Chapter VI -

A/N - Blah. It's an eensy little filler chapter, sorry. Huge thanks go out to Phoenix, as always, for her Beta. I know I haven't updated this in ages, it's the "Attack of the fic deleting computer" and the killer exams I tell you (yeah, excuses - excuses.)

ooooooooo

It wasn't until she was back down at her car that the full force of had just happened hit her rather like a speeding bus. She had just spent the night with Gil Grissom, and he had kissed her - more than once. That was at least two of her long term dreams fulfilled, just one more to go. What happened next, she realized, was now almost completely up to her. The ball was in her court once more, as it seemed to be more often than not. That first kiss was probably the only initiating he was going to do. She had known him long enough to realize the 'risk' he had taken, and that it was probably not something he would do again in a hurry.

She wasn't quite sure how these things ended up in her hands so much of the time. She felt the urge to be child-like and 'It's not fair', but decided that was probably not the way to go.

Even now, several minutes after leaving his house, she was still so disbelieving that she hadn't brought herself to go home yet. Although she knew how much she desperately needed a shower and a change of clothes, she still hesitated leaving.

She leaned back against her still locked Denali, a triumphant grin forming on her face. She eventually realized that this was slightly odd behavior and that people would think she was a stalker or something. It took a little will power for her to move, and she fumbled around momentarily with her keys, before finally unlocking the car and driving away.

Sara now had an inability to concentrate on anything. Her mind kept wandering back to that morning. She was beginning to regret walking away at that point. All she kept thinking was about what could have happened if she had stayed. Something, which she realized now, that the chances of ever happening had been severely reduced. She sighed wearily and put the handbrake on before jumping out of the car again.

She pottered around her flat for a while, checking her messages; there weren't any, flicking through some junk mail that the mail man had handed her as she walked in the door, and tried to distract herself.

She knew she had said she needed to sleep, but if she was honest she was so wired now, she didn't think it was possible. She would probably simply have a shower and try to find something with which to entertain herself with until shift tonight. There had to be something interesting on television - not that she had much faith in the attraction of daytime TV. As long as it was something intriguing enough to keep her attention for a while, she really did not care. Somehow she doubted that anything would hold her interest for long at the moment.

Sara picked up the quilt that she had abandoned on the sofa when she had received that call earlier and gave a wry smile. If only she had known then how her evening would turn out. She folded it haphazardly and draped it over the back of her chair.

She soon returned to mulling over the events of the previous hours. She couldn't help but have worry start to creep in. What on earth was going to happen now? Did they go back to exactly how they were before, she was certainly not about to forget that had happened. The night before, fine, he was not capable of making his usual levelheaded decisions. She would have been able to forget that more easily than this morning.

She gave a quiet grunt of dissatisfaction, before peeling off her jumper and heading for a long hot shower.

ooooooooo

Grissom, for his part, was going over a similar scenario of thoughts himself. In some ways he was ecstatic, yet in many others he was still terrified. He had just taken the risk that he had spent years telling himself was just too big. There were too many ways that the whole thing could just go so wrong. Was the risk going to pay off or would there be more problems than he had even thought about?

He walked over to his kitchen table a little unsteadily, and sat down. What must she think of him now? She hadn't looked angry - for which he was eternally grateful. But she had chosen to walk away. It was not that he didn't understand the need to take a step back. But that still didn't stop him from feeling a little ill at ease.

There had been something strangely liberating about Lurie's interrogation. Even though he had been revealing his emotional hang-ups to a total stranger, a homicidal stranger no less, it seemed to take a strange weight off. He vowed that at some point he would muster the courage to tell all that to Sara, and to add that he was now ready to take that risk. He had, in fact, already taken it.

Grissom stood up again rubbing his forehead distractedly. He still had the remnants of a head ache, combined with his contemplations about the day before. He only just admitted his feelings to himself and then suddenly diving headfirst into a relationship. He debated for a moment if he was really ready for this. He then told himself that was a stupid thought. He and Sara had been doing this little dance for years; of course he was ready for this. The question now was, would he really have the guts to follow through?

He forced himself to get up and do something after going around in circles in his own head for several minutes. He picked up a paper from his coffee table and proceeded to fill in the crossword, stopping periodically to check the clock, and look back down again.

He was jerked out of his thoughts roughly by the clang of his doorbell. The sound seemed to reverberate off the hard surfaces of his apartment making it echo for far longer than he thought it should.

When Grissom opened his door, he did a visible double take, and immediately looked down at his watch even though he already knew exactly what the time was. "Work doesn't start for eight hours." He stated blandly, a little set off balance by the unexpected arrival.

Sara looked at him smiling subtly. Her only response; "I know."

oooooo

A/N: Ugh, I do this to myself way too much. I go and write myself into a corner where now I actually have to write what happens next:bangs head against wall: So… uh, what does happen next:P All ideas most welcome.