AN: Thanks for the reviews, here is the next chapter.

*Reference to the episode: 'Mea Culpa' but with my added twist to it, well more than the obvious with Catherine not there.*

Chapter 4: Getting Closer

Four Months later

November, 2004

After Grissom left Ecklie's office, completely upset, he walked right to the break room to see Nick and Warrick sitting at the conference table, so he spoke immediately. "Breakfast on me, meet you there in five minutes."

Noticing it was more of a demand than question, the guys nodded before Nick spoke. "Sure."

Grissom just nodded in return before walking down the hall towards his office while Nick and Warrick looked at one another, wondering what was going on, before they got up from their seats and headed for the locker room so they could get ready to leave.

As Grissom made it into his office, his cellphone vibrated in his pocket, so he pulled it out and flipped it open to see Sara's text message. 'Breakfast?'

He smiled slightly before texting back. 'Your place?'

He gets to his desk to grab his briefcase, but before he picks up, his phone vibrates again. 'Ok, I'll go to the store then.'

'Sounds good, I'll be there about an hour?'

'See you then.'

He places his phone back in his pocket, finally grabs his briefcase before he walks out of his office.

After arriving at the diner around the same time, they headed for their other table, the one they sit at when there was only four or less of them, and sat down.

It only took a few seconds before the blond haired waitress walked up to them and asked what they wanted for breakfast, and after Warrick and Nick ordered, the waitress looked at Grissom, and he just shook his head with a polite smile. "Just coffee for me, please."

She nodded with a smile before turning and walking away, and Nick spoke when she was gone. "What's going on Griss? We aren't in trouble, are we?"

"No, you aren't."

There was a slight relief look on their faces, but confusion was still there. However, before he could continue, the waitress came back to the table with their drinks, and after setting them down, she walked away again, leaving the guys alone.

Grissom picked up his coffee mug and took a sip before he spoke after a sigh. "But, there are going to be changes within the lab, starting immediately." He then looked over at Nick first. "Nick, you'll become supervisor for the swing shift." Nick looked at him in shock while Grissom looked over at Warrick. "And Warrick, you'll be going with him, along with Sara."

Now they both looked shocked as Warrick said. "What!?"

As Grissom nodded, Nick sighed deeply before he commented. "Ecklie, huh?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

Nick continued. "I'm sorry, Griss..."

Grissom cuts him off with a small shake of the head. "It isn't your fault, none of you are at fault." He took a breath before he shrugged his shoulders a little. "He wanted to break-up the team, so he broke it up. I don't think there was anything anybody could have done."

They nodded in agreement, knowing Ecklie, before Warrick spoke. "So, who's going to tell Sara?"

Grissom was quick to answer. "I will, she should hear it from me."

After they nodded, it wasn't long before their food came, and while they were eating, they were engaging in a little small talk, then once Grissom was done with his coffee, he asked for the bill, and when it came to him, he looked at it, placed the money and tip on the table, stood up before looking at the two guys he's watched grow into the CSI's they were now, two of his first CSI 'students'. "I am so proud of both of you, and despite how this is happening, you guys deserve this, so continue to be the CSI's I know you are meant to be."

They looked up from their almost empty plates with smiles as Warrick replied with sincerity. "Thank you, Griss, we won't let you down."

"I know, now eat up, you guys should go home and get some rest."

They both now sighed before Warrick spoke again. "That's right, we got to get use to a whole new sleep schedule."

Grissom pats him on the shoulder before he walked out of the restaurant so he could go to Sara's and tell her the news, and as much as he knew he was going to miss working with Warrick and Nick, losing Sara from his team is the worst part of the team break-up.

Once Grissom made it over to Sara's place, and after he was invited in, he didn't waste much time on cooking, moving around her kitchen like he has been doing it for years, when it has only been a handful of times, but either way, Sara liked watching him.

When breakfast was finally done cooking and they were sitting on the barstools at the kitchen counter, Sara couldn't help but feel that he was distracted about something, so she asked after clearing her throat. "Griss, you ok?"

He shook off his dazed state as he looked up from his almost empty plate to look at her, seeing the concern in her eyes. "I'm sorry, what?"

She then gave him a warm smile. "I just asked if you were ok, you seem a bit off, no offense."

He gave her a little smile before shaking his head. "It's ok, and yes, I'm ok, or at least I'm not sick or anything like that."

"But it is something, am I right?"

He took a breath and nodded. "Yeah, Ecklie called me in a meeting and he has decided that our team should be split up. Nick is the supervisor of swing shift while you and Warrick will be reporting to him now."

Sara's eyes got wide as she stood up from her barstool, fuming. "What!? That's bull, you are a good supervisor, this should not be happening." She paused for a second then sheepishly continued. "I mean there are some areas in which you exceed at more than others, which I don't really blame you..." Before he could speak, she continued, once again upset, without thinking about what she was saying, just going with how she really felt.
"But I mean come on, they can just look at the lab ratings from before you got here to when you did, and they can see the results. You are a wonderful teacher and boss, of course you've always been more than either of those things to me, so my opinion maybe biased, but you can ask anybody else that has worked with you, and I don't think you'll find any one else that says otherwise. I should go down there and give him a piece of my mind...yeah, I really should."

She started to walk towards the door, but Grissom, who was still shocked at something she had said, took her wrist to stop her, the ever present sparks flaring up, but they tried to ignore it as he finally spoke softly. "For one, going down there to give him a piece of your mind will only hurt you, and the guys need you, so please think before you act."

