DISCLAIMER : I don't own CSI nor it's characters. Everything belongs to the brains behind this wonderful show. Props go out to them. :D
AUTHOR'S NOTE : I am still uncertain as to what title I'm going to use for this fic. Please read and reviews will be much appreciated. It's all about Sara and Grissom here. :D
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CHAPTER II
She exhaled deeply. She had been nervous about performing. Yes, she had done it quite a number of times already, but it still hasn't erased the butterflies that always came when she faced the mic.
Her audience were great. She was grateful that the bar never had more than 20 customers at a time. This was something private for her. She didn't want a large crowd to laugh at her when her voice breaks. Thankfully, that hasn't happened...yet.
She stared at her mirrored self. She almost lost it out there. She had, once again, successfully kept her emotions from breaking her voice. She felt her eyes watering, tears threatening to spill over her pale cheeks. She didn't want to feel this anymore.
Hurt played a major part in her feelings. She hated him, yet she loved him. She always have. She figured, expressing her feelings through songs would be easier than bottling them up. Before she found this kind of release, she always felt like she was going to explode whenever she saw him. Him, her supervisor and her friend. Sometimes, just the mere sight of him would turn her into a blabbering somebody.
Things had turned worse when he had refused to have dinner with her. It took all her courage to even ask him out. She had followed him around the lab earlier that day, trying to get the perfect timing to ask. The lab explosion that happened moments after she had walked away from her intention had hardened her resolve some more. She didn't want to die without knowing how he felt about her.
The rejection was worse than the damage she had received from the explosion. She felt embarrassed after that. She found every excuse to stay away from him. Found herself dreading the times that they had to work together. If Grissom noticed the change, he surely didn't mind or showed any concern over it. She felt lost. That was when she decided to take him up on his advice.
"Find a hobby", he had said. This, singing, was it. This was her hobby and this was now her emotional release.
She hadn't told anyone about the singing. She wasn't ready to reveal this yet. She knew that they'd find out the real reason why she did this simply by listening to her sing. Her heart sang whenever she sang.
Sara shook the ghosts of her thoughts away from her mind. She looked at the mirror once more, banishing thoughts other than getting to work from her mind. Grabbing her things, she quickly left the bar using the back entrance, boarded her Denali and drove to work.
Sighing, she told herself, this time out loud, "Another night at work. Let me get through this."
The drive to work had calmed her. She felt composed and more like herself by the time she got to the lab. Quickly dropping her things in the locker room, she proceeded to the break room where she knew the others would be by then.
Seeing Greg, their quirky lab tech, who looked like he was cracking a joke to Nick brought a smile to her mouth. She had forgotten to thank him for the vegetable salad he had bought for her the previous day. She decided to do something about it tonight.
"Hey." She greeted Nick with a nod, Catherine with a smile and then laced her arm with Greg's. Greg whipped his head around to turn to Sara and raise an eyebrow towards the arm linked to his.
"Hey back to ya." Greg said sweetly, grinning from ear to ear. Nick threw a look at Catherine's direction and she in turn gave a surprised look at Sara.
"You seem to be in a chipper mood. Something going on that we should know about?" Catherine said after receiving only a smile back from Sara.
"Nope, nothing worth reporting. Just wanted to thank Greg here for being so thoughtful and buying me that salad yesterday." She smiled at Greg, causing the young man's smile to grow bigger and a slight flush to color his face. "Thanks Greg, I owe you one. I didn't even know I was hungry 'til you came in with that salad!"
A shy "You're welcome" came from Greg who now was growing even more flushed.
"You better be careful, you don't want to get Greg all flustered." She indicated Greg's flushed state and their linked arms. "We might need him operational today."
Nick snorted, Greg threw a devilish grin at Catherine and then again turned his attention to Sara. "So, you want to grab something during break time?" Greg ventured slowly.
For the first time in weeks, Sara smiled inside as well as outside and said, "Yes Greg, I would like to. Meet you there later?" The incredulous look that came from Nick, Catherine and Greg was more than she could bear. A laugh escaped her lips and a high-pitched "What?" came with it.
"What is what?" came a voice from behind her. Sara turned around to find Grissom standing there eyeing the loose way her arm was still linked to Greg.