Chapter 48
ok so it had been a couple of months since Sara had moved all of her stuff into Grissom's place, which in all fairness isn't really that far away. the first night that Sara wasn't here was kinda weird. i mean we had lived together for months, and then all of a sudden there was only me living at what used to be our home, and now i guess is just my home. to be honest it's still taking a bit of getting used to... living on my own and being truly independent again. weird huh considering for the first eighteen years of my life i was basically on my own.
maybe i should get a housemate or something. i mean i know i'm not paying Sara rent or anything, no matter how many times i told her i would, but it would be nice to have some company again. guess you could say i had gotten used to living with someone who cared about me, and now that she's gone i guess i'm missing that. to be honest i miss living with Sara more than i thought i would. i still see her quite often but it's just not the same you know? that must make me sound really sad huh.
i still have my job at the bar/club, and yes i'm still cleaning and stocking the fridges and wiping tables. i still hear quite a bit, the customers just see me as the cleaning girl so they don't really pay that much attention to me. so in that respect i'm still the same girl. even though i'm still working i still haven't saved up enough to go back to school, so guess that's gonna be on the backburner for a while. i also haven't heard anything from John or Rebecca which is good, it means for once they're keeping their promise and doing something for me. i still don't know how i feel about them, guess i just have to give it time.
i haven't found anything more about my biological mom yet either. Grissom contacted the guys down in Miami for me with the minimal information we had in her, but we haven't heard anything back yet. i guess i expected that, i mean all we really had was her first name, and the fact she had lived in Miami for a while when she was pregnant with me. i didn't even know if i was born in a Miami hospital or if she had moved and then returned to Miami after i had been born and she had given me up.
Lindsey has been coming over more recently. it's been good spending more time with her, i think she still misses her mom. they've all been working a hell of a lot more lately and so Catherine has been spending a lot more time at the lab than usual, and i know Lindsey is missing her. she may not show it, especially when she comes round here, but i know her.just then there was a knock at the door, so i shut my laptop off and went to answer it.
"hello"
"hey, you Sara Sidle?"
"nope sorry she's not here at the moment. but i can tell her you stopped by. what's your name?"
"no it's ok. do you know when she'll be back?"
"erm no sorry. look if you leave your name and number i can get her to call you if you want."
"and who are you?"
"sorry, i'm a friend of hers. Brooke Tyler."
"oh."
"do i know you? how do you know Sara?"
"no you don't but i sorta know you. look do you know where i can contact her, do you have a cell number for her or something?"
"i'm sorry i can't give you that. listen if you really need to talk to her you can reach her at either LVPD or at the crime lab. it's where she works."
"ok thanks Brooke. bye."
i closed the door and immediately pressed speed dial 1 and got voicemail.
"hey Sara, it's me Brooke. don't worry everything's ok, i'm ok. it's just that someone just came to my door asking for you. when i told them that you were busy they asked for your cell phone number. don't worry i didn't give it to them, i didn't know who they were. they said that they sorta knew me and that they knew you and that they really needed to talk to you. listen i told them you could be reached at either the PD or the crime lab. i'm sorry ... they just wouldn't go away until i gave them an answer. who are they Sara? how do they know you? how do they know me? please get back to me as soon as you get this. hope you're ok. speak to you soon"after i hung up i tried Grissom's cell and got voicemail again, so i left him a message asking him to tell Sara to check her voicemail and then call me back as soon as she could.
something still didn't feel right i needed to talk to Sara now. i know it was kinda unreasonable of me, i knew how busy they all were at the lab, but i needed to know who they were and how they had got my address. i needed to know how they knew Sara and me. i just needed to know. so i locked my place up, got into my car and drove to the lab. i couldn't wait for Sara to call me back or for Grissom to tell her to call me back, i needed to know now. i just had this nagging feeling at the back of my head that something wasn't right, and i guess i needed to know that everything was ok and that i was just being paranoid or something.
when i got to the lab i sent Lindsey a text and told her to meet me at the lab after school instead of at my place. i went straight to reception and asked Judy for my pass and asked her if she knew where Sara was. she said she wasn't out in the field so she should be in the lab somewhere. i thanked her and started walking round the lab. i needed answers about who had come to my door and i needed them now. i only hoped that Sara had the answers i was looking for. i tried everywhere but i still couldn't find her, but i bumped into Greg in the AV lab with Archie.
"hey Greg, hey Archie"
"hey Brooke. what are you doing here?"
"look i know that you guys have been told i'm not really supposed to be here."
"how?..."
"Sara told me, something about Ecklie not wanting me here. listen i wouldn't be here otherwise but it's really important. i need to talk to Sara. i tried her cell and left her a voicemail and i tried Grissom and left him a voicemail, but i can't wait for them to get back to me. i need to talk to Sara now, so do you know where she is or not?"
"woah ok calm down. Brooke what's wrong?"
"Greg i really can't go into it now. i will tell you later i promise, but i really need to talk to Sara as of 15 minutes ago so where is she?"
"she's in Grissom's office but i really don't think you should go in there."
it was no use i had already left.
as soon as i got to Grissom's office i knocked on the door and walked in.
"oh cr@p!"
"you're not supposed to be here. Sidle i thought i told you that i didn't want her in here potentially threatening our cases."
"yeah she did. and i know i'm not supposed to be here but i left you guys voicemails and i really need to talk to Sara. Sara please i really need to talk to you, it's important."
"ok sure what's wrong Brooke?"
"it's kinda private, is there somewhere we can go please?"
"sure, we're done here anyway. Gil i'll see you at home ok."
"sure. just make sure Brooke's ok. and if she needs to stay with us tonight it's fine ok she can take the spare room."
