Chapter 4

A/N: When you have to go back and re-read your own story…does that mean you have procrastinated updating for way too long?

Sara wadded the push up bra in her hand, picked up the offending shoes and walked into the voyeur lounge, to be greeted by Catherine and Lady Heather. After years of foster care, college, and a unisex locker room, Sara was not modest and did not give any thought into changing her clothes in front of the two women. Lady Heather took in Sara's willowy figure with appreciation, while Catherine made a mental note to have the girl over for dinner once in a while before she wasted away into nothing. Both women congratulated Sara on the job she did. Sara asked Catherine about the chain of custody for the video, and Catherine, unable to resist teasing Sara, smiled and mentioned that there might be a small bidding war at the lab for footage of Sara in a Nurse's costume. Sara looked horrified and asked Catherine to promise that no one besides Catherine would see the tape. Catherine smiled and told Sara she would try her best. Seeing the slightly nervous look on Sara's face, Catherine squeezed her arm and promised her that no one would see the footage, no matter what lavish bribes were thrown her way.

Sara asked Catherine, "How long do you think I will have to keep this up?"

"I don't know Sara, do you have a plan?"

Sara nodded. "I was thinking of getting him to woo me, and then break up with him. I am hoping that it will get him angry enough to confess."

Catherine nodded, but looked worried, "Do you think that's a good idea? We've all seen what Lurie is capable of when he's mad."

Sara nodded. "I will be fine. I feel very safe here. Anyway Catherine, I have to get Lurie."

Lady Heather interjected, "No Sara, you do not have to get him. I don't want you to endanger yourself."

Sara laughed, "I am not putting myself in danger. I know where the panic button is, I am being watched, and I am trained in weaponless defense. And yes, I do have to get him. I saw what Lurie did to him. I know how this case affected him, and I need to do this."

The words 'for Grissom' were not spoken, but hung over the three women. Catherine shook her head, and decided to stop being upset with Sara about Grissom, because Sara had a terminal case of The Grissoms. It reminded Catherine of the way that she had felt about Eddie and how even through the lying, cheating, and child welfare issue, part of her still loved him. But for Catherine, she had to figure out how to get Grissom to move.

Lady Heather stood and watched Sara. It always amazed her how a strong woman could be intoxicated by a man. But, she reminded herself with a small smile, Gil Grissom was hardly any man.

Sara grabbed her bag, and started to go. "Heather, Catherine, thanks. I could not have gotten through tonight without your help."

Catherine smiled, "What are you going to do with yourself today?"

Sara grinned, while Catherine tried to remember the last time she had been the recipient of one of Sara's gap toothed grins, "I am going to scrub the makeup off my face, have some breakfast and go to sleep."

Lady Heather broke in, "Sara, don't scrub, use the makeup remover and let it soak in and then gently wipe it off, just as I showed you."

Catherine spun around, "Sara let you give her a make up lesson?" Catherine would not have been more shocked if Lady Heather had told her that she tied Sara up and spanked her.

Lady Heather caught the look, and chose to ignore it. "Of course, it wouldn't have been responsible of me. I didn't want to see her ruin her complexion with scrubbing and that drugstore excrement she had been using, so I took her shopping and got her some Le Mer and Perricone items from Sephora."

Now Catherine was shocked. "You got Sara to go to Sephora when there wasn't a crime scene there?" Catherine remembered the time they processed a B&E at Sephora and Sara smirked and snorted about not being able to believe the amount of different crap you could buy to put on your face.

Sara piped up, "Hello, Sara is right here. In the room. And yes, I went to Sephora, willingly, and Victoria's Secret. But you know Catherine; apparently my entire wardrobe is only suitable for a prison matron, so I still need to buy clothes. I don't suppose you would do a trip to Century 21 with me?" she finished shyly.

Catherine decided that she would have to drug test herself before work to make sure that the snacks Lady Heather served were not spiked. "That sounds like fun Sara, you, me and Lindsey we can go one weekend."

Sara smiled, "Thanks." she said, and truly meant it. "So Catherine, what is on your agenda today?"

Catherine glanced at her watch. "I have a conference at Butterfield Academy in 2 hours. I need to go home, freshen up and put on, 'conservative parent' gear. See you later." With that, Catherine left.

Sara said her goodbyes to Lady Heather and left as well, looking forward to getting to her apartment.

Sara got to her complex in record time, got her mail and headed up to her apartment. She was stopped by a tap on her shoulder. She spun around, expecting it to be Mrs. Milena, her neighbor, asking if she could water her plants while she was away. However the smile quickly faded when he was face to face with Lurie.

Lurie spoke first, "Debbie, what are you doing here? What happened to your house?"

Sara stammered, trying to think of a plausible lie. Seeing the Terminix van across the street gave her a good plan. "My place is being fumigated, and a friend of mine from the gym, Sara is out of town, so I'm house-sitting until my place is clear again." Sara hoped that Lurie would believe her story. She was relieved when he nodded.

