Disclaimer: As much as I'd like to, I don't own any of these characters.

Note: Well, I said that last chapter would be the longest, but once again I manage to out-do myself. Please R&R! I really appreciate it, and I'd love to see who's reading it!

Chapter Four

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"Sara?" called Nick as he walked the halls of CSI. He walked into Greg's lab and peered in, "hey Greg. Have you seen Sara anywhere?"

"Nah, I haven't," said Greg, his hair stuck up in its usual crazy way, "why, can't you find her?"

"I saw her car in the parking lot, but she's not anywhere."

"Weird," replied Greg. Nick sat down on one of the lab stools near Greg.

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to her about some DNA we found in the suspects car," said Nick, looking out the windows of the lab, still searching for Sara, "she's usually here like, one hour before the shift starts, and I thought that we could start early, but I guess we can't now."

"Hey, there's Catherine, maybe she's seen Sara," Greg said, pointing towards Catherine as she walked down the hall. Nick sprung up, and ran after Catherine, yelling thanks to Greg as he sped through the door.

"Hey, Cat, wait up," yelled Nick as he chased her down the hall

"Nicky boy, what can I do for you?" asked Catherine

"I was wondering if you've seen Sara tonight," Nick said, puffing slightly trying to catch his breath

"No I haven't. Why? Isn't she here?" Nick nodded. "That's strange. She's usually so punctual. Early even." They walked towards the break room, and Catherine spotted Warrick looking out the window, drinking a cup of coffee

"Hey, Warrick," said Catherine as she walked up to him, and placed her hand on his shoulder, following his gaze out the window, "Have you seen Sara?"

"Nah, I haven't," Warrick replied looking at Catherine. He took another sip of coffee and looked out the window.

"Hey, that's Grissom isn't it?" said Catherine, pointing, as she, Nick and Warrick saw Grissom's car pull up to the CSI parking lot.

"Yeah," replied Nick and Warrick at the same time.

"Looks like there's someone else in the car with him," stated Catherine

"Isn't that. no, it couldn't be. Sara?!?!" said Nick, startled by the sight of Sara climbing out of Grissom's car

"She doesn't look too happy, man," said Warrick, "lucky I'm not working with her," he joked to Nick.

'Hmm,' thought Nick, 'I know exactly what to do.' "Be right back!" he yelled at Cath and Warrick as he jumped out of his chair and ran down the hall

- - - - - - - - - -

As Sara stepped out of Grissom's car the next night, she secretly prayed to herself that none of her work colleagues saw her. She looked over at Grissom. He looked like he was doing the same thing. Sara then looked up to the windows above the parking lot, and saw Nick, Warrick and Catherine looking down at them with stunned expressions. 'Damn,' thought Sara, 'maybe I can just hide in my car all day.'

"Coming?" said Grissom to Sara as he walked towards the lab doors. She had paused at the door of his car, looking hesitant and unsure.

"Oh, yeah, sure," replied Sara with a false assurance. She walked over to the lab with him, her bag in her hand. "Actually, I might just put this in my car first, and then I'll be right in, ok?" she gave him a weak smile. They had hardly talked after the shower incident. Grissom was convinced that Sara was mad at him, and Sara was upset about having let her guard down. Ever since Grissom's refusal she had built her walls even taller, only to let them crumble to the ground at the worst time possible. 'Well, I'm at work now, so I can hide from him all I like,' Sara thought to herself. She lifted up her bag and tossed it into her car boot with a large sigh.

"Rough day?" Sara turned around with a jump, startled to hear an unexpected voice coming from behind her

"Greg!" yelled Sara. He was standing behind her with a cigarette lighter and an old rag with a false compassionate expression on his face, pretending to be a bartender. She smiled. Greg always had a way to lift people's spirits by making them smile at inappropriate moments in the day. She turned back around to her car and shut the boot. "Now Sara, it's not just my psychic abilities that's telling me something's wrong," Greg joked, placing his arm around her shoulders as they began to walk towards the lab. Sara smiled at him, and removed his arm.

"Listen, Greg, I appreciate your concern and everything, but I'm fine. I'm over it, and I don't want to talk about it."

