Title: …In Progress

Summary: Sara, finally giving up on Grissom, seeks the companionship of another CSI. Namely Greg Sanders. With very different personalities and work ethics, will these two be yin and yang or oil and water?

Rating: T: language and romantic situations, but nothing that wouldn't be on the show

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights, privileges, or any characters of CSI. I am not profiting in any way shape or form from the use of such characters. But it would be nice if I did own them.

A/N: This is my first CSI fic, but not my first fic in general. Feedback is always encouraged, but I ask that you try to constructive if at all possible, telling me "I suck" isn't going to make the story better.

It was the sound of his phone, rather than his beeper that woke Greg Sanders out of a dead sleep. Confused, he reached for the receiver. Had it been a call from the lab, his pager would have sounded, not the phone. And besides the fact, it was his day off today.

"Hello?" Greg answered, groggily, still trying to become fully cognitive.

"Greg? I'm sorry did I wake you? I thought since you just got off shift that you would be awake," the female voice responded, sounding genuinely remorseful.

Greg's ears perked up when he recognized the voice as Sara Sidle's. It was no lab secret that Greg had harbored a crush for the brooding CSI since her transfer to Las Vegas. But it was also a well known secret that Sara has a serious thing for the night shift supervisor and her boss, Gil Grissom. So Greg had resigned himself to adoring her from afar, and settled for her friendship rather than her love.

"Normally, I would have been, but I have been pulling doubles and a even a few triples over the past few months, I'm completely beat. But since you have already torn my away from my dream involving Britney Spears and a vat of Jello, you might as well tell me why you call."

"Okay, Greg, one, too much information about your REM activities, and two, you've got to get out of this teeny bopper phase because it is starting to border on creepy. But the real reason I was calling was to invite you to lunch. We haven't gotten together much since you were made a field agent, I thought I could buy you a burger and we could catch up on what's going on in each other lives. But since you're so tired, we can just do it some other time."

She said that last bit with atone that she knew that even if Greg had a bleeding head wound, he still wouldn't turn the invite.

"No, no, it's okay. I'll sleep when I'm dead. When did ya want to meet?"

"About 3 hours at the diner. That will give you enough time to finish things up with Britney. Wouldn't want to impose on a previous engagement."

And with that, she hung up the phone and Greg placed the receiver back down confused at the conversation that had just occurred. Sara and him had never gotten together for lunch, whether he had been a field agent or a lab tech. In fact, she had been pretty adamant at shooting down any invitation he had offered. Even though he was still pretty green in field, he knew that there was a hidden agenda. His dream now far from his mind, Greg lied in bed for a while just staring at his ceiling and finally he rolled out and headed for the shower to get ready for his lunch date.

Sara had been waiting for close to twenty minutes outside the diner in the Vegas heat. And that didn't even include the 15 minutes she had arrived late knowing Greg's inability to show up anywhere on time. Just as she pulled out her phone to leave him an irate message for standing her up, Greg's SUV sped into the parking lot at a breakneck speed. She smiled as she saw the young man come running up to her, his normally impeccably spiked gelled hair, was windblown and looked to Sara as if it is was still wet.

"You're late. And what is going on with your hair?"

"I fell asleep in the shower," Greg responded.

Sara stifled her laughter.

"Well, that explains the hair, but you still shouldn't have been 35 minutes late because you fell asleep in the shower. So what else happened? Cold feet?"

Greg threw her a look that could have kill a stampede of rhinos dead in its tracks.

"Let's just say that it's a good thing I've been pulling so many doubles because this month's water bill is going to be astronomical."

Sara could stop the laughter this time.

"I'm serious Sara. I could have drowned."

Sara managed to compose herself.

"I'm sorry, Greg. Let's go inside and I'll buy you some lunch to ease your pain."

They walked into the familiar greasy spoon and took a booth towards the back to avoid any colleagues that might come in from day shift. Not even needing to look at a menu, Sara ordered a Greek salad and a iced tea and Greg a bacon cheeseburger and a Coke.

"Still doing that whole vegetarian thing? Don't you think it is about time that you gave it up and joined us on the dark side," Greg said, leaning for emphasis.

Sara leaned in as well.

"When you have seen a pig decomp in the Vegas air, see how much you want that bacon."

"Fair enough. So why exactly did you invite me to lunch?"

"Just to catch up outside of work."

"Oh come on Sara, we're both friends here and I have asked you out probably 50 times and every time it has been a "no" or a none answer. Now we are sitting just the of two of us. What gives?"

Sara's face seemed to drain of some of its color. She had been hoping to ease into the purpose of their meeting, but she should have counted on Greg to cut through all the bullshit and get to the heart of the matter. She swallowed hard and opened her mouth to explain.

"Well, Greg, as you probably know I kind of had a little crush on Grissom," she stammered, looking up only at the end of her statement.

Greg feigned shock and surprise and Sara frowned at his reaction.

"You're not making this any easier, Greg!"

"Sorry," he composed himself, "Continue."

"Well, he has made it perfectly that nothing will ever happen. And after the Hank fiasco, I wasn't really looking for a relationship with anyone else. But with everything going on lately, Nick getting buried alive and well, the job in general, I decided that I can't continue to let life pass me by."

Greg's eyes got real wide as the words that Sara had just spoken sunk in. She was actually considering a relationship. With him. He had played this moment in his mind and dreams probably a hundred times. And every time, he always had the perfect line that let Sara know that he was more than up for the prospect. But in reality, no such line came to him, instead he stammered something that sounded like gibberish.

"Why me? I mean, why not Nick. He's the big strapping cowboy that has faced down death more than once. Or one of the lab techs, like Archie. I'm not an easy guy to be with. I have eccentric habits and I'm not the cleanest guy in the world. And I'm forgetful. I'll probably never remember your birthday or…"

Sara leaned forward to put one hand over Greg's mouth to stop the babbling and the other to grab his shirtfront to pull him closer.

"Because you asked first," she said with a smile.

Sara then leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Greg's lips and when he finally realized what was happening he returned it. It only lasted a moment and then the two of them separated. Much more coherent at this point, Greg started the conversation up again as their food arrived.

"So what now?" he said with a smile that Sara returned.