Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters etc etc.

A/N: I hope you are all enjoying this so far, i'm really getting into trying to mature Grissom and Sara's relationship without them being OOC. It may not seem exciting right now but i promise i'll make it exciting in the next few chapters. Keep on reviewing, it's what keeps me going! Rattus

Chapter Four

The feeling of warmth spread through her body, from head to toe, she could feel everything in that one moment, eyes closed, mouth pouted. It felt as if she were floating, floating through the air or sailing on white silk clouds, she felt good, no better than good. Her face felt cool, she tried to move, but everything moved in slow motion, her hand rising to grasp at some hidden thing that couldn't be made out, she opened her eyes. Before they were beautiful, peaceful..now they were wide, scared. She tried to scream out but all she could feel was water entering her throat and making it's way to her lungs. She needed to choke, wretch do something for that horrible feeling of water overloading her senses.

She tried to move, but like before the slow motion made it hard for her to react, gulp gulp gulp, the water kept coming. She couldn't stop it. She was drowning. And then, she saw him, the bluest eyes she had ever seen, the curly hair she wanted to run her hands through, that delicious mouth of his and that's when she knew, she was his victim.

Pulling and pushing she tried to scream the water filling her senses she felt herself fall in and out of consciousness, but she knew he was still there, that loving look in his eyes and again, he pushed her to the bottom of the bath tub, her back hitting off the smooth plastic. Again and again, he wouldn't let her come up for air, he wouldn't let her live. She tried, oh she tried but it wasn't enough, with one more shove, she was dead.

The first thing she heard when she woke up was her shrill screaming, a painful scream and soon after painful sobs wracking her body. She couldn't breath, she couldn't grasp onto the idea of breathing in and out, and it felt like her dream all over again. Sitting up she wiped the sweat from her face and continued to hyperventilate, her dream coming back in short bursts of agony. This case was getting to her, she had been the victim in the tub, and her killer…she closed her eyes in thought. No he could never do that..but that's what he had been doing for the past year, pushing her away, letting her loneliness slowly eat away at her. Shaking her head roughly, she stood up and staggered to the bathroom, she felt sick. Burning bile rising up her throat, she could taste it rather than feel it, collapsing on the bathroom floor, she let the sickness over take her, gag after gag. She didn't know how long it had been but now she was lying on her white tiled bathroom floor, her head in her hands, her face and palms clammy with sweat.

Her dream kept coming back to her, haunting her. She closed her eyes and seen that face, that wonderful face, his eyes, his mouth…and that disappointed look. Grissom had drowned her in her dream and she couldn't get the picture out of her head, it was too painful to deal with right now. She felt tired a lonely, and on her tiled bathroom floor, that is where she slept for the remainder of the morning.

"Greg, have you seen Sara?"

Greg looked up from reading his music magazine and shook his head.

"Nope, haven't seen her tonight…why you wanting her for something?"

Grissom frowned, why wasn't Sara at the Lab? She was normally early.

"Doesn't matter, you'll do. I'm going over to Rocking Records; see if any of the staff can shed a little light on Martin Morris's death. Put the magazine down, your coming with me."

Rocking records was a small shop on the edge of the strip, the garish sign melded in with the bright lights of the strip. Grissom, Brass, and Greg made their way inside. Greg pointed to the counter.

"That's Claire, she works here. I've asked her out sooo many times yet she keeps turning me down."

Grissom frowned at Greg.

"Thank you Greg for that pointless piece of information."

Walking to the counter Brass flashed his badge.

"I'm Detective Jim Brass, this is Gil Grissom and Greg Sanders. We're here to see the manager Rob White."

Claire looked up from her reading and listened intently. It was then that she noticed, it was Greg, the guy that wouldn't stop asking her out.

"Greggy! I didn't know you were with the cops."

Greg blushed, and smiled lightly.

"I'm a CSI…"

Claire winked. "You should have told me Greggy, I like a man in uniform."

Grissom cleared his throat. "Can you tell the manager we're here."

"Sure thing."

Claire went into the back and got her manager. Brass stared at Greg and smirked.

"I really don't know why she turns you down Greggy, you have charisma...a personality…hair like a clown…."

A tall stocky man came from the back and stood at the counter, his pale green eyes focused on Grissom and Brass.

"I'm Rob White the manager, it's a terrible shame what happened to Martin, he was a good worker."

"We're here to ask a few questions then I'm going let them look around." Brass pointed to Grissom and Greg.

"You'll have to get yourself a warrant first. You may ask your questions, but your not prowling around my shop scaring off customers."

Brass stared at the man.

"You can either let them look around…or I go get a warrant and close you down while they do. Your customers won't be scared then, you won't have any."

The man continued to stare at Brass, his lips melding into an evil smile. "Do your worst..." He looked at the badge, which now hung from Brass' trousers. "Detective Brass, but your guys aren't snooping around without a warrant. Anymore of this…and I won't answer your questions either."

Grissom held up a photograph of Sheila Simmons's.

"Have you seen her before, in the shop or around Martin?"

Rob White took a long look at the photograph and frowned. "I haven't seen that woman before in or out of this shop. Why?"

Grissom put the picture away. "Martin Morris was found in his apartment, in his bath dead. That woman I showed you was found the exact same way, we think the murders are related."

Claire stepped aside Mr White.

"But…but I thought that Martin's death was an accident. Why would someone want to kill him?"

