Broken (GSR, kinda...)

D

dee_ecklie

Victim
Title: Broken
Author: Pandora
Series: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Rating: PG13/T for now
Spoilers: Formalities, No Humans Involved, Nesting Dolls
Pairing: None, really, but a little implied GSR.
Disclaimer: CSI and all related characters belong to Jerry Bruckheimer, et al. They're not mine.

Catherine Willows tossed the pen she was holding across the room and watched as it bounced off the wall and hit the floor. Ever since she had been made swing shift supervisor, her relationship with Grissom had been strained at best. She had hoped that he would be there to offer advice, support, or at the very least be there to bounce questions or ideas off of him. Instead, he had been withdrawing more and more, until Catherine felt closer to Conrad Ecklie of all people than she did to Grissom. Grissom's only response to that had been to tell her that she was spending too much time with Ecklie. Catherine had very carefully bitten back her reply. At least Ecklie will talk to me, Grissom. She had only bit it back because she knew it would hurt more than was necessary, but it was true. Conrad, to her surprise given all she had heard about Ecklie from Gil and the others on the team, had proven far more supportive than she could have hoped. His door was always open, and he never hesitated to offer advice and didn't take offense if she didn't happen to agree with him. Most of the time. He had been the only reason she still had her head on straight, since her team was short-handed and she had Grissom's animosity and Sara's latest outburst to deal with. She was amazed, in fact, that Ecklie had come racing to her defense.

Catherine hated to acknowledge it, but Grissom's reaction hurt. The final straw had come the argument two days ago when he had walked into her office to talk to her and Ecklie had been there. He had been on her side of her desk, his arm draped across the back of her chair, leaning in to look at the crime scene photographs she had called him down to show him. Ecklie had left after briefly discussing the argument with Sara that had brought her ability to function as a professional into question. After staring at her wordlessly for a moment, he had, rather than launching into the expected tirade, merely spoke very softly. That meant, Catherine had come to realize, that Grissom was as close to livid as she had ever seen him.

“Why are you doing this, Catherine?” Gil was staring at her as though she had hurt him. Maybe, she realized, she had. She had always known that Grissom and Sara were close but this was going too far. She shook her head. As far as she was concerned, Sara was the one who had been entirely too inappropriate. She had done nothing wrong, and she suspected that Grissom was angry that Ecklie had ordered him to fire Sara. Of course, he would come rushing to her defense.

She's a loose cannon with a gun and she's all yours. Ecklie was right about that. Catherine was done. With Gil, with Sara, with all of it. Her team was her focus now. Her work. The thought that she was beginning to sound like Grissom only irritated her further and her reply was more harsh than she had intended.

“Why am I doing what, exactly? Sara was inappropriate with me and she was insubordinate to Ecklie. There is nothing more to be said.”

“This isn't about Ecklie. It's about you. You and Sara hated each other from the start but I think it has gotten out of hand.”

“I agree. That's why I appreciate Ecklie's support in this.”

“He's being entirely too supportive, if you ask me.”

“I didn't.” Catherine said coldly. “Oh, wait. Actually, I did. You didn't have time for me, so I went to Ecklie.”

“What else did you go to Ecklie for, Catherine?” Grissom asked softly, and her mouth opened, but no sound came out. For a moment, she just stared at him without a word, and then she found her voice again. Apparently, Gil really was taking Sara's side in this. No wonder he hadn't followed Ecklie's order to fire her.

“Get out,” she said coldly, but by the time she spoke, Gil was already turning, and promptly left, slamming the door behind him. For the first time since Eddie had died, she hid her face in her hands, and felt hot tears burning behind her eyes. She was crying. She never cried.

[more to come, eventually]
 
Author's note: I tend to be a little sympathetic towards Ecklie's character. I like him, but then... I always have liked the bad guys, and I think it's because they have attitude. By the way, my apologies if my reference Eddie's death is out of sync here. If you want to consider this taking place several months after “Nesting Dolls,” go ahead. I cannot remember in which episode Eddie was killed. I know it was a while before “Weeping Willows” but I am not sure how long before. 'Course, if you don't mind seeing a little Cath/Ecklie, say so in your reviews and I shall be quite happy to oblige! Also sorry that these are so short, I'm trying to get as much up as I write as I can. [I have also posted this on fanfiction.net as Pandora40, my penname there]

Part 2

Grissom leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, trying to calm his temper. It had been a long time since he had lost it like that and he was not sure why this had affected him the way it had. Professionally, he hated to admit it, but Catherine had been right. He had read Ecklie's memo regarding the incident in question and Sara had been out of line, but he knew now that there were reasons for it. He also knew that he had, just now, hurt Catherine as much as anything Sara had said, but she was the only one on the team who did not seem upset by Conrad's breaking them up. He was still smarting from that, and here Catherine was getting closer to Ecklie, of all people. He hated to focus his dislike of the man onto Catherine, but she did seem to be taking his side in all of this.

