Sorry for the long time it took me to update this… (I hope you can still remember the story). And it will probably be the last update on any of my stories for the time being, as I'm moving to another federal state this weekend and once I'm at my new place I'll have to get phone and internet set up… wonder how long that company will need. lol

Thanks to Emmithar for the beta!

Chapter 2 - Restless

Sara threw a glance into the room and seeing that it was empty she moved into it quickly, closing the door behind her carefully.

The lab was quiet at this time of the day; it was already well into swing shift and its investigators were all out on scenes, the techs working busy in the labs. Sara was the only one of her shift who was still around; even Grissom had left by now.

Sara, however, was still at the lab, sitting down at a table now, her phone in her hand, pressing the speed dial button she used almost every day, apart from the days when Greg was the one who called first.

"Hey," Greg picked up the call cheerfully, knowing that it was her.

"Hey," she returned.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine, Greg."

"You're already awake," he half-stated, half-asked.

"I'm at the lab," she admitted, wondering at the same time why it actually felt like an admission to her. Greg had often worked long hours as well, and it was not a bad thing, was it?

"You have to be tired," Greg stated now.

"I slept…" Sara stated. "It was some time yesterday, wasn't it?" she added doubting.

"When was the last day you had off?" Greg inquired further.

"When I visited you of course."

"That's more than two weeks ago," he pointed out.

"I know," she sighed. Greg was silent for a moment.

"You weren't even that bad when I was still in Vegas," he said then, sounding as if he tried to appear rather amused than worried. "You slept sometimes…"

Sara bit on her lip. "That was when you were still here like you said." She knew that it sounded pathetic, but still she continued, "I don't have as many friends as you, somebody to hang out with…"

Greg laughed to her surprise, but she thought she heard some bitterness in the laugh.

"That was when I had still a regular schedule, was working normal hours," he contradicted.

"That is long ago," Sara said quietly.

"Yeah."

"And it's just like that for me." For her it was probably even more so. Greg was still somewhat another case.

"What's with your co-workers? They work the same hours," he suggested.

"Hanging out with Grissom? Try again," Sara smirked.

"Nick? Warrick?"

"Warrick's a married man," Sara pointed out, realizing that it sounded as if she was searching for lame excuses.

"Will you go home then?" Greg was asking now, dropping the previous topic. Sara knew that he would not try to press her to anything, even if he was of another opinion.

"I'll leave soon," she promised.

"Good," Greg replied briefly.

"Well…" Sara said undecidedly, waiting for Greg to say something.

She sighed inwardly, frustrated. They had reached a dead end here. She did not really want Greg to tell her any more about what she needed to do, and Greg apparently did not want to press her anymore either, and neither did he want to hold her back any longer from going home.

"Just call me tonight when you had a good day's sleep," he asked her now.

"Okay." Sara guessed that Greg was smiling a weak smile now that she could not see. It was what he was usually doing in a situation like this.

"I love you."

"I love you too," Sara returned quietly, a moment before Greg shut off the call on the other side.

She felt even more tired now than before. As uplifting as a conversation with Greg usually was, it had not been this time, and she felt that it was her fault. Realizing that it was pointless to dwell on it any longer, she knew that she would do exactly this the whole day.

Pointless seemed as well to stay any longer at the lab. She did not even have the drive to do anything more. Looking at her watch she realized that she had even worked several hours longer than a double shift again. Her regular shift would already start in few hours, Greg's good day of sleep was not possible anymore.

Sara strode down the hall, for the most part ignoring the swing shift employees she met on the way. She clocked out at the reception, but after she had retrieved some unhealthy stuff from the vending machine she retreated into the empty break room.

Taking some bits of a chocolate bar listlessly, she sat down on the couch. It was less than five hours before shift would start, there was really not a point in leaving. Sara threw the half-eaten bar into the trash can, making herself then somewhat comfortable on the couch. She knew she was being unreasonable, but could not come up with a good reason why she should go home into her empty apartment, when shift was going to start again soon anyway.

