A/N: Wow! I got soooo many positive responses from everybody about this story. So you inspired me to stay up as late as I had to so that you guys could get another chapter! Don't forget to review! I live for reviews. As always, the most helpful thing in your reviews is to suggest what you would like to see happen, what you thought was too OOC for the story line, (not the show in general) what areas you think could be improved, and where I made any mistakes. And as always, that thirty seconds you take out of your day will put a smile on my face for a guaranteed thirty minutes.

Chapter Two

"Get out of San Mariano, Gil Grissom."

Grissom stood his ground, though a slight tremor in his hands could be noticed if one stared for long enough. "No. I need to speak to Sara."

"I don't understand how much clearer I can make myself, Dr. Grissom. Sara does not want to see her. You've hurt her very badly and I won't allow you to hurt her any longer. You need to turn around and leave. I'm sorry that you drove all this way. Have a good evening."

"Not until I talk to Sara." Grissom insisted.

"She doesn't want to speak to you." Shannon pushed open the door to the kitchen and stood in front of Riley. "So please leave. Riley, dinner's getting cold."

"I'll be in the kitchen in a minute, Shan. Don't wait up."

"Alright." Shannon sent another warning glance Grissom's direction.

"Mr. Lange –"

Riley opened the door and gestured at it. "There's the door, Dr. Grissom. Use it, or be shown how to use it."

Grissom nodded. "I'm not going to give up. I need to talk to Sara."

"We'll see." Riley slammed the door in his face.

&&&&&&&&&

"Is he gone, Riley?" Sara asked, taking a bite of her crabcake.

"Yeah. So, Madison and Olivia. What's new with you little hooligans?"

"Nothing." Madison shrugged.

"Same as ever." Olivia agreed. The twins faced Sara. "Aunt Sara," Olivia asked carefully. "Who was at the door? Why did you want him gone?"

"Nobody, sweetie."

"Aunt Sara, we're thirteen, not stupid." Madison fixed her with a stare worthy of Jim Brass. "Why didn't you want to talk to him?"

"Girls, it's very complicated. But, if he comes to the door, don't answer and don't let him in."

Madison and Olivia nodded. "We promise, Aunt Sara."

&&&&&&&&&

"Aunt Sara?" The two girls appeared at Sara's door that evening, bearing a tray loaded with the least healthy food they could find in the state of California. "We brought snacks and movies." They held out sappy chick flick movies.

"Two Weeks Notice, Maid In Manhattan, Kate and Leopold, Alex and Emma…we've got every chick flick that would make Daddy gag." Madison flashed her puppy eyes at Sara, a look no self-respecting aunt could say no to.

"And we brought Pop Tarts! S'mores, your favorite. And popcorn, hot cocoa, and loads of other junk food that would give Daddy a heart attack if he found out about." Olivia flashed the same puppy dog eyes.

One set of puppy dog eyes, Sara could at least usually stand, but two sets from her only nieces were impossible. "Alright. Come in."

Her nieces scrambled to join her on the bed. "Please tell us!" They begged. "We love you, Aunt Sara and we promise not to make fun of you. We just want you to be happy again. We haven't seen you since we were eight."

Sara rolled her eyes. "You two should work for the FBI. You'd wrangle a confession out of every poor schmo that rolled through those doors. Alright, so here's the story. That man is my boss, who I happen to be in love with. Things got complicated for us, so I had to leave."

"That's not a good answer." The twins folded their arms. "You're in love with him, Aunt Sara, so why don't you go talk to him. Maybe he'll be standing out there with a dozen red roses, on his knees, asking you to marry him, and you won't even speak to him."

"Oh, it's just like in the book I'm reading." Madison's eyes took on a dreamy cast. "Lord Gilbert offends Lady Jessamyn and Jessamyn won't speak to him, but he loves her and doesn't give up. He spends a whole year chasing after her, writing her love notes and giving her tokens. Finally Lord Gilbert gets Lady Jessamyn to speak to her and he tells her that he loves her and wants to marry her. And of course, Lord Gilbert is very rich and Lady Jessamyn loves him, so they get married."

Lord Gilbert? Sara thought, inwardly laughing. Great, suddenly he's Lord Gilbert and I'm Lady Jessamyn. Ha. If only. Grissom is probably just trying to convince me to come back to the lab.

"Hey, Sara! He's still outside!" Olivia gestured excitedly. "Look, look!"

