Grissom strode purposefully in the direction of the door, cutting through part of the dance floor and not even noticing.
He was half-way there when he faltered. Who was he kidding Sara wouldn't want him? She was beautiful, smart, young, amazing and everything he wasn't. He knew that the one thing he could match her in was CSI ability, and even in that she was making links in minutes which it would've taken him hours to get.
He paused and a young couple crashed into him as they danced. He mumbled some apologies to them, he looked up and any faint hope he had remaining was lost, they were both attractive and more importantly both young. There was probably a couple of years difference between there ages, a handful at most. He was 13 years Sara's senior, it was more than just a couple of years.
He backed away from the dance floor and back to the side. He still found her eyes irresistibly drawn back to her, he tried to resist the impulse to look at her, knowing it would only make it worse.
He forced his eyes to look the other way, unaware of what he was looking at.
He dimly registered the team talking amongst themselves and laughing happily. He looked at them more closely, seeing the bonds between them. He smiled as Nick punched Greg on the arm and almost laughed as Greg pretended to stumble from the strength of the punch.
He watched them a little longer and decided he ought to head back to them.
As he made to move he felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder lightly, almost as though if they touched it any harder it might fly away.
"Hey" he heard a voice say quietly. He turned around.
Sara.
His throat seemed to dry out and he thought himself incapable of speaking.
"Sara" he croaked, painfully aware that her hand still rested gently on his shoulder.
He looked at her properly, but not daring to make eye contact, she was so beautiful to him that he couldn't stand it.
"'Scuse me" he muttered hoarsely before dashing off in the direction of the bar.
Sara sighed and let her hand fall back to her side.
She allowed herself a minute of peace before she fixed a false smile on her face and made her way towards the team.
Meanwhile Grissom downed the scotch he had bought, trying to stop the tingling still running up and down his arm sending jolt through him whenever it hit his shoulder where she had touched him even through his suit jacket.
Grissom hadn't yet left the bar, but had barely touched the water he had asked for after his scotch. He was staring down at the floor, his mind in turmoil, he didn't even seem to have enough sense left to work out properly whether it was Sara's touch that had disturbed, the realisation that he couldn't have her, or the realisation of how deep he wanted to.
He sighed slightly and dared to look in the direction of the team.
His eyes wandered to Sara and couldn't stop himself staring at the way her hair curled around her shoulders or the way the cut of her dress skimmed over her hips. She turned around slightly, he looked at her face and finally for the first time that night, met her gaze.