A/N: back again with another chapter this week. Please let me know what you think! I hope it's not too sad... :(

Grissom's vulnerability caught Sara completely off guard. 'I mean, I…' she stumbled over her words. 'Yes of course,' she finally managed. 'Of course I'll help you.'

In the dim light of the headlamp she noticed Grissom giving her a comforting smile. 'Now, where do these footprints lead to,' he continued like nothing had happened. Sara scraped her throat. 'That way,' she pointed. She wasn't good at emotional confrontations either. They had that in common, she thought in herself almost sarcastically.

Together they worked the grounds like they would have done back in Vegas, meticulous and precise they followed the footprints leading away from the camp.

'Got blood!' Sara called out as she used some tape she brought to mark the blood stain she found on the sandy grounds. The trace she just found led into the bushes. Careful as she went, she took a closer look and gasped when the horrible sight right in front of her unveiled itself.

'What have you got?' Grissom asked when he came up behind her. Sara cleared her throat. 'It are two of the capuchin youngsters,' she uttered in sheer terror. She couldn't take her eyes off the horrible scene. Two of the little monkeys were lying in a pool of blood. One shot wound each in their heads. Brian and Frank had told Sara on the phone that some of the animals were killed, but seeing it with her own eyes brought up even stronger emotions. She lowered herself to be closer to the animals. 'Bastards,' she scolded. 'These were innocent animals. Besides, there's no profit to make from capuchins. There was absolutely no need for them to do this.'

Grissom observed the dead animals from a standing position. 'Maybe the criminals were trying to send a clear message to your friends, letting them know that they were serious by shooting the capuchins?' Sara got up and took her position next to Grissom. 'Wouldn't the guns have been enough to scare off Brian, Frank and Lesley? She wondered out loud. 'They didn't have a chance.'

Grissom put a hand on her shoulder. 'We can't be sure right now. Let's continue. There are more footprints to follow.'

After about twenty minutes they hit a wider dirt road. Deep car tracks replaced the footprints they had been following. 'Do you know where this road leads to?' Grissom asked Sara.

'It's part of a wider network, some of the roads go straight into the next towns. Others deeper into the jungle. There's no way telling where they were headed from here,' she concluded somber. Uncertain she looked around, unsure of what to do next. Besides the tire tracks, they didn't have anything to go on from here. She lowered to the ground, trying to see if she at least could make out the making of the tires. 'They're big ones, I reckon from a truck or something.' She walked a bit further before crouching down again. 'These guys definitely took off in a hurry. I've got some skidmarks here.'

Grissom didn't respond to her observations. Yet he sounded rather disgruntled when he said, 'we should go back to camp, try again in the morning when it's light out.'

Alarmed by Grissom's sudden change of tone, Sara looked up. The light of her headlamp lit up his face and she noticed the fatigue in his eyes. 'Yes, you're right,' she replied. 'Let's go back.'

Brian and Frank looked expectantly when the pair returned. 'Anything?' Brian asked. Grissom and Sara told them about the trace they'd been following until the dirt road. Frank shuffled on his feet nervously. 'Shouldn't we call the national police force? I mean, this is way too big for us to handle.' Grissom and Sara both shook their heads. 'We might put Lesley in more danger if we involve the police at this point. We still don't exactly know what these guys are after now they've her,' Sara replied. She tried to sound as calm as possible, but her voice was shaky.

'So, what do you suggest we do here? Just sit back and wait? What if they kill her off in the meantime?' Brian retorted bluntly. Sara looked at Grissom who replied this time. His voice sounded tired but determined. 'They won't. They still haven't got what they're after. They'll have to communicate with us at some point. We'll have to wait for that to happen. As soon as it's light out, we'll continue our search in the morning. We might have a much better chance then. For now, I think we all could use some rest.' With that, he'd closed the discussion and Brian and Frank backed down and headed to their tent. Or, what was left of it anyway.

With her two friends gone back into their tent, Sara looked around once more and took in the sight of havoc that was left behind by the criminals. She sighed and started to collect some of the items she knew came from her tent. She picked up her clothes and other belongings and brought it inside. Once there, she started to clear some of the clutter too. At least as much so that the area around the two beds was cleared. She wasn't sure how much sleep they would get, probably none, but at least they had to try.

Mechanically Sara worked her way through both beds. She made sure to replace the sheets on Lesley's bed, so that she could offer Grissom a proper place to sleep. She swallowed hard when she found a picture of Lesley together with her two little children. Olivia and Mason, twins, barely four years old. In the picture, the three were standing in front of what must be their house. The brother and sister waving playfully at the camera. Lesley looking down proudly at her twins. A sad smile formed on Sara's face. Lesley had told her that the Costa Rica expedition was her first one after her kids were born and being away from them for so long had made her quite anxious. The scientist only had a few weeks left until she would return home to her children. Even though she was a passionated environmentalist, she had confided in Sara that she couldn't wait until the moment she would be able to hug her kids again. 'We'll make sure that we bring you home safely to your babies,' Sara whispered to the picture in her hand and put it in Lesley's bag.

