Title: Sanctuary
Genre: Angst- with a little romance
Pairing: Grissom/Sara
Rating: T (high)
Summary: Sara deals with her anger over Grissom's sabbatical and reflects on how he has changed her life
A/N: This is my first proper fic in a while- don't read it if you want fluff!! Thanks to Nikki for the great beta!
Spoilers: Anything up to season seven
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: Crime Scene Investigation or any of the characters therein. No money was made from the writing of this fic, so please don't sue.
Sara shut the door to her apartment with a bang. Once she had shed her coat and dropped her purse on the kitchen counter, she sighed. This was her sanctuary, the one place that she had always been able to come to when things got too tough and she needed to escape.
After her terrible childhood, where home was a place of violence and shouting, Sara had made everywhere she had lived peaceful and calm. Her apartment in Vegas was the longest she had lived in one place since the death of her father. It showed, for this place was not the haven she needed at the moment. There were too many memories of him. For a year and a half she had practically been living at his house, but here was where everything had started. NO! She would not think of him, she couldn't. Sara had returned to her old apartment after he went to Massachusetts, and brought most of her stuff back with her.
Meeting him in the corridor at work today was not how she had envisaged their first encounter after a month apart. Sara had been unable to stop herself giving him a half smile as he stood there, after four long weeks, but she had escaped as quickly as possible.
Grissom had started to invade the sanctuary of her home. Although Sara had frequently gone out with the others to cafes and diners and sometimes to their houses, she had never had anyone over to her apartment. Then, three years ago, after her almost- DUI- incident, he had driven her home and, much against her better judgement, she had invited him in.
"I'd ask you in for a drink but that seems somewhat inappropriate" she had said. "You want some tea?"
He had acquiesced. Once inside, she had noticed how he glanced around the apartment that he had never seen before, noting the décor and the furniture. She had turned around and handed him the tea, waiting for the inevitable lecture.
"Sara," he had begun. "I want you to take some time off- you know-"
"Yeah, I know I have to see a PEAP councillor, yada, yada," Sara had replied, but with more weariness than anger.
He hadn't lectured her as she had feared. They had talked, quietly, almost as friends. Well- not quite friends- they had never been just friends. He had left a half hour later, and Sara had been too comforted by his conversation to notice that they had been in her apartment. When she had realised, it was too late.
The second time had been after she had blown up at Catherine and Ecklie and been suspended. After a few hours, she had calmed down and distanced herself enough from the case to be able to talk to Grissom. She had attempted to tell him about her parents in the empty, dead, monotone way that she had managed to view them in ever since. However, the fact that she was in her home, the only place she ever allowed herself to break down, and the fact that it was Grissom and he was listening to her wore through her defences.
"It's ok," he had told her, almost hopelessly.
He hadn't fired her. Part of her still couldn't believe that.
A/N: This is the first part of a continuing story- cross-posted at geekfiction. Part Two is also posted there- please let me know if I should update!