Title: You Must Love Me

Spoilers: Goodbye and Good luck

Pairing: Grissom/Sara

Genre: Angst

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI. You know the drill.

Possible use of the song "You Must Love Me" from the movie Evita. I haven't decided yet. I refuse to call the dog Hank. I just can't do it. It's Bruno. Get over it.

Chapter: 1/?

Days, weeks, months had passed since Sara Sidle left the Las Vegas Crime Lab, since she left Las Vegas, since she left behind the man, and subsequently the dog, she loved. She was a different woman than she had been. She had made some form of amends with her mother which lifted some burden from her shoulders.

With her brunette hair pulled up into a ponytail, she sat on her hotel room bed wearing blue pajama bottoms and a black camisole. She padded barefoot around the room after brushing her teeth. She sat cross-legged on the bed after turning off the television, not really in the mood to watch the news. Her cell phone sat on the nightstand as she slowly turned her attention to it.

She picked it up and turned it on. Forty-seven voicemails. There was one a day since she had left, but the stopped after a month or so. She couldn't blame for giving up on contacting her. After all, this was the first time she had turned it on. With the usual melodic tone, she turned her phone back off. She grabbed the hotel phone and dialed the phone number to Grissom's townhouse. She knew he wouldn't be there. She knew it would be safe to call. The message spoke volumes in her ear, "You've reached the Grissom household. I'm out of the house right now, and Bruno can't answer the phone…you need thumbs for that. Leave a message after the beep, and Sara…I love you."

As the machine beeped, Sara hung up the phone. She wasn't expecting him to mention her. She wasn't expecting him to still love her. Twirling her engagement ring around her finger, she contemplated calling yet again. She grabbed the phone, and, this time, dialed his cell phone. A gruff, manly voice on the other end spoke. It was easy to hear that he was tired. She knew that tone. She knew he was doing paperwork. He cleared his throat, "Grissom."

He hadn't looked at the caller ID. Maybe he should have. Then he would have spit coffee across the desk when he heard the angelic voice on the other line that he had been missing for so long, "I still love you, too. I...I heard the message machine. I called the townhouse first. Bruno didn't answer." She gave a half-smile, hoping to brighten the conversation somewhat.

He smiled slightly, "I haven't gotten the chance to train him for that yet. I…why are you calling? I never expected to hear from you after all those voicemails I left. You never called back, and I gave up. I thought you didn't love me anymore."

She let out a breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding, "I could never stop loving you. I just didn't have my cell phone on. I never turned it on. I was scared of so much, and I didn't want to be contacted. I wasn't ready. I'm so sorry, but I never could stop loving you. I guess I never really proved that to you."

She hung her head and he seemed to sense that, "Sara Ann Sidle…pick your head up. I love you, and I always have. You mean so much to me. You called, and that means so much. I love you, Butterfly."

Unable to control it, she broke down in tears. It had been so long since she heard his voice calling her Butterfly. She missed it. She missed him. She missed his love. He heard her crying and he swallowed heavily, "Honey…please tell me where you are."