Disclaimer: Any characters even resembling any on the TV show CSI obviously belong to them, not me.

A/N: Chapters 10&11 are dedicated to rawkchick91 and SpeedRacer15 for making me feel guilty that I hadn't posted in a while. grin I promise to update more often!

It had been a week. A week since he had walked off the plane and had his heart stomped on. No, not stomped... more like bulldozed. Greg moved around the lab mechanically, knowing he was letting this affect him more than he should. He knew people were noticing; knew he wasn't keeping up the façade very well, but he honestly didn't give a damn. He knew Sara was avoiding him. Well, that was just swell. Professional... yeah, right.

He honestly didn't know what hurt worse at the moment – Sara's lying to him, or Sara avoiding him. He had almost decided that Sara lying to him was worse when she walked into the room. Seeing her standing in front of him, her eyes averted from his... his heart broke once again, and he knew that her avoidance of him was infinitely worse than the fact that she had lied.

There was silence for a minute, neither knowing what to say. Finally, Sara said, "Grissom wanted me to check and see if our results were done yet."

The tiny piece of Greg's heart that had soared, hoping Sara was coming of her own free will, plummeted earthward again. Of course she hadn't suddenly decided to see how Greg was doing. She was here because Grissom told her to come by. He turned away from her, thinking that would make things easier. "Sorry, another twenty minutes at least. Probably closer to a half hour."

"Oh." She sounded disappointed.

"Don't worry; I'll page Grissom when they're in." He picked up a beaker, preparing to start another case, pushing Sara out of his mind. Obviously, she'd leave now, comforted by the fact she wouldn't have to see Greg again for the rest of the night.

He was shocked, then, to hear her say, "Can we talk?"

He froze, beaker still in hand. Had she really just said that? He slowly placed the beaker back on the table before turning towards her, wanting to see the expression on her face. Apparently, that was a cue for her to continue.

"I know this is work, and you have things to do... if you're busy, I'll just come back later..."

He could see her retreating into herself; see her beginning to prepare to run away again.

"This was a mistake..." she muttered to herself, taking a step backward.

Could he live with her avoiding him for weeks at a time? Could he live, knowing that he could have at least been her friend?

"Wait!" His voice sounded sharp to himself, and he knew it sounded harsh to Sara, as she flinched.

But she stayed still. She didn't leave. His eyes sought hers out. There was pain and sorrow in them.

He slowly smiled at her. "How about we get some coffee?"

Just as slowly, she smiled back at him. "I'd like that."