Disclaimer: I do not own CSI or any of the characters contained in this story, which is not for profit of any kind.

A/N: It took me a really long time to post this, but I think I know where to go with it now. Originally, I had just planned to use the season finale to direct me where to go, based on spoilers that did not happen (teach me to rely on those), so I had to figure out where to go by myself and got kind of lost in my wanderings apparently . . .

Planning The Journey

She had it all planned out in her head. It was the perfect cover. Sara knew she needed to regain some balance, and to do that, she needed to distance herself a bit. Up so close and personal was her relationship with Grissom that her perspective was skewed. Backing away a little now that she was so unsure would let her see the big picture again. So she was taking a vacation. Just a week or so. Now normally, this would set off all kinds of alarm bells in the minds of all her coworkers, since Sara rarely, if ever took that much time off. But it was all about timing and position. Kind of like a game of war. And her strategy was perfect.

Now, as far as anyone knew, she had "taken some time off" three years ago, right after the near DUI that no one actually knew about. So it wasn't completely unheard of for her to take a vacation.

Never before would I have thought that I'd be grateful for the consequences of that. But I guess there's a silver lining to everything, she thought to herself.

As far as everyone's concerns, though, she just needed to put them at rest. This was where Wendy was un-knowingly going to help her out. Sara had left before the woman showed up at the San Francisco crime lab, but others of her colleagues were now mutual friends. So, Sara was going to visit a one Monica Morales, who, Sara knew, still kept in regular contact with both she and Wendy. So, Sara would just casually introduce the subject to Wendy sometime in the next few days, and they would have a nice old chat about their friends in San Fran. And then Wendy would act as a calming agent for anyone on night shift that doubted the veracity of Sara's claim that she was going on vacation. The perfect plan.

And the perfect excuse to indulge in the perfect vice.

Though Sara had missed it since she'd been in Vegas, every year in SF she'd gone to the most tantalizing and heavenly party on Earth: the Chocolate Festival.

For a surprisingly small price, anyone could get in all day and eat as much chocolate as he or she could hold from some of the best chocolate makers around. It was divine, and her mouth watered just thinking about it.

In fact, Sara couldn't believe she'd missed it six years in a row. Now was the perfect time for her to reintroduce herself.

She thought all this as she walked briskly to her car in the parking deck. Running late for once, because she'd been so swept up in her plans, she would have to hurry to get to work before . . .

"Sara ?"