Beyond a Doubt - Sara/Greg fic

G

gregsandersfan

Pathologist
Okay, first post here. :rolleyes:


Disclaimer: I own a fair share of evil ideas but I don’t own CSI or any of its characters.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Sara definitely found herself in some form of suspended reality because that was something Greg could not have done. No doubt about that. SaraGreg

Author: gregsandersfan aka kegel

Thanks to Emmithar for betareading! :)

Beyond a Doubt

Chapter 1

“Greg, stop,“ Sara pleaded laughing, lying halfway on the bench in the locker room of the crime lab, Greg leaning over her, laughing as well. He drew back slowly and she sat up, grinning at him, slightly flushed, and looking nervously for a split-second into the direction of the hallway. Nobody was to be seen.

Greg smiled broadly but raised his eyebrows. “You weren’t so hesitant when we were at my place earlier.”

Sara rolled her eyes. “Greg, you wouldn’t want Ecklie to grill us when he finds out what we’re doing on company time,” she argued, nevertheless leaning in again to press another kiss on his lips which caused him to break into another grin. Okay, company time would officially start in five minutes so they were theoretically still off the clock. Still, an audience would not be after Sara’s taste.

“Besides,” she added, “it hasn’t been just your place for a full six months now.” She stood up from the bench, walking around him towards the entrance of the room, looking back at him. It had been six months now since she had moved in with him.

“It’s been so long already that you’re ordering me around?” Greg joked, looking over his shoulder at her.

Sara shook her head. “No, that started way earlier.” She turned to go, winking at him.

Greg jumped up. “True. Only now you’re doing it even when we’re not on shift,” he said, while they were leaving the room, walking out into the hallway.

“Get over it,” Sara said simply.

“And I have the feeling you’re so enjoying it,” Greg smiled at her, seeing Grissom coming up to them in the distance, apparently extruding an aura of work.

“Oh, yes, I do,” Sara told Greg quietly before their boss was near enough to hear them.

“Hey.” Grissom stopped in front of the couple and handed Sara a slip of paper without hesitance.

“Assault in a hotel at the Strip,” he said while she was reading over it, and added, now addressing Greg, “And you’re with me tonight. Triple homicide.”

“Great,” Greg commented laconically, turning to Sara again who was still looking at the paper in her hand.

“So say goodbye to Sara, we’re off in five,” Grissom suggested, apparently indifferently. What his two colleagues did while they were off the clock did not lay in his concern. Grissom told himself that firmly. It did not lay in his concern as long it did not affect their work. As long it did not affect their work negatively, considering that Greg and Sara had actually developed a high success rate together, even though that had been before they had started… this. But so far that had not changed.

“Goodbye, Sara.” Greg grinned at her.

“Goodbye, Greg,” she replied winking, already walking back to the locker room from where they had just come. She turned away from him and Greg concentrated his attention at Grissom. Sara realized that they had maybe appeared a little too giggly. She should really get herself together; otherwise people would think she really spent company time on doing things with Greg that belonged strictly in their private time.
The warm, fuzzy feeling hadn’t completely left Sara yet when she was driving up the road towards the hotel. This feeling had actually inhabited her for most of the time since she had moved in with Greg, more precisely since she had started seeing him. He always had a way to make her feel warm inside, and even though they were now together for almost a year, she often found herself still not able to stop grinning at times, only thinking of him and their time together.

She parked her car in front of the hotel, and after getting her kit out of the trunk, she made her way into the building. She saw Sofia in the hall inside, talking to an upset looking woman who Sara estimated to be near the end of her twenties. She had a wound on her forehead that had apparently been treated by the nearby EMT.

Sara approached them slowly, catching Sofia’s gaze. The other woman nodded and Sara came up completely to them.

“Hey,” she greeted them, turning her attention then on the presumable victim. “I’m Sara Sidle. I’m with the crime lab. Can you tell me what happened or do you want Ms. Curtis,” she pointed at Sofia briefly, “to do it?”

The woman shook her head. “No, it’s okay.” She took a deep breath and Sara observed the cuts and bruises in the woman’s face, some of which had probably not come to full-blow yet, their real extent would probably not be seen before some more time had passed.

“I was just opening the door of my hotel room, and that guy came up from behind. He held his hand over my mouth and shoved me into the room.”

She stopped and Sara nodded encouragingly.

“He hit me over and over… and he tried… He didn’t do it though. I think somebody on the floor heard me screaming and called something… I can’t really remember… he was gone then, I don’t know how long I’ve been lying there before I went out…”

Sara could imagine it very well that the woman did not have a clear remembrance of what had happened, as she could smell the scent of alcohol coming from her.

Their further questions did not help them any further, and the only description that the victim was able to give them was “male, white”, and that alone would probably not bring them very far either. So Sara decided quickly to return to her actual job, processing crime scenes, collecting evidence, analyzing it. It would help them more than the statement of the victim. Sofia would be the one who would have to handle that. That was her job; Sara’s was a different one.

Sara walked to the hotel room in the second floor that had been secured and taped off. She stooped under the tape and saw on first glance that the hotel room was a mess. She would only have to figure out what part of the chaos had been there before and what part had come during the assault. The walls of the room were painted in a deep ocean blue and a sandy yellow that gave the room a beach impression.

It reminded Sara of her planned vacation with Greg. They had been planning on it for months and if work did not get in their way, they would be heading off in two weeks time.

It had been forever since Sara had actually taken vacation. The last time she had been forced to. But somehow she liked the prospect of spending some quiet days alone with Greg. Or not so quiet after all, considering the part about Greg.

