Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, the dialogue from "The Happy Place" (which was anything BUT!), nor anything else to do with CSI. I certainly don't profit by it; no, lately I just get disappointed by it, it would seem.

A/N: Just a little peak forward from the last episode, to try to find a silver lining for Grissom and Sara...

Part I

"She promised me everything, and then she took it all away."

The young man was wracked by sobs as he spoke the last sentence. A confused teenager, trying to find love and stability in an inherently destructive situation, was now in the aftermath of his complete undoing. Gil Grissom was catatonic; his gaze drifted down unfocused, unable to maintain eye contact. While his life never took a turn anything like this young suspect's had; somehow those words were hauntingly accurate.

She promised me everything, and then she took it all away.

Trying desperately to simply acquire necessary information and move on; he was paralyzed. Unable to think on the situation at hand; unable to separate his current plight from that of the criminal before him; and completely unable to provide any usable insight to relieve either of their suffering; he rose up and wordlessly exited the room. The detective observing the interview opened his mouth to question his departure, but upon seeing his devastated facial expression, wisely chose not to speak.

Gil Grissom was in very unfamiliar territory; emotional turmoil interfering with his ability to function. He managed to find an empty hallway, collapsing against the wall and sinking down onto a bench. First his mind refused to stay on track, and now even his body defied him.

She promised me everything, and then she took it all away.

He had risked everything for those promises she made. His career, sure, but there was lots more. He always listed his fear of career suicide as reason one-A as to why he couldn't make the leap with her. Truth be told, he listed it as one-B, C, and D of his list of reasons to avoid getting involved with Sara Sidle. But, the real reason one-A was his fear of rejection. He would be too old for her; she was too beautiful and had too much life ahead of her; she would ultimately need to move on. That would be a pain he feared he couldn't endure.

It was a pain he protected himself from being exposed to for years by keeping her at arms length. When he couldn't repress his desire for her any longer, he sought her reassurances, and they poured down on him. She professed her love and loyalty as she discretely safeguarded his career at her expense.

Their relationship had its share of bumps along the way, no doubt. The combined emotional and social skills of the couple were challenged at best, and they frequently battled each other's limited ability to effectively communicate. As Sara would over talk, Grissom would stare in utter confusion; Sara would become self conscious and lose all conviction, thus ceasing her overture before he could understand what in the world she was trying to convey. Grissom on the other hand, was unable most of the time to utter any words at all to convey his most basic feelings for Sara, let alone anything complex, although his feelings ran deep as an ocean, she was left to infer most of it. Despite those challenges, over the years they meshed their lives together in a private, committed relationship far more significant than either had ever experienced.

One area in which the relationship was very successful; gently eroding Grissom's strength for existing alone. His ability to enjoy solitude, to age peacefully without anyone by his side, to be happy in his own life, was forever gone.

I became too old for her…I stopped being a risk for her…

The suspect's laments bounced around his head wreaking havoc on his normally meticulous sensibilities. On the surface, there was very little in common with their situations. The suspect was referring to his turning eighteen, becoming a legal sex partner. However, somehow, when the statements were viewed at face value, they were eerily applicable. The more he thought on them, the more foretelling they became, not unlike a seer's reading. Grissom had become 'legal' in a different way. Their relationship had come out and their careers had survived. Unlike the suspect, he didn't become legal by becoming old, he just aged. The reality was that his worst fear had come to pass.

I became too old for her…I stopped being a risk for her…

Was Sara only pursuing him because he was unavailable, out of reach, a risk? Now that he was none of those things, was he just plain old? Once the chase was fulfilled and their relationship became safe, had he become inadequate to sustain her lust for life, did the horrors of the job overtake her; give her the excuse and the need to run?

He buried his head in his hands as he slumped forward, his body giving into the paralyzing uncertainty his life had become. His imagination was heading into dangerous territory. His ego was being beaten to within an inch of its existence. Yet, the words continued to echo in his head.

I became too old for her…I stopped being a risk for her…so she had to look elsewhere…

She promised me everything, and then she took it all away…

She made it clear, at least for now, he had to find the courage to keep living his life as it was without her. What he didn't know yet, was what lay beyond that. Did she ever plan to come back to him?

I can't stay here…

She couldn't stay, but he couldn't leave. He had to know more. She had said she wasn't leaving him, but that's all he could feel happening. That may not be what was intended, but that is what happened.

As he recovered from the impact of these revelations he meticulously began to dissect the problem. Now, his powerful reasoning made it like a case, a mystery he lived to solve. He had to find evidence. He had to know what was the truth, and what was only perceived to be the truth. Once he transformed this whole emotional crisis into a case, a puzzle to be solved, a quest for irrefutable evidence; he could rise from the crumpled heap on the bench and resume functioning in his life.

Grissom inhaled deeply and lifted his head. For decades, he masterfully kept his emotions neatly at bay as he processed horrific scenes and dealt with circumstances of pure misery. This practiced detachment would get him through the shift until he could go home, until he could face her.

Grissom returned to the interrogation room to find the suspect had calmed down considerably. He followed up with questions to hone down the story, nail down the timeline, and generally to wrap the session up neatly into a package he could put down on paper in a file to be delivered into the system.

He would make it home and his desperation would bring out the words he needed to confront Sara. While he was so crippled in his ability to communicate to her, his very survival depended on finding the truth. If he was reduced to 'get away vacation' status, from 'sharing a life' status, then he had to know….so he could move on.

What he didn't yet know, just a bit earlier, in another stark interrogation room, Sara sat across the table from a different man in an orange jumpsuit. Like him, she was embroiled in her own emotional crisis, a critical ego pounding blow to her self worth.

Sara was still trying to make sense of her last conversation with Grissom. She, too, was trying desperately to put explanations and truth to his actions; trying to see where their relationship really stood. Did he really describe their relationship in 'stasis'; was he finally saying he's angry? Was he telling her to set him free if she couldn't stay?

With all that was mulling around her head, she still managed to put her efforts into clearing Tom Adler. That's when she learned of his elaborate lie that she unknowingly propagated through blind faith. The devastating revelation that she battled heart and soul for a man who could do that was crippling.

While this was certainly not the first time someone she cared for completely let her down, there was something novel about this instance. This wasn't a desperate, evil human using any means to get out of taking responsibility for their actions. Or it wasn't like one of her remarkably poor choices in men which resulted in the heartbreak of infidelity on more than one occasion. Or even a reprehensible parent, too lost in their own problems to even show basic love to a child.

This was different. Tom Adler was a victim, an innocent victim, incapable of deception. She needed to believe him at face value and fought the system on his behalf.

All things considered, this particular deception was particularly singeing, and somehow managed to wound a previously unblemished cache of her bleeding heart. She had provided Tom Adler emotional support for years now. After the way justice was handed down for what he and Pam had lost, it was the least she could do. So she put her whole worth into defending his word; only to learn that word was a facade, that he was capable of manipulating her, and it was devastating her in an all new way.

She sat across from him now, fighting back tears, trying desperately to elicit some explanation to redeem this awful act, reconcile the need for it, but it was not forthcoming. Humanity in Vegas impossibly slid another notch lower in her view of the world. It was already an intolerable place teeming with misery, death, and lies, but now, it was completely unconscionable. A place where even the innocent are irredeemable.

She couldn't get out of there fast enough.

TBC...