Chapter Five: Trust

Standing at her door, Sara leaned the box she was holding against the hinge with her hip so she could get her key into the locks.

"Shit." She cursed, grasping the keys again so they didn't slip from her sweaty hands.

The box was resting on her hip and each movement she made to unlock the door, the box moved.

"Damnit." She chuckled to herself as she sighed and placed the box on the floor. She could easily unlock the door and push it open.

Grabbing the box from the floor, she lifted it and carried it inside before returning to the door and closing it. Before she could get it closed, she felt a weight on the hardwood, stopping her from closing it. The weight accompanied a knock, making her jump.

"Yeah?"

"Need some help?" The all too familiar voice offered.

Sighing, she pulled the door open and stared at her boss. "Bit late for that."

He shrugged. "Well, you just put the box down before I got to the top of the steps." He smirked and shrugged his shoulders again.

"And you're here, why?" She asked, their confrontation from the past few days still in her system.

"I was hoping you were free for a drink."

Sara looked down and let out a short puff of air. "After what has happened, you really think I'd go anywhere with you?"

"I'd like to start over."

"Go away Grissom." She sighed.

He stepped back onto the landing. "I only want to make things right Sara."

She nodded. "And you did."

"No, I messed up. I made a fool out of us both and I want to make it up to you."

"We've said all we had to. None of it made sense and it only made things worse. We can't fix this Grissom, face it."

"I'm trying to fix it. Fix us."

Sara shook her head slowly, looking at him with a furrowed brow. "According to you, you want Catherine, you love Catherine and you miss Catherine. I'm not Catherine and never will be."

He sighed. "Sara, I know. And I'm trying. I've thought long and hard and I need to get on with my life. I've been blind long enough. Sara please, let me get our friendship back."

She watched him and scrutinised him until he started to shift uncomfortably. "No." She moved back and slammed the door, throwing the deadbolt and sliding on the chain.

It was quiet for a long time and as she moved away, she heard his voice shout through the door.

"I Will Sara! I Won't Give Up!" There was a pause before he continued, his voice sounding very close to the door. "I want you in my life."

~*~

Sara carefully collapsed the box that held her new VCR, and grabbed the trash bag on the way to the door. For some reason, she felt watched. It was a common feeling on a dark night, but this feeling had been following her for the past few days.

Jumping at the sound of something falling over in the shadows, she cursed herself when she noticed one of the neighbour's cats chasing a mouse across the courtyard. "Stupid animal." She sighed, walking down the steps to the ally that led to the large bins.

As she was closing the gate, she heard footsteps coming from the front of the apartment complex, but gave no second thought as it was, most like, another neighbour.

Walking up the steps to the first floor, Sara bent down and stood a fallen milk bottle up against the wall. She was about to stand when she felt her head connect with the wall like she had been pushed from behind.

A struggle ensued and as Sara soon realised that she was sitting on the ground, watching a fight going on behind her. Then it suddenly stopped.

"Grissom?"

Breathing heavily, he stumbled forward and sank to the floor in front of her. "Hey."

Shaking the fog from her eyes, she looked behind his head and saw a dark figure running down the steps and off into the alley where she'd just come from. The sound of the gate was the only sound that followed rapid running footsteps.

Turning her attention back to the man in front of her, she sighed. "I'm seriously considering getting a restraining order on you." She groaned as she reached up and felt the top of her head.

Grissom, still catching his breath, shook his head slowly. "Good thing I'm following you or that sicko could have done some real damage." Leaning forward, he cupped her face with one hand and took her hand with the other. "Let me see." He asked gently, moving onto his knees to use the landings lamps to inspect her injuries.

Sara sat there tiredly and sighed. "Is it just a scratch?" She inquired, moving her head to see his face.

He nodded. "Little bump, but you're just fine." He sat back before moving to stand. "Come on, let's get you up."

Taking his offered hands, she stood. "Thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome." He smirked, tilting his head down slightly, giving a shy look.

