Chapter 9

Sara strapped Molly into her seat and turned to Grissom. He smiled as he leaned against the open door. "Do you have time to go shopping?" She asked.

Grissom sighed and shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, I've been called in. Brass is meeting me at a down town bar. DB, brawl we think, but you never know."

"Ok." Sara moved to the side and let him step up to Molly.

"You be good Moll's." He whispered kissing her check. Molly smiled and turned to rest her head on the side of her car seat. "Sleepy." He grinned. Turning to Sara, he smiled. "She'll sleep for a while. Why don't you come over tonight for dinner?"

Sara tilted her head to one side as she contemplated her answer. "What about Molly?"

Grissom approached her slowly and pulled her into a hug. "Ask Catherine. She's got tonight off."

Confusion crossed her face. "Who's working if we all have tonight off?" Re- thinking that, Sara sighed. "I don't have tonight off if I'm back at work."

Holding her tightly, he dipped his head to her neck and smiled. "We're both on call, but dinner won't take long and Warrick and Nick are at the lab. Catherine's got the whole night and morning off, so Molly can stay with her. She won't mind." Sara's head moved back slightly to accommodate his assault of tiny kisses along her neck and up her throat.

"Just dinner?" Sara moaned and found his eyes as she lowered her head.

Grissom scanned her face and landed on her lips. "And dessert." He whispered against her lips before kissing her lovingly.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Catherine sat on the couch after putting Molly to bed. Lindsey was also in bed early for school the next morning. With a glass of wine in one hand and her telephone in the other, she smiled at the callers voice. "It could be Nick."

"Why don't they talk to us?" He asked.

"They are both very private Nicky. If they were seeing each other, then it's just the beginning." She explained.

Nick sighed. "It's all thanks to Molly you know?"

Catherine nodded and smiled. "Yes it is and I'm glad she came into their life's otherwise they would still be arguing and avoiding each other. I just wish I wasn't so hard on her after Eddie died."

"It's something Sara doesn't hold, grudges. She's your friend if you want her to be and even then, she'll be there if your not. She's a good person." Nick assured.

"So I've been told." Catherine laughed.

Nick chuckled. "Grissom talking to you about her?"

Catherine drank some wine and sighed. "No. He got angry when I bad mouthed her." Hearing the sigh on the other end, Catherine groaned. "I know Nick. I was angry and Grissom was suddenly on her side."

"It's not a question of sides Cath. Sara and Grissom have been joined at the hip since they met, you know that and even when they weren't talking, they were still inseparable." Nick explained evenly. "Look, Grissom and Sara may not show their feelings openly, but we've all seen how they act around each other, they just haven't figured out what to do about it."

"Until recently." Catherine smiled. "I apologised to both Sara and Grissom, so we are just friends now, no enemies. Any way, how did we start talking about social inept couple?"

Nick broke out with laughter. "You mentioned Molly and it went from there Cath. How much wine have you drank?" Catherine raised her brows and stared at the empty bottle and the quarter empty bottle on the table and grinned.

********

Grissom pushed his plate into the middle of the table and sat back to watch Sara do the same. She took a sip of water and smiled across at him. "I didn't know you could cook."

"Ah well, there's a lot you don't know about me." He quipped.

Sara nodded. "That is true." She leaned her elbows on the table with her glass in both her hands. "You don't that much about me either." She reminded.

"That can change." He said seriously.

Watching him carefully, Sara put her glass down and cocked her head to one side. "What made you change your mind after all this time?" She asked.

Grissom didn't blink for a long time, shocked at the question. His eyes dropped from hers and after an awkward silence, he pushed away from the table and collected up the plates. Sara followed with her now empty glass. Placing the dishes into the sink, Grissom turned the tap on. Sara reached around him and placed her glass in the soapy water, brushing her hip with his as she leaned over and turned the tap off.

As he washed up, Sara leaned back against the counter behind him and watched as he stacked the plates on the dish rack. Her eyes wondered over his body suddenly. His hair, his neck, his shoulders, his back, his waist, his ass. Sara smiled when she realised she was checking him out. When the silence continued, the smile slowly left her face. Turning and walking into the hall. She pulled on her coat.

"Where are you going?" Grissom asked suddenly appearing in the hallway.

Sara zipped her coat up and walked to the door. "I think I should go." Grissom didn't move to stop her as she opened the door and walked out. His eye dropped to the floor as his body slumped against the wall.

"SHIT SHIT SHIT." He cursed loudly and slammed the door shut."

Sara just closed her car door when she heard his door slam. Turning the engine on, she sighed sadly. 'Back to square one.' She thought and let a single tear roll down her cheek.

