Disclaimer: Like before i don't own a thing..sadly..
A/N This chapter is real short, but i'll make up for it later on. Enjoy.
Greg Sanders unwrapped his McDonalds cheeseburger and sniffed the hot air coming from it. It smelled gorgeous. He prodded the sesame bun and sighed, damn he was hungry. He hadn't had a bite to eat in over 18 hours and his stomach had been growling for 2. Chewing slowly on a fry he stared at his burger and wondered why something so bad for you could taste so good. Right now he had nothing to do but eat, the case that Grissom Sara and himself was on was going nowhere, no new evidence had come through and they were waiting for that warrant to search Rocking Records. Grissom and Sara had disappeared so he had to eat his lunch alone.
He couldn't stop thinking about how Sara's attitude had changed for the better these past few days. It was weird the way everything was going perfect, Greg was waiting for that single thing to set Sara off again, be it a comment or a look from Grissom, and he knew it would come. Staring at his burger he forgot about his fries, the thing looked so unhealthy and greasy, the cheese had melted into a cube of yellow goo at the bottom of the wrapper and the ketchup was oozing. Licking his lips he sniffed the air once again, he loved these moments where he prolonged the inevitable. Soon that tasty burger would be busy being digested in his stomach and he knew he would still be feeling hungry after it. Damn fast food. It left you wanting more.
Off in his own burger loving world Greg didn't notice both Brass and Nick enter the break room laughing away at a comment Nick had made. Both plonking themselves down next to Greg they looked at him as if he was the answer to their prayers.
"Wassup Greggo, something wrong with your burger?" Nicks Texan drawl making the sentence sound smooth.
Slowly Greg looked up from his burger and smirked. "No, why…you wanting it?"
Shaking his head Nick took Greg's large coke and took a long sip from it. "Naw, me and Brass here had something to eat before we came back from the Lab. What you doin here sittin eating by yourself?"
Greg ate a handful of fries and munched them quickly. "Well…Grissom and Sara have both disappeared and left me on my own. Warrick and Catherine, well no-one has seen them for ages..and I'm not sitting with Hodges, that guy talks endlessly."
It was now or never, taking the burger into his manly hands he brought it to his open mouth and bit down, cheese and ketchup invading his mouth with a hint of mustard to hotten things up. Delicious. Finishing his first mouthful of his burger he set it down and drank some of his coke. "I've been thinking, what if our two victims are related by a place they used to go to, or maybe a club they both joined…like a Book club."
Brass shook his head. "The first vic, Sheila Simmons…she was a recluse. Never went out, didn't have any friends. No pets either. I could check up on Net groups, see if they ever chatted through some kind of forum and the likes."
"Cool. Hey, do you think the killer will strike again?"
"If it's a serial killer then yeh. They'll go on and on until they want to be caught or have a break from it."
"I can't believe we have nothing, maybe we should go back to the scene and see if we missed something out."
Brass chuckled. "Are you kidding me? Gil and Sara are like…evidence detectors, they miss nothing."
Finishing off his burger Greg wiped his mouth and wondered where in the Hell were Grissom and Sara?
Grissom held the door open for Sara as she walked into the Diner. The walls were painted a soft yellow, the worktops were beige. It was cosy yet not too intimate. Walking over to a private booth they both sat down.
"I remember this place…you took me here for breakfast when I came to Vegas."
Grissom nodded and gave her a small smile. "I'm surprised you remembered, it's not as if it's some posh restaurant."
Sara shrugged. "I have a good memory."
They both sat in silence; Sara didn't have a clue what to say. What could she say? It was at times like these that she wished they were more…. people friendly. Their social skills could be better, and she didn't think he wanted to talk about work
Grissom broke the silence. "How have you been?"
What kind of question was that Gil? 'How have you been?'
"Um…fine. Thanks for asking. How about you, you OK?"
Grissom rubbed his hands together. He wanted to be a better friend to her, and to be a better friend he needed to tell Sara the truth. Clearing his throat he looked into her brown eyes and melted. She was beautiful…and right now she was his. This was his time with her and he needed to tell her quickly and his surgery last year.
"I…there's something I need to tell you. I don't want you to be upset and I'll understand if your angry at me but…Last year, do you remember I was off for a couple of weeks?"
Sara nodded. "Yeh, you requested some personal time."
Grissom nodded too. "Yeh, personal time…well the reason I requested those few weeks of personal time was because I was recovering from surgery."
There, he had told her, she knew he had had surgery. He knew she would be angry with him for not telling her, yet he thought she might understand why he kept it to himself. He was a very private man, and he didn't like advertising his private life on the walls of the Lab.
Sara blinked her tears away. Her eyes were burning. Surgery...he said surgery. God, he had been ill...and she hadn't noticed…and he hadn't thought to tell her till now. But of course, now was a good time, they were re building their friendship, last year things had been rocky between them so he wouldn't have told her.
"Surgery?"
"Yeh…Sara I know your angry…but you have to understand…I was scared I thought I was going to lose my hearing I thought-
"Your hearing? You were going deaf?"
Grissom closed his eyes, he could hear the pain and anger in her voice, but he could also hear compassion.
"That's why it felt that you were ignoring us at times, the Haviland Trial, you couldn't hear Westcott."
"Yes."
"But things are alright now yeh? You can hear perfectly, your not still going deaf are you?"
Grissom shook his head. "I have 93 percent of my hearing in my right ear and 95 in my left."
Sara took Grissom's hand and cupped it in her own smaller one. "You could have told me…I could have been there for you. You needed someone to help you through it."
"I was scared you would see me differently, weak…I didn't want you to pity me. I felt like I was turning into an old man, and then…you asked me out…I had so many things rushing through my mind, No just seemed the right thing to say. I didn't mean to hurt you…before what I said in my office…I've been thinking a lot about this whole situation with us Sara…I'm going back against my word.."
Sara's brow furrowed. Please oh please don't say you want me to leave Vegas…please.
"I can't settle for friendship Sara…"
Sara began to pull her hand back; Grissom caught it in his grasp and squeezed it.
"I want more."
TBC...