A huge thanks to Wander52 for the Beta she as always Rocks!!! Here is the next chapter, thanks again for all the reviews;o)
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Waking up the next day, Sara groaned knowing she was just as confused about Grissom as ever.
Turning over in bed, Sara decided to stay in bed for five more minutes until she heard Charlotte start crying knowing she was not going to be able to sleep in for a long time.
Dressing Charlotte and then herself, she went through her normal morning routine, though all the time thinking about Grissom.
Maybe what she saw was wrong about him and Lady Heather, maybe they were friends, maybe he wanted her?
Getting to work, Sara got back to her homicide from the previous day, breathing easy knowing that Grissom would not be in until that night.
Working steadily for a number of hours, Sara felt her stomach rumbling and saw it was time for lunch.
Having Charlotte now meant she ate more regularly and found herself feeling hungry if she tried to skip a meal.
After deciding to grab something to eat and do some shopping on her break, Sara walked out to her car and drove towards the nearest mall.
After walking into one of the many children's clothing stores, Sara picked out some new clothes for Charlotte, along with some new picture books.
After paying some bills, Sara headed towards a diner on the way back to the lab.
Walking inside, Sara ordered a sandwich and was looking around when she saw Grissom and Lady Heather laughing and joking.
Watching in horror, Sara saw the couple smile at each other and laugh before Lady Heather reached over for his hand.
Hearing her order was up; Sara quickly took her lunch and got to her car before letting the tears fall down her face.
Sara was now angry with herself, after thinking for even a moment that Grissom wanted her.
Looking at herself in the mirror she felt sick. What would someone like Grissom see in her?
She was tall and skinny with ordinary features unlike the amazing Lady Heather who was beautiful with delicate features and a body to die for.
Who, along with the perfect body, Lady Heather knew how to please a man in every way.
Wiping her cheeks, Sara put her car into drive and went back to work.
Using all of her energy to go back to her case, all Sara really wanted to do was go straight to the day care center and cuddle Charlotte.
Sara, however, knew all this would do is upset her baby and the last thing she wanted to do was scare Charlotte.
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Grissom was now perplexed about what was happening with Sara, after she no longer even looked at him.
He had tried to talk to her over the following two weeks, but all she did was ignore him and walk away.
Not sure what to do, Grissom picked up some files, before walking through to the conference room for the monthly between senior management of the lab.
Zoning in and out of the discussion about a conference, Grissom was scheduled to attend when he heard another CSI was needed.
"I would prefer a woman to go, as it will show how diverse our crime lab is," Ecklie said wanting to win points with the sheriff.
Inwardly rolling his eyes at him, Grissom quickly spoke up with a brilliant idea, "Sara Sidle would be my suggestion, as Catherine will in charge when I am away.
Looking around the room to see if anyone objected, Ecklie agreed and told Grissom to inform Sara and put all the details on his desk.
Smiling to himself, Grissom sent Sara an email telling her she had been volunteered, but leaving out his involvement and suggested they meet up to talk about their presentation.
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Turning on one of the work computers, Sara logged into her email and grimaced after seeing she had an email from Grissom.
Although she had the urge to instantly delete it, she clicked on it and started to feel sick.
Reading that she was requested to attend the forensic science conference in Iowa in two weeks with Grissom, got her blood boiling.
Knowing there was no way out, if Ecklie had agreed, she sent a formal email back suggesting that he send his notes via email.
Sara hoped that she could get out of seeing him up close, knowing the conference was going to be bad enough.
Receiving a reply from Sara, Grissom smiled and sent back another email informing her that they would have to meet up.
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The following week, Sara picked up Charlotte from day care and went back into the lab to discuss the presentation with Grissom.
Walking into the office, Sara saw Grissom looking at Charlotte.
"Day care closes in half an hour and I have no one else to look after her, but me so," Sara began.
"No, that's fine; I was just seeing how she's changed. You certainly seemed to have gotten the hang of it," he said, now looking at Sara.
Unable to stop smiling back, Sara sat down and started feeding Charlotte a bottle, hoping she would fall asleep.
After an hour, Sara breathed out a sigh of relief, after discovering Grissom had done most of the work and she would only be required to do some of the talking.
After agreeing to meet again in a few days time, Sara took Charlotte, who stayed awake for the entire meeting, home.
With no family or close friends living in Vegas, Sara was starting to stress about who could look after Charlotte for her.
After talking to her day care center that had names of nannies she was in the middle of explaining her situation to Catherine, who volunteered.
"No Cath, it's too much, I will be away for three nights," Sara said, not wanting to impose on her friend.
Shaking her head, Catherine picked up Charlotte and gave her a kiss before looking at Sara, "It is not too much and besides who has been giving you all of the advice about babies and my mother can look after her when I am working."
Smiling back, Sara finally agreed, but not before Catherine agreed for Sara to organize a spa weekend for her when she got back.
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Having organized everything she could have thought of for Charlotte and had dropped her off at Catherine's, she left her car at home and took a taxi to the airport.
Frowning to herself, Sara knew she was going to miss her baby desperately when she was away, but this was quickly replaced with dread.
Sara knew she would have to spend the next four days and three nights with Grissom, when she could barely even stand to look at him.
Arriving at the airport, she checked in and walked to the departure lounge, where she found Grissom reading.
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Arriving at the hotel, Sara and Grissom walked up to the desk to check and got their first shock of the day.
"What do you mean there was only one room booked?" Sara asked, with a raising voice announcing her displeasure.
Pulling out her credit card, Sara slapped it on the desk, "You can book me into another room, and I don't care about the cost."
Looking on in slight amusement, Grissom saw the man behind the desk shake his head after typing something into his computer.
Grissom knew he could not have done better, if he had tried.
Smiling to himself, Grissom knew this was the first nice thing Ecklie had ever done for him, if he wasn't mistaken.
"I don't care about the cost," Sara said, also noticing the look on the man's face.
Shaking his head, the receptionist gave them the second bad news of the day.
"I am sorry, but we are fully booked. There are three conferences on this week and the person who booked your room was lucky to get this one."
Rolling her eyes, Sara knew it was typical of Ecklie to book something so late.
Accepting the room card, Sara and Grissom then headed towards the elevator to check out their room.
Getting to their room, Sara opened up and got the third surprise of the day –
there was only a double bed and no sofa.
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Oh no what ever will they do with only one bed? ha ha ha ... I love fanfiction!
