i promised that something would happen. this is the longest chapter so far. enjoy

Sara walked out the doors and over to her car. The sun had begun to rise so she reached into her bag to pull out her sunglasses. It took her a moment to find them, but at least she hadn't had to empty her purse this time. She placed them on her head and pulled her keys out of her pocket. She jumped a mile when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Sara calm down," Grissom said calmly. "Just me."

"God you scared me," she exclaimed, trying to turn awy from him.

"Sara," he began, looking at her and trying to bring himself to say what needed to be said. "I..."

"Yes?," she questioned, trying to draw whatever it was out of him.

"I need you to be careful, Sara," he said finally. "You were angry with me for pulling you out of danger." She looked away from him and pursed her lips like she always did when she was angry. "Sara, I don't want you getting hurt."

"Too late, Gris," she snapped. She bit the inside of her lip and turned the key in the car door.

"Stay with me tonight," he quickly replied in an attempt to keep her safe.

"No," she retorted. "I can't." She glared at him coldly. "I don't know what to do about this."

"Don't do this, Sara," he whispered, recognizing his own words mirrored back to him.

"Don't do what?"

"I didn't mean to hurt you."

"But you did."

He looked down at his feet. She was bitter toward him but needed her to be safe. However he couldn't bring himself to tell her what was wrong.

"Sara, I just don't want you to... I just... please be careful," he sighed. She looked into his eyes and her mood lightened. She nodded. Then a small smile spread across her lips.

"You wanna come over and check for the boogeyman under my bed?," she teased, getting her playful attitude back, obviously not expecting him to agree.

"If you don't mind," he responded. Sara whirled around quickly.

"What?"

"If you don't mind I would love to come home with you," he replied, feeling confidence in the truth of his words.

"You okay, Gris?," she questioned.

"I don't want you to be alone tonight."

Her playful attitude disapeared. She looked up at him, trying to decipher what he was saying.

"I don't think its a good idea, Grissom," she sighed. He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes.

"Sara please."

He was begging now and Sara begun her suspicion. He was never this desperate. There had to be something else bothering him.

"What's wrong?," she questioned. "Why now? There's something else going on."

He smiled slightly. He should have guessed she'd see right through it. After all, he'd taught her everything she knew. She squeezed his hand gently, making him realize he still held her hand in his. He brought her hand to his lips and gently kissed it.

"I just want to make sure you're ok."

"What did he say to Brass," she asked pulling her hand back. Grissom looked into her eyes, knowing she'd figured it out for herself already.

"He's after you, Sara."

"But he's in jail now. So he can't come after me."

"And if he has a partner?"

Sara pulled back her jacket, revealing her beretta.

"I'll be fine."

"You've never even fired that outside of training."

"And I was top of my class in California."

He sighed and looked up at her again.

"This isn't a game," he whispered. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'll be fine," she replied, getting in her car and putting the window down. "You can follow me home, but you're not staying. Please stop making it so hard to get over you."

She put up her window, hardly believing what she'd just said. She watched him retreat to his car, waiting for him to start the engine before pullig out of the parking lot.

----

Catherine smiled as she watched Grissom's car pull out after Sara's.

"That a boy, Gil," she whispered, then turned the key in the ignition. She fixed her sunglasses then looked at the clock. She couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten out of work on time. Her smile grew brighter at the thought of actually being able to take her daughter, Lindsey, to school. It had been such a long time since she'd been able to. She just prayed she'd have no problem's this time.

It seemed like every time she'd walked into the school at least two teachers wanted to talk to her. Today was no exception.

"Mrs. Willows?," Lindsey's teacher called as Catherine was about to leave. She turned around to face the woman and out of the corner of her eye noticed Lindsey sinking into her seat.

"Is there a problem?," Catherine asked, trying to stay as calm as possible. She was tired and getting cranky.

"Lindsey has been extremely difficult lately," the teacher remarked, closing the classroom door so her other students wouldn't hear. "Mrs. Willows, she claims that she's trying to be like you, however such behavior is unacceptable in a school environment."

"What did she do, exactly?," Catherine asked nervously. She was very annoyed at this point but she vaguely remembered Lindsey finding some old pictures from when she was a dancer. It had taken her weeks to convince Lindsey that taking her shirt off anywhere she wanted wasn't a good thing.

"She decided to create a crime scene out of our playground."

"She's a little girl," Catherine remarked, relieved that it had been the latter part of her mother's life Lindsey had chosen to emulate. "I don't see any harm in her playing a game."

"But, Mrs. Willows, she wouldn't let the other students on it."

"Look, I'll talk to her, but right now, I just got off shift and I'm really tired," she snapped. She held up her hand when the teacher went to speak. "Later on, after I get up, I'll come pick her up and we'll have a nice little chat. Have a good day.

Catherine turned around and left. She didn't want to argue. She was grateful to make it out of the school without being stopped again, and she definately planned on calling Grissom.

----

Grissom stared blankly at the clock in his townhouse. He'd only been home for about fifteen minutes, but he was already contemplating calling to check on Sara. He fought the urge and sat down on his couch. He tried to fall asleep to a Pink Floyd album, but his head was swimming with all the things he could have done when she'd asked him to dinner. But he'd losst his chance. He finally fell asleep as the cd had begun its third rotation.