Finally Sara pulled her thoughts away from those pleasant things again to focus on her task at hand.

After she had taken photos for a general overview Sara went to look for semen on the single bed in the room. The victim had told them that nothing had actually happened. They would know anyway at the end of the day after her examination at the hospital if that had only been denial, or maybe lack of memory. Surprisingly to her Sara did not find any traces of semen on the bed. Not only did it almost confirm the victim’s statement – safe for the fact that it could have happened on the floor – it also showed that the sheets on the bed were actually quite fresh, what surprised Sara and her aversion to hotel rooms.

She had actually thought more than once about the possibilities of her examining the sheets of the beds before she had to sleep in a hotel room somewhere. She and Greg would actually go camping and while she was not happy about the prospect of all kinds of small animals that she could probably take back for Grissom as a gift, she was glad that she would be able to sleep in her very own sleeping bag, or maybe in Greg’s very own one.

Sara picked up the blanket that was lying next to the bed with gloved hands, intending to examine it as well when her attention was drawn to something that seemed to have been lying between the folds of the blanket. She made another picture of what she realized was a wallet, before she picked it up. It did not look anything out of the ordinary on the outside. Sara opened it carefully. Maybe the case would be solved quicker than expected, if the assailant had left an ID behind. In the inside she did not find anything extraordinary either, that was until she drew out the driver’s license that was in the wallet. She looked at the picture, looked at the name, looked at the date of birth.

She sank weakly on the bed behind her. The first thought that reached her mind was the question why Greg had not told her that he had been in a hotel. The second thought was the convincement that she found herself in some form of suspended reality.

TBC
 
Chapter 2

Sara sealed the last of the evidence bags and looked at the result of her work. It had taken her several hours to process the whole room and now many bags were lying in front of her: diverse items that had been lying around, it was questionable if they had any relation to the crime, dozens of prints she had lifted, many samples she had taken. And then the wallet of course. Sara had bagged it as well, labeled it carefully. It was evidence after all. Only it was not necessary right now to get everybody worked up about something that could be easily explained. Sara was torn between wanting to work everything correctly and wanting to avoid getting Greg into unnecessary trouble. She would work the case following protocol; but she would not go around and tell everybody what she had found. Actually it was her intention to tell it nobody, at least not until she had more in her hands.

She returned to the lab and stored everything she had found away for the time being. The lab was far too swamped, and everybody was far too busy to take the time to look into her case. That was something Sara despised anyway. Her co-workers knew that. Nobody would dare to poke around in her case. And she knew that Grissom trusted her work enough that he would not be behind every step of her.

The urgency to clear the case drove her though. She went to the hospital in that the woman who had been attacked had been delivered in and learned there that the victim would stay overnight for observation. Sara picked up the samples that had been taken from the woman.

Once back at the lab she realized relieved that Wendy had not left yet. This was not something she would have wanted to trust the day-shift DNA tech with. She dropped the samples off in Wendy’s lab, but remained standing there for a moment.

Wendy looked at her as if she suspected that Sara wanted results in this moment.

“It will be ready tonight,” she told Sara simply but forthrightly. The CSI should know that she could not possible gain any results now.

“Can you do me a favor?” Sara asked without reacting to what Wendy had said, who frowned wondering if she has made herself not clear enough.

“Sure,” she replied nevertheless, not wanting to be impolite.

“Call me please when you have the results,” Sara asked. After a moment of consideration she added, “And please don’t give them to anybody else.” Knowing that it would sound harsh but not caring about that right now, Sara offered as an explanation, “It’s my case. I don’t want anybody else poking around in it.” Well, that had really sounded brusque.

“Okay,” Wendy shrugged. She was okay with it, if Sara wanted in this way. The CSI was known for getting disgruntled when a case was taken more or less from her.

“Thanks,” Sara smiled. She had to keep this case in her control for now. But if there was more that pointed at Greg, if the DNA results would do so, she would have no choice than to hand over the case to somebody else. And then she would only be able to hope that Greg would not get into major trouble. Actually she could not imagine that it would happen. DNA would get them a completely different lead. Greg could not have something to do with it. He simply could not. Sara doubted that not for a second.

She wondered how his wallet had gotten to the scene, but she only wondered about other explanations for it than that Greg had been involved in the crime, because that was a possibility she had excluded from the very first moment. She was also asking herself if he was missing his wallet, as he had not mentioned anything like that before shift. And it must had been before shift that he had lost it.

What had they actually done before work? They had been together the whole time. Well, not the whole time. Greg had actually gone to get some take-out food in the evening that they had then eaten at their place before going in for work. He had not been away for more than an hour as far as Sara remembered. It would fit in the possible time frame for the assault though as the victim could not really remember the time… Sara shook her head. She could not start thinking like that. Greg was definitely not involved in that. She knew that one-hundred percent.

Sara changed in the locker room, getting ready to leave, making her way to the reception then, where she and Greg wanted to meet after shift to go home together. She stood nervously in front of the reception desk, waiting for him. They had agreed to call the other if it could take longer, if they had to work overtime, but as Greg had not done so yet, he should be there any moment. She wondered if he had noticed by now that his wallet was missing. She had not seen him during the whole shift but sometime during it he really should have realized that it was gone, considering that his money and driver’s license was in there next to other things.

While she was lost in that thought, Greg had already come up to her, greeting her cheerfully and kissing her briefly. Sara was stiff and he noticed it immediately, frowning worriedly.

“What’s up?” he asked quietly while they were walking towards the exit of the lab.