Once done making the first bed, she moved over to her own. Moving aside some items of clothing and toiletries, more and more of her bed became visible underneath all the clutter. Suddenly, she was stopped in her tracks. The heart-shaped pendant she was gifted by Grissom. It was there, lying on the mattress. She always had it with her, although she didn't wear it anymore these days. Instead, she'd kept it in a side pocket of her backpack. It must've fallen out when the robbers went through her pack. Sara's hands shook a little when she took the pendant from the bed and held it against the light of her headlamp. It reminded her of so many beautiful memories of her and Grissom together.

'I hope you like it. Women like jewelry right?' Grissom had added hesitantly. It had been her birthday and Grissom had made dinner for her. Mexican, her favourite. He'd gone full out. Put candles on her dining table and around the living room, picked one of her favorite CD's to play softly in the background and was dressed in one of his nicest suits. They'd even danced a little to her favorite song. After they'd finished dessert he'd walked over to his backpack and had taken out a small jewelry box. Sara had almost choked on her water when she'd noticed what he was holding in his hand. Would he… She'd parked that thought as soon as she'd noticed that the size of the box was probably a bit too big to hold a ring inside. Yet, she had been completely taken aback by the gesture. She'd never expect anything like this from Grissom. The insecurity written all over his face when she'd opened the box had touched her. It really was a big deal to him and that made it important to her. She'd smiled at him and had told him that she loved it. And she'd meant it.

Back to the present time, she took the pendant in her hand and held it. A tear escaped and ran over her cheek. They'd been through so much. It was wrong from her to put so many of the memories away. The wall she'd built around her heart was there to protect her, but she'd lost so much with it at the same time. She realized that now. Hopefully it wasn't too late. She pondered for a few moments and made a decision.

Once she came back outside she noticed Grissom sitting with slumped shoulders on one of the chairs he had pulled up earlier that evening. His face was resting in his hands, his breathing fast.

Sara quietly sat down on the chair next to him and laid a hand on his arm. The pendant was burning inside her other hand. 'Are you okay?' She asked.

Grissom looked up and gave her a half smile. His hands now rested in his lap and she noticed that his breathing slowed down. 'I'm fine,' was his answer. Yet, he didn't look fine. Sara noticed some drops of sweat pearling on his forehead and the lines in his face looked deeper than she'd ever seen. 'Just very tired.' Sara nodded understandingly.

Grissom's fingers found the hand she was holding the pendant in. Her heart started beating fast in her chest. There was no way back now. Slowly, she opened her hand and shifted her gaze to his face, inquisitive about his reaction. The sparkle that appeared in his eyes gave her hope. 'You still have it,' Grissom exclaimed.

Sara smiled. 'You sound surprised?'

He mirrored her smile and took the pendant from her hand. 'Turn around please,' he ordered her softly and she obliged by turning her neck to him.

She felt a tingling in her body when his fingers brushed her skin.

'I'm really happy you kept it,' he finally answered her question while putting the necklace back in place. Once he'd closed the clasp of the necklace Sara turned back around to face him. 'You keep amazing me Sara Sidle,' Grissom declared.

The warmth Sara felt in the pit of her stomach grew with his words. He always did that to her. Leaving her feeling overwhelmed with words that seemed to come out so casually. Would he know how incredibly special he could make her feel?

She let the sentence hang between them when she couldn't find the words to fill the silence that he'd left. Instead, she moved her arm over his back and put her hand on his shoulder on the other side. Grissom let his head rest on her shoulder and she planted a soft kiss on his temple. It felt so natural, them sitting like that. Holding each other. Comforting each other.

'What is it like?' Sara suddenly whispered, startled slightly by her own question. But she wanted to know. Wanted to know how he felt, wanted to take some of the pain from him, even though she knew that that was impossible. She took his hand in hers and slowly rubbed her thumbs over his skin.

Grissom lifted up his head. His eyes shifted from their hands to Sara's eyes. She worried that she took it too far. That he didn't want to talk about it and that she'd broken some sort of unspoken rule of trust between them. That's the last thing she wanted. 'If you don't want to talk about it, I mean…' she started to back out, but Grissom held up his hand to pause her.

'It's okay. I want to talk about it. I guess it's never easy, but I've kept it to myself for too long.' Grissom looked at some invisible point in the distance before he began to speak again. 'I guess it's like someone is switching off the lights one by one. Every time I forget something, every time I make a mistake. All the way until it's completely dark and I'm lost inside myself. Everything I've learned and everything I've known will be gone. Wiped from my memory. And that's the scariest part, knowing that that moment is coming. That completely empty void, stripped off of everything I'd ever known. The darkness that waits there for me.' He sighed deeply before he continued. 'Losing. It feels like losing too. I'm losing everything. I'm losing myself first of all.' He paused before he continued. 'But I'll lose you too.'

Tears were flowing freely now over Sara's face, but she didn't make a sound. She listened breathlessly to what Grissom had to say. It pained her to the core, everything he shared with her. And she realized something too. While she had made a conscious decision to be apart in the past, it was the universe now who tore them apart. Slowly and painfully. That knowledge killed her.

They sat outside for a little while longer until Grissom took Sara's hand and led her inside the tent.

Lesley's bed was never used that night. They made love, putting in all the pain, sorrow and love they both felt until they fell asleep in each other's arms.