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Chapter 2

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Grissom didn't remember the drive home. He didn't rememebr coming inside and going straight to the bottom left cabinet in his kitchen. He didn't even remember pulling out the box of photographs from under his bed. All he knew was that he was now siting on his couch looking at pictures and siping his third screwdriver of the morning.

The picture he held in his hand was his favorite. Taking another sip from his glass, he stared at the image, remembering the events associated with it. It was four years ago at a Christmas party, Sara's first Christmas in Vegas. She'd brought her camera and had taken pictures of everything, including Warrick and Catherine under the mistletoe, Gregand Jacqui by the tree, and even the daytime coroner, Gary Telgenhoff on his guitar singing his first song to hit radio. She'd handed out the developed photos as gifts that year, a special way to remember how much fun they'd all had that night, despite the jabs from day shift.

This picture, however, she'd had someone else take. It was ofSara right after she'd opened her Secret Santa gift (which happened to be from him). He remembered the joy on her face when she saw the beautiful cover to a book of Shakespeare. She figured out right away who it was from, and to the surprise of nearly everyone there, thanked him with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. It was at that moment that the camera clicked, forever capturing that moment on film. Flipping it over, Grissom read the message she'd written on the back:

What a night! Thanks for the book... Now I can quote Shakespeare too!

Forever Yours, Sara

His mind drifted back to the letter, and he realized once again how much she had canged and how much he missed her. What had changed? He'd struggled with that question for years; what made him think he could answer it now was beyond him. Instead, he settled on another that plagued him: What had changed enough to make her leave?

A moment later, he felt his palm smack into his brow as it hit him like a brick. How could he have been so stupid? The letter had all but spelled it out: Sofia. She knew about his date with Sofia.

No, he corrected himself, not a date. He was only trying to convince her to stay.

Wait, he thought. Maybe she wasn't gone yet... Maybe he'd gotten the letter earlier than she had intended... If that was the case, then there was a chance she was still in Vegas. Finding his phone, he called her house... Disconnected. He tried her pager... No luck; it was turned off. In desperation, he dialed her cell phone... It rang. He let out a sigh of relief then took a dep breath as he tried to figure out what exactly he was going to say, only to let it out in frustration a moment later when he heard th recording:

"We're sorry. The customer you are trying to reach is currently out of the calling area. Please-"

"Damn it!"

In frustration, Grissom heaved his phone across the room, too consumed by anger to notice, much less care, when it smashed into one of his mounted butterfly cases and sent it crashing to the floor, shattered glass flying everywhere. Plopping back down on the couch, he laid back and cursed himself for the likely irreversible damage he had done to ther nonrelationship. He felt the hot tears course down the side of his face as he kicked the box of photographs to the floor, the pictures of his past now scattered among the shards of glass.

The one photo still lovingly cradled in his hand faded as more tears blurred his vision and memories of Sara floated in and out of his mind. Soon,it joined the others on the floor as his sadness lured him into a restless sleep, only to have her haunt his dreams.

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"I'd forgotten how cold the East Coast is this time of year," Sara sighed as she stared out the car window at the rain and miserable greyness that had settled over the city since her arrival, mirroring her mood. She knew it would be hard leaving Vegas, but she never knew that it would hurt this much. Leaving without saying goodbye was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do; she missed her friends, and as much as she hated to admit it, she missed Grissom.

The spell was broken when the man beside her interrupted her thoughts.

"Actually, the rain is a nice relief from the snow and sleet we've been having, but then again, Virginia isn't exactly known for having nice winter weather. Better than Vegas though, isn't it?"

"Culpepper, just because I left Vegas to take the FBI up on their offer to join Quantico's crime lab doesn't suddenly make us the bst of friends. Just get me to where I'm supposed to be and give me my assignment."

Culpepper smiled. "Eager, are we? Well, since I'm not your supervisor, technically I can't assign you to anything-"

"Thank God!"

"-but I did put in a few good words with the director, and we've got a case all lined up for you. One which I think you'll find very ineresting."

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The next week seemed to crawl by. Vegas was bing its usual big bad self, but with both swing shift and graveyard being short-staffed, the entire team had to pull doubles just to cover the normal load, and with Sara gone, the time just seemed to lag. As the team made ready to leave after yet another trying day, the conversation one again turned to their former teammate.

'it's so different around here with her gone... emptier," Greg sighed as he changed his socks.

"Don't we know it..." Warrick's soulfull voice sounded from behind him. "The kind of cases we've been getting lately are her kind of mystery. they're like puzzles to her... They give her purpose. She'd have a ield day with the victimologies."

Nick chuckled a bit. "Yeah, that's where she shines, alright." Turning to his locker, the photos taped to the inside of the door caught his eye, though on inparticular stood out. Smack in the middle of his collage wa a picture of him with Warrick and Sara at a banquet a few years ago. the lab had been honored for its performance on a high profile case and for rising to the second highest ranking in the nation. He and the other guys had felt pretty ridiculous in the penguin suits that society called tuxedos, but Sara had insisted that they all looked quite handsome; which was ironic seeing as from the time she had walked into the room, no one could take their eyes off of her. They'd all agreed that she pulle off black in just the right way, and that night was no exception. She looked absolutely ravishing in her deep V-neck, spaghetti-strapped, open-backed black gown, and must have been asked to dance by every guy in the lab with the obvious exceptions of Hodges, Carvallo, and Ecklie. Yet she still insisted that she was the one who felt out of place. She'd taken the picture reluctantly, but looking back, Nick was glad he'd insisited.

He was startled out of his thoughts by Warrick's voice behind him.

"Whatcha lookin' at?"

Nick sighed and continued to stare at the photo, hearing Warrick hold his breath for a moment when he came up beside him.

"I remember that night," Warrick said, his memory drifting back. "Everyone staring at her all night made her nervous, but she still managed to dance with almost every guy there."

"Yeah," Nick replied. "Even Grissom took a chance... Man, she was gorgeous in that dress."

"She was beautiful," came Grissom's voice from the doorway. Nick and Warrick spun around, unaware that he'd even been in the room, let alone listening to the conversation. Stepping in, Grissom moved alongside them to stare at the picture. "I learned to waltz just for that night... I was nervous as hell when I asked her to join me, but once the music started, the world disappeared..."

Warrick glanced over at Nick. It was strange, he thought he'd just seen a teary mist cloud Grissom's typically unreadable eyes. Nick barely nodded, as if to say that he'd seen it too.

"Griss..." Warrick hesitated.

"Carvallo wants me to replace her," he said shortly.

"WHAT!" Both of the younger men turned away from the photos to stare at him.

"You can't!" Nick cried. "You can't replace someone like Sara!"

"I know, Nick, trust me, but-"

"She's been gone, what, a week? She didn't even say goodbye, and she wouldn't-"

"I BLEW IT!" Grissom blurted, the tears clearly beginning to pool now. "After everything that's happened, I tried to protect her. I was careful what cases I gave her, but I only held her back! I was stupid to think she'd stay after the wayI treated her, and now she's gone! She left, and she's not coming back!"

When a tear spilled over onto his cheek, he turned away from the others no longer able to stand the shock and sorrow in their eyes. Going to his own locker, he put in his badge, grabbed his jacket and slammed the door before heading quickly past them and out the door.

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