Title : AS SURE AS THE SUN

Written by SeudSidle

Chapter 2

[Jim Brass]

 

Toilet paper. Orange juice. Tomatoes. Milk.

I'm getting old. There were five things that I needed to buy and all I can remember now is four. There are times that I feel older than my age. Like now for example. I watched Sanders and Sara last night. Those kids are unstoppable, they went on and on. Experiment after experiment. Sara was showing off to Greg and the poor boy was drooling on her.

I prefer her to show off in the lab rather to a bar. With Greg in her side she would do nothing stupid. She's too responsible for that. Greg probably will be disappointed but he's Sara's little brother. I saw them fooling around like brother and sister. Talking about a trilogy.

Yeah, right. The name is Neo. They looked me like I had grown a second head. Just because I'm over forty doesn't mean that I can't enjoy a good movie. Plus that Trinity baby rocks. All this leather, how much a man can take? Anyway, when Sara gave me her `I –don't-fucking-believe-it' look, I left.

Soap! I need to buy soap. Toilet paper, orange juice, tomatoes, milk and soap. Okay, good. I feel like I'm five years younger now. Truth is that I'm not getting any younger. My bones are hurting me every time the weather changes. My lungs are killing me every time I have to run. I grown hair in places that I thought it was not possible, I'm loosing hair from my head. I accepted the fact that I'm old when I looked a car over a beautiful woman.

"Penny for your thoughts."

"Trust me `Rick, they don't cost so much."

"Outs! That bad huh?"

"I'm old."

He looks at me with surprise, and then he smiles. Yeah, that's something that Grissom would tell. Actually he did tell! To.. What's his name? Dr.Lurie? Too many suspects too many names. I'm glad when I remember my name at the end of the day.

"You? Old? Who said that?"

"Greg. Sara."

"Okay, you know what? When you put Greg and Sara together, it's bad. Why they told you that you're old?"

"They didn't tell me, they just looked me funny when I mention that I liked the Matrix. They had… exactly the same face as you now. Thanks a lot `Rick."

I turn to leave and he grabs my hand. He's not smiling but his eyes prove him wrong. He's two minutes away before he tells the whole lab that I have a leather fetish. Which I don't. Honest. Well, maybe a little. That's why I had so much fun in Lady's Heather place.

"Some days we all feel old. It comes with the job."

He leaves. Some of those days one woman will be very lucky. Warrick will make his woman feel like she's the only one, and probably she will be. I'm proud for him. Warrick is the stability of the lab. Nick the innocence-I don't want to use another word, Catherine is the sexuality, Greg's the little child inside us, Grissom the mind. Sara used to be the spark.

I need a brake; and I don't mean a cigarette brake. I need vacations. I'll go north. Catch some snow. I miss New Jersey's winters. I miss a real winter. With the temperature no more than 20 degrees. Snow. I miss snow.

I'm going out when I see with the corner of my eye Sara talking with Simmons. They are smiling. How can she do that? How can she put a smile in every men face? Put her in a room with twenty guys and ask her to smile. You'll have twenty fools. My guess is that she's a challenge. A challenge that no men can resist. The highest peak. It's hard to climb up there but the view is outstanding.

Some men take the risk. Others-why Grissom's name keep coming to my mind?- don't. I have a word for people like Gil. Fools. I bet the asshole still things that I didn't understand for who he was talking that day. Yeah, it's so hard to guess. Someone young and beautiful, someone who could care. He was talking `bout Greg. As I said. FOOL.

I'm in the parking lot and I take few breaths. Why I'm doing this job? We nail one guy then two more come out. Like Hydra's heads. But it's my life. What can I say? It's too late now. I have no family to fight for. Simmons kid, he's alright. He'll never be successful but he'll be happy. For him the meaning of the life is his family.

"From whom you are hiding?"

I can recognize that voice from a mile away. It's like Greg's music. Awful.

"I just wanted to free my mind. So, you are leaving."

Not a question. A fact.

"Tomorrow is my last day. Or better my last night."

"You are…"

"Save it Captain. You'll not miss me and neither will I."

Curtis has a point. I don't think that anyone in the night shift will miss her. Maybe Grissom, but for different reasons. Sofia is a good CSI and it would take Grissom some time to find one as good as Curtis.

"Take care then."

"Save it for tomorrow. You know, for effect."

She smiles and jumps to her car. She's lucky. Sara and Greg are up for a triple. Last week was a bitch. It seemed that every scumbag had come in Vegas. America's playground.

I better go see how my kids are doing. If I'm lucky Grissom will be in his way home and I'll drag him for a scotch or two. We need to talk. I'm worried about him. He doesn't look well. His mind is somewhere else; I can feel that and wherever it is, it's killing him slowly.

