Thank you to all those who were kind enough to review the first part of this story, I so love to read (and yes, repetitively re-read) them. Hope you like this second bit! I wrote one with a sad ending too, but I decided it was to harsh. They are the same right up to the end, so the bulk of it is here, but if you want to see the other version, let me know. There are no spoilers, but a few lines that you should recognize if you've seen the episodes, like a bonus or something. = )

The Last

It was dark here, it was. Red, like the color of blood, in a barely lit room. It swirled, and it shown, and it wrapped her up. Made her dizzy.

dizzy

and fizzy

and soft

like champagne

Sara wondered if she would ever leave this dizzy place. In this world without substance, she had little to do but think, but her thoughts were slow, sliding through her head like honey. But in her now slow way, she thought of him.

He hadn't won

But she had lost

He had been the last to speak her name.

She remembered the edge in his voice. Impatient, like he always was with her these days. Disclaiming responsibility for hurting her. She could hear her own voice.

"That's a stupid reason."

The red swirled with greater intensity, as feelings of hurt, and honestly rage worked their way through, slowly. He hadn't had anything to say. Nothing for her. She wondered how she could have lost, when she had wanted it so badly. When she had prayed so hard. How it hurt to have lost, when he hadn't even won. Didn't even realize there was a prize. Didn't even realize there was a cost. Didn't see the honor in being last.

In this case, the last was the first. Her first thought after the world flipped, her last before the world turned red as blood in the dark.

He had been the last to speak her name.

"Sara? What do you need?"

"You have to come."

"Sara?"

"Sara!"

Sara. That was her name. It went with a world and a time and a place.

Damn Grissom and all his stupid reasons. Damn him and all the times she caught him looking. All the times he stood to close, or touched her arm to make a point, when there was no reason to touch her, and she knew it was just because he could help it. Damn him for saying things to give her hope.

"Since I met you."

Damn him anyway.

He wasn't here anymore. Wasn't apart of the dizzy fizzy world. And Sara liked this place. It was quiet, and soft. Sometimes he seemed so close though, like he was almost there. She knew it was only Ôcause she was thinking of him. Only because she loved him, and she was tired of being alone. Only her desires that made him seem so present. Sometimes she thought she heard him, chanting her name. Sara, Sara, Sara, Sara, Sara-

"Sara?"

See there he was again. Like she could reach out and touch him.

"Sara? Can you hear me? We miss you."

The red swirled, and streams of light and blue streaked through.

" I miss you."

Sara clung to her new world. It shown, and wrapped her up in peace.

"We're all waiting for you to come back."

But she turned away. To answer meant to pay a price. Damn him. Didn't he know he didn't win? Didn't he know she had lost? Didn't he realize it was an honor? To be the last.

"Sara."

He never had before. Never realized there was a prize. Never saw what it cost-

"You have to come."

-to love him.

She felt the blue and the light envelope the red, permeate it. She felt the air on her eyes. She blinked, overwhelmed to feel the presence of her physical body again. She did a mental check of herself, taking inventory of the sum of parts.

Her hand. It felt strange. She turned her head to look at it, only to see it was not purely hers, but apart of him. Wrapped up in Grissom's. His head was bowed over the hands, eyes downcast. She could hear him speaking softly, as if in prayer.

"You have to come. Because I love you. You have to come. So I can show you. You have to come. So I can make it up to you. So I can say I'm sorry. If you go, it's a price I can't pay, a life I can't live. Because I love you. Please, please come back Sara."

She swallowed, and felt the tube in her throat, leaving her unable to speak.

"Please." His voice broke.

Finally her hand obeyed her, and she contracted it, holding his as tight as she could. His head snapped up, and his eyes met hers. The silence in the room became absolute, before the sound of his breath, shaky and short, broke it. His eyes shut briefly, as relief flooded through him, before immediately reopening, as if he were afraid to look away. Afraid she would go again. And the words spilled out, firm, but rushed, because he had wasted so much time not saying them.

"I love you. Do you hear? I love you, Sara."

She nodded. Squeezed his hand again. Smiled.

That one wins

Doesn't lose

He is the first to speak her name.

Well then, I hope you liked that. I took shameless liberties with a poem call "Chanson of a Lady in the Shade" By Paul Celan. No infringement is intended.

I always, always love reviews, so let me know what you think, and if it needs to go any further.