A/N: Another update, hopefully with some more GSR in this time round. I did a bit of research on Body Farm's where Grissom had apparently been in this episode, it sounds like the kind of place Grissom would love .

I'd also like to apologise for the ridiculous number of spelling and grammar mistakes in the previous chapter, I proof read when I was absolutely exhausted so no doubt that's why I missed them. Hopefully I'll do better on this chapter. Also, as I'm British, there might be some discrepancies such as how I always forget that not everyone calls a cell phone a mobile. And I'd like to apologise for any mistakes in continuity with the episodes, I tend to write these sometime after I've watched the episode so most of it is formulated from memory and the odd clips I can find on youtube. Lots of apologies this time! Anyway, enjoy!


"Gum drops"

Sara walked through the doors back into the CSI HQ away from the LVPD, and the interview rooms where she had spent the last few hours, quizzing the young boys over the rest of the day and now into the deep night after she had accompanied the bodies back to the city from the small town where the McBrides had lived. It had taken them several hours to get confessions from the boys, especially Mark with his lawyer father but with all the evidence that she piled in front of him she eventually broke them all. Nick was with Cassie at the hospital getting her statement which would solidify the case. She headed along the corridors and past the DNA lab, catching sight of Wendi on her night shift. She had hardly realised how late it was, far into the dark hours of the morning. Another double shift for her, Sara was shattered.

She was glad that Nick had been right about this case, about Cassie at least. Yet she didn't regret warning him against getting his hopes up to much. She'd learnt from experience that more often than not the criminal got the courage up and killed the person. They spend a lot more time finding bodies than finding people alive. She worried about Nick, she saw that he was getting emotionally tied up into the situation. Like she said, 6 months ago he would never have been that emotional. Luckily, this time he'd been right, and she had been so relieved when she got the call saying he'd found Cassie alive on the journey back to the lab.

Spinning on her heel, Sara turned into the locker room. The lab was usually a monochrome buzz of artificial light along the black floors but the energy in the place kept it from being gloomy, but the locker room was always significantly darker than the other rooms, a dark burrow tucked away between the A/V lab and the offices on either side. Greg was in there, just taking all of his belongings out of his locker.

"Hey Greg!" she greeted him brightly, putting her case down on the bench and heading to her own locker. "You're here late." She commented, in truth she thought Greg would be heading home as soon as the autopsies were finished on the McBride's. Greg grinned his goofy grin in response. Sara liked Greg. He was always in good humour and so always good company, considering the morbid case they'd just covered. That was just what Greg was like.

"Hey Sara. Yeah it took a while to sort out the bodies then I was helping out Warrick file the rest of the evidence on all that marijuana. I heard you found Cassie then?" he questioned her, slipping on his own shoes and fastening their laces against the bench.

"Yeah, Nick found her. She's in hospital, and he's with her." She filled him in. "He'll be heading back soon."

"You guys did a good job." Greg commended her, zipping up his bag and heading for the door. "I just hope Nick wasn't too shook up about the whole thing." He added the concern evident in his voice. Sara knew that Greg really cared about Nick, he had a better relationship with him than many of the others on the team, and the nickname 'Greggo' was evidence of that. Nick was like Greg's older brother and like always, seeing someone you respected show vulnerability was always unnerving. Sara smiled fondly at him.

"He'll be fine." She assured him. She was generally quite sure about that now that Cassie was safe, she would have been far more concerned about him if they hadn't found Cassie alive. Not rescuing someone might scare the hell out of them, showing him how scarily close he had come to never being rescued himself. She had worried about Nick's refusal to accept that Cassie was dead, in case it set himself up for a huge fall. Then again, she knew that kind of determination; it was exactly what had gripped the entire team when they were looking for Nick.

"I know." Greg nodded, looking down contemplatively. Then he looked up, an optimistic look on his face now. "I'll see you in about 12 hours, start of your next shift?" he smiled. Sara sighed. There were never enough hours in the day. She was going to be exhausted, but she said farewell to Greg before he headed off and went to her own locker. She changed her gear over and slowly wandered back out to where her car was parked.

She drove along the streets of Vegas; the morning was still young enough for the roads to be jammed with taxis along the main routes, so she headed around back streets and around to her apartment block. The lights of the strip were visible over the houses as she sped along the quieter roads. She passed few cars, spotted a few drunken wanderers along the roadsides. She was always concerned; it was often that she found one of these intoxicated people lying in their mortuary. The dark sky was littered with clouds but it was mainly clear, meaning it was significantly cooler than when they had been out in the field during the day on the lake.