"Sara," Greg said, stopping and turning around to face her, "I'm just warning you, but you're gonna have to come up with a better excuse than that before you go in there." He motioned towards the lab. "Everyone saw you get out of Grissom's car." Sara could see Greg's concern. "Now, is it gonna be me or you who tells the world about your sex-capades with Grissom?!?!" he joked.

"Greg!" Sara yelled for the second time that day, gently shoving him in the arm, laughing at the goofy lab-rat. They walked into the lab, and Sara signed in.

"Hey Sara," said Nick as he approached her. He was uncertain of weather or not Greg had done his job and cheered her up

"Hey Nick," Sara replied. She appeared not to be in a bad mood - Nicky's idea had worked, and Greg had had cheered her up. He put his hand on Greg's shoulder, and whispered a small token of thanks to the lab-rat. He nodded in response.

"So-" Nick was suddenly interrupted by Sara

"Nicky, if you're going to ask me why I was getting out of Grissom's car this morning it was because I was looking for a place to stay and he offered his townhouse, so I accepted." They were now outside the break room and walked in. Catherine and Warrick were in there, drinking coffee. They greeted Sara as Nick sat down on the couch.

"Sara-" Catherine said. Like Nick, she was also interrupted

"Cat, I know what you're going to ask, and it's what the rest of you are thinking," Sara went over to the coffee percolator and poured herself a cup, "I just stayed the night at Grissom's because I couldn't find anywhere else to stay." She moved over to the couch and sat beside Nick.

"Don't worry Sara, we believe you," Catherine said with a sparkle in her eye, and a sarcastic tone in her voice

"I'm telling the truth!" Sara half yelled, smiling

"Oh yeah. I'm sure," Nick retorted back to Sara, also with a large smile on his face

"I'm going to kill you Nick Stokes!" yelled Sara, jumping on top of Nick, tickling his sides.

"All right, you two." Grissom had appeared at the doorway, and was clearly not impressed by the two CSI's behaviour

"Sorry, Grissom," Nick said, pushing Sara off him. Sara sat back down on the couch, still smiling and laughing slightly as she flattened out her hair.

"Alright, as you all know, Cath and Warrick will be continuing on their case, and Sara, Nick, we'll be going out to a D.B. in the desert." This got Sara's full attention

"But I thought that Nick and I would be continuing on our original case?"

"Day shift's got it." Grissom replied, looking down at his notes

"But we've spent so much time on it -"

"Sara," Grissom said sternly, "Eckly wanted it, so I let him have it."

"But -" this time it was Nick's turn to butt in. He was not happy either. Grissom cleared his throat and the subject was quickly dropped. However the CSI's remained seated in the breakroom.

"You can go now," he said, irritated by having to give permission to his team to leave. None of them were happy with his decision to pass over the case, and they all reluctantly got out of their chairs and walked out of the room. Grissom sighed. It wasn't his fault. The sheriff had placed so much pressure on him to pass the case over he couldn't refuse. If only the others could understand. Suddenly, he felt a hand gently touch him on the shoulder. He spun around violently, only to come face to face with Sara. She looked surprised by his sudden action

"You coming?" she asked

"Oh, of course," Grissom replied.

"Nick and I will take a car, and we'll meet you at the scene, ok?"

"Sure," Grissom said with a small smile he secretly reserved for Sara. She turned her back and began to walk down the hall

"Hey, Griss," she yelled, turning around to face the man with a large smile on her face, "promise we won't touch anything before you get there." He smiled at her, this time a full smile, and watched her walk down the hall towards the doors.

'Life is improving,' Grissom thought as he turned his keys in the ignition, and sped off to the crime scene.

- - - - - - - - - -

They had worked hard at the crime scene all night, meticulously collecting and documenting evidence. It was always hard to work in the desert, as it was not a confined space and evidence was everywhere, but Sara found the cool air refreshing and helped her to concentrate. It also cooled her flush when Grissom stood too close to her, or brushed her arm with his. Driving back from the scene she joked with Nick, and talked about possible murder scenarios. She and Nicky got on like siblings, and she loved it. Then the thought hit her. Where would she stay tonight? She had already outstayed her invitation at pretty much everyone's places, and some she didn't necessarily want to go back to. A hotel would be all right, if only they weren't so dirty. This thought kept her occupied all the way back to the lab, all the way through the processing of some evidence, and finally to Grissoms doorframe. She had stood there many times in the past right before going home but it had always been an active decision of hers to go there. This time, however it was different. It was as if she was pulled there, her body remembering the familiar steps to his door. She remembered the last time she stood there, when she asked Grissom out to dinner. The hurt afterwards was unbearable, however she had reassured herself many times that she had moved on. 'Or have I?' she asked herself for the first time in weeks.

