Summary: The infamous 'You want to sleep with me?' scene. What if Grissom had gone to talk to her after she left his office? Sara's thoughts on the situation.

Disclaimer: I asked my nanny if she would buy me the rights to CSI, being the idiot she is, her reply was "How much are they?" Lol so that's a no, I don't own them. No Beta so all mistakes belong to moi.

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Sara had been rattled over the Shelton case, how could all the evidence point to the one most defiantly liable person but still not prove anything? It made her skin crawl, being in such a close proximity to Kaye's husband. Even if no one knew for sure, she could sense the guilt riding off him.

She had never been blind to domestic violence, knowing so much about the lies, the trials and tribulations and the pain that flowed through the victims veins just like their own blood. Sara and her mother had been subjected to such horror and the way her life had changed since those dark days made her who she was, whether it was too empathetic towards the victims or not.

No one knew of her broken past and she knew that Grissom must have had more questions than answers for her behaviour earlier at the Shelton home. Sara had tried to sleep after pulling compelling evidence to point at Scott Shelton but it just never came as naturally as it would after pulling a double. She could hear the suffering that Kaye went through the darkness of her room, mirrored by the shouts that kept Sara's eyes open when her dad would brutally attack her mum.

If there was anything to do, it was solve the case and move on to the next but Sara needed some closure. So walking towards Grissom's office she had decided to confront him.

"Hey." Her voice came softly but just loud enough for Grissom to place his gaze onto her rather than the book he was closely studying.

"Did you find any out about Warrick?"

'Of course, your little protégé' "Erm...I-I'm here about something else."

Thinking over what she had to say was easier said than done, stuttering to make sure her words came out coherently she began to wing it and make sense of what she needed to get across. Her confidence shrank when she realised he was staring straight at her, listening to what she had to say.

"Y-you know how you say we're the victims last voice?"

Grissom nodded and made a muffled noise to show that he understood. He wasn't quite sure where she was going with this but by the tone of her voice he was certain it wasn't going to be good. "I thought it was our job to speak for Kaye Shelton."

"You don't crunch evidence to fit a theory."

It was being hypocritical; he remembered when he was so sure about a suspect that he tried to bend the evidence into something that fit his own theory. Back then Gil Grissom was naïve and learnt a lot from that case. His assumptions were correct and he managed a conviction but he had since only voiced his opinions to himself until there was enough evidence to stand against the suspect. Otherwise it's gets too personal.

"What if... you can hear the victim's screams. In the car, or at the store." Sara's voice began to tremble and if this conversation wasn't wrapped up soon enough, she was just going to break down and cry in front of him.

'This case is really affecting her.' "You have empathy for her, Sara. You want someone to pay for what was done to her. That's normal."

An uncomfortable silence filled the room only to be broken again by Sara.

"You want to sleep with me?" Sara cursed herself for saying something that could be taken out of context. 'That sounded less sexual in my head…'

Grissom stopped eating and wiped away any residue left on his lips. "Did you just say what I think you did?"

"That way, when I wake up in cold sweat under the blanket, hearing Kaye's screams... You can tell me it's nothing. Its just empathy." Moisture was welling up in her eyes and after revealing her feelings to Grissom she knew he wouldn't have anything comforting to say instead Sara turned and walked away heading straight for the coffee machine in the break room.

"I wish I could be that emotionally closed off." She mumbled before taking a long sip of the jet fuel the department called coffee. She didn't realise the other presence standing at the doorway until he voiced himself.

"Excuse me?"

Sara jumped slightly and turned to the seemingly emotionless supervisor. "Damn Grissom!"

"Sorry, what did you say a minute ago?"

"Nothing, it doesn't matter."

He watched her trying to keep away from any eye contact, slightly amused at her failing attempt. "Being emotionally closed off isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"Jesus Griss you hear like a hawk!" Sara moved from the counter to sit on the couch staring at the horrible tasting black liquid "You'd know."

Grissom removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, empathizing with the victim is fine just as long as you can point out your limitations otherwise cases like these are going to affect you."

"It never seems to be that easy, I can't switch into hard ass mode just like that."

Gil knew what she was trying to overcome and as much as he hated getting personal with his colleagues he was sure she needed some words of advice. It wasn't exactly something serious but if Sara went through her career feeling the way she is now then she could be heading straight for burnout.

He wondered over to sit beside Sara, hoping that a closer proximity would settle her doubts.

"I know believe me I do. I guess that's why you came to tell me, hoping for a simple answer?" Grissom didn't give her a chance to answer when he asked the question, she had turned to begin talking, as he quickly gained her attention and began to speak once more. "There is never really a solution to feeling like that. When I had this case back in Minneapolis, I became so involved that I stayed up for days on end trying to force the evidence to point at my prime suspect. No one was around to guide me in the right direction so I learned the hard way and I can't say that it didn't do me any favours but I really wouldn't wish that upon anyone, especially you."

Sara smiled brightly and turned back to focus on the stack of magazines placed on the coffee table. "Do you ever wish this circle would end?"

"What do you mean?"

"It was like this in San Francisco, cases always came back to bite me in the ass."

"That's just another unfortunate problem for this type of job. When you go over your notes for a case, I can see that there is something driving you to do your best and that's what makes this job worth doing. I don't want something to ruin what you have, people out in this world need someone like you to give them closure. Think about it Sara, before this takes over your life."

Another smile crept upon her face at how he had just managed to suppress the pent up anger inside her, no doubt it was one of the most heartfelt pieces of advice she'd been given. "How do you do it?"

"I find outlets." The classic one-sided grin found its way to the corner of his mouth.

"Outlets?"

"Yeah, something to relieve the strain of the job. I imagine you'd be pretty good at boxing."

"Why's that?"

"You've always given off a vibe to want to kick ten bells out of a punch bag, try it, if not find something else." Grissom gave her hand a small squeeze and began to make his way back to his office.

"Grissom!" Sara shouted before he had managed to reach the door.

He turned. "Mmm?"

"What's your outlet?"

"Roller coasters." With that he had left the break room leaving Sara to stew over her situation.

She had left an hour later only to be phoned by Brass saying that Grissom might have a new lead on the case. He didn't give her any specific details only to take supplies to Grissom waiting around the back of the lab. Sara decided that she should return the favour and go help him out.

Grissom was sitting on a plastic stool writing down changes in his notebook when he noticed a familiar figure walking towards him. Smiling at Sara's unexpected appearance, she handed him a flask of hot coffee and placed a blanket over his shoulders.

Her hand lingered on his back and smiled. "Thanks."

THE END

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A/n: I needed to take my mind off Sara leaving so I thought I'd try and tackle something that showed some of her other emotional struggles. I gave a new prospective on this scene and thought I could build a friendship to our favourite characters. Reviews please!