Three months later, Sara had settled into her new job with surprising ease. Nick called her regularly, keeping her ties with Vegas open just enough so that he hoped she would eventually return. As time moved on, Sara too had tried to forget the past. Gil Grissom's name had remained unmentioned, banished from her mind as she forced herself to forget him. But every hour seemed longer than the last, and she couldn't deny the fact that she still loved him, even after all this time.
"Hey Sara," Andrew Dale, Sara's new supervisor called from his office.
Looking up, she offered him a smile. "Yeah?"
"Can I see you for a few minutes please?" he answered, ignoring the sympathetic glances of the three men around the table.
"Yeah, sure." Standing up, Sara was greeted with her colleagues humming the death march, their laughter escaping as she swatted each one in turn. Walking towards the door, she scowled at her three work mates before turning around to follow Andrew into his office.
"Well," he started as soon as they were both seated. "You have been with us for three months now, and our solve rate has doubled."
Sara sat in silence, not sure if she was supposed to reply or not. Her eyes scanned his face, trying to think of something to say, but thankfully, he spoke before she had a chance to speak.
"I have spoken with the director, and he has made his thoughts clear on more than one occasion." Sitting forward, Andrew smiled softly, his blue eyes sinking into hers. "We would hate to lose you and wanted to know if you would consider staying on here permanently."
Sara's smile dropped from her face, and the slow torturing ache inside her began to rise up inside her throat. Could she live with the possibility of never seeing her friends again? Sure, they would keep in touch for a while, but then life would get in the way and they would slowly drift apart. Could she do that? Lifting her eyes to his, she forced another false smile to her lips. "Do I have to answer right away? I.I need to think about this."
"Of course," he smiled. "Take as long as you need."
"But what about Jared? If I stay on here, then what about him?"
"Jared wanted a clean break from here, that's why he volunteered for this exchange. He has made it clear that when he returns, he wants to be transferred to days." Andrew pushed his chair back and stood up to walk around the desk. "I approached your supervisor in Vegas."
Grissom?" she asked, her heart lurching inside her as she thought of him. "What.Um.what did he say?"
"Well," he blushed slightly as he thought of the right words to say. "He accused me of stealing his CSI."
"Yeah," she sighed sadly, knowing that all she would ever be to him was just a CSI. "Sounds like him."
"He also said he doesn't want to lose you from his team and that he would like the opportunity to speak to you first before you make your final decision."
"Oh," she whispered, looking down into her hands to avoid his prying eyes.
"Days have a decomp infested with bugs and stuff," he told her, screwing up his nose as he spoke. "They need an entomologist and I hear he's one of the best."
"He is the best," she told him quietly as she finally looked up to meet his eyes.
"He'll be here in the morning."
Sara's eyes widened in shock, "He.he's coming here?" Looking down at her watch she saw that it was 7 a m. "He's here in a few hours?"
"His flight leaves at 10.30 a m."
"Oh," she nodded, "the same flight I came in on."
"He arrives in Maine around 6pm, and you have tomorrow off." He watched her reaction, his eyes boring into hers, a knowing smile forming on his lips.
"Me?" she gasped. "You want me to.to meet him?"
"Yes, and take him to his hotel."
"But."
"That's settled then," he smiled, pushing himself up from his desk to walk back around to his chair and sit down.
Sara sighed, her heart flipping inside her chest. She hadn't seen or spoken to Grissom in three months and now she had to face him again? Swallowing the lump inside her throat, she stood up from her chair and walked over towards the door. "Did he say anything else? Does he know that I'll be meeting him?"
"No, I didn't tell him that part," he grinned. "Think of how surprised he'll be to see you."
"Oh I very much doubt that," she sighed sadly as she turned the handle to walk out of the door.
"Sara," he called, causing her to face him. "You asked if he said anything else? It's not what he said, it's the way he said it."
Sara watched him for a few moments and nodded slowly, understanding his remark more than anything else in her life. Grissom was coming here to see her and using work as the excuse he needed. With a heavy sigh, she walked out of the door and back towards the break room.
Back in Vegas, Nick and Warrick were in the locker room opening their independent lockers to pull out their jackets.
"So all he said was that he'd be away for a few days?" Nick asked quietly, keeping his voice low in his throat as he leaned in closer towards Warrick.
"Yeah, that's all." Warrick watched his friend carefully, gauging his reaction to his next words. "You know Catherine apologized about the way she treated Sara."
"Yeah I know," Nick nodded, "I still don't get what was going on with her. I know she's never been real open to Sara, but they'd started to get along."
"You know Cath, she had a lot on her mind and she took it out on everyone around her, but she did email Sara and apologize personally." Straightening his jacket, Warrick watched his friend nod silently.
"Sara told me a few days ago, she seemed cool with the whole situation."
