Admitting Impediments

As they try to rebuild their life together, Grissom and Sara deal with the real whys of her leaving.

Part of the Time series. Follows "The Good Fight," "Closing Arguments" and "Reconciliation" and takes places post season eight, circa the end of January 2009.

For anyone who has ever been broken...

And for those who dared to risk and stay and love anyway...

One

Grissom and Sara had once again taken up residency on the room's lone sofa when her phone began wailing insistently, startling them both from their quiet consumption of late morning coffee.

Sara hurriedly went to collect it. As she stared down at the screen, her expression suddenly turned crestfallen.

Grissom came up from behind her. "Everything okay?" He asked concerned.

"My alarm," she answered, clicking the cell shut with a sigh and returning it to the table. "I had forgotten it was Saturday."

"Saturday?" He asked, handing her a half-drunk cup; she looked like she could use it.

Sara took it gratefully and nodded. "Yeah, visiting hours."

She didn't need to name whom she was visiting and Grissom didn't need to ask.

"Great way to spend a Saturday afternoon," she continued with a rueful shake of the head. "You wait for more than two hours for a twenty minute chat."

"You know you don't have to go through all of that. I'm sure that San Francisco PD would extend you every professional courtesy."

"I'm not a professional anymore, Gil," she reluctantly reminded him.

"I could make some calls," he offered.

"Thanks, but I think even after all this time, twenty minutes once every week with my mother is as much as I can handle right now."

"Ok," he agreed.

"This is just something I have to do on my own," she tried to explain.

He understood. "May I drive you?" Grissom asked, pouring himself another cup of coffee from the kitchenette.

"You don't have to do that."

"More?" He asked raising the coffee pot. She shook her head. "I'd like to." Wanting to be entirely sure that she knew he wasn't trying to interfere or inject himself into the situation, he said, "I don't even have to come inside. I'll just drop you off and you can tell me when to come pick you up. Besides, how else are you going to get there?"

"BART," she supplied smiling slightly. "Public transit isn't that bad."

"In this country it usually is."

"True," Sara conceded.

"So me or the bus?" He inquired.

"I don't want to put you through any trouble..."

"It's no trouble. What time do you need to be there?"

"One."

He peered down at his watch. "It's a little after eleven. Why don't we get cleaned up and I can take you to lunch beforehand," he suggested.

"I'd like that."

"Me, too."