Okay the T rating is mostly for this chapter, but it's really tame compared to other fics that I've read. I am simply not capable of writing smut, I swear!

Also, oddly enough I had already planned for Greg to givethe Yoko Ono line, and then I watched gumdrops a few weeks ago and he actually used it about Warrick's wife. Psychic...

Chapter 8--Indoor Fireworks

"So how did everyone survive today without me?" He asks across the small table where he sits over his steaming bowl of soup.

"Don't get me started."

"What now?"

"The mother's DNA or fingerprints doesn't match any of our evidence because we still don't have the knife. We have male DNA, but we don't have Jenkins' sample to compare it. Mia's stressed out..."

"Oh, how I hated that job. Now if I just don't screw up this one..." He takes up a spoonful, blows on it and takes a bite. "Sara...you look like you could use some time off yourself. I doubt you've got a good nights' sleep in weeks." He leans closer to her face, staring into her tired eyes,which seem to begetting heavier by the second. "Are those circles under there? Wait a minute...Oh, Grissom problems?" He suspects suddenly, though in a teasing sort of way.

"What Grissom problems...I don't have Grissom problems. What are you talking about?" She says quickly in her defense.

"Come on, I know I do a lot of stupid things, but I'm anything but that. Everyone knows it, so there's no use in trying to hide it." She just sits in silence, trying to think of something to say.

"Fine." She scoffs in surrender. "He just doesn't get it, and there's nothing I can do. To him, I'm just not worth risking his job. I'm just over it, already!"

She rests her head down on the table after he releases her hand. Only after a long silence followed by the continuous clanking sound of a bowl and spoon does she lift her head.

"What are you doing?" She looks up to see him slide his plate across the table before getting up to put the bowl in the sink. She takes a second look at it, lined up in the middle are five soup letters, I...LUV...U. She stares at the message, not sure if she was to consider it literally or not. After all, it was Greg. "Very funny, Sanders." She yells to him in the kitchen, taking it jokingly.

Greg walks back over to the table, not finishing the dishes. He stands behind her, his hands resting on her shoulders as he glances at the plate where his sandwich had once been. "I'm being serious." He leans over to whisper in her ear. Then he quickly goes back to the sink to finish the washing.

Sara gets up from the table, taking the plate to the sink. Saradrops the plate into the soapy water.Her handtaps Greg on the shoulder, making him turn his attention from the bubbly water. She pats the left side of his face. "You see, that's one thing I like about you. A guy who does his own dishes."

"What, I thought I was 'trying too hard'?" She moves her hand down to his neck and pulls him close enough to kiss. She pushes him against the countertop in front of the sink. He props himself up on the farthest side of the sink, until his right elbow gives out and his hand slips in to the soapy water.

She had enough of waiting around for Gil to make up his mind whether she meant more to him than his job. And if he had to take this many years to think about it, he wasn't worth it. She finally found someone who cared about her and wasn't afraid to tell her.

"I take that as a no."

"Sorry--" She tries to speak but is cut off by Greg's lips and suds splashed.
He moves across the kitchen and down the hallway, taking Sara with him. He walks backward, actively working at the buttons of her shirt.

Never did he really think she'd say yes to something like this before having that cup of coffee. Since the Hank incident, Sara hadn't really trusted guys too easily. He assumed Gil's silent rejection didn't help Sara's view on men either. It seemed that a few bad apples of his kind always ruined it for the rest of them, he included. He leans forward, but she pulls away from him.

"Greggo...I can't do this. We can't do this." She stops him, pressed against the doorframe of his bedroom. "We work together." Her hand slides down his bare chest as she pushes herself away from him.

"Sara, I'm sorry." Greg says, unsure of how she really felt about the incident. "I really am." He watches her walk down the hall a bit and pick up her shirt off the blue carpet.

"No...Don't apologize, there's no need." She says, quickly buttoning the buttons to hide the black lace underneath. She continues down the corridor to the living room and plops down on the far end of the couch. Greg's bare feet follow her foot steps down the hall; he takes a seat beside her.

"You just spilled out your one darkest family secret, detail by detail, and what did I do? Take advantage of the situation, that's what…and to you, Sara? " He runs his hand through his hair and props his elbows on his knees, avoiding any eye contact with her what so ever. "I'm so stupid. I'm--."

"I started it and ended it. Don't worry." She moves closer to him, but he moves away.

"You've been hurt enough; you don't need any help from me." He takes his shirt from beside him and slips it over his head.

"Greg, it's not like that. It's just...us. It would be…complicated."

"They always say not fall for your co-workers…" He lets out a short nervous laugh. "But I did...why? You've worked so hard to get where you are now. I'd just be the one to ruin it all…I'd be your Yoko!"

"You're using Beatles' references?" She finally gets the serious look off her face and replaces it with her gap-toothed smile. "You know, I'm sounding just like Gil. I'm so wrapped up in worrying about work to even give myself a chance to ever have a personal life." That was the thing that bothered her the most, that really for all this time Sara was treating Greg much like Grissom always was with her. For some reason, she had never realized that until now.

"Just as long as you don't start collecting dung beetles, get excited when a DB is found in a box full of fire ants and break roller coaster records on your days off for fun, I think you'll be okay."

"But what about Ecklie? We could lose our jobs if he thinks this, whatever this might be, would affect our work." She sits in silence for a moment.

Greg's eyes wander toward Sara's. He loved the look she got on her face when she was deep in thought. All the girls he had told Nick about in the past were never the type that could past that test, but his tastes had changed immensely through the years. Everything he saw when he looked at Sara could possibly be the reason nothing of much importance happened with the others. No one else could ever compare to her in his eyes.

Sara's grin suddenly spreads across her face. "We wouldn't have to let him know. He so clueless of what's going on half the time." She says moving back over towards his end of the couch.

"You're saying we should give us a chance?"

"You know, just take things nice and slow and see where it takes us." She puts her hand over his, which is nervously gripping the couch's cushion.

"Well, you do notice we're all ready living together."

"Not for long...I found an apartment. I'll be moving in this Saturday."