See chapter one for disclaimer, summary etc.

A/N: Polygonia Interrogationis really exists. If you want an image to match the story, just Google the Question Mark butterfly and something'll pop up.

Have fun reading!

2.

Like an overenthusiastic child Grissom had driven home from the bar. The stir of pleasure he had felt was wiped away from him the minute he started thinking beyond his desires to see Sara again.

What if she doesn't want to see me? She left because she didn't want me to see her deteriorate.. What if she still feels that same way now?

He let out a long, deep sigh as he walked in little circles in his bedroom.

Think rationally. She left because she couldn't take it anymore, because of her ghosts. Surely she hasn't buried them in two months, but the change of environment must have helped already..

'Let's just hope she misses me as much as I miss her.' He muttered to himself as he dialed the number of Sara's cell phone.

Sara's hand lingered above the phone the moment it rang. The sound startled her; as if she had been dreaming and this was her wake up call.

'What the-' she murmured as she grabbed the phone with slightly trembling hands. Her heart screamed the name of the dialer already, but her head couldn't agree until it saw the letters flash up.

'Sara Sidle." She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard an intake of breath on the other side of the line.

'Hello?' she tried. She heard a few more sounds mutter in her ear and then she heard him speak.

'Hi Sara." Sara felt her heart melt against her ribs at those words – and more importantly, at the man who spoke them. She didn't know what to say..

'Hello.' She squeezed out eventually.

Silence.

'How have you, err.."

'Fine, fine. I'm fine. Well, not fine, but better. I'm better. I err..' Then, she suddenly started laughing. As she could almost hear Grissom's eyebrows go up on the other side, she heard him speak hesitantly.

'What is it?'

'It's just so funny' she said when she had calmed down a bit, 'I always over talk with you, and I realized I'm doing it again now..'

'That's okay. I like to hear your voice..' He said softly.

Sara smiled at his words.

He still loves me!

The ice was now broken. She felt at ease again, talking to him and her heart was – yet again- overflowing with a deep feeling of affection for Grissom.

'So.' She asked him, relaxing back into the warmth of her blanket, 'How's everything back in Vegas?'

'Hmm, want to hear stories from the home front, eh?'

She laughed again.

'Yes, please! How are my friends doing? Nick, and Cath and Warrick? Is Greg still mourning my leave?'

He chuckled and started telling. About Warrick and Nick, and how they all missed her so much. About Catherine, and how she was the one being awfully cool about it - but she'd admitted to Grissom she missed Sara as well. About Greg, who had lost a great deal of his cheerful personality the day after her departure. They'd all suffered from it – but no one as much as Grissom had.

When he was done telling, Sara felt a huge lump in her throat.

'I'm so sorry I left so unexpected..' she whispered, and then she cleared her throat.

'It's okay..' he mused, 'I understand you were having difficulties. You don't have to apologize..'

'No, I do.' She said in a firm tone, 'I never meant to hurt you guys.. especially you, Grissom-'

'Gil!' he interrupted.

'Especially you, Gil.But at the time I couldn't find another alternative.'

'Have you found one now?' he asked. Sara heard the hope in his voice and it almost broke her heart to answer.

'No..'

'Oh..'

'Do you miss me?' she asked suddenly. She heard a few sounds on the other side and realized he had dropped something out of his hands.

'I'm sorry. I..I shouldn't have asked you that-'

'I do.'

'What?' Sara asked bewildered.

'I miss you. More then I care to admit..'

'Gil, I..' she started, but he interrupted her again.

'I want.. to see you.'

'Oh, Grissom.. As much as I want that too.. it's not possible..'

'Why not? Why won't you let me comfort you through this tough period? Isn't that what a relationship is about?! For better and for worse?' he snapped out.

'I.. I-' She couldn't speak anymore. She had to fight against her tears; tears of pleasure because he still cared, and tears of pain because she hurt him by pushing him away and hurting him hurt her..

Hold it right there. Do you want to put him through the same thing he put you through for so many years?

No, but it's still to early.. Yet I don't want to lose him again..

That was when she finally found her voice again and spoke.

'Love comforteth like sunshine after rain..' she quoted, and she heard a light chuckle in her ear.

'Shakespeare..'

'I still know my poetry.' She couldn't help it, but she smiled. At the other side she heard him yawn.

'You sound tired. Shouldn't you be asleep?'

'I couldn't sleep.'

She laughed.

'Go! Get to bed, you! I bet you have another shift in a few hours, two possibly, if you're in tough luck.' He sighed and Sara could tell he was disappointed that she wanted to end their conversation.

