Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or anything remotely related to CSI. Please do not sue me; it's really not worth your time.

To Wish Impossible Things

It had been a wonderful evening with dinner and a show completely uninterrupted by work. Grissom and Sara contentedly walked out of the theatre hand in hand, discussing amongst themselves the quality of the set dressing and the performance of the actors.

Sara was adjusting the strap on her sandal when she heard her name being called by a vaguely familiar voice. She looked up in alarm when her mind registered who it belonged to.

"Eric" she said quietly, as much to herself as to anyone else. Grissom heard her say the name and threw her a questioning look.

"Let's just get out of here and pretend we heard nothing. I'll tell you in the car." Sara whispered to him as she hoped they would be able to get there before Eric caught up with them.

Sara never was an inherently lucky person.

"Sara! I thought I would never see you again!" Eric said with a smile as he grabbed onto her elbow to turn her towards him.

"That is the point of a restraining order Eric. Let go of me now. Honey, has valet brought our car out yet?" Sara hissed the last part towards Grissom in an effort to change the subject and ignore the obviously unwanted guest as she wrenched her elbow free of his grasp.

Grissom raised an eyebrow and suppressed a grin at the new use of a pet name. She had never called him that before, it wasn't really their style. He figured he could easily get used to it though, but only outside the lab of course.

"Yes, I think that's it pulling up to the curb now." He placed his hand on the small of her back as he led her to the car, opened the door and secured her inside before heading towards the driver's side door.

"But Sara! I love you! We need to talk! I miss you! We had so much together! You're my soul mate!" Eric called out to the couple as they began to drive away. As Grissom watched in the rear-view mirror, he could read one last sentence on the strange man's lips as they pulled away.

"I'll find you, and you'll see."

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"Is this guy something I should be worried about?" Grissom asked as he looked over at Sara.

She seemed only slightly shaken at the meeting, though he figured there was a pretty decent reason Sara would get a restraining order. This guy must have done something pretty bad to her for her to make it illegal for him to get within 300 or so feet of her.

"I dated him in San Francisco about a year before I came here. He was a bit over-possessive, called all the time, stuff like that. At first, it was kind of nice to be fussed over so much. Then it started to freak me out a little, especially when I would head to my car in the morning to go to work and he would be camped out in front of my building. That's when I broke up with him."

"I take it he didn't like that very well? I doubt I would like being left by you either." He reached for her hand and gave it a loving squeeze.

"You could say that," Sara said as she looked over at Grissom and smiled reassuringly. "Although it sure didn't stop him from hanging out at places he knew I would be. Or sending lots of flowers, leaving lengthy messages on my answering machine, sending me letters in the mail telling me how much I mean to him and how he is only an empty shell of himself without me in his life. You know, that sort of thing. I eventually filed a restraining order about a month before you called me here. I only had to use it once and he stayed away after that as far as I could tell. Then I moved here and I knew the people that knew where I was going wouldn't tell him where I was, so I stopped worrying about it."

"Do you think he figured out where you are and came looking for you?"

"No, not after all this time. If he was that obsessed with following me I doubt it would take him this long to find me. It's probably just a fluke."

"Want me to stay with you tonight, just in case? You could come over and stay at my place if you wanted to."

"No Grissom, I'm fine. Just drop me off; I really don't think he's going to be any trouble. Anyway, you need a key just to get into my building, then there's the security guy in the lobby, plus the deadbolts on my front door, I'm sure I'll be fine. I know better than to let him in." As much as she would like to take him up on his offer, she still enjoyed winding down at her own place part of the time. Especially if there wasn't going to be any intense cuddling, which there wouldn't be for a few more days at least, and she was seriously craving some double dutch chocolate ice cream and wasn't quite secure enough in the relationship just yet to allow him to watch her scarf down a pint of ice cream in front of Jerry Springer reruns. That's the kind of thing you spring on a guy eventually, but a girl has to keep some secrets.

"I don't trust him. You sure you'll be ok?" Grissom debated with himself about whether to tell her what he believed he had seen as they pulled away from the theatre, finally deciding that if she was aware, she would be more careful. "I think he said he would find you as we were driving off earlier."

"I didn't hear him say anything. Griss, you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine, but I'm worried about you. I waited this long to be with you, wasted so much time. I don't want anything to happen to you now. And you know I can read lips." He smiled at her lovingly as she gave him a playful jab in the arm.

"You just want to stay over with me, I know how you sex-crazed entomologists are, always trying to demonstrate the mating habits of the different bugs out there." She laughed as she finished her statement and they pulled up to her apartment building. "I'll be fine Gris, honestly. I just have a few things I need to do tonight. I promise I'll call if anything out of the ordinary happens, ok?"

"I guess me hanging out in your parking lot all night isn't a good thing either, huh?" Grissom laughingly teased her as he walked her up to her building.

"Nope, not unless you want a restraining order too, and that would make it even more difficult to work together." The lab was aware of their relationship; the only real changes were that she reported to Catherine now instead of Grissom.

"Call me in the morning?"

"Of course."

Neither of them saw the figure on the far side of the parking lot snapping photos of them as they said good night.