Her mind flicked to Cassie. Nick said he'd found her lying abandoned on the river bed, her throat half-cut from cowardice. She would most likely now go into care if they couldn't find her relatives to care for her. Nick said it was only him with her at the hospital. Sara sighed. She knew exactly how that felt, to be left in the care of affectionate and lovely people that were unfortunately total strangers. Foster care was always harsh. Cassie was almost like her in a way, Sara had been a similar age, and perhaps she could say that like her parents, they had brought the demise of their family on themselves. Of course, the McBride's never meant to die, but their drug farm was their own doing and it was also their undoing.

She shook the thoughts from her head as she turned into her apartment car park. It was enough that Nick was becoming emotionally embroiled in the case, she couldn't let herself be too. She took the keys out of her ignition and headed up from the car park. She dawdled up the stair well, with no one else around. She wasn't home enough to actually know her neighbours, which struck her as kind of sad but again that was just the life she had picked. The bag of her belongings dangled from her arm, grazing the floor in her absent-minded state. She turned the key in her lock and entered her apartment. Every single time she did that she wished there was someone on the other side of the door to welcome her home, to have missed her. She felt very isolated all of a sudden. She envied Warrick being able to go home to Tina, and Catherine with Lindsay. She wondered sometimes if Greg and Nick felt the same in their lonely lives.

The kitchen sat in the corner, inviting her to make a drink or a snack. She looked away. The dark cosy bedroom, that was visible through her half-open door. She threw her bag down on her couch in the corner and wandered into her room. She wanted Gil there. He could hold her and make her feel wanted; instead he was away at the Body Farm in Tennessee, miles and miles away from her soft bedspread where she was now slumped. Kicking off her shoes and discarding her clothes, Sara crawled into her bed and falling into sleep faster than gravity could act on her, her last thought, as always, on Gil.


Grissom strode out of the terminal where his plane had just come in from Knoxville, the three hour flight doing nothing to drain him of energy as he pulled his compact suitcase decisively along behind him across the polished plastic floor. He poured out into the airport foyer, past the waiting relatives and people with signs, weaving around the crowds of holiday makers that would soon be gracing the casinos and lining the owner's pockets. His sunglasses refracted away the dazzling sunlight that was pouring through the large glass doors as Gil headed out to hail a taxi and once he had succeeded and relayed his address, he slumped into the worn seats.

His trip to Body Farm had been somewhat of a whistle-stop tour. Time away from the lab was valuable, and Ecklie was reluctant to spare any of Grissom's. He'd therefore organised an earlier flight so that he could be back in time to join in his team for the evening shift. That meant that he'd spent little more than 2 days at the facility, teaching for just one day. That particular facility often trained law-enforcement techniques and how to handle crime scenes so Grissom did some classes on dealing with bodies decomposed in insect-ridden environments and how the insects could be used to identify the time scale of decomposition. He had highly enjoyed the trip, yet now he was aware that he was going back to an empty apartment waiting for his other shift to start. Grissom had met many interesting people at the facility, other researchers that had far more knowledge in the field that him, but now he was surrounded by no one. There was no one waiting to greet him at the airport. His town house was the other side of Vegas to the airport and the journey was long and tedious, Grissom rarely didn't drive himself and disliked being a passenger. He felt restless, and so flipped open his mobile phone and dialled a number.

A groggy half-asleep voice answered. "Gil?" she mumbled. Grissom smiled. Just her voice, even masked by sleep and disorientated, was strong and enticing, willing him to engage her in conversation just to keep her talking. He loved her voice. Although, he felt the responsibility to let her return to the sleep he'd obviously just pulled her from. Sleep was precious to all CSIs, he knew how at times cases made it almost impossible to obtain and he didn't want Sara's to waste her sleep on him.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you." Grissom apologised sincerely. He remember how serene and gorgeous she was when she slept, her brow furrowed in unconscious thought, her hair loosely falling away from her face, the soft rising and falling of her chest with her inspiration and expiration like the very tide that pulled Grissom towards her. He felt guilty at disturbing that peaceful image. "Go back to sleep." He urged her in response to her defiant and confused mumbles down the phone.