I enter the lab again and I'm heading for Grissom's office when I hear a gunshot. I look around, everyone stand still. We are not sure if we heard right or our minds played tricks with us. But then again, we are five. How many is the possibilities for a thing like that? This isn't Woodstock.

I snap my head when I hear a scream and in the ten seconds that it takes me to run from where I'm standing to the interrogation room, I hear five shots.

I keep in the back of my head that is where Sara is. It's not time for panic. Simmons is a great cop and had done that many times.

I fell into Owen. He looks me and I point three fingers. On the count of three. One, two…three. Owen jumps inside the room and I cover him. The suspect is lying in the floor covered in blood. His eyes are open. Simmons keeps hitting the trigger. Owen checks the suspect and shakes his head. We put our guns back.

I say to Simmons that it's over. He opens his eyes. He's crying. I know that his wife is pregnant for their first child. Poor kid, he must have taken the scare of a lifetime. I see the relief in his face when he sees the suspect on the floor. He smiles but his smile quickly faints.

"Shit! Sidle."

He whispers and jumps up. I feel the colour drain from my face. I see Sara's limp body. She's still and her eyes are close. I grin when I see her leg. Simmons was laying on it. It's broken and bleeding really bad, blood coming out from her right temple too.

"Fuck."

I kneel down.

"Motherfucker!"

Simmons says and I wave to Owen to take him out. He doesn't have to. Simmons leaves by himself and I can see the angry look in his face when he looks the blonde guy. Now all my worries are for Sara. She hasn't opened her eyes yet and that scares me. Yeah, I have come face to face with monsters and I'm afraid of one skinny woman.

"Sara? Can you hear me? C'mon doll. Don't play tricks with me. Open your eyes..." her eyelid shakes and I feel like I won the lottery.

"…Good, good…" She looks at me and she starts to panic. Her eyes are haunted. She's afraid of me, that hurts, I would never hurt her. I know that it's just the common reaction for beating situations but it still hurts me. She takes snap breath that hurts her. Broken ribs.

A look under her shirt justifies my thought. "…breathe slowly sweetheart.. slowly, yeah that's it…" she tries to move away from me "..no, don't try to move doll, calm down..." If that bastard weren't dead, I would kill him. I see Sanders with a paramedic. "..everything going to be fine Sara…you going to be okay."

I stand up when a paramedic comes in the room. Sara was dating one of them and I wonder if this is the one. He opens her shirt and I
close my eyes when I see the reddish-purple skin of her collarbone. That looks nasty. The gently touch of the paramedic cause a pain moan from Sara.

I open my eyes and this time I see the red spot in the wall. My better guess that's were he hit her. I know Sara. She would fight. I look her hands, few of her fingernails are broken. That's my girl. She didn't accepted her fate with close eyes. She fought back. I wouldn't expect anything less from her.

I hear Sanders calling for help. Great! That's all that I need now. A lost puppy. He probably freeze and cause more trouble than good. When he comes I'll take him out of the room and away from Sara. I don't think that she'd like him to see her like that. And I know that it would do him any good to see her like that. He's ready to puke when he sees the suspect dead.

"What happened? Is Sara okay?" He asks.

"She's going to be fine Greg."

That's true. She's going to be fine in about six weeks, physically. I don't know psychological though. She's already having bad time with cases as that, now she's herself a case. Life's a bitch.

"Going to? What do you mean `is going to'?"

His voice is full of panic. He doesn't look well. He's sweating and his hands are shaking. I still have doubts for him. Greg is great in the lab. He can analyze anything but he has soft stomach. He's not cut for a CSI. You have to have an iron stomach for this job. I have see people with thirty years in the force puke their guts out in some cases. And Greg, well Greg is still in the Neverland.

"Why did you leave her alone with Simmons? Huh? The guy had a record as thick as my leg. Assault. Assault with weapon. B and E. Assault with gun. Vandalism. Attempt to rape. Homicide…the list goes on and on. Why there was only Simmons with her?"

I rise an eyebrow. Well, well, well. Maybe I misjudge him. Maybe Sanders is cut for a CSI after all. Only time will tell. Time for the typical bullshit. We can't blame Simmons. Cause if we blame Simmons he'll be out of the force in no time and all we need right now is some lower over our heads.

"Simmons was capable…"

"Yeah, that's why he's on his way to hospital."

He snaps at me and I swear if it wasn't his relationship with Sara I would have this guy up in a wall. He understands that he gone too far and he give me a apologetic look, which I accept. I'm not the bad guy here.

Something catches my attention. They're moving her. She has a cast in her leg and a collar on neck. I wish I had given half of my attention that I give to Sara to Simmons. One paramedic says something to her and she answers back. A smile in his face tells me that she will be fine.

"Grissom?"

Sanders asks me and I look him lost. Damn! I haven't thought about Grissom. Yeah, my dear friend, how will you react? Grissom cares for all of his CSI's- old and new ones- but he cares about Sara a little more. It's and the whole `confession' thing in the middle.