"thanks Gil. i'll see you later."
"ok Brooke, what's wrong?"
"can we go back to your place and talk? it's just i don't wanna go home and have to see them again if they come looking around. i don't know why, i just, i don't trust them. i don't know who they are and i have no idea how they know you and how they know me? it's just so weird you know. there was just a knock on the door out of the blue."
"yeah sure. just let me get my stuff and then we'll go ok."
"ok. Sara, i'm sorry if i got you in to trouble with Ecklie again. honestly if i had known he was in there i never would've come. it's just i had this nagging feeling in the back of my head and you and grissom didn't answer your phones and i just really needed to talk to you. i'm sorry."
"hey hey it's ok Brooke. don't worry, i'll talk to Ecklie ok. i don't care what he says, he has no right banning you from coming to the lab. i know that you're not gonna touch anything or whatever, and so does everyone else on the team. don't worry about it, we'll fix it so you can come to the lab whenever you want ok, especially if you need to talk to me or tell me something."
"ok thanks Sara."
"there anything else you wanna tell me? apart from what caused this nagging feeling of yours?"
"Lindsey."
"Lindsey? what about Lindsey, is she ok?"
"yeah she's fine. it's just we arranged for her to come to the lab after school and school lets out in a bit and she won't know that i'm going to your place, and i promised her we'd hang out today. of course that was before all this happened."
"Brooke it's ok. look why don't we go and pick Lindsey up from school and she can come back to Grissom's and my place with us ok. she can watch TV or whatever while we talk and then you two can hang out and catch up ok?"
"are you sure you don't mind? i mean won't you have to go back to the lab or anything?"
"no it's ok i've signed out for the night. and if they really need me they can always call, and depending on how you are i'll either go back in or i won't and say i have to stay with you. really it's no trouble Brooke. i said i'd always be there for you if you ever needed to talk once i moved out. and you need to talk so guess what you're stuck with me ok?"
"ok. thanks Sara. you know i really miss you."
"Brooke you still see me and we still chat whenever you want."
"i know, but it's not the same. it's different now. you live with Grissom and i'm on my own. don't get me wrong i'm really happy for you guys and i'm not asking you to move back in or anything, i guess i just miss living with you; a lot more than i thought i would."
"yeah i know. don't get me wrong i love living with Gil and Hank i really do, i just miss living with you too."
"really? i thought you'd be glad to get rid of me" i said smiling
"nah not so much." Sara told me giving me a hug
"Sara can i ask you a question?"
"sure, anything?"
"who's Hank?"
"oh he's Gil's, well our dog."
"you guys have a dog? how long have we not been living together?"
"Brooke, it's not like that. Gil bought him a while ago, and since i moved in he belongs to both of us."
"aww that's kinda sweet. how come you never mentioned him before?"
"you had a lot of stuff going on, and i was helping you and i guess i kept telling myself that i'd just tell you another time, only i never did."
"ok, so do you wanna call Lindsey and tell her we'll meet her out front?" seeing the look on Sara's face "what i can't i'm driving, it's not safe to drive and talk on the phone at the same time."
"uh huh, just drive."
about 20 minutes later we arrived at Lindsey's school only to see her waiting for us.
"hey Brooke, hey Sara. Brooke you ok? thought i was meeting you at the lab?"
"yeah sorry Linds. listen we're going back to Sara's new place for a bit. i really need to talk to her about something, so you can do your homework or watch TV or something, and then we'll hang out after ok?"
"yeah sure ok. actually i've got an assignment due so i should probably get started on it. guess now i have no excuse not to start it now huh?"
"Linds when's the assignment due in?"
"end of this week" Lindsey replied sheepishly
"and when did you get it?" Sara asked
"a couple of weeks ago" Linds replied
"Lindsey why didn't you tell me you had an assignment? i would've understood if you didn't want to hang out coz you needed to do it." i told her
"yeah i know. i was trying to put it off i guess"
"oh yeah. put it off so much you thought it would go away?" i replied knowingly
"maybe."
"i take it Catherine doesn't know about this assignment then?" Sara said
"erm that would be no. it's not like she's been home enough to even notice anyway."
"come on Linds, you know that's not fair. we've just been really ......"
"busy at the lab lately. yeah i know. it diesn't mean i have to like it though."
"hey if it's any consolation none of us are liking it either, especially your mom. quite frankly it sucks, and i know she would much rather be at home spending time with you even if it is doing assignments than be at the lab working double and triple shifts."
"really??"
"yeah she hates working so much at the minute. i heard her complaining to Ecklie the other day about it saying she needed to go home and spend time with you."
"really? but she didn't come home til the early hours of the morning. i fell asleep on the couch waiting for her, and she never came home. then in the morning i was back in my room and she had already left."
"yeah she got me to cover for her for a couple of hours so she could go home. when she came back she told me she'd moved you to your room, figured you'd be more comfortable. she only came back because Ecklie was coming around looking for her."
"oh. and i just shouted at her. i should apologize to her. it's just..."
"yeah it sucks i know. she loves you Linds, she loves you so much and she hates it when you two are fighting."
"hey Brooke, could you drop me off at the lab, i need to talk to my mom. i'll get the bus or something to Sara's place later. i know it's kinda mucking you around but i think i need to talk to my mom about some stuff and apologize to her."
"yeah sure we're on our way there now, we'll be there in a couple of minutes."
"how'd you.....? never mind thanks guys."
"you're welcome" Sara and i said in unison
we dropped Lindsey off at the lab and then we drove back to what was now and had been for the past few months; Grissom and Sara's place.
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ok guys that's another chapter. let me know if you want more chapters