A/N: When I first sat down to write this chapter, I thought that it would be the last. Turns out, not so much...

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From down the other end of the line, Grissom could hear what sounded like the grinding of teeth before Ecklie muttered in a tone thick with bitter resentment, "I want you back."

Grissom suddenly became very still. Sara and Brass both noticed the change in him, exchanging anxious glances, before Sara began to make her way towards him. When she had gotten to within a few feet of where he stood, Grissom broke his silence, speaking down the line in a tone heavy with quiet, simmering rage.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Don't make this harder than it has to be. The Sheriff… I'm offering you your job back. You should be grateful."

Abruptly he pulled the phone from his ear, flipped it shut and set it down heavily on the bench to his right. Clenching his jaw and fisting his hands, he angled his eyes to the ground as he tried to regain control over his anger.

As she stepped nearer, closing the distance between them, she lifted a hand to his face, applying a gentle pressure until he was forced to raise his eyes to meet hers.

With a slight smile that did little to disguise her concern, she said softly, "Hey, stranger."

At first he didn't reply, still consumed with loathing for the man who had denied them so much, and taken away even more; but slowly, as he felt her skin dance lightly over his and as he counted the tiny flecks of gold in her warm chocolate eyes, he could feel the anger drain away. Reaching out to wrap his strong arms around her tiny waist, he buried his face in her hair, whispering a quiet, "Sara", into her ear.

Wishing that he could drown in the moment, he held her in his arms for what seemed like an eternity, only lifting his head from her shoulder when he felt a firm tapping on his left shoulder.

"Touching as this little display is, I think it's time to shelve the lover-boy persona and tell us what the hell that call was all about!"

Loosening his grip on her waist only enough to allow her to spin in his arms, her back coming to rest against his chest, her ear grazing the skin just inches from his lips, he took in the sight of Brass standing with his arms folded across his chest, trying desperately to hide his smile behind a gruff tone and demanding expression.

"Well?" continued the detective when at first he was met with no response.

"Well what?" Grissom replied calmly.

Becoming more and more agitated as he recognised that the entomologist was starting to play him, he said loudly and with force, "What did the weasel want?"

Grissom couldn't help but indulge in the moment, turning his head to chuckle into his lover's hair, feeling as she turned into his touch the last of the complications of life lived in secret fall away.

"This has turned into a good day, Jim. Why ruin it?"

"Don't try that with me. One minute you were so happy that it was actually painful to watch, and the next you looked ready to kill someone. What did he say?"

"Jim, please–"

Spinning again in his arms until she was able to look him in the eye, Sara cut him off. Tilting her head slightly to the right and lowing her eyelids ever so slightly, knowing that when she looked at him like that he could deny her nothing, she asked, "What did he say, Grissom?"

Sighing, he released his hold on her waist completely and took a step back, resting his hands on his hips. "He said, 'I want you back'."

As a triumphant smile spread across his face, Brass took a bold step forward and reached his right hand out, grabbing hold of Grissom's in a fierce and powerful handshake. "Ha Ha! I knew he couldn't hold out for long. Welcome back, Gil."

Snatching his hand away, Grissom once again reached out for Sara, drawing her to his chest. Shaking his head, he said with a certainty that made the detective's blood run cold, "No, Jim. You don't understand. I'm not going back. We're not going back. It's over."

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As Nick, Warrick, Greg and Catherine sat on the floor in the empty room, a room that only hours before had been vibrant and full of knowledge, a room that was now cold and torturously lifeless, they found themselves growing more and more desperate in their search for a solution.

"There has to be something!" cried Greg after yet another suggestion was dismissed as impractical, illogical or doomed to failure. "We can't just let them leave."

Nick, who had been intently studying the floor ever since he learned of the heartfelt motivations behind the secrecy and deception, suddenly raised his head and fixed each member of the group in turn with a searching gaze.

"What would you be willing to risk?"

"What do you mean?" came Warrick's puzzled reply.

"I mean, what would you be willing to risk to get them back? They resigned to save us. I would be willing to do the same for them. Would you?"

As the plan began to take shape in his head, he glanced around the group, attempting to read in their faces what they could not yet seem to put into words. When he caught sight of Catherine's tiny nod, he was spurred to continue.

"Think about it guys. We were desperately understaffed to begin with. After losing Grissom and Sara, the lab is going to be really pushing to keep up with all the new cases, and if we can't maintain our solve rates then we will lose our national ranking." His eyes alight with guarded optimism, a smile began to grow across his face. "I vote we all resign, right now, tonight. Ecklie can't afford to lose a single one of us, so the thought of losing an entire shift… He'll offer us anything. I'm sure of it."

"And if we say that we will only come back if he rehires Grissom and Sara…" offered Catherine.

"Gives them back their old jobs, no transfers or demotions…" amended Warrick.

"He'll be forced to agree!" concluded Greg with nothing short of glee.

Silence descended on the group as they sat smiling widely at each other. After a moment, Nick asked excitedly, "Well, what are we all waiting for?"

Jumping up as fast as they could, the four began to make their way quickly down the hallways. Arriving in the Assistant Director's outer office, they surrounded his secretary as though they were a pack of wild animals going in for the kill.

"Um… can… can I help you?" she asked nervously.

"We need to see Ecklie. Now."

"You can't."

Catherine took a half step forward and planted her hands firmly on her hips. "We can and we will."

"No, I mean you really can't. He's not here."

"What do you mean he's not here? It's the middle of the day!"

"I know. He was called out. The Sheriff, you see, he rang…" Her voice fading as she took in the fiery expression of the four criminalist's before her, she added quickly, "He didn't tell me where he was going."

