�Oh, my dear, it�s so wonderful to see you!� Jesse tried not to openly cringe at her own voice two octaves two high resonating horridly through the glass-enclosed room.
�What are you doing here?�
�Well-� The thick glass doors of the lab room opened, and in walked a man whose face seemed perpetually buried in a case file when he wasn�t staring down evidence.
�Jesse, I need the blood analysis on the Marques triple�� Gil looked up, stunned to find a disturbing image before him. Ecklie, as pale as Gil had ever seen him, Jesse looking like she was about to faint dead away, and between them a woman that looked like a rather disturbing caricature combination of the two more familiar faces.
�Am I interrupting something?�
�Not at all,� Ecklie squeaked, which caused Gil more than a little alarm. �Marcella, this is Gil Grissom, the night shift supervisor for the lab. Gil, this is my sister, Marcella McCollum.�
�Fontana.�
�What?� Gil looked toward where the tiny voice had come from, barely recognizing it as Jesse�s. Where had her earlier vibrance vanished to?
�Yes. That�s the reason I ended up in Vegas.� She held out her left hand, brandishing a huge emerald and amber bauble held together somehow by a thin gold band as a matching stoneless band stood alongside. �I just got married!�
Jesse leaned against the back lab table, looking quite like she was going to pass out. Gil took his cue and walked over as Marcella had Ecklie engaged with her newest toy. And a toy they both seem to be.
�Jesse, that report?� She looked to the folder marked with his name, a series of paperwork peeking just over the top. He took the entire folder from its perch and took her gently by the hand a moment. �Could I discuss this case with you a moment? I need an intelligent sounding board.� At her weak but appreciative nod, Gil turned to find a pair of eerily familiar eyes boring into him.
�And just where are you taking my daughter, Sir?� She stood a few inches taller than Gil, but so had Lady Heather. He wasn�t fazed by anything except the empty black eyes that stared down at him. A killer�s eyes. Huh.
�I just need her help on this case. I need a technical specialist to look at some of the evidence I have gathered and work with me to determine how it interconnects.�
�Nonsense. She just got off work according to my watch, and I have every intention of taking her to breakfast.� The sickeningly sweet voice and insincere smile only made the eyes more menacing as Gil stood his ground.
�Well, it is important that I get this done-� Marcella walked over and took Jesse into her arms in a protective gesture that Gil had once only associated with overbearing lovers. But the arms of an overbearing lover never seemed so much like a pair of constricting snakes before.
�I�m sure that it can wait for a day. Surely you wouldn�t want to deprive a mother of her child whom she hasn�t seen in months?� Gil looked to Jesse, and his stomach turned as her eyes begged him to get her out of what was sure to be at the happiest an unpleasant visit. He couldn�t, even with time to think he�d never known what to say to his own mother let alone someone else�s, so he took a painful step away.
�Of course. I�ll let you be on your way then.�
�Excellent.� Her voice rose again, out of the darkness and into something no one would ever expect to be so�vile. She gave Jesse a huge hug, one the far smaller woman returned only tentatively. �Come, my sweet one, you really must tell me everything you�ve been doing lately.� Jesse barely had time to wrap up her work before she was moved bodily out of the lab under the ever-watchful eye of her mother.
�By the Gods, she was right.� Ecklie appeared beside Gil, his already sparse color slow to return.
�Who was?�
�Jesse. She said her mother was a beast. I can only imagine what life must have been like at home.�
�Don�t try to imagine it. It�s not worth the headache or the subsequent therapy.� Gil watched Ecklie all but cower his way out of the lab, and Gil didn�t blame him for a second. That woman was dangerous, of that he had no doubt, but his main concern now was Jesse, in the clutches of that �woman. Well, all�s well that ends well, and this is NOT going to end well�
Jesse worked through the things in her locker s as slowly as her shaking hands would allow. Her mother! In Las Vegas! What happened to �Malcolm McDougal� from Boston? The bitch was supposed to be the living embodiment of high society in every Puritan �bred women�s club in greater Massachusetts, not gallivanting into Jesse�s life and work so she could show off her latest conquest, who Jesse had no doubt she was about to share a meal with. Knowing her, he�s probably out waiting in the car right now like a good little lap dog. She shuddered a moment, trying not to let the memories overtake her completely.
