Title: Does He Ever Get The Girl?

Author: Diabolikal Rapture / Britt

Summary: This follows on from The Red Dress. How will Greg and Sara deal with their 'date' and the events that followed. Will he ever get the girl?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it, CSI's owned by the respective people, yada yada yada. Any lyrics that I use are owned by the respective bands. Title from Dashboard Confessional's This Ruined Puzzle, lyrics and title of this chapter from Dashboard Confessional's The Brilliant Dance.

A/N: Thanks for everyone wholiked The Red Dress and wanted a sequel, totally rad. Sorry it took so long for me to post this. I was watching my niece for the weekend, and ended up planning a bunch of fics (GSR woot). I actually got into a good mood to write this in the middle of the night, so I hope y'all like it. Lemme know what y'all think, and if I should continue or not. Reviews will make me write faster ; ) New CSI's almost here! Rock / Britt

Does He Ever Get The Girl?

1. The Brilliant Dance

Greg slowly removed his jacket and placed it within his locker. He pulled out his labcoat and ID, and gently closed the door. He carefully put on the jacket and clipped on his identification, hoping that his slow movements would somehow ease his mind, slow down his thoughts and heal his emotions. But his efforts were fruitless. It didn't help. He left the room and headed out. He breathed in deeply, filling his lungs with oxygen, and hope. Hope that he wouldn't see her, wouldn't run into her and be forced into a plastic conversation. He didn't want that, and he didn't need it.

He swiftly moved through the corridors until he reached his office. He closed the door behind him and sighed a sigh heavily weighted with relief. So far so good. He took a seat. He was exhausted. It had only been six days since that night, but it was six days too many. Somehow he'd convinced himself that he was fine, that he would deal with this and get through it. But he was aware of the harsh reality. Truth was, he wasn't dealing. Not at all. He was barely coping. And it didn't help that he was spending his nights here, in such a close proximity to the source of his despair.

He cursed himself. He promised that today would be different, today he'd think of something else. Today he'd be his normal self, free of his hurt emotions, his painful realizations and torn ego. He sighed again. He was torturing himself, and what for? She didn't love him, she didn't need him, she didn't want to be with him...that she'd bad so obvious. Greg allowed himself to entertain the possibility that she was thinking of him...He wondered if it hurt her, like it was hurting him. Or if he was just another one of the losers that she'd turned down in her lifetime. His thoughts returned to familiar territory...Of course she isn't thinking about you, she doesn't love you, she doesn't care...

He couldn't help but hate himself. After all, it was his fault. He'd ask her on the date, knowing that he had his own hidden agenda, he'd allowed himself to expect something more, to believe...He shook his head. Stop it! He scolded. He was at work, where he should be working hard, not wallowing in self pity. Why worry, no one else is going to pity me...He spun in his chair as he glared out into the rest of the department. They hadn't said a thing since that night. He knew that they were aware of that night...and that they knew much more than that. But here they all were, side-stepping any conversation that might lead to mentioning of that night. In a way, he was grateful. Grateful, but bitter. It would be nice to know that they at least cared...He huffed to himself as he spun back around, his back to the rest of the world...turned his back on her.

So this is odd,
the painful realization that has all gone wrong.
And nobody cares at all,
and nobody cares at all.

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Sara stared out the window as the car headed down The Strip. The neon lights were nothing but a blur as she stared past it all...she was focused on one thing. Catherine looked across at her colleague and frowned. Sara wasn't herself. She'd willing let Catherine drive, and handle most of the investigation at the scene they'd just left...She'd been distant, or at least, more distant than usual, ever since that weekend. Catherine wasn't game enough to push Sara, to ask her questions that she wouldn't want to answer, and so, she continued to drive, allowing for the silence to reign within the car.

