"Excuse me," the woman said, startling Judy from the form she'd been filling out. She looked up as the woman asked, "Can you tell me where Gil Grissom's office is, please?"

"Do you have an appointment?" the receptionist asked.

"No, I don't. But just tell him Sara Sidle is here," the woman smiled, "He'll want to see me."

She noticed the questioning look on the receptionist's face as she reached for the phone.

"Yes, Dr. Grissom, there's a young woman here to see you," Judy said, "She said you'd want to see her. Sara Sidle."

Sara watched the young receptionist nod a couple of times before she hung up the phone, "He'll be out in a moment, miss."

"Thank you," Sara said, turning to examine the lab setting around her.

It was the most unique crime lab she'd ever been in, and she had visited a few. She watched many lab techs as they worked through the glass walls of the labs. Most labs kept their labs and equipment hidden, but procedures were clear to any observer on the other side of these walls.

"Sara Sidle."

Sara turned around, unable to fight the grin plastered on her face. Her brown hair rested in soft curls on her shoulders and she obviously hadn't made an attempt to cover the bruising around her eye. Grissom stepped up to her, his hand immediately reaching for her face. Sara leaned away.

"I'm fine, Gil," she said immediately, taking his hand in her own.

He didn't look too certain about that but he smiled in spite of it, pulling her into his arms. The smell of her hair invaded his senses and so many memories came floating back to him. He held her tighter.

They stood that way for a long moment, both of them lost in their embrace. Sara felt the tears building in her eyes and she was forced to swallow the lump building in her throat. Her hands tightened into fists in the material of Gil's shirt and she turned her face into his neck as the first wave of tears fell. She felt him shift as the hot tears hit his skin but he didn't let her go. His hands began making paths up and down the length of her back as she cried against him.

When he tears finally subsided a few minutes later, Sara pulled away, wiping hastily at her wet face.

"God, I'm sorry, Griss," she said with a hoarse voice, "I don't know where that came from."

His heart leapt at her use of his nickname, it always sounded better when it came from her lips. She feigned a smile as she continued to wipe at her eyes. He took her by the hand, glancing over at Judy, giving the receptionist a knowing look, before leading Sara away to his office.

With Grissom's hand on her lower back, Sara let him steer him in the direction of a small corner office. His office, Sara thought, sitting in one of the chairs opposite his desk. The thought of being alone with him in a confined space made Sara's heart skip a little. The last time they had been alone she had cheated on her fiancé the night before they're wedding. The thought caused Sara to glance down at her left ring finger. She twisted the band there.

Gil didn't speak as he took a seat across from her, leaning forward on his desk. He watched her play with her wedding band, silently wishing he had been the one responsible for putting it there, but he wasn't, and he was sure that wasn't why she had come to him.

"Sara, not to say that I'm not happy to see you, honey," Gil began, "But what are you doing here?"

Sara looked up, smiling again, sincerely this time, "I got a job here."

"A job? As an investigator?" he asked, somewhat confused, "I think I would know if they were hiring a new investigator, Sara."

Sara shook her head, "No, as a professor. I'm going to teach Physics at UNLV."

"Sara, really, I had no idea that you wanted to teach," Gil said, seemingly surprised.

Sara shrugged, "I didn't really know I wanted to do it either until I got the job. Sam was asked to head up the Mathematics department, so I needed a job. And UNLV is looking for a new Physics professor."

"When did you get out of the investigative field, Sara?" he asked, "I thought you were working as a CSI in San Francisco."

"I was," Sara said, hesitating slightly, "But Sam asked me to get out of it."

Sara looked away and Gil could tell there was more to the story.

"So the two of you are moving here permanently?" Gil asked, his eyes brightening at the thought.

"We are," Sara said, turning back to him. They shared a private moment.

The knock on the door startled them both and Gil looked past Sara to the door.

"Oh, sorry Boss, Cath just wanted me to let you know that Brass is bringing our suspect in as we speak," Nick informed him, glancing quickly at the woman sitting in the office.

"Nick Stokes, this is Sara Sidle," Gil said, "Sara, Nick Stokes."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Sidle," Nick said, reaching a hand out to Sara. She stood, shaking his hand and smiling.

"It's Mrs. Turner, actually, so just Sara will do."

"Well it's nice to meet you, Sara."

"You, too, Nick."