�Hey, Jesse.� Sara entered the locker room and began undressing as a vice that was quite a bit shorter than she took hold of her chest just as she was getting her tackle vest off.
Jesse wasn�t sure why she�d done it. She wasn�t even sure how it had happened. All she knew was that she was holding Sara Sidle in a death grip, and it felt absolutely amazing. The smell of her skin, the warmth of her body, even the lingering odor of the chemicals she used in her work only added to Jesse�s need for more.
�What�s wrong?� Sara knew better than to just push Jesse away. Besides, this was the first real body contact she�d had with her former lover since she�d arrived aside from a reflex hug, and Sara wasn�t about to turn down an embrace such as this. She wrapped her considerably longer arms around the small body against hers, amazed at how the little things started coming back to her. Silky soft hair that smelled like flowers. Smooth skin. Shaking skin. Sara pulled back a bit, feeling Jesse�s breath short and quick against her for the first time.
�You�re shaking! What happened?� Jesse looked up just then, her eyes brimming with tears. The smaller girl pulled away as if ashamed, then looked away as she continued to button her shirt. Before Sara could react Jesse was gone, and Sara was in motion trying to follow. But as she reached the door, Gil stopped her with a look she�d only seen him give suspects before.
�What�s up, Grissom?�
�Jesse�s mother was just here.� Sara�s face drained, which was a feat considering her pale complexion, something Grissom noted with growing unease.
�WHAT?!�
�Apparently, she dropped by the lab to harass Ecklie and take Jesse out to breakfast.�
�And you let her go? What the hell is wrong with you?!� He�d heard Sara yell before, but this was a new dimension entirely. Her voice held a new streak running alongside her usual anger and frustration, one that sounded like a combination of fear and panic.
�From what I can tell, you were the last one to see her, so you could have stopped her just as much as I.� Sara glared at him, practically seething as her fists clenched. �But be that as it may, I know you and Jesse have some kind of history, so I�m going to ask you because I know Ecklie won�t tell me anything: what�s the story between Jesse and her mother?�
Sara let out a resigned sigh, her arms crossing as a series of unpleasant memories encroached on her mind. �How much time do you have?�
�I have all day.� Sara sighed heavily again, her hands unclenching.
�Good. Because this is going to take quite a while.�
�I�ll have the Italian Roast.� Sara�s responses to just about everything had become stiffer by the minute ever since they�d left the lab. Grissom didn�t mind, as long as he got to the bottom of this whole thing.
�Earl Grey, please.� Grissom handed the coffee house menu to the young waitress, who practically skipped off to fill their order. Why a coffee house needed waitresses he would never know, but no matter.
�Well, I guess I should start by asking how you knew Jesse�s mother.� Grissom didn�t speak, he only readied himself as Sara took what could have been a half dozen breaths before continuing.
�We were roommates in San Francisco. We spent three years together, and I had several encounters with Jesse�s mother in that time. Some were pleasant enough, most were not, and a few towards the end were almost violent.� Their drinks arrived, and Sara mixed her usual concoction of way too much sugar and little else in before downing a good third of the steaming brew. Gil watched in morbid fascination as he dropped a single sugar cube into his tea of sugar and slowly stirred his own cup.
�I think I perplexed her. She couldn�t understand my feelings for Jesse, nor Jesse�s for me, and she wanted to get in the way as much as humanly possible. And for a woman with her connections, Marcella could really get in the way.�
�And when I asked for you specifically...?�
�I told Jesse about it, and she said it was the opportunity of a lifetime and that I should jump on it. We weren�t that far away, so we could still see each other, just not as often.� Sara downed the remainder of her still steaming cup, and their waitress dropped by just long enough to refill her cup. Gil took a sip of his own cup and didn�t even want to think about how badly she might be burning her throat.
