A/N: This is my first fic ever, so I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or any of the characters although I wouldn't mind claiming Grissom as my own - Unfortunately they all belong to CBS - but I am saving up my money to buy them one day.
A very special thanks to Maisy13 the best friend anyone can ever have for her help & for being my beta. :)
"So what are we gonna do now that Ecklie knows about our relationship?" Sara asked Grissom as they lay in bed. She had been released from hospital earlier that day after spending two days there, being treated for dehydration, heat stroke and a broken arm.
Grissom lay beside her, Sara cuddled into his left side, her head against his chest, his right hand absently stroking the cast. Ecklie was the last person he wanted to think about at that moment, he was just glad that Sara was alive and lying beside him, and that he was lucky enough to get another chance to love her and to show her how much she meant to him, all he could think of was that this was the second time he could have lost her to a psychotic killer, the first time, two years ago, was when Adam Trent held her hostage in the nurses station at the mental institution, he blamed himself then like he did now, he should have known better than to take her along with him to a mental institution filled with convicted rapists. And now only a few days ago Natalie Davis kidnapped and almost killed Sara and it was his fault, because Natalie blamed him for the death of Ernie Dell, the only person she ever loved. Its funny how she saw what a bunch of trained CSI's couldn't, how much he was in love with Sara and the fact that they'd been in a relationship for a while.
"Gil? Gil? Gilbert!"
Grissom's thoughts were interrupted by Sara; he turned to her with a smile. "Yes dear."
She smirked. "Penny for your thoughts"
He looked into her dark brown eyes and saw the love she had for him reflected there, "I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have such an amazing woman in my life".
"So are you going to answer my question or not?" Sara asked.
"I don't want to think about that weasel right now." he told her.
"Grissom, you know that Ecklie's called me in tomorrow for an official inquiry into our relationship."
Grissom new Sara was either upset or annoyed with his behavior, she only called him Grissom when they were at work and when he did something that bugged her, and since they weren't at work...
"Grissom!"
Grissom sighed and looked at her again. "Honey, don't worry about it. I'm sure the inquiry will go fine, just tell Ecklie the truth and don't lie to protect me, ok?"
Sara was still feeling uneasy. "You know that he isn't gonna let this go, don't you?"
Grissom sighed. "I know, that's why I'm moving to the swing shift, and the swing supervisor is moving to graveyard."
Sara was in shock, she couldn't believe what she'd just heard, she sat up, breaking contact with Grissom and stared at him. "Gil, you can't be serious! You know that the swing shift supervisor is a complete idiot, you can't do this to the team."
"Look Sara, this whole situation is my fault, I should have know better than to keep our relationship a secret, we're in violation of lab policy, and as your supervisor I should have done something about this years ago, I could have asked Catherine to take over your evaluations, if I did we wouldn't be in this mess right now."
"Gil, we're both in this together for better or worse, you can't just blame yourself for all of this, I'm as much to blame as you are, if anyone should be moving to swing it should be me."
Grissom cut her off, his voice was stern. "No Sara, I'm moving to swing, end of discussion."
Sara glared at him, got up and walked out of the bedroom. "Fine, do whatever you want." he heard her mumble on her way out.
Grissom sighed, he wanted to get up and follow her, but he knew she needed her space, he wanted her to realize that he loved her too much to have her leave everyone at graveyard. She barely knew the guys on swing, and she'd said it herself the supervisor was an idiot. He knew how close she was to the team and knew that even with that idiot as their supervisor they had each other and most importantly they had Catharine. When she was supervising swing shift after Ecklie broke up the team a few years ago she proved what a great supervisor she was.
It was his fault that Ecklie broke up the team then, and he'd only have himself to blame if Ecklie did the same thing this time round, he didn't want to break the team up, and he was afraid Ecklie would do just that. Maybe he should stop ignoring Ecklie's calls and tell him that he was moving to swing. He decided he'd tell him tomorrow after shift.
Sara couldn't believe how stubborn Grissom was, she knew he blamed himself for everything, but none of this was his fault. He wasn't responsible for Ernie Dell's suicide or for her kidnapping, and now she couldn't let him do this to the team, they still needed him as their supervisor; he still had a lot to teach them. She was a big girl she could take care of herself, just knowing that she could come home to him at the end of the day was enough for her. Yes she was going to feel all alone at swing, she barely knew the guys there, but she knew she could handle it. She didn't think that the guys could handle an idiot for a supervisor after having Grissom as their supervisor/mentor for all these years. She knew they wouldn't blame her if Grissom left but she'd still feel guilty and that was one thing she couldn't handle.
Sara made up her mind; she'd tell Ecklie at her inquiry tomorrow about her decision. That was assuming she still had a job afterwards.
Sara made her way through the lab to Ecklie's office, she felt all the stares, and heard the whispering of the lab techs, she felt like she was back in school and on her way to the principals office.
She was feeling nervous as she knocked on Ecklie's door and sat down; he was on the phone and she guessed correctly that he was trying to get in touch with Grissom, she knew he'd been dodging Ecklie's calls for days now, he'd told her that wasn't ready to talk to Ecklie yet so she lied for him again and said she didn't know where he was. Sara knew Ecklie didn't believe her but at this point she didn't care.
