Disclaimer: These characters are the property of CBS

Spoiler: No Humans Involved

Okay, guys, you've been great hanging in there through all the hard stuff. So, now, of course, it is time for a little GSR, right? Yes, but I do not have the ability to make their love for one another overflow like a tsunami. I like them as much in character as possible. So, therefore, they will still have to be private, socially awkward, well-defended people. And I will try to stay somewhat in character, but still pull it off. I hope you stick with it.

Sheila

Chapter 12

"Hey guys!" Mia came in to the break room.

"Hey yourself." Warrick looked up from his paperwork. Nick smiled and nodded at her.

"Had quite an exciting time I hear. How's Sara?"

"She's okay. Went home already." Nick said.

"Alone? She's ready for that? I heard she had a really bad time."

Nick looked at Warrick for a moment before responding. "A friend went to stay with her."

"Good. I'll have to call her."

"Give her a couple of days, okay?"

"Yeah, no problem." She sat down between them. "I can't believe you have to be back to work so soon. You both look like you could use a few more days at home."

"Thanks. Just what we needed to hear." Warrick growled.

Mia smiled at him, unperturbed by his surliness. "Hey Nick, I wanted to take you up on your offer for breakfast. I would love to hear about everything. Tomorrow okay?"

Nicky looked at the beautiful woman, and then at his good friend. "Hey Warrick, how 'bout it? You're the real hero here. Got time for breakfast tomorrow? We can regale Mia with our tales of adventure."

"You go ahead." Warrick shrugged.

"Hmm. Now that I think about it, Mia, tomorrow is not so good. Can we do a rain check?"

Mia gave Nick a puzzled look. "But you just said….."

"I know. Sorry. The sleep is going to be a deal in the morning. Plus, Warrick's really better at telling stories."

Warrick wrinkled his brows. "I'm better at telling stories? Nick, did your mama never teach you not to lie?"

Nick ignored him. "So Mia, how 'bout you take Warrick tomorrow, and we can make a breakfast next week sometime."

Mia shrugged. "Hey, that's okay with me. I got some comps from The Palms, and they have the most amazing breakfast buffet. What do you say, Warrick?"

"Ah, I don't know. "

"Free breakfast. Good company. Come on, Warrick." She leaned over him.

"All right. Meet you at The Palms. 8 a.m. okay?" Warrick glared at Nicky while he spoke.

"It's a date." Mia smiled. "Got to get back to work, guys."

Warrick waited until she left, and then leaned over to Nick. "I can get my own dates, thank you very much."

"I know. I just don't want to compete over a girl. You're my friend, man. That's going to trump chasing after girls every time. I got your back. You know?"

Warrick looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "Nicky, You are a very odd man."

Nick laughed. "Ah, Warrick. Don't get all gushy on me and everything."

……………………………….......................................................................................................

Grissom sat in the dark, alone, on her couch. He had found his late night classical station on her stereo, and he played it softly. He had been like this for hours. As the sun went down, he let the natural light disappear, and turned nothing on. Days mixed up with nights. He would be working right now, at a crime scene, maybe at the lab processing evidence.

It was frustrating. Sleep should have been his best friend. He calculated that he had probably slept only 3 hours over the course of the previous 3 nights. Yet here he sat in the dark on an adequately comfortable sofa, and sleep refused to visit.

Instead the memories and feelings of the last week came, visceral and sharp. The fear and the panic intertwined with the despair and the chaos. And over and over in his mind, Grissom shot a man through the back of the head at close range, scattering his flesh and bones and brain matter all over a baby's nursery in front of the man's child. His brain and his heart were not in cooperation with one another. His reason and logic explained these events nicely, but his gut ached at the memory of his gun's deadly force.

It was ironic really that he, Grissom the robot, should be so knotted up about killing a murderer. What would his colleagues think? Catherine had shot a man to save his life four years ago, and she was able to see it for what it was and move on. Emotional Catherine could put it into perspective, and he couldn't.

He heard a shuffling noise, and saw Sara drift out into the living room Again, she wore an oversized t-shirt, but there was a surprise; Sara had legs. Long, shapely legs. He had never known about them before as he had only ever seen her in pants. Now, she appeared, blurry and tousled, into the living room in the middle of the night, and all he could concentrate on were her legs.

