They always had a complicated love.
…
Missing scene from Spellbound.
…
"So."
Greg fought the traces of a smile as he recognized her voice without looking up from a piece of evidence on the layout table. Sara stood in the doorway, watching him closely.
"Hey." He looked up, and tossed her a grin before turning back to analyze the Fool's Gold under a magnifying lamp. "Heard you and Nick were back from Arizona."
"Heard you were hitting on Wendy."
Greg looked up from the light, and immediately wiped the friendly, amused grin off his face. She was frowning at him, obviously hurt, and not bothering to hide it. He leaned on the layout table, resting some of his weight on his knuckles, looking back at her with a similar expression.
"Its just dinner, Sara." He watched as she bit her lip, and shifted her weight uncomfortably.
"It was never just dinner with us, Greg."
"Why should you care? You were the one that wanted out." He turned back to the processing before him, not wanting to waste time fighting with Sara over lab tech gossip when he had an entire box of evidence to process for trace.
"I wanted a break. Not out."
"You're being irrational about this whole thing."
"You never did grow up, Greg." He winced, hearing the string of pain in her voice.
"I did grow up. I'm almost thirty-one years old."
"You're robbing the cradle."
"Speak for yourself." He reached over and picked up a bottle of saline, preparing the sample in a test tube. "And she's twenty-nine."
"You can honestly tell me you have feelings for her?"
"I don't have to tell you anything, honest or otherwise."
"Greg, be serious."
"I am."
There was an awkward pause between them, the only sounds in the room the scraping of tools and the rusting of labels from Greg, systematically preparing all his trace samples.
"What do you want me to say, Sara? I can't date you, so I can't date at all? That's a bit possessive." He glanced up from the magnifying lamp, noting the reddish tinge in her cheeks. He used to think she was so beautiful like that, flustered, angry, emotional. She still was. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever known. But he looked at her now, and all he saw was their arguments, their clashing logic, their different work angles.
"That's ridiculous and you know it."
"So I can date Mandy."
"No! Greg-"
"What about Catherine? Sofia? How about Anna, the girl who lives down the hall from me, or Beth in PD, or-"
"Stop, Greg."
"I just want some boundaries. If you're going to be dictating who I can share my bed with, I want to make sure I have it all correct." He had succeeded at this point to remain calm, to keep his voice even and soft.
"You don't share that bed with just anyone, Greg."
"Right. So give me my choices, then. If you're so sure you know what's best for me." He capped a swap, and boxed it, tossing it in a pile of cultured evidence ready for specialized processing, and turned his full attention to her, staring up at her expectantly.
"It's complicated."
"No, I don't think that's the case. I see it very simple. I fell in love with you. I spent five years falling in love with you. You allowed me to love you, and then, then you left me. Now you don't want me to have a chance at loving anyone else, as well as not loving you. Which, of course, I still do. Am I right?"
"Greg, it's just that-"
"It's what, Sara? I'm allowed to have a life, even if you aren't in it. I had one before you, and now I'm trying to have one after you. Get off my back about it."
"Greg."
"Ending what we had was not my idea. You shattered my heart, Sara. And I don't know if I'll ever finish picking up the pieces. But I'm going to try my best."
Sara mumbled something halfway coherent, shuffling her feet around, kicking at invisible dirt on the floor, not meeting his gaze.
"What?"
"I said I still love you."
"Good. I'm glad we can agree on something."
"Greg."
"What, Sara." He leaned back in his chair, letting his features fall into a weary expectant expression.
"I don't want you to have dinner with Wendy."
"That I could have guessed."
"D'you think." She paused, taking a step closer, and he knew instantly what she was mulling over in her mind.
"On occasion." He smiled briefly at her, unable to stop himself, unwilling to continue to uphold his bitter and broken expression completely. She looked up and caught his eye for a moment before focusing on her fingers touching the surface of the layout table.
"D'you think we could try again?" Greg righted his chair, leaning on his elbows, staring at his hands.
"You don't really want that, Sara, you just don't want me to move on."
"I do, though. I. I want you back. In my life. I miss you."
"Sara-"
"No, I miss making breakfast with you after shift, I miss never getting quite enough sleep, I miss your arm around my waist when I wake up. I miss making twice as much coffee. I miss your five o'clock shadow against my skin. I miss you. And I don't want Wendy to have any of that."
"You're a creature of habit, Sara, you'll obliterate whatever remains of my heart."
"I won't. I."
"What."
"I love you."
"How good is your word, Sara? Because you've said that before."
"And I meant it every time. I mean it now." She looked at him, wiping the single tear from her eye hastily.
"I guess I could cancel dinner with Wendy." His resolve broke, he loved his woman before him with every atom in his body. "But don't expect to just pick up where we left off." He smiled faintly at her, and she returned with a genuine grin.
"How about coffee, after shift?" She smiled shyly at him, treading carefully, and his smile broadened to a soft grin.
"Coffee sounds nice."
………
A/N: this whole thing with Wendy tonight… and with the playful, suggestive banter…and the cute ass… got me thinking… maybe something happened, and they didn't air it on the show… Maybe they're dropping clues like when Paul was dead… Maybe this was the clue that they broke up. Maybe I just need sleep.