A/N: I should probably point out at some point that I don't own CSI…shouldn't I? Okay, well, here goes. I don't own anything except for Lily. And Stacy. But…she really doesn't have a lot of bearing right now. Anyway, I'm just wasting breath (actually not, since this is on the net, but…meh. You get what I mean.)

So, without (much) further ado, I present Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

"Sara, can I talk to you for a minute?" Grissom grabbed Sara's elbow and tugged her into his office.

"Sure." Sara followed him and leaned in the doorway.

She always just leans in the doorway. Grissom observed. Like she's getting ready to bolt. "Sit." He commanded. Then, as an afterthought, "please."

Sara took a seat in one of the institutional chairs, as far away from Grissom as she could get without insulting him. "What's up?"

"Are you…is everything okay with you?"

Sara shrugged. "Everything's fine."

"Are you sure."

"Yes, I'm sure, Grissom. Why? Is something wrong?"

"No. No. Nothing's wrong. Just, checking to be sure. Ecklie and all that."

"Oh. Well, I'm fine." Sara flashed him an uncertain smile, as though what she really wanted to do was tell him to fuck off, but was too professional to do it at work.

"Do you want to come over after shift? I'll make breakfast and we can…catch up." Grissom's expression was such an endearing cross between pitiful and hopeful that Sara felt terrible saying no. But she had to.

"Um, not today. I have something to take care of." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Oh. Maybe another time then?"

"Another time." She confirmed.

&&&&&&

"She knows?" Emily put a perfectly manicured hand to her head. "She knows that she's your mother?"

"Yep." Lily nodded. "Great. Just great. I've completely fucked up."

"Yeah. I'd say that's about the scope of it." Emily sighed heavily. "You know, when I offered you the chance to be a temporary guardian so that you could fix whatever's wrong between your parents, I did not imagine you could mess things up this bad."

"Em, you know I wouldn't intentionally mess things up for you."

"Yeah, I know. But now that I'm dead, this is the only way we can hang out with each other. I know that you don't want me to have to cross over, and if I fuck this up, they're gonna make me cross over."

"I'll fix it." Lily promised. "I'll go talk to Sara – mom – and straighten stuff out, okay?"

"Good." Emily nodded.

&&&&&&

"Lily?" Sara took a deep breath and sat on her couch. "Lily, I need to talk to you."

No Lily.

"Lily, I'm serious. This is important."

Still no Lily.

"Lily Grissom, you get your butt into this living room, right now." She was surprised at how motherly she sounded.

"Whoa. That's the mom I know and fear." Lily dropped onto the couch next to her.

Sara stared at Lily for a moment, and Lily held her gaze, equally fascinated to see her mother pre-marriage and children.

"You have questions." Lily pursed her lips in a manner reminiscent of her father. "That's understandable. I can't answer anything big, mom. Nothing like when or how it's supposed to happen. I can tell you little stuff, though. Like how dad is going to knock on your door in about ten minutes and you're gonna open the door. Then you're going to stare at each other nervously for about five minutes before somebody makes the first move. But I'm not telling you who makes the first move."

"Fair enough." Sara grabbed a beer from the fridge and popped the cap. "So tell me, how freaked out does Grissom get the first time you go out on a date?"

Lily grinned. "Dad was pretty cool about it, right up until Ryan and I ended up playing tonsil hockey on the front porch. He grounded me for a month. You got my sentence reduced to a week."

"Did you ever play an instrument? I bet Grissom would love having a musical prodigy."

"I took up flute when I was four. Still play. I'm pretty good."

Sara leaned on the breakfast bar.

"When I was little, you used to tell me how dad would make you sit for hours and read books and journals and listen to Beethoven and Mozart until your ears bled. When I was little, the only song that used to calm me down was 'The Little Fugue.' He'd sit by my bed and read me Greek and Roman mythology while he played that fugue." Lily grinned.

"Wow." Sara put the glass beer bottle in the recycling bin. "I have a daughter."

"Will have." Lily corrected. "But you have to get together with Dad first."

"Wait, if you're here, that means that Grissom and I got together eventually, even if it was just for a night. Was that what it was? Was that why you came back? To get us together forever?"

"Not quite." Lily winced. "I can't tell you the details or anything, but your marriage right now is…shaky. You're, uh, in the middle of getting a divorce."

"A divorce?" Sara's jaw dropped. "Why on earth would we be getting a divorce?"

"I can't tell you. But you're meant to stay together. That's how it's supposed to be. And that's not just a little girl that doesn't want her parents to get divorced. That's the honest truth. You and dad are not supposed to get divorced. So, I have to come back and fix whatever went wrong at the beginning, so that we don't end up with, well, the end." Lily's expression softened. "Listen, mom, dad's going to be here in about three minutes and I've got to go. Give him a chance."

Sara nodded and walked Lily to the door. As Lily opened it, there stood Grissom.

