Disclaimer/Author's Note – See Chapter One.

Chapter Eight – Valentine's Day

The evidence had been processed. The common link found. One of the suspects identified. An APB for the suspect and her car had been issued and every cop in Vegas had their eyes peeled.

Now all they had to do was wait.

Waiting. Not Sara Sidle's favourite occupation.

She sat in the layout room, drumming her fingers on the table, staring at the photographs before her. Somewhere, wandering the streets of Vegas, were two psychotic killers who had done unspeakable things to at least twelve teenagers. Sara had no doubt they would kill countless more unless they were caught. And that fact that it was now Tuesday, February 14th, she could only fear that tonight they would kill more spectacularly than before.

A profound sense of uselessness overwhelmed Sara. She excelled at finding the evidence, interpreting it, solving the crime. But none of that was helping close this case and she felt like she was waiting on the edge of a precipice, with nothing to do but wait for the killers' next move.

Director Robert Cavallo was not a happy man. He had a busy life, filled with paperwork, liaising with the press, having business lunches with the Sheriff, important business men and politicians. He didn't have time to field phone calls from an irate Mayor regarding his night shift supervisor.

A knock on his office door made him look up frowning from his desk. 'Come in,' was his irritable invitation.

Grissom opened the door and gave the director a polite nod. 'Robert? You wanted to see me?'

'Yeah, Gil. Get the hell in here,' Cavallo didn't have time to beat about the bush. 'What the hell did you say to the Mayor? He's been yelling in my ear for twenty minutes.'

'I told him I was working on an active investigation and couldn't discuss anything with him at this time,' Grissom replied reasonably.

'He said you hung up on him!'

'Not that I recall,' Grissom replied, his voice calm and even. 'I believe I told him I had a meeting to get to and that I would speak to him when I could release more information.'

'Grissom,' Cavallo exhaled, attempting to keep his own voice calm. Grissom's perpetual calmness always succeeded in raising the director's blood pressure. 'I know you have all the political savvy of a radish. But even you must realise that there are certain ways of dealing with men like the Mayor. And being unreasonable is not one of them.'

Grissom frowned. 'Robert, this is an active investigation. I can't start divulging information to anyone not involved in the case. Not even the Mayor. It would be unethical. I've explained as much I can to him. I would think that as director of this lab, you'd support me in this.'

Grissom had played his trump card. Cavallo knew that the Mayor had no right to any information regarding an active investigation, no matter what personal interest he might have. He also knew that Grissom was calling him out, demanding in his own, non-aggressive Grissom way, that Cavallo realise where his loyalties lay – namely with the law and with the lab.

Cavallo raised his hands in defeat. 'Try and go one week without pissing off a politician. That's all I ask. Any other calls from the Mayor, direct him my way. Politely.'

'Of course,' Grissom replied, giving his boss a gracious smile. 'Thank you, Robert.'

Catherine reached into the break room fridge and was relieved to find no experiment waiting there to put her off her lunch. Grissom apparently had started to listen to his team's repeated complaints. Or, more likely, he didn't have an ongoing experiment running at the moment.

Grabbing her tuna fish on rye and a soda, she carried her lunch back to the table to join Warrick and Nick.

'So, did anyone else notice something weird going on with Grissom and Sara today?' Catherine asked, subtle as ever.

It didn't escape her notice that Warrick immediately averted his eyes and didn't answer. Nick however, nodded.

'You mean how Sara was upset and Grissom…' he trailed off, trying to find the right description. 'Grissom was being… sensitive.'

'Uh huh,' Catherine agreed. 'And there was the small matter of the way he kept looking at her.'

'Looking at her?'

'Come on, Nicky. You're supposed to be an investigator,' Catherine groaned in frustration. 'You remember that dumb look he used to get when Terri Miller was here?'

Nick laughed at the memory. 'Oh yeah.'

Catherine raised her eyebrows and waited for her point to hit home. It didn't take long.

'Really?' Nick was surprised. 'He was looking at Sara like that?'

'Uh huh.'

'You think something's going on that we don't know about?'

'I don't know. Warrick?' Catherine asked expectantly. She and Nick both turned to look inquisitively at their so far silent friend.

Warrick looked at his two colleagues innocently.

'Hmm? Sorry?'

