Post-Butterflied
Disclaimer: I still don't own CSI and get no profit from writing these stories…yadda yadda yadda.
Chapter Six
"Grissom, I don't want to talk to you right now," Sara said, "please get out of my car."
"No Sara, please, I know you're very upset with me, but please, please let me say this," Grissom pleaded.
Sara crossed her arms, "I don't see why I should, but I guess go ahead."
"Thank you so much," Grissom sighed with relief, "I think you misunderstood what I wanted to say to you before."
"I think I understood it perfectly," Sara turned and paused when she saw those pleading blue eyes, "…I'm sorry. I'll let you finish what you wanted to say."
"I know what I said to Dr. Lurie and at the time I believed it. Then Brass cornered me and told me I should seriously rethink things. So the last few days I have done a lot of serious thinking. I have been letting things at work slip, you should see my mountain of paperwork," Grissom almost laughed, "anyway, my point is I know what to do about 'this' now."
"What are we going to do about 'this' then?" Sara asked, suddenly realizing she had misjudged his intentions.
"This is really hard for me," Grissom sucked in a shaky breath, "Sara, I love you. You are amazing, smart and beautiful. I realize now that I've been silly and stubborn. I know you care about me, don't think I didn't notice it and I'm sorry that I've hurt you. I think we should give 'this' a chance. I want to give this a chance, tell me I'm not too late."
Sara didn't know what to say for a moment, "You're not too late."
"I'm not?" Grissom's eyebrows shot up.
"I said I was ready to move on and get over you, but I'm not. I love you so much," Sara smiled, "I know this might not be the easiest thing for either one of us. I've never really been in a relationship for more than a few months at a time. I'm going to be scared and unsure of myself too."
"I've never really seriously dated anyone," Grissom admitted, "I never thought anyone was right for me. But when you came to Vegas…I just…I knew you were the one…I couldn't bring myself to admit it to you though. I'm sorry that I'm so set in my ways and I was afraid to change."
"It's not entirely your fault, I mean I asked you to dinner once and you said no, so I never tried again," Sara said.
"About that," Grissom was smiling now, "I didn't turn you down because I was mad at you. I'm sure that's the way it seemed, but it was about me. I was losing my hearing. I have otosclerosis, the same disease my mother has. I was finally at the point where my hearing was seriously effecting my work. I was at the point where I needed to tell myself it was getting bad enough to see the doctor about surgery. A few days later, I went in and had surgery, my hearing has been back for a while now. I'm sorry that I had to turn you down. After I came back to work, I had completely forgotten your dinner offer because I had been so wrapped in myself. I think that's the only time in my life I have been so concerned about myself."
"You had surgery and you didn't bother to tell anyone?" Sara was incredulous.
"Well, I didn't want to admit that I was losing it. I did tell Catherine, but I think she understood at the time that I didn't want to tell anyone else," Grissom said.
"You could have told me that and I would have understood your turning me down," Sara was now letting her tears flow freely.
"I should have told you. I didn't even want to tell Catherine, she figured it out. I thought someone had to know where I was going anyway, I couldn't just disappear for a while and think no one would notice," Grissom reached out to brush away Sara's tears.
"So, what do we do now?" Sara asked, leaning into his touch.
"I don't know," Grissom slid over and took her into his arms, "but let's figure it out together."
"Okay," Sara whispered from his shoulder.
Grissom was thoroughly enjoying the feeling of Sara in his arms. Her body was so warm and inviting, he'd longed to do this for so long. He gently wiped the tears from her face and kissed the top of her head. Sara pulled away from Grissom and placed a kiss on his lips.
"I've wanted to do that for a long time," she whispered shyly when she pulled away.
---------------------------------------------
"Hey Sara, how are you doing?" Brass caught Sara behind her SUV as she was grabbing her field kit to join Nick in their crime scene.
"I'm better now, I promise you," Sara told him.
"Are you sure or are you just saying that?" Brass asked.
"I'm really okay, I talked to Grissom before shift," Sara said, "and I think things will work out between us."
"Good," Brass smiled, "I'm glad to hear it."
"Thanks for talking to him," Sara said as Brass turned to leave.
"You know about that?" Brass asked.
"I didn't know for sure until just now. I figured someone spoke to him, he hasn't done anything on his own yet," Sara leaned on her vehicle.
"Yeah, he needed a push in the right direction. I think he needed for someone else to make him realize he needed to act. I don't know if he realized that everyone else knew that he had feelings for you," Brass explained.
"Well I'm glad you did," Sara gave him a quick hug.
"I'm just watching out for you, you're a good woman, Sara," Brass said.
"Thank you," Sara saw that Nick was coming to look for her.
"Better go before your partner there gets upset," Brass told her.
Sara grabbed her field kit and jogged over to where Nick was waiting for her.
"Have an interesting conversation with Brass?" Nick asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I did," Sara said.
"I was just wondering what happened to you. You said you'd be right behind me and then you never came in," Nick explained.
"I just haven't seen him in a while. He was making sure I was over my flu," Sara told him.
"I guess everyone around here looks out for you, huh?" Nick asked.
"It sure seems that way," Sara smiled, "did you know Greg brought me soup the night I missed work?"
"No I didn't," Nick raised his eyebrows.
"I thought it was really sweet. It's good to know that everyone cares about me so much," Sara said.
A/N: Here you go. I told you it wouldn't be too long before I posted the next chapter. The chapter after this may not come until Sunday night because I'm heading home for the weekend and I'll be doing a bunch of running around. If I have the time, I'll post it sooner.