'Yes boss.' He joked finally. 'Good night, Sara.'

Sara smiled at his joke and thought about just giving him a little something to go to bed with.

'Hey, Grissom?'

'Hmm?'

'Still love you.' She whispered, and then she disconnected.

Grissom wasn't able to sleep that night. He sat up at his desk, thinking and dreaming of Sara. He'd spoken to her just now; she'd even admitted to miss him as much as he missed her and she told him she still loved him. The very familiar feeling of butterflies flying trough his veins slowly crept back to him while he thought of every moment, every laugh, every smile, tear, emotion he'd shared with Sara. He felt like he just had a magnificent ride in his favorite rollercoaster, exhilarated and even happy.

After two hours of strolling down Memorylane, he decided Sara had been right, and he went to bed.

The next evening he sat in the breakroom with a small smile on his face as Greg and Nick walked in. Usually Greg bounced in, but since the whole event eight weeks ago, he apparently had lost his interest in bouncing. Nick just walked besides him, eating a candybar.

'Hey, why are you smiling?' Greg asked Grissom, who looked up at him and raised a brow.

'Does a man need a reason to smile?' Grissom said, annoyed. Greg shrugged. Nick, who looked at both of them with brows raised, asked:

'He does have a point, Griss. You haven't smiled since-' He turned slightly red as he saw the fury flaming up in Grissom's eyes. Nick considered himself lucky when Warrick walked in and headed straight for the coffeepot. He poured himself a cup and then sat down at the table, on Grissom's left, looking curiously at everyone.

'What'd I miss?' he asked, but before anyone could answer, Catherine came in and sat down immediately at Grissom's right, getting straight to the point.

'So, what have we got today?' She looked at Warrick, who sipped his coffee, to Greg, who scratched the behind of his head, to Nick, who's ears had turned red.

'Okay.' She said, leaning back into her chair. 'What's up?'

'Nothing.' Grissom said.

'We caught him smiling and were wondering..' Before Grissom had time to shut him up with one of his curt comments, Catherine already did the job for him.

'If Grissom wants to smile, he smiles. It's none of our business why, so can we please get to work now?' She smiled at them, so her words wouldn't sound so sharp. It worked, because they smiled back at her and then all looked at Grissom, who shot a 'thank you'-glance at Catherine.

He handed out their cases and got to work as soon as he could, not wanting to explain to Catherine what he hadn't want to explain to Nick and Greg as well.

Another week passed and he started to miss Sara again. He came home to an empty house every day, wishing she would be there again sometime soon. Just as he wanted to call her again one night, just so that he could hear her voice again for a short while, she surprised him.

A small package was waiting for him on his desk. There was no note, no name and no address on the box besides his own, and he wondered what it was en who it was from. He recognized the handwriting, and the minute he opened it he knew. Inside the box was a cocoon. Grissom carefully took it out of the box and studied it more closely. He looked around, searched one of his shelves where he still had an empty terrarium from one of his previous cocoons, and put this one in there. He looked at it and smiled.

'Hello?'

'Did you put the cocoon in my office ?' Grissom asked. She recognized his voice and smiled. It made her remember the time he'd asked her that before.

'Sara!' Grissom shouted her name through the hallway. She looked around, surprised.

'Hey, you're back!'

'Yeah!' She suddenly realized she smelled to high heavens and didn't want him to be appalled by it, so she started to back away and excuse herself.

'I, err, I've been at a, err..'

'Garbage dump?' he finished her sentence. He had a frown, but there was a twinkle in his eyes and a half smile played on his lips.

'Yeah.. It's so obvious, isn't it..' She giggled a bit nervous and couldn't keep her eyes off him.. 'Nice, err.. you look good.'

She was still backing away. Or he didn't notice, or he just didn't care.

'Did you put the cocoon in my office?' he asked.

'Cool, dry, not a lot of light.. seemed like the right place for it.'

'I think you're going to be surprised when it hatches.' His eyes were dark and he looked at her with a certain passion in his eyes. It almost made her blush.

'I have no doubt.' Sara answered. When she met his intense look again, she decided she had to get away now, or else..

'I'm going to, err, clean up now.' She walked away.

'I'll see you later?' he shouted after her. She turned around and smiled.

'Yeah, you will.'

Sara decided she would answer the same thing she had then; see if he remembered it too.

'Cool, dry, not a lot of light.. It seemed like the right place for it.' She heard a laugh on the other side of the line and smiled. He remembered as well.

'You're not very creative, Sara.'

'On the contrary, I am! You'll be surprised when it hatches.' She quoted.

'I have no doubt.' He quoted her back. 'So how are things?'

