. And being unreasonable is
not one of them.’
Grissom
frowned. ‘Robert, this is an active
investigation. I can’t start divulging information to anyone not involved in
the case. Not even the Mayor. It would be unethical. I’ve explained as much I
can to him. I would think that as director of this lab, you’d support me in
this.’
Grissom
had played his trump card. Cavallo knew that the Mayor had no right to any
information regarding an active investigation, no matter what personal interest
he might have. He also knew that Grissom was calling him out, demanding in his
own, non-aggressive Grissom way, that Cavallo realise where his loyalties lay –
namely with the law and with the lab.
Cavallo
raised his hands in defeat. ‘Try and go one week without pissing off a
politician. That’s all I ask. Any other calls from the Mayor, direct him my
way. Politely.’
‘Of
course,’ Grissom replied, giving his boss a gracious smile. ‘Thank you, Robert.’
---
Catherine
reached into the break room fridge and was relieved to find no experiment
waiting there to put her off her lunch. Grissom apparently had started to
listen to his team’s repeated complaints. Or, more likely, he didn’t have an
ongoing experiment running at the moment.
Grabbing
her tuna fish on rye and a soda, she carried her lunch back to the table to
join Warrick and Nick.
‘So,
did anyone else notice something weird going on with Grissom and Sara today?’
Catherine asked, subtle as ever.
It
didn’t escape her notice that Warrick immediately averted his eyes and didn’t
answer. Nick however, nodded.
‘You
mean how Sara was upset and Grissom…’ he trailed off, trying to find the right
description. ‘Grissom was being… sensitive.’
‘Uh
huh,’ Catherine agreed. ‘And there was the small matter of the way he kept
looking at her.’
‘Looking
at her?’
‘Come
on, Nicky. You’re supposed to be an investigator,’ Catherine groaned in
frustration. ‘You remember that dumb look he used to get when Terri Miller was
here?’
Nick
laughed at the memory. ‘Oh yeah.’
Catherine
raised her eyebrows and waited for her point to hit home. It didn’t take long.
‘Really?’
Nick was surprised. ‘He was looking at Sara like that?’
‘Uh
huh.’
‘You
think something’s going on that we don’t know about?’
‘I
don’t know. Warrick?’ Catherine asked expectantly. She and Nick both turned to
look inquisitively at their so far silent friend.
Warrick
looked at his two colleagues innocently.
‘Hmm?
Sorry?’
‘Cut
the innocent act, Warrick,’ Catherine told him. ‘I know you know something.’
Warrick
shrugged. ‘About what?’
‘Warrick!’
Warrick
huffed out a breath. ‘Catherine. Whatever I do or don’t know, you know one thing for sure…’
‘Which
is?’
‘You
know I’m not going to tell you.’ Warrick smiled and got to his feet. ‘It’s none
of our business, Cath.’
With
a shrug he left the room.
Catherine
and Nick looked at each other, grinning. ‘Well, that settles it,’ Catherine
said. ‘If Warrick won’t talk about it, there’s definitely something going on.’
---
Sara
was still sitting in the layout room when Grissom found her. He could tell from
the way she was sitting that she hadn’t left that chair since the meeting ended
two hours ago.
‘Sara?’
She
turned at the sound of his voice and gave him a tired smile. ‘Hey.’
‘Go
home and get some rest.’
‘There’s
something here,’ she told him, turning back to the pictures. ‘If I could just…’
‘Sara,
you’re tired. You’ve just worked a double shift. For, what? The fifth time in
less than two weeks? You need to go home and sleep.’
She
turned back to him, ready to argue, but the determination on his face coupled
with her own exhaustion won out. ‘Fine. Okay. I’ll go home.’ She got to her
feet and walked towards him and the door.
‘Thank
you,’ he told her. ‘There’s nothing more any of us can do at this point.’
‘Except
wait. Right?’
He
nodded with a sympathetic shrug. He knew how she felt. He was frustrated with
the way the case was going too. But there was only so much they could do.
‘The
police are looking. They’re increasing patrols in the desert tonight…’
‘Needle
in a haystack,’ Sara replied cynically.