'Cut the innocent act, Warrick,' Catherine told him. 'I know you know something.'

Warrick shrugged. 'About what?'

'Warrick!'

Warrick huffed out a breath. 'Catherine. Whatever I do or don't know, you know one thing for sure…'

'Which is?'

'You know I'm not going to tell you.' Warrick smiled and got to his feet. 'It's none of our business, Cath.'

With a shrug he left the room.

Catherine and Nick looked at each other, grinning. 'Well, that settles it,' Catherine said. 'If Warrick won't talk about it, there's definitely something going on.'

Sara was still sitting in the layout room when Grissom found her. He could tell from the way she was sitting that she hadn't left that chair since the meeting ended two hours ago.

'Sara?'

She turned at the sound of his voice and gave him a tired smile. 'Hey.'

'Go home and get some rest.'

'There's something here,' she told him, turning back to the pictures. 'If I could just…'

'Sara, you're tired. You've just worked a double shift. For, what? The fifth time in less than two weeks? You need to go home and sleep.'

She turned back to him, ready to argue, but the determination on his face coupled with her own exhaustion won out. 'Fine. Okay. I'll go home.' She got to her feet and walked towards him and the door.

'Thank you,' he told her. 'There's nothing more any of us can do at this point.'

'Except wait. Right?'

He nodded with a sympathetic shrug. He knew how she felt. He was frustrated with the way the case was going too. But there was only so much they could do.

'The police are looking. They're increasing patrols in the desert tonight…'

'Needle in a haystack,' Sara replied cynically.

'You'll feel better when you've had some sleep. And dinner.'

'Dinner?'

'We have plans tonight, remember?'

Sara sighed. 'Valentine's Day. But…'

Grissom knew what she was going to say. 'We have two pagers and two cell phones between us. If they need us, they'll call.'

Sara couldn't fault his logic. And as frustrated as she was about the cases, the thought of dinner with Grissom, on Valentine's Day of all days, certainly had its charms.

'Okay, I give in,' she told him with a smile. 'What time?'

Grissom returned to his office to file away a last piece of paperwork before heading home for some well earned sleep before his date that night. He slid the filing cabinet drawer shut when someone behind him cleared their throat. He turned to find Catherine hovering in the doorway.

'You off?' she asked.

'Yeah. You should be home by now,' he told her.

'I'm going. I just wanted...' she hesitated, wondering how best to broach the subject. Then inspiration struck. 'I wanted some advice…'

Grissom cocked an eyebrow in a mixture of concern and surprise. If Catherine was coming to him for advice, things must be bad.

'Sure. What's up?'

'Well… let just say I… have certain romantic feelings for someone,' she started. 'Hypothetically, of course. And hypothetically, this someone is… a colleague.'

'Warrick?' Grissom asked.

Catherine blushed slightly. 'Um, no… not Warrick. But let's just say… maybe I have seniority over this person. What's… what's departmental regulations about that?'

Grissom frowned slightly. Was Catherine being serious or was she getting at what he though she was getting at?

'Um… I believe current regulations are that interoffice relationships are discouraged but not forbidden,' Grissom replied slowly. 'As long as both parties are discreet and don't bring the relationship to work.'

'What about the seniority part?'

Grissom thought for a moment. 'I suppose, ethically, if you were a supervisor, you really shouldn't date a subordinate. Supervision, in that instance, would be transferred to someone else…' he trailed off, knowing full well what Catherine was getting at. 'But we're not talking about you, are we Cath?'

Catherine shrugged. 'Who are we talking about, Gil?'

Grissom sighed. 'How did you find out?'

'Woman's intuition,' she replied with a smile. She closed the door and moved closer to his desk. 'It also says in the department regulations that personnel have to be informed, in writing, to guard against any potential sexual harassment charges. And you should really think about transferring supervision of Sara to someone else.'

'A little unsolicited advice?'

'One friend to another. Rumour has it, when Cavallo moves up, Ecklie moves in to his office. He'd love nothing more that to burn you with something. He could screw up both your and Sara's careers. So, play by the book and don't let him.'

Grissom gave her a small smile of gratitude. 'Thanks, Cath. I'll… I'll talk to Sara about it.'

'No problem.'

'I assume I don't have to tell you to keep this to yourself?'

She gave him an innocent smile. 'Keep what to myself?'

