Wow, so much readers and reviews. Its good to see that you like my story. Maybe this chapter has too much dialogues. I'm sorry about this but I couldn't do it better.

And again thank you Dany, I could never translate this so good and fast. Thanks !

5

Grissom didn't look much different than hours before. Just like she had thought, there had been no thinking about sleep for him either..

"Sara, what are you doing here?" Grissom asked tiredly.

He hadn't counted on her showing up at all. He had spent the last hours thinking about his situation.

He had not watched the video a second time. He knew what it showed, but the CSI in him argued that maybe there was something he had overlooked, but still, he could not bring himself to go through that again.

Having Sara show up on his doorstep was not a good sign. She was suspicious and he had to be especially careful now. If she found out the truth, everything would be over. She would feel nothing but contempt and turn away from him – and nothing would be worse.

"Sara, what do you want?"

"I have a letter for you," Sara spoke slowly, wanting to see his reaction.

"What letter? Sara, I can't to this today."

Sara swallowed hard. The tension was wearing her down.

"Tell me what was going on. Grissom, please. Something's wrong."

"I don't want to talk about it. It's none of your business. Give me the letter."

Without another word, Sara handed him the envelope.

A knot formed in Grissom's stomach when he saw it. It appeared be another note from the anonymous sender.

"Where did you get that? It's addressed to me."

He stared at her. The letter was almost forgotten, because now he had to do some damage control.

"What did you do? Answer me."

Rarely had Sara seen Grissom like that, so cold and his voice impersonal.

"Judy gave it to me and I thought that it was important. Don't you want to open it?"

"No."

"Grissom, please. What's wrong? Can I help?

"Sara, leave it alone."

"Do you remember when I told you that. You didn't leave it alone and I can't do that either. Please, tell me."

She moved closer, took his face into her hands and looked at him seriously.

Grissom closed his eyes. Her touch was so soft and soothing.

If only the situation would be different. No matter what else was going on around him, he couldn't resist leaning into her hands and then he opened his eyes again.

Sara almost drowned in these blue eyes.

She leaned forward and kissed him softly. A moment passed and she pulled Grissom against her.

Passionately, he returned the kiss, deepened it and it seemed as if he put his whole soul in it.

Grissom's only thought was 'This is what it feels like to kiss her. But if she gets to know the truth, this will be our first and last kiss.'

Sara's thoughts were not as clear. She was overwhelmed by his passion and she wanted more. More of him, more of everything.

Suddenly, she felt Grissom pulling away. He took a deep breath and spoke. "No Sara."

"But Griss…"

"No, it's just pity. That is no reason."

"You and me, that's no pity, the connection between us. You should know that by now."

He looked at Sara, turned away and moved to his desk. Why couldn't she leave it alone?

"You don't know what you're talking about. Why are you here? Out of curiosity? You want to know what's wrong? I don't know."

Sara remained silent.

"Fine, I'll open the letter. Satisfied?"

Carefully, he took the letter opener and tried to get to the content without doing much damage.

Sara watched as a piece of paper and a photo fluttered out.

Grissom put his glasses on and started reading out loud: "Remember? We do. If we're supposed to forget, you have to meet our demands. We will get back to you."

He took the photo into his hand carefully. It was an outdoor shot of an old house.

In a window, there was a scarcely clothed man – Grissom

6

Silently, he passed the photo on to Sara.

She tried to analyze it without emotions.

Grissom was being blackmailed, that much was clear.

However, the blackmailer hadn't made any demands so far.

What was that photo about? Sara looked at it closely and the house seemed to be familiar.

He held out his hand and Sara handed the photo back over.

"It's Lady Heather's house," he told her without averting his gaze.

"Oh."

Grissom had to swallow hard.

"I didn't want you to find out like this. If you want to go now, I can understand."

Sara remained silent. This was what he had feared. He couldn't take her contempt.

Sara shook her head.

"I told you that I want to help. I meant that. Is the photo real?

Grissom nodded.

"I understand that this is not exactly easy in your position, but you're not married…"

He looked at her with surprise. How could she remain so calm? He would never be as understanding if their roles were reversed.

Why was she?

"Sara, why don't you blame me for what I've done? You should."

She blinked. It was taking her last shred of self-control to remain calm.

"I try to be realistic. And what's that supposed to mean – I should. You don't owe me an explanation."

She turned away from Grissom because she didn't want him to see how close to tears she was.

"What's on that video?" she finally asked.

7

That was the question Grissom had been so afraid off.

Before he could even answer, Sara spoke. "I don't want to see the video if you don't want me to. I can understand that. But maybe you want to just tell me what's on it.

"It's hard to talk about the thing with Heather," Grissom started, but he was immediately cut off by her again.

"You don't have to talk about her. Maybe later, when this is over and if you still want to."

Grissom nodded. That would be the best.

"The video isn't long. Basically you just see me walking into her establishment and walk out the next morning. In between, there are a few zooms on a window and you can see some shadows, among other things. The picture here is a still from the video."

They stood facing each other silently. Grissom had admitted a few details and Sara just kept looking at him.

"So you had an affair. Big deal. You're not married, no politician, not rich. So, what would be the motive in trying to blackmail you? It has to be about an old case. Someone wants you to hold back or alter some evidence. Can you think of someone who would do that, Grissom?"

He pointed to his desk.

"All morning, I went through old cases and those that still have to be tried. Nothing. Maybe it would go a lot faster if we both looked through them."

"Great, let's go to work."

"Thanks Sara. You don't know how much it means to me that you want to help me ant that you haven't left me."

This time he stepped closer and took her hand. His eyes asked her if he was still allowed to do that.

"Grissom, we all have a past. And we have all done things that we're not proud of. Why should I leave you because of that. You were the reason I moved to Las Vegas, the reason I stayed. Blackmail will change nothing about that."

She kept holding his hand.

"Come on, let's start. Maybe you should ask the rest of the team to help as well."

Although she already knew his answer, she had to ask.

"No. It's enough that you had to get involved. Please, let's just keep this between us.

TBC

Don't worry about the WIP. I already wrote 15 chapter. Still, if you see problems or can give me some advise – send me a mail.