“Nothing.” She could give him nothing more than this standard answer. What she wanted to do was simply ask him if he was involved in the case, in what way ever, but she could not do it. She had to wait until she knew more. And the fact that she did not want Greg to assume she would think him capable of doing something like that was only one reason for that. Sara felt more than uncomfortable with the whole situation.

When she started the engine of the car that she and Greg had come in the previous night, she threw a glance at him and he smiled at her encouragingly, probably suspecting that it had only been a depressing case that had affected her. And looking at him, she decided that she would hand over the case to somebody else with the next shift, after she had received the results from DNA, no matter how they would turn out. She knew that Greg had not done it, that he was not capable of doing it. She did not need to risk her integrity to protect him. At this thought Sara wondered silently though if she actually would risk it, if it was necessary, if ever a situation would come up in that Greg needed her help in such a way.

“You didn’t even ask today if you could drive,” she remarked, trying to sound lightheartedly. It was an attempt to get the answer out of him if he had noticed that his wallet including his driver’s license was missing. She did not want to ask him directly because how should she know about it, if she had not found it? Greg would get suspicious.

Greg shrugged. “I can’t drive right now.” Sara turned her head in his direction, eyebrows lifted, and he added, “I’ve lost my wallet and my license is gone too.”

Sara turned to look at the traffic again. “When did you notice that?”

“Last night.”

Sara nodded. “Any idea where you lost it?”

Greg rubbed his eyes tiredly. “Nope. I guess I’ll have to go and get new papers.”

Sara nodded and let the issue go for the time being. She had wanted to ask a lot of other questions. For example where he had been. But she reminded herself that this was not an interrogation and that she had to turn off the investigator in her for the moment. Had she not told herself the whole night that Greg was not involved in that? So why did she worry so much about it?

Half an hour later they were both in their pajamas and Greg was already drifting to sleep next to her, but Sara lay awake. She watched him sleeping, after a few minutes finally pressing a soft kiss on his forehead and snuggling up to him. Greg woke up to a certain extent again, or at least he was awake enough to lay his arm around her to increase the comfort. And Sara knew that she trusted him. There was no need to worry. She smiled to herself, falling slowly asleep as well. She trusted him and a tiny, coincidental finding would not take that away from them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And then he ordered a dish that was simply called “Fish plate” and I had warned him that it was a strange restaurant but he hadn’t listened,” Greg narrated cheerfully, while Sara was shoving some more of her noodles into her mouth.

“The plate he got was then really strange,” her boyfriend continued, cutting his own meal into smaller pieces while people kept rushing past them in the busy diner where they were sitting to get some food before they would go into work for the night. “I mean there was something that looked like little snakes on his plate,” Greg grinned and Sara managed to bring a small chuckle. She had not really listened what Greg was telling, nervously waiting for Wendy to call her with the results of DNA, although knowing that she would probably have to wait until after shift had started.

“That was awesome,” Greg ended his story and Sara smiled at him. He did not need to know that something was wrong. Actually nothing was wrong, Sara reminded herself once again. Not yet at least. She could have kicked herself that she was so nervous about the situation. She trusted Greg, she did. And it saddened her, made her angry at herself that she still wondered if he was not somehow involved in the case after all. She must have looked upset because Greg was frowning now, looking as if he was about to ask after her state. She took a large gulp from her glass of water, trying to calm herself again.

That was the moment when her cell-phone started to ring and vibrate in her pocket, and Sara took it out so quickly that she almost spilled the water. She looked at the caller’s ID and saw that it was the call she had been waiting for.

She picked up and said, trying to sound calm, “Hey,” she greeted Wendy and Greg looked at her curiously.

“I have your results,” Wendy said carefully. “I came in early because I knew that you wanted them so badly.”

“Thanks,” Sara pressed out, sounding strained now. Greg frowned, continuing to eat though.

“There was male DNA in the victim’s saliva as well as under her fingernails,” the lab tech told Sara. She was talking quietly and Sara wondered if it was because she knew that Sara was with Greg and tried to avoid that he able to overhear what she was saying.

“And?” Sara asked impatiently. Greg had stopped eating now, watching her worriedly. She knew that she very likely appeared upset and that Greg could not miss that.

“I got a hit with it…,” Wendy continued slowly. “Sara, it’s Greg’s, but-.” Sara cut her off by pressing the off-button, not caring if it was rude towards Wendy, feeling as if the temperature of the room had suddenly fallen to zero degrees as she was trembling.

She wondered if somebody would shake and wake her up any moment because that could not be real. It seemed real though that Greg was sitting opposite of her on the table, looking very puzzled and worried now. “Sara, what is wrong?” he asked even and she could clearly hear him what indicated that he was really there.

She did not answer him though but stood up, turning to go, realizing then that she needed an explanation. “I have to go in early,” she said quickly and hurried away without waiting for him to answer. She saw out of the corner of her eyes how Greg jumped up as if to follow her, but stopped dead then.

Sara left the diner, stepping outside, the cool night air hitting her. This had to be a nightmare. One horrible nightmare. She would wake up any moment, finding herself cuddling in Greg’s arms. Any moment. The moment did not come and although she felt dream-like dizzy Sara had to realize that it was no dream, no nightmare, but actuality. She walked away from the diner, without knowing where she actually went. Bringing out her cell-phone she dialed the number of her boss, who picked up immediately, probably already sitting on some paper work in his office.

“Grissom,” she started, surprised how teary she sounded, realizing only now that she was actually crying. “Grissom, you have to take me off that case. The assault case from last night, you know.” She sobbed quietly, not even understanding what Grissom was asking her worriedly. “I can’t work it anymore,” she finished and turned off her phone without giving him any chance to say more. Some seconds later her phone started to ring again and she saw that it was Grissom who tried to call her back. She turned off her phone completely, unwilling to speak with him right now. She needed to be alone with her thoughts.

