Growing Together

Part 5

Summary: Nick regrets what happens.

A/N: On schedule again ;). Forgiving is not an easy process, so please be patient with me. I will get around to the talk between Nick and Sara, but it will take another chapter or two.

xxxxx

It was thirty minutes before shift started, and Nick was waiting outside in the parking lot for Catherine to arrive. He had to talk to her and stop this.

This morning had been an eye-opener. He had never realized that Sara would be so easily hurt by an intrusion in her personal life. Beneath the tough shell, Sara Sidle was very vulnerable. He never wanted to see her like that again.

Guilt was weighing down heavily on him. He had caused her pain, his best friend. For that, he would never forgive himself.

He shook his head to get away from the image of Sara near break-down, but he couldn't free himself.

At that moment, Catherine pulled into the lot. Nick pushed himself off of his car, wandering over to where his colleague had parked her car.

"Hey Nick, what's up?" she asked as she stepped out, noticing his unhappy expression.

"We've got to stop this."

She looked up from getting her bag out of the car. "Stop what?"

"The thing with Sara!" Nick was still a bit on the edge and it showed.

Catherine lifted her eyebrows, wondering about Nick's nervousness.

"I don't think it's right to pry into her private life like that. When she wants to, she will share." Although he tried to make it sound casual, it was easy to detect that he was hiding something.

"Nick, what's going on?"

"Look, we have no right to pry into someone's life if they don't want to share." He was getting frustrated because Catherine was not backing off. He rubbed the back of his neck to fight off a headache he felt coming.

Catherine's only reaction was a questioning stare.

"Damn it Catherine, just leave her alone. I'll take care of this."

He'd had enough of her stubbornness, so he left her standing in the parking lot, confused.

xxxxx

After having taken a walk to calm down and once again try to figure out what he would say to Sara, Nick entered the breakroom. To his surprise, only Warrick and Catherine were present.

Warrick saw his questioning stare and shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea where either of them are. Their cars were not in the lot when I arrived."

Immediately, Nick was worried. How hard had Sara taken their fight?

He decided to search for them, starting with Grissom's office. Maybe they had come in by now.

No luck with Grissom's office. The locker room was empty too.

Warrick was right; they were not here yet. He was starting to become really worried, but since he vowed not to intrude anymore, he decided to just wait it out.

He returned to the breakroom and shot Catherine a look of warning when he saw she was about to speak. The picture of Sara's hurt face didn't let him go and strengthened his determination to keep himself and Catherine away from Sara's life.

He realized that Warrick was glancing back and forth between him and Catherine, probably sensing the tension.

Suddenly it became clear to Nick why Grissom preferred Warrick in delicate situations. Warrick knew better than to get into the middle of something. If he and Catherine had a problem, he was not going to get involved. It would only make things worse, and in the end, it would be him in an impossible situation.

Just as Catherine was about to speak, Grissom entered in a hurry.

He didn't even look up, still too busy sorting through the assignment slips.

Catherine now focused on her boss instead of Nick, but he knew this wasn't over.

"You're late!" She was in a bad mood because Nick had tried to tell her what to do and Grissom provided a good target. Besides, she was still mad at him for not telling her what was wrong.

Grissom only looked at her briefly over the rims of his glasses and didn't comment on her accusation. Instead, he looked around and raised an eyebrow upon noticing that Sara was missing.

"Assignments today are as follows…"

xxxxx

Sara arrived at work when Catherine and Nick were just leaving the lab. Grissom and Warrick were getting ready to leave too, but she caught them when they were loading the SUV.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I…"

Grissom held up his hand to stop her, and Sara snapped her mouth shut.

"Attempted robbery at a jewelry store." He stated coldly, making it seem like a punishment.

A couple of month ago it would have been, but today he was trying to give her a reprieve.

They had fallen asleep again and had overslept. Neither had reckoned that they would sleep that long after already having gotten some sleep previously, but apparently their bodies disagreed.

When they had woken up still groggy and noticed that they only had twenty minutes until shift, they panicked until Sara was able to think clearly again.

She calmed Grissom down and came up with their plan. Don't give a reason and act like you're angry with the other.

And that's what they were doing now.

Grissom handed Sara the assignment slip without another word and motioned for Warrick to get into the car.

Sara looked like she was about to tear his head off, and Warrick didn't know who to feel more sorry for. His back turned to both of them as he got into the car, he didn't see Grissom wink at Sara or her answering smile.

They left her standing there, looking sour but smiling inwardly. She retreated to the lab building to prepare for her case.

A robbery was not exactly high profile, especially an attempted one, but today she didn't mind. She wouldn't have to face Nick or Catherine. No one would keep her from doing her job but she herself.

The thought that she needed to avoid them at all was saddening. They couldn't go on like this forever. Sooner or later they would have to come clean with their friends, if only to avoid further conflict.

She was aware that her argument with Nick could have been prevented if he had known about the true state of her relationship with Grissom. However, right now they had other things to work out.

Just because they had talked about some things, didn't mean that everything was okay. Grissom was right about that. They still had a long way to go and they couldn't do that without any help. Their problems were too grave for them to handle alone.

Grissom was right…but now she had work to do.

xxxxx

During the night she saw Nick a couple of times, and she could tell that he wanted to say something, probably to apologize, but he kept his mouth shut, and returned to his work with a nod. It was not really an avoidance tactic, more like he didn't know what to do.

Grissom was still out in the field with Warrick, making her feel a bit alone.

Not only Nick was tense around her; Catherine kept staring at her whenever she bumped into her. It was unnerving and she was waiting for the moment when the other woman would snap and ask her again.

When the clock struck six in the morning, Grissom still hadn't returned, Nick kept up his silence, and Catherine stared at her for the tenth time - Sara couldn't take it anymore.

She retreated to Grissom's office and drew the blinds shut. She needed a plan.

To sort through her jumbled thoughts, Sara picked up a sheet of paper and began to jot down what needed to be done.

Finishing her list, which had gotten longer than she had anticipated, she realized some points would definitely need some time. It required a lot of work, but it didn't seem as impossible to bring a new order to her life like it did a while ago.

Looking at her list, Sara knew this was long overdue, but she didn't have the strength. Now, it was definitely time to change something, and she would have help.

Suddenly, she heard the door open, and when she looked up, she saw Grissom standing in the doorway. He leaned against it, arms crossed in front of him, taking Sara's usual place. "How long have I been gone?"

A smile played around her lips as the irony of the situation hit her. The distance that these positions usually built up between them didn't seem so great anymore.

"I just needed to get away from all the prying eyes. There were some things I had to think about."

He nodded and stepped forward, closing the door behind him.

"I'm done with my case; I swear." Inwardly she cursed herself for still wanting to be his star pupil. Other things were more important right now.

"I wasn't doubting you." Grissom walked over to his desk and put the folder he was holding on it. Instead of waiting for Sara to stand up, he simply took a seat in front of his desk. "Still not talking to Nick?"

Sara shook her head. "I think we need more time. But I will talk to him. Just not today."

Grissom nodded, but kept everything else to himself, acknowledging that this was her decision.

"I, uhm, I made a list that I want to show you when we get home."

He nodded again, and when she felt like everything else had been said with their eyes, she stood up and left the room, smiling at him.

Yes, she had help.

TBC