The good thing was, with all the overtime she was putting in and the fact that she hardly took a day off, she would soon be able again to take a few days off in a row to go over to Greg again.

She actually managed to fall asleep for some time, and as far as she could tell nobody had noticed her lying in the break room. If somebody had entered the room, she likely would have woken up, she was not sleeping very deeply.

When she woke up again, it was only one hour before midnight. She sat up groggily, feeling nauseated. Hardly eating anything had not been a good idea. But only the thought of food made her feel even worse now, so eating some of the stuff she had bought some hours ago and that were still lying on the table was out of question.

Instead Sara made her way to the locker room, hoping to find a change of clothes in her locker. Chances were that there was not any, since it was not exactly the first time in the last two weeks that she had stayed at the lab. Surprisingly she still found a set of clothes, so she washed and changed quickly.

What a bad idea it had exactly been to not eat properly found she out, when her stomach revolted while she was trying to bring her hair in order in the restroom. Weakly on her legs, she stumbled into a stall, still managing to close the door behind her. She gagged, but there was not anything to throw up, so she felt only the stomach acid coming up in her gullet.

She had not even felt the tears that had come up, but wiped them away, when she was leaning over the sink again. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw that she was pale. No surprise there.

Sara thought that she had not felt as bad as now in a long time. It was now that she remembered that she had promised Greg to give him a call. It was short before midnight and since Greg was working dayshift in San Francisco he would probably be sleeping now. On the other hand he would likely want to be woken up by her calling; he would definitely prefer it over her not calling at all.

Figuring that a few minutes sooner or later did not matter anymore, and that she did not feel in any state to face Greg's possible questions, Sara strode to the exit instead, glad that she did not meet anybody on her way there.

Feeling slightly better than before, now that she had caught some fresh air, Sara dialed Greg's number on her way back into the lab.

"Hey," he answered the call, sounding sleepily. "You're late."

"Yeah, sorry about that," she apologized, regretting it somewhat that she had obviously woken him.

"It's alright. I wouldn't want to miss out a call from you," Greg smiled.

"I don't have much time. I'm just on my way to the pre-shift meeting." He did not need to know that she had been at the lab the whole day. "Did you have a good day?" she asked quickly.

"Yeah, it was quite good. I met with some people from shift for dinner, we hang out a bit…"

"That's good," Sara smiled weakly.

"Would've been better if you'd been there," Greg returned pitifully.

"Greg…"

"I know," he answered. "It doesn't help if I tell you every day that I would want you to be here, that I wish we'd be together. It doesn't change anything, we have to manage how it is now, and maybe one day…" he rambled. Sara moved into the room she had just been walking by, leaning against the wall next to the door, hoping nobody would see her and the emotions that were rushing over her.

"Maybe it would've been better if I had stayed in Vegas," Greg continued quietly now. "I could've gotten another job…"

"You've worked too hard to get where you are now to just give up on it," Sara reminded him.

"Yeah, but work isn't that important to me. It is important, yeah, but you're more, you know."

Sara nodded quietly, realizing only after a moment that Greg was not able to see her, adding a quiet agreeing sound then. She did not know if she could have said the same about herself. Greg was important to her, of course. But so was her job and the position she had worked for.

The question after the choice between Greg and her work was not really there for her. If she chose her job, Greg would still be there. It was not some kind of life-or-death decision. It was not a one or the other choice. She could have both; it was not even a decision against Greg if she put more emphasis on her work, especially now that he lived hundreds of miles away.

"I'm only talking about me," Greg stated now. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," she answered. It was a robot-like answer. And she could not really hear that word herself anymore. She knew she was not fine, no matter how much she pretended to be to herself. She had seldom felt as sick as she did now. She was not fine, neither emotionally nor physically.

And while Greg probably sensed the first, he did not need to know of the latter.

TBC