Sara trusted Greg. She did, did, did. But that did not help. Nothing was making sense. Everything she thought she knew was crumbling to pieces now.

She wandered aimlessly around for some more minutes, before deciding that she would have to go back to her car and go in to work, no matter what would await her there. Grissom would give the case to someone else. Greg would… she did not want to think about it. Instead she would bury herself into her work. It was the only thing that remained, the only thing that would give her stability.

Sara was not really aware of her surroundings. She had not noticed if anybody had come up to her, had followed her after she had left the diner, while she had walked around randomly. There was no forewarning, no sound, no sign that told her of a danger. Sara only knew that one moment she was walking along the street and the next moment she felt as if she had ran with full-speed against a wall and everything was going black.

TBC
 
Chapter 3

Greg had already noticed before that Sara was troubled by something. Earlier this day he had assumed that she had only been affected by a bad case at work, as she had seemed to be in low spirits when they had met to go home together.

The phone call during dinner had definitely worsened the situation. Sara had been very upset, looking even as if she was about to cry. He had asked her worriedly what was wrong, but that had only been mere seconds before she had fled from him. Yes, that was how it appeared to him. She was running away from him. The only explanation she had offered was that she had to go in early to work. Greg did not believe that for a minute. After all Sara was definitely not the type of person who would get upset if she had to start working a little earlier. So she had obviously lied, but Greg had not the slightest idea what the whole situation was about.

He left the diner more than worried and made his way back to his car. He and Sara had come with each their own cars, as he had gone to get new papers before they had met for diner. He had honestly no idea where he had lost his wallet. It must have happened during the last evening but after he had bought the take-out dinner for him and Sara, as he still had had his money with him back then. It could not have happened when… no, that was highly unlikely. Greg shook his head slightly frustrated.

Sara’s behavior puzzled him though. He wondered what had been on her mind and why she had not told him anything about it. It was not like Sara was the person to communicate anything that was bothering her right away, but the longer they had been together, the more she had been ready to tell him what was on her mind, even if only after he had explicitly asked her. But still he could not complain that Sara had been too secretive in their relationship so far, not more than you could expect, if you knew her. She had definitely tried to be open with him as much as he had tried to give her comfort, and he thought that they both had managed that pretty well up to now.

He hoped that she would have calmed down when they saw each other at work this night. Maybe she would be ready to tell him then what had happened, what had worked her up so much.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Greg had been working for almost three hours, without seeing Sara in the meantime, when Catherine was entering the room he was busy in. He presumed that Sara was out on a scene, or at least he hoped that she was, the alternative would be that she was in the lab but was avoiding him, or hiding from him. Greg had to chuckle at the last thought. Sara would never hide from him; she was far too ready for direct confrontations. But her avoiding him seemed like a definite possibility that Greg did not like at all.

Catherine came up to him, looking at his work for a moment.

“Have you seen Sara?” she asked then.

“Not since we had dinner,” Greg answered without looking up from his task. Catherine did not need to know that the memory of Sara suddenly running away was bothering him.

“She was supposed to meet me an hour ago. Any idea where she is?”

Now Greg turned his head to her. Missing a work-related meeting did not sound like Sara at all.

“No…,” he answered slowly, meeting Catherine’s puzzled expression.

“Her cell-phone’s off, I can’t call her, and she didn’t pick up on your home phone either,” she added.

“I’ll search for her,“ Greg declared, getting up. Sara had turned off her phone, she obviously didn’t want anyone to call her, probably not Greg in particular, who had still no idea why.

“Can you…ehm… have you checked the restroom yet?” he asked Catherine, although he could not really imagine that Sara would hide there, well, he could not even imagine what had actually happened that had made her so upset, but still, it was not exactly something he could see Sara doing. Although the possibility that she was barricading herself there and crying because he had somehow hurt her without knowing it pained him.

Catherine shook her head. “I’ll go and check.” She looked a little questioning though, probably wondering why Greg would think it possible that Sara was there.

Greg walked around the lab, checking in every to him available room for Sara but not finding her. He was just walking towards the break room when he saw Wendy entering this room that was already occupied by Grissom and Catherine. He watched Catherine talking agitatedly to Grissom who did not seem to reply anything. Wendy closed the door behind her and Greg who had stopped outside of the room could see and hear her through the window-blind talking with Grissom and Catherine.

“… I heard she’s kinda missing. I was worried…,” Greg could not understand what was said then until Catherine exclaimed, “What?”

Wendy nodded and Catherine asked, sounding unbelieving, “Greg’s DNA was found on the victim?” Greg froze outside of the room, unbelieving what he was hearing.

Wendy nodded again and finally Grissom interrupted.

“And you called her with the results?”

“Yeah. She shut off her phone though before I was finished.”

Grissom seemed to ponder. “Can you go and get the file of that case?” he asked Wendy, while Catherine muttered, “Sara won’t like that.”

Grissom left that uncommented, while Wendy made her way towards the exit of the room. Greg was not quick enough to get away, so he earned three surprised looks when Wendy opened the door and he was standing there, obviously caught while eavesdropping. Wendy brushed past him.

“I guess you heard what we were talking about, Greg.”

Greg nodded, the bad feeling in his stomach worsening.

“We’ll have to ask you some questions,” Grissom continued and named that what Greg had feared. He had no idea how all that was possible and he was in apprehension that things could turn from bad to worse very quickly.

“Do you have any idea where Sara is?” Catherine interjected and Greg frowned. Had he not told Catherine clearly enough that he did not know that only some minutes ago?