Ecklie got right down to business and started the inquiry. She had to correct him when he said that they "were" in violation of lab policy. Did he actually think that after their relationship was out in the open that they would have stopped?
"So when did you and Supervisor Grissom begin your relationship?"
Sara didn't even think twice before she answered "We've always had a relationship."
She knew exactly what he meant by his question, he wanted to know when they'd started having sex, but she wanted to make this as hard as she could on him. If he wanted to know then he was going to have to spell it out. And she wasn't surprised when he did just that.
"I mean when did you become intimate?"
Sara thought back to the first time that she and Grissom made love and answered "Two years ago, I think it was a Sunday..."
She was sure it was a Sunday how could she forget the day that she and Gil Grissom finally made love for the first time. They were planning on spending the whole day at the body farm, any other person would have found that to be gross, but they both loved it over there. It had started to rain, and they were forced to stay home. She was disappointed but he soon made it up to her in ways she'd only fantasized about, that was before it finally became a reality. Sara smiled at the memory and quickly remembered where she was, there was no way she was giving that weasel any intimate details about their relationship.
The inquiry lasted for almost an hour, and finally Ecklie said what she had known would come all along.
"Sara, you know that Grissom can no longer be your supervisor, we need to find..."
Sara cut him off, "Ecklie, I know what you're going to say and I'm going to make this easier on all of us, I want to transfer to swing."
Ecklie couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Does Gil know about your decision?"
"This has nothing to do with Grissom, I've thought about it and I've decided that it's the best solution for the both of us."
"When did you tell Ecklie we got involved?" Sara and Grissom were in their car which was parked outside the go-cart tracks.
After Ecklie had finally found Grissom and took his statement, he'd been wondering what exactly Sara had told him. Especially when Ecklie said that they needed to get their stories straight.
"Two years ago." Sara gave Grissom a confused look before she continued "Why, what did you tell him?"
"Nine years ago."
Sara laughed as she remembered the first time they met at the forensic academy conference, and Grissom's reaction made her laugh even more.
"Yeah, you had too many questions about anthropology for some reason." Grissom winked at her.
"Well I was stalling; I was trying to get the nerve to ask you out." Sara teased.
Grissom still remembered that day as if it were yesterday, the first day he met Sara Sidle would be etched in his memory forever. He remembered everything, her words, what she was wearing, her hair… "You had a ponytail" did he actually say that out loud?
Sara couldn't believe he remembered that she had her hair up in a ponytail, guys never remembered that kind of thing, but then again Grissom wasn't just any guy, he never ceased to amaze her, this was why she loved him so much and this was why she was making this sacrifice for him. It was going to be difficult to tell him but he was going to find out eventually and she thought that he should hear it from her, not Ecklie. He deserved that much at least.
"I'm gonna move to swing."
Grissom couldn't believe what he was hearing, he thought he'd told her that he was the one moving; he'd made it clear to her that she was staying on graveyard.
"We talked about this."
"I know that you said you'd do it but I don't want to do that to the team, besides," Sara took a deep breath before she continued, "I am sure I can use more daylight in life."
She smiled at him letting him know that she'd made up her mind and her decision was final, Grissom was left speechless, he didn't know what to say. It was just like Sara to think about others and sacrifice her own happiness so that her friends could be happy. This was one of the reasons why he loved her so much. His thoughts were interrupted when she said, "We should go."
Everyone was waiting for them inside and they were late, they hadn't spent any time outside of work together in ages and this was probably the last time they would for a while. Sara knew Grissom was upset but she knew he'd eventually work out she was doing the right thing. They got out of the car and made their way inside Cath, Warrick, Nick, Greg and the doc were already in their go-carts racing each other, each one of them waved as they passed Grissom and Sara, who stood watching them.
Nick stopped in front of Sara and Grissom and asked Sara if she wanted a ride.
Sara smiled back at Nick. "I wish I could."
Nick turned to Grissom. "What about you Ricky Bobby?"
Grissom held up his hands. "No thanks, I like to watch."
Nick replied with an ok and drove off leaving Sara and Grissom alone again.
Sara turned to Grissom smiling. "You should go."
He smiled back. "Yeah?"
"Yeah, you should go."
He needed to have some fun, she was sure if her arm wasn't in a cast that they would have been in there racing each, knowing that the winner would have their way with the looser in the bedroom. It only took Grissom a second to decided, if Sara wanted him to have fun then he would.
He rushed over to the empty go-cart, put the helmet on and turned to Sara who gave him a thumbs up. He gave her a thumbs up of his own and drove off after the rest of the team.
Sara stood there watching them have their fun as her eyes filled with tears. Right then she knew she had made the right decision. She was going to miss hanging out with the team after shift, she was going to miss working side by side with Grissom, she'd miss Greg's sense of humor, her good friends Nick and Warrick, yes she was gonna miss Cath too.
Watching Grissom on the track she knew he'd never be happy anywhere else, she knew his heart was hers and that they would always have each other at the end of the day.
This was a sacrifice worth making both for the love of her life and her friends.
Fin
Thanks for reading, I look forward to reading your reviews :D