Sara couldn't help but feel guilty. It tore her up knowing that she'd rejected Greg, and so simply. You know it wasn't simple..She reasoned with herself, but she knew that Greg would've seen that way, he'd believe that it was so easy for her to just turn away and leave him standing on her doorstep, alone. She leant against the cool glass of the window as she allowed her thoughts to consume her. I wonder how he is...She hadn't spoken to him since, she hadn't even shared a room with him since, and she felt horrible for avoiding him. She didn't know what else to do. Should she go to see him? Yeah, just rub it in more...She knew that she'd burned him, hurt him badly. If she were in his position, she wouldn't want to see the person who rejected her, to speak with them, forgive them...her thoughts trailed off as she remembered exactly how it felt to be turned down.

Sara was jerked from her thoughts as the car came to a halt in the car park. She sighed as she absently followed Catherine inside, selfishly hoping that she wouldn't bump into Greg. She continued to think about that night, though she knew that she was avoiding something, something that she knew she needed to address eventually. Why did she turn him down? Why was she regretting it so much? Why was she so torn? She escaped her thoughts as she began to scan the corridors, searching for that familiar face...And there he was. Greg turned the corner and headed straight towards her. His head was down, his shoulders slightly hunched...He wasn't himself, and he hadn't seen her yet. She searched for her escape, and found it in the break room, quickly turning into it before their paths crossed, before she had to face the full extent of her actions.

Without speaking to him, she could at least try and pretend as though it hadn't happened, as though she hadn't hurt him so badly...What if he isn't hurt? What if his mother was wrong, wrong about his strong feelings for her? She shook her head at herself, mostly in disgust. How could she try and reduce Greg's emotions just to try and ease her feelings of guilt? Again she felt her thoughts returning, the ones that she'd desperately been trying to ignore...What if it isn't just guilt that I'm feeling? What if it's something else? Something more than that? Before she could answer herself he walked into the room.

Greg paused as he realized he wasn't alone in the room, and it was too late to escape now. Their eyes met, and they held each other's gaze. Finally Greg broke the connection and turned his back to her as he collected something to eat from the refrigerator. He felt terrible for ignoring her, for not speaking to her, acknowledging her presence...but he shook these feelings away. What would she expect from him? He turned back to face her. She was looking out the door, probably thinking of the perfect escape to avoid his company. He searched her face, for something, anything to show him what she was thinking, feeling. She turned her gaze from the door and focused on him. A glimmer of emotion sparked across her features before he looked away from her, and continued out the door. He wondered what it was...guilt, despair, loss?

So this is strange,
our sidestepping has come to be a brilliant dance
where nobody leads at all,
where nobody leads at all.

At that moment he felt that he desperately needed to speak to her, but he shut these thoughts down as soon as they entered his mind. What good has that done me? Following his emotions and impulses had gotten him here, feeling like this. He returned to his office, to his refuge. Here he could hide from awkward moments like those, silences, gazes, conversations that didn't even begin...Sara watched from the doorway, observing him as he struggled with his thoughts. She wondered what it was that he was thinking, whether he was feeling the same. Why would he? He has nothing to be guilty about...It was all you Sara... She couldn't bare to be so close to him and not speak to him, tell him everything she was feeling. But she held herself back, like she had always done, and left the doorway.

Greg turned as he sensed a movement behind him, but found no one. He was alone, as another realization hit him. He'd never felt this way before. No one else had ever had this effect on him before. No one had ever made him feel so warm, so happy, and then this...so sad and alone. He'd never felt so strongly for someone, and had it thrown back in his face...not until now. Not until now had he realized that he was in love. I'm in love with Sara Sidle...He felt a sudden burst of anger. He never did anything right. He'd never been the perfect boyfriend, he'd never really tried with his relationships. And now that he had, he'd tried, and failed, and it was with the one woman he'd really wanted things to work with, whether he admitted it or not. But he knew it now...now he was owning up to what his mother had known all along, and now he was feeling an even deeper despair. What if he never found someone he loved as much as Sara? He sighed...he never knew that it could hurt this much. Rejection never felt this painful before, not even when she turned him down for the date. He wondered if she'd ever know how much he felt for her, how much she'd hurt him. Well I guess it doesn't matter anymore...

This is incredible.
Starving, insatiable,
yes, this is love for the first time.
Well you'd like to think that you were invincible.
Yeah, well weren't we all once before we felt loss for the first time?