A/N: Alright, alright! I got the best reviews ever. You guys sure know how to make a girl happy. I couldn't stop smiling for an hour after I got those reviews! I promise that this is a Snicker story. The Grissom-Sara stuff is only in there for plot purposes. Seriously, I just don't even see Grissom and Sara together. He's like her big scary dad that sits on the porch cleaning a shot gun when they boys come to take her out. Anyway, enough of my nonsensical tirade.
Chapter Two: Step One"Hey Nick." Sara indelicately dropped onto the couch in the break room.
"Evening Sar." Nick nodded.
Sara lifted her leg and slid up her pants leg, gently massaging her ankle. "So, how was your day?"
"Uneventful." Nick shrugged. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah, fine. Just overdid it when I was running the other day." Sara smiled at Nick.
"Why don't you let me have a look at it?" Nick took hold of her foot and rubbed the ligament.
"Mmm, Nicky, that feels good." Sara murmured flexing her foot against the inside of his thigh. She had to work not to grin. Her plan was working perfectly. She could already see Nick's neck getting red. However when she thought of what she intended to do, it was no hardship not to smile. Sara still felt like the wicked witch of the west for how much she was going to hurt Nick. She drew her foot away. "Thanks so much." She gave him a hug and rested her head on his shoulder. "Hey, Nicky, you wanna get some coffee after shift?" She asked.
"Sure." Nick smiled.
Nick stretched out in his Denali and munched on an Altoid. After four and a half years of waiting for his chance, it seemed that Sara was ready to leave Grissom in the past. Nick respected the guy to the utmost degree and was always in awe of Grissom's genius, but the man had zip in the way of people skills. Sara had been practically throwing herself at him for years and Grissom just tossed her aside like a rag doll. Nick remembered something his mother had told him a long time ago. "It's the smartest people who do the dumbest things, Nicky. You'd be surprised." Nick supposed his mother was right. Taking a deep breath he opened the door to his car and found Sara's apartment. She answered quickly.
"Hey Nicky, come on in." Sara ushered him inside. "I got movies, coffee, and popcorn." They sat down on the couch and settled in to watch the movies Sara had picked.
Halfway through Rush Hour Sara scooted closer to Nick and pressed her lips to Nick's. Though taken by surprise, Nick was pleased. He guided Sara down on the couch and soon Sara found herself lacking a shirt. In a breathless voice she whispered, "let's take this somewhere else."
Grissom sat at his desk, quietly considering the events of the past few months. Nick and Sara had begun dating, Warrick had just gotten engaged to a 911 operator he'd been seeing on and off for a year. Catherine spent more time with Lindsey, though Lindsey seemed to prefer Sara's company. Sofia didn't seem to get that he just wasn't interested. Grissom ran his hands through his salt and pepper curls. How many times had he told Sara she deserved a life? How many times had he told her she needed someone her own age? And now she has a life. His brain taunted him. She has a life with Nick. Who happens to be her own age. And he's quite good-looking. A people person. He'll take care of her. He'll make her happy. And then his inner voice threw the final barb. You're too late. Way too late.
Coffee. Grissom needed coffee. Coffee would help. He got up from his desk and moved to the break room. Sludge. He noted. I think this might actually be toxic. Probably lethal. At least illegal to serve. I guess I'll get some from the diner. He left a note on his office door and headed for the parking lot. As he strode towards his Denali he caught sight of Sara with her back pressed against Nick's SUV engaged in what looked like a very French kiss. A ball of fire ignited in the pit of his stomach. How he longed to rip Nick off of Sara, pound his chest, point at Sara and shout, "MINE!"
But Sara wasn't his. She was Nick's. And the worst part was that Sara had offered him hundreds of chances to just say something. And being the moron he was, Grissom just sat back and watched. Watched as a chance at a wonderful life with Sara slipped through his fingers and right into Nick's waiting arms.
