It was still early in the morning as she left the CSI building and tried to find her car in the parking lot, not remembering where she had left it. The week had come to an end, and she was about to enjoy her weekend off as much as she could.
She had decided to stay awake today, to get back in the usual day/night rhythm as fast as she could. Sleeping would be a problem anyway because she had had nightmares her entire life, but since the attack at the mental home they had gotten worse.
She had gotten pretty good at putting away the memories of her childhood, but when her throat had almost been slashed, it had all come screaming back to her. When Gris had asked her if she was okay she had said she was and that she wanted to finish the case. He hadn't tried to convince her otherwise.
When she finally found her car she reached for the keys in her purse and immediately realized something was missing: her picture. She always carried a picture of herself as a sort of good luck charm. It had been on the day that the picture was taken that her mother had decided to put a stop to all the pain and suffering that was going on in their family.
It had been the day of the picture, when her mother had stabbed her father to death.
Angry at herself for losing such an important token of her being, Sara quickly walked back to the locker room. She found Grissom squatted in front of her locker, holding the one thing she didn't want anyone to see.
"What are you doing with my picture?" she asked in a very sad voice.
"I picked it up off the floor." he replied quietly.
He handed the picture back to her. "You need to talk to me about this."
"No I don't. Not anymore!" she said, with a hint of anger in her voice.
"I've tried to do so on more than one occasion and you were never there to listen, Grissom. I even tried to talk to you outside of this office, but at my attempt to get you to have dinner with me, you just said 'No!'"
Grissom stared at her and with an empty voice he said: "I thought you wanted to go out with me because you had feelings for me."
"Sure... I mean I did..." Sara said. "But there was more to it than that, and you just dismissed the whole idea."
"I don't feel comfortable sharing meals with co-workers on a one-on-one basis. Especially female co-workers." came his response.
"Really? I seem to recall various dinners, breakfast and other sorts, with Catherine."
"She's different, she is a very close friend."
"Oh you're right, my mistake. So Sofia is a close friend as well?" Sara stated.
Grissom was taken aback by this reply. He hadn't thought about the dinner he and Sofia shared, which he himself had initiated.
"No." he said softly.
"Then how is she different?" Sara asked.
"I don't bond with her as well as I do with you." Grissom answered.
"Bonding? What do you think that is Grissom? I mean... I don't feel free to tell you anything anymore. How can you describe that as bonding well?"
Grissom shrugged. "I guess I didn't want to have dinner with you because I can't relax around you. Sofia doesn't have that influence on me."
"Oh great, so I make you feel tense huh?"
"Well you do!"
Sara sighed. "You know what Gris, never mind. Apparently the other CSI's are more important to you. I used to think you were a guy that didn't differentiate. Guess I was wrong."
"No, you're wrong now. You are very important to me. Not only as a CSI, but as a person." Grissom said.
"It wouldn't hurt you to show it every once in a while."
"I'm trying to now..." Grissom said quietly. "I just don't know how."
Sara stared at him. This was a side of Grissom she hadn't seen before.
"How 'bout I ask you out to dinner and you say yes?"
Grissom's eyes widened. This was not where he was hoping to be headed in the conversation. "I still don't think having dinner is a very good idea."
"Why? Because you still don't know what to do about 'this'?" Sara gestured from herself to Grissom.
"No, because it's too early for dinner. It's not to early for breakfast however!" he replied teasingly.
"Right..."
"So. Do you want regular breakfast, or Catherine breakfast?"
"What the hell is a Catherine breakfast?"
"Any time Cath tells me to buy her breakfast she expects me to cook an omelette for her."
"Omelette sounds good actually. But what about Sara breakfast?"
"Sara breakfast? I'm intrigued!" said Grissom with a wink.
"Breakfast the Sara-way. You'd have to come to my place though!"
Without waiting for an answer, Sara turned around and left the locker room, leaving Grissom perplexed. Grissom thought about it for a minute and then followed her to her car. He had been to her house recently, and nothing weird happened, so what harm could it do?
"Should I take my own car or ride with you?" he said.
"Well... Sara breakfast could take a while, so it might be best if you take care of your own transportation!" she grinned.