Title: Everything I Need

Time: End of "Happenstance" (Season 7)
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, they are the property of the writers at CBS and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Sara was beat. She had just spent the entire day on a bench outside a courtroom, waiting to be called in to testify about evidence she had processed. She never got called, so she'd have to go back tomorrow. Frustrated and tired, she went back to CSI, hoping to see Grissom and maybe grab a bite to eat, spend a cozy evening with him. When she reached his office he was reading Walden Pond by Thoreau. He was so engrossed in his book that he failed to ask her how her day went. She told him anyhow. His response was less than sympathetic. This was not what she needed from him. Then to top it all off, he quotes from the book he's reading:

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than to be crowded on a velvet cushion".1

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. She glanced down and looked at the crossword puzzle left unfinished on his desk. An eleven-letter word left blank caught her eye.

"You missed one...misanthrope. I won't wait up." She said, smiling sarcastically as she left.

On her way out she passed Greg Sanders in the hallway.

"Hi, Sara. You look nice, I like your hair". He said, smiling.

She stopped, surprised. That was what she needed to hear today, but from Grissom, not Greg.

"Thanks. How are you doing now that the inquest is over? That must have been nerve-racking."

"Yeah, it was kinda tense for a while. Still is actually. Now I've got to face a civil suit,"Greg replied, trying to keep a brave face.

"Civil suit? You've got to be kidding me. When is this going to end? I mean how much more do you have to go through before this is over?"

"Hopefully this will be over soon. In the meantime I'll just keep busy, try to keep my mind off it." He paused, seeing that Sara didn't quite seem herself. "Are you okay? You seem a little flustered yourself."

"Oh, just things didn't work out today like I'd hoped."

"Sorry to hear that. Listen, I'm just about ready to head out. Would you wanna grab some dinner with me?"

Sara froze for a moment. She couldn't believe that what she so desperately needed from Grissom was materializing before her eyes in the last possible way she expected.

"If you have plans, I'll understand." Greg continued, filling the silence.

"No...actually, I don't have plans. Dinner sounds great." Sara replied, glancing back towards Grissom's office. Grissom had just opened his door just as Sara had accepted Greg's dinner invitation.

"Great, shall we?" Greg asked.

"You bet," Sara replied, smiling at Greg, then glancing back at Grissom as she and Greg walked out together. Grissom watched them leave, not believing what he was seeing. He stepped back into his office and slammed the door shut.

Sara and Greg arrived at their favorite Mexican place. Greg remarked how he remembered Sara and the others had brought him food from this place when he was in the hospital.

"I don't know if I told you how much I appreciated you being there for me when, you know, I was lying down in that alley," he said softly.

"You did, Greg. You told me that day in the hospital, remember?" Sara replied.

"Well, I don't think I said half of what I wanted to, with Nick and Warrick being there and everything."

"Greg, it's okay. I was glad to be there for you."

"You don't understand, Sara," he said, reaching for her hand. His touch made her tremble slightly. "I was so scared, and felt so cold lying there on the asphalt, bleeding all over the place, unable to see. I was so sure that they were going to come back and finish me off. That I'd never see..."

"Greg..." Sara whispered.

"I was so relieved when I heard the sirens approaching. And then to hear you and Sofia talking, to know you were near. And then to feel you touch me..." Greg lifted her hand and placed it on his cheek. Her impulse was to take her hand away, but he held it there, stroking it with his thumb. "...to hear you say you were there for me, meant more to me than you could ever know." A tear trickled down his cheek into Sara's palm. She instinctively brushed it away with her thumb.

"That's why I can't understand what you see in Grissom."

"Wait a minute. You know?"

"Sara, I've known you've had feelings for him for a long time now. I heard about it after that independent CSI ran the whole night shift through the wringer–that was back when I was still in the lab. That defense attorney said that someone saw you touching him while you were working together–very much like you're touching me now."

Sara withdrew her hand. "You're the one who grabbed my hand," she retorted.

"Because I wanted you to touch me," he said, grabbing her hand and placing it back on his cheek. "Grissom doesn't know what he wants. Grissom doesn't know what he has," he said, reaching out to touch her cheek. "I do. I've loved you for so long. I've watched your boyfriends come and go, wishing I could be that guy, wishing I could feel your touch. You know, you never did answer my question."

"What question?" Sara asked.

"What does he have that I don't have? So I'll ask it again now, what does he have that I don't have?"

Sara gazed deep into his soft brown eyes. She thought about Grissom–what did he have? A heart that she can't touch? A soul that she can't reach? Here was Greg reaching out for her with the arms she needed to hold her, a heart that needed her. She leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. He responded to her kiss, and she took his face in hoth of her hands.

"Nothing. He has nothing. Grissom and I are over," she whispered, kissing him again.

After a long, gentle kiss Greg looked into her eyes and smiled. "What do you say we get our order to go and have dinner at my place?"

"Sounds good to me," Sara smiled.

Greg called over the waitress, and they asked to have their order to go. They arrived at Greg's apartment. Greg took the food containers into the kitchen as Sara took off her coat. They looked at each other and decided that dinner could wait, food wasn't what they were hungry for at the moment. Greg placed the food in the refrigerator, while Sara sat down on the couch. Greg walked over and sat down beside her, taking her into his arms and kissing her. She ran her fingers through his hair, just like she had done the morning after he had been beaten. She lay back on the couch, reaching under his shirt as he unbuttoned her blouse.

This was the love she had been needing–simple and pure, uncomplicated and there for the asking Afterwards, she lay her head on his chest, drawing circles with her fingers around where his heart would be.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"No," she whispered, looking into his eyes. "I have everything I need right here."

He smiled and pressed her head against his chest, holding her close.

"Me too," he whispered, kissing and stroking her hair.

1Thoreau, Henry David. Walden Pond