OK, this starts with the scene it's quoted from but after that changes times story lines etc. to what I need it to be rather than necessarily happening at that point chronologically, but if you want to believe it slot in there with the show then I don't have a problem with that if you think it fits. Also the second paragraph is slightly more distant and clinical than I normally do but it will go back to more personal after that. Anyway, ramble over.
"I ... don't know what to do about this."
"I do. But when you finally figure it out, you might be too late."
Sara delivered the statement and as she did her heart sank, wondering at the truth behind her words. She didn't even know who walked away first or how long she continued to watch him. She just thought about her words and if they could ever be true.
She'd thought that she'd forgotten about him and got over him while she was still a student. Then out of the blue she'd found his email address scribbled on a business card for Las Vegas Crime Lab when she was tidying up. Her thoughts had kept returning to him then and she had convinced herself that it was just a fascination with his knowledge and deduction skills that made her want to email him, then through emails she found out slightly more about him and realised it ran deeper, but when she reminded herself of the age difference and started dating someone on her course she decided it was just a little crush and thought she was over it.
Then he rang her, asked her to come and see him and work with him, almost begged her to go, and she'd found herself drawn to him and unable to say no yet again. And then the chase and the game had started. She couldn't deny that she liked him, and was convinced he liked her, but he refused to act on it.
And now she'd finally got up the courage to do it herself and he had rejected her. But she still didn't know if it would ever be too late. Since the first conference she had felt a pull to him, and deep down she knew she'd never been truly over him since. She might have believed she was, but Sara always knew that one word from him and she would run to him and have as much as he could offer her, be it as a colleague or as a friend or as a lover.
Without a thought she would always run to him, and she knew it.
He could never be too late.
It was just a shame he didn't know it.
From then on in an attempt at self-preservation she determinedly ignored him, and he likewise ignored her. The tension between them so thick you could almost taste it and all their words emotionless when they spoke to each other. Before after set backs Sara had still been able to act normal at work and still do her job without a problem, but the outright rejection had got to her more than she thought it would and she could barely bring herself to look at him, praying they wouldn't be assigned a case together.
The team were already acting as intermediates, passing messages on so that they didn't have to speak, none of them wanted to force Grissom and Sara into the same room right now.
Weeks passed but now both were annoyed at the others silence and both were determined not to break it, they shared that same stubborn streak tinged with pride.
Eventually though the inevitable happened and they had to work a case together. The team expected this to finally get them talking again but it seemed to make it worse.
Sara peered down the microscope, "Grissom," she called without looking up, her tone still neutral, "come take a look at this."
He came and leaned over her to look down the microscope before she could move out of the way.
She glanced at him and his face was so close, he finished examining the sample and pulled back slightly, level with her, both staring. The attraction and chemistry was still there, the frostiness hadn't eroded any away, it had barely made a dent in the surface.
She forced herself to talk about the case although part of her mind was still staring and noting every different shade of blue in his eyes, the starting of a 5 o'clock shadow, musing that he would look good with a beard, feeling the tickle of his breath on her cheek. Not realising that while trying desperately not to Grissom was doing the same thing to her.
"The sample from the car matches the wood off the axe and the wood off the tree exactly. We know he had the weapon. We've got him."
Both felt a slight pride as she said this, without that sample they would've been back at square one. They already might be. Due to the silence some evidence hadn't been documented properly for it's chain of custody, the judge could throw it out, without that the killer might walk free, other mistakes had been made, samples had never made it to trace, the same prints had been run twice, and now due to their negligence the killer might get away, and the family of a twenty year old woman might never see justice properly.
Sara felt all the guilt bubbling up inside her and stood up quickly, breaking the moment between them, murmured something and then dashed off to tell Brass the evidence.
Grissom sighed as he watched her go and knew he had to do something, he still didn't know what though, he continued to think about it as he packed away the samples and made sure they were documented properly.
Brass had arrested the guy, but he had a good lawyer and it was looking like it might not be resolved and that Grissom and Sara's disagreement and truly damaged the case, they watched the interview through the glass panel, watched as the lawyer refuted evidence and both knew it would be lucky to make a court room, it was only a matter of time until the DA offered a deal to try and save the lab from the press, and both their moods worsened as he walked out of the door looking victorious.
Grissom suddenly turned to Sara and grabbed her arms.
"Sara, I'm still not sure what to do, but all I know is we can't carry on like we are."
Sara found her heart racing faster, not sure what was coming but praying it would be the thing she'd been waiting for for years. Her arms were tingling where his hands touched them and she her breathing sped up as he stepped closer towards her and was silent for a moment, studying her face.
"Let's get out of here. You and me, use some of our vacation time, check into a hotel somewhere far away." Grissom said finally breaking the silence.
Sara's heart rejoiced and felt like it was going to beat it's way out of her rib cage, her stomach doing little flips at the ideas her brain was jumping to. She stepped closer to him still and suddenly saw a look of panic lash across his face.
"I didn't mean anything certain by it" he clarified, "I just mean we both have plenty of days stored up and never use them, and we clearly can't resolve our issues while we're at the lab. We're jeopardising cases and it's only a matter of time until we endanger the lab and the people in it. We need to sort it out, you and me, without work getting in the way, and the team all telling us what we should be doing. We just need to go somewhere and talk, get everything out of our systems, say what needs to be said.
I didn't mean to imply that anything would happen, we'd obviously have different beds and different rooms. Although with all the tension about it might be better for the lab if we did just have sex."
Sara gaped at him, not sure what to think anymore, and felt her dreams slipping away beyond her grasp.
Grissom looked at her seriously again, "So what do you think? Should we do it?"