TITLE: second chance

AUTHOR: emach14

DISCLAIMER: i told you before i own nothing but a creative mind...

AITHOR'S NOTES: im sorry to keep you all waiting... you know our computer and has its own problems... ive got to finish this! ENJOY! r&r!

SECOND CHANCE

VIII – RECONCILIATION

Another night passed and everything was back to normal. Grissom's life, too, was back to normal. With everything in control, he has less to worry about.

He is there inside his office now, packing things up and readying himself to go home. It was just the end of his shift and he was granted three days off starting tomorrow. 'What a great time to relax…'

He sat down and gathered paperwork, signing them up. He doesn't want anything to worry him while he's off. After signing them all, he picked it up and arranged them. He opened his front drawer and placed it at the bottom. Then he stopped to look at a picture frame resting on top of his paperwork. He slowly picked it up to look at it better. He smiled.

It was a picture of Sara, from the evidence on Hank's case. It was the best shot of Sara. He knew it was wrong to get a piece of evidence, but there were so many of them, nobody will know. He managed to get it only after the case was closed for the reason that one might check evidence on a case that is still pending.

Grissom stared at it for a minute then smiled thoughtfully. He put it back at the top of his files and closed his drawer. He got up, picked up his car keys and his brown jacket and left.

A few moments later, Grissom was now standing outside a room, knocking on the door with no. 377 on it. After a while, the door opened. It was Sara in her pink lingerie. She looked at him and smiled, letting him in.

"Hey," Grissom greeted, returning the smile.

"Hey," she answered back.

He stepped inside and looked about for a moment, "You moved in so fast. Everything's already in order."

"Not if Warrick, Nick and Greg are there to get through with it… they've done a good job. Want some coffee?"

"I think I'll gonna go for some tea."

"Alright."

Sara went into her kitchen and prepared their drinks. Grissom meanwhile sat on the couch.

"Do you feel comfortable in your new apartment?"

"If you have no one to sneak up on you, it's great," she joked. She went back to the living room, bringing their cups of tea, placed them at the table and sat there beside him.

"Thank you." Grissom said as he went for his cup and took a sip.

"I heard you've been granted a few days off." Sara opening a conversation. "It's something new."

"Well, yea. I don't want to leave work but few days of rest will be fine. Anyway, Cath will inform me."

"It's hard for them, though. The two of us missing."

"That's right. But she assured me that everything's under control and told me that we needed the rest."

After a few moments of silence and finishing their tea, Sara asked him, "Do you think everything's going back to normal?"

Grissom looked up from his cup. "It will be." Not convinced by the look at her face, he placed down his cup and instead, placed his hands in her shoulders. "Hey, it's gonna be fine. I assure you."

She nodded and stared into nothing. After a few minutes of silence, he called out, "Sara?"

She looked at him and met his gaze.

"You know when you were gone, I suddenly felt a void in my life. It was then and there that I realized you were 'that' important in my life. I thought it was nothing, and shook it off. But when you disappeared, I knew that I could not afford to lose you. Not only professionally! But also… personally… I'm telling you this because I realized my misgivings… I want to bring back what we've lost."

"You wanna start again? Griss, I don't know. You pushed yourself away from me and then suddenly you came here and just commanded me to open doors for you…"

"I'm not ordering you to do anything!"

"And you think it is easy to forget…" Tears were formed in her eyes and she fought to keep it back. "I forced myself to you only to be set aside… I… I…" The tears she tried to fight were flowing down now. "I've been hurt so much. By the people around me, by Hank, and… the least person I expected… you… You're the one friend I had and… it was… lost… What happened, Grissom!"

He wiped her tears with his thumbs and looked at her, straight into her brown eyes. She met his penetrating gaze.

"Sara, that's why I'm trying to get back to normal. I know it's not easy. Just give it a chance. We'll take it step-by-step."

She held her gaze but eventually looked away, tears flowing anew.

"Sara," he placed his palm on her cheek and made her face him. His other hand still on her bare shoulder. "I know I've hurt you so much… Dinner? Okay, we'll have dinner. Tomorrow, I'll fetch you and we'll eat together. And… we'll have it before shifts, we'll talk about things… about you and me. Then we'll go out sometimes. We'll explore Vegas. We'll bring your life back… Hank was right. I was the one who took your life away. I should be the one to bring it back. You'll get it back. But this time, with me."

Sara looked at him straight and then buried her face in his chest. Grissom hugger her back, tightly. She cried in his arms, his clothes to catch her tears. Even if it gets damp, Grissom doesn't care.

"I just don't want to be the 'victim' anymore," Sara managed to say behind all those tears. "You know I've fought for so long but in the end, I was always the one who gets hurt. You know that I'm a fighter… but I don't want anymore of this, Grissom! I'm tired of this!"

"It's alright. We'll manage to get everything back to normal."

After long minutes of hugging and comforting each other, Sara broke from his arms and looked at him. "Catherine informed me that you haven't had sleep while I was gone."

"I managed to get home and took a bath but, yes, I haven't had sleep for 4 days. That's why I'm taking days off."

"Common." She held his hands and stood up. "Follow me."

He got up too and Sara takes the lead to her bedroom. She opened the door, stepped inside and Grissom closed the door behind him. She took off his jacket and placed it to a chair beside her closet. She made him sit down on the soft mattress of her bed, and then she removed his shoes. While she removed his right ones, he removed the other. After she was finished, she hopped into the bed and lied down.

"Sleep here beside me."

He looked back at her, surprised. But he obeyed her and lied down. Her back was facing his chest. Then, Grissom locked his arms around Sara's body, his left hugging her, his right holding her waist. She held his hands.

"I just want to believe I'm not alone." Sara confessed later.

"You're not." Grissom answered her, his lips almost kissing her hair.

Then she faced him, their noses almost touching, looked at him straight into his eyes. "Stay… Say with me… Don't leave me."

He hugged her and whispered, "I wont."

Sara snuggled into his chest and hugged him. She could feel his breathing, the nervous beating of his heart and close to his warmth.

Grissom held her tightly, afraid of letting go. Like lost children in the dark, he was close to her, feeling her warmth and he could smell her hair. For once, without even thinking, he planted a kiss on her head and closed his eyes.

END

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