"No no, I'm awake now anyway." She argued with him. Gil dropped his protests; she was smart enough to make sure she was well tended. Her emotional state was less fragile than it'd been when their relationship had begun its unsure and undefined path into being. They'd spent a few spare hours together, more in genuine friendship and affection than dating. The physical aspect of their relationship had been halted by their busy schedules, but Grissom was in no rush to pursue this, now he was sure that Sara was not likely to be lost to him any time soon.

"How did the case go?" he enquired eagerly. If she was sure she was awake, he was interested in the case with the missing bodies. He heard Sara laugh down the phone. "What's so funny?" he asked, slightly embarrassed at her amusement at his curiosity.

"Nothing, I just love how wherever you are, your head's always in the lab." She told him honestly. He smiled, looking out of the window at the streets whizzing past. School children were heading out to their lessons, and traffic was solid with commuters beginning to clog up the arteries of the city. A thought entered his head at Sara's comment, that he wouldn't want her to think he was distracted by the lab when they were together. On the contrary, he found that it was only Sara that could drag his reluctant mind away from his work. That and his experiments, but in a way, he felt that the cases he pursued at work, were just more of his experiments.

"Except when wherever is with you." He retorted fondly. He could almost feel Sara smiling girlishly into the phone, enjoying the image of her flattered by his compliments.

"Listen, have you any plans for today?" she asked instead of humbly thanking him. Grissom was glad that Sara was secure in her own identity. Taunted by her past and self-destructive she believed she was, but he knew she was confident in her own attraction and her own abilities, rather than hanging on to his every word for reassurance. She focused on her work because she wanted to, not because she felt she had to hide. Like him, she was not superficial and he adored that about her. He was glad of the invitation she appeared to be extending too. He was well-rested and unphased by his travels, in fact, the class had served as a good break. Grissom felt refreshed.

"No. How about I pick you up in an hour and we head down to Sunset Park?" Grissom suggested, the idea occurring to him as he spoke it. "Take a walk. It'll be fun." he added cheerily. He hadn't been to the park in a while, and Sunset Park was his favourite in Las Vegas, with its rarely maintained flower-beds and large pond, it felt like a wild stretch of nature in a town where it was people that were usually wild. The day was perfect, and school term-time meant it wouldn't be too overrun with people.

"Sure. I'll see you in an hour; I can fill you in on the case then." Sara agreed without hesitation, and the phone beeped to signal the connection end. Grissom looked at the phone and smiled. Perfect timing, he thought to himself, as the taxi pulled up outside his townhouse, and he headed indoors to change for his outing.


The knocking of knuckles on Sara's door echoed through her apartment, inducing a grin on Sara's face. She was always glad of greeting Grissom, opening the door to him was one of her favourite things. She almost laughed at herself, and her uncontrollable infatuation she could see herself being gripped in, the dopey smile that adorned her face whenever she recalled the slightest touch she'd shared with Grissom. She felt like a kid again, when she fancied Peter Williams in ninth grade and he made her blush. Although, she suspected that had just been because he was the only person that didn't look at her differently after her dad died. She shook memories of Peter Williams and her childhood from her head as she headed across her apartment, adjusted her locks and swung open the door.

Grissom was stood in her doorframe, looking relaxed in jeans, a shirt and a zipper hoodie with a slight smile that widened at her appearance and a demeanour which was distinctly different from his usual stern attitude and his smart clothes. It had taken her a while to adjust to Grissom out of work, although it almost seemed like he was doing the adjusting too and she was aware that he clearly spent little time away from his colleagues and fellow scientists. She greeted him with a hug, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and feeling his strong broad form for a second. He always smelt slightly of grass and slightly of the musky scent that adorned his office, a smell that was typically Grissom but entirely indescribable.

She invited him in for a moment, realising she was not quite ready. Her hair was pulled back loosely into a pony tail, and her outfit was usual for her, just jeans and a t-shirt. She was hardly the type to fawn over her wardrobe desperately searching for the perfect outfit. She grabbed a pair of studded earring off her dresser and slotted them into her ears, pacing around her apartment in her bare feet as Grissom headed over to her desk and glanced at whatever she was reading at the time. She paused for a moment, watching his eyes dart from behind his glasses at the words on the page, the internal workings of a genius processing the information and storing it in his endless memory bank. He became aware of her and turned to look at her curiously.

"Ready?" he queried. She nodded. "Good. Then we'll go." He finished matter-of-fact-ly but casting her a smile before holding open her door in his usual mock-chivalrous manner. She paused to lock up and they headed down to the parking lot where Grissom's car was parked. They were quickly on the road, and in deep conversation, with Sara filling in Grissom the details of the McBride case.

