Chapter 2

Working along side the man she loved was more difficult than it had been when he was avoiding her. Now she had inside information about what was going on with her boss and she wanted that information erased from her memory.

"Sara, hey girl." Warrick's voice called out as he waved a hand in front of her face. "Earth to Sara."

"Hmm?" She looked up and focused on the man sat across from her.

They had been sitting in the offices for the last three hours going over paperwork. It was the weekend and some of them had a few days off to enjoy some downtime.

"You daydreaming again?" He teased, giving her a knowing smile.

She shook her head slowly and got back to her paperwork. "Sorry War."

His smile faded slightly, but it returned full force when an idea hit him. He leaned forward and asked in a hushed voice. "Something wrong with the hubby?"

Sara looked up confused and stared blankly at him. "Huh?"

Warrick wasn't demurred and grin. "You know who I'm talking about."

She furrowed her brows and shrugged innocently. "I don't, sorry."

"You know, you and," He looked towards the open door briefly. "A certain, bugman."

Sara's eyebrows shot up, but suddenly it all dawned on her and she sighed sadly. "No. You've got it wrong Warrick."

"Really?" He asked teasingly and tossed a pencil at her.

She picked up the pencil and tossed it back at him. "Really. I know everyone's heard the rumours and I know, now, what you were all thinking."

"So?" He shrugged questioningly.

Sara sighed and leaned on her left elbow as she began filling in another form and signing her name. She let her cheek lean against her fist and decided to tell him the truth. "Her name is Anna Owens. She's an entomologist. I met her at the seminar I met Griss at."

Warrick's brows were furrowed as he listened carefully. "Grissom's seeing this Anna Owens?"

Sara nodded and continued talking as she wrote. "You all thought it was me, but it was her and it has always been her." Her voice was lower than a whisper as she snatched a brief glance at the surprised look across the table. She shrugged. "You didn't think he'd be seeing someone?"

"I did." Warrick answered quickly, causing Sara to look at him from her curled in position. He continued with a softer and gentler voice that showed his concern and an apology. "We all thought it was you." He watched her as he spoke. "You two were getting on so well lately. You were joking and teasing, then you were back to your flirting… It was a natural conclusion that he must be seeing you."

She smiled sadly and shook her head. "No, he's seeing someone else. You might as well tell everyone before they mention something to him."

"Sidle, my office, Now!"

Everyone stared at her as their boss stormed out of the room.

Sara shrugged and quickly packed up her case file she was reviewing. She made it to the boss' office just in time to see Grissom pacing back and forth with what could be noted as steam coming from his ears.

"Shut the door!"

She closed the door quietly and stood with her back to it as she hung her head and waited for what could be one hell of a reprimand for something she can't remember doing.

"How dare you, how dare you!" He shouted, turned to pin her with an angry glare, one that she had never seen before.

"Griss-" She quietly called his name, but he didn't let her continue.

"I have been trying, trying, damn hard to keep my personal life apart from my work, Sara and in one night, one night, you blow it away in a matter of one rumour." He spat out.

"I didn-" She tried again, but failed.

He slammed his fist down on his desk. "You, are the only person who knew. I thought I could trust you."

"You can. Grissom-" She paused in case he interrupted again, but when he didn't, she ventured on quickly, almost stringing her words together. "I was trying to correct a misunderstanding. I didn't tell anyone anything they didn't already know. You have to believe me." She stressed, feeling cornered and horribly guilty, though she was sure she didn't do anything wrong.

If she couldn't have him and he didn't want her, she wasn't going to let the rumours continue. She would be a laughing stock of the whole lab. Why couldn't he see that? She was only trying to help him, not invade his life, not anymore, she knew her place after last night.

Grissom sighed angrily and sat down heavily in his chair. "What do you mean, misunderstanding?"

Sara stood where she had been since closing the door and lowered her head to stare at her hands. "I heard a rumour about you, and, I thought you wouldn't like it, so I put things right."

"You told the gossips that I was seeing someone? Seeing Anna. How is that putting things right, exactly?" He pressed, still not calm enough to relax and think things through clearly.

"They thought it was me." She confessed almost inaudibly.

Stricken, he looked up. "You?"

Seeing his panicked expression, she nodded. "They thought you were seeing me." Before the silence was broken by another outburst, she continued quickly. "I know, it's stupid, and it's ridiculous, and I knew you wouldn't want a rumour like that circulating. I thought I was helping. I'm sorry."

Grissom slowly folded in on himself as he rubbed his forehead to fight off the pending headache. He sighed sadly and let out a long deep breath.

Sara reached for the door handle when she realised that he wasn't going to say anything further. "I'll get back to work."

"Sara." He called softly, still hiding behind his hand. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you. I apologise for taking out my frustrations on you. It won't happen again."

She didn't look at him. "It's ok." She slipped out the door and headed for the women's bathroom. The pressure behind her eyes was too much for her to handle and she needed to find some place she could recover without being noticed.

TBC