"Déjà Vu" by Cayster

Greg dreams of what could be a very happy ending if he and Sara were actually together.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'CSI' even though it would be really cool if I did. I'm just a humble fanfic writer.

Chapter One: Restless Disappointments

Chapter Note: This is immediately taking place in his dream so do not be confused!

He kicked his feet up on the large board table in the conference room. Greg, more than once, had used this place as his break room because people rarely went in there unless they were reviewing a case or holding a very long and boring conference. Though, seeing as he had already checked the room's use for the day, he made it his refuge to catch up on some sleep since the day had been super slow.

Even though his intent for the room was only for sleep he was having a hard time doing that. Usually as soon as he came in there, he was out after five minutes of relaxation, but today too many thoughts were clouding his mind. No matter how hard he tried to clear all train of thought, he couldn't do it because they seemed to come back even stronger a few seconds later.

Today, Greg supposed, was one of those days that just seemed to hammer you relentlessly for your screw-ups from the past and from the present. Already today, he had messed up on a report over the case he had just closed when he accidentally wrote that one of the blood stains on the woman's jacket matched dog when he meant to write 'dad.' Grissom chewed him out for his inattentive actionand told him that he needs to be more aware next time. Astupid mistake that would definitely be remembered by the team and by Grissom for a long time to come even if it wasonlya small typo; it could have cost the case to go down the tube.

"I'm such a jackass," Greg whispered to himself as he closed his eyes and slowly drift off to sleep.

Just as he was sleeping, the door opened abruptly causing Greg to fall out of his chair and onto the floor in shock. "Ow!"

Someone laughed. Greg peaked over the conference table and saw Sara leaning against the door frame, laughing. "Sanders, I didn't know you were so jittery."

"Funny," he said sarcastically as he finally got back up into his chair.

Sara sensed his bitterness and got defensive, "Whoa there, I was only messing around." She put her hands up as if saying, 'Don't shoot.'

Now Greg felt even more like a jackass for biting her head off. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"No harm done," Sara said as she finally came into the room wholly and took seat across from him. "I just came by to check on your ego and seeing as it's in shambles, Grissom must've laid it on thick, huh?"

Greg only nodded; he couldn't cock up the courage to tell her about it. It was too embarrassing for him to retell still.

Sara seemed to guess what he was thinking, "Yeah, well you aren't the first one to have been lectured by him. Hell, I remember I screwed up on this one slam dunk case because I marked the evidence incorrectly." She laughed at her own ignorance, "Man, did I get an earful later on when the lab saw the error." Sara saw that it didn't really brighten him up, "It happens, Greg. It happened to everyone in the lab before. I'm betting when Grissom was fresh, he probably screwed up as well. He's not perfect, you know, and neither are you."

Greg nodded in agreement, finally finding his voice. "I know, it's just that I feel like I let the team down, too, you know? It wasn't just my case, it was the team's, so I guess I feel a little angry and disappointed with myself for letting the team's credibility almost get shot."

"Greg, lighten up!" Sara laughed causing Greg to feel a little insecure for letting his guard down. "If the team was hacked off with you, you better know that I wouldn't be in here trying to make you feel better. I'd probably be yelling my head off if you screwed up bad enough, but I'm not."

He smiled slightly, "I understand, but I'm probably going to be a little disappointed in myself anyway."

"No doubt of it," Sara said, "I was a wreck after that case! I almost asked for leave."

Greg sat up when he heard this comment. "You, ask for leave! No way!"

Sara looked at him dangerously, "Almost being the key word."

"Right," Greg said sarcastically while laughing softly.

"Now there's the Greg we all love to be frustrated with!" Sara proclaimed standing up and heading towards the door.

Greg looked disappointed when she moved that way. "Wait!" He said quite loudly, he blushed slightly when she turned back towards him with a shocked look on her face. "Ah, would you like to get…ugh… coffee sometime, maybe?" He asked without looking at her, but diverting his attention to the conference table.