Lurie spoke again. "Well, how about we go have a bite?" Sara looked around, desperately trying to come up with an excuse, and was relieved when Lurie's pager went off. Snarling he looked at his pager. "Damn it Debbie, I have a 911 page. Apparently there has been a pretty bad accident."

Sara smiled. "I understand Vincent. I will just see you the day after tomorrow." Lurie leaned in and kissed Sara on the top of her head, smiled and left.

Trying to control the pounding of her heart, Sara got into her apartment and dead bolted the door as quickly as possible. She couldn't believe that Lurie followed her home. She was now officially feeling over her head. She knew she had to call this in. She wanted to call Catherine, but remembering her conference; Sara took a deep breath and called her last resort, Grissom.

Grissom cursed and left the lab. He made the 20 minute drive to Sara's apartment in 12.8 minutes. He ran up the stairs, knocked on the door and was let in by a visibly shaken Sara Sidle.

Sara recounted the evening and morning conversation with Grissom, leaving out several quotes that she had made during the night before. Grissom listened and remembered the last time two times he was at Sara's home. Both times were when she was in trouble. For a moment, he wondered what it would be like to come to Sara's to do something simple, like play scrabble, or watch a movie, or make love. At that last thought, Grissom jerked his head, realizing he had better save himself from doing something very stupid.

He took Sara's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Look honey, you've had a tough day, why don't you take a shower, I'll call Ecklie and tell him about this morning, and then we can go to the diner, get some breakfast and figure out what to do about this."

Sara looked at him. Did he just call her honey? Did he just invite her to breakfast to figure out what to do about 'this'? For Sara the day just was getting curiouser and curiouser with every minute.

Grissom also realized what he said, and before he could take a mental Imodium, he blurted, "Go to the diner and talk about what to do with this case, I mean." He mentally kicked his own ass for his stupidity. Apparently, when his mother taught him lovely manners and respectful behavior, avoiding foot in mouth disease with lovely women was left out.

Sara nodded tiredly, and headed towards the shower, before Grissom could see any tears fall from her face.

Once Grissom heard the water running, he decided to call Ecklie. One, to try and put a stop to this madness, two, to distract him from a naked, wet Sara, and three, to keep him from taking off his clothes and offering to wash her hair.

Grissom was in the middle of a heated return call from Ecklie when Sara came out of her bedroom, fully dressed in a pair of well worn fitted jeans, and an old Berkeley t-shirt.

Sara asked Grissom what was wrong. Grissom then had the pleasure of explaining that he had just finished his second phone call with Ecklie. No only did Ecklie not want to take Sara off the case, he had arranged with Lady Heather for Sara to stay at the dominion until the issue was solved. Sara looked horrified, and then grinned.

Grissom looked peeved. "Sara, what could you possibly have to smile about?"

Sara laughed, "This is just classic Ecklie. He is so worried about looking bad from being over budget, he would rather one of his officers stay at the Dominion."

Grissom had to laugh at that. "Ecklie said for you to treat it like a paid vacation."

Sara nodded and continued laughing. "Oh crap, can I send Greg a postcard, "Greetings from the Dominion".

Grissom laughed at both the absurdity of the situation and the fact that Sara's laughter was absolutely contagious. "Just a post card, wouldn't you think that Lady Heather has a more elaborate gift shop then that?" With that the twosome dissolved into a fit of giggles on the couch.

Sara caught her breath. "Seriously Grissom, I'm going to pack a bag, and then we can get breakfast and head over to Heather's."

Grissom watched Sara go to her room to pack, trying not to think of the implications of Sara calling Lady Heather by her given name.

An hour later, they were at their favorite diner. After years of college and police life, Sara was convinced that the only diners worth going to were Greek owned ones, an opinion that Grissom also shared. After being greeted warmly by the Stanispolous' they took their usual booth. Grissom got the always delicious Greek style Eggs Benedict, enjoying the lamb and spinach in with his eggs, and Sara got the chocolate chip pancakes, which Teddy, the owner and chef always covered in extra whipped cream, just for her.

Starving, they both dug in and ate ravenously. When they admitted defeat, having gotten through three quarters of their meal, they lingered over tea and chatted. They talked about lighter topics like baseball, and Greg's new haircut, until it was time to go. They both got up, and not being able to help himself, Grissom brushed his thumb across where Sara's cheek and mouth met. When she looked at him with the same surprise that Grissom felt, he could only mumble about whipped cream on her face. Sara graciously nodded, positive that the whipped cream on her face was as existent as the chalk dust she had wiped from his face all those years ago.

Too soon, they left the diner and reached the dominion. Sara's new home for the next two weeks.

TBC

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed. Read, review, recommend it to your friends and enjoy the season premiere tonight.