Disclaimers, etc. in Part 1

Part 4

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"Greg, if your petted lip gets any lower, you're gonna trip over it. What's up, man?" said Warrick as the young lab tech entered the Break Room.

"Grissom just reamed me out," replied Greg with an air of self-pity. He helped himself to some coffee, wrinkling his nose at its smell and wishing he'd brought his own blend that night; he could really use the boost.

His comment and manner caught the attention of all those in the room; Warrick, Nick and Catherine. Greg was usually cheery, too cheery at most times, and to see him upset was not something they liked. He dropped into a seat at the table, next to Catherine, and stared into his coffee mug, depression oozing out of every pore.

"What happened, Greg?" asked Catherine with concern, placing a soothing hand onto his arm. At one time or another, they had all been subjected to Grissom's supervisory tactics and they knew they weren't his forte; he wasn't exactly a people person.

Taking a sip of his coffee and then pushing the mug away in disgust, Greg looked at them all in turn, judging whether they were being sympathetic or just looking to tease him. Satisfied they would listen, he began his tale.

"Sara came into my lab to check on her samples. She asked me at start of shift to bump her up the list and… well… she used her charms on me, so I agreed." He stopped and sent them all apologetic looks, knowing they were correctly assuming that all their samples had been pushed down the list as a result. "Anyway, I hadn't quite finished the samples and I advised Sara that she should leave quickly as Grissom was on his way. He had called me to find out where his results were and I had to admit I hadn't gotten to them yet; he hung up, so I knew he was coming to see me. Sara said she'd wait and talk to him, help me out. I told her there was no need, but she insisted. Grissom arrived and I told him that his stuff was next on the list, that Sara's was first. He asked how that had happened, since he got his samples to me before she did and I didn't really have an answer – I didn't think it would be wise to tell him the real reason."

"No, probably wouldn't have been," agreed Nick with a smile.

"Grissom looked at Sara and she kinda dipped her head to hide her guilty look. He put two and two together and then told me that I shouldn't let anyone play me like that. I was pretty stunned, I mean, that was all he said. He started to leave and that's when it happened."

"What?" asked all three CSIs, captivated by his story and eager to know more since Greg was injecting just the right amount of drama. They were all sitting around the table and each person leaned closer to him, waiting for the rest.

"I didn't realize he was reading something as he left, meaning he was walking slowly and I wasn't looking. I turned to Sara and asked her what had just happened. She gave me a blank look and I told her that if anyone else had done what she did, got her stuff bumped above Grissom's when it wasn't a time-sensitive case, they'd have been warned by him. I then joked that she was obviously his favorite CSI. She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to. Grissom was still in the room and he heard everything I said. I swear, I've never seen him move so fast. He turned round and stormed towards me, started yelling that I was the one in the wrong, I was in control of the lab and I made the choice to put Sara's stuff first, above everyone else's. He said he didn't believe in playing favorites and that if he ever heard me saying something like that again, he'd get me fired. Seriously, he was mad as hell, totally unlike the Grissom I'm used to seeing."

"What did Sara say?" asked Catherine curiously.

"She tried to defend me, told Grissom that it was really her fault, that she'd taken advantage of me, but he wouldn't listen. He started on me again and then Sara told me to leave, so I did – never been so glad to leave a room before."

"Man, that sounds harsh," said Nick.

"Yes, it does," agreed Catherine, a thoughtful look on her face. "Greg, what seemed to be the main thing that got him mad?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said he didn't really seem too bothered about his stuff getting bumped, right? He didn't demand you stop work on Sara's stuff and work on his instead?"

"No," confirmed Greg.

"So, the trigger was your comment about Sara being his favorite?"

Greg replayed everything in his head once more, wincing as he remembered the verbal battering he had received. "Yeah, I think it was," he finally said.

"Catherine, what you thinking?" asked Warrick, noticing how deep in thought she was.

"I think there's more to this than Greg realizes," she informed them. "People have been teasing Grissom for a while about Sara being his star pupil, he's never reacted that way before."

"So?" queried Nick.

"Does the phrase 'there's no smoke without fire' mean anything to you?" she said cryptically. All three men shared looks of confusion and then simultaneously seemed to catch her drift.

"You mean…?"

"Yes, Nick, I mean I think there's something going on between them."

"You can't say that just because he's worried people think he's playing favorites," pointed out Warrick.

"I'm not, I'm putting two and two together – the favorites thing and something that happened a few days ago."

"Like what?" asked Nick.

"I found Sara's cap in Grissom's vehicle. He said she must have been the last one to use it and left it there, but no-one ever gets to drive Grissom's vehicle, it's assigned to him."

"Maybe they worked a scene together," commented Warrick logically.

"That would be a possibility, if it wasn't for the way he said it," said Catherine. "He specifically made it sound as though she'd been in the vehicle on her own, that he didn't know anything about it. If it was possible she'd left it after a scene, he'd have said that. You know Grissom, he remembers these things."

"Did you ask him about it?"

"Yes, I did. He conveniently appeared not to hear me and drove away. I haven't really given it too much thought since, but from what Greg just said, I really think something might be going on between them. It would make sense, she could have left the cap there if they'd been out somewhere together, just before shift."