She paused there for a second, hesitating, causing Greg to squirm with self-doubt. "Sure!"

Greg couldn't believe his ears, "W-what?"

"Sure," Sara said once more and then finally departing.

He stood there shocked with his mouth hanging open like a gibbering fool. He ran his hand through his jagged hair in disbelief of what was happening. He, Greg Sanders, partially asked Sara Sidle out ona date... well, for coffee.

"She said, 'sure!'" He whispered excitedly to himself.

"You know what the say about people who talk to themselves, right?" Nick said standing just outside the room.

Greg smiled, hardly paying attention to him, "Yeah, that they're geniuses."

Nick laughed, "Right, have it your way!"

"That's a great idea; I'll head to Burger King after my shift ends." Greg said hoping Nick would laugh at his joke.

"Okay, reaching a little, but very creative," Nick said looking up at the ceiling. "I'll give you a seven for that one."

"Score!"

"Well, the reason I stopped by is because Grissom has acase for you so head to his office." He said as he shifted through his papers on his clipboard.

"Thanks for the heads up," Greg said walking past Nick.

"No problem."

Greg headed over to his superior's office. He sometimes got really nervous going to Grissom's office because A.) He was either being chewed out for something ignorant every other time he was in there, B.) Grissom sometimes made him feel inferior because he psyche-analyzed him,and C.) It was dark in there. Seeing as he was only chewed out hours before now in there it seemed to add fuel to the fire.

As he reached Grissom's office, he knocked on the door out of politeness before entering. "You needed me, Grissom?"

"Oh, Greg," Grissom said rising from his chair and picking up a file off of his desk, "walk with me, I need to head over to Catherine's office quick."

"Yes, sir," Greg said walking beside Grissom through the halls.

Gil looked over at him, "You seem tense, Greg, is something wrong?"

Greg quickly shook his head, "No, I'm good."

"I want you to know something, Greg; we all mess up on cases. If I could count how many times Warrick or Nick made mistakes that almost cost us a case, it would be a handful to put it mildly." Grissom reassured Greg, reading through his bluff.

Greg nodded solemnly, "I understand."

"I know you do just don't let it make you insecure with your own credibility."

They finally reached Catherine's office and Grissom turned to Greg, "That's why I'm putting you on the Johnsoncase with Sara. She's the best person to work with when it comes to regaining your composure."

"Ugh, okay," Greg said baffled by hand Grissom was playing.

"Don't worry, she won't bite. Though, she may bark rather ferociously so don't step on her toes too badly." Grissom said before turning and heading into Catherine's office and closing the door behind him.

Greg stood there a moment trying to think of reasons why Grissom was making him partner up with Sara who was by far the best in their team even though a lot of recognition didn't go her way. He could already see her act hostile towards him for getting involved in her case even though he had been assigned to it; she was always insecure that Grissom thought weakly of her and her abilities.

He turned around and headed towards the lab Sara usually worked in during her cases. Greg knew without a shadow of doubt that he was going to receive the cold shoulder even after their little chat that happened just an hour ago. So he somberly took his time getting there as if he was resisting the inevitable.

Greg turned the last corner and his breath seemed to become more and more ragged with each step closer. Why on earth did Grissom have to put him in the line of fire so soon? He saw her through the glass window bending over her keyboard searching for matching prints in the database. Greg couldn't help but smile at how consumed she was with her work, it was actually quite endearing in a sense.

He took one last deep breath and walked to the door of the lab and knocked on the door. "Hey there, partner!" Greg said in the most charming way he possibly could.

Sara whipped around from the computer screen and looked at him as if he were a threat to her general safety.

Author Notes:

Well, I hope you have liked it so far. I know there hasn't been anything really brewing between Greg and Sara yet, but I've got to build the story. Thank you so much for reading "Déjà vu" so far and please review if you can. I would love to hear your comments even if it's constructive criticism; at least I'll be learning something about my writing andwhat you think of the story overall. Thanks once again for reading and I hope you check in soon for chapter two!