"Doesn't know."

"Should I tell him?"

Look at that. Sanders just became a man. His mother will be so happy.

"I think you should."

He shakes his head and leaves before the paramedics bring Sara out. I watch him walk. Did he gain few inches or it's my imagination? I smile. Greg will take care of Grissom. No matter what will happen, Greg will be here for him. I wonder if Grissom knows how lucky he is. I'll be surprised if he did.

"Sir? The lady want to asks you something."

"We have to move her. Her leg is bleeding really bad."

It takes me a while to realise that they are speaking to me. I look at them with confuse in my face and the one of them sighs.

"The lady wants to talk to you."

I curse inside and bent over to hear what Sara wants to tell me. They have clean her face a little and I think that I prefer it with the blood. It's hard to look at her face. It's swollen, have purple-blue bruises and her left eye is so swollen that I'm almost afraid that will explode.

"Hey sweetheart. You can talk with me later; you must go to the hospital now."

She swallows hard and her voice is weak. I have to bend and put my ear close to her mouth to hear her.

"…Greg?"

Greg wasn't even with her. I hide my panic and I smile.

"Greg is fine Sara. He's okay. Little shaken that's all."

"…Simmons?"

Damn her empathy! Why she cares about Simmons? Doesn't she realise that she needs medical attention? On the other hand, I'm glad that she didn't asked me about Grissom. Hey, I love both of them but they drive me nuts with their action. Oh look! There's no elephant in the room.

"Simmons is okay. You choose wrong day for a chitchat doll. You really need to get to the hospital, okay? I promise we will talk more if you let these good people take you to the hospital now."

I'm desperate now. Thankfully, she closes her eyes and the paramedics move her. I'm walking with them. Sara seems asleep and I found the opportunity to ask few things.

"How is she?"

"Broken collarbone, fractures of the 5th and 6th ribs, maybe a chip at the 7th rib but that's debatable. Broken leg, she will need a surgery for that. I'm worried about the head wood although, she seems a little…"

"Yeah, that worries me too. A concussion maybe?"

"We really can't tell, a scan can show more but she's responding well. Don't forget she's into shock now, probably that's why she's dazed. You look pretty upset, is she your daughter?"

"My daughter?"

I stop in the spot. Family. Sara never talked about her family, not with me anyway. She never takes vacation time in holidays. Always working those days. The lab is her family. Nick and Warrick the older brothers, Greg the younger. I must be something like a father for her, so that makes her my daughter.

It's not unusual for me.

"She's my daughter, take good care of her."

"Don't worry `dad', we are professionals."

They put her in the ambulance. One jumps with her and starts putting an IV in her hand while the other takes his place behind the wheel. When Sara is secured the man who is with her yells that they are ready to roll. He turns to close the door but I put my body to the door and stop him.

"Which hospital?"

"Desert Palm. Both of them."

I shake my head and step out of the way. I watch the ambulance drive away and I take few hard breaths. It's going to be a hard night. The sirens hurt my ears. It's because a person that I care for is in there. I learned not to pay attention to the sirens. Job. That's what the sirens is for me. My job. But not today.

"Where is she? Where Sara?"

Grissom.

"She's in there."

I point the ambulance or better, the lights that are the ambulance. Funny in a city full of neon lights the ambulance lights seems the brightest. It almost too bright for the eye. I have my back in him.

"She's gone?"

Now, the verb gone have so many meanings. She's not gone or maybe she is. I'm not sure which `gone' he means. He's on my side now and I look at him. He's dead worried. He breathes hard. Was he running? He still remembers how to run? What a surprise!

"Sara..is she okay? Is she hurt?"

I don't speak. Yeah Grissom, she's hurt. That bastard hit her and now she's on her way to the surgeon table.

"Answer me."

"What you want me to tell you Gil? She's in the ambulance, doesn't that answer you?"

"How bad?"

Damn you Grissom! Damn you for make me do that. Don't you see that it hurts me to even talk about it?

"A broken collarbone, few ribs. Maybe a concussion."

"He hit her?"

His voice is cold. I look at him. The person that stands next to me isn't the same person I know for years. He have no emotions in his face, is as if I look at a sculpture. Cold. His eyes are burning fires. Hot.

"He.hit.her?"

"Yeah Gil. He hit her. He's dead. Simmons killed him. It's over."

"No, it's not over."

He laughs with a desperate laugh.

"It's not over at all. In fact it's just started. Which hospital Jim?"

"Desert Palm."

"Tell Catherine she's in charge for my shift too."

He leaves. What he means `it's just started'? What have started?

Damn!

 

PREVIOUS CHAPTER    │    NEXT CHAPTER
 

HOME    │    Read Another Story