Here she is, in his bed while he works on his miniature scene. Sometimes she wonders why they are still together. Well, not sometimes, lately she asks herself that question almost all the time. Sara has never been really in love with Grissom. It was an obsession, a hard to achieve goal she settled to herself as a sort of distraction. The point is that now, once the target was reached and the distraction is gone, nothing has changed. But let's better not go there. Look at them now, together at home and still apart. Come on... Friday night, and Grissom is working on his mock-up while she is watching a retro movie? It's not necessary to be a genius to figure out that something isn't going well there. Sara isn't oblivious of that. She has never before been involved in a love relationship and still felt herself released when the circumstances leaded in a direction opposite from sex. She doesn't want Grissom anymore, and maybe she never wanted him at all. She looks to the table where the man devotes whole attention to his handiwork, and wonders if Gil has sometime put half of this concentration on her. When her cell phone rings, she's inner answering herself that certainly not.

-Hi, Sara. It's me, Lindsey. -Hey. It's nice to hear your voice, baby.

Sara raises her eyes in Grissom's direction. Apparently, the man doesn't care if she's happy to hear someone else's voice. He didn't listen her, or he pretends he didn't.

-Are you busy now?

-Not at all, why?

-Well, I called to your place, and you weren't there, so I figured maybe you were, you know... out with some handsome date?

-Yeah, well. I'm not. -Ok. I don't want to intrude.

-Hope you remember you can call me whenever you want, I told you so. It's everything ok?

Now he glances at her for a second, and Sara thinks that maybe she was wrong, that perhaps the sparkle hasn't faded at all... She'll fight for this... well, for whatever it is.

-Yes. Listen, I called because I wanted to ask you a favour.
-Well, Spill it out. You are not in trouble, are you?

-No. Hey, it's mom birthday. And I'd like to give her something special this year.

-And where do I fit in this plan of yours?

-Your leading roll starts in the part where you help me to digitalize and make some screen captures from an old tape I have, where mom is holding me when I was a little baby. I'd ask Greg, but he can't keep his mouth shout, and I want this to be a surprise for mom.

-You can count with me on that digitalizing stuff. And regarding to the top-secret part, well I barely speak with Catherine, so she certainly would never know about it from me.

-Thanks, Sara! I owe you. Maybe I could give you the tape tomorrow in the crime lab?

-Sure.

-Great! You know I love you, don't you?

-Yeah, well... I love you too, but keep it quiet...

-Right...And that tough pose of yours, it's just bullshit...

-That's just because I'm kind of soft on you, kiddo.

-See? So cute... Well, see you tomorrow, Sara.

-Tomorrow, then.

She hangs up, looking at Grissom and sighing as the man keeps focused on the miniature scene.

-It was Lindsey. She wanted my help to surprise Catherine with a birthday present.

-Ok.

-So... Aren't you going to get in bed? It's late.

-Nah, it's fine. You sleep, I'll continue on this for a while.

She doesn't answer immediately. She promised herself she'll fight for this, and is resolute about it. Granted, maybe is not love anymore, but Grissom is safety, security, a sort of comfy shelter to rest for a while. And she's so tired of being tough... If you had a past like Sara's, maybe you'll understand the deep reasons of this conformist decision... Besides, Grissom is loyal and that's one of his best features: she can trust him. To surrender on passion is a high price for safety, but... As she drops a book, which is on his bedside table, a picture falls on the floor and her inner rambling suddenly stops. One more time, she glances at him, and one more time he's oblivious of his surroundings. Sara picks up the picture and looks at it. It's an old photograph of a woman. A beautiful woman she's never seen before... But why was it hidden inside of that book?

TBC...