Disclaimer: Not mine; Anthony E Zuicker's, etc, etc.

Author's Note: Sorry guys, I was hoping to get this done faster, but I've just had so much else to do at the same time :( This was going to be the final chapter, but I've decided I need to develop everything a little more first.

Chapter 8

Sara continued her path towards the lab, smiling to herself. She hadn't expected Cath to lap that up quite so easily. Of course, sooner or later – sooner probably – Catherine was going to get even more curious and try a fair bit harder to break through their defences to the truth of what was going on, but Sara thought she could handle it, and hopefully Greg felt the same.

She walked around the corner, prepared to enter the lab, when someone behind her tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped a foot in the air and spun around. To face a grinning Greg.

"Reverse déjà vu?" he laughed.

She smiled back at him. It was. Almost. "But you're supposed to be in the lab, not skulking round in the corridors," she reminded him, "So it's still you that's doing what they're not meant to."

He winked, "As always, of course."

She laughed, then tilted her head to the side curiously, "So, what bring you from your normal domain?"

He rolled his eyes, exaggerating the movement to make her laugh again. He loved to see her smile, and more so to hear her laugh. She could be so serious at times, it was nice to see that she did have a sense of humour. "Only just escaped from paying good cop/bad cop with Nick and Warrick."

Sara hadn't expected that it would take him this long to escape from them; Catherine had admitted they had cornered him at the same time as her. And she had been the one feeding the cock-and-bull story to the queen of investigators. She had expected it to take Greg less time to get rid of the two guys. But then again, they were just as curious, and there were too of them. Catherine was just a little more relentless. "How'd you go? Catherine's still suspicious, but I fed her our soppy load and she ate it right up."

He nodded, "The guys the same. Except I have a suspicion that we're going to be being watched rather more closely from now on! How much longer do you think we're going to keep them hanging for?"

Sara reached up, putting her finger across his lips in a shushing motion, "We don't want to talk about it here! They could be waiting just around the corner, listening to everything we're saying. You want to meet up for lunch, discuss what we're going to do then?"

Of course, Greg practically jumped at the suggestion. No matter how much time they had been spending together recently, he wasn't going to turn down lunch with the girl he was highly attracted to. Especially not when it was her making the first move for a change. With the rather large exception of the beginning of this ruse, he had been the one coaxing the out-of-lab meetings from her. This was the first she had suggested they get together. And she had been acting much more comfortably around him recently. He was starting to wonder how she would react if he asked her out for real again. But he didn't want to wreck what they were developing by trying that before she was ready. Possibly this readiness for them to get together on break – without his prompting – was a good sign!

Daringly, he gently kissed her on that finger that was across her lips. She started, then reached up and ruffled his hair, "Flirt," she said, shaking her head.

Greg smiled back, "Always." He was jubilant. She hadn't smacked him one, and her tone could almost have been described as fond. He still had a long way to go, but he was starting to think he was completely taken over by Sara. He hadn't felt this way about a girl in the longest time; usually he used his overused pick-up lines, scored when he could. Sara however, required a much more subtle approach, and he was beginning to see why she had blown him off so often in the past. He must have appeared a jerk to her… okay, so he had known that she considered him a jerk at times, but he hadn't got why she reacted the way she did when so many others had been won over by his careless attitude. Now, he was getting to know her, to value her as a friend instead of just a really hot chick. And he was beginning to understand the puzzle that was Sara Sidle. And he really liked it; he could be involved in it forever, even if it was only at the level of friendship. He just loved her company, in whatever way she was happy to give it.

Sara brushed past him, heading back to where she was supposed to be processing evidence. "I'll meet you back here, we can go together," she said over her shoulder and waited for his nod before walking off. She smiled to herself. As she got to know him better, things that would have pissed her off seemed to her just Greg's cute little quirks.

She started then. Had she just used the words 'Greg' and 'cute' in the same sentence? Must be that the lab rat was really growing on her. This might have started out as a favour, but she was enjoying it more and more as their ruse continued. She was glad that she'd agreed; it had really allowed her to get to know Greg a lot better, and she actually enjoyed spending time with him.

Nick leaned in close to Warrick as Sara entered the evidence room, "Well, she looks awful happy again," he murmured as she joined them, smiling.

"Oh well, what are you two whispering in each other's ears," She teased, knowing they were probably talking about her, but not caring, "Sweet nothings, I suppose?"

The two of them jerked apart and stared at her. "Are you drunk or something?" Nick asked. Sure, Sara could be a tease at times, but so much more than usual that he was starting to suspect that she must have found something that made her weird… not that Sara would do drugs, but it was almost as if she'd taken a lifetime supply of happy pills recently. She hadn't even gone off at any of them or the bastard suspects that they'd been questioning.

"Of course not, Nicky," Sara grinned at him, "Just cheerful is all. Gris would kill me if I was on anything while we were on the job."

That was perfectly true. Though Gris probably wouldn't be too happy if he found out how much time she'd been spending in the lab, or out of it, with Greg recently. But they weren't doing any harm. Sara was perfectly aware that the entire team was protective of her, and with Grissom, she almost expected it. He was always looking out for the lot of them, after all. He'd softened a lot in the past couple years, and was a lot better at showing his emotions. They had all grown together in that way; it was sweet really.

Sara shook herself, she was never this soppy. It was odd, ever since she'd been playing out the ruse with Greg, she'd been a lot moor cheerful than usual. She guessed it appealed to her mischievous side, but it felt to her that being around Greg had a hand in it. He actually wasn't that unlike her; he could be quiet and sweet, but he had his public side, which one had to dig through to get to the much nicer interior. He was one of those people that you had to get to know before you truly respected them as a friend. Before all this, she had considered him a friend – albeit an annoying one- but now, she felt a bond with him, and she liked it.

Warrick shook his head, and turned back to the evidence, continuing his search for the minute fibres that they were hoping to find residing on the suspect's shirt. They'd already found them on the victim, and they needed this link. It was a messy abduction and rape case; the suspect had gotten away, but she was so traumatised that she couldn't identify her attacker. And if it was the guy they'd pinned 'prime suspect' label on, well… he wasn't dumb enough to make it easy for them… they had a lot of work to do to crack this one.

Nick just stared at Sara for a few moments, and she stared defiantly back. Finally, he shrugged, and turned back to his own assignment. He had been satisfied that Sanders wasn't going to hurt Sara in any way – hell, the guy was smitten so Sara was more likely to inadvertently hurt him- and so he figured they were both adults… and he probably didn't want to know what they'd been up to.

Sara grinned to herself. The guys were being so awkward about this, and she suspected everyone – with the possible exception of Grissom, who was a little too busy to pay too much attention- was keeping an eye on the two of them, watching hawk-eyed for an idea of what was going on. But more to the point, watching out for them both. The pair of them were part of the family here at the lab, had been here for ages. Everyone knew them, and when colleagues hooked up, it was always gossip and curiosity material. When the girl who had been rejecting a guy's advances for years hooked up with that guy, that was enough to send everyone into hyperdrive.

Which was of course, the way she and Greg quite liked it.

She glanced at her watch, wishing it was time for lunch. Then, sighing, she turned to the evidence and her job, to work until it was.

Author's Note (written about a week and a half after the previous one dammit!): Geeze, you can tell I have too much to do when a chapter that takes a few hours to write takes me a couple weeks! I was wanting to get this done faster, but assessment's at it again, and I just haven't had the time . Please, keep up the reviews, I really appreciate receiving them.