AN: Thanks for the reviews, sorry of the small delay. Here is the next chapter, enjoy!


Chapter 7: Eleven months later

It was eight in the morning, and Sara, Cassie and Shelly were in Shelly's kitchen eating breakfast as they were talking about what they wanted to do for three days because they both had requested the time off to go on a mini vacation. It wasn't the first time they had done this, but the last time had been awhile ago, and they thought it was finally time.

They did feel a little bad that Suzie couldn't come because she was covering for someone else so she could have a little extra money this month, which Sara and Shelly had offered to help pay her way so she didn't have to worry about it, except Suzie didn't feel right about it, so they didn't push, but had promised to bring her back some souvenirs from wherever they decided to go, and she really appreciated it.

Their moment was interrupted when Sara's phone starts ringing on the kitchen table, and Shelly laughs. "Can't they survive a weekend without you? It's like you are their boss."

Sara chuckled before she picked up her phone and looked at the caller ID. "It's not work, It's Grissom."

Cassie's head perked up at his name while Shelly snickered after taking a bite of her blueberry muffin. "Oh, lover boy is calling."

Sara tossed a piece of her chocolate muffin at her, and said with a smirk of her own. "He's not my lover boy."

"No, but I know you want him to be." Instead of answering her question, Sara just smiled while answering her phone, then as she said a greeting to him, she could hear Shelly say. "Ha, I was right!"

But all happy feelings went away the second he said her name in a soft, almost broken tone. "Sara."

Sara's heart started racing, and for the first time since meeting him, it was not in a good way, then she replied worriedly. "Gil, what's wrong?" She hardly used his first name, but this seemed like an appropriate time.

Shelly lost the smile at the sound of her friend's worried tone and her question while Cassie's attention remained on her mother.

"I need to talk to you about something."

Sara stands up from her seat and walks over to the back door before slipping out on Shelly's deck while she answered. "Ok, what is it?"

He cleared his throat before continuing. "One of my colleagues is under investigation and I need you to come and do the report, there is no one else that I trust more."

Not even thinking twice, Sara replied. "Done, I'll be there as soon as I can ."

Even though he did want her there, and what he said about trusting her more was the truth, there were things she needed to consider, or at least that's what he thought. "Are you sure? I know you have Cassie and work."

"Don't worry about it. Shelly and I took time off for the weekend, so she can come with us and watch Cassie while I'm busy."

Satisfied with her answer, he replied. "Ok, I'll see you soon then."

"Alright, bye Griss."

"Bye Sara."

After she hung up, she took a few calming breaths, knowing now that he was ok...well as ok as he could be under the circumstances. She knew how much he cared for his co-workers, so when one of them is going through something, especially when it was bad, it was going to affect him, whether the team knew that or not. She's just glad he wasn't injured, or worse.

She shook that thought away as she turned and walked back into the house, and while she was closing the door, Shelly and Cassie were watching her very closely, so she gave them a little smile to ease their worry. "He's fine."

"You sure, mommy?"

Sara's attention went solely to her daughter. "Yes, sweetie."

"Ok." Then she goes back to eating, feeling a little better that Grissom was ok.

While Cassie was preoccupied with her breakfast, Shelly gets up from her chair and they walk toward the bar counter and barstools, then Shelly asked quietly. "Is he really?"

"He wasn't injured or anything." Shelly sighed in relief for her friend before she continued. "But one of his colleagues is under investigation."

"Oh, wow."

"Yeah, and he wants me to do it." She paused for a second before asking with a small smile. "So, how fast can you pack for Vegas?"

Shelly's lips curled into a small smile in return. "How fast do you want me to?"

Despite knowing that their reason for going to Vegas wasn't the best at the moment, they thought it could be fun going there. Plus, deep down Shelly knew that Sara wanted to see Grissom, so going there for that, was an added bonus. She just wished she would have thought about going there before they had a real reason to do it.

"Come and pick me up at my place in 30 minutes?"

"You go it." Sara nodded, and just as she was about to walk past Shelly to talk to Cassie, Shelly places her hand on Sara's shoulder. "I'm glad he's ok...well you know what I mean."

Sara nodded. "I know, and thank you." After Shelly nodded, she took her hand off Sara's shoulder and headed for her bedroom to start packing.

When Sara made it back to the dinning room table, she kneels down while turning Cassie's chair to the left and said. "I need to talk to you for a minute, sweetie." Cassie nodded, getting that vibe when her mother had turned her chair so it was facing directly at her. "We are going to Vegas to Visit Grissom."

Cassie's brown eyes were sparkling a she asked excitedly. "Really Mommy?"

She had seen him here a few times these last 11 months and even had a chance to talk on the phone with him a couple of times, so she was really happy/excited to see him again. She liked him a little more each time she's had contact with him.

