Disclaimer: broken recordish: I don't own them.

A/N: Yeah, here I am again. A chapter before I go out of town for the weekend. As always thanks for reading and replying and to singingstarryknights for betareading.

Chapter 6: Comfort

Greg laughed softly. "A great day after all." He pressed a kiss to Sara's hair. He closed his eyes and drew the blanket a little more over the both of them, enjoying their closeness. His breathing became calm and the only other sound he heard was Sara breathing next to him.

He enjoyed this comfort they were having now, opting to not worry about work-related matters right now, unwilling to feel concerned about his future, their future, for the moment. They had not talked about his quitting since they had left the lab earlier this morning. Sara had seemed as if she wanted to bring up the topic again, but was apparently at a loss as to how to start that conversation. Greg was only too ready to let it go for a couple of hours.

Now they were lying in the bed in Greg's bedroom, while the sun was already standing high on the sky outside, sending a warm shine through the large window of the room, which made the blanket that they had drawn over them not really necessary, but the idea to go without this comfort did not even occur to the couple.

They would sleep in, that was clear, Greg thought. If work had gone its normal way, they would be sleeping now anyway, or working for that matter, if they had pulled a double, so neither of them had any other plans. Greg liked their current activity to no end, so he was not opposed to staying as they were for longer at all.

He stroked Sara's hair, sighing happily, in a way trying to get closer to her still, if that was even possible. He rubbed her back lightly, but then he felt her tense in his arms. Finally Sara drew back a little and Greg opened his eyes confused, meeting Sara's worried look.

"What's up? Is something wrong?" he asked quietly. Sara drew back further, sitting up slightly, resting herself on one arm.

"I can't pretend that everything's fine."

Greg frowned, wondering what the problem was, but her expression made his stomach tie in apprehensive knots.

"Everything is fine," he protested. "We're here, we're together. It's comfortable and all." He made a move to hug her again. "Don't think about work right now. Let it go for a while."

Sara shook her head, turning away from him, sitting up completely this time, looking at the foot-end of the bed. "I can't."

Greg felt a little lost at the sudden loss of contact. "Hey, it's me who doesn't have a job anymore, so if somebody is worried, it shouldn't be you," he said lightly.

Sara let her legs slide over her side of the bed. "No," she said, standing up, "it should've been me." She turned to face him again. "They should've fired me or I should've quit, not you," she declared and Greg was lost. He had no idea why she would say something like that, why she would want that. She loved her job. While he had not quit for her sake, he still had had the comforting knowledge with all of it that it had saved her job.

"Why?" was therefore the only reaction he was able to come up with.

"It was my mistake", Sara replied in a strained voice. "They would've fired me, if you hadn't quit."

Greg had moved over to her side in the meantime, shaking his head now. "I'm not so sure about that. I am, was, the newbie, and they wouldn't fire you over such a small mistake."

Okay, he was not completely sure about that, he was almost positive that Ecklie would use any chance to get rid of Sara. While he did not really know any details, he knew that neither of them had ever really gotten along well with the other. Ecklie had not cared especially for Greg becoming a CSI either, but at least he had appreciated his work in the DNA lab, even if that had led to the situation that Greg had to accept working there again after Mia had left and before Wendy had replaced her.

"It wasn't so small. Trials could crack because of something like that," Sara argued now, "And you knew about it?" she added suddenly.

Greg ignored her last question. "But these kinds of things happen. Evidence gets contaminated, cars get stolen, labs explode," he itemized, wincing slightly at his last example. "People make mistakes. They aren't perfect," he told her beseechingly. He added smiling at her, "Even if they want to be."

Sara was standing there, all defensive, looking at the floor.

"You wouldn't have been fired over that. Somebody had to go, so it was me," he said a little falsely cheerfully, trying to cheer Sara up, even if he did not take it as easy as he pretended. He slid from the bed as well, and embraced her again.

"Don't take it harder than I do," he asked her. "Come into bed again, please," he added, yawning tiredly for emphasis.

She laid her hands on his shoulders shoving him comparatively gently some inches away from her, so that she could look him into the eyes. "You knew about my mistake. How come?" she wanted to know, frowning slightly at him.

Greg shrugged. "Wendy told me about it." Actually the lab tech had told him to keep it between the two of them but Greg could not risk trying to conceal it from Sara. It would have far worse consequences than the fact that he had not really kept the promise he had given Wendy.

Sara did not look too happy about his answer, however. She let her arms drop from his shoulders and crossed them again. "I didn't know that you're so good buddies that you're gossiping about things like that," she declared fiercely and Greg groaned inwardly. Sara could make it really difficult for him sometimes.

"We're co-workers, we get along with each other, so what's the problem? I went into the DNA lab. Wendy seemed to have something on her mind. I asked her about it, end of story."

He looked at her with a begging expression that he knew worked most of the time. He stroked her hair again, smiling at her playfully. Sara remained standing stiffly in front of him, looking past him. Finally she looked up at him again, and Greg wondered, utterly surprised, why there were tears actually forming in her eyes.

"So you lied to me?" she asked bitterly. Actually it was not really a question. It sounded more like a statement, how she said it.

Greg dropped his arms, and sank weakly on the bed behind him. He hadn't the slightest idea as to what she was talking about now. He was getting frustrated, slowly but surely.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, trying to remain patient, but watching upset how the tears were rolling down Sara's cheeks now. She wiped them off with her hand.

"You told me you didn't quit for my sake, but you've just admitted that you knew about everything, so you did quit for me, didn't you?"

Greg shook his head unbelieving. "Even if I had, shouldn't you be thankful then, that you still have your job?" he said, now getting slightly angry, standing up from the bed again.

"You know how I hate it when gu-, people lie to me," she retorted.

"Did I ever lie to you?" Greg asked openly, trying to calm down again. Sara once again wiped off the tears that had not stopped yet.

"You did today," she answered him spiritlessly. Greg remained silent for a few seconds.

"I didn't," he said finally. "I knew about the mistake, I knew that Ecklie wanted somebody to go, but I didn't quit for you," he assured her earnestly, hoping that it would be enough to convince her, enough to calm her down. Despite the situation Greg could hardly suppress chuckling. After all, he was in the midst of trying to convince his girlfriend that he had not done something for her sake.

He sat down again and Sara walked slowly over to him, seating herself next to him on the bed.

"So what are you going to do?" she asked after some seconds. Greg was relieved that she apparently believed him, being surprised, though, that she had not asked for his actual reasoning so far. Not that he needed, or wanted, that right now. That quarrel would come early enough.

"Get a new job," he said simply, laying an arm around her.

"But you can't work as a CSI here, if not in our lab," Sara argued, this time leaning into his embrace.

"Well, I guess I'll find a lab that needs a DNA tech."

"That's not what you've worked for."

"Or find a CSI position somewhere else." Greg knew that it possible meant them living a large distance away from each other. Sara rested her head on his shoulder, and he was glad that they had returned to the comfort that he really needed now.

"But-," she started.

Greg cut her off though. "Wasn't it you who said only a few hours ago we'd work it out?"

"Yeah," she admitted quietly.

Before long they were both cuddled up again under their blanket, only too willing to get some more rest. Although he had intended to not worry for now, Greg could not help thinking about what Sara had said. Getting a bad feeling, he wanted to make sure that she would not do something stupid, like quit as well, but he was unwilling to bring up the topic again, fearing another fight. So he remained silent, enjoying the closeness he had been able to save.

Some minutes later both of them were sleeping again, Sara lying in Greg's arms again, and the only sounds were them both breathing calmly next to each other.

TBC