********

Chapter 10

Two weeks later and the lab was more than busy with day shift mingling with the night shift. Catherine was working with Nick on a double homicide and at this point were waiting in the break room for the DNA results, but Greg was taking forever. Warrick and Grissom were working on a casino robbery and were now sat in ballistics waiting for the bullets. Sara was still in the field, working another solo on a single homicide on the other side of the city.

Nick turned to Catherine suddenly as Grissom and Warrick walked from ballistics to layout room 1. "Where's Sara?"

Catherine shrugged. "Still out I think."

"This isn't good." Nick exclaimed.

"I know." Catherine agreed.

********

Sara crouched down over the area where the body was for the hundredth time and sighed. "I would love a coffee and something to eat right now. This is driving me insane."

"Why don't you take a break Sara?"

She looked up and scowled. "What? And let the boss have another go. I don't think so Brass."

Brass leaned against his car and crossed his arms over his chest. "Did I tell you he assigned me to personally look after you?"

Sara glared at him. "To be honest. I don't give a shit what he does." Brass looked at her, surprised by her language. "He doesn't need to send babysitters." Sara dropped her shoulders and sighed. "No offence Brass. It's just."

"It's ok Sara." He assured. "I'd be pissed if my boss kept biting my head off for the loosest things."

Picking up some fibres from the grass and collecting blood samples, Sara stopped and rubbed her hand over the back of her neck. "Gunshot to the chest. Blood and fibres on the ground and on the vic. Preps blood on the ground, but not the vic I'm guessing, different colour and blood spatter." She clarified at Brass's questioning eyes. He nodded and continued to watched as she pack up the evidence.

"How's Molly?" Brass asked suddenly.

Sara stopped working for a fraction of a second, but recovered and stood up straight. After packing her case up, she looked around the crime scene and nodded. "Let's go." She said ignoring his question completely. Brass just agreed and drove back to the lab.

********

Warrick walked into the break room and filled two cups with coffee. Just as he was leaving, Sara stopped in the doorway. She looked down and took a cup. "Thanks War." She gave him a small smile and continued to walk towards trace.

"That's Grissom's." He shouted after her.

Nick stopped in the hallway and watched Warrick turn back and filled another cup. "What's up with Grissom?"

Warrick shook his head and headed back to the layout room. "I'm not sure. He's not talking much."

"Yeah. The only person he is talking to is Sara and then its above the normal human speech decibel." Nick said. Warrick nodded and walked off.

********

Finishing her sixth cup of coffee, Sara finished signing the last report and pushed it into the folder. Nick stopped when he saw her drop her head into her hands. Walking into the room, he picked up the file and placed it on top of his pile. "I'll take this Sara. You go home."

Sara looked up and sighed. "Thanks Nick."

As he turned, he said. "Say hi to Molly for me."

She looked down at the table and stared at the whiteness for a long few minutes. After collecting her coat, she climbed into her car and headed home.

********

Nick opened the door to his bosses office and walked in. He dropped the files onto his desk and then turned to the door. "Sara's file is there."

Grissom looked up. "Nick."

"Yeah." Nick turned back at the door.

"Has she gone home?" Nick shrugged. "I needed her to sign some forms from last weeks cases. She hasn't come by in two days." Grissom said pulling out a file with the unsigned forms. "Could you give them to her?"

Nick shook his head. "Nope, sorry. Too busy. You could always do it yourself." With that, Nick turned and continued towards the locker room.

Grissom starred at he empty doorway and sighed. 'He's blown it, good and proper' He thought angrily and let the file in his hand drop to his desk. He picked up his pen and got back to his paperwork.

********

The next night was like the other nights for the past two weeks. Tension filled. Catherine and Nick looked at each other and pointed to one another. "Your turn Nicky." Catherine said sternly.

"Fine." He muttered and ran out the door towards Grissom's office. He stopped in the doorway and watched for a few seconds.

"You do it." Sara shouted.

Grissom stood up and shouted back. "Your case Sara."

"Really? With all the people you keep babysitting me, it's not my case. It's yours. You take it. I'm done." Sara slammed the file hard on his desk and growled. "I'm taking a break."

Nick pushed Sara out of the room when Grissom round his desk and stood face to face with her. "Grissom calm down." He said firmly.

"Move Nick." Grissom took another step, but Nick didn't move.

"Chill out. She's done and so are you. Argument over. Wait until next shift for another shouting match. LET IT ALONE." He stated without backing down.

Grissom pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes roughly. "Leave Nick, please." He asked at the end of his tether.

Nick nodded. "Sure."

********