Nick nodded to Grissom before turning and heading down the hall. They sat silently for another moment before Gil stood and moved around the desk.

"Why don't you follow me? I'll introduce you to the rest of the team, show you around the lab," he said, reaching for Sara's hand.

She smiled, taking his hand, and following him out into the hall.

Gil lead Sara from lab to lab, explaining new pieces of equipment that she didn't recognize, briefing her on current cases that were being worked on, talking to her freely. They fell into an easy routine of asking each other random questions.

They stopped in the break room for coffee.

"Sara Sidle, this is Catherine Willows, her husband Warrick Brown, Holly Gribbs and you already met Nick," Gil said as they found the rest of the night shift around the table, "Guys, this is Sara Sidle, an old friend of mine."

Sara smiled for them and took the seat Nick pulled out for her. Gil made her a cup of coffee, black, just the way she liked it, and joined them all at the table.

"So, Sara, how long have you known Gil?" Catherine asked, sipping her own coffee slowly.

Sara glanced at him. He smiled and shrugged.

"About twelve years, I think," she said, "I was twenty when I went to the first seminar at Harvard, so yeah, twelve years."

"Harvard, huh?" Warrick asked, arching an eyebrow at her, "What'd you major in in the Ivy League?"

Sara smiled. These people, Grissom's crew, were having fun interrogating her. She had heard all about them. Nick Stokes was her age, an ex-cop from Dallas. Gil liked him, but he found him to be a little too cocky sometimes. Warrick Brown was a great CSI, according to Gil. He'd had a gambling problem once, but it had dissolved into nothing when Catherine had agreed to marry him. Holly Gribbs was the newest member to the team, the first one added after Gil had been made supervisor. If Sara remembered correctly, her mother was also in Law Enforcement.

Then there was Catherine Willows. The one woman that Gil talked about the most, she was an ex-stripper. She had stopped dancing, gone to UNLV and gone on to become a very successful investigator. And Gil liked her. Not romantically, of course, because she was married and happy. But they were good friends. Sara liked her for that reason alone.

"Theoretical physics," Sara said, "My number one passion in life."

The others laughed and Sara smiled again.

"If you don't mind me asking," Catherine said, "How'd you get that shiner?"

Sara's hand immediately went to her eye and she shrugged, "Accident. I'm not as graceful as I look. There are downfalls to having long legs."

That received a few chuckles but Sara noticed that Gil was not laughing. He was staring down into his coffee cup and she knew that he wasn't buying her excuses. What am I supposed to say? She thought, I can't just tell them all that my husband got drunk and hit me when I wouldn't get him another fucking beer. She felt tears forming in her eyes again but she struggled to hold them back.

"What do you do for a living, Sara?" Holly asked.

Sara looked at the woman. They were probably close to the same age and she even noticed a slight resemblance between them. The curly brown hair, the eyes, she was a beautiful woman.

"I used to work as one of you guys out in the lab in San Francisco. My husband and I just bought a house out in Hendersen," Sara told them, "And I'm going to start teaching at UNLV in the fall. My husband, Sam, was offered a position in the History department there so I thought maybe I should look into teaching."

"Well, from what I've heard, you learned from the best," Catherine said, throwing a glance in Grissom's direction.

He smiled at her.

"What can I say," Sara laughed, "I was lucky."

They all laughed lightly, Nick adding, "We all were."

The group of them sat and chatted lightly for a few more minutes before a new arrival stole their attention away.

"I hate to break up the love-fest boys and girls, but we just got a multiple homicide. The director is calling for all hands on deck."

The older man disappeared down the hall and Sara assumed that he was Jim Brass, another one of Gil's close friends. One of the very few that she knew he had.

As the rest of the nightshift said their goodbyes to Sara, Gil stood back and waited to have a moment alone with her. He watched Holly, Nick and Warrick file out, leaving Catherine behind to give him a look.

"Go ahead, Catherine, I'll be right behind you," he told her, stepping up beside Sara.

He waited until Catherine was out of sight before he placed both of his hands on Sara's upper arms, staring into her eyes as though he would find the answers there.

"Are you going to be all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Gil. It's just a bruise," Sara assured him.

She knew that he wasn't convinced but she didn't know what else to say. She shrugged and he rubbed his hands up and down her arms.

"Hey, let me make you breakfast," she said hopefully, "Sam is still in San Francisco, he won't be in for a couple of days. I came in with all of our things to make sure they got into the house and I don't like being there alone all the time. Why don't you come over after shift and I'll cook for you."