"A trail of gum?" he asked, in his familiar questioning tone. Sara nodded. "Nick realised it. He was really in tune with Cassie. It was...weird." Sara pondered out loud.

It had been weird, she'd merely discredited the gum as coincidence but Nick was adamant it was a trail. Of course, it hadn't lead them to Cassie, that'd been the evidence, but it had fuelled Nick's hopes of finding Cassie, which were perhaps crucial to him continuing his search after Sara had left. In reality, everything Nick had said about Cassie had turned out to be true, she was alive and she was smart. Coincidence or not, the whole case had seemed eerie, right down to the bodies floating with their sunken faces in the still waters of the lake.

"I was worried, if I'm honest." She admitted finally. She wasn't sure whether she should be telling Grissom this, but as her friend rather than her supervisor, she found it necessary to talk about it with someone. Plus, Grissom was usually more observant than her and would be able to make sure Nick was okay from a superior's perspective. Grissom looked at her curiously, obviously willing her on to an explanation, before he returned his eyes to the road.

"He just seemed to keep drawing, like, parallels with Cassie's kidnapping and himself. He was adamant we'd rescue her like we did him. And he totally lost it at one of the suspects when they found evidence placing him and Cassie in the car." She informed him. Recounting the experience of Nick's raw angry that seemed so misplaced in a character of usually such friendly and calm behaviour, made he feel the same shock as she had when it'd happened. "I spoke to him about it and he apologised. I just worry about what the whole case with Gordon has done to him." She finished.

Grissom nodded solemnly. "Something like that is obviously going to change him." He commented simply. "It's just fortunate he was right this time." Sara subconsciously agreed, as she saw them turn into the road next to Sunset Park. "I'll keep an eye on him." Grissom assured her, as he parked up and exited the car. Sara smiled. She knew Grissom would, he always kept a close watch on all his team, not just on their performance but on their welfare. He was an excellent supervisor, if not somewhat unorthodox, she thought, as they began to head out along one of the long paths that wound through the park. She reached out and took his hand without hesitation. He did not respond, apart from the faint traces of a smile appearing on his expression and his hand tensing welcomingly around hers.

The sun was glorious but the wavering heat was kept at bay by a cool breeze that whisked through the park and blew Sara's hair into her face as they strolled down the path that ran through the park, surrounded by sweeping lawns and adorned with flower beds that exploded with a kaleidoscope of floral colours. Unenthusiastic park rangers apparently left the plants to lazily reach out of their restricted boundaries, stretching out to graze past strollers like themselves. It was remarkably peaceful, an oasis in their usually insanely strained and screaming city. Sara closed her eyes for a moment, entirely relying on Grissom's guidance without him realising it, his hand leading her softly off the path and onto the lawns. She opened her eyes to see them heading towards where the trees became denser, and the sparse groups of people became even further spaced apart.

They talked sporadically, Sara asked how Body Farm was, Gil queried further about the case, asking for random details that Sara could hardly see as relevant. Typically Grissom of course. At points they collapsed onto the grass, basking in the sun as Sara lay her head on Grissom's chest as they sat there. Talking often lulled to comfortable silence, both of them gloriously at peace with each other's company and their environment. Sara felt like they were a million miles away from the lab and the crime scenes that they spent their lives in.

Sara opened her eyes behind her sunglasses, still wincing at the bright light from the startling blue sky. Grissom did not wear his yet, still stared unrelentingly outwards contemplatively, as if studying something no one else could see. Although that was almost always what he did. His ice eyes were isolated in a hazy hot scene, sparking blue stars in his face lined with his experiences and shrouded by his stubble. He glanced down at her suddenly.

"You okay?" he asked her curiously, Sara was aware he could feel his eyes on her; it was like being put under a microscope. She smiled.

"I'm good." She assured him. He was sending shivers along Sara's spine, in contrast to their beautifully serene atmosphere. They'd met a few times outside of work, generally done things they would have typically done on their own, went to the Las Vegas Natural History museum to see their new exhibition or just met to travel in to work together. Little things, like having them as a comfortable addition to their usual life. Now Sara was wondering if that was what they wanted. They both were entirely aware of the other's feelings, the tension was always just bordering around them, yet their friendship seemed the most evident thing that was developing. Sara wondered if they were both just scared, a notion that was out of place with both of their characters but then neither of them was making the definitive move to say that they were more than friends. Sara felt like she would be making the greatest risk ever, that maybe their work would change and their problems would leak into the workplace and then she would no longer have an escape from the world, in her work where everything was factual and scientific. The notion of emotions like they would have being at work was scary. She suspected that was exactly what Grissom felt.