'Thanks.'

She moved to the door and opened it. Before leaving, she turned back to him once more. 'Oh, and Gil?'

'Yeah.'

'About time.'

Grissom managed to grab his required six hours of sleep, before waking up refreshed and ready to cook what he hoped would be a first rate dinner for Sara. He had considered taking her to a nice restaurant, but changed his plans after her reaction to him making her breakfast. Not only would he impress her socks off with his culinary skills (which weren't too shabby, in his own humble opinion), but he also relished the opportunity to spend some quality time with Ms Sidle – quality alone time.

Punctual as ever, she arrived at eight with a broad smile and a bottle of wine. Or, as she explained thirty seconds later, a bottle of grape juice masquerading as wine. He greeted her with a soft kiss on the lips and took her jacket.

As he carefully arranged hors d'oeuvres on a plate, he found his eyes drawn to her. She was wearing a halter neck that flattered her in all the right places, and as his eyes wandered along the contours of her neck and down her back, he found himself fantasising about following the same path with his hands, his lips. Then he remembered that he was no longer restricted to merely fantasising about doing such things, and a grin that he couldn't contain spread across his face.

'What?' Sara asked, as she turned from the butterfly collection she was examining, and found him smiling at her.

He shrugged and carried the plate over to the coffee table. 'Can't a fella be happy once in a while?'

'I guess,' her voice teased as she approached him and sat down on the couch. He joined her, sitting a polite, but still relatively close, distance away. Despite the lightness of her mood, Grissom noticed that Sara seemed a little distracted. A restless aura surrounded her, and she had barely stayed still for more than thirty seconds since she arrive in his apartment ten minutes earlier.

'Everything okay?' he asked.

She smiled, trying to reassure him. 'Sure.' She paused, not wanting to bring it up, and unable to stop herself. 'Any word from Brass yet?'

He had suspected the case was what was on her mind. 'No. Not yet.' He sighed a little. 'Did you know that the term hors d'oeuvres comes from the literal French for 'outside the work'?' he asked her, gesturing towards the plate.

Sara reached forward and picked a tasty-looking specimen. Bringing it to her lips, she smirked at him. 'Subtle.' Taking a bite, she unwillingly let out an appreciative noise. Grissom really was a good cook. Swallowing, she regarded him seriously for a moment. 'How do you do it?'

'Do what?'

'Compartmentalise?'

Grissom sighed. 'Sara, I get just as frustrated as anyone else over cases. When they aren't going our way… it's difficult to let go. But I had to learn a long time ago that if I didn't leave work at work, at least some of the time, I'd burn out. And I worry about that with you, Sara. You get so caught up in your cases…'

She started to object, but he placed his hand on hers, silently asking her to let him finish. 'That's what makes you such a great investigator. Your empathy. Your passion. But you have to draw a line sometimes, Sara. Allow yourself to have a life. If you burn out, who will help the victims then?'

She was silent as she allowed herself to absorb his words. She knew, deep down, that he made a lot of sense. She just wasn't sure she knew how to detach from certain things.

His hand moved up her arm and across her shoulders. She suddenly found herself in his arms, and rationalisation was no longer of much interest to her. Turning her face to his, she lost herself in his deep, blue eyes.

'Dinner will be another thirty minutes,' he told her, tilting his face towards her.

'Perfect,' she breathed before his lips descended.

The heat of their kisses warmed her blood and sent all other thoughts out of her mind. Her hands found their way to his face and they lingered there a while, enjoying the tactile sensation of his bearded cheeks before they slid around to gently tease the curls at the back of his neck.

Sara's kisses were like fire that sent electrical charges running down his spine and into each of his limbs. He wondered if the passion and heat they shared was innate or a by-product of years of repressing their feelings for one another. What he did know was that no other woman had ever excited him the way that Sara Sidle did. Everything about her, from her fierce intelligence and forthright personality to her intense, unassuming beauty, made his senses hum and his heart race.

Sinking deeper into each other, they slid down lower into the couch, Sara pulling him down on top of her. His lips reluctantly leaving hers, he began to explore her neck, quickly discovering her sensitive spots. He grinned to himself as she let out an especially satisfying moan and slid her fingers down his spine, digging them into his back when he hit an extra sensitive part of her neck.