Sara smiled at her daughter's excitement. "Well, I have to do something for him first, but yeah, when I'm done you can see him, I promise." Cassie nodded, then Sara continued after a sigh. "But because we need to get there as soon as possible, we have to fly there."

Cassie's face changed as she seemed less excited about that. "Fly?"

The first time she was on a plane was two months ago, which was a few days after her 4th birthday, because her dad had sent her and her mother plane tickets to come and see him in New York, and she didn't really like the flying experience. But the long flight with a long delay in-between changing planes could have been a part of it too.

Sara nodded while cupping her daughter's cheek. "Yes, but I promise that Shelly and I won't let anything bad happen to you, and plus it will be a lot shorter than last time. So can you be a brave girl for me?"

She really wanted to see Grissom, and if flying was the only way to get to do that, then she could do it, so she nodded and replied. "Ok mommy, I can do it."

Sara smiled as she moved forward and gave her daughter a hug. "That's my brave, baby girl."

Cassie wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and she sighed. "Mommy, I'm four, I'm not a baby anymore."

Sara chuckled as she pulled back so she could look into her eyes. "I don't care when you turn 40, you'll always be my baby girl." Then she removed her hand and started tickling her stomach. "Now deal with that."

Cassie started chuckling while trying to squirm and push her mother's hands away, unsuccessfully though, and she spoke in-between her giggling. "Mommy...we have...to go."

Sara removed her hands from her daughter after one more tickle, then nodded as she stood up. "That we do." She took a breath before finishing. "Alright, let's clean up our mess and get out of here, we have some packing to do." Cassie nodded in agreement before doing exactly what her mother said.


After they had arrived in Vegas, which Shelly and Sara were very happy that Cassie seemed alright about this flight, and had grabbed their bags, they took two separate cabs because Sara was going to the lab while Shelly was checking them into the hotel.

Once she had gathered all the information, which included talking to the colleagues and the CSI who was under investigation, which happened to be Warrick Brown, someone Grissom told her one time in confidence that if he had to pick a favorite, it was him, she then wrote her report and headed for Grissom's office to turn it in.

When she was standing in the doorway to the open office, she tapped on the door frame, causing Grissom to look up from his desk, he then takes his glasses off as he stood up from his seat. "Welcome."

Sara gives him a small smile as she walked into the room and up to his desk, then cleared her throat as she handed it to him. "I'm done."

Grissom thanked her as he took it and placed it on his desk before watching her as she was looking around his office, seeing all the interesting things he had in here. Then as she looked at him again, she spoke. "So I see you are the supervisor now." Grissom sighed with a nod, and Sara continued while looking at him with confusion. "Most people would be happy for the promotion."

He shook his head and replied. "I do this job for the science and to speak for the dead, not for the promotions, especially everything that goes along with it."

Sara nodded in understanding, also admiring him even more for it because he really didn't care about all of that, all he wanted to be was the science guy who solves crimes and helps families, or in her daughter's words sometimes, the bug man.

She mentally smiled at that, which was interrupted a second later when Grissom speaks again. "I would actually like to speak to you about something."

She looks at him and asked, while trying to keep her heart rate down. "Ok, what?"

Grissom sits back down in his chair, looks down at his desk before looking at her again. "With the loss of our newest CSI we have a spot open on the nightshift, and I know you'll be a great asset here, so I'm asking if you would be interested in..."

Sara cuts him off, completely shocked on what he was suggesting. "Taking a job here?" Grissom nodded, Sara took a breath before continuing. "What about Cassie, and Shelly, what about my life in San Francisco?"

Grissom nodded again "I know it would be a big change for everybody involved, and obviously the choice is up to you, but I just wanted you to know that there is a spot open for you, and you are welcome to take it, just say the word."

Sara looked into his eyes before looking down as thoughts raced around in her head.

On one hand, the thought of seeing him everyday, working side by side would obviously be part of a dream come true, something she never would have thought would have been an option before this moment. But on the other hand, she had a really good thing going in San Francisco, and Cassie loved Shelly, Mary and even Suzie, could she really take that all away from her daughter so she could be near the man that could be her 'one' but not dating, or even a hint at dating, and with him being a supervisor, which could be hers if she took the job, possibly never date.

Sara's thought's were interrupted again when Grissom spoke again, this time he was closer to her. "Think about it and talk to Cassie, and Shelly (Which Sara smiled at that when he included her), then let me know. There isn't a big hurry for your decision, but we do need to fill in the spot as soon as we can."

Sara moved her head up to look at him in the eyes, then she nodded as she cleared her throat. "I understand, and Grissom, I want you to know that I appreciate your offer and will be thoroughly examined, but I do need a little time. I have things...people that I have to consider in this."