As the woman began to fold in on herself under the intensity of their combined attention, Catherine said in a tone saccharine sweet, "Well, if you can tell him that we need to see him as soon as he gets in. It's urgent." Turning her back, Catherine walked brusquely from the room, followed by the three men, each wearing a look of quiet determination to match her own.

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"What do you mean, 'It's over'?" asked Brass, his face shocked, his tone incredulous.

Sensing Grissom tense behind her, Sara began delicately caressing his arms where they lay wrapped around her waist, and leaned back slightly, increasing the pressure of her back on his chest.

"He means just that, Brass. It's over. We're done. We lost more than our jobs last night. We lost our home, our friends, our… our family. When you first got here, I told you that it was nice to know that there was someone out there that didn't hate us. I meant it. If you had seen the look in their eyes…"

Her voice failing her as the tears began to rise in her throat, she felt Grissom place a gently kiss on the curve of her ear before saying simply, "There is just nothing left for us here."

Before Brass had a chance to argue, his phone began to chirp. He lifted it to his ear and answered without once taking his eyes from the couple before him. As he listened to the desk sergeant outline details of a homicide in the next suburb over, he felt them slipping further and further away. By the time he ended the call, he knew that there was nothing he could say to change their minds. This, it seemed, was goodbye.

"I have to go. DB not too far from here." Thinking that you can't blame a guy for trying, Brass continued lightly, "You could always come with, you know. Dead body, always fun…"

The detective watched as the entomologist closed his eyes briefly and smile. Opening them again he relinquished his hold on Sara's waist and stepped forward, reaching the same hand out that he had snatched away moments before.

"Bye, Jim. And thankyou."

Watching as his old friend walked out the door, Grissom suddenly felt very tired. Looking at his watch, he realised that it had been over twenty-four hours since he last slept, and he was beginning to feel every minute of it.

"Honey, I need to get away from here for a while. Let's go and check in to the hotel, lie down and get some sleep. We can finish with this mess later."

Without a word she walked across to the kitchen and to collect their things, pausing briefly before deciding to leave their phones behind. As she approached him, she saw his head slump forward and noted the exhaustion that danced across his face. Quickly, and without warning, she brought her lips to his and kissed him deeply, pulling away only when her need for oxygen grew stronger than her need for him. As they stood together, eyes closed and foreheads touching, breathing quick and shallow, the appeals of a hotel room seemed to multiply.

Stepping through the door, laughing at the apparent futility of locking it behind them, they were stopped in their tracks by the sight of Conrad Ecklie's car pulling in to the driveway, effectively blocking them in and cutting off their first line of escape. The rage that had flooded his senses earlier came rushing back.

Stepping from the car, Ecklie took a moment to look the two of them up and down, noting with disgust their interlocking hands and Grissom's protective stance.

"Move your car, Conrad."

"Sure."

"Now."

"Hear me out first. The lab needs you."

Suddenly, despite the anger that was pouring off Grissom in waves, Sara began to laugh. At first it started as what could only be described as a giggle, but soon grew until the strength of it was shaking her tiny shoulders, her face red and free hand clutching at her stomach.

"Is she alright?" asked Ecklie, confused and uncertain.

Searching her face, Grissom replied, "I don't know. Are you alright?"

Pulling herself together, she leaned into his side and said quietly, "You said the same thing to me once. I didn't take it well."

Unable to place the memory, Grissom raised a single eyebrow, but was cut off before he could put his question into words.

"What do you want?"

Turning away from his lover and towards his former boss and adversary, he did his best to stay calm.

"What?"

"What do you want? More money? A raise, maybe? Or perhaps I could arrange for the lab to remunerate you in a one-off payment for some of those insect specimens you have purchased over the years?"

"Ecklie–"

"Just tell me what it will take, and I'll make it happen. I'll even hire her back if you want."

As he pointed a cold, spindly finger in her direction and appraised her with a unscrupulous eye, Sara felt a wave of nausea sweep over her, reflexively increasing her grip on Grissom's hand. Turning to her, he sought out her eyes with his own and raised his free hand to brush a stray hair from her face. Speaking to one another without ever uttering a sound, they both turned and headed in the direction of her car, still mercifully unobstructed in its position parked on the street.

As they passed by him, Ecklie grabbed Sara's arm just above the elbow. Stopping dead in her tracks, she just stared at his hand in disbelief before raising angry eyes to meet his.

Transfixed by her furious stare, Ecklie didn't see Grissom disentangle his fingers from hers and take a dangerous step towards him.

"You are really going to want to take you hands off her, Conrad." Jerking his head violently in the direction of his voice, Ecklie was shocked to see a rage he had never before encountered in the man simmering behind his eyes. As he took yet another step towards him, his large frame coming to rest directly in front of Sara, shielding her with his body, Grissom continued in a voice which spoke of the most dangerous kind of anger. "I don't work for you any more, and trust me when I say that there is nothing in this world I would like more right now than to tear you limb from limb."

Abruptly letting go of her arm, Ecklie started moving quickly backwards towards his car. Once he was safely back inside, doors closed and locked, he lowered the window just far enough to call out, "You'll regret this, Grissom."

After they had watched him speed down the street, Grissom turned to Sara searched her face for any sign of pain.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No, Griss. He didn't hurt me."

Leaning in, he kissed her gently, his hands placed delicately on either side of her face.

When he pulled back to search her eyes once again, she said tenderly, "You look tired, Grissom."

"I am tired, Sara."

She saw the truth of his words in his eyes, and reached out to take him by the hand, leading him in the direction of her car. As she climbed behind the wheel, she turned to him and said, "Everything will be okay, Grissom. We'll be okay."

As he turned to her, she felt tears welling behind her eyes as she saw the vulnerability shining in his face. "You promise?"

"I promise."

TBC...