Title: Jump
Summary: Sara overhears Grissom and Sofia talking, and takes it the wrong way. She turns to Nick, but when Grissom finds out what's wrong and apologises...what's a girl to do?
Rating: T for now
Author's Note: Ooh, how many people hate me now? ;-) Muahaha. It'll get better, I swear. No promises on when however -coughcough-
Disclaimer: If I owned CSI, a disclaimer wouldn't be neccessary, nor would I be writing fanfic.
Chapter Four
That night, Sara just sat down in the middle of the floor, plucking out notes on her guitar, trying to play that song. Suddenly frustrated, she gave up and started pacing around her apartment, staring at the phone. Finally, she grabbed it and started dialing Nick's number.
---------
He stared into space, barely registering the click of the answering machine until he heard Sara's voice.
"Nick...I...Look, I need to talk to you...please pick up...pick up or I'm coming over, you need to hear this...please?" The tone in her voice almost made him pick up, almost broke him down. But the sight of her kissing Grissom wouldn't leave him alone, so he stopped himself from reaching out. The machine clicked off and he didn't move, just stayed where he was, staring outside at the slowly lightening sky.
Minutes later, hours later, he didn't know, but he heard the knock on the door resound in the otherwise silent house. He knew it was her. Slowly he got up. The knocking didn't stop, only became more insistant. He reached the door, opened it a crack and looked out at her.
"What?" He was slightly surprised to see that her eyes were red, like she'd been crying; but even so, they still had that fierce, not-giving-up look in them.
"You should know what. Let me in."
"Why let you in? You could just go back to the lab, to-"
"Don't even think of saying that, Nick," she hissed, and he was surprised at the ferocity in her voice.
"Why not? I know what I saw."
"No, you don't. So if you'd let me explain-"
"Nothing to explain, Sara. I should've expected something like this would happen. What was it you said? 'There will always be a part of me that still loves him'? What was I, then? A distraction until he noticed you?" He shut the door and locked it, leaning back against the wall. He could still see her there, and he could just hear her answer:
"You were everything..." He almost moved to open the door then, but she was walking, almost running, to her car. He watched her get in and sit there for a moment, head buried in her arms, before she sat up and drove off.
--------
"Sara?" Sofia sighed when her co-worker didn't respond. She'd stormed into the lab, three hours early, only to throw herself down on the break room couch and hadn't moved since. "Sara!" That got her attention.
"What?"
"You don't look so good. You sure you should be at work?" Sofia asked. Sara just shrugged.
"Better work than home."
"What about Nick? Aren't you always with him?"
Sara opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She leaned her head in her hands and Sofia, worried, sat down beside her.
"Sara? What's wrong? Did something happen with Nick?" Immediatly she regretted mentioning his name again as Sara retreated into herself again, pulling away from Sofia. "Alright, that's not the best thing to say...look, there's an hour til shift, we're getting out of here."
--------
Ten minutes later, Sara and Sofia were in a booth at the diner, Sofia trying to get the brunette out of her shell. She had opened up enough that Sofia could gather that Grissom was the root of the problem- not quite a surprise- but not much else. Finally she sighed.
"Sara. We're not moving until you tell me what's wrong. You can't work properly when you're like this."
"Can so." Sara replied, still not meeting Sofia's eyes.
"No, you can't. I've been there, when you hurt so much you can't concentrate on anything. And believe me, the best thing is to talk to someone."
Sara finally looked up at Sofia's eyes. "Alright then. How much did you know about me and Grissom from before you were transferred?"
"Not much. Were you..."
"Nope, we were never together," Sara replied, shaking her head. "But I wished we were. I was...pretty infatuated with him, I guess. I got over it. But it was like there was always a tiny part of me that wouldn't let go, and that just totally bugged me. He'd just never respond to me, no matter what. And then Nick came along, like he always did, calmed me down after one more time that I was pissed at Grissom, and things just happened. I kissed him by accident and then we were just...together." She lapsed into silence again.
"And then?" Prompted Sofia.
"And then Grissom decided to get his sorry ass into gear," Sara replied, eyes darkening in anger at the memory. "Cath asked me to drive Lindsay to her volleyball practice, and Grissom called me over. He said some stuff, I answered with the most polite version of 'whatever' I could, and started leaving...and he just grabbed me. Pushed me against the desk. And Nick saw, he was coming back from his case, he saw, and then I went to talk to him and he wouldn't let me explain..." She slumped forward, burying her head in her arms again, and Sofia could tell that if she wasn't crying, she would be soon.
"You do realise that you could probably get Grissom fired if you-"
"Yeah, I realise that. And I don't want him fired. He's a prick, yeah, and has some issues with his feelings, but he's a damn good CSI and a good leader to the team."
"Sometimes you amaze me, Sidle," Sofia said, shaking her head. Glancing over at the brunette, whose only response had been to arch her eyebrows, she elaborated. "You must be the only woman I know who could have taken being rejected all those years, find someone, have the original guy come to his senses only for you to push him away and have the second guy mad at you, and still be ready to go into work the next day."
"Yeah, well. It's a distraction. And sometimes I need that." Sara replied with a shrug.
"Now, we just need Nick to talk to you," Sofia said, returning to the businesslike manner Sara had often seen her use with suspects.
"I already tried that. He won't talk to me."
"Keep in mind that while Grissom may have forced you into it, Nick obviously didn't see that. He's probably as hurt as you were, especially since, I'm assuming, you told him you were over Grissom, and then, there he sees him kissing you."
"You're very blunt, did you know that?" Sara said. The blonde opened her mouth to apologise, but Sara just shook her head. "It's a good thing. Keeps things in perspective to think of it analytically."
"Alright then...but if it bothers you, tell me, okay?" After getting a nod from Sara, Sofia continued. "So, how'd you go about trying to talk to Nick, exactly?"
"Calmed down a bit first. Played some music." Let's not mention the Kelly Clarkson just yet, she thought to herself. "Then I called him, got the machine. I figured he didn't want to talk to me, so I went over, 'cause Warrick said to try to talk to him in person. I got there and asked him to let me in, he wouldn't, he said go back to the lab, to..." She could feel tears starting again at the memory of those words coming from Nick. "Never mind. But I told him he didn't understand, to let me explain, and he shut the door and locked it."
"Seems to me you're both still pretty riled up," Sofia replied. "I know you never take sick days...How about you take one, calm down, it'll give you both some distance, and then go back to his house after shift. I'll try and talk to him, if you want."
"That sounds good."
"And I'm going to repeat what I said earlier about you not looking so good, you've never willingly taken a sick day in your life I imagine," Sofia teased, trying to bring a smile to her...friend? Co-worker? Whatever. Trying to bring a smile to Sara's face.
"That's about right," Sara replied with a small smile. Both women stood at the same time, not moving, looking at eachother. "Thanks." Sara said simply, holding out her hand.
"You're welcome," Sofia answered, reaching out to shake the offered hand. And both knew in that moment that something had changed, and maybe- just maybe- they'd become friends.
----------------
Author's Note: Another chapter done. Muahaha. ;-)
Review Thanks: heartagram69: Nope, sorry, angst not quite done -devil face- but don't worry. Baby23-Misery: Oh, he'll let her explain. Eventually. DarkDreamer56: I haven't actually heard the whole CD yet(I'm getting it for Christmas, my mum said) but my friend made me listen to that song and it just stuck. Glad you like the story so far :-)
Up Next: Sofia's thoughts about Grissom now that she's heard Sara's story... What will Nick think when both Sofia and Warrick gang up on him about Sara? And will Sara finally get her chance to explain it all?