‘You’ll
feel better when you’ve had some sleep. And dinner.’
‘Dinner?’
‘We
have plans tonight, remember?’
Sara
sighed. ‘Valentine’s Day. But…’
Grissom
knew what she was going to say. ‘We have two pagers and two cell phones between
us. If they need us, they’ll call.’
Sara
couldn’t fault his logic. And as frustrated as she was about the cases, the
thought of dinner with Grissom, on Valentine’s Day of all days, certainly had
its charms.
‘Okay,
I give in,’ she told him with a smile. ‘What time?’
---
Grissom
returned to his office to file away a last piece of paperwork before heading
home for some well earned sleep before his date that night. He slid the filing
cabinet drawer shut when someone behind him cleared their throat. He turned to
find Catherine hovering in the doorway.
‘You
off?’ she asked.
‘Yeah.
You should be home by now,’ he told her.
‘I’m
going. I just wanted...’ she hesitated, wondering how best to broach the
subject. Then inspiration struck. ‘I wanted some advice…’
Grissom
cocked an eyebrow in a mixture of concern and surprise. If Catherine was coming
to him for advice, things must be
bad.
‘Sure.
What’s up?’
‘Well…
let just say I… have certain romantic feelings for someone,’ she started. ‘Hypothetically, of course. And hypothetically, this someone is… a
colleague.’
‘Warrick?’
Grissom asked.
Catherine
blushed slightly. ‘Um, no… not Warrick. But let’s just say… maybe I have
seniority over this person. What’s… what’s departmental regulations about
that?’
Grissom
frowned slightly. Was Catherine being serious or was she getting at what he though
she was getting at?
‘Um…
I believe current regulations are that interoffice relationships are
discouraged but not forbidden,’ Grissom replied slowly. ‘As long as both
parties are discreet and don’t bring the relationship to work.’
‘What
about the seniority part?’
Grissom
thought for a moment. ‘I suppose, ethically,
if you were a supervisor, you really shouldn’t date a subordinate. Supervision,
in that instance, would be transferred to someone else…’ he trailed off,
knowing full well what Catherine was getting at. ‘But we’re not talking about
you, are we Cath?’
Catherine
shrugged. ‘Who are we talking about, Gil?’
Grissom
sighed. ‘How did you find out?’
‘Woman’s
intuition,’ she replied with a smile. She closed the door and moved closer to his
desk. ‘It also says in the department regulations that personnel have to be
informed, in writing, to guard against any potential sexual harassment charges.
And you should really think about transferring supervision of Sara to someone
else.’
‘A
little unsolicited advice?’
‘One
friend to another. Rumour has it, when Cavallo moves up, Ecklie moves in to his
office. He’d love nothing more that to burn you with something. He could screw
up both your and Sara’s careers. So, play by the book and don’t let him.’
Grissom
gave her a small smile of gratitude. ‘Thanks, Cath. I’ll… I’ll talk to Sara
about it.’
‘No
problem.’
‘I
assume I don’t have to tell you to keep this to yourself?’
She
gave him an innocent smile. ‘Keep what to myself?’
‘Thanks.’
She
moved to the door and opened it. Before leaving, she turned back to him once
more. ‘Oh, and Gil?’
‘Yeah.’
‘About time.’
---
Grissom
managed to grab his required six hours of sleep, before waking up refreshed and
ready to cook what he hoped would be a first rate dinner for Sara. He had
considered taking her to a nice restaurant, but changed his plans after her
reaction to him making her breakfast. Not only would he impress her socks off
with his culinary skills (which weren’t too shabby, in his own humble opinion),
but he also relished the opportunity to spend some quality time with Ms Sidle –
quality alone time.
Punctual
as ever, she arrived at eight with a broad smile and a bottle of wine. Or, as
she explained thirty seconds later, a bottle of grape juice masquerading as
wine. He greeted her with a soft kiss on the lips and took her jacket.
As
he carefully arranged hors d'oeuvres on a plate, he found his eyes drawn to
her. She was wearing a halter neck that flattered her in all the right places,
and as his eyes wandered along the contours of her neck and down her back, he
found himself fantasising about following the same path with his hands, his
lips. Then he remembered that he was no longer restricted to merely fantasising
about doing such things, and a grin that he couldn’t contain spread across his
face.
