A/N: Here's chapter 4. I've tried to make it a little longer, but it's hard to get these typed because my three your old loves to play Blue's Clues on the computer too! So, I thought shorter chapters mean more posting. Please R&R! I really do take your comments into consideration as I continue writing!

Chapter 4

"So, tell me about your mother."

Sara stared at him calmly. "No," she replied after a long moment. "I'm not going to tell you anymore about her. You already know more than I've ever wanted to tell anyone, and I deserve a little bit of privacy. I'm certainly not going to air anymore dirty laundry around you."

"Okay," he slowly said, trying to decide how to reopen the conversation. "Don't tell me about her present, tell me about your memories of her. What's the best thing that you remember about her when you were a kid?"

Sara thought for a minute. She wasn't sure what he was trying to accomplish, but his question seemed innocent enough. "Her flowers," she finally answered. "She had a beautiful garden in the back of our house. She grew a lot of the herbs and vegetables that we served, and she even had two fruit trees. But her flowers were her pride and joy. I used to spend hours out there." The man on the other side of the table began to fade as Sara felt herself spinning back into the past. "I had a favorite spot. It was a trellis that my mom had placed in the back corner of our yard. It had some sort of climbing flower on it, I can't remember what it was called, and when it was fully in bloom you could hide behind that trellis, and no one would see you. I spent an awful lot of time behind that trellis trying to decide if it was safe to go back into my house." Suddenly, the room came back into focus, and Sara realized what she was doing.

She decided to continue on a much lighter note. "You would've loved it back in that dark corner. There were all sorts of bugs that crawled and squirmed their way around. It was dark and damp. Sort of a bug heaven, I guess. And, I suppose, a bug lover's heaven." She flashed him a quick smile, hoping that she had diverted him.

He was quiet for a minute, then began, "That sounds a lot like a place I had when I was a child. I had found an ant colony, and I would spend hours back there building my own little ant world. Those poor creatures. They were probably trying to figure out who this huge monster was that kept building all of these obstacles for them to climb over just to get to their food or back home." He grinned at her.

Sara laughed at the comical look on his face as their food arrived. As she took a bite of her salad, she realized that the knot that had been between her shoulders was beginning to go away. "I can totally see you doing that. I wasn't so mean to the poor, little insects. I simply watched. The flowers that my mom planted attracted every sort of butterfly imaginable. I completely fell in love with their colors. It seemed almost impossible to me that nature could create so many color combinations. They were actually my inspiration for how I've decorated my bedroom. I was at a flea market one day and found three of them beautifully mounted. I bought them on the spot. They cost a fortune, but I couldn't pass them up. I ended up having to buy new everything for my room. The entire color scheme is based around them."

"Really, what species are they?" Sara started to laugh at him. "What? What did I say?" he asked confused.

"You. You're so funny. You want to know what species they are. Then, you'll probably tell me whether they're native to Nevada, what they eat, and who eats them. You'll completely take all of the fun out of it for me. I'm not going to tell you what type they are. I bought them because they were pretty, I liked the color combinations, and they reminded me of a favorite place I had when I was a kid. That's it. Please, don't analyze it to death, please," she finished while giving him her best pleading look.

Grissom knew he was helpless against that look from her. "Okay, but I'll have to come over some time to take a look at them." He stopped suddenly when he realized what he had said.

Sara looked down for a moment as she tried to imagine Grissom standing in her bedroom. That thought definitely embarrassed her, and she cleared her throat awkwardly. "Um, I think I'm ready to crash. I'm going to head over to the hotel now. I think my lack of sleep is starting to catch up to me."

Grissom looked at her sadly. I was just getting her relaxed and happy, he thought, and now I blew it. I have to try to get her to open up again. It's doing her a lot of good. I can see her starting to unwind and act more like herself. Suddenly he realized Sara was staring at him. "Sure," he answered her, "let me pay, and then we can both go."

They were silent as they exited the restaurant, and Sara followed Grissom's car with hers to the hotel he said he had found earlier. They both checked in without any conversation, and the silence lasted as they walked down the hallway to their neighboring rooms. As they stood outside the doors, Grissom finally spoke up. "What time do you want to head over to the hospital tomorrow?"

"Grissom, you don't have to do this," Sara protested. "Now that you know what's going on, and you're sure that I'm not about ready to jump off the deep end, you can go back to Vegas, and I'll call you when I have some news. Really, I am fine on my own. I really appreciate your coming down here, but you can go now. I am officially releasing you from your duty. I promise that I will not do anything crazy while I am here. I know you're probably ready to go back to work."

"Sara, I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to help. I'll probably head back the day after tomorrow," Grissom answered. "So, what time do you want to leave tomorrow?"

Sara realized he was serious, and relief began to flood through her as she realized she didn't have to face this crisis alone. For all of her words to him, she didn't feel that she had the strength to face her mom after all of these years. There was still too much locked inside of her, and she was afraid that if it ever got out, it would destroy her. It was a comforting feeling to know that there was someone there to hold her back from her emotional cliffs. She smiled at Grissom in gratitude before answering, "Let's meet downstairs around 7:30. That way we can get something to eat before we head out to the hospital. I think visiting hours start at 8:00."

"And they have your cell number in case anything would happen?"

"Yeah, everything is taken care of."

"Well, then good night, Sara." Grissom seemed reluctant to leave her.

"Good night, I'll see you in the morning." Sara answered.

With that, she opened the door and walked into the room carrying her suitcase. At that moment, Grissom realized that he had allowed her to carry her bags the entire way. Of course, if I had tried to take them from her she wouldn't have allowed me to, so it was probably better I didn't think about it, he thought ruefully. He stared at the closed portal for a few more seconds, as thoughts began flooding through his mind, the first being that this was definitely not where he had expected to end his day when it began so many hours before. The second was that he should probably stop staring at her closed door before someone became concerned and called the cops. He quickly began feeling the exhaustion that he had kept at bay all day flood through his body, so he was sure that bed was the best place for him. Quietly, he opened his door and entered his room.

TBC