Grissom was officially convinced. Someone didn't just stop loving somebody. Sara was just toying with him. Two could play that game. He whipped out his cell phone. "Sofia." He spoke into the mouthpiece. "Would you like to get some coffee?"
Grissom was smart. Sara would give him that much credit. He'd figured out some of her scheme and was obviously wise to the fact Sara was only using Nick. And in a stroke of genius, he hadn't said anything to Nick. Nick will be all the more pissed off when he finds out if Grissom doesn't tell him, Sara reasoned. And he'd take it all out on me. He uses Sofia to try and hurry along my deception to the point where I have to 'fess up. Sara tapped her fingers on the wheel. Something had to happen and that something had to happen quick. She parked the Denali and entered CSI, her pager beeping. A smile crept over her face when she saw the sender of the message. "Ah, Grissom. Couldn't have asked for better timing."
Sara knocked on his office door but entered without waiting for his reply. "Hey, whatcha got for me?"
"Sara." Grissom looked at her over his glasses in such a Grissom-esque manner that Sara almost laughed. "I think it's time we had a talk."
Sara nodded. "Sure." She closed the door and sat back down in front of Grissom. "So, what's the what?"
"I think we all know that Nicky isn't really who you want to be with and it's unfair of you to string him along Sara."
"Well, the person I thought I was in love with couldn't commit, y'know. Actually, he couldn't even say that he wanted me. It was kind of sad. Spent a good four and a half years waiting for snow in the Sahara."
Grissom cocked his head. "What?"
"Snow in the Sahara. Snow, that fluffy white stuff caused by moisture freezing in mid-air and falling to the ground. The Sahara, that really hot place in Africa that gets like, zero inches of rain a year."
"No, I meant about the guy you thought you loved. You really thought that he couldn't say that he wanted you?"
"Okay Grissom." Sara leaned forward in her seat. "Let's cut the crap, okay? I came to Vegas for you. I thought that maybe there was something between us. I thought that there was a thing. No thing, no us, not actually even a you. Kind of just a me in total denial for four and half years. I did the denial thing, the anger thing, the bargaining thing, and I've pretty much come to the acceptance stage. Grissom, I grieved for our total lack of a relationship. I'm done grieving. Now I'm living. Sure, maybe Nicky isn't exactly the guy I saw myself with. But, he's the kind of guy who'll take me out clubbing and we'll have a good time. There will be affection. Probably even love. In fact, I know I love him as a friend, and eventually that will grow in to love as a boyfriend or a husband. What you and I had, this thing, is no longer. Finito, finissimo, finished, kaput, done, over with. Okay? Got it? There is no us. There is a you. There is a me. But no us. So just, leave me alone, okay?"
With that speech Sara stood to go.
"Sara, wait."
"I'm done waiting Grissom. Don't you get it? I waited and I waited and I waited. Snow in the Sahara, remember? You've got Sofia. I've got Nick. Can we just leave the past in the past? The horse is dead Grissom. The horse decomposed and they carted it away. You are beating the ground where it lay." She fixed him with a steely gaze. "The past is gone Grissom. Let it die in peace."
"Sara, don't you dare walk away from me, this conversation is not finished."
"Did you not hear me? Are you deaf? Otosclerosis finally get you?" She snarled.
Grissom was stunned. "When did you-"
"Grissom, I've known since the lab blew up. I saw the damn card in your hand. I knew you couldn't hear me half the time. And it runs in your family. Remember, you told me that at that seminar."
"Sara-"
"So, if you're quite finished, I have a case to attend to."
Grissom was in front of her by now. "Actually, I'm not quite finished." He snapped. "I've got a few things to say." And with that, his lips crashed over hers.
A/N: RELAX! RELAX! I promised this would be a Snicker story and it WILL BE!!!!! THIS IS ALL JUST FOR PLOT PURPOSES!!!!! I PROMISE. I'M SO SORRY FOR HAVING TO PUT YOU GUYS THROUGH THIS PAIN, BUT GOOD WILL COME OF IT. Please don't' hurt me!