Sara rushed to the window. "Oh my God, you're joking. Girls, wait here, I'll be right back."

Madison and Olivia nodded vehemently. As soon as Sara was out of the room they flipped up the sash to her windown and climbed out onto the roof, watching as Sara opened the door.

&&&&&&&&&

"Grissom, what are you still doing here? I thought Riley told you to go away." Sara opened the door.

"I'm not going away until you listen to me, Sara." Grissom turned at the sound of her voice.

"Grissom, I know the lab needs me, but so do Liv and Madison. So do Riley and Shannon. The possibility of something between you and I just isn't enough anymore. I need something else. This is where my family is."

"Sara, it's not just the lab that needs you. Greg needs you, Nick needs you, Brass needs you." He paused and then spoke quietly. "I need you."

"It's not enough anymore Grissom." She swiped at the tears forming in her eyes. "It's just not enough. I can't give up a good life again just because you miss me. I promised myself once that I would never be at the mercy of any man. You can't change the way you feel, Grissom. And I know that you feel that you're too old for me, that because you're my boss, everybody will cry favoritism, that you can't let yourself love me because I'll just let you down. God Grissom, if only I'd been able to just…hold you out of my heart like that. I let you into my heart and you did let me down. You're not too old Grissom, emotionally we're right for each other. As for the supervisor-subordinate issue, the other day Atwater asked me how things were going with us. Told me he was rooting for us and that our solve rate was so outstanding he'd defend a relationship between us." Sara shook her head. "But whatever, Grissom. I can talk myself until I'm blue and the face, but the fact is that you just don't want a relationship between us."

"That's not true, Sara –"

"No, it is, Grissom. I get it now. Go home, Grissom." Sara walked back into the house, trying to blink the onslaught of tears out of her eyes.

&&&&&&&&&

"She did not just reject him." Madison turned to Olivia. "No way. Look at him. He's lost without her. He needs her."

"I know. She wouldn't even let him get a word in edgewise. He's obviously in love with her."

"I say we go downstairs and play Cupid."

"Right behind you."

&&&&&&&&&

"Hey, mister." Olivia ran up behind Grissom.

"Yes?" His eyes were red enough that Olivia could safely assume he'd been crying.

"Um, we're Sara's nieces."

He nodded. "I'm Gil Grissom."

"We know." Madison interrupted. "Here's the deal. Sara's in love with you, and you're obviously in love with her. We'll get any notes or letters you want to be given to her. As much as we want Aunt Sara to stay out here, she's not happy and that makes us miserable. We already have enough love-drama with Daddy and Shannon dancing around the sexual tension that could kill a moose, we don't need Aunt Sara down in the dumps too. So what do you say?"

"Girls, I don't think your Aunt Sara wants to speak to me."

"No duh." Madison threw him a look of contempt. "We heard her yelling at you about your insecurities. Which, by the way, are mega-lame. First of all, workplace relationships, so much more common than you'd think. Secondly, being worried that Aunt Sara will hurt you? Aunt Sara's been in love with you for ten years. All we ever heard growing up between Daddy and Sara was 'when are you going to tell this Grissom fellow you love him?' or 'Riley, I know it's stupid, but I wish I could just see Grissom's face again, or hear his voice.' And the day she got the call to come to Vegas? Smile on her face six feet wide that you couldn't knock off with a sledgehammer. And as for age? My Spanish teacher is twenty years younger than her husband, who by the way, is the French teacher, and they've been happily married for five years. Everybody thinks that they're so awesome because they've got this fairytale romance about how Mr. Anderson pulled her out of an abusive relationship and romanced her."

"Uh…" Grissom stumbled over his words.

Olivia jumped in. "I think what my slightly tactless sister is trying to say is that your concerns aren't considered as big a deal to society as they are to you. And if what society thinks of your actions is what's holding you back, then don't give up. Keep chasing her until the end of time."

Grissom continued to stutter. "I…that is to say…Sara…"

"Yeah, we know. Don't give up, okay? We'll work on Sara, you just romance her."

"I'm not very good at romance." Grissom admitted to the two girls.

Madison rolled her eyes and presented Grissom with her book, Jessamyn and the Lord. "Read it, understand it, comprehend it. You are not confused. Follow the book. Flowers, letters, even a small token of appreciation will do. But careful not to cross the line into scary-stalker territory."

"What have I got to lose?" Grissom sighed. "Alright."

The two girls hugged him.

