A/N:Ok, here is the next chapter. This follows part of the episode "Anatomy of a Lye". Everything still belongs to CBS and the writers (please come back soon!). It took much longer than I thought to get this posted. Thanks for all the reviews and the reads. Hope you all have a great and safe Thanksgiving.
P.S. I have no beta so any mistakes are my own.
Chapter Three
Things had been going well between them for the last few weeks. It seemed as though Grissom's promise to try and make the lab, mostly him, better for Sara hadn't been just empty words. They'd been working on a case where a man had been discovered buried in a park and covered with lye. Sara was thinking about the last few days as she was coming out of the photo lab looking at Bob Martin's photo's when she met Grissom on the curb. As they moved to cross, Grissom put his arm through hers in a barely perceptible move. She almost didn't realize it was there until he squeezed and pulled her back to prevent her from being hit by a car.
She wasn't trying to kid herself by thinking Grissom's change in attitude was any indication that he had finally realized what was happening underneath the surface between them. In fact, it would probably take longer than she wanted for him to come around but she was willing to take what she could get at this point. The comfortable companionship they'd renewed since their meeting over coffee was by far preferable to the tense professionalism of the weeks leading up to it.
After determining that where they were standing was their original crime scene, they kicked into work mode and processed the pavement for evidence. It took less than an hour to complete as the spot was on such a busy road that most of what they hoped to find was long since driven over. Sara was packing the plastic shards and swabs of blood in her truck for transport back to the lab when she felt Grissom come up behind her.
"Sara?"
"Yeah?"
"I heard through some connections of mine that there may be an opening soon in one of the Federal labs back East. I have the information on my desk if you're still interested."
Surprised, she turned around to survey the look on his face. His expression was deadpan and his eyebrows did not even have that tell tale hint of a joking raise to them.
"Oh, uh thanks. I'll swing by and pick it up from your office before I leave."
"Great."
With that he walked to the front of the truck, climbed in the front seat and waited for her to be done.
'Is he serious? Now that things are better, does he want me to leave? No, that can't be it,' she thought to herself.
'This is going to be one awkward ride back', she thought. And it was. The silence was forced and Sara didn't look at Grissom until she pulled into the parking lot at the lab. She saw his profile briefly before he stepped out of the vehicle. In that moment he didn't seem upset but one could never tell with him when it came to the external manifestation of his emotions.
Walking inside she kept running what she'd say to him through her mind. She ranged from indifferent to indignant but she was too chicken to go through with any rant she could imagine. Logging the evidence didn't take long and before she realized where she was she was knocking on Grissom's office door.
"Hey, I came by to pick up that info you had for me."
He looked at her for a moment as if judging her feelings based on the small sentence she had just spoken. His expressive blue eyes gave away nothing as he broke eye contact to rummage for the papers.
"Right, they're here somewhere. You are still interested in checking this stuff out, right?"
That was it. That small addition to the end of his question gave his intentions away and told Sara what this was about. It wasn't about being considerate and informing her of an open position she was looking for, he was checking to see if she still wanted to stay. Sara suddenly realized that in his very Grissom-ish nature he was trying to determine whether she thought he was keeping up his end of the bargain.
"Um, sort of. If the perfect spot opens up, then possibly. Right now, I'm good here in Vegas."
Looking directly at him, she hoped that her eyes were transmitting the fact that she didn't really intended to leave, not now at any rate. When she'd submitted her request for leave, she thought her only option was to leave. Now she found herself wanting to stay out of curiosity. Grissom had really made good on his promise and she wanted to see how that continued and if she'd still be reaping the same kind of benefits in a few months that she was now.
His eyebrow rose in that signature questioning look of his.
"Ok. Well here's the information on the position. Let me know if you need help contacting people." He handed her the folder containing everything she would need to transfer out of his life forever. Move across the country, begin fresh and try to move on from Gil Grissom and his intoxicating hold over her emotions.
"Thanks. I'll take a look at it. Have a good night. See you tomorrow."
"Good night, Sara." With that he turned his attention back to the pile of paperwork on his desk.
Sara wasn't sure if he had caught the implied meaning behind her words but she didn't seem to mind. Knowing that he was committed to making their relationship stable meant more to her than her survival instinct to tuck tail and run away. Things were getting better at the moment, and overall she knew the road would probably be bumpy again but it seemed worth it. Something had changed and Sara didn't want to miss out on anything. As she was gathering her stuff from the locker room, she took a moment to thumb through the application packet. At this point almost nothing was good enough to pull her away from the lab in Vegas. Deciding this definitely wasn't the offer she couldn't ignore she left the folder in her locker and left. She'd conveniently forget it was there until the deadline had passed. The Feds could wait.
TBC