“No, I haven’t seen her since we had dinner,” he answered. “As I have already told you,” he added irritated.

“You know, we have to ask you that,” Catherine defended her question. At this moment Wendy returned with the requested case file. She brushed again past Greg, avoiding his gaze. Greg rolled his eyes.

“Sara called me earlier that she could not work this case any longer,” Grissom told them now, browsing the file the DNA tech had handed him. Finally he read aloud, holding up the by-lying photo, “Wallet found on scene contained driver’s license of Greg Sanders.” Grissom fell silent, looking up at the young CSI.

Greg felt cold. Sara had found his wallet on the scene. And DNA of him had been found on the victim. Silence had sunken in in the break room. Greg knew that he had to act quickly. He was worried, not only for him but for Sara as well. She had apparently disappeared; nobody could know what had maybe happened to her.

“I think I have something to contribute to the case,” he said slowly, the three other people looking at him frowning. “Gotta go and get it,” he added, already turning to go when Grissom nodded his agreement.

Greg walked quickly down the hallway, having no intention to go and get anything. He knew only one thing: he would not sit there, maybe for hours, and answer any questions… or worse… when he did not know where Sara was, what had happened to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grissom and Catherine had sat down at the table in the break room, waiting for Greg to return, while Wendy had preferred to remain standing by the door.

“You don’t think…, “ Catherine broke the silence. Grissom did not answer but Catherine presumed, judging from her own feelings, that Grissom did not think that Greg was responsible for the assault. Even the forming of this thought was already ridiculous. It was simply impossible and if somebody had told Catherine something different she would have assumed that either the other person was not right in the head, or that she, Catherine, was in some odd sort of reality.

Her thoughts returned to Sara. The brunette must have thought the worst when she had heard of the results of DNA although Catherine was disappointed in her that she obviously did not trust Greg enough to know that he could never do that, especially after the two had been a couple for almost a year now, were living together for a long time already. Sara had to know that, no matter what the evidence said. Evidence did not lie, like Grissom liked to say, but it could definitely be interpreted wrong.

Catherine still presumed that Sara had wanted to avoid Greg because of all of that and had not come in to work therefore, even though that was uncharacteristic for her. Catherine would have rather expected Sara to bury herself into work instead.

The silence even seemed to expand the time they were waiting there, before an ugly thought hit Catherine.

“Where is he?” she started carefully, realizing how long Greg was already gone. Nobody answered her. “You don’t think…, “ she repeated her earlier words. Grissom brought out his cell-phone and Catherine guessed that he was dialing Greg’s number. Then the well-known sound of a temporarily not available number was coming from Grissom’s cell-phone.

Catherine could not believe it. Greg had not only vanished, run actually, he had shut off his phone as well.

Grissom stood up sighing. “Let’s just say for the time being that Greg is not available right now.” Catherine had to applaud him inwardly for the considerate way he had put it. At this moment Wendy started to mutter swear words and Catherine and Grissom looked at her quickly.

“What is?” the blonde woman asked heatedly.

“I forgot it. I was so worked up that I forgot it.”

TBC
 
ooh! this is sooo good!
i'm technically not a sandles fan, but it's my second favorite sara ship.
 
Chapter 4

Greg had just lied to his boss, to another supervisor and to a friend, but he had far worse problems than to really care about that. Leaving the lab, his first intention was to check at home to see if Sara was there after all. He sincerely hoped that was the case, although it was unlikely as Catherine had not been able to call her there. But maybe she just didn’t pick up the phone. On the other hand he hadn’t been able to reach her on her cell-phone when he had tried it while walking down the hallway in the lab, right before he had shut off his own phone to make sure that nobody would be able to call him.

As long as they could not call him to order him to come back it wasn’t like he acted against a direct instruction of his boss. Apart from the fact that he had already screwed it by lying to the very same boss, and by technically being on the run, considering that Grissom had wanted to ask him questions as he was in a way a suspect in a assault case, and Greg had chosen to make a disappearance, on top of the while he was on the clock, even though his reason was that he needed to find out where Sara was, what had happened to her.

Greg parked near the apartment complex where Sara and he were living, knowing that he had to hurry, as this was probably the first place where the lab would look for him, apart from that he could not really imagine that they would really search for him, as they would know that he would return to the lab, sooner or later. As for Greg’s intentions this point of time would not come though before he had found Sara. A quick look through their apartment brought Greg the excepted disappointment; Sara was not there. And neither was there any sign that she had been there in the last couple of hours.

He quickly left the apartment again, making his way to his next destination. Greg knew now what had been bothering Sara. The evidence had made her suspect that he had been involved in the assault case. She had probably not really believed that he had something to do with it, but the phone call from Wendy, the DNA results had shaken this trust. In a way he could understand her. While a wallet found on the scene could be rather coincidental, DNA found on the victim was strong evidence. And although Sara was not so heavily and solely focused on the evidence without a real inclusion of the human part like Grissom was, it must have been a heavy blow for her. The doubt must have been nagging on her during the whole day; she had not known what to think. On the other side Greg would have thought that Sara believed to know him well enough, trusted him enough to know that he could not possibly be involved in the crime.

************************************************************

Greg stood in the parking lot of the hospital, wondering how he could do this best. A hospital was the most probable answer he had come up with to the question where Sara was. She was not at home; she was not at work – the place where Greg would have figured she would be. Her private life shaken, as Greg guessed Sara had conceived it, she would have taken refugee in her work, but apparently she had not. He doubted that she had gone to somebody else. The list of Sara’s friends outside of work was short and Greg didn’t think that she would go to any of them in a situation like the one she had been in. It was more likely that she would have turned to one of her friends at work, and Greg saw Nick as the next person Sara would go to. None of this she had done though. There was of course still the possibility that she had packed some things – although their apartment didn’t look like that – and had taken a room somewhere, only to get away from Greg. But still, she would have gone in to work, Greg didn’t doubt that.

