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 : Next chapter gets Sara singing again! Let's try two songs this time.

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CHAPTER VII

"Good coffee?" Grissom asked after he could no longer stand the silence that settled after Greg's absence.

"Good enough. Got me through Greg's Maui stories." Sara looked at him and gave him a weak smile, a ghost of the smile that he loved so much.

"Well, at least she's talking to me." Grissom told himself silently. He eased himself into the chair that was opposite hers.

"How's your case progressing?" He didn't exactly know what topic to discuss with her. All he knew that he wanted to soak up some time with Sara. Asking about the case was his cover, this way he could always say it was supervisory concern.

"Nick and I are still waiting for Doc Robbins for our prelim," Sara answered him in a voice same as his, all business. "Looks like suspicious circs to me though."

Grissom continued to stare at her. He noted the slump of her shoulders, the way her whole demeanor looked resigned. "Sara... How have you been?"

Sara was shocked about the sudden change of topic. Her head shot up and her eyes met his. It took a while for her brain to process the question and when she found her voice, she had to control it to keep it from breaking.

"I'm ... I'm fine," she replied, though still confused as to his concern, or was it worry? If she knew Grissom at all, it would be the latter. Nevertheless, she needed to ask. "Why the question?"

"Nothing ... " Grissom said taking off his glasses and refocused his gaze back on her face. "I ... I just haven't talked to you in a while."

"Griss, you always talk to me." Sara gave him another smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm here every single time you hand out assignments, remember? And plus, there's always the case reviews and reports."

"I didn't mean that..." He didn't know how to explain the magnitude of how he missed just being with her. His wretched plan to stay at a distance was making things harder instead of simpler. "I meant as friends."

"Oh." was all that came out of Sara's mouth. She didn't add anything. She couldn't understand why he was doing all this. She knew the reason for the coldness that settled between them after the infamous 'dinner invitation'. She was hurt at how he had been deliberately avoiding her for the past weeks. And now this? She absolutely didn't know what game he was playing at, and frankly it angered her a little.

Before they could continue their conversation, the sound of Sara's beeper interrupted the now uncomfortable air. Sara quickly pulled it up to read the message, looked at Grissom one more time and said, "That was Nick, Doc Robbins is now ready for us. Umm... I'm gonna go and join them right now. I'll see you later."

All Grissom could do was nod and put his glasses back on. Sara was out of her chair in seconds and headed for the door running into Catherine.

"Hey, where's the fire?" Catherine asked, holding on to Sara to steady herself.

"Nick and Doc Robbins, time for our DB." Sara said over her shoulder.

"What did you do to her now?" Catherine asked, stepping inside the break room and occupying one of the chairs.

"I didn't do anything to her, Catherine." Grissom bit back in an angry tone. "As she said, she's going down to Doc Robbins for her DB's prelim."

"Okay, what crawled up your ass this time?" Catherine eyed him suspiciously. "And don't say it's nothing. I can see your nostrils flare."

Despite his slight anger, Catherine's last remark made him smile. Upon seeing Grissom's mood lifting, Catherine smiled at him as well.

"Tell me, what happened?" Catherine urged on.

"Nothing really happened, I just overheard a part of her conversation with Greg that I thought wasn't appropriate." Grissom shrugged. "And from the way she was looking, I think she didn't like that conversation anyway."

"Why? What were they talking about?" Catherine leaned both elbows on top of the table.

"Well, Greg was talking about her legs and even described it as 'impossibly long'." Grissom smirked.

"Ahhhh... " Catherine leaned back in her chair. "Now, I see. You want to be the only person to imagine Sara's legs, is that it?"

"Wha...?" Grissom was shocked. Catherine had raised one of her eyebrows and was looking at him with a sadistic smile on her lips. "That's not true. I just meant that ... that kind of conversation isn't appropriate around the lab."

"So you've imagined her legs?" Catherine was dauntless.

"I'm not rising to your bait, Catherine." Grissom shook his head, looking at the space behind Catherine's head, trying hard not to imagine Sara's legs.

"C'mon, don't tell me you haven't imagined her legs entangled with yours..." Catherine knew she was pushing Grissom's buttons. She could clearly see him flush a shade of red darker by the second.

"That's enough!" Grissom's voice came out as a growl. "I am not going to stay here and listen to you talk like this. Grow up Catherine."

"I am grown up Gil." Catherine simply replied. "It's you who keeps on acting like a child around Sara by denying how you feel about her."

"I will be in my office." Grissom stood up from his seat, turned to walk out.

"Gil," Catherine called, this time, her voice was soft. "You gotta stop this. Things are not THAT complicated."

"Let me know when you have something on our case." was all Grissom said and then he quickly left the break room. He was feeling the beginnings of a headache.

Was Catherine right? Was he simply making things complicated by pushing Sara away? These thoughts ran through Grissom's mind over and over. One part of him wanted to throw caution to the wind and give it a try, the other kept telling him that he simply couldn't do it. It was wrong ... is it really? The truth of the matter was that he was scared at how Sara could affect him so.

His mind then turned towards her legs. It didn't get past Grissom how wonderfully long her legs were. And Catherine was right, there were nights when all he could think about were her legs. Grissom shook his head and mumbled to himself, probably scaring one of the people he crossed paths with along the way to his office.

Opening the door to his office, Grissom had Catherine to thank for all the images of Sara's legs. "This is certainly not the kind of thoughts I should be having at work."