Title: Author: DarkDreamer56

Archive: If you want it, ask please!

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: some G/S, N/S

Disclaimer: If I owned them, my name would be Anthony Zuiker and Co., which unfortunately it is not.

Spoilers: None that I know of

A/N: Honestly, I have no idea where the hell this came from. I was at work a few days ago, straightening CDs and counting down the hours until I could go home, and this idea just popped into my head. This is my first attempt at writing Grissom, but I tried to stay as true to character as I could. Keep in mind that I'm a total Snicker, and my fiction reflects this…Enjoy the story!

Grissom hadn't been aware that there was even a battle until Nick entered his office one day after swing shift ended. The expression on his younger colleague's face was set as he sat in the chair before Grissom's desk.

"Just don't hurt her again." Grissom didn't have to ask whom Nick was referring to, but he was unsure why Nick was bringing this up now.

"Excuse me?"

"Everyone knows Grissom. All the lab rats have been whispering about how Grissom has finally decided, Ecklie be damned, to act on his feelings. For whatever reason, she held on for this long, but don't hurt her this time. She can't take much more."

It was then that Grissom realized how much things had changed. Five years ago, Nick would have never been so direct with him in conversation. When Nick had been moved to swing shift, their relationship had changed even further. No longer did Nick see him as an authority figure; they were now colleagues of a different sort. Grissom wasn't sure how he felt about that, but then again, almost all of his relationships at worked had somehow turned on their sides over the past several months. Ecklie's shakeup had forced him to reconsider his feelings about each of the members of his team, and as the months went by, he found it harder and harder to convince himself to keep his feelings for Sara at bay for a career that Ecklie was hell bent on destroying anyway.

Silence descended over the pair as Grissom was unsure of how to respond to Nick's well intentioned admonishment. He knew that Sara and Nick were close, and Nick was very protective of her. Grissom saw it as a brotherly affection on Nick's part, and was grateful that there was someone to look out for her well-being when he couldn't. Looking up though, Grissom saw that he was mistaken. That was not the look of a man concerned about his sister; it was the look of a man in love, and painfully in love at that.

Grissom knew that the least he could do was give Nick that reassurance. It was what he deserved, after bowing out gracefully from a fight Grissom didn't even know he was engaged in.

"I won't hurt her anymore."

Seeming to be satisfied with the answer, Nick stood up and walked out, but Grissom detected a slight sagging in Nick's shoulders as he watched him walk towards the parking lot. Seeing Sara wave goodbye to Nick as he left, Grissom decided to make good on his promise to stop hurting Sara sooner, rather than later. As she walked by his door, he called out to Sara and motioned her over to his desk.

"I'm still waiting on the samples I sent to Trace, but I was about to head to post to see if Doc Robbins has anything useful…" Sara rambled as she started to pick up one of the books on his desk.

Grissom cut her off by placing a hand overtop hers. When she looked up at him with a confused expression, he tried to clarify.

"I didn't ask you in here about the case Sara…I was wondering if maybe you would like to have dinner with me tomorrow night…"

She smiled at him sadly, before withdrawing her hand and replying, "I'm sorry Grissom…I can't."

"Well, what about breakfast after shift?"

"No, I mean it's not because I'm busy…I can't because it's too late. It's been too late for a long time."

"Oh," his mouth formed while his brain tried to process the information. "Is there someone else?"

From the way she averted her gaze, Grissom knew he had guessed correctly, and he was fairly certain he would only need one more guess to correctly identify the man who had stolen Sara's heart away. For a minute he felt like being cruel, and withholding the information he now possessed, but he couldn't forget the promise he had made to Nick, and to himself. He just couldn't hurt her anymore.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, as she turned away and started for the door.

"You should tell him," he called after her, praying that his voice didn't betray his emotions.

She turned back to face him, and there was that same sad smile again. "He doesn't…"

"I think you'd be surprised Sara. Tell him."

A few days later, he saw the two of them sitting on the couch of the break room, exchanging knowing smiles and seeming all together more cozy then usual. And though he had to retreat to his office and sit at his desk with the blinds drawn when Nick took her hand in his, Grissom knew he had done the right thing. He had seen the smile on her face, and the glow in her cheeks from Nick's simple gesture. She was happy now, and that would have to be enough.

FIN.

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