So the most logical solution that remained was that Sara had had some kind of accident and was in a hospital. Greg would wonder in this case though why he had not been informed so far, considering that he was Sara’s emergency contact. He didn’t want to think about worse alternatives.

Greg made his way to the reception desk of the hospital. When the woman who was working there looked up to ask him after his intentions this early in the morning, he beat her to it.

“I’m searching for my fiancée. She didn’t come home last night and … I think she might’ve had an accident.”

************************************************************

Greg rubbed his eyes, leaning against his car. He had just left the second hospital in that he had asked after Sara. Nobody had been able to tell him anything. Now the sun was already going up and Greg still had no sign of Sara. And the only thing he could do was continuing his search in the way he had begun it. Actually the search would be much easier and faster, if the lab could help him, but nobody would search for her before she was officially missing and that she would not be before at least twenty-four hours had passed.

Greg switched on his cell-phone again that had been out for hours. He tried to call Sara, but her phone was still out. His try on their home phone was not successful either. He had just ended that call, sighing, when his cell-phone started ringing and showed that it was Catherine who was trying to call him.

Greg was hesitant to pick up, having no intention to return to the lab now. As soon as he had found Sara, they could pester him with questions as much as they wanted – he would hopefully be able to make clear that he was not involved in the assault, hopefully they would believe him despite the evidence and if not, he hoped that he would be able to explain it. But before Greg found Sara, he would not go to the lab, no matter what Catherine would say.

He picked up her call, only because he hoped that they had found out in the meantime where Sara was.

He picked up but remained silent, waiting for his colleague to say something.

“Greg?” sounded Catherine’s worried voice in his ear.

“Yeah,” he said finally.

“Greg, where are you? What did you think to run off-“

Greg cut her off, trying to sound determined.

“I’m searching for Sara.”

“And we are searching for you,” Catherine threw in heatedly. Greg was silent again.

“Greg, we are all worried for Sara as well, but-,” Greg shut off his phone again, sorry that he had to cut off Catherine like that, knowing that she would grill him, when she got her hands on him.

He got into his car and drove to the next hospital on his list, and made his way to the reception desk again.

“I’m searching for my fiancée, Sara Sidle. She didn’t come home last night. I think that she had maybe an accident and was delivered in here. Can you tell me anything?” he asked for the third time this night. The receptionist started to type into the computer.

“Sara Sidle, Sara without ‘H’,” Greg repeated.

“No entry,” the woman said after some seconds and Greg sighed.

“She’s almost as tall as I,” he started to describe Sara as he had done already twice this night. “She’s slender, has brown, shoulder-length hair.” He brought out a picture of him and Sara in the break room of the lab. “I have a picture of us.” He gave it to the receptionist.

She stood up, walked a short way down the hallway and vanished into a room. Two minutes later she returned and Greg watched her in anticipation.

“What is your relation to Ms. Sidle?”

“She’s my fiancée. I’m her emergency contact actually.”

The receptionist handed him the picture back. “Your description and the picture fit to a woman we were not able to identify yet.”

“How is she?” Greg asked quickly, but the woman did not answer him but motioned him to follow her.

“Can you identify her, please?” she asked after they had walked down the hallway for some seconds.

Greg swallowed. “Yeah.”

At this moment a doctor joined them.

“Would you please follow me, Mr. …?” he addressed Greg.

“Sanders.”

The man nodded and Greg followed him along several hallways until they stopped in front of a room in that they could look from the hallway through a window. Greg recognized her already from the distance. Sara was lying in the hospital bed in the room, eyes closed. Looking at her, he was relieved that he had finally found her, but was anxious about her state.

He nodded towards the doctor. “That’s Sara. How is she? What happened to her?” he wanted to know urgently.

“When she was brought in, she was unconscious. She has some bruises and scratches on her back, the worst is the concussion though, but she should be alright in a couple of days.”

“What happened and why is she still unconscious?”

“There was apparently a car accident. The woman who called 911 has given a statement to the police department, we don’t know any details. Ms. Sidle was unconscious for a short time and she had nothing with her, no identifying papers, so we did not know who she is. She woke up for a short time, but fell asleep before we could ask after her name. She is sleeping now, but should wake up soon. What she needs is rest.”

Greg nodded, relieved. “Can I go in?”

The other man nodded and opened the door to the hospital room quietly, Greg following him. Greg sat down in the chair next to the bed, happy that the fearful night was finally over. Sara was sleeping peacefully in the bed and when he looked at her, only able to see her face and her underarms as she was covered with a blanket, he would not have even suspected that she was hurt, if he had not known. He only wondered what she would think, what she would feel, when she woke up and saw him. She needed her rest, the doctor had said, and Greg did not want to upset her.

Before Greg could ponder about that longer though, Sara already opened her eyes. After some seconds she lifted her head, and looked directly at Greg. It took only a moment before her expression turned into a frown.

“Sara, I’m glad you’re awake,” Greg started, taking her hand in his. She drew her hand back though, and Greg tried to ignore the painful sting it gave him.

“I don’t want to see you,” Sara said quietly, and Greg closed his eyes for a moment, swallowing.

“Sara, I don’t have anything to do with that assault case, if that is what you mean,” he tried to assure her, reaching to stroke her hair.

