Disclaimer: None of the characters here belong to me. They are the sole property of CBS (but that doesn't mean I can't take them out to play occasionally, right?)

As per usual with my works, this is not beta'd. Forgive me, and you can send me all the hate mail you want.

This is something that popped into my head. I know there have been reams of stories that are post living doll, and fill in the blanks type. This is in some ways like those, but hopefully different, too. It is intended to be only 5 chapters long at the most and has GSR content…

Chapter 1: What the hell?

I'm pretty sure my chin hit the floor when he said it.

Aside from the shock and surprise that accompanied his slip, I immediately found myself wondering how the hell it was that I wasn't privy to this little gem of information. I am, after all, exceptional at what I do for a living. And I'm not being egotistical. It's just a fact. So how could two of my coworkers, two people I consider friends and in some way family, be carrying on a relationship right under my nose?

And who the hell else knows about it?

Greg?

Nah…

I mean, not based on his investigative skills, anyway. He's good, don't get me wrong, but he's still a rookie. If Sara told him then I suppose it's a possibility, but if I couldn't figure it out, he sure as hell couldn't figure it out.

Could he…?

Mind you he's had a crush on her for years, so he might have caught on by the simple change in her normal routine, perhaps years of Sara study might have tipped him off, but the look on his face when Gil told us… Nope… he didn't know.

Warrick…?

Hmm….

Well he's an exceptional investigator. He's quiet, intelligent, and observant– that's a deadly combination if you are a criminal. People do say that you hear more when you aren't talking. This kind of describes Warrick since he is the king of miniscule conversation. Mind you, Sara's a lot like a sister to him, but even the closest family has secrets. Besides he's had his hands full lately with that wife of his. I wouldn't have expected it to last as long as it has, actually, but I know the slippery slope of a relationship when I see one – hell I've been there my self many times – and from my previous experience… they're almost midway down and picking up speed.

Nope. Warrick didn't know… he's been way too distracted. Aside from which, he looked just as shocked as me.

Nicky…?

I suppose it's a possibility. They're pretty close.

Nick's a good solid investigator, though his emotions some times get in the way. I suppose it's possible that Sara could have confided in him, I think of all the people in the lab he might be the one she'd talk to. Not that I can imagine Nick and Sara sitting together discussing, Gris and her in the sack or anything, but if she needed advice or something I think he would be the one Sara would go to. As for figuring it out on his own… Nah… I have the one thing he doesn't, a good solid woman's intuition, and believe me, if they managed to fly under my radar for any length of time, then they're good, and there's no way Nicky caught on. Besides he looked like Grissom had just lobbed a big fat pink elephant into the room when he admitted to being in love with Sara.

Gil Grissom in love?

That's still a shocker.

I mean, he's human, and I expect that on some level I would be deluding myself to think that he lives his life in a total vacuum. He's a man for Christ's sake and men have needs… All men… even bug obsessed uber geeks, but Jesus…Let's just say that he and Sara…well talk about being blindsided.

For a while now I suspected that he might have found someone – to sleep with - or hang out with, but love? Wow… now ain't that the kicker. Not to say that I think he's unfeeling or anything. I've seen him on cases with kids, and I've seen his gentle hand with people who are down trodden or different, so I know he is affected more than he lets on but there are still no words to describe the feeling when those words tumbled out of his mouth. I swear for a moment there my mind went blank… And that's NOT easy to do to me.

With the sun searing it's way through the surface of our skin I stand beside him on a clump of parched and unforgiving Nevada desert, and feel the need to take him in my arms and comfort him. He's wearing a hopelessly broken look on his face his eyes scouring the desert for the one person he has dared to love in all the time I've known him. At this very moment, nothing else matters. None of the why's, what's, or when's, are even remotely important. What I want is for us to find her; for me to be able to see my friend take the woman he loves into his arms and know that everything is going to be all right.

The words fall from my tongue before I can stop them. "She's a survivor."

He stares his blue eyes desperate, his voice lost. "Where is she, Catherine?"

TBC