He was debating with himself where his next point of exploration should be when he was rudely interrupted by the oven timer. He groaned into her neck and then gave her an apologetic look, only to discover her grinning at him.

'Saved by the bell,' she chuckled.

'Saved?' His eyebrow went up.

'Yeah, for a second there, I thought we were going to skip dinner and head straight for dessert,' she teased.

The eyebrow was still making its presence felt. 'And that would be a bad thing?'

'Not necessarily… But, I'm starving,' she told him. 'And besides… the night is still young.'

Sara was impressed. Before her sat a man who was a genius, revered in his field, not to mention the most attractive man she ever had the good fortune to meet. And, included in that package – the man could cook. Vegetarian, no less.

They kept the conversation light, Sara managing to steer clear of work talk altogether after Grissom's earlier suggestion. She was surprised, therefore, when he was the one to bring it up, once they had moved to the couch with their after-dinner coffee.

'This isn't the most… romantic of topics,' he started. 'But I wanted to talk to you about something.'

'Okay. That sounds ominous,' she replied.

'Catherine knows.'

It took Sara a moment to get it. 'She knows what? … Oh. God. She knows? About us? How?'

'I have no idea. She says she guessed,' Grissom told her. 'But she brought up a valid point.'

'Which is?'

'Work. There's no regulation that says we can't be involved. But…'

Sara groaned. 'How did I know there would be a 'but'…?'

'Apparently we have to report the relationship to personnel. In writing. And I shouldn't supervise you directly anymore; do your evaluations, that sort of thing…'

'Oh…' was all she said. Grissom wasn't sure if she was taking it well or badly.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally looked at him. 'So, how do you feel about it?'

'Which part?'

'The lab knowing about your private life? Disrupting your work life?' She was watching him intently, waiting for a reaction.

'I…' he thought for a moment, and looked at her with a puzzled expression. 'I hadn't really considered how I felt about it… I was more worried about how you'd feel.'

Not the answer I was expecting, she thought. But definitely the right answer. 'Wow,' was all she managed to say.

'I suppose if it means we get to be together, then it's worth it,' he continued, still amazed at this revelation about himself. A year ago, he probably would have freaked out.

'Who are you and what have you done with Gil Grissom?' Sara asked, laughing. She slid her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. A new thought crossed her mind. 'So, who's going to be my new supervisor?'

'I figured Catherine could do it,' Grissom suggested. 'One step closer to doing my job…'

Sara pulled away to look at him. 'Catherine?'

'What? You'd prefer Ecklie?'

'Valid point.' She hugged him again. 'Pity though… Catherine's not as cute as my last supervisor…'

He gave her a squeeze. 'I should hope not…'

'So, what did she say?' Sara asked. 'You know, about us?'

'She said it was about time.'

Sara smile and looked at him again. 'Really?'

'Uh huh.'

Sara kissed him softly on the lips. 'Well, she was definitely right about that,' she whispered seductively before kissing him more deeply, stealing his breath away and raising his pulse rate in seconds. The passion they had kept at bay earlier was back with a vengeance and they were helpless to it.

Moaning into her mouth, Grissom slid his hand through the silky locks of her dark hair and pressed her more tightly to him. His other hand traced her spine, making her shiver with anticipation. The hand slid back up under the filmy material of her top, running lightly over her skin, revelling in the soft warmth of her flesh.

Sara ran her hands down Grissom's surprisingly well-defined arms and back up again, enjoying the firm strength she felt in them. Continuing her journey, she crossed his shoulders and worked her way down to his chest. Her fingers hesitated over the top most button of his shirt.

Grissom once again moved to explore her neck with his lips and tongue, and when his other hand joined his first on the small of her back, Sara felt emboldened into action. Methodically, she opened the first button of his shirt. She was on the fourth, her fingers now shaking with excitement when her pager and Grissom's cell phone exploded into action at the same time.

'Damn it!' she exclaimed fiercely, before she could restrain herself.

Grissom grinned, just as disappointed by the interruption as Sara, but highly amused by her outburst none-the-less. 'Down girl,' he teased as he reached for the offending piece of technology.

'Grissom.'

Sara didn't have to look at her pager. The look on Grissom's face told her that the evening was over.

'Happy Valentine's Day,' she muttered ironically.

TBC.