A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I'm not sure how many more chapters this story will have, but kept reading! Enjoy!
Grissom followed Sara into the diner and the two took a booth overlooking the setting sun.
"Nice, isn't it?" Sara asked, with a nervous edge to her voice.
Grissom slowly took in the diner.
"It's very nice. Is the food good?"
Sara laughed.
"Of course it's good! I wouldn't have chosen this place if the food wasn't good!"
She was nervous, which surprised her. She hadn't been nervous on their first date.
"What do you suggest?" Gil asked.
Sara looked confused.
Gil smiled. "To eat?"
"Oh," Sara laughed. "Anything's good, really. I've never had their burgers, because-"
Grissom interrupted, "I know, you haven't tried the burgers because you're vegetarian."
Sara smiled, clearly surprised that he knew she was vegetarian.
"Yo, Mario!" She called the rather large man behind the counter. "Two coffees and a menu for my friend. I'll have my usual."
She smiled once again.
Grissom was slightly shocked that Sara had a 'usual'. Once the shocked part of him calmed down, he was eager to see what this 'usual' was.
Mario quickly carried two cups of coffee over to the table and handed Gil a menu.
He started to walk away, but Gil called him back.
"You know, I think I'll just have what Sara's having," He said with a smile.
Mario took back the menu in the hand that wasn't occupied by the coffee pot.
"You sure? Sara, does he know what you get?"
Sara giggled as she brushed her hair out of her face.
"Well, if he doesn't like it, I will take it home and eat it later. Deal?"
Mario nodded and took off for the kitchen.
"So," Sara started, sipping gingerly on her coffee, "What else do you know about me?"
Grissom slowly stirred a packet of cream into his coffee. His blue eyes connected with Sara's, causing her breath to catch in her throat, for some reason or another.
"You really want to know?"
Sara nodded. "Yes I want to know!"
Gil sighed.
"I thought so. Okay, you drink your coffee only with sugar and lots of it. You tend to forget to eat, but make up for it later when you do remember. You still have the flower I gave you when we first met; It fell apart, so you put it in plastic wrap and placed it on your bookcase. You like animals and kids. And evidently, you like salad," Gil finished, nodding to Mario, who was standing at their table with two very large salads.
"Thanks, Mario. No breadsticks today?" Sara asked, still wide-eyed at Gil.
The waiter shook his head.
"Sorry. Sold out earlier. I'll make a fresh batch tomorrow and you get first dibs."
Sara smiled but once the Mario was gone, her lips formed a very thin line.
"I… I'm stunned. I never knew that you know so much about me. And I'm a little frightened, 'cause that's a little stalker-ish," She joked.
Gil looked down at his salad with a sour face.
"You actually eat this?"
Sara laughed.
"Mario! Sorry, but can you get him a burger?"
"Ew!"
"What?" Sara asked, with her half mouth full.
"There's something purple in my salad!" Gil teased.
Sara laughed again.
"It's good! I always pegged you for a salad kind of guy. No?"
Gil pushed his salad aside.
"Never. Well, once in a while. And not a giant one. And definitely nothing purple. Sorry," He apologized.
Sara swallowed a few gulps of coffee.
"It's fine. We don't like all the same things. You eat your burger and I will enjoy my delicious salad," She grinned.
Mario handed Gil his burger and with a smile said in a sing-song tone, "I told you that you wouldn't like it!"
He went back to the kitchen and Gil smiled.
"So, I take it you come here often?"
Sara pretended to be shocked.
"Oh, something he doesn't know about me! I come here all the time. It's good food and the people are nice."
Gil picked up his fork and knife and started cutting his sandwich.
Sara stifled a giggle.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Gil looked around the almost empty diner.
"Me?"
"Yes you. Who else would I be talking to?" Sara raised one brow.
"I'm cutting my sandwich."
"But, you're a grown man."
Gil shifted in his seat.
"I know, but I've done this ever since I was a kid. I can't help it, it's habit."
Sara smiled. "I'm sorry. I'm just not used to dates cutting up their food. Continue, please."
Grissom returned the smile.
"Sara, you can talk to me anytime you want to. I just want you to know that," He said softly.
She gently put her fork back down on the table. She couldn't tell him; Not on their second date.
"Sara, it's okay. I already know most of the stuff about you. It'll be fine. What could one little thing do?"
"It could change someone's life," She whispered so softly that Gil couldn't hear her.
"I can't tell you yet," She answered.
Gil sighed.
He starting talking again, but Sara blocked his voice out. She folded her arms and put them on the table, then lowered her head so Gil couldn't see her face.
Tears streamed silently down her face until they reached her nose and rolled off into her salad bowl; Gil didn't seem to notice.
"What don't I know about you? Nothing, I don't think," Gil babbled.
Sara raised her head and didn't even try to hide that she was crying.
Uneasily, she looked deep into Gil's eyes.
"I," She started, whispering hoarsely, "I was raped. That's the thing you didn't know about me!"
She jumped up from the table and ran outside, on the verge of hyperventilating.
"Sara!" Gil called. He hadn't known; Now he felt like a jerk for saying he knew everything about her.
Sara ran until she reached her apartment, which was 3 blocks and 5 flights of stairs away. Oddly, she wasn't out of breath.
She sank down the floor, letting her sobs erupt like lava from a volcano.
She didn't care anymore; Grissom was a jerk and he didn't love her. She shouldn't have been so blind.
"Sara?" Gil calmly asked.
"How did you catch up to me?"
Gil let out a breath.
"Well, I run on occasion, too. When it involves someone I love." He smiled. "Come on, let's get you inside."
"No!" Sara yelled. "Just, just go home or back to your bugs! I don't need your help."
Gil joined Sara on the floor and wrapped his arm around Sara.
She stood up and before she knew it, she was in his arms.
"Sara, it's okay. I didn't mean to be a jerk. I just love you so much that I wanted to impress you. It's okay. I'm sorry," He soothed.
Sara spun away from him.
"No. I'm not going to let myself get hurt again. Just leave! If I need your help, I'll tell you."
Gil sighed as he walked away, feeling like his heart had just exploded.
After he was out of sight, Sara unlocked her apartment door and entered. She flipped on the light and was surprised to see that she had another message.
After pressing play, she went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water.
"Hi Sara. Remember me?"
She gasped upon hearing the voice. She ran to the machine but before she could stop the tape, a man emerged from her bedroom and clamped his hand over her mouth.
As he pulled her into the bedroom, overtop of her muffled screams, she heard the man say along with the tape the two most frightening words she'd ever heard.
"I'm Back."