A/N: Thanks again for all the kind words. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

I don't own CSI.

Chapter 3: Greg

Sara walked out of the break room, brushing her hand across her eyes. She had stopped crying before leaving Nick, but was sure that she still looked awful. Looking around at all the red-rimmed eyes that walked through the halls of the lab, though, she was sure that her own teary eyes weren't remotely out of place.

"Sara!"

She turned to see Greg running down the hall toward her. Her face lit up with a smile and she opened her arms. Greg crashed into her, grabbing her in a bear hug. He lifted her off the ground, swinging her back and forth. Even when he put her down again, he didn't let go. He held tightly to her waist, pulling back only enough to look at her.

"I missed you," he said.

"I can tell," she said, smiling up at him. "I missed you, too, Greggo."

He looked at the clock over her head. "Wanna go out for dinner?"

"Okay."

"Need to tell the boss where you're headed?"

"I should," Sara said quietly. "I don't want him to worry."

Greg nodded, finally releasing her. "We'll stop at his office on the way out."

They walked to Grissom's office, where he was staring at his computer screen. Sara knocked lightly on his open door as they entered the dim room.

"Hi," he said, looking up at them.

"Hi," Sara said. "Greg and I are going out for a bite to eat. I'll keep my cell on, so … if you need me, just call."

Grissom nodded. "Have fun."

"We will."

His eyes swung from Sara to Greg. "Take care of her."

Greg nodded, looking uncharacteristically serious. "I will."

Sara stepped closer to Grissom's desk. "Gil. I'll be fine."

He smiled slightly. "I just got you back, Sara. It's a little hard for me to let you leave the building."

She leaned across his desk and kissed his lips. "I'll be back in a couple hours. I promise."

Grissom touched her cheek. "Okay."

Sara smiled at him, then straightened up to follow Greg into the hallway. He took her hand and pulled her down the hall.

"What's the rush?" she asked, lengthening her strides to keep up with him.

"I wanted to get you out of there before Grissom changed his mind and made you stay," Greg replied as they walked out into the parking lot.

Sara made a face at him. "I left him for seven months without warning. I can understand why he's a little jumpy right now."

"Yeah," Greg said, opening the passenger door of his car for her. "I think there are a few other factors at play, too."

"Yeah," Sara agreed as Greg stepped around the car and climbed in behind the wheel. "There's that."

As Greg backed out of his parking space, he turned on the radio, blasting punk rock. Sara giggled.

"God, Greg, I've missed you," she said. "You're my favorite music buddy."

Greg grinned and turned the radio up all the louder.

"Where are we going?" Sara asked, nearly shouting to be heard over the music.

"Frank's!" Greg yelled back. "You need to go there – it's tradition!"

Sara laughed and sat back to enjoy the ride.

As soon as they sat down, Sara realized that going to Frank's was a mistake. Greg's mood had taken a downward spiral from the moment they walked through the door until he was sitting in silence, his face stony. Sara put down her menu and looked across the table at her friend, watching the shadows pass across his eyes.

"Greg."

He looked at her, fully seeing her for the first time since they had walked into the building.

"Do you want to go?"

"No," he said. "No. I need to be here. If I can't do this now, with you, when will I? I can't avoid driving past this diner forever just because …"

"Okay," Sara said.

Greg took a deep breath. "We were sitting right over there," he said, indicating a large, round table in the middle of the room. "Everyone was there. The whole team. Do you know how often that happens?"

"Not very," Sara acknowledged.

"I almost asked Grissom to call you, just so you could 'be there,' too." He shook his head. "Maybe I should have. Then, you could have talked to Warrick one more time before …"

"Warrick knew how much I cared about him," Sara said quietly. "I don't have any regrets or any last messages for him. It would have been redundant."

"Yeah," Greg acknowledged. He exhaled. "I was already home when I got the call. Catherine called me. She was … I've never heard her like that. Her voice … She just sounded so completely broken. She told me that Warrick had been shot and to get my ass to the scene." He paused. "I've never driven so fast in my life. And, the whole way to the scene, I just kept thinking, this can't be real. How could it be? Half an hour before, we were all here, together, alive and whole. We were teasing each other, laughing, celebrating our success. And, Warrick … Sara, I don't remember the last time I saw him look so happy."

"He's been slipping for a long time," Sara acknowledged. "Ever since he found out that Tina was cheating on him." Her eyes clouded. "If it hadn't been for Natalie, maybe I wouldn't have been so wrapped up in myself. I could see that he was hurting and I knew that his marriage was falling apart, but I couldn't get past myself enough to help him. Maybe if I had …" She shrugged. "I could have helped him find a few more happy days before …"

"You know, in all of this, the good part is that he was so happy," Greg said. "I know that he was smiling right before it happened. I know that he got to spend his last hours with us – his family. And, somehow … that's enough."

"It has to be," Sara acknowledged. "What else is there?"

Greg ran his hands over his face. "We've come a long way, Sar. We really are a family now, aren't we?"

She smiled. "We are a family, but I don't know if I'd say you've come a long way, Greg. To me, you'll always been the guy with the spiky hair and loud t-shirts."

"I was such a child when we met," Greg said, the twinkle in his eye belying his serious expression.

"You were such a friend," Sara amended. "I have always been grateful for your friendship."

Greg smiled. "I had a crush on you back then," he admitted. "I wanted to be your friend in the hope that it would get me something more."

Sara's eyes opened wide. "I didn't know."

"Yeah, well, Catherine told me the only way you'd go out with me was if you didn't know it was a date, so I tried to play it cool."

"Well, she was right on that," Sara said with a slight smile. "No offense."

"None taken." Greg smiled a bit sadly. "I realized pretty quickly that you had already given your heart away – and, that it took Grissom a long time to figure out what to do with it."

Sara shrugged helplessly. "You can't argue with your heart."

"No," Greg agreed. He stared at the table where he had so recently eaten with his team, then dragged his eyes back to Sara. "What's next for us, Sara? Where do we go from here?"

"I have no idea," Sara said. "But, nine years ago, would you have predicted that we'd end up here?"

"No," Greg said, shaking his head. "But, I can tell you one thing: I wouldn't trade a moment of it." He smiled sadly as he continued, "Up until yesterday, at least."