Grissom is sound asleep in bed with his pager firmly clipped to the pillow. He prays the vibration will be enough to wake him up. He really doesn’t want Sara showing up on his doorstep without some prior warning, but he really needs to get some sleep. The surgery hadn’t required any large incisions, but it still has a traumatizing affect on the body. Grissom stirs slightly in his sleep, shaking himself from a nightmare about an earthquake. He rubs his eyes, but realizes his pillow is still shaking. He grabs his pager and reads the message, “1230 Cook.” Grissom looks at his clock and finds that he has forty-five minutes to come up with something vegetarian.
Forty-five minutes later Sara stands in front of Grissom’s apartment door wondering how she’s going to get inside. Knocking on the door isn’t going to do her a lot of good and she’s really hungry. As usual, she had forgotten to eat during the shift. Luckily Grissom had the foresight to realize this and the knob turns when Sara tries it. She watches Grissom pull something from the oven that smells wonderful. Grissom on the other hand does’t look that wonderful. He has an apron on over his pajamas and his bed head is made worse by the bandaging. Grissom turns around and notices that Sara has arrived.
He takes his oven mitts off in order to sign, but is met with an odd expression, “Is something wrong?”
What Sara hadn’t realized is that Grissom’s glasses are smudged with flour and so are the sides of his face, “No, but next time I’m going to call sooner.”
Grissom takes his glasses off in order to give himself a moment to think about what she’s just said and notices the flour on them. He grabs the edge of his apron to clean them, but sees that his pajamas are still underneath, “Excuse me.”
As soon as his back is turned, Sara bursts out laughing. Okay so maybe I do bring chaos to his life. When she calms down, she stops herself from scanning the room. Her instinct to investigate is almost second nature, but she doesn’t want Grissom to be uncomfortable. I’m prying enough by just being here. Sara takes a seat at Grissom’s tiny kitchen table.
Sara is pondering his choice of placemats when he finally emerges from his bedroom, “I made cheese and spinach casserole.”
“It smells delicious. I am starved.”
“Sara Sidle admitting she is hungry.”
Sara just glares at him.
Grissom doesn’t even bother trying to start a conversation until he sees her fork moving at a normal pace.
“How is the case progressing?”
“The guy we arrested yesterday gave us a list of his friends he claims to have been with that night. Greg snuck the lab tests though and we got one of them up on charges for robbing the gun shop. Other than Nick’s shoe print, which could actually belong to half of Las Vegas, we cannot place the rest of them at the crime scene.”
“What are their alibis?”
“They were playing a new play station game and getting high. They are way to convincing though. We are accusing them of murder and they are putting their feet up on the table.”
“Perhaps they believe what they are saying.”
“You are saying they are blocking it out.”
“Sara, I am not saying anything. I am not on the case. Just keep following the evidence.”
“I know. That is what Catherine keeps telling us.”
“It is sound advice.”
They both are done eating so Grissom gathers the plates up. Sara moves over to the couch and flips on the TV. Grissom puts the leftover casserole in the refrigerator and then goes into the living room to find Sara curled up on the couch watching an episode of the X-Files with the closed caption still on. Grissom sits down and is about to ask her when she started watching the X-Files, but he realizes she’s asleep. He puts a blank over her and changes the channel to something he wants to watch.
Sara wakes up about five hours later to her cell phone ringing. She pulls her cell phone out of her pocket, but doesn’t bother sitting up.
“Sidle.”
“Hey, It’s Catherine. We’ve got a call that’s probably our missing firearms. Can you come in?”
“Sure.”
“See you in a few.”
Sara hits end and sits up rubbing her neck. Grissom, you need a more comfortable couch.
Grissom is slumped over in the chair. Sara debates about whether or not to wake him up, but realizes that that position cannot be comfortable.
He stirs groggily and croaks out, “what?”
“I have to go. Catherine just called. We might have a lead.”
Grissom stands up rubbing the back of his neck and then starts to sway. Sara puts one hand on his back and grabs his arm with the other to steady him. Sara tries to get him to sit back down, but he starts to move toward the bedroom. Sara is forced to follow him in order to keep him from falling. As soon as he’s inside he starts to undress. He’s definitely not awake. She averts her eyes and makes sure he’s safely in bed before leaving. She finds a pad of paper by the phone and writes him a note. She sets in under his pager. She shuts off the lights and heads back to work.
***
“Hey,” Sara says as she walks into the break room.
“Hey, yourself,” Catherine responds as she turns around from the coffee pot, “You haven’t changed?”
“Nice observation. I fell asleep on the couch.”
Catherine is not sure what that has to do with her changing, but decides not to push.
Sara walks over to pour herself a cup of coffee, “So where are we headed?”
“Desert. Some teenagers riding 4-wheelers found a burial sight complete with shovels.”
“They didn’t touch anything, did they?”
“No, they were too afraid of finding a dead body to get that close. I just hope we don’t actually find any dead bodies.”
Nick and Warrick come into the break room.
“Okay we’re here,” Nick states obviously, “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Catherine raises an eyebrow at him, “Grab your gear. Let’s take advantage of the few hours of daylight we have left.”
----------------->
Brass has the scene already secured when they arrive. A big yellow square keeps back a small crowd. The four-wheeling teenagers have brought their friends back to watch.
Catherine walks up to him, “What have you got for us?”
“Dump site with thirteen year old spectators.”
“If we’re lucky it’ll be what we’re looking for.”
“Yeah luck.”
Catherine moves over to the rest of the team, “Sara photograph the scene. Nick, Warrick all of these footprints need cast. I’m going to get these shovels bagged and see if Brass can get someone to take them back to the lab. Then we’ll find out what’s been buried here.”
“The suspense is killing me,” Nick jokes.
They begin their assigned tasks with efficiency, working around each other carefully. Eventually they put jump suits on and start sifting through the sand. As was suspected, they find the contents of the gun shop. Luckily the weather lately has been mild making the chances of finding useful prints very likely. After what seems like an eternity, they pack up and head back to the lab. It is now up to the lab rats to close this case for them.
“We’ve got them,” Catherine says, slamming the AFIS printouts onto the table.
“So much for the lie detector test John Wells took,” Warrick snorts.
“How can a guy like Wells be smart enough to fool a lie detector test?” Nick asks.
“Maybe he believes what he is saying,” the wheels in Sara’s head are turning, “Nick, you said that the video game is similar, but not exact to the crime.”
“Yeah,” Nick responds not sure what Sara is getting at.
“And we know they were high.”
“Reality was blended into fantasy,” Nick continues, catching on to Sara’s reasoning.
“So they really believe they were playing a video game,” Warrick concludes skeptically.
A hush falls over the team as they contemplate the reality of the crime.
“And they say video games do not lead to violence,” Catherine quietly speaks.
“Man, forty six lives…” Warrick trails off and shakes his head sadly.
“The evidence never lies,” Sara speaks softly, “But drugs do.”
TBC