a/n: thanks for the reviews :)

Greg would actually turn up that evening when he said he would, but by mid-afternoon Sara had already worked herself up so much that Olivia had dragged her to a theme park to burn off some adrenaline. They made it back to the apartment in time to get her ready.

"You really don't mind spending a night here alone?"

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me. So, where's he taking you?"

"Knowing him, it'll probably be a burger joint. Or maybe bowling." Sara screwed her face up at the prospect.

The knock on the door startled them both.

"He's actually on-time." Sara said, impressed. Liv just smiled at her and plonked herself in front of the TV with a bag of chips. Sara opened the door. Greg stood there, grinning at her. "Hi," she said.

"Hi." They just stared at each other, smiling.

"Oh, would you kids get out of here already?" Olivia hollered from across the room.

"Alright already, we're going." Sara yelled back, rolling her eyes, "bye Liv, don't wait up."

"Bye Liv," Greg added, and then turned to Sara, "your chariot awaits, madam."

Sara was quite surprised to actually find herself in a nice restaurant. Maybe Greg was more mature than she gave him credit. They made small talk, mostly about their colleagues, what the things were in the lounge fridge and which one was making the smell, little stuff. After a while they just sat in comfortable silence.

"Is your food okay?"

"Yeah, it's great. I've wanted to come here for a while."

"Just never made it before?"

"Didn't have a reason to come before."

"Oh." Then he grinned broadly at her. "Glad it was me then, to make you-" Sara hit him before he could finish. He grinned at her, then picked up a bit of his pasta, "here, try a bite of this, it's great." Greg scooted closer in order to deliver the mouthful. She had to agree it was delicious, and held his knee when he tried to move away again.

They didn't touch again until Greg hesitantly took Sara's hand as they walked down the street after dinner. Greg had insisted on paying, haggling with her that she could pay next time. He waggled his eyebrows at her then headed out the door while she followed telling him,

"That's assuming there is a next time."

"Sara, you wound me!" he tried to joke. When he saw that she was already regretting her words, he reached out and took her hand. She smiled thankfully at him.

"Then where'd he take you?" Liv asked Sara much later, back in the apartment.

"There was a jazz festival happening down the street. We just wandered from band to band, listening and talking. There were a few good ones."

"Remember any names? Elliot loves jazz." Liv looked a little embarrassed that she'd let that slip, she tried to explain, "His birthday is coming up and he-" Sara cut her off.

"I really liked Mr. Something Something, they were fun."

"Good." Liv recovered herself, "does Greg dance?"

"Not very well, but it was still fun." Sara laughed at a memory, "he actually had me dancing up in front of everybody, just the two of us." Liv smiled too, pleased that Greg was already getting Sara out of her shell, and that Sara was letting him.

"So, overall?"

"It was good." Sara smiled, quite happy with how well their first date had gone. "What did you do?" She asked Liv, who looked away quickly. "What did you do?" Sara asked again, even more interested.

"Oh, nothing. I called that Derek back, asked him out dancing again. Met him at the same club."

"And?"

"We danced for about hour, then he tried to pull me into one of the bathrooms. I said no, he didn't like it, so I showed him no."

"What? What happened?"

"Right hook to the jaw, knee to the groin." She shrugged, "After that I left. Not sure when he got up."

"Olivia! Are you okay?" Liv showed her a torn knuckle and shrugged,

"I'm fine." Sara gave her a doubtful eyebrow, "Really, I'm fine. Plenty of self-defense practice."

"What are you going to do now? Are you going to report him?"

"Only if he tries something else, and I really doubt he will. I'm pretty sure his interest in me is at an all-time low. He's not coming back."

"Are you sure?"

"I've dealt with my share of nut-jobs; he's not going to bother us again." Sara still looked doubtful, "Besides, the number I gave them is phony, he can't find us." Changing the subject back to Greg, "so, did you guys plan a second date?"

"Not exactly, he wants to take me white-water rafting. I told him maybe." Liv laughed, but Sara gave out a really big yawn. "Well, Miss Muscles, I think I'm going to head to bed. Oh, you're here 'til Sunday, right?"

"Yep."

"We've been invited to a barbeque on Saturday."

"Really? Where?"

"At Nick's, so watch out." Sara warned, Liv just laughed.

"Who's going to be there?"

"Most of the lab, at least the night shift anyway." Sara yawned again.

"Sounds like fun. Now go to bed."

"Yes Mom."

TBC