A/N: I am aware that I have another 2 WIP that I should be getting on with but this story wouldn't leave me alone and I had to get it out. So much so that it is already complete and ready to post! Soooo here is my latest offering to the world of GSR FanFiction. I love it! It started off as a Sara story and then I found a song that fit Grissom so it is now an alternating POV story. Beginning with Grissom. Sooooo let me know if I should keep posting. :D
song Lyrics courtesy of John Mayers - Half of my Heart
Grissom - I was born in the arms of imaginary friends.
Grissom stared at the job in his hand with a heavy heart. A triple out in Ely, a four hour drive away. The journey alone was enough to push them into the edge of a double shift. Then the decision fell to him of who to put on it with him. Catherine would kick up a fuss about overtime and her daughter, Warrick had just come out of a really tough case which saw him max out on his overtime for the month and Greg, well Greg wasn't ready for such a big case.
That only left Nick and Sara.
He sighed as he stepped into the break room and saw them there, laughing and joking. The easy flirting and comfortable chatter he was once able to enjoy with her that was now a distant memory.
He had never felt so alone.
He wouldn't say she had been avoiding him as such but she was certainly distancing herself from him and he didn't like it. It was probably for the best, it was probably justified, he needed the distance from her as much as she needed it from him but it left a space in his soul. A space once reserved for a completely enchanting young woman he couldn't get out of his mind.
If anything it only made him think about her more. Much like an addict. When he was working with her every day, talking to her every day he didn't need his fantasies, he didn't need to satisfy his hunger with daydreams because she was there right in front of him, looking at him with those soft, enticing eyes and smiling at him with that smile. When they avoided each other, when their days were spent only exchanging the words necessary to relay important information he missed her. Not that he would ever tell her that of course.
"Ok sorry guys but we got an out of Towner. Triple out in Ely. We leave in 5 minutes"
He didn't wait around to hear their grumbles or their arguments about who drove or who got shotgun simply turned on his heel and headed off to find Catherine and let her know she would be on call until they got back. He wasn't looking forward to that particular conversation, especially if the case ran over a few days. He had promised her the weekend off.
When he appeared outside Nick and Sara were already leaning on his car with an air of impatience. It was obvious Sara had lost the argument about who called shotgun by the folded arms and over exaggerated teenage girl pout. He had to actively suppress the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. They stowed their kits and overnight bags in the trunk of his car and piled in. Nick playing with the settings on the stereo and Sara shuffling uncomfortably in the back seat. She eventually settled, staring out of the window, watching the world go by.
She didn't know he could see her in his rearview mirror. He was absolutely certain she would have glared at him if she saw him stealing glances at her at every opportunity. Nick was singing along to the radio and drumming the beat with his fingers on his shoe and other than the hum of the engine and the occasional motorcycle whizzing past that was the only sound.
She fell asleep about an hour in, having read the file faxed over by the Ely police department a couple of times over her eyelids became heavy as she rested her head on the window. She looked so peaceful and relaxed he had to fight to keep his eyes on the road.
Then he began to wonder what had made her so tired. She was infamous for her ability to work for days on end without rest and here she couldn't handle a few hours in a car. His mind cast back over the cases he had passed to her over the past few weeks. He had specifically avoided giving her anything too difficult, she would bite his head off if she knew that of course but since she came back from her leave of absence following her almost DUI he had tried to keep an eye on her. It was hard of course, the lab was always so busy and she got so consumed in each case she was always off on some tangent, always following a new lead or racing ahead of him. That was one of the things he loved about her, she could always keep him on his toes. It didn't seem to matter how much he thought he knew her, she could still surprise him.
She had sworn to him that she wouldn't drink again so it couldn't be down to that either. He trusted her not to break a promise to him. She had never given him reason not to.
When they finally arrived in Ely he told Nick to wake her while he introduced himself to the local law enforcement. It would cause less embarrassment for her and for him that way. The comical police officers eagerly met him from his car, both of them stretching their hands out to shake his simultaneously and scuffling on the way over to be the first to have the honor.
The tall man made it first, his longer strides and muscular arms beating out over the small tubby one. He was handsome in a conventional kind of a way, your typical college pretty boy now a grown up and playing cops and robbers. He took an instant dislike to him, especially when he saw that his gaze left him the second Sara stepped out of the car and his eyes lit up.
He almost growled a quiet warning in his ear telling him to back off but the annoying little conscience in the deepest recesses of his brain reminded him that he had no right to be involved in Sara's personal life. He had forfeited all rights to that a long time ago. That didn't stop him scowling at the man as he made his introductions as casual and dismissive as he could.
He was infinitely glad the small officer had caught up and was offering his hand to Sara first. He could see her shudder as the sweaty palm of Officer Haslow closed around her small hand and still she smiled a polite smile and greeted him with the respect he deserved.
At least he thought he deserved it, he wasn't sure he liked this officer any more than Officer Miller. He seemed rather dismissive and uninvolved, that could be a good thing or a bad thing. He prided himself on being neither although his workmates would insist he was at least one of the two.
During his scrutiny of Officer Haslow he had almost completely forgotten about the other officer, when he looked around he felt something well up inside him that he hadn't properly felt for a very long time. Jealousy.
She was standing there smiling at him, holding his eye contact and he could swear she was blushing. How dare they have a moment like that right under his nose? This man couldn't have Sara, she belonged to him. She was meant to be with him even if neither of them were ready, or willing to admit it yet he had long accepted it as fact. He and Sara were meant to be together and here she was flirting with another man. It was his fault, for his cowardice and his need to overthink every major decision in his life. She had been right all those years ago.
He was too late.