Greg chimed in. "That's what we want to find out Claire. Do you mind answering a few questions too?"

Claire looked at her Boss then back to Greg. "No problem Greggy."

Sitting outside of the Lab in her car, Sara pondered over her Dream. That's exactly what it was, a dream. She knew Grissom didn't have it in him to hurt her, why would she be dreaming of something like that? Sure, it felt like Grissom had been pushing her away this past year, but it wasn't as if she was slowly drowning because of it. It didn't make any sense; she knew that after dreaming about that the dreams would continue to come. It happened all the time; she was too involved, yet she couldn't pull herself away from the case. It sure looked like it was going to turn into a serial.

Pull yourself together Sara; you're stronger than this. Hold your head up high and get on with the job. Stop acting so weak.

Climbing out of her car, she made her way to the Lab's entrance.

"Umm, I've known Martin for a couple of years now. He worked here before I got this job, cool guy and he was nice. A customer never complained about his attitude. He was one of those guys who had charm and knew how to use it. I really don't know why anyone would want to kill him."

Claire frowned and looked over towards her boss, he nodded in agreement for her to continue to answer the questions.

"Claire, did Martin mention anyone new? Or maybe someone that had fallen out with him…maybe someone unusual?" Greg leaned into Claire's personal space. He wanted to protect her, he liked her. He was attracted to Sara but it had grown into a sisterly respect. Now Claire, she was beautiful, she was perfect.

"No, he never mentioned anything personal to me. All I know is he that he has a sister in Texas and a brother who lives off the grid. He didn't go into any details."

"That's cool Claire, you've gave us a lot."

Brass looked over towards Rob White with a questioning gaze. "Sure you don't want to let them look around for a bit?"

"Not without a warrant Detective Brass."

Brass nodded his head. "We'll be back. Thank you for your time, Mr White, Claire."

"See you later Greggy."

Greg blushed. "Um…er…bye Claire."

Once outside Grissom put his sunglasses on along with Greg, they made their way to Grissom's Denali.

Greg spoke first. "Man, that Rob dude's freaky."

Brass nodded in agreement with Greg's comment. "He's hiding something."

"Once you get that warrant Jim, we'll see if we can find any evidence that links Mr White to the crime scene's."

"Alright, I'll call you when I get that warrant. Later Gil, Sanders."

Grissom had returned to the Lab over an hour ago and had not spotted Sara anywhere. It was as if she was trying to avoid him, but he hadn't done anything wrong to upset her. So, what was making her not want to see him? Shaking his head, he continued to sign slips of paper and reports. His wrist ached with all the writing. He never whined about his job, he never complained after a decomp, but paperwork, it would be the death of him. It was the only thing he detested in his line of work.

He continued to think of Sara, no matter how many times he took deep breaths or counted to ten. She would always return to his head. His beautiful Sara. Deciding to find her, he got up from his desk and went searching. She couldn't have just disappeared. On his search he was cornered by Hodges.

"Hey Boss, you're working the drowning case right?"

Grissom sighed. "They didn't drown but yes, why?"

"Well Sara found green fibre's at the first crime scene and found the same fibre's at the second crime scene. They are the same, identical and they came off the same bit of clothing. It's Merino wool, also known as Australian wool. In this case, if this kind of wool has a spill or a stain on it, the owner's meant to brush it, clean the stain off etc etc. So the killer has spilled something on his jumper tried to brush it off and hasn't done a very good job. Very amateurish. The wool Sara is finding is the snapped bits, when the killer's brushing too hard on the same spot for a while."

Grissom raised his right eyebrow and smirked. "Thank you David."

Walking past the layout room Grissom noticed Sara hunched over a pile of books, coming closer into the room, he noticed some were poetry, novels, and quote books.

Not to startle her he asked quietly. "What are you looking for?"

Sara's head snapped up and she smiled softly at Grissom, it was then that her mind decided to give her a flashback of her dream, Grissom's hands pressing down on her chest, drowning her.

Grissom noticed her eyes clouding over and walked towards her, concern written in his features. "Sara."

No answer.

"Sara, are you alright?"

Shaking her head to get the image out of her mind, she looked at Grissom, her fake smile faltering slightly. "I'm fine."

Grissom sat down next to her, he wanted to reach out and touch her.

"Are you sure? I can understand if this case is getting to you Sara."

"I'm fine Grissom I'm just…tired I suppose."

Grissom pursed his lips and stared at one of the books, which lay on the table in front of them.

"I…I need to talk to you Sara. I'm really trying…I just wanted you to know. And I was wondering…if you wanted to get something to eat? Fresh minds, we might think better."

Sara rubbed her eyes. They were feeling rather heavy, but she'd slept later that normal. Smiling she closed the book she was looking through.

"Sure, that sounds great Grissom."

Grissom smiled back at Sara. "Good, I'll just go get my coat."

The cool interior of the car was the exact opposite of view outside the car. The hot harsh sun, scorning people on the street. The sunglasses he wore protected his eyes from the blaring light. He switched the radio on; the soft flow of David Bowie floated through the car and reached his ears. He smiled as he noticed her walking out, along with HIM. He watched as they climbed into his car and drove off. He tapped his steering wheel and hummed to the radio.

They had found the people he had practiced on, they were only pawns in the game he was playing. They were random people who had been at the wrong place at the wrong time. She never had anything on him. It was only a matter of time before he became acquainted with her life. Soon, very soon…

TBC