Grissom sat in his town house contemplating on the day. Rejection did hurt. Damn it, it bloody hurt. Grissom felt as if his heart had broken in two. Sara had one half and he had the other. He had been stupid yes, he knew that. There had always been something special between them, ever since Harvard. Sara had given him a glimpse a few weeks back and he had hid in his shell once again. He wasn't one to get drunk, but right now he needed something to dull his senses. He couldn't keep thinking about the whole situation between Sara and himself. Rising up from his sofa he went to the fridge to get himself a bottle of beer, opening the bottle he took a swig of the contents and gave a soft sigh.

Everything came down to his relationship with Sara, well lack of it. He wanted to do something about it, he had needed time to think things over and adjust to the fact that he couldn't hide forever and deny that there was something between him and Sara. It had been the easy way out. Looking back he had been a fool, he could quote Oscar Wilde, he could solve the hardest of puzzles, yet he became a blubbering fool when it came to Sara. Why was life hard on him, why couldn't it be as easy as asigning someone to a case? Shaking his head he took another swig of his beer.

A ringing noise interupted his thoughts. It was his phone. Someone was phoning him.

Slowly he got up and went in search of his phone, finding it he lifted the receiver and put it to his ear. Clearing his throat.

"Grissom."

There was silence on the other end.

"Hello, anyone there?"

"Gris it's Sara."

Suddenly he lost his voice. What did Sara want? Did she want to give him another verbal lashing? The first one still stung.

"Grissom?"

"Uh..I'm still here."

"I need to apologise. What I said back at the lab, well I was out of order. I'm just...I'm still hurting and when you asked me out to dinner I....well...it pissed me off."

"I understand."

Damnit he could hear the edge in his voice.

"Your not happy, i can hear it in your voice."

"What do you expect Sara? I tried being a better friend and it got me into a hell of a lot of trouble. I don't know what you expect of me."

There was silence on Sara's end. Had he been too harsh? He just wanted her to understand that he didn't know what she wanted from him, he needed to know himself before he could give it to her.

"Maybe your right Sara. Maybe it's too late...."

Grissom sighed when he heard the dial tone on the other end. She'd hung up.

Two hours after their phone conversation, Grissom's door bell rang. He opened it to reveal a cold and exausted looking Sara.

"Sara?"

She cleared her throat and blinked several times.

"Can i come in?"

Stepping back from his door he let Sara enter, she was dragging herself inside.

Taking a quick look around she noticed that not much had changed since her first and only visit to Grissom's Town House. The walls were still covered in his beautiful butterfly collection, his sofa remained where it sat on her first visit, it didn't feel homely but she knew Grissom liked to spend time in it.

Turning around she noticed Grissom was looking at her, with a raised eyebrow he ushered her to his sofa. Sitting down himself he turned towards her.

"Why?"

Grissom's brows knitted together in confusion.

"Why what?"

"Why do we still persist on playing this stupid game?"

Sara knew that look, it was Grissom trying to face facts.

"Oh don't give me your 'confused' look, you know what I'm talking about."

"Sara...when did you start hating me?"

Taken aback by his question she sat with her mouth open, trying to think of a reasonable answer.

"Thats what you think? That i hate you. Oh Gris, you couldn't be more wrong."

"So why this?" He gestured his question with an open palmed shrug.

"When I first came here, to Vegas...I came because you asked me to, you said you needed my help. I was on that plane to Vegas straight away. Things were OK for the better part Gris...until something changed and I dunno what changed, maybe i did...."

Sara looked at Grissom and continued.

"There wasn't any chalk that night I touched your cheek. I was trying to comfort you, the time I asked you out to dinner, it wasn't because Hank had....I asked you to dinner because I wanted to spend time with you. I'd been plucking up the courage to ask you since i came here."

"What, your blaming this whole thing on me? You're not the innocent party in all of this. You flirt with every guy in the lab. How am i meant to feel?"

Sara got up and started to pace the floor of Grissom's Town House.

"Yeh Grissom, harmless flirting. Saying that...I don't think I've slept with someone who was involved in a case."

Grissom's heart sank. Why did she have to bring Lady Heather up, while they were in the middle of a serious heated argument. Was there anything she didn't know? Everyone at the lab probably knew he had been going deaf. He hadn't wanted to keep it secret, Sara was the first person he had wanted to tell but Catherine had figured it out. Catherine was his friend Sara was.....special.

"We all make mistakes in life Sara. We learn from them and hopefully don't make any more that might relate to them. I can see why you're angry."

Sara sat down, here eyes had softened.

"I just want things back they way they were before 'this' happened." Sara gestured to both of them with a quick flick of her hand.

"We both do."

Grissom moved closer to Sara, he wanted to comfort her, to let her know he was there for her. He needed to be the friend she knew years ago. He reached over to her and took her hand, pulling her into an akward yet satisfying hug. Things might be that bit better from now on....