Declaimer: No matter how much I might wish I owned the characters or the show 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation', I don't. I am borrowing the characters merely for the purpose of the story.

Authors Note: Well, I thought it was probably about time I tried to continue this story since it's one of the ones I still have ideas for. I have my own laptop now (okay, it's kinda old, but it works and it has word on it) so I don't have to depend on the amount of time my parents will let me use the home computer to type! So I should have more time to do fanfiction since it can now be totally separate from the time I have to use for schoolwork.

Chapter 4

Grissom frowned at Sara in concern. She had been looking atypically unhappy and exhausted recently. Maybe she was working herself too hard again. But whatever is was, something just wasn't right. The shadows under her eyes were so dark that even if Sara had been one to wear heavy make-up they would have shown through. It couldn't be healthy. Maybe it was time he 'suggested' to her that she took some time off.

He nodded to himself. Yes, as soon as they headed back to the lab, he would take her aside for a little chat. Get to the bottom of what was wrong at least, and hopefully get her to take a few nights off. They could cope without her for that long, and he could always pull Greg into the field if they were really short-handed. But things were fairly quiet at the moment, so far as their line of work went. And it really looked as if Sara needed a break. In face, he couldn't remember the last time she had taken time off.

As if she could read his thoughts, Sara chose that moment to come up to him. "We're about done here now," she told him, "Everything that can be collected has been. Just got to do one final sweep, then head back to the lab?"

He nodded at her, and she turned to go back to Nick, but he rested a hand on her shoulder to get her attention back.

"When we get back to the lab, I'd like to see you in my office, okay?"

She nodded at him in puzzlement, and he let her return to her job, while he gathered up everything and put it in the Tahoe for transporting back to the lab. .

Sara was a little concerned. What could Gris need to talk to her about that couldn't be done in front of the others? She hadn't been slacking, and she had been careful not to let how tired she was get in the way of her work. If anything, she had been being more meticulous that usual to compensate.

Nick noticed with some worry the look in Sara's eyes. What had Grissom just said to her?

"What's up?" he asked, trying to sound casual about it. Everyone on the team had noticed that Sara wasn't in top form, and with the dark shadows under her eyes, it wasn't hard to tell why. Surely Grissom hadn't pulled her up about it? He wasn't one to tell someone off for not getting enough sleep; he couldn't talk himself.

"Oh nothing. Gris just wants to talk with me at the lab," Sara told him, trying to sound nonchalant, "He said just final sweep, then we can head back and start trawling through everything."

Nick nodded and set back to their job, but he was a trifle disconcerted. Grissom barely ever had 'private talks' with them unless he felt they had screwed up and needed to find out what had happened. He hoped that Sara wasn't in any kind of trouble, but from what he had seen of her, she had been toeing the line even more than normal. She hadn't even picked on a dick of a male suspect they'd had a few days ago; the sort that usually provoked her temper more than anything he'd ever known. Perhaps Grissom was just going to mention the same worrying concern that was bothering them all; Sara was starting to look half dead these days. And no-one other than Catherine – who wasn't leaking them anything to work off – knew why. He knew from experience that there were a lot of things that CSI's could lose sleep over, but it seemed to be going to the extreme with Sara. But obviously, it wasn't something she felt like talking to him or Warrick about.

Sara looked around the scene, doing a final sweep for evidence that could have somehow been missed before heading out to the Tahoe a little reluctantly, detouring on the way to tell the widower that his house was his own again and that he could get cleaners in now if he so wished. The man nodded gratefully, retreating into his home and shutting the door firmly on the world outside.

Sara gazed after him with a sigh. They weren't even mid thirties, yet that couple had been torn apart by death, and although it may turn out that he had nothing to do with it, as the first on scene, he was automatically at the top of their 'persons of interest' list. Poor guy. Lost a wife and told that he was a suspect in it, in one day. She could barely imagine how that felt, though knew she would be when she managed to fall asleep. This one and many other cases, solved and unsolved. The victims, the perpetrator and everyone else involved, they all haunted her. Everything haunted her and each case she worked just made it worse. With luck, having something else to concentrate on would distract her from it, fill her mind with something other than their faces, glaring at her.

She silently swung herself into the backseat of the Tahoe, not even bothering to argue with the others over calling shotgun. It just wasn't worth it, and annoying Grissom about something like that, when he had already told her he wanted to talk, could not be a good idea. Grissom didn't often call anyone to his office to do anything other than report, but when he had to pull rank, he did it well. They all respected Gris, considered him a friend, but when he wanted to talk in private it either meant something good, or that you were about to be taken to task for something. And there weren't any promotions on offer at the moment, certainly not anything she would apply for. Which meant that Grissom was concerned about something and wanted it explained.

When they reached the lab, she stopped only long enough to help check in the evidence with the others before excusing herself, saying that she would be back soon. She trusted Nick to tell the others that Grissom wanted to talk to her. And she expected they were all going to be waiting for her return to find out what was wrong. But she just didn't feel like sharing. It had taken a lot for her to even tell anything to Catherine. They guys; she just didn't think that they'd get it. The nightmares, yes. But not the whole thing. And there was no way she was telling Nick or Warrick anything about the pole-dancing classes! She'd never hear the last of it if she did! Or worse, they might try and tag along with her. Which would mean murder from Catherine, no doubt!

She raised her fist to knock on his office door, but it swung open before she could, and Grissom guided her inside.

"What's up?" she asked him, getting straight to the point.

He blinked at her, "Nothing's up, per say. I just needed to talk with you. You haven't been seeming yourself recently and I was wondering if it was anything that I could help you with. I don't like to see any of my team obviously having problems."

Obviously he didn't say it, but he especially didn't like to see Sara unhappy.

Sara sighed inwardly, but smiled at him, "I'm all right Gil, really. Cath's helping me with what's up. I just haven't been sleeping too well, okay? It's fine."

Grissom raised his eyebrows at her, "Really. The that's why you've been looking half dead for the past week? I don't think so, Sara. I want you to take some time off, have a break for a few nights." He raised a hand to cut off her objections, "That's not an order, no. But it is a very strong suggestion, from a friend as well as your boss."

Sara sighed in defeat. She knew that look. He wasn't going to budge on this, and if she didn't comply he was going to pry and find out everything. It was just easier to let him have his way.

"Okay, fine," she said, trying not to sound snappish, "I'll take the rest of the week off. That good enough?"

He nodded at her, "Okay, you can go now. There's only an hour left of shift, and the others will be fine. I'll see you on Monday morning. I hope you're feeling better by then. Get some rest, for God's sake, Sara."

Sara all but stalked out of his office, rolling her eyes. She wasn't truly angry at him though. She just hated the feeling that she was doing less than her best and that people had noticed. She wanted to appear strong, not half dead.

Sighing, she swung by the locker-room to collect her stuff, then walked out to her car to drive home. She couldn't be bothered telling the others where she had gone. Grissom could tell them he'd sent her home if he wanted. She didn't care.

But at least she would have time to psych herself up for the pole-dancing lessons on Saturday night. Today being Wednesday, she had almost 3 days to convince herself that it was a good idea. Or of course, 3 days to chicken out. But hopefully her resolve would stick. Because by that point she would have probably been awake almost solidly for close to 72 hours. Since she doubted that this extra time was going to let her rest up any more. It would just give her more time to think, and that was the problem in the first place.

Authors Note: r/r, please :o) It only takes you guys a couple minutes to tell me what you think, while it takes me a lot longer to write chapters. Any suggestions, criticism, etc either email me or post it in a review.