So I know it's been far too long since I've posted anything- but I had this almost finished story on my computer for a while and I've been meaning to finish it for a while. And finally I have done, here it is!

Please review, let me know what you think.

Fate

The smell of stale beer was overwhelmed Sara's senses as an unsettled the silence as it rippled through the bar. The most of the regulars focused on the glasses and bottles before them ignoring attempts at eye contact by others itching for a fight. A slow country song of love lost played out back somewhere trickling through the gaps in the dusty of bottles of top shelf whiskies and brightly coloured vodkas. There was a familiarity and comfort in her surroundings despite the anxiety that had shaken her nerves to the core. They had been coming there for years, they knew where they could sit, whose shift it would be and they also knew it was probably one of the worst places in the city to drink but it had become their refuge. After long shifts and hard cases it provided a strange kind of anchor that kept their feet firmly in reality.

Sara could remember the occasions that had brought her here as if they were listed in the marks on the oak bar. These walls had been the places she had decided to leave Las Vegas after being left under a car in the desert, it was the first place she had visited after Warrick's funeral and it was the home that had welcomed her after her husband had given up on their marriage. It occurred to her that the familiar strangers that surrounded her had witnessed some the most profound and important epiphanies she'd had. That day it had been the display of the frailty of life that had dragged her unwilling bones there that night. Greg had promised with gritted teeth to join her after a change of clothes.

"Ready for the night of your life?" His voice appeared behind her setting shivers into motion. In one smooth motion he was seated on the bar stool beside her, with a raised eye brow and a devilish glint in his dark eyes he raised his hand to bring the bar tender over. "I'll have two shots of the green stuff" With raised eyebrows the Gavin carefully lifted the untouched bottle of apple schnapps and placed it in front of them as if it were a fragile artefact. The patrons carefully eyed it suspiciously like there was a chance it might explode and take them with it. "Are you sure you want this… thing?" Greg decided there was only one way to answer the question, carefully lifting the exact number of notes from his wallet he pushed them across the bar.

"Greg… Or the clone that is impersonating Greg… Can I ask what's going on?" Sara quirked an eyebrow at him while he topped the shot glasses up. The last time she had drunk the green stuff she had been in Greg's company and also very hung over the next day. It had been in the early years, when she had first moved to Las Vegas and needed an escape from the tortured relationship Grissom had created. She had never liked the taste of the bottles Greg had pushed towards her or the music that played in the background but there was a strange sort of silence in her soul when he smiled and pulled her close as heat embraced them like lovers. They were strange memories she kept to herself and opened on the colder nights when she felt alone.

"We work hard." He said matter-of-factly with raised eye brows. "And we take it all home with us… We don't have love lives, we don't enjoy the night because we're at work and during the day we're sleeping… what happened to us?" There was a catch in his throat, as his eyes darkened the contemplations that had brought him to that point all visible in his expression. She had never noticed before but he had changed so much in the years she had known him. He had gotten through all the angst he had carried through his twenties and become a man she couldn't imagine her life without. He had been a rock, her first port of call, her stability as her world crumbled and changed around her.

"We grew up" Sara replied with a shrug. There was a quite between them that seemed to answer all the questions they had about the things they wondered about their lives. Greg pushed the shot glass towards her with an exhausted smile. "Here's to reliving the better years" He gave a short laugh before he swallowed the liquid like it was medicine. "Tonight, we're going to pretend life didn't happen. You're going to pretend that you just moved to Las Vegas and I'm going to pretend that I'm not thirty seven and the only woman that ever calls me is my mother"

"And me" Sara corrected him with a smile taking the drink and throwing back the content, the sweet taste settling on her tongue. Despite the resistance she felt like going along with the idea he had proposed hoping that it would help break out of the repetitive pattern of looking for the vacant space Grissom had left in her life. There was no need to stay up for phone calls but she still found herself watching reruns of Jerry Springer wanting more than anything for it to ring. "So Gregory what else have you got planned for us for tonight?"

He poured himself another shot taking a moment to pull from the dark parts of his memory the things they used to do. "I was thinking… we could go to Jack's… we'll play a round or three of pool… From what I remember, I'm still reigning champion. And then on to… whatever that sleazy club off industrial is called now"

"I think you're mistaken… I was winning…" She laughed pushing his shoulder gently with narrowed eyes. Their games of pool had become common knowledge around the lab, their friends betting on the outcomes and joining in on the Friday night competitions. It had been a long time since the whole team had made it out, there was always somewhere to be or paper work to finish.

"Is that a challenge Ms Sidle?"

"Test me"

There was a glint in her eye that Greg hadn't seen in a long time, there was a spark that reminded him of what he had fallen in love with all of those years ago when they had first met. Sara Sidle had never been one to back down, she had never given in to him and it was what had kept him faithfully at her side.

(2)

Empty beer bottles lined the sides of the table a reminder of each bit of control they had decided to hand over that night. She rested the pool cue against the table a sly grin on her lips as she placed her hands in the back pockets of her jeans taking each step deliberately towards him. Greg could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prickle, as her shoulder brushed his, her body inches away from him. "So what was that talk about you being better than me?" Her voice was low as if they were sharing a secret.

"I am better than you" He stated with a shake of the head moving away before the urge to pull her towards him and kiss her got the better of him. They had been flirting around each other for weeks. She had started seeing him differently, he was no longer just the friend she turned to when things went wrong. Not that long ago she had joked about how much younger he was, but that had changed since he had gotten to work in the field.