"Oh!" He stepped back, clearly startled. "I'm sorry, Sara, I didn't realize you had company."

"I'm Lily." Lily held out her hand. "Sara's a friend of my mother's and agreed to keep an eye on me while mom ran out and did some stuff. Bye, Sara."

"Bye, Lil." Sara hugged Lily. "What can I do for you, Grissom?"

"I wanted to talk. Things were left kind of…unresolved."

"I didn't realize that we had an issue that needed resolving." Sara moved aside to admit him. "Can I get you some coffee?"

"Yes. Coffee would be great."

Sara moved to the tiny kitchenette to start brewing the coffee. "So, was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about, or did you just want to catch up?"

"Some of both." Grissom admitted. "Look, I…uh…lately…that is to say that…"

"Just spit it out, Grissom." Sara was getting decidedly tired of Grissom's sidestepping and his careful evasions of saying what he actually meant. She was going to force him to say it once and for all.

"We've known each other, what, ten years? Anyway, we've known each other a long time. But lately I don't feel like I know anything about you anymore."

Maybe because you've barely said two sentences to me within the last year except to criticize. That's not a great way to maintain a good relationship! Sara wanted to shout. "We've grown apart." She agreed noncommittally.

"I hope that we can repair our friendship."

Grissom, we haven't got a friendship anymore. We've got lust, we've probably even got love, but friendship went bye-bye around three years ago. "I'm certainly willing to try." Sara pulled the carafe off of the coffee maker's base and set it on the counter. She turned around to grab coffee cups and found herself chest-to-chest with Grissom.

"Sorry." He muttered, moving away. "Just trying to be helpful."

"It's alright." Sara shrugged. "Why don't you go sit on the couch and I'll bring us the coffee." She finished pouring the two cups of coffee and handed one to him. "Grissom, I'm going to be extremely frank, which is something we haven't yet tried." Sara was almost surprised at the bitter edge that had crept into her voice. "We're attracted to each other. I did something about it. You rejected me. Then you overcompensated by hurting me professionally."

Grissom opened his mouth to protest, but Sara held up a hand.

"I'm not saying that Nick wasn't right for the promotion. That's not at all what I'm saying. What I am saying is that I think that you were so worried about the comments that you tried to show that you weren't favoring me and instead ended up hurting me. The DUI was not about you. Granted, you may have been part of it, but you were not the main reason. I do wish that you had given us a chance, rather than just assuming the worst, but I can't change what you think. So, now it's up to you."

Grissom couldn't seem to string two words together to save his soul. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he managed to croak something out. "I am attracted to you, Sara. I have been for a long time. But you're not understanding the position that an affair would put us in." He did that little half-sigh, too much energy pent up and no place to release it.

"Say yes or no, Grissom. I'm tired of all this half-assed maybeing bullshit." Sara's voice raised an octave.

"No, Sara. I can't risk your career."

"Then I can't stay in Vegas." Sara folded her arms.

"Don't do this, Sara."

"Don't do what, Grissom? I've said it once and I'll say it once more. You're more than a boss to me. I came to Vegas for you. I didn't come for Warrick. I didn't come for Nick. I sure as Hell didn't come for Catherine. I came for you Grissom. I stayed because of you. I hang out with Nick and Warrick, and I love them like brothers, but I can't be around you anymore. It's turned me into a person I never wanted to be." She half-laughed, half-exploded a breath of air. "It's pathetic, really."

"Sara, you're not –"

"No, I'm not pathetic. This is pathetic. I'm not 'the girl who gave the guy the ultimatum.' That's not what I'm doing here. I'm being 'the girl who laid it out for the guy and made a choice.' You made your choice and now I'm making mine. There's no 'or if' component of this. It's either or."

"I thought you said you wanted to work our friendship out."

"What friendship, Grissom? Our 'friendship' went down the tubes two or three years ago. And you can't pretend otherwise."

Grissom looked forlornly at the ground. "So there's nothing I can do to convince you to stay?"

"Nothing that you're willing to give." Sara replied evenly.

"I guess I should go then." Grissom stood. "Thank you for the coffee, Sara. I'll see you tomorrow at work."

Sara walked him to the door. "I really am sorry, Grissom. But I really think this is what's best for us."

&&&&&&

"Best for us?" Lily screeched. "What does she mean 'best for them?' Bullshit. What's best for them is to kiss and be happy."

"Maybe this is how it's supposed to happen." Michelle, an older guardian offered. "Perhaps this is his catalyst."

"She's leaving, Shelley. Explain to me how they can have sex and she can get pregnant with me if she's hundreds of miles away."

"San Francisco isn't that far away." Michelle reasoned.

Lily stared forlornly at her two parents. "I sure hope so, Shelley. 'Cause otherwise? I'm screwed."

A/N: Sorry to leave it there, but I have to leave for the airport in like, five minutes. So, that's the last of Like Cinderella for two weeks. I'm going to miss you guys!

Corey