Disclaimer: Still don't own CSI…only in my dreams…still... that's better than nothing, right? lol.

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Wake Up

(Grissom's POV for a bit)

Grissom walked into the lab later that evening and dropped off his stuff on his desk. Little did he know that Sara was in there sleeping. At first he didn't notice, but sure enough, he heard her slow, mechanical breathing and looked over.

"Sara?" he whispered even though he knew that she was asleep and wouldn't hear her.

He was right, she didn't hear him. Should I wake her? He thought. She looks so peaceful like that.

Seconds later, Sara opened her eyes and noticed that she was in Grissom's office and Grissom was there, watching her.

"Hey," he said, trying not to make everything awkward.

"Sorry," she started, "I was so tired earlier. What time is it? I'd better go check the computer; see if I got a match to those prints."

"It's seven and I checked, no match yet. It could take a while, though. Do you want to talk?" He asked.

"I'm fine. Seriously, let me go check the computer."

He had no choice but to let her go. He let her go like he did all those other times before. How much had he wanted to stop her and tell her everything? How many times had he dreamed that everything would work out between them and they could be happy together instead of alone and apart? In the back of his mind, he knew his dreams would never come true unless he said something. That would never happen.

Oh how he longed to tell her how he felt, but he would never bring himself to. He had almost had her once, but of course he froze. Would today be any different?

Could he change today? Would he go running after her or would he stay there and let her get farther and farther away from him? No, he couldn't let the latter happen, but he couldn't choose the other choice. He chose his job over her. Inside, he knew he couldn't have her. If he had her, then he wouldn't be able to protect her. But if he didn't have her, she would run away forever and he wouldn't know what may have really happened if he told her he loved her.

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(Sara POV)

She left the room in a hurry, back to the computer to see if anything had come up while she was gone, but Grissom was right, there were no matches. Her mind now awake and racing, she sat down, watching the screen and thinking. Often she would sit and think, whether it be about the case and the evidence or everything that was going on around her. She tried to think of what she was going to do about Grissom, though she had thought this countless many times before and come up with nothing. People simply baffled her and they always had. Over the years, she secluded herself, not getting attached to anyone, for fear that something would happen and she'd get hurt. It proved a good idea, but in the long run, she had no idea she was doing this to herself. She was anti-social, shy, a book-worm… not a people person and not a person who deals very well with relationships. She hadn't had much experience with anyone in her life; In her thirties and gone through high school and college single, liking people who would never respect her or like her back. This relationship with Grissom was the same way.

She'd got to thinking how after a while she didn't want a relationship, didn't need the hassle or the worry or the hurting, but coming to Las Vegas, something changed. Sure, work was important, but she came here with hope. She'd almost had him, but he pushed her away. Had he ever shown that he cared for her? Perhaps he did, but even so, she'd push him away for what he'd done to her. Had that happened every time? Had every time he'd almost gotten courage to tell her how he felt, she'd been angry and dismissed it for his past mistakes? What had she done? Had she caused this to happen to herself?

A tear rolled down her cheek, but her eyes had not removed from the screen where she'd been staring intently for some time now. Finally, when Greg popped his head in, just arriving for the beginning of the shift, did Sara snap to and wipe the tears from her cheeks.

"Hey," she said, without looking behind her.

"Hey, I just saw Grissom. He said to tell you we're heading back to the hotel to get the security tapes of the hallway and seeing if we get anything from that. If you need anything, page us. See ya."

"Bye Greg."

Back to herself again, she sighed. Maybe she should talk to Grissom instead of pushing him away. She took out a small piece of paper.

Grissom,

I think we need to talk.

Sara.

She left it on his desk, cleared her mind, and went back to work on the case.