1Author's Note:Part 2, finally!Yeah I had no intention for it to take me two months to update this.I'm leaving for Europe tomorrow and I hated the idea of procrastinatinganother month so here's the next part. Feedback is loved forever and thanks to everyone who reviewed last time.
"Sara, Sara." Greg whispers her name, voice low. "Wake up. We're here."
She groans her response, eyes open and blinking as she adjusts to the new surroundings. Her brain registers one thing:
"It's so dark."
"I know! Isn't it great?" She gives him an odd look but it's far too late to stop...whatever this is now. Not being one to go with the flow, she's still slightly shocked to find she's just letting this slide.
"Where are we?"
"Actually," he says, smile somehow bright through the shadows, "It's kind of where we're not."
And before she has time to be angry and tell him that made absolutely no sense, he's out of the car, sitting on the hood and motioning through the window for her to hurry up already, oh, and could you please grab that flashlight?
Eyes rolling, she reluctantly gets out and climbs into the empty spot beside him. The sleek metal and paint still warm beneath her hands from the trip. She slides closer, mimicking the way his body is so effortlessly sprawled. Leg stretched out, back leaning against the windshield and balances the flashlight in her lap. Their shoulders are touching and invading the once prized personal space. She can't bring herself to move.
"Greg, where are we?" The sound of her voice all but destroys the desert calm and she realizes for the first time they must be miles from the city, pulled just off the freeway. "Oh, I get it. We're "no where." Ha. Ha. Clever."
"You got it." He's still smiling and her own sarcastic smirk flatters. Her chest is heavy with the awareness of how much she misses the old Greg. He doesn't smile enough or laugh at his own jokes anymore. He even dresses like a sane person. Everything that is Greg is changing. She almost hates that she worries so much.
First year CSI can eat you alive. Green's such a dangerous color to be.
"So tell me, what exactly is the point of all this?"
He gestures around then up. Her gaze following the direction of his hand, head tilting backwards until all she can see is the sky and the thousands of stars. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"Uhh yeah." She can't keep the amazement from her voice, "I think I almost forgot about stars."
He lets out a laugh that's halfway happy and halfway sad, "It's easy to forget living in Sin City over there. The neon and the lights shine so brightly, to most people, I guess real stars don't compare.
"I take it you aren't most people."
"I thought you would have figured that out by now," his eyes coming back down to earth and to look at her, "Neither are you, Sara."
That's not fair because, what can she say to that?
And with wordless understanding, they stay silent, just staring at the sky. It makes her feel small and a bit insignificant, but maybe that's not a bad thing.
She tries to keep the science from her head. Even if theory states they're spheres of gaz whole galaxies from her, they're still pretty. She pushes away the logic of supernovas and how some of those stars are dead.
And all she can hear is the sound of their steady breathing.
"This is really beautiful, Greg." She means that.
"No problem but...that's not all."
"Well, what else is there?"
"You know how I found this place?" She tears her eyes from a constellation and shakes her head. "That night after I found that kid in the container," She visibly winces.
Eaten alive, eaten alive, eaten alive.
"Greg-"
"I couldn't sleep so, I jumped in the car and drove." He sounds so pensive it makes her ache. "Vegas is just so fake sometimes. A desert mirage away from reality. And it gets me because all the dreams born there, are based solely on greed and selfishness."
Suddenly, the stars seem so ordinary in contrast to the person on earth beside her.
"I just had to see something real and alive. I don't know, to prove I live in an actual world and not some alternate universe made up of tacky sequence and glitter. I had to get away, you know?"
"Yeah, I do."
"And out here, all the thoughts about blood and death, motives and murder weapons, the killers and the victims, it all kind of just flows from your mind."
Breathe.
"No walls or low ceilings to keep the thoughts in, to stop you from letting."
Just when she thinks she's got Greg Sanders all figured out, he goes and pulls something like this. Something so amazing, it places him in a whole new spectrum of light.
And it all makes her want to laugh and cry and scream. In no predetermined order. "Epiphany" doesn't really describe what's happening to her right now, it's more life altering than that.
Now she's been silent too long because she can see he's blushing even in the darkness.
"I- It's stupid. I'm sorry. I'll take you home." He's tripping over words and apologies when really, she's sort of speechless. "Let's go-"
She takes his hand and laces their fingers, ending the stream of excuses she doesn't need to hear.
"No, Greg. It's not stupid at all." She's looking down at their hands, she shouldn't be at all surprised they fit so well. "Do you- do you mind if I talk out loud? It's strange but, I want you to hear."
---
She starts her confession from the beginning. She's had monsters living in her memories for as long as she can remember. She doesn't give details, she's always found the basics are vivid enough.
One parent dead, murdered by the other. Now mom's rotting in prison, life sentence without parole.
Being thrown into the system and passed around from house to house, like a doll. She wanted to scream she was real, here, feel my pulse.
She's lost her brother to drugs.
There's every case that's ever gotten to her, every one that's ever been thrown out. The murderers that walk free and the victims left suffering in their shadows, without justice.
And then there's falling in love with Gil Grissom. How he let her fall until she hit the ground and left her alone at rock bottom. Isn't she worth the risk?
When she's done, everything out and open, she feels a release so complete, she must have died. Because even though she'll never forget, she's free.
Greg's arm has found it's way around her shoulder, strong and safe and wonderful. His other hand smoothing away tears she didn't know were there.
"Is that all, Sara?"
"Yeah. Let's go home."
They're back in the car, but before he's got a chance to start the engine, she's grabbing his shirt and pulling him to her. Lips colliding in a crash and she kisses him with everything she can't say.
I need you. Don't ever change. Thank you.
They break apart, hearts beating and blood rushing in their ears.
She whispers, "I love you," against his mouth and smiles, "I would have told you soon but, I didn't want to lose that thought to the infinite universe."
"Definitely not."
---
End.