Chapter 3

They stumbled into his front room, giggling, Sara fell onto the sofa, lifting her legs onto it, kicking her shoes over the edge.

"Make yourself at home." He giggled again, the drink had begun to wave over the pair by the time the first gust of air hit them outside the bar. Neither could fully recall what had started off the laughter, but by the end they were holding each other up for fear of falling over.

"Let's do this thing then. Come on, your TV's big enough!" She looked over her shoulder to see Grissom struggling with his shoes. She laughed again. The drink had hit him hard, she presumed her reaction was due to the already increased levels of adrenaline in her system combined with the drink.

He fell into the large armchair beside her, disk in hand. He held it, allowed to her see it.

"One thing, first." The drink had increased his confidence or stupidity, one of the two.

She left her face slip, she looked impatient, but was quietly enjoying the attention he was giving her.

"Sure." She was comfortable and happy in his company, had been for a very long time, but recently they had drifted apart. She couldn't understand it, but everyone in the team felt it. Nick had referred once, whilst they had spent a breakfast together, that he hadn't seen the 'Grissom Smile' for a while. When she questioned him about it, he said that every once in a while when she's done something particularly Grissom-esque she gave this beaming smile, but he'd only ever seen her use it on Grissom.

It summed up the situation very well, they had spent as little time as possible together over the last year, and never worked cases alone anymore. This had hurt Sara, more than she allowed anyone to know.

She realised Grissom had begun to speak,

"When you sing, is it only that song that makes you emotional? I don't mean to pry, it's just you so rarely show you're emotion, and when you do it's only to me." Stupidity, he thought showing recognition of past events.

Tough one, Grissom, thanks

"Well." She exhaled, "It just reminds me of myself," she stopped, trying to think of words "myself and an old flame. One that never burned, and how I felt then." She gazed into his eyes, they both knew who she was talking about.

"How do the lyrics go?" He paused. He was pushing it. He knew that the teacher-student bond they once shared had caused sparks in them both. She didn't hide them so well however. "I'm sorry, but my hearing's not what it used to be, I heard you're voice but not the words." He lied.

She spoke softly, the words she had sung in her head a million times over,

"You were the question
I needed answered
You'd never know how scared I was
Falling in love

You would talk softly
You are a riddle
And I felt so innocent
standing in your eyes"

She faltered, she couldn't say any more, "Excuse me." She headed for the back door, bag in hand. She always carried a spare packet of Marlboro with her, just in case. This was a case for them.

She lit up, the fresh air engulfed her, she was close to tears and the breeze made them sting in her eyes.