‘What?’
Sara asked, as she turned from the butterfly collection she was examining, and
found him smiling at her.
He
shrugged and carried the plate over to the coffee table. ‘Can’t a fella be
happy once in a while?’
‘I
guess,’ her voice teased as she approached him and sat down on the couch. He
joined her, sitting a polite, but still relatively close, distance away.
Despite the lightness of her mood, Grissom noticed that Sara seemed a little
distracted. A restless aura surrounded her, and she had barely stayed still for
more than thirty seconds since she arrive in his apartment ten minutes earlier.
‘Everything
okay?’ he asked.
She
smiled, trying to reassure him. ‘Sure.’ She paused, not wanting to bring it up,
and unable to stop herself. ‘Any word from Brass yet?’
He
had suspected the case was what was on her mind. ‘No. Not yet.’ He sighed a
little. ‘Did you know that the term hors d’oeuvres comes from the literal
French for ‘outside the work’?’ he
asked her, gesturing towards the plate.
Sara
reached forward and picked a tasty-looking specimen. Bringing it to her lips,
she smirked at him. ‘Subtle.’ Taking a bite, she unwillingly let out an
appreciative noise. Grissom really was
a good cook. Swallowing, she regarded him seriously for a moment. ‘How do you
do it?’
‘Do
what?’
‘Compartmentalise?’
Grissom
sighed. ‘Sara, I get just as frustrated as anyone else over cases. When they
aren’t going our way… it’s difficult to let go. But I had to learn a long time
ago that if I didn’t leave work at work, at least some of the time, I’d burn
out. And I worry about that with you, Sara. You get so caught up in your
cases…’
She
started to object, but he placed his hand on hers, silently asking her to let
him finish. ‘That’s what makes you such a great investigator. Your empathy.
Your passion. But you have to draw a line sometimes, Sara. Allow yourself to
have a life. If you burn out, who will help the victims then?’
She
was silent as she allowed herself to absorb his words. She knew, deep down,
that he made a lot of sense. She just wasn’t sure she knew how to detach from
certain things.
His
hand moved up her arm and across her shoulders. She suddenly found herself in
his arms, and rationalisation was no longer of much interest to her. Turning
her face to his, she lost herself in his deep, blue eyes.
‘Dinner
will be another thirty minutes,’ he told her, tilting his face towards her.
‘Perfect,’
she breathed before his lips descended.
The
heat of their kisses warmed her blood and sent all other thoughts out of her
mind. Her hands found their way to his face and they lingered there a while,
enjoying the tactile sensation of his bearded cheeks before they slid around to
gently tease the curls at the back of his neck.
Sara’s
kisses were like fire that sent electrical charges running down his spine and
into each of his limbs. He wondered if the passion and heat they shared was
innate or a by-product of years of repressing their feelings for one another.
What he did know was that no other woman had ever excited him the way that Sara
Sidle did. Everything about her, from her fierce intelligence and forthright
personality to her intense, unassuming beauty, made his senses hum and his
heart race.
Sinking
deeper into each other, they slid down lower into the couch, Sara pulling him
down on top of her. His lips reluctantly leaving hers, he began to explore her
neck, quickly discovering her sensitive spots. He grinned to himself as she let
out an especially satisfying moan and slid her fingers down his spine, digging
them into his back when he hit an extra sensitive part of her neck.
He
was debating with himself where his next point of exploration should be when he
was rudely interrupted by the oven timer. He groaned into her neck and then
gave her an apologetic look, only to discover her grinning at him.
‘Saved
by the bell,’ she chuckled.
‘Saved?’ His eyebrow went up.
‘Yeah,
for a second there, I thought we were going to skip dinner and head straight
for dessert,’ she teased.
The
eyebrow was still making its presence felt. ‘And that would be a bad thing?’
‘Not
necessarily… But, I’m starving,’ she told him. ‘And besides… the night is still
young.’