"You know, Sara did the Times crossword in record time last week and Grissom didn't seem to bother about it. I mean, we all know he takes crosswords seriously, so I thought he'd be pissed that Sara found it so easy. Also," continued Nick, remembering the event, "she seemed to know that he wouldn't bother. I said something about crosswords always being left for Grissom to complete, but she was very certain that he never did the Times one at work. I didn't really think anything of that at the time, but now…"

"That could explain something else," chimed in Warrick, waiting for them all to look at him before he explained. "We were at a scene a few days ago and I noticed Grissom's back was bleeding. He said he must have scraped against something, there was a lot of glass around, but there were no tear marks or anything on his shirt, he must have done it before work."

"Maybe it was at a scene the day before?" suggested Greg.

"No, the wounds were too fresh, bleeding too much. I didn't see them directly, but I saw the blood marks they were making on his shirt. Thinking about it now, they could have been made by nails… fingernails."

"Really?" said Catherine, her intrigue rising.

"Yeah, that's not all though," said Warrick. "I later found Sara in here cutting her fingernails. When I asked her why, she said that Grissom had ordered her to do so. After she said that, she seemed pretty flustered, but then said he'd made a comment about her nails being too long to handle evidence properly. She seemed pretty serious, but…"

"You really think Grissom and Sara are together?" asked Greg with disbelief. The others all nodded slowly, their minds processing the new information. Each of them then moved their heads faster, with more conviction, becoming more convinced by the second. "Why wouldn't they say something though?"

"They're in an awkward situation, man," said Warrick. "He's her supervisor. That would explain why he got so pissed at your favorites comment though, no way would he want anyone to think that he was making decisions based on his personal feelings for Sara; that could jeopardize both their careers."

"So, what do we do? Ask them about it?"

"No, Greg, that's the last thing we do," said Catherine quickly, shaking her head for emphasis. "They obviously don't feel comfortable enough to share it, probably worried about letting anyone know in case Cavallo or someone finds out."

"But, we wouldn't drop them in it," said Greg with hurt.

"Not intentionally, but you know what this place is like. I think we should keep this to ourselves for now, maybe watch them a little more closely, drop a few subtle hints to see how they react, make sure once and for all that our suspicions are correct," suggested Catherine.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan to me," said Warrick. "We gotta watch what we say though, it's obviously a touchy subject if he reamed Greg out like that." Greg nodded emphatically at that, still sore about what had happened.

"Do you think they'll ever tell us?" mused Nick.

"They will, eventually," stated Catherine, "but knowing Gil, they'll wait until Sara has a ring on her finger."

"You think it's that serious?" said Greg with shock.

"I think it will be, eventually," replied Catherine. "Anyone who knows them can tell they're supposed to be together. I didn't think I'd ever see it happen though. Let's just be happy for them and respect their privacy." The men nodded their agreement and left the room one-by-one to return to their work.

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"Don't you think you were a little hard on Greg?" asked Sara as she and Grissom stood in the Trace Lab. Greg had left moments before with his tail between his legs and a fearful look on his face. "He didn't mean anything, he was only teasing."

"Yes, but teasing can lead to trouble," said Grissom seriously. He left the lab and Sara followed him to his office, closing the door behind her. "Do you think I do play favorites?" he asked her as they both sat down.

"If you do, it's with Catherine, not me." He looked at her in surprise. "Oh, come on, Grissom, you know you save her butt a lot more than she deserves."

"Sara, I—"

"No, we shouldn't get into that now, it won't do us any good," she asserted and he had to agree. "You know, Greg looked really upset, he's probably in the Break Room right now, telling the others what happened."

"You think?"

"Yeah. Catherine, Nick and Warrick were all in there when I passed, he'll have gone looking for sympathy." Grissom pinched the bridge of his nose and emitted a sigh, silently acknowledging he'd gone too far in his reprimand of Greg. "If he tells them exactly what you said, what got you so irate, they're going to figure it out," said Sara quietly.

"I know," he agreed, pinching his nose harder and drooping his shoulders in defeat.

"So, what do we do? Should we head them off at the pass, tell them the truth?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "They won't say anything, not to us and not to anyone else."

"What makes you so sure?" she asked, doubt lacing her tone.

"Catherine knows me too well, she'll realize why I haven't said anything so far. I've had opportunity, the incident with the cap was a definite one, but I didn't take it, so she'll know I'm not ready to talk about it yet."

"Are we ever going to tell them?"

"I thought you were okay with keeping it just between us for now?" he said, doubt creeping into his voice and a look of worry emerging in his eyes.

"I am," she assured, stretching a hand across the desk to lightly grasp his, "it's just that, if they know, we can't guarantee that they won't let it slip accidentally. If they do, won't it look worse for us by keeping quiet, not being upfront with Cavallo?"

"Our original reasons for keeping quiet haven't changed, Sara. If I think there's a risk, I'll talk to Cavallo. Are you okay with that?" he asked gently, squeezing her hand.

"Yeah, I am," she smiled. "What we have right now is too good to be fodder for office gossip, there will be plenty of time for that later, in the future."

"Yes, there will be," he agreed. They both smiled at the realization that they had just confirmed to each other that they were both in it for the long haul. "Right now though, you should make sure Greg gets back to work on your samples so that he can then get to mine." She laughed and stood up, releasing his hand. "Oh, and Sara?" he called as she reached the door. "No taking advantage of Greg's soft spot for you again, I might get jealous," he said with a wink.

"You have nothing to be jealous of," she replied, winking back at him as she left the office.

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TBC…

Some of you asked for a Brass part so, even though this chapter was meant to be the end, I've caved and written another. Hope you enjoy :-)