&&&&&&&&&

"Sara, this was on the porch for you today." Shannon handed her a plant.

"Oh my God, you have got to be fucking kidding me." Sara groaned, holding the plant. "Throw it out."

"Sara, this is a pretty expensive orchid. Who would have sent you something like this?" Comprehension dawned on Shannon's face. "Oh. Got it. Would you mind if I put it out back?"

"Whatever. I just don't want to see it." Sara handed her the offending vegetation. "I don't know why he's doing this. He got what he wanted, I quit bugging him."

"Sara," Shannon ventured quietly. "Maybe you should listen to him. He did seem genuinely heartbroken."

"Not now, Shannon." Sara grabbed a spoon out of the silverware drawer. "Now where is that pint of Half Baked I know Riley has hidden?"

"Freezer, second shelf, way towards the back."

&&&&&&&&&

(A/N: I took this scene nearly straight out of the OC, altering a few things to suit my purposes, but other than that, it's pretty much the same, so if it seems familiar, that's why. Sorry for the interruption.)

Shannon glanced at the clock. Midnight. Nobody was up. This whole thing with Sara is so…depressing. She really does deserve somebody good. I just hope this Grissom is good enough. Okay Mr. Chocolate Fudge Cookie Dough ice cream, where are you? Shannon made a cup of SwissMiss hot cocoa and hopped onto the countertop, eating straight out of the ice cream carton.

"Oh, sorry." Riley smiled apologetically at Shannon. "Didn't mean to interrupt you."

"Weren't interrupting anything important. I was just ruminating on Sara's problem."

Riley grabbed a spoon. "Yeah. That's an ice cream and hot chocolate type of problem. Lay out your thoughts for me. Am I being a good big brother by protecting her, or should I try and get them together? Because she's obviously miserable without him, but he's hurt her too many times to be trusted."

"Tell me everything you know about the whole situation." Shannon commanded, tugging her shiny black hair into a ponytail and dipping her spoon into the ice cream.

"Well, Sara was thirteen when she came to live with us. She was a pretty messed up thirteen year old, and didn't have much of a social life. When she got to college, everything did a one-eighty. Sara became Ms. Party Animal and got in trouble more than once for causing problems in her dorm. There was the Great Pregnancy Scare of '92 that almost scared her straight, but her damned boyfriend just led her right back into things. Then, her senior year, she went to a forensics conference. Met a guy named Gil Grissom. Somehow he managed to straighten her out. He got her off of weed and drinking so heavily, helped her get a job out in Frisco, called every week to make sure everything was going well. After Sophie left me, you came on board, and then Sara came to live with us. Then the Vegas call came and Sara was off to save her savior. And five years later, you get the wrecked shell of a woman that used to be my sister."

"Wow." Shannon leaned back against the cabinet. "That sucks."

"Yeah, I know. Poor thing."

"Did she ever try dating somebody else? Maybe she just needed to explore her other options."

"Dated a paramedic. He was the scum of the earth. I wouldn't wish him on even Sophie."

"Wow. He must have been a real loser."

"Shannon, thank you for not making my life so complicated." Riley closed his eyes and sighed.

"Riley, I cook your food, clean your house, take care of your kids, and still feel comfortable enough to tell you to fuck off when you're being a royal asshole. I'd say we have a pretty good relationship."

"We do, don't we." Riley smiled at Shannon. "And you are pretty amazing. I would probably have set fire to this place and poisoned my kids with my terrible cooking long ago if it weren't for you."

"You just remember that at Christmas."

The two sat in comfortable silence for a while, sipping on their drinks and eating the ice cream. "Oh, you have ice cream on your nose." Riley smirked and grabbed a napkin, dabbing at the liquid.

"Oh, that's gorgeous, I'm sure."

"It's very cute." Riley leaned in, enough that he could feel Shannon's breath against his neck. He smiled his heart-melting movie star smile that sold twelve million dollars in tickets a week and Shannon was a goner. Her breathing quickened as her eyes locked with Riley's and he leaned closer, his toothpaste-scented breath hot against Shannon's own mouth.

&&&&&&&&&

A/N: Okay, okay. What a bad chapter, I KNOW. I'm desperately sorry and you may feel free to fling vegetables and various other foods that make funny noises upon impact right….now. Remember, reviews are my friend. Why was this chapter too sappy? How could I have improved it? Where should I take the angst? Should Sara agree to see Grissom? Should the twins get found out or not?

Thoughts!