"I'm still thinking of that restraining order." She warned him, turning to open her apartment door.

"I'm only watching out for you."

Sara sighed patiently. "Grissom, you're following me like a stalker. Haven't you got anything better to do?"

He shook his head. "No."

Turning slightly, she looked at him as he moved forward and her living room lights shone on his face. "Come in then. You can wash your face and hands before going."

"Thanks."

Leaning against the breakfast island, Sara waited for Grissom to finish up in the bathroom. And soon enough, he was out and wandering into the room with a tired look on his face, covered in tiny scratches.

"Come here and sit down." She ordered, pulling out a stool for him to sit on.

As he sat down and propped his feet on the horizontal pipes separating the legs close to the floor, Sara turned to him with a wad of cotton wool and a bottle of medical first-aid alcohol. Dampening the wool, she looked at him. Not bothering to say anything, she stepped a small step closer and gripped his chin in one hand as she applied the alcohol to the tiny cuts, without much tenderness as you can imagine.

"Ouch." He hissed, pulling back slightly. "It hurts." Stating the obviously, his eyes locked onto hers, watching them closely.

"Good. Now stop moving." She replied evenly, giving no care to her words or her first-aid skills.

Watching her get a clean wad of wool, he sighed and closed his eyes briefly.

"Aren't you supposed to be working?" Sara spoke, startling him.

Nodding, he drew in a sharp breath as she wiped the wet wool along another cut. "I took a break." He groaned, pulling slightly back from her reach as the sting stuck around a little longer.

"Well," She started. "You're all done." She dropped the used wool onto the unit and attempted to step back.

Grissom reached out and grasped her hips, hooking his fingers into her belt loops. "Sara, are you going to the police?"

"I'm thinking about it. You're behaviour is starting to freak me out." She informed him, gripping his forearms to push them away.

"No, about the assault." He pulled her closer and dipped his head to see her face and watch her eyes.

"Did you see his face?" She asked, looking up questioningly.

"No." He sighed, shaking his head. "I didn't really touch him either. Just grabbed him and pushed him away from you."

Sara nodded and peered closely at his face, eyeing the scratches. "Those look like floor scuff marks, not nail indentations, so, no DNA."

"Yeah, he jumped on me and pushed me against the wall. That's about it before he ran."

"Yeah."

"I think you should still report it to the landlord so he can get the police to look into it." Grissom suggested.

"I'll do that." She finally gave up pushing on his arms and looked at the clock on her kitchen wall. "You should get back to work."

"I will. There's plenty of time."

"There won't be if you don't go now." She told him.

Grissom shrugged. "I'm only interested in you at the moment. Not the lab."

"You can't keep doing this Grissom." She groaned miserably. "What else do you want me to say?"

Taking a moment to think, he released her and let his hands rest lightly on her waist. "Can you forgive me?" He asked, staring at her stomach before his eyes drifted up to her face. "I've been so stupid." He confessed. "I really want to put things right, like they were 3 years ago."

Sara sighed sadly. "You can't erase the past Griss, it's fixed." She closed her eyes briefly, thinking of a way to express what she was currently feeling, but came up with nothing but what she was feeling right now. "I'm SO, angry, with YOU." She cried passionately, opening her eyes to look at him with sorrow and pain.

"Let me take that anger away." He stressed, his voice crackling with emotion.

Shaking her head, she looked down. "You make me so angry, that I feel I can hate you." She found his eyes quickly when he leaned back. "After all that's happened, I can't help that feeling."

"I'm sorry." He pleaded with her to believe him, his face drained white with fear. "I'm so sorry."

"How can I trust you with anything, Griss? My heart isn't up for more emotional beatings. All I feel is sadness, hate and hurt. Betrayed by something that was never there, but it still hurts, ya know?" She whispered softly, tearfully.