�But you didn�t. You threw yourself into your work here, barely having any social existence outside the lab.�
�Yeah. Jesse and I lost touch almost immediately, and it�s difficult to keep a relationship like ours going without communication.� Her smile was as glass as she again prepared her cup. Her hands shook slightly as her jaw set tight, even against the hollow fascade. Gil smiled a bit despite himself. Only one thing in the world could make someone like Sara this emotional�
�So, the two of your were lovers.� Her spoon dropped suddenly, the sharp banging thankfully drowned out by the bustle all around them.
�Yes.� She waited a moment, worrying a bit at her bottom lip. �That doesn�t freak you out, does it?�
�Not at all. Believe me, Sara, you aren�t the only one in the lab with�shall we say differing orientation.� He took another slow sip of his tea, watching as the relief came plainly upon her, alongside the curiosity he�d come to count on in her.
�You?�
�As a three dollar bill.� Not entirely true, but being a perfect three on the Kinsey Scale gave him some leeway on what he had to divulge.
�I�ve always hated that expression.�
�So have I, but it gets the point across fairly well, so I use it in company I know will appreciate the subtext.�
�I see. Well, that explains a lot.� She took a far less enraged sip of her coffee, and Grissom regarded her somberly as her features sank closer to normal once more.
�Such as?�
�Why you never picked up on me.�
�Don�t be so certain I didn�t.� She looked over the rim of her coffee cup, and Gil couldn�t hold in a smile. She truly was oblivious to human emotion. It was a wonder she�d been able to keep hold of Jesse at all.
�I always knew about your attraction to me, Sara, I simply chose to ignore it. You�re a subordinate, and -no offense- a woman. I wasn�t interested.�
�You could have said something.�
�You have the chance to say something now, Sara. Catherine told me about your rather touching reunion in the lab her first day here.� He would have enjoyed seeing it himself. It might have motivated him to abandon this insane hope he still held for himself and Jesse.
�I was happy to see her. I was glad she was there, and that we�d be working together again.�
�But?� She looked up, and for a moment Gil wondered if she was this obvious with suspects.
�But I also kind of wanted things to go back to the way they were, and it hurt to know that they couldn�t.�
�How do you know?� Sara shook her head, but he wouldn�t have it. At least somebody was going to end up happy around here. �I know people, Sara. I may not do so well in practice with them, but I know how people think, clinically. Jesse�s very lonely, and you know her better than anyone. She needs a friend here in Vegas, especially with that�woman� in town.� Gil practically spat the word, suddenly unwilling to say her name.
�Yeah. I better go make sure everything�s ok.� Sara reached down and began digging for her phone.
�Indeed. She didn�t seem too thrilled with her mother getting married again.� She froze mid motion as iced over eyes met Gil�s, freezing him to the bone even in the new morning sunlight.
�Excuse me?�
�Jesse�s mother. She�s in Vegas because she got married, apparently last night.�
�And you didn�t think it was prudent to tell me this sooner?� He looked away a moment, not at all sure where this was going.
�Not really. Should I have?�
�Uh, yeah, it would have kept me from wasting my time here instead of getting to Jesse!� She dove into her purse for her wallet, frantically rooting around, flinging little odds and ends across the table as she dug deeper. It occurred to him then that he�d never seen Sara so disoriented, and that disturbed him more than a little. Sara looked up a moment, and the stark fear in her eyes was all he needed to see.
�Don�t. I�ve got this. Go to Jesse.� Sara gathered her things in a flash and was gone, leaving Gil with more than just the bill. Not that he really liked being referred to as a waste of time, but what on earth could make Sara so afraid of Jesse�s new stepfather? He threw a series of bills on the table and followed Sara outside. Whatever this was about, he wanted to find out what the hell was going on with this Marcella woman.
Disclaimer: The characters, names, and references made herein belong to CBS inc, Jerry Bruckheimer, etc. No copyright infringement intended. For fun, not profit.
