Nick's POV:

We didn't dare move from our table until Grissom walked past us with his plate and Sophia's plate. We followed him silently. The other three looked like they were having fun. They were laughing about something. The joke must have been something about Greg because he was turning shades of red that were unnatural on a human being.

They quieted the minute they saw us approach the table. It was so much more dramatic than I had imaged it being. The silence was deafening. The silence made me want to turn and run. Maybe some things were just meant to live in the past.

We sat at the end of the table next to Grissom. He was the only member of the nightshift that was remotely relaxed. Even Sophia seemed to straighten up a little bit in response to the tense looks on the faces of Greg and Sara. Sara nervously wiped the palms of her hands on her jeans; Greg handed her a napkin and whispered something to her that brought a small smile to her lips.

"I heard Doc autopsied a bear for you," Sophia commented. It sounded a lot snarkier than I'm sure she outwardly meant for it to sound.

"We needed the bullet in the bear for analysis," Warrick replied a little too quickly.

"I heard it was something about a staged hunt," Grissom replied. Greg rolled his eyes. Sara didn't look like she was paying attention at all.

"A zoo-keeper staged the sale of a bear, so he could set up a canned hunt. The bear was drugged so the hunter would kill the bear for sure. The hunter thought the bear was dead, but the bear was just stunned. The bear mauled him," I explained in an attempt to make the case sound a little less like 'Dr. Doolittle.'

"Interesting," Greg said as he pushed the eggs around on his plate. He was obviously in no mood to talk me or Warrick.

"Okay. This has got to stop," Grissom said. He set his fork down. "You guys used to work together. I may not agree with everything that Catherine has been saying, but it isn't Nick or Warrick's fault."

"So you mean that it's okay for Nick to walk around attacking Sara the same way Catherine does?" Greg replied challenging Grissom.

"No, that's not okay. It's not okay for you three to treat them with complete disregard either," Grissom said growing more frustrated by the second. This was the first time that I saw Grissom begin to lose his cool.

"Grissom, I have to get going. I'm tired," Sara said as she shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She pulled out some cash and put it on the table. Sara stood up and began to walk away.

"Sara, if it means anything . . . I'm sorry," I said before I realized that I was even talking.

"Sorry for what? Looking at me like I'm a psycho, talking about me behind my back, or pretending that you don't know me? Wait, never mind . . . you never did know me," Sara snapped. She turned around and stood still as she stared at me. Her eyes were so cold. She slowly approached the table.

"We worked together for nearly five years," Warrick replied.

"Sara, maybe we should just drop this right now," Sophia replied.

"No, I'm sick of them assuming that they know me. I'm sick of them thinking that I just go a little psycho every time we work on a domestic violence case," Sara replied as she stood at the end of the table staring at Warrick and me. It made chills run down my spine.

"Sara, you don't have to do this," Greg said weakly, but I was sure that he knew that Sara would do what she wanted despite his and Sophia's warnings.

"No. Nick, did you know that my mother stabbed my father to death . . . forty times . . . because he beat her? Warrick, did you know that the night my father died he hit my brother and he threatened to hit me? I bet you didn't ever imagine that I thought everyone grew up in a home where their mother was rushed to the hospital monthly for broken bones or lacerations," Sara hissed.

"Sara, please . . .," Greg said.

"No, I'm not 'that girl with the crazy mother' anymore. They are 'those ignorant people.' I have to go," Sara said as she turned around. The entire restaurant stared at her as she walked out and got into her Tahoe. I sat speechless. I never did think of that. I would have never known Sara's secrets. I would have never guessed that's why those cases became so personal.

"Griss, I should go make sure she's okay," Greg said as he waved down the waitress and asked for his breakfast and Sara's breakfast to be put in a carry-out box.

"I think this is the first time that Sara has really felt okay in a long time," Sophia replied, "I'll go with you."

"Call me if Sara needs anything," Grissom said as he watched Sophia and Greg walk away, "I trust that you won't repeat anything that you heard."

"Why didn't she tell us in the first place?" Warrick asked. I'm sure that the confusion on his face mirrored the confusion that I was felt.

"Because she doesn't know how to open up to people . . . because Sara wants to believe that she fix the world on her own . . . because I pushed her away one too many times. I put her on a pedestal different from the ones that I put you two on. I was much more critical of her than I ever was of you two," Grissom rambled as he picked through his breakfast. I had to admit that I wasn't really too interested in mine either.

"Do you think that she believed me . . . when I apologized?" I asked.

"As long as you two continue to perpetuate Catherine's new personality . . . I don't know. How is Catherine?" Grissom asked. His answer didn't put me at ease. His answer did nothing but make me feel guiltier for all that I assumed about Sara.

"She's angry . . . not too different from Sara," Warrick commented. I had to agree with that assessment. Catherine was changing; working for her wasn't what I had imagined it to be. It was much more difficult than I ever imagined.

"You should go talk to Sara," Grissom replied.

"You should talk to Catherine," Warrick said.

It took us way too long to begin to address the problems that tore us apart. I wondered if it would take just as long to fix all that was broken.