"This place isn't the same without her around here, and now Grissom's going awol on us too," Warrick sighed.
"Sounds kinda fishy if you ask me," Nick told him. "I bet he's." His cell phone started ringing at his side and he broke off mid sentence and pulled out his phone to flip it open. "Stokes."
Warrick lifted his bag, watching Nick's face light up into a beaming smile. Stepping closer, he was about to tap his friend's shoulder to let him know he was leaving, but Nick stopped him. "Honey, Warrick's here too, wanna say hello before he leaves?"
Holding out the phone to Warrick, he grinned, mouthing the word Sara before Warrick took the phone from him.
"Hey girl," Warrick spoke, his soulful voice echoing around the locker room. "We miss you, when you coming home?" His smile widened as she said something in return, and laughed aloud with her. "Cool. Listen I have to go, I gotta be somewhere, but I'll talk to you soon okay? Great, see ya." Handing the phone back to Nick, he slapped his shoulder and smiled, his emotion shining clearly in his eyes. Nodding to his friend, he left the locker room in silence, leaving Nick to wonder what she had told him.
"Hey Sar it's me again." Keeping the phone to his ear, he started walking out of the small room and along the corridor.
"Where are you?" she asked, her voice still tingling with laughter.
"I'm going past Greg's lab," he grinned, "Wanna say hi?"
"Do I have to?" she whined playfully. "Okay, just tell him I said hi."
"Okay," he grinned. With the phone still next to his ear, he leaned in towards Greg's doorway. "Hey Greg, Sara says hi."
"Sara?" he gasped, jumping up from his chair to look around only to blush profusely when he realized she was on the phone. "Lemme say hi."
Passing the phone over, Greg took it gratefully and grinned. "Sara, you okay? I miss you, I mean, we miss you."
"Hi Greg. Yeah I miss you guys too."
"Even me?" he drawled, his voice quivering as he spoke.
"I wouldn't say that," she laughed quietly only to replace it with a sigh. "Of course you too you dope."
Greg handed the phone back to Nick, his smile reaching from ear to ear. "She misses me!"
Shaking his head, Nick headed off out of the door and smiled into the phone. "Okay now you've started something, Greg's all misty eyed."
"Really? I wish I was there to see that."
"So, you okay?"
"Yeah.well no, not really. They.they asked me to stay."
"You're kidding me right?" His voice softened as he spoke, trying to stop the shaking inside his body. "What you gonna do?"
"I don't know Nick," she sighed, "Has Grissom said anything about me? Mention me?"
"Only to ask if I'd heard from you."
"Oh."
"Sar what's going on? You're okay aren't you?"
"Yeah I'm fine Nick. I've got to go now," her voice ended on a sigh as she spoke. "Talk to you soon."
"Okay honey," he grinned. "You take care now you hear me?"
"I will, and you too. Bye Nick."
The phone went silent and Nick couldn't help but fear the worst as he made his way over towards his car. Life without Sara? That's something he didn't even want to think about right now.
Sara stared into her phone, her heart aching as she closed her eyes briefly. In a few hours she would have to face Grissom, something that made her heart sing and shake in fear all at the same time. Her wounds were still raw, but she had managed to cope with his absence for all this time. Could she handle seeing him again so soon? Taking a deep breath, she tried to pull herself together, knowing that in just a few hours she would learn the answer for herself.
Grissom wandered around his town house shoving clothes into his bag. When the crime lab in Maine had called, asking him to help out with one of their cases he had said yes without hesitation. Now though, as he tried to control his tempestuous emotions, he realized that this was his only chance to make things right between himself and Sara.
The thought of seeing her again caused his whole body to ache with anticipation. He had longed to call her frequently, his fingers lingering over his address book that contained her new number, one he had learned by heart. He had started to write dozens of letters, but each one had been torn up and discarded, his courage leaving him before he had a chance to send it. He had missed her desperately; enough to know that she belonged here, with him. If only she would be able to forgive him for not accepting her love when she offered it to him. He had been a fool, a stupid fool.
The first week of her absence had torn his heart apart, everything a reminder to him of what he had let go. The second week was even harder, especially when he knew Nick spoke to her regularly and she hadn't called him, once. One month turned into two, and he had started to count down the days until she would return to Las Vegas, return to him. But a few days ago, the third month of her absence, he had received a devastating call that ripped his soul apart. They had asked her to stay. At that moment, everything merged into one powerful entity, stealing the very essence of him to leave him an empty shell of the man he used to be. He couldn't let them take her from him, not when he had left things unresolved between them.
Picking up the book of sonnets that she had returned to him, he ran his fingers tenderly over the cover. He could almost feel her presence leaping out of the book to caress him, her smile warming his heart even now. Placing the book into his bag, he zipped it closed and looked around the room for anything else he might need to take with him on this momentous journey.
TBC