“You okay, Gris?” It was Warrick, on his way to talk to his new supervisor, evidently.

“Yeah, I'm fine.” Without another word, Grissom walked away, and Warrick poked his head into Catherine's office. Was it his imagination, or had she recently been crying?

“What IS going on around here, Catherine?”

“I really don't want to talk about it,” she said. “Now, about the case...”

---

Sara Sidle walked into Gil's office the day her suspension was supposed to end. She looked at him curiously, across the desk. She knew he had saved her butt this time around and she wasn't sure why Grissom had stuck up for her. She didn't regret what she had said to Catherine—in fact, she had meant every word of it—but she regretted putting Grissom in a position where he had to bail her out of hot water, namely, Ecklie.

“Why didn't you fire me?” she asked. “You probably made Ecklie mad as hell by not following his orders.

“He's not happy, but it's my decision. Either I submit the disciplinary action, or I don't. I'm not going to, because of what you told me earlier.” Grissom leaned back in his chair and took off his reading glasses. “Sara, you are a good CSI and I want you on my team. I accept what you told me earlier, and I expect that it won't happen again.” And, I need you. He didn't add that last part. She did not need to know about that. Yet.

“No. It won't happen again,” she assured him. “Grissom—thanks.”

“All right.” He passed an assignment to her across the desk. “Take Greg along. He needs the experience.”

“Sure.” She gave him a smile, then left the office.
 
Rating: PG13/T for now
Click to expand...

Well as long as it stays under the PG13/T meter it's okay, if you think you'll go over, i'm sorry to tell you you can't post it here ;)

Interesting start indeed, glad to see some Ecklie references!
 
*jumps up and down* somebody else who doesn't mind Ecklie? That makes me happy!!

The rating, will, of course stay at the listed rating. No graphic scenes here. <goes off to write>
 
Part 3


a/n: Thanks to all who've commented. I've had one request for a little more of Ecklie, and that is fine with me! Don't worry, this is certainly more GSR than any other pairing.

Sara sighed as she sat down on the bench in the locker room, as she was getting ready to start her shift. Closing her eyes, she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her legs and pinched the bridge of her nose as though trying to thwart a sinus headache. She could feel a little pressure and she had little doubt that it was stress-induced. All of the drama with Catherine and Ecklie and Grissom was starting to get to her, but she had to confess that she was as surprised as Ecklie that Gil hadn't fired her this time. She didn't regret any of what she had said, but all the same, she had been out of line with both Catherine and Ecklie and she didn't blame Ecklie one bit for wanting her gone.

Was that what I was trying to do?

The question had been nagging at her since she had exploded at Catherine in the hall. Catherine was, after all, a supervisor, even if she wasn't her supervisor, Ecklie had been right in saying that Catherine was her superior. So why had she said what she did? Was she, in fact, trying to get herself fired? It wouldn't be the first time she had been self-destructive, and the DUI on her record was the irrefutable evidence of that. What on earth was the matter with her?

Then, unbidden, came the memory of Grissom's hand holding hers as she cried. He had kept his distance, but for the first time she had found herself realizing that Grissom really cared about her. The truth was, that if she was fired the only people she would really miss were Grissom, Greg, and maybe Nick. Warrick was too close to Catherine to really see eye-to-eye with her, Sara thought. She liked him, of course, but she was closer to Nick. But above all, she was closest to Grissom. She had certainly been attracted to him from the beginning, and now she was starting to wonder if there was more than a slight chance of a relationship in the works. Yesterday, she would have said no. Today she wasn't so sure.

---

Catherine knocked on the open door of Ecklie's office, and he looked up and gave her a smile.

“Catherine! What can I do for you?”

“I wanted to thank you for backing me up with the problem with Sara,” she said, coming in and taking one of the chairs across from his desk.

“It's my job, Catherine. Personnel assignments and discipline falls under my jurisdiction as assistant director. I would have done that for any supervisor on my team.”

“I'm sure you would, but I wanted to thank you, anyway.”

“If you have any more trouble with her, let me know, and regardless of Grissom's actions on her behalf, I assure you I'll take the problem to the director.”

“Thanks, but somehow I don't forsee there being any more trouble. I have no doubt that she is well aware of how close she came to being fired.”

“What's that?” he pointed to the file in her hand.

“Some crime scene photographs from the Davis case that I wanted to show you.” She passed it across to him. “We're at a bit of a loss where to go from here and I was hoping you could offer some advice.”

“Sure.” Ecklie leaned back in his chair as she passed him the photos. Almost out of habit she came around his desk and stood next to him, leaning close and pointing to indicate the problem. She did not notice Grissom walk past and look in, frowning, and then shaking his head as if in disgust as he continued down the hall.
 