Grissom was studying a wasp's nest he could see huddled in a tree several meters from them. He was trying to identify the species, squinting past the glaring sunlight at the hazy cocoon and frantic dots whirling around it. He decided from the relatively small nest that it was not a hornet, and finally settled on his decision that it was most likely a paper wasp nest. He was always fascinated by bugs, he couldn't help it. Even with a beautiful girl resting against him, he couldn't help being distracted.

Sara looked gorgeous in the sunlight; her pale skin was radiant peering out from underneath her glasses. Grissom didn't need to look directly at her to feel his heart pull in his chest to hold her tightly, kiss her, have her to himself with no one to judge and nothing to consider or think. Yet he was still testing the water, dipping his toe in to assess whether he could do what he wanted and jump in. The more time they were together, the more time he felt like he couldn't stop himself, the more time they were apart the more time he spent feeling terrified at the risk he could take. The risk he knew he was going to take, sooner or later.

Grissom's mobile suddenly chimed loudly. He glanced at the name on the screen. Ecklie. He was bugging him for the personelle reports that he hadn't got around to doing. He'd been with Sara whenever he would have usually been pouring over that detestable paper work. Sara was a much better past time than that, but perhaps it something he should be concerned about. Despite their best efforts, even as just friends, it was beginning to alter things. He waited for the call to ring out and slipped it back into his pocket.

"Who was it?" Sara enquired curiously, peering just over the tinted rim of her glasses.

"Ecklie." Grissom informed her coolly. She laughed but didn't enquire as to why he was avoiding the calls as he had expected. She probably already had guessed. Grissom was often surprised at how well Sara knew him.

Suddenly, as if to respond to Grissom's, Sara's phone rang out too. She gave him a humorous expression, as she pulled it out and flipped it open, Grissom could hear a female voice on the other end of the phone line. After a brief conversation she hung up and began to stand up. Grissom instantly understood from her movement and her half of the conversation, she'd been called into work. For a moment, Grissom felt a pang of annoyance that Sara was leaving already. They'd barely had an hour together but Grissom could hardly protest against Sara's excessive hours, where Grissom was usually the person assigning the hours. He told himself they'd see her too.

"Murder calls?" Grissom asked casually. He hardly wanted to show how much he hated not having time with her, it was the way their relationship was, or at least was going to be, and he had to accept that he knew.

Sara smiled as she brushed off her clothing of stray grass blades that had clung to her. "Suicide actually." She corrected him humorously, and then her smile dropped for a second. "That was Catherine, young woman found dead with a gun in her hand." Her tone was graver suddenly, in keeping with the serious nature of their work. "Brass's already there, Catherine's waiting for me to come down before we head out."

Grissom nodded. Textbook really, but then again, he knew they'd have to be thorough; gun placement was always a possibility. He nodded and stood up. "I'll drop you off at the lab." He told her, standing up himself.

"No it's okay, it's only a couple of blocks, I'll walk." She informed him. "Besides, it'll look odd if you appear before anyone's called you." She added.

Grissom raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. Somehow they had intentionally kept all their meetings secret from the rest of the team. It had seemed coincidental in the past, but now he agreed that perhaps they shouldn't create suspicion at work. The last thing he needed was pressure from the others to consider the consequences, to not hurt Sara, to spend more time with her, all the contrasting advice they were always willing to offer. He agreed. "I could wait here for a phone call." He accepted.

Sara nodded. "Yes you could." She confirmed and began to walk away. She paused for a second and span around several meters away from where Grissom was sat. "Hey Grissom!" she called, grinning broadly.

"Yes?" he replied with a smile. She looked so full of vitality waving at him, so happy. It was good for him to see.

"Are you ever going to kiss me?" she asked him bluntly, with a cheeky smile that he could see on her face from the distance. Grissom laughed, more amused than humiliated that Sara had realised how stagnant and wary their relationship had become.

"Yes." He replied.

"When?" she asked him even more, relentlessly.

"Soon." Grissom replied definitively. Sara smiled and walked away, and Grissom watched her as she went, hoping that the chance to kiss her would arise very soon.