Sara sat up in the bed, only to avoid his touch and Greg let his hand sink disappointedly.

“I don’t know what to think,” she said. Greg was silent and tears started to well up in Sara’s eyes. “I trust you, Greg. How could I not? But everything’s just so confusing,” she continued, almost sobbing. She rubbed her forehead with her left hand, her right hand connected with an IV. “My head is hurting.”

“You have a concussion. You’ll be fine, you only need some rest,” Greg told her, not able to suppress the worry though, getting up. “I’ll go, so you can get your rest. I only make you upset,” he added sadly.

Now Sara reached for his arm, pulling him back. “No, stay. Tell me what happened to me. And then we can talk about the other thing.”

Greg nodded, sitting down again.

“But calm down, okay? We don’t want to see your noodles of last night again,” he teased smiling, trying to lighten the mood. When Sara frowned asking, he added, “Common side-effect of a concussion.”

Sara shook her head. “Thanks, Greg. I needed that right now.”

“Sorry,” Greg apologized quickly, but Sara told him to get back on topic.

“You had a car accident. I don’t know any details yet,” he started and Sara nodded.

“I can only remember walking down the street and then it was just as if I had run against a wall and all got black,” she told him quietly.

“The hospital was not able to identify you because you had nothing with you-,” Greg narrated, interrupted by Sara, “My purse?”

Greg shrugged. “I don’t know. It wasn’t there apparently.” Sara shrugged as well and Greg continued, “We, I mean I and the others, didn’t know where you were. I was really worried and I searched for you.”

Sara smiled and Greg got up, causing her expression to change to a questioning one again.

“I’ll go and call the lab that I found you. I mean they were worried and they don’t know yet.” He reached for her hand again to squeeze it lightly, and this time Sara didn’t draw back.

“And when I’m back I’ll tell you how I think my DNA got on that woman,” he promised her, Sara wincing slightly at the mentioning of the results she had received shortly before her accident.

“One thing I can assure you: I didn’t do anything to that woman. I would never hurt anybody, you know that,” Greg told her earnestly, and Sara nodded.

“I believe you,” she said simply.

“That’s great,” Greg smiled broadly, causing Sara to mirror his expression. He pressed a kiss on her lips, before he stroke her hair briefly and left the room, Sara looking after him.

TBC
 
Chapter 5

When Greg returned to Sara’s room, a nurse was just busy checking her blood pressure. Sara looked at him when he was coming slowly through the door and smiled. Greg waved to her, waiting for the nurse to finish her task. Greg could not suppress grinning. He was convinced that now everything would turn out to be alright again after that bad day, after that even worse night. Sara would be fine, and he was optimistic that he would be able to clear himself, and he and Sara were good too. Maybe he would even be able to talk Grissom into giving them their vacation earlier than they had planned so that Sara could get more rest before she went back to work, although the doctor had said that nothing really hindered her from going back to work in a couple of days, preconditioned that there were no complications. Greg thought that the warnings of any possible complications were only standard procedure and that they did not really have to worry.

The nurse was finished and left the room, leaving space for Greg to walk up to Sara’s bed quickly and take her into his arms.

“Hey, don’t overdo it,” she protested chuckling.

Greg jumped back. “Did I hurt you?”

Sara shook her head. “No, you didn’t.”

Greg sat down next to her again and leaned over, kissing her. He drew then back a little.

“You just should’ve asked me about the whole mess. Maybe we wouldn’t have had that fright then,” he told her thinking of the fearful night. Sara looked downwards and Greg was immediately sorry that he said something that could be taken as reproach, even though he had not meant it in that way.

“Yeah,” she answered. “I just… I was hanging between wanting to ask you and not wanting to compromise the case.” After some seconds she added, “And at first, that means before I had the DNA results, I didn’t want to ask you because I thought that you would think I don’t trust you, if I ask you stuff like that.”

Greg could imagine that the conception of suddenly asking him if he was entangled in an assault case, had not been easy for Sara. And naturally she had wanted to know more before giving way to a suspicion, it was how they were supposed to do their job after all.

Greg kissed her hair, stroking her back and Sara relaxed again.

“It’s alright. I’m just happy that you’re okay,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “But I guess we have to answer some questions now.”

Sara nodded. “Do you have any idea how your DNA got on that woman? And your wallet in the hotel room?”

Greg rubbed his forehead trying to remember clearly what had happened two nights ago.

“Is that woman about 5’5, blonde hairs, brown eyes?” he asked, venturing a guess he had had for some time.

Sara frowned. “So you know her then?” she confirmed his idea indirectly.

“Know is said too much, but somehow my DNA had to get on her, didn’t it?”

Sara looked at him expectantly. “So how did it get there?”

Greg shrugged. “We kissed.”

“What?”

Greg feared for a moment that Sara’s yell would make the whole hospital staff come running to her room, but only the nurse that had been attending Sara earlier, stuck her head into the room and Greg assured her quickly that everything was fine.

By now Sara was looking daggers at him.

“You did what?” she exclaimed, this time a little quieter than before, but not less fiercely.

“You remember how I was out to get take-out that evening?”

Sara nodded, still frowning.

“Well, I was just on my way out of the restaurant when that woman ran into me, or I into her, I’m not so sure. She smelled of alcohol and seemed rather drunk. I help her stand and said a few apologizing words. Then she suddenly grabbed me around the neck and kissed me. She had her tongue into my mouth before I could even react.”

Sara’s look was still penetrating.

“I was really perplexed and all. I think that’s when she stole my wallet,” Greg continued, gauging Sara’s reaction.

“You think?” she said slowly.