---
Sara
was impressed. Before her sat a man who was a genius, revered in his field, not
to mention the most attractive man she ever had the good fortune to meet. And,
included in that package – the man could cook. Vegetarian, no less.
They
kept the conversation light, Sara managing to steer clear of work talk
altogether after Grissom’s earlier suggestion. She was surprised, therefore,
when he was the one to bring it up, once they had moved to the couch with their
after-dinner coffee.
‘This
isn’t the most… romantic of topics,’ he started. ‘But I wanted to talk to you
about something.’
‘Okay.
That sounds ominous,’ she replied.
‘Catherine
knows.’
It
took Sara a moment to get it. ‘She knows what? … Oh. God. She knows? About us?
How?’
‘I
have no idea. She says she guessed,’ Grissom told her. ‘But she brought up a
valid point.’
‘Which
is?’
‘Work.
There’s no regulation that says we can’t be involved. But…’
Sara
groaned. ‘How did I know there would be a ‘but’…?’
‘Apparently
we have to report the relationship to personnel. In writing. And I shouldn’t
supervise you directly anymore; do your evaluations, that sort of thing…’
‘Oh…’
was all she said. Grissom wasn’t sure if she was taking it well or badly.
After
what seemed like an eternity, she finally looked at him. ‘So, how do you feel
about it?’
‘Which
part?’
‘The
lab knowing about your private life? Disrupting your work life?’ She was
watching him intently, waiting for a reaction.
‘I…’
he thought for a moment, and looked at her with a puzzled expression. ‘I hadn’t
really considered how I felt about it… I was more worried about how you’d
feel.’
Not the answer I was expecting, she thought. But definitely the right answer. ‘Wow,’ was all she managed to say.
‘I
suppose if it means we get to be together, then it’s worth it,’ he continued,
still amazed at this revelation about himself. A year ago, he probably would
have freaked out.
‘Who
are you and what have you done with Gil Grissom?’ Sara asked, laughing. She
slid her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. A new thought crossed her
mind. ‘So, who’s going to be my new supervisor?’
‘I
figured Catherine could do it,’ Grissom suggested. ‘One step closer to doing my
job…’
Sara
pulled away to look at him. ‘Catherine?’
‘What?
You’d prefer Ecklie?’
‘Valid
point.’ She hugged him again. ‘Pity though… Catherine’s not as cute as my last
supervisor…’
He
gave her a squeeze. ‘I should hope not…’
‘So,
what did she say?’ Sara asked. ‘You know, about us?’
‘She
said it was about time.’
Sara
smile and looked at him again. ‘Really?’
‘Uh
huh.’
Sara
kissed him softly on the lips. ‘Well, she was definitely right about that,’ she
whispered seductively before kissing him more deeply, stealing his breath away
and raising his pulse rate in seconds. The passion they had kept at bay earlier
was back with a vengeance and they were helpless to it.
Moaning
into her mouth, Grissom slid his hand through the silky locks of her dark hair
and pressed her more tightly to him. His other hand traced her spine, making
her shiver with anticipation. The hand slid back up under the filmy material of
her top, running lightly over her skin, revelling in the soft warmth of her
flesh.
Sara
ran her hands down Grissom’s surprisingly well-defined arms and back up again,
enjoying the firm strength she felt in them. Continuing her journey, she
crossed his shoulders and worked her way down to his chest. Her fingers
hesitated over the top most button of his shirt.
Grissom
once again moved to explore her neck with his lips and tongue, and when his
other hand joined his first on the small of her back, Sara felt emboldened into
action. Methodically, she opened the first button of his shirt. She was on the
fourth, her fingers now shaking with excitement when her pager and Grissom’s
cell phone exploded into action at the same time.
‘Damn
it!’ she exclaimed fiercely, before she could restrain herself.
Grissom
grinned, just as disappointed by the interruption as Sara, but highly amused by
her outburst none-the-less. ‘Down girl,’ he teased as he reached for the
offending piece of technology.
‘Grissom.’
Sara
didn’t have to look at her pager. The look on Grissom’s face told her that the
evening was over.
‘Happy
Valentine’s Day,’ she muttered ironically.
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