He was running late, and by his late, it was everyone else's "on time".

When he walked into the lab, the team was already sitting in the break room waiting for their assignments. Judy had handed him the work slips she got from dispatch. He looked through paper slips quickly thinking how best to divide his team for the shift. They had a 419 off Tropicana, room robbery at the Rampart hotel , and a bum in the park covered in blood claiming a zombie stole his lunch money. He smirked as he imagined the look on Nicky's face when he would hand him the bum case. That left Catherine, Warrick, and Sara. Not sure if he was yet ready for Sara's company, he thought he'd be best to pair with Warrick. Someone who wouldn't ask too many questions. He didn't have the energy to fend off Catherine's probing. Catherine and Sara could take the 419. He hit the lip of the door frame to the break room when he saw one last paper. It was a note from reception and not an assignment.

While You Were Out:

For: Gil Grissom

From: Sara Sidle

Warmth. Just seeing her name made him smile at first. He caught himself rubbing his thumb across the ink indentions that made an imprint of her name. Sara Sidle. Just seeing it printed made him miss her. The smile faded as he couldn't think of anything good that she'd leave a note like this for. The warmth was fleeting…

Message:

"Sorry for the late notice. Taking a sick day." -S

And it was gone. The paper now feeing dull and empty. Only another reminder of his own inconsistency. Going from finding ways to avoid her, to now inconvenienced he wouldn't even get to see her. He hated when he caught his own selfishness.

"Grissom, you good?"

"What?" He looked up to realize the team had still been sitting there waiting for him.

Catherine joked, "You're just standing like a boy who watched his ice cream cone hit the floor."

Warrick and Nick smirked. Grissom snapped just in time to watch Nick's face fall flat quickly.

"Catherine you're solo. 419 off Tropicana. Warrick and I will take the robbery at the Rampart. And Nicky…" he smiled. "You get the bloody bum who lost his lunch money."

Catherine and Warrick start to laugh and quickly caught themselves. Nick realized he messed up and that Grissom wasn't amused. He looked for room to pass the buck. "What about Sara?"

Grissom felt his jaw clenched. Doing his best to put on his supervisor face and not that of a love struck Romeo missing his Juliet.

"Sick Day. Work your cases quickly but effectively. We don't have anyone on the bench for backup."

The group nodded and Catherine was first to stand and make her way around Grissom out the door. Warrick pats him on the shoulder noting he'd wait out in the lot. Grissom looked at the clock, watching the hand tick forward.

23 hrs. 45 seconds….

She'd be back.

23 hrs 30 seconds….

It's not that long.

23 hrs 15 seconds….

Just one shift.

22 hrs 59 minutes and 56 seconds…

He could make it. He grabbed his kit out of his locker and met Warrick in the parking lot. He was out front and ready to go. Grissom just glad he didn't have to drive. Warrick even had the address ready to go in the GPS. First intersection out of the lot and they catch the red light. 10 maybe 15 seconds of silence before it broke Warrick.

"You think she's okay?"

Damn you red light…

He didn't respond at first. Hoping he wouldn't ask again.

"Grissom…"

He turns to look at Warrick.

"Do you think Sara is okay? She's not really one to take days off even if she's sick. Now that I think of it…she never really gets sick. I wonder if that last case just got to her you know? I couldn't imagine rolling up on a scene and feeling like I'm staring at myself."

Grissom turned from Warrick's concerned look and set his sight out the windshield at the light.

Dammit Gil. How could you be so stupid. You never even thought about what she may have felt. Only yourself.

He frantically sorted through the previous nights in his mind looking for the evidence where he actually thought this might have been hard for her. But nothing. Lack of sleep and food had not done him well.

…please turn green…

It wasn't lost on him that some cases were just different for Sara. They were personal to her. While it often scared the team, he tried to give her extra space to process her empathy. Knowing that occasionally he considered it her weakness even thought it truly was a strength. While the team worried about her inability to separate her personal feelings from a case, he worried about the emotional impact it had on her as the beautiful soul she was. She didn't know it, but she truly was the life of the team and they needed her.

He was trying to remember cases past that she was emotionally invested in and compare her from then, to this past week. But all he could think about was his lack of support for her. He could only imagine how she was dealing with this case. But how could he even begin to help her. He hadn't even figured out how to process this case for himself.

"Grissom?"

"Yeah…I'm sure she's fine. Probably just a cold."

Warrick nods. Leaving it alone.

Grissom lets out a sigh and looked down at his watch.

22 hr 42 minutes…

He closed his eyes, swallowed hard and let the back of his head hit the head rest. This was going to be a long shift.

The light flickered green.