She regarded him for a moment, her eyes squinting as she acclimated to the soft light coming into the living room from the full moon outside. "I thought you were set up in the spare bedroom. Is it not all right?"

He smiled a little. "Just couldn't sleep. How about you? Nightmares?"

She shrugged. Then she curled up in a chair opposite him.

"You should go back to sleep, Sara. You need the rest."

Her dark eyes were luminous against the moonlight. For a while she was quiet, and then she leaned forward. "Have you ever discharged your weapon on duty before?"

He shook his head.

"The first time you do, and you have to kill someone."

Her perceptions into his pain were uncanny.

"I'm so sorry that you were forced to do that. It's my fault. If I hadn't have been so stupid---"

"Knock it off. I mean it, Sara." His anger startled both of them. "You can't do this. You can't keep directing this much anger at yourself. It's going to kill you. I believe that. After this week, I really believe that."

Sara pulled her knees up to her chin and shuddered.

"Whatever this is, you can't hide from it anymore. You have to face it and get better. We need you to do that for us. I need you….to do that. Please."

"I thought I was facing it."

Grissom shook his head. "I think you gave into the anger. Nothing that happened this week was in the least bit related to any kind of healing."

For a few minutes, they let silence rule. Sara broke the quiet. "I am having trouble remembering what happened before you shot him. I remember the woman, Dolly, hiding me in the closet. Do you know that she helped to save my life?"

"We were able to piece it together."

"Then Viktor surprised and hurt her. I crawled out of the closet and he was there again. I had a scissors, and I think I stabbed him. After that, I have no memories."

"Probably not that much more to remember. When I got there, Viktor was straddling you with that pair of scissors. He was ready to kill you. I didn't think. I just pulled the trigger."

"Thank you for that."

"You're welcome."

"Well, that was civil."

Grissom smiled, and for the first time in a long time, Sara could feel his warmth. She smiled back, and then stretched out her long legs.

"I'm ready to sleep. How about you?"

He nodded. For a moment, she stared at him. Then she turned and walked back into her bedroom. Grissom watched this woman in a t-shirt with her beautiful legs. So complex. So lovely. So intoxicating. He wondered if this was going to be the relaxing week he had imagined.

………………………………..............................................................................................................

"Is this you, Brass?"

Brass smiled into the phone. "Good to hear from you, Roy. How's my favorite sheriff?"

"You called and harassed my secretary again."

"It's called leaving a message, Roy."

"I'm not meeting with you. The last time, you were like some kind of crazed dog, threatening a colleague like you did. Acting as if I'm not bound by Federal Statutes on threats of a physical nature."

"Oh, hell, I was letting off steam."

"What do you want now?"

"We had a hard week over here. Sara Sidle was kidnapped, and Grissom killed a suspect."

"And you want me to do what? Come over and facilitate a trauma support group."

"I want to know that you have their backs. They're valuable people. They deserve your support."

"You know, Brass, you really are a ballsy son. I'm not pledging anything until I see final reports."

"I want you to know that they both deserve to back on the job as soon as possible."

"Okay then, anything else, Brass? You need some dry cleaning picked up, lawn watered, what?"

"Yeah, Ecklie is a prick who would screw up that report for about ten cents, and I am going to be watching him like a hawk."

"Were you raised by wolves 'cause socially you are one delayed son of a bitch."

"The thing I like about you, Roy, is that you know your limitations. You know you are only as good as the people beneath you. How you put up with Ecklie I do not know, but you have always respected people who know how to get the work done. Witness my continued employment by this department."

"Maybe you should get a little more familiar with your limitations."

Brass laughed. "Good one."

"You know Jim, if the girl is crazy, she's better off working for us in another capacity."

"I'm not worried. She's going to be just fine. And she's damn good, Roy. She's smart and she works hard."

"All right. Just tell me one thing. How did you let my bug man get near a situation like that? I thought that's what we paid you for."

"Grissom cares about his people. He's hard to handle when one of his CSI's is in trouble."

"Especially the girl?"

"So now, you wanna gossip like a couple of fishwives, huh?"

"Hell, you know how I feel about that."

"I do, indeed."

………………………………..........................................................................................................

TBC