"You are delusional" She laughed at him, carefully lifting the box of cigarettes from her pocket and placing one between her lips searching for her lighter. With a small sigh Greg pulled the cigarette away, tut as he threw it aside. They'd had a deal, they had both decided to quit together, to make changes for the better but it hadn't worked. They still drank too much coffee, drank too much and slept nowhere near enough. "We quit… remember"

"I thought we were channelling our younger selves tonight?" Sara pressed her lips together placing another cigarette between her lips flashing the small brightly coloured lighter at him before making her way towards the door. It occurred to him that he had no option but to follow her and he hadn't had the choice for a long time. The night welcomed them with thick, humid air and the sound of people drunkenly talking.

"So… if you could go back and change one thing in the past ten years what would you change?" She posed the question as a strange type of sobriety joining the smoke. It was a question that had tripped him up before. It was one he asked himself when faced with the meals for one in his fridge, or watching couples in the passing streets on his drive to work. There were so many things he would have changed but in the end it was too late and these were the decisions he was going to have to live with.

"I would… have called Allison back." He thought about how he had felt being faced with her body in the morgue. The ghosts of the lies he had told stood beside him, she had been hopeful about his promise that one day they would run into each other again and it would have been just like it had been in New York. He had never understood what had stopped him until he had seen Sara at the airport that day. "I would have asked you out on a real date"

"Yes… I would have probably said no" She laughed leaning back against the wall, the alcohol bringing out honesty she almost instantly regretted.

"Charming" Greg narrowed his eyes but quickly failed in his attempts to be stern. "So… what if I asked you out on a date now?" The question left his lips before he had ever had a chance to process what it was he was asking for her. Sara had confided in him that she had decided to give dating a miss, she was still recovering from losing the only person she thought she would love and the prospect of singles bars and the internet was just not appealing. He was not proud to admit that for a moment when he had heard about Sara's divorce he had felt relief, he had seen a future where he didn't continue pining for her. But when the time came he couldn't say it, when she turned up at his door with a bottle of a wine and a look that said she was a step away from tears he pulled her into his arms and kept his lips seal. There was an excuse for everyday that passed, it was too soon or she probably didn't feel the same way and one that he had lived for the fifteen years they had known each other- their friendship was more important.

"I'd ask you if you were serious and weren't confusing me for the barmaid in there who was making eyes at you or maybe Morgan… she's gorgeous" Sara narrowed her eyes and clicked her tongue thinking of all the women he would have been more suited with.

"I'm serious…" Greg paused to take a deep breath as his mind churned over every reason he had collected over the years about why he loved her but finally the thoughts had been infecting his mind made it to air. Something had changed. He had heard about how she had felt standing there in that hospital room with an explosive device cradled in her arms fearing that each breath would be enough to trigger it. Life was too short. And every time they walked through the doors of the crime lab they were reminded of just how short. It had occurred to him that perhaps it was time to be reckless, perhaps it was time to commit to something he had claimed to want for years. And he knew he could love her, he knew that he would love her more than Grissom ever had because he had wanted her, and the entirety of the things that made her.

"Greg-"

"It's been fifteen years coming but Sara Sidle will you please just go on a date with me?"

(3)

"So Mr Sanders, where are you going to take me? I'm expecting to be fully thrilled tonight" Sara announced as she climbed in the passenger side door of his car.

"I thought we'd try somewhere we haven't been before" They were people of routine and habit, they always had been going to the same places, talking to the same people. But that night Greg wanted different. He wanted to change the way things had worked out for them and though dinner was just a starting point. The restaurant he had chosen had been suggested to him by Hodges, a quiet Chinese place tucked into an under rated part of town. He had checked the vegetarian options before booking a table knowing that Sara would not have let him go easily if faced with nothing but a salad.

"So where did you get the idea for this place?" She looked up at him with a smile carefully lifting one of the fortune cookies that had been placed before them. As he had suspected she was pleasantly surprised by the menu. She carefully unrolled the fortune in her hand, raising her eyebrows before placing it aside.

"What did it say?" He asked knowing she usually had a sarcastic comment to make about

"Nothing interesting" Sara shrugged placing the paper aside indicating for him to open his own.

Greg lifted the scrap of paper carefully taking in the words she had so quickly dismissed. It was cheesy he knew it and Sara had never been one to fall for words crafted by Hallmark or easily purchased tokens but it was something he had imagined doing far too many times over the years. He considered asking but from the way she had settled back against her chair, eyeing him carefully he could sense that she was being as guarded as ever.

Colour flared on his cheeks, the room becoming warmer by the second as he realised he wanted the ink to actions. Taking a sip of his wine for courage Greg leant across the table, pressing his lips against Sara's. For a moment that seemed to last forever she remained still, her breath slowing as she processed what was happening. She found herself kissing him back, the taste of peppermint and cigarettes settling in her mouth. It was a taste she'd never forget. The stubble creeping up his cheek bones gently scraped against her skin.

"What was that?" Sara asked him as he pulled away shocked with his own actions. Greg moved back to the position he had started in, his lips glistening in the pale light and parted with surprised. His lips curled into a smile as he realised he'd done the very thing he had been longing to do since the day he had met Sara.

"Who am I to mess with fate?"

The End