Disclaimer: is in chapter 1.

RATING MMMMMMM! Mostly for the previous chapters. That said - there will probably be further reason for it later.

This is not beta'd as you can probably tell.

Thanks for the reviews you all are awesome.

This was a long time coming... sorry.

GSR... Spoilers WTG... and beyond...

Interlude: 10

People had been milling for the better part of the night, most of them seeking answers, or at least gossip about the macabre affair. Sara wished that they would all just go home, as she was sporting a bit of a headache, and to boot they were wandering muckety muck all through her crime scene despite the yellow tape.

Brass had ordered a few extra bodies in to help with the interviews, leaving only those truly pertinent to the case for the she and Warrick talk to. Never the less, the evening was shaping up to be a long one, and it had just started.

Her earlier conversation with David only served a painful reminder of the rift between she and Grissom at the moment; his announcement of a meet the in-laws dinner, tearing at an already gaping wound.

If anyone had asked her, she was stressed. The meeting with Grissom's mom had caused more than enough trauma, then the reality having to make up a story involving fumigation, and evacuation to quell Nick's valid questions, had contributied to the impending sense of doom – she didn't like lying to her friends. Add to that, the fact that her back hurt from sleeping on the couch, and yeah… She was pissed, miserable, and hurting in more ways than one.

Nick had offered her the option of taking his bed, but she couldn't do it to him, though at around about 4 she had considered climbing in with him, as she grew increasingly more uncomfortable. All in all she'd managed maybe an hour of solid sleep. It was for this reason that she was seriously considering ignoring the buzzing of her cell that was firmly attached to her hip.

A cursory glance indicated that it was her husband, nay supervisor on the line and she was really in no mood to talk to him. It buzzed in her hand once again and she was almost overcome by the desire to see if the lab issue phone would actually bounce from 30 storeys up. It took a moment for her to realize she was being silly. In all likelihood, the call was work related, and something she had to answer regardless, so she moved away from Brass and Warrick and peered over the side of the roof, the phone readily pressed to her ear. "Sidle."

"How's everything going at your scene?" His words were tender and bent more towards personal than professional.

Moving a little further from a group of partiers who'd taken up residence a few feet away, Sara fought the urge to forgive and forget, and instead decided to keep it professional. Aside from which, her back was still aching. "Probable suicide. Lots of potential witnesses. We have some extra help."

"Okay…" There was silence on the line for a moment. "Listen, I'm going to be here at the MGM a little longer, do you want to meet up in an hour or so? We can have dinner and talk?"

If he'd been there with her Grissom would have seen her shake her head. But as it stood, Brass was the only one to see her, as he made his way over from finishing up the interview with Joe Hirschoff. "No sorry, I seem to have lost my appetite."

"Sara, please…"

"I have to go Brass is coming over." With that she flipped the phone closed. He wasn't going to get off that easily this time. Her feelings were hurt, her head hurt, and so did her back." Gil Grissom would be paying for a while yet.

TBC