'Fine. I have a new pet, actually.'

'A spider?' he asked hopefully, but he already knew the answer when she laughed.

'No. A cat. I missed having an animal around, since Hank was yours..'

'Oh, yeah. Well, that's nice. What's his name?'

'Griss.' She heard him laugh.

'And to what do I owe that honour?'

'Well, he's silver-grey with black accents, and that immediately reminded me of you. So I named him Griss. You just pronounce it the same, though. It's spelled g-r-e-y-s.' She heard him laugh again.

'Well.. can I see him sometime?'

'I'll send you pictures.' She heard him sigh and realized he was aiming for a visit. But he had no idea it wouldn't take so long anymore.. she missed him so awfully! But she figured pushing it wasn't good, so she had picked a very special gift for him. When it would hatch, it would bring him a step closer to her.

'I'm going to go to bed now.' He said.

'Yeah, me too.'

'Who is this, and what have you done to Sara?' he joked. 'Sara never sleeps.'

'I do now.' They both laughed.

'Goodbye Sara.. I love you.'

'I love you too.' She said, and hung up with a big grin on her face. Greys jumped on her lap and meowed.

'Hey you..' she said, scratching the big cat behind his ears. It purred and looked at her with big, green eyes. Sara yawned, picked up the soft ball of fur, and walked to the bedroom.

Three weeks after that it hatched. Grissom found it the morning after a double shift. He'd been a little drowsy, but this woke him up immediately. It was one of the most beautiful butterflies he'd ever seen; it was a Polygonia Interrogationis, also known as the Question Mark butterfly. He smiled at Sara's sense of humour; sending him a butterfly named Question Mark, knowing how much he loved puzzles. He loved the gift, but still hated the fact he couldn't be with her. But there was nothing he could do about it at the time..

Grissom took care of the butterfly for a few weeks, until one night he noticed Nick in his office, looking at one of his shelves.

'Looking for something particular?' Nick turned around as a teenager who was caught smoking.

'No, err, I was admiring your new one.' His eyes flashed from Grissom to the butterfly and he smiled.

'Oh. It is a rare one, isn't it?' Grissom said with a smile of his own. He looked at the terrarium. Nick arched a brow.

'Yeah, it is. You know, I saw one like this once in the wild.'

This time Grissom arched a brow.

'You did?'

'Yeah. I was on holiday around….Maine, Connecticut, in that area. It looked just like this one.'

Grissom sat down in his chair as Nick walked out of his office. He'd left the file he was bringing over on the desk. Grissom looked at the terrarium.

'I miss you..' he murmured and he picked up the file to get back to work.

Two weeks later, Grissom received another little gift. It was a photograph. It contained a smiling Sara, with a big, silver-grey cat with black accents. She looked quite happy, although she still had the same old sadness in her eyes he had gotten used to by now. Sara sat on a couch, the cat was kind of hanging over the back and part of Sara's shoulder. She looked at the creature with love, and Grissom felt a strike of pain that this furry animal got that look instead of him. He sighed. It was a very nice shot; Sara looked lovely. He opened his bottom drawer, and pulled out an old photo frame. He pulled out the backside and wanted to put Sara's shot in there, when he saw something scribbled on the back.

5120 Dear foam or loan

Grissom looked at it curiously. It didn't mean much to him, she probably wrote a memo on this photo and forgot she sent it to him. He placed the photo in the frame and looked at his butterfly. Then it hit him.

Puzzles. It's a puzzle.

He grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. He unscrambled the letters; it was an anagram. It came out saying 5120 Maroon Leaf Road. Grissom threw his glasses on his desk and smiled. She had just sent him her address!

Grissom went home with a mixture of feelings in his gut. Love, fear, love again. Next to the feelings there still were a hundreds questions as well. He now had her address, but in which city could he find Maroon Leaf Road? And in which state..? His thoughts went through every place he'd ever been in his life, looking for a town or city where he could find a street called Maroon Leaf road, but he couldn't find one.

He entered his apartment with his head still spun in a thousand different thoughts. When he put his keys on a side table, it suddenly hit him. It happened when he'd looked at the groupshot of the team. Nick stood on it with his arm around Catherine and they were all smiling. When his thoughts went to Nick, he remembered what Nick had said about the Question Mark.

'I saw one like this once in the wild. I was on holiday around….Maine, Connecticut, in that area. It looked just like this one.'

As if his but was on fire, Grissom ran to his computer and searched the net. The typed the address and the computer had an answer soon; Maroon Leaf Road lay in a town called Auburn Woods, in Maine. Grissom smiled, knowing he would now see Sara again soon.