"Sara?" Grissom said, staring at her. She had been standing at his doorway for some time now, and he was unsure of weather or not he should say anything. She jumped in surprise. "Can I help you?" Sara looked uncertain for one second, and then quickly changed her body language walked into his office.

'I haven't done this in a while, either' Sara thought to her self as she sat down on the chair opposite him. This move to his chair surprised Grissom, and also herself.

"Um, yeah," she said looking down at her hands, and then up at Grissom, "You, see I still haven't found anywhere to stay yet and I was wondering." she trailed off, slightly embarrassed. Grissom smiled

"If you're asking if you can stay at my place again, you're always welcome," This brought a smile to Sara's face, "you should know that by now," he added softly.

"Thankyou," Sara said, quickly standing up, pleased, "this makes it all so much easier."

"Well, I'm glad that I can help you," Grissom said, removing his glasses and looking at Sara. She smiled at him and got out of the chair. She began to walk towards the door when all of a sudden she turned around

"Hey Griss," she said, "you can take the bed this time, since I'm trespassing on your property and all."

"We'll talk about that when we get back to my place, ok?" Grissom said, still smiling at Sara as she once again headed for the door.

- - - - - - - - - -

As Sara drove through the busy streets of Vegas on the way back to Grissom's place, she remembered the conversation they had had before she left. Grissom still had piles and piles of paperwork to complete, and therefore couldn't leave for some time. Because of this he had given her his key, and told her to go "home". Sara sighed as she remembered how he had said it. Home. Such a simple word, but the way he said it, it just sounded so right. Home. Home was where he lived. Home was where she lived. Home was where people lived together, ate together, slept together, raised children together. 'Ok Sidle,' Sara said to herself as she pulled up to a traffic light, 'now you're taking this too far'

~ ~ ~

"Sara, I'm still going to be a while," he said to her as she sat in the breakroom watching television

"It's fine, I'll just wait here," she replied back to him, not moving her gaze from the tv screen.

'Whatever's on must be fascinating' Grissom thought to himself "Here," he said, burrowing around in his pocket, "take my key and go home." Sara looked at his hands fumbling with the key ring, trying to remove his house key.

'He's so cute when he fumbles,' Sara thought. "Oh, give it here," she said, hastily grabbing the key ring from his hands. He watched as she expertly removed the key from the ring. "I'll see you soon then," Sara stood up and walked towards the door.

"You too," he replied as he once again watched her walk down the halls towards the door.

~ ~ ~

She turned at the traffic lights into his street and pulled up outside his house. As she got out of her car and walked over to the boot of the car, she breathed in the warm air. 'God I'll be glad for air conditioning,' Sara thought as she removed her bag from her boot and walked up the stairs to his townhouse. She unlocked the door and stepped into the darkness. Flicking on the light she walked over to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. Sara then sat down on Grissom's couch and looked around his lounge room. She could see that he had a new TV, a DVD player, several cases of bugs on the walls and a bookshelf full of books. She got up and walked over so that she could observe his books closely. "Hmm, just like mine," she said as she observed his forensics books and magazines. She moved over to his CD's and noted that they were mainly classical music. 'I don't know much about classical music' Sara thought to herself. She suddenly realised how tired she had become. Driving had kept her awake and alert, however as soon as she stepped out of the car, she became drowsy. Sara reasoned with herself and decided that keeping active was the best way to stay awake until Grissom came home. Home. There was that word again. 'Keeping busy will also keep that out of my mind' Sara thought as she walked over to his spare room and opened the door. As she observed the piles and piles of case files in front of her, Sara smiled at the thought of giving Grissom a big surprise.

TO BE CONTINUED.