Gil raised an eyebrow at that, "Sara, I don't think that's such a good idea. Especially if Sam isn't going to be around."

Sara's face flushed slightly, "Oh."

"Hey, it's not that I don't want to spend time with you, honey," Gil said immediately, "It's just that, after the last time, I don't-"

"I miss you, Gil."

That did it. That one sentence and he knew that he would be seeing her for breakfast in a few hours.

"Leave the address with Judy at the front desk," he told her, pulling her into a quick embrace, "I'll see you at eight o'clock."

Gil pulled his truck up in front of 1390 Easter Pine at exactly eight o'clock. The house in front of him was quite large, especially for two people. The porch wrapped around the front reminded him of his mother's house in Marina Del Ray and the dark green shudders made the cream colored siding seem more appealing. The yard was simple and it reminded him of Sara somehow.

He got out of the truck and approached the front door. Finding it open, he rang the doorbell and looked around the interior for Sara.

"Coming!"

Her voice drifted through the house and the sound of dogs barking suddenly became very loud. He took a step away from the screen door, seeing two very massive canines making their way toward him.

"Roxy! Velma! No, stay."

Sara reached the door before the dogs and they both continued their assault from behind her. She swatted them away as she opened the door for him.

"Sorry," she said, smiling as he came in, "New house, new neighborhood, they're excited."

Gil shrugged, "It's all right. I didn't know that you had dogs."

"We didn't until a couple of weeks ago," Sara explained, moving away from the door and into the kitchen, "Sam didn't like me being in the house alone so we got the girls here."

The two large dogs, both of which Gil had decided were Great Danes, followed him closely as he followed Sara into kitchen. She gestured for him to sit at the breakfast bar as she went to the fridge.

"So, how long have you been in town?" he asked, noticing there were no unpacked boxes in sight.

"Um, since last Tuesday?" Sara asked, "I think. It was the tenth, so yeah, last Tuesday."

"You've been here for more than a week?"

"Yeah," Sara said, "Why? Mad that I didn't come see you sooner?"

He laughed at her when she threw a glance over her shoulder.

"Damn straight. You should be ashamed of yourself," he said in his most serious tone, "I should have been your first priority."

Sara chuckled softly as she began pulling out pots and pans to start their breakfast. She continued working over the stove, her back to Gil as she cooked. They kept their conversation light, talking about the things that they hadn't recently been able to keep up on.

"How's work? Any interesting cases recently?" Sara asked.

"Mmm, definitely. Let's see, did I ever tell you about the man dressed in the raccoon suit who was hit by a car on I-15?"

Sara turned and raised an eyebrow at him, "No… I don't think so."

Grissom laughed at her look, "Catherine and I worked the case. We get a call out to, what looks like, a vehicular accident out on I-15. We're examining the scene, trying to figure out what on earth this woman hit with her car. Cath found paw prints on the side of the road and we're both thinking that maybe a dog or wolf got in her way, but instead, we find a man in a blue raccoon suit."

Sara put her hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh and Grissom couldn't help laughing at that. She couldn't contain her laughter then and she had to sit down at the breakfast bar beside him. When she realized that the eggs were burning, she went back to the stove, her back to him again.

"A week, huh? So that black eye, is it more than a week old?" Gil asked.

Sara stopped stirring but she didn't turn to look at him.

"Gil…"

"Don't lie to me, honey," he said, standing and moving toward her, "Did Sam hit you?"

Sara flinched at the accusation in his words. He took a hold of her chin, forcing her to look at him. The pain in her eyes made his heart ache and she pulled away from him.

"It's none of your business, Gil," she snapped, "Leave it alone."

"Sara, tell me what happened."

"No, Gil. I told you, I'm fine. Please, leave it alone," she urged, tears forming again, "It's just a bruise."

"It's not a bruise, Sara, its abuse," he said sharply, watching her turn her back to him then, "Sam is an ex-marine. If he gets out of hand, he could kill you!"

Sara grabbed the frying pan then and threw it in the sink. Something broke but they both ignored it.

"Get out, Gil!" Sara shouted, "Just get the hell out!"

The dogs started barking then and Grissom took a step toward Sara, taking a hold of her and pulling her closer to him.

"Sara, let me help you."

"The only way you can help me is to get out of my house."