I hadn't originally planned on continuing this, but the idea did continue. Slight summary change.

Chapter Two

He had asked her to stay. It wasn't a big deal, it really wasn't. After all he had asked her to stay as well. Sara watched from across the hall, as Sophia worked on the evidence they had picked up earlier. She had been watching her for the past few hours now, endless thoughts running through her mind.

Talk with him, just don't wait too long, Greg had told her. That night seemed like ages ago; it had only been a week. She hadn't said a word to Grissom or Sophia since then. It was hard work, but she had been able to avoid the two so far. She had ignored her cell phone when the caller ID read Grissom. She had left on her breaks, going here and there to grab a bite to eat. Any time she needed to tell Sophia anything, she waited until she had left, then let Greg know, let him tell her.

Greg knew there was something up. He had prodded, had questioned when they were alone. Sara had avoided answering the questions, telling him it was nothing. But the questions Greg had been asking recently had been getting harder to answer. Now she was trying to avoid being around him as well.

It wasn't easy, she had been avoided her coworkers, her friends, everyone she had trusted. Sara was lonely; she would go to work, interact with the others only when she had to. She avoided eye contact, avoided the pressing questions. She left after her shift ended, went home, had a few drinks and got lost in the TV, or the music from her stereo.

She would wake up later, to a massive headache. After showering and a few splashes of cold water, mixed in with heavy medicine, she felt better for the most part. At least good enough to keep up the appearance that nothing was wrong.

But something was, she reminded herself, glaring at Sophia. She watched as the newest member of her shift pulled her hair off her shoulder. Normally she wore it up, but since Grissom had mentioned that he liked her hair down, Sophia had kept it that way more often. It was all her fault, Sara thought bitterly, looking away as Sophia lifted her head.

Sara couldn't remember that last time she ate, and she doubted the four drinks she had earlier that day counted as a food group. Along with that, she hadn't the faintest clue when the last time she had a decent night of sleep, or any at all for that matter.

It hadn't bothered her at first. She could handle it, at first anyways. But now, the lack of sleep and sudden crash diet had started to take its toll on her. She first noticed it two days ago. Labeling evidence, she had forgotten several bags, and even forgot to separate two separate cases. Luckily she caught her own mistake before anyone else did. It had taken hours to fix everything, but she had fixed it in the women's restroom, locking the door behind her, placing a 'cleaning sign' before going in.

It wasn't the smartest thing to do, there was a good chance of cross contamination, it had taken longer than she wanted; luckily most everyone she was trying to avoid was out on a new case. She had volunteered to stay behind, something that had earned her a few queried looks. She had ignored them.

When they came back, and questioned her on why she hadn't gotten much done, she had lied. "I got sick," she told them, "rested a while, made sure I felt well enough, then started." It had also given them a reason to why she had stayed behind.

"You should have called in if you didn't feel well," Greg had reprimanded her. She scowled, Greg was acting as her supervisor, even when she had higher clearance than he did. At the time she had just brushed it off. No more that a shrug of her shoulders. It had been enough to get Greg to back off. But for how long?

"Hey stranger."

Sara glanced up to see Greg in the doorway. She frowned; obviously not too long. "What do you want?" she asked bitterly, looking back down at the papers in her hand; the same papers that had been there since her shift had started.

"Want to know what I did to piss you off so much for starters," Greg said, coming into the room.

"What makes you think that?" Sara asked, not even looking at him. She turned to the next page, pretending to be studying. In all actuality, she had no idea what case she was even working on.

"You haven't talked to me for two days now," he said, holding his hands out, "I know you've been avoiding the others, that makes sense because I know that you're mad at them. I just don't know where I messed up so bad that my lead partner won't even talk to me."

Sara lifted her eyes to glare up at him. "You didn't do anything," she told him, before looking back down at the papers. Her mind was fuming. Of course, you did nothing, you never do anything wrong. Just like Sophia, completely perfect.

Greg let out a sigh, "That makes me feel a lot better," he said sarcastically. "When did you stop eating?"

Sara looked at him, blinking. She was trying to find her voice, trying to say something.

"How do I know?" Greg asked the question for her. "You look like death warmed over. You've lost a lot of weight, I'm not the only who's noticed."

"Then how come no one's said anything," she asked him, growing angry again.

"Because they're all afraid of you. You're like some bomb waiting to go off," Greg sat down next to her.

"Grissom came to me yesterday, wanted to know why you haven't talked to him."

Sara bit her lip. She was angry at Grissom, but at the mentioning of his name she had frozen up. "What did you tell him?"

"I told him that you've been busy and were feeling under the weather," Greg explained, laying his hands on the table. "You can't avoid him forever Sara, you're a mess."

Sara took in a breathe, then grew angry again. "You know Greg, you're not my father, so why don't you just butt out of other peoples lives," she told him sternly, standing as she did so. She literally threw the paperwork in his face, "here, Mr. Genius, you figure this out," she told him crisply, leaving the room.

Greg grimaced, holding a hand against his cheek where the papers had cut him. He had never seen Sara so angry before, and he was at a loss on what to do. He couldn't just leave her be, she was a friend. He pulled his hand away, making a face at the blood that covered his fingers, it was also on the papers. With a sigh he picked them up, frowning as he read through them. What was Sara doing reading through the custodian's manual?

Sara needed help, and it was obvious she wouldn't listen to him. But he wasn't sure who she would listen to. He needed to talk to someone about it, and soon, he decided finally, leaving the papers on the table as he left the room himself.

TBC