Disclaimer: Characters NOT MINE. They belong to Anthony E. Zuicker and co. The rest of the story I do own.

CHAPTER 5

As he and Sara walked back to his car after finally taking their leave from his parents, Greg could not keep the grin off his face. They had lapped it up, seemed to love Sara. In face, Greg wished they just reacted half as favourably to his real girlfriends! No-one had ever before had truly seemed to get their approval. Which really was a bit of a worry really, since Sara wasn't really his girlfriend.

"Thank you so much, Sara!" he gushed again, once they were well away from he restaurant and he was sure his parents had no way of hearing "That went even better than I had thought it could!" He hoped he didn't sound silly, but he was really grateful and happy that they had pulled it off. It would get his parents off his back about finding a girl for a while. Of course, they would ask how she was every single time they called, but hey, he could handle that!

Sara smiled at him. He sounded so young and eager when he talked like that. And a lot sweeter than he was when they were at the lab. And all for a simple favour, taking only a couple of days out of her time? He seemed to think it of a lot greater importance than she did, thinking it was a much bigger favour. "It's no problem Greggo," she repeated, for what seemed like the hundredth time, "I'm just glad I can help you out. And your parents seem really nice people. It was fun."

Greg couldn't argue with that. His parents were great people, though their constant concern for him could get annoying. But that was just a parental thing, and they weren't likely to stop. It was kinda nice to know that there were people who just wanted the best for him, and for him to be happy. It was just a pity that they imagined he needed a woman in his life for him to be happy. He didn't feel that way, at least not at the moment, but it had been nice pretending for the evening that he did have someone. And someone as great as Sara at that.

His reverie was disturbed then by the simultaneous buzzing of his pager and Sara's. He winced. Great, there went the rest of their night off. And what were they going to do? Grissom wanted them there immediately, or preferably 10 minutes ago. Meaning he didn't exactly have time to drop Sara home, then go get changed himself.

"We're going to have to get changed at the Lab," Sara sighed, echoing his thoughts. Greg nodded and spun the car around, heading towards the lab and their work. Great, couldn't people in this city leave off killing people for one night?

When they arrived a few minutes later, they rushed out of the car and into the building, ignoring the curious glances of the passers- by. But as they entered, they ran straight into Catherine and Warrick, who were heading out. Two pairs of eyebrows shot upwards to the roof as their outfits were scrutinised.

"Well, where have you two been?" Catherine grinned, "Don't you both look all dressy this evening?"

Sara and Greg shared a glance at that. What were they meant to respond? They both stood there for several seconds before Sara managed to relax her face into a smile. "Well, aren't we Miss Suspicious tonight?" she teased, "Just so happened Greggo and I managed to end up at the same restaurant. Since we both got buzzed, I bagged a lift off him." She inwardly winced at that. How weak could you get? But there really wasn't a reasonable explanation. Boy, were the gossips going to have some fun! But let them, since Greg and Sara knew what was going on, it really wasn't anyone else's business.

Catherine nodded disbelievingly. "Sure, okay. Well, the both of you had better go get changed anyway. We've got work to do. Greg, a couple of the other lab techs are off sick, which is why we had to call you in. Sara, you're with us. Grissom didn't tell us what it is we're investigating, but since he pulled you off leave, I'm guessing something large scale. We'll wait here for you, now you've arrived. We were going to meet you at scene, but this is faster."

Greg and Sara nodded and rushed off to the locker-room to change into more suitable clothing. Catherine stared after them, a bemused look on her face. "I wonder what those two could be up to," she wondered out loud, "They're way too suspicious. If they went out for dinner together, why not just say so? Everyone knows how much Greg pesters Sara to go out with him!"

Next to her, Warrick shrugged "Maybe there's more to it than meets the eye," he mused, "Maybe our resident lab rat and Sara have got something going that we aren't being told. Or maybe they're just embarrassed. Who knows."

Sara returned as quickly as she could to the others, wearing an old and rather scruffy outfit. Not that she could help it. It happened to be what was in her locker, and it was certainly better than wearing her dinner clothes out to a scene. Which certainly would raise a few eyebrows. More than this getup, certainly. And there were already going to be enough eyebrows shotting through the ceiling when it got around that she and Greg had come in together. She had already heard enough laughable rumours that the two of them were dating. The gossips would just use this as proof towards their claims!

She grinned to herself, a glint of mischief popping into her eyes. Well, since there were going to be rumours circulating anyway, maybe she could persuade Greg not to refute them too hard. The looks on their colleagues faces would be golden, considering that it was fairly common knowledge that Greg had tried to hook up with her before. But until she did suggest it to him, well, everyone could just be left hanging and wondering what on earth was going on. Let them think what they felt. It would serve the lab gossips right, and give everyone else a good laugh at their expense. The only ones that would end up looking silly were those who believed silly rumours! If Greg agreed, this could be fun!

Authors note: Yep, I am still around ; Just my priorities have shifted significantly away from fanfic, especially since I started college and don't have a lot of spare time on my hands. I am still aiming to work on those fics of mine that people actually read, which includes this one. So please, bear with the long delays between updates.