Greg nodded. “That’s the only way I can explain it. I had it until then because I paid our food just some moments before. She took it, went to that hotel, got assaulted then and my wallet remained in her room.”

“It’s possible,” Sara confirmed carefully. Greg looked at her trustingly, and then she smiled.

“I believe you. I already told you that before you explained anything, remember?” She took his hand and pulled him over to her again.

“I trust you,” Sara assured him. “I love you.”

Greg stroked her hair. “That’s good,” he said grinning now, and when Sara lifted her eyebrows, he added, “I love you too.”

Sara chuckled and it was only some minutes later, when Greg got up slowly, that she really stopped doing it.

“I have to go back to the lab now. I told them on the phone that I’d talk to you and then come back,” Greg announced.

“Didn’t you talk to them earlier?” Sara wondered.

“Nope. I’m kinda on the run, you know,” Greg said, winking at her.

“You’re what?” Sara exclaimed unbelieving. “You’re joking, right?”

Greg pressed a kiss on her temple. “Not exactly.”

Sara grabbed him around his shoulders. “Explain,” she demanded. Greg bent down for another kiss and Sara let her arms sink.

“Well, at the lab we were wondering where you were, and then Wendy told Grissom and Cath about the DNA results. You can imagine that they had some questions for me. But I was worried for you; I didn’t want to sit there maybe for hours, answering their question, when I didn’t know where you are. So I left,” Greg told her quickly.

“Without telling them?” Sara wanted to know, sounding resignedly as she already believed to know the answer.

Greg grimaced. “Kinda,” he admitted, stepping away from her. “We’ll talk later. I gotta go now,” he added quietly and left the room quickly, before he could be tempted to stay even longer.

“Don’t get yourself into trouble,” Sara called after him weakly, before she let herself sink back into her bad, slightly frustrated and a little more worried.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara tried to relax again, something that was not exactly easy, considering that she was lying in a hospital bed, wondering and waiting for Greg to return. It had been more than two hours already since he had left and Sara had presumed after what he had said that he would only stop by the lab briefly to inform their co-workers of what had happened and would then come back as quickly as possible.

Well, that had not happened so far and Sara was getting impatient. The doctor that had talked to her about an hour ago had not said anything about injuries she had that she would not recover from by simply having some rest and Sara held the opinion that she could just as well have her rest on her couch at home where she could read some forensic magazines or browse through some case files Greg might be able to smuggle to her, all under the assumption that she would not be allowed to work.

As the time passed, Sara grew not only more impatient, but also more worried, as Greg did not return. His earlier comments that he had left the lab without notice, right when Grissom and Catherine had gotten wind of the case, did not bore well.

Greg’s explanation appeared logical, and Sara believed him one hundred percent, the question was only, what would happen if the people at the lab didn’t believe him? Sara’s apprehension was growing and before long, she was pressing the call button for her nurse. The one, who had been in earlier, came quickly, looking at Sara questioningly. Sara lifted her right hand that was still connected to the IV.

“Can you please take this out?” she asked. She would have taken it out herself but guessed that this would be considered acting irresponsible to herself and would cause only more trouble to get her out.

She added, explaining, “I want to leave.”

The nurse frowned. “You had an accident, dear, and you have a concussion. You haven’t even been here for twenty-four hours.”

Sara shook her head. “I’m fine and I have to take care of something,” she declared decidedly. The nurse hesitated.

“I’ll get your doctor,” she said finally, and when she turned her back to Sara, leaving the room, the CSI only rolled her eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One hour later Sara was sitting in a cab on the way to the lab. It had taken her longer than she had hoped as she had needed some time to convince the hospital staff to let her go, even if it was on her own responsibility, and then to get her clothes that she had been wearing when she had had the accident as she had nothing else to wear, since Greg had not had the opportunity to bring her something from home.

The drive went surprisingly quickly, and as soon as they stopped near the entrance of the lab, Sara jumped out, telling the driver to wait for a minute. She went quickly into the building, meeting one of the people she had hoped to find.

“Nick,” she called, and Nick strode over to her, taking her by surprise when he hugged her.

“Sara, we were so worried,” he told her, and Sara smiled reluctantly into his embrace.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. Sara could have asked him the same at this time of day. Of course it was possible that Nick was simply working a double-shift but Sara was afraid that the reason was the man she had been living together with for half a year.

“Can you pay my cab, please?” she returned, instead of answering Nick’s question. “I didn’t have anything with me at the hospital. I’ll pay back of course.”

Nothing could have hindered Nick from doing her that favor, and so he went out for a minute, Sara waiting for him, even though she was impatient to learn where Greg was.

The moment Nick returned, she didn’t even give him the chance to start asking about her again.

“Where is Greg?” she wanted to know.

“Interrogation room,” Nick replied simply, and Sara turned on her heals and marched down the hallway in the direction of said room. She could already see from the distance that Grissom was standing outside of the room, looking through the window into the inside. It didn’t surprise her that Grissom was still at the lab as well; the man rarely went home on time, and considering the situation he would have stayed anyway, wanting to take the matter in his hand, before other sides, especially people like Ecklie would get the idea to interfere. That was what made Sara wonder when she approached her boss. She was asking herself why he was not inside the room, but waiting outside.

Short before she reached him, Grissom looked in her direction and his expression turned to surprise. Sara stopped next to him, glancing into the interrogation room. Her apprehension was confirmed when she saw that Greg was indeed sitting in there, as well as Catherine and Sofia who had seated themselves opposite of him. Sara turned to her boss next to her.

“What are you doing?” she exclaimed unbelievingly.

TBC
 
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