Grissom nodded with a small smile. "Of course, I understand."

After looking into each other's eyes for a few more minutes, she looked down at her watch and saw the time before she looks at Grissom again. "Shelly and Cassie should be in the reception area. I told Cassie that she could see you, but if now isn't a good..."

Grissom cuts her off. "I would be happy to see her now." Sara smiled with a nod before she turned and started walking out of his office with him following behind her.

When they made it closer to the reception area, Sara saw one of the night shift team members, Nick Stokes, talking to Shelly, which it looked like whatever they were talking about was something good because they were smiling at one another, and when Sara saw Cassie notice who was walking toward her, she slipped her hand out of Shelly's and started to run toward her and Grissom, but instead of stopping at her mother, she ran past her and right to Grissom, saying. "Bug man!"

Grissom chuckled as he picked up the little girl. "Hi Cassie."

She smiled. "Hi Grissom." Then she placed her right hand on his clean-shaven cheek. "No beard?" He had a beard the last time she had seen him.

"Nope, is that ok?"

Cassie just shrugged and removed her hand before wrapping her arms around his neck while he started walking with her in his arms, she could see him with or without the beard, just as long as she got to see him.

After Grissom had stopped next to the small group that had gathered in front of the reception desk, he looked over at Nick and asked. "I thought you were done for the day?"

Nick smiled while Sara spoke. "I think he found something a little more interesting than home."

Grissom and Sara saw Shelly and Nick looking away from one another, then they looked at each other and Sara raised an eyebrow at him, which Grissom nodded in understanding with a smile.

After a few seconds, Grissom clears his throat and speaks again. "How about I buy an early dinner?" Then he looks at Nick. "You can come too, I guess it's a congratulations dinner for making level 3."

Nick nodded with a smile. "Thanks Grissom."

Grissom nodded as Sara told Nick congratulations, which Nick nodded his appreciation.

As Grissom was handing Cassie to Sara, he continued. "So I'll meet everybody in 10 minutes, how does pizza sound?"

Before any of the grown-ups could reply, Cassie said. "Yummy."

They all chuckled while Sara commented. "Pizza it is."

"Alright, Nick can you take them?"

"Yeah, no problem."

After one more nod, Grissom turned around and headed back toward his office while the rest of the party left the lab.


Once they made it to the best pizza place Vegas had to offer, they sat down at a round table, leaving one spot open for Grissom, which was right by Sara. Then after their drinks were ordered, and while Cassie was occupied with coloring, Nick clears his throat and looked at Sara. "So Sara, Grissom seems pretty comfortable around you guys, is there a story somewhere?"

Sara could see that Shelly was about to open her mouth, so she gave her a look that told her not to do it, which she did keep her mouth shut but had a smirk on her face. Then Sara looked at Nick again and replied. "Nope, we met at one of his seminars and talked a few times, that's it."

Nick didn't become a CSI level 3 for falling for words at face value, but he dropped it because it was Grissom's personal life, and he knew that his mentor/new boss wouldn't like it very much if he pried, so Nick just nodded and reached for his beer when it was placed in front of him.

After a few minutes of silence, Shelly and Sara got to know Nick a little more before Grissom showed up and sat down next to Sara.


When their pleasant meal was done and the bill was paid for by Grissom, they all walked out of the restaurant, which Sara, Grissom and Cassie were walking in front, while Shelly and Nick were walking behind them, laughing and talking.

Once they stopped at Grissom's vehicle, Grissom cleared his throat at Nick and said. "Alright Nick, say goodnight."

Sara chuckled as she helped Cassie in the back seat, then as she got to the passenger door, she heard Shelly agree for Nick to show her around town tomorrow. Then once Shelly, Sara and Grissom was in his vehicle, Grissom started it and drove them to the hotel that Sara told him they were staying at.

When he stopped in front of it, Shelly opened the door, and after Cassie said goodnight and goodbye to Grissom, she gets out of the vehicle with Shelly.

After the door closed, and while Sara was unbuckling her seat belt, she said. "Thanks for dinner."

"No problem." Then he cleared his throat and asked. "So you have any plans tomorrow?"

"No, why?"

"Well maybe we can take Cassie to the zoo, it isn't the biggest thing in the world, but I figured she would like it."

Sara smiled with a nod. "I think she would too, I'll talk to her and let you know." He smiled with a nod of his own, then Sara spoke again as she opened the door. "Get some rest and have a safe shift."

"Thank you, and you get some rest too."

"Alright, goodnight, Griss."

"Goodnight Sara."

After one more smile between them, Sara gets out of the vehicle before walking toward the entrance to the hotel, and once she was safely in the lobby, Grissom drove away.


AN: What will her Best friend and daughter say? Will Sara take the job, find out next chapter. Please review.