Part 4
a/n: The flashback scene is line-for-line quoted from the episode “Nesting Dolls.”

[Flashback]

“You can't arrest someone for marrying the wrong person,” Catherine said, irritated, as she and Sara continued down the hall.

“You would know,” Sara bit back. Catherine glanced at her, then, deciding to let it pass, she took a deep breath and replied professionally.

“If the guy is an abuser, if he killed his first wife, we will build a case and we will nail him.”

“And in the mean time, he can just keep using her as a punching bag,” Sara snapped. Catherine sighed, wondering what this was all about.

“Sara, I was there, there wasn't a mark on her.” Indeed, June, the suspect Andrew Melton's current wife, had seemed in excellent health, if a little skinny, almost to the point of looking anorexic.

“Not that we could see, Catherine.” Sara's tone was agitated and angry, and Catherine again finding herself biting back a more abrupt and harsh response than the one she gave. She stopped and turned to her colleague.

“You know, every time we get a case with a hint of domestic violence or abuse, you go off the deep end. What is your problem?”

“Yeah, I probably do, and you let your sexuality cloud your judgment about men and I'm going to go over your head.”

[/flashback]

Sara jerked awake with a start, the dream ending before Ecklie had called her to his office to be accountable for the words she had snapped at Catherine. It had gone from bad to worse, she had gone on to insult Ecklie to the point that he had suspended her for a week without pay and demanded that she apologize to Catherine when she returned. It still bothered her. Then, the scene shifted, back to her apartment. Not only had Grissom taken her hand as she cried, he had taken her in his arms. The look in his eyes had been such great pain. For her. Empathy- something she had not been familiar with growing up. The system was cold, and so was the world. Love was not something she had ever experienced. She chose men who were, as she had told Grissom, emotionally unavailable because it hurt less when they let her down, as they inevitably would. At least—that was the theory. In practice it had been less than accurate. Hank had only been the most recent let-down. Then—she and Catherine had not seemed like enemies. What had happened?

Ecklie. Catherine had begun to like and respect Ecklie, for whatever reason, and it was putting her at odds with Grissom and the rest of the team, and Catherine resented it, if only subconsciously. Sara knew, as she had said, that it was, in fact, her sexuality clouding her judgment. Ever since she had been made a supervisor Catherine was acting more and more like Ecklie, and less like Grissom, and Sara suspected that was why she and Catherine were now static opposites. She knew that Grissom resented her loyalty to the lab's new assistant director and that Catherine recognized Sara's now-stronger friendship with Grissom. She suspected that Catherine's animosity towards Sara was really misplaced animosity towards Grissom. She couldn't lash out at Grissom and so she was lashing out at his closest ally – Sara. Catherine no longer fit that category because, as Grissom had told her, she was spending too much time with Ecklie. She was starting to think like him.

Sara had to admit that she was disappointed in Catherine. Gil had told her about walking into her office to see her sitting close to Ecklie, his arm draped across the back of her chair, and that he had lost his temper with her after Ecklie had left the room.

What else did you go to Ecklie for, Catherine?

Grissom had a point. If she was seated so close to Ecklie comfortably, Sara had to wonder if that wasn't why the assistant director had come rushing to Catherine's defense, or, at the very least, if that was what Gil had thought, and if that was the real reason that he hadn't fired her. Of course, they had wanted Gil to fire Warrick after Holly Gribbs was killed, too, and Grissom hadn't. What was it they had once called him? The tin man with a heart? Sara smiled despite herself. This was most certainly true. She didn't deserve the second chance she'd been given, but she was absolutely certain that she would not let him down again.

Sara reached for the phone, then set it down again without dialing and went to the lab. She knocked on Grissom's open door- she was not surprised to see him at work. He looked up, and gave her a tired smile.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” She approached the desk. “I... was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me. Before the shift. My treat?” she asked softly. Grissom hesitated, then nodded. As they left his office he put a hand in the small of her back, and Sara found herself surprisingly aware of the warmth of him being so close. As they headed down the hallway, they passed Catherine, who barely acknowledged either of them, but Sara was aware of pain in her friend's eyes. Gil turned back and Sara glanced over her shoulder. Catherine was, of course, disappearing into Ecklie's office. Again.

“She really is spending too much time with him,” Sara said with an effort at lightness. Grissom didn't reply. So that was what was bothering him. He must see Catherine as some kind of traitor- she had taken two members of his team and become loyal to Ecklie. Sara was surprised to find herself annoyed by the continued tension. They'd been friends, once. Maybe, she thought, it wasn't too late to change things back to the way they had been. Maybe Catherine was only spending as much time with Ecklie as she was because Ecklie was the only one who'd listen. Maybe, she thought, she could work on Gil to change his mind while they had dinner.
 
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