A/N: What is this? Two chapters in one week? I haven't been able to do this for a while, but I got the A-OK from ILJ sooner than I expected, AND I have the morning off work, so... enjoy! :)


Chapter Eleven

For the next week, we didn't talk too much about her decision. I called her every night before shift started to tell her goodnight, and she called me every afternoon to ask how work was, but we avoided the topic we both knew was on our minds. I knew she was under enough stress making her choice; she didn't need pressure or coaxing on my part, too.

Whatever will be, will be.

One night, about two hours before I was to go to work, and about an hour before I usually called Sara, she called me.

"Hi," I greeted her, surprised. She didn't even take the time to make formalities.

"I want to work in Vegas with you," she said.

"I… what?" I asked, even more surprised. "Honey… are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Sara said firmly. "You're right. I'll be doing my career no favors by staying at the lab here. I want to come."

"But Vegas—"

"Look, I've never dealt with my demons by running from them," Sara interrupted. "Why start now? And besides, I'll have you."

I smiled.

"Of course you will."

"Do you still want me there?"

"Absolutely," I confirmed immediately. "Of course I do. I let Holly go two days ago. The lab's already on my back to find her replacement."

I had, and they were. I told them I had a candidate in mind, but hadn't mentioned Sara by name. I had no doubt that she was well qualified for the job.

"Sara, why don't I go into work early and get the process going?" I suggested. "I'll talk to the lab directors, mention it to Jim in case they need a second opinion, and I'll call you in the morning."

"Okay."

"Bye, honey," I said. "I'll call you."

I left for work right after hanging up with Sara and went straight to the lab director's office. He and the assistant director were both there, and I cut right to the chase, telling them that I had found a suitable replacement for Holly, and wanted to recruit her right away.

They seemed impressed with my rundown of her academics, and requested to see her paperwork. I sent Sara a quick e-mail telling her to fax it over, and returned to the director's office, knowing with unease that I had yet to mention the one thing that could keep Sara from getting a job here.

"Sir, there is just one thing," I began. "She was involved in a case we worked, about two months ago."

"The Sidle case," the director said, catching on quicker than I expected. "She was the kidnap victim you found."

"Yes, sir."

"Is there a conflict of interest here?"

"Not at all," I replied, making a split-second chocie to not bring up whatever sort of relationship we had at the moment. "She's a talented, capable forensic scientist, and if anything, her experience here will make her that much more motivated to bring justice to her cases."

The director stared me down, and I began to wish that I had played better lab politics in the past. It was something that I was usually unconcerned with, but having a good relationship with the director was helpful in situations like these. Especially when the outcome meant so much to me.

"I'll take a look at her paperwork to be sure, but I trust your opinion, Gil," he said. "Just make sure she won't be another Holly, and I'd say it's fine."

My heart leapt with excitement, but I kept my poker face.

"Thank you, sir," I said. "Let me know when you've reached your final decision."

I decided against calling Sara right away, I didn't want to jinx things too early, but when my team congregated in the break room, waiting for the night's assignments, I decided to go ahead and tell them, so they would be prepared.

"There's quite a few cases tonight," I told them as I entered. "We'll be stretched thin to cover them all."

"Man, we really need to get another CSI on the team," Warrick said. "Swing and Days are slow-moving in picking up our slack, we've been working twice as hard to do the same amount of work the last two shifts."

"We won't be shorthanded much longer," I told him. "I found a replacement for Holly."

"You did?" Warrick said, surprised at my swiftness.

"Who is it?" Nick chimed in.

"Sara Sidle," I answered, anxious to see what their reactions might be.

Warrick seemed oblivious and Nick looked shocked, but uncertain what to say. It was Catherine who repeated her name in astonishment.

"Sara Sidle?"

"Oh, I remember her," Warrick said, catching on. "She was the cold case turned hot… a few months ago, right?"

"Right," I told him, keeping Catherine from catching my gaze. "She was interested in forensics before, and she's just graduated with a Master's from Berkeley, with a Bachelor's at Harvard to boot. She's a good scientist, and she'll be good for our team."

"Have you spoken to her? Since her kidnapping?" Warrick asked.

"We've kept in touch, yes," I said, playing down our relationship. Catherine still looked like she wasn't buying any of it. "It's not a done deal just yet, but it's a major possibility, so I wanted to give you guys the head's up."

I sat down, looking and feeling serious.

"When she gets here, I don't want any of you to treat her like a victim or a former case," I said. "She's a lot more than that. Warrick, I know you didn't work her case much, but Nick, you did, and Catherine had personal contact with her. I want her to be treated like an equal, a member of our team. That's important to me."

None of them questioned it, and instead nodded solemnly.

"We will, Griss," Warrick said.

"We'll make her feel at home," Nick added.

"Good," I said. "I appreciate that. Now she probably won't be here for at least a few days, so we still have a lot of work to do. Nick, take the 419 in Henderson. The coroner's already there."

Nick took his case slip and took off.

"Warrick, you have a body at the Venetian," I continued. "Drowned. Find out if it was suicide or not."

Warrick followed Nick's suit, and I was left alone with Catherine, knowing that lot was going unsaid between us.

"Cath, body for you too, busy night," I said, passing her the slip.

She took it and looked like she was going to let things go, but paused on her way out the door, leaning on the frame.

"So Sara Sidle, huh?" she said.

I looked up at her.

"Yeah," I said, shrugging.

Catherine sighed.

"Gil, I know you better than that," she said. "Sara's case was one of the few you brought home with you. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Cath, we're all professionals," I said. "We have the capacity to put what happened to Sara behind us. With her intelligence and her skills, she could work anywhere she wanted. We're lucky to have her."

"Okay," Catherine sighed again, obviously unconvinced but letting it go for now.

I was grateful for it. Catherine could see that there was more to Sara and I than I was letting on, but I wasn't ready to discuss it quite yet. Even we didn't know exactly what we were. Right now, I was just grateful, grateful that I wasn't going to lose her, but, quite the opposite, would get to be around her each day.

I had even more to be grateful for when the lab director called to interrupt my paperwork, saying that he had no problems with Sara joining the lab.

I looked around the break room with a huge smile on my face, excited for the day when Sara would be sitting there, as part of my team.