Disclaimer, header etc. in part 1.

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With Dreams Untold (2/7)
by Eve (little_grey_woman42@yahoo.de)

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Nobody seemed to be surprised to see him at work although he wasn't supposed to show until the day after tomorrow. But he was too preoccupied with other things to really wonder about it. As he slowly walked towards the lab still not knowing what case Nick had spoken about, he was trying to fight the dizziness that still hadn't left him completely. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his vision but winced simultaneously at the pain that accompanied the sudden jerky motion.

The walk took him much longer than usual and he breathed a sigh of relief when he finally stood in front of the door to Greg's sanctuary. He was just about to open it when he spotted him and Sara through the small window-pane and froze right in his tracks.

Greg, wearing one of his most hideous shirts underneath his white lab coat and sporting something that could barely be described with the words "new haircut", was smiling happily and seemed to be completely at ease. Sara stood directly behind him, one hand on his shoulder, leaning slightly towards him, looking intently at the screen. Grissom felt a slight pang of something he didn't want to recognise and quickly pushed it away.

But then he frowned. There was something about the scene before him ... Grissom watched Greg point at something on the monitor, saw him make a remark too quiet for him to catch through the closed door.

But he did catch her reaction - carefree, bright and content laughter.

Sara was laughing. Not timidly smiling, or sarcastically grinning but laughing.

That was when he looked at her, *really* looked at her, and noticed that something was different.

She looked happier and ... young. So young.

The telltale circles underneath her eyes, the haughty look that she'd acquired some weeks ago on one of their more gruesome cases and that just wouldn't go away, both results of too much overtime and a job that was eating her up, were gone. She appeared to be healthier, more alive than he believed she had looked since he had first met her so many years ago.

He wondered what might have happened that had such an impact on her life, that resulted in such a change.

And how something like that happened right before his eyes without him realising it.

Was he so out of touch with her that he really hadn't noticed?

It couldn't possibly have happened during the few days he'd been gone, could it?

Grissom was aware that over the course of the last few weeks he'd slowly but surely withdrawn himself more and more from the cases they were working on, and finally even took a few days off to see if the members of his team were ready to work completely on their own.

He didn't know whether the surgery would help and if not, he wasn't planning on coming back.

So not knowing how much longer he'd be able to do his job, he'd decided that the least he could do was to make sure that he wouldn't be missed when he had to resign.

But when his gaze focused on the small window again he wondered whether he really would be able to just turn his back on his team and walk away.

From a team that had grown into a kind of family despite his resistance.

And from Sara, who almost seemed to radiate, to glow as if something, somebody had switched on a light in her.

He turned his attention back towards the two people behind the door. Again he was overcome with a feeling of unease, with something he couldn't place. Grissom saw how Greg faced her, saw the way she smiled back at him and realised how close she was standing to him, her hand still on his shoulder.

And right then he noticed something else.

'No. It can't be.'

Totally taken aback and completely confused he unconsciously took a step back. He turned around and before he realised what he was doing he walked hastily down the hallway, all the time staying close to the wall to steady himself, not caring where his steps would carry him.

But no matter how much distance he tried to put between himself and the lab, he still wasn't able to get the haunting image out of his head - Sara's hand on Greg's shoulder, a golden wedding band on her finger softly twinkling in the harsh artificial light.

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