He nodded slowly, pulling her closer to him as he stood up to hold her. "Can I try?" He begged, wrapping his arms around her shaking body. "Can I work for your trust and show you I feel the same, even after all I've done, can you let me do that?"

Sara breathed out shakily, giving in to lean her cheek against his shoulder and hug him back for the briefest of seconds, just to feel him once.

Stepping away, she nodded, giving him his answers in one motion.

Drawing in an unsteady breath, she wiped her tears away. "You better go."

Grissom stepped forward and touched her cheek lightly. "One chance, that's all I'm asking for."

"Ok. Now go." She pushed him towards the door, not watching him leave.

~*~

Grissom glanced around the crime scene for the last time before crouching down to his field kit. He pulled out his gloves and placed them into an evidence bag with two other pairs.

"Get hold of Nick so he can start questioning the neighbours." He looked up at Warrick as he placed the bottle of luminol into his kit.

"Sure Griss." Warrick reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "What about Greg, you want me to get him in on this?"

Grissom nodded as he closed his kit. "Just make sure he doesn't collect evidence and that you or Nick is with him at all times."

"Cool."

"Hey, Gil!" Jim Brass called from his unmarked police car.

Turning on his haunches, Grissom looked over at the detective. "Yeah?"

"The vics wife was just pulled over for a busted taillight. She's been taken to the station."

"Ok. I'm done here."

~*~

Surprisingly enough, things did go back to normal for a few days. Everyone was dedicated to their work like always and suspects came and went with each new and old case. Grissom had taken to working slower than he had over the past few months, taking his time to think about things. Nick and Warrick started competing against each other again on the games console in the break room, while Greg worked in his lab and studied forensics on his break. He was determined more than ever to become a CSI.

Sara's first night back in a week was busy. Working on the same case Grissom and Warrick were working on days before. Nick went solo on a floater and was still out gathering evidence and suspects. So far, it was looking like an accident, but he had to be thorough.

~*~

Warrick ran the red light over the clothes of the victim again, getting the same results, nada. "Oh man, this really sucks. Don't tell me we've run into a wall after days of running with evidence." He crooned disbelievingly.

"Greg's still replicating that blood you found on the wall." Sara informed him as she flipped a page on her clipboard, scanning the information before her eyes.

"Yeah, that was like 3 days ago." Warrick sighed, packing up the equipment he'd been using.

Sara rolled her shoulders and neck to release some of the tension. "Guess he's backed up."

Warrick looked down at his pager as it beeped. "Yes!" He grinned, removing his gloves. "Be right back."

"Sure." Sara didn't look up from her reading and dropped her shoulders slightly. She breathed out a heavy sigh and tapped her pencil on the edge of the table.

"Hey." Grissom greeted as he entered the room.

Sara jumped, dropping her pencil to the table. "Hey, you get anything on the wife?"

Grissom shook his head and moved around the table towards her. "Not yet. Brass said that she has an alibi and that she was no where near the house at the time of the murder."

"You'd think she'd be upset that her husband was dead." Sara thought aloud as she returned to her reading.

He nodded in agreement as he moved around her. "You got anything?"

Shaking her head, she looked at him. "Other than in and outgoing calls and mail received, I can't find a bad word against the vic."

Grissom shrugged. "Doesn't matter anyway." He looked down at the table.

"The sheriff said to let it go, right?" She asked.

"He says that the wife is well protected. And I heard from sources, that anyone she knows will lie for her. That doesn't leave us with much to go on."

"Unless Greg has something for us." Sara looked at her watch.

"You," Grissom hesitated for only a second. "You want to get breakfast after shift?" He looked from the evidence on the table to her expressionless face. "Only, if you want." He watched and waited for an answer.

Sara broke away from his eyes and looked out at the corridor. It was empty, and though the sounds of the lab didn't seize, it was still quiet.

"We don't have to." He sighed.

"I guess it would be ok," She relented, then added. "And I'm kinda hungry."

Grissom nodded and gave her a small smile. "I'll meet you out front after shift."

TBC