Feeling his calming presences around her with not only his hand still holding her wrist, but his caring blue eyes, she nodded with a sigh, closed her eyes for a second and took a breath before looking at him again. "You're right, I'm sorry. I just really think you got a raw deal on this one." Then feeling a little calmer, she commented. "But, I guess it's Ecklie, so what do you expect?" He couldn't help but nod in agreement with a small smile before she asked with a raised eyebrow. "And was there a 'secondly' because you said 'for one' to calm me down."

This time he shyly smiled before taking his hand off her wrist and cleared his throat. "Yeah, you um, you said something about seeing me more than a teacher and boss?"

Thinking back to what she had said, she remembered those words coming out of her mouth, and this time she shyly smiled in return. "Yeah, I guess I did." She then bravely took his hand this time as she continued sincerely. "And I meant them, I mean why do you think I moved to Vegas?" He looked at her with a little shock and she finished with a smile while the sincerity was still there. "But honestly, you can't be that surprised at this point, are you?"

He slowly shook his head and gave her another smile. "No, I guess not." He took a breath and finished. "I guess just hearing you actually say it out-loud surprised me."

Nodding in understanding, she replied. "Yeah, I can imagine."

He took another breath and shook his head before speaking softly, apologetically. "I'm so sorry Sara, knowing now how you really felt about me, then having me invite you here just to see me pushing you away like that, it must have been..."

Sara cuts him off while squeezing his hand lightly for comfort, seeing how sorry he really looked. "It's ok, we are past that. Yeah, it sucked and hurt, I can't lie about that, but I'm really at peace with it." Seeing the truth in her eyes, he nodded, feeling relieved, then she asked a second later. "But now that we are on that subject, why did you invite me here, then start pushing me away like that?"

Knowing if they really wanted to move forward, he had to tell her a big part on why things shifted the way that they did, so he nodded, and with their hands still together, he walked them towards the couch and they sat down, then after a breath he said. "Before I tell you that, I just want you to know that I always saw a lot of potential in you as a CSI, so asking you to stay here was part of that reason, I really did feel that the lab needed you."

She smiled shyly as she replied softly. "Thank you."

He nodded again before continuing. "And honestly, I missed you. I missed being around you." His face went a little red at that, but she just squeezed his hand in comfort again as he continued. "The emails just weren't cutting it anymore. I wanted to talk/share more on a daily basis."

Deep down they both knew it was more than that, but she'll take what he had said as a reasonable answer for now. However, there was still that lingering question that she needed answered, so she asked again. "But then you stopped sharing and pushed me away, what changed?"

He paused for a second before replying after clearing his throat. "Lots of reasons, but mainly, it was because I was uh, I was losing my hearing."

Sara looked at him with concern now as she gasped a little, things were starting to make sense of that time. "That's what was happening?" After he nodded, she continued softly. "How come you never told us, me?"

"I uh, I guess the honest answer was that I was scared, scared of losing my job, afraid on what the team might think of me." There was a slight pause before he said softly with fear in his eyes. "Most of all what you might think of me. For all I knew you could have seen me a lot older than I am." He sighed as he looked down. "I know I did."

Sara's heart was breaking for him, and she shook her head as she reached to cup his bearded cheek, which the contact surprised him a little, so he looked up in a little shock, and their eyes connected as she continued speaking with a soft and soothing tone. "I would have never seen you any differently than I see you now, and I would have been there for you without hesitation had I known, you were never alone." There was a slight pause before she finished while her heart was racing. "And you still aren't, no matter what, always remember that."

He nodded, seeing the truth in her eyes before he surprised her by giving her a hug. "Thank you, Sara."

She wasn't complaining one bit though as she ran her hand up and down his back. "You're welcome, Griss."

As they pulled back a few moments later, she asked after clearing her throat. "So, did something happen to cause your hearing loss?"

"Yes, it's a genetic disorder called Otosclerosis, it was passed down from my mom."

Another piece of the puzzle soon kicked in as she commented. "And that's one of the reasons why you know sign language."

He nodded again, this time with a smile, very impressed by her, not that it was the first time for that happening though.

"Yes."

She smiled in return. "After all this time, I feel I'm finally starting to put the puzzle pieces of Gilbert Grissom together."

He raised an eyebrow at that before asking with a small smirk. "Yeah, and how is it looking?"

She smirked back, but he could tell in her eyes she meant every word. "So far so good, but I have a feeling I have a lot left to put together."

Still having eye contact, he spoke without censoring his words, his heart racing. "You know that can take time, right?"

Not missing a beat, she replied with a smile. "Yeah, but I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end, so I'm not ready to give up."

His spirits were rising while hearing her say that, and he looked a little happier than he did when he came over, which when that thought came to his mind, he remembered why he was there in the first place, outside of their breakfast time, and he mentally shook his head before speaking again. "I should go and let you get some rest."

She didn't want him to leave, but also knew he had a point, so she nodded as they stood up, then as he walked to the kitchen counter to deal with the rest of his food, she spoke as she stopped just before reaching the same counter. "So with Nick, Warrick and myself working swing now, that means you'll have Greg, Carly, and..."

Grissom turns around and finishes for her. "Sofia Curtis, she was the day shift supervisor."

Sara thought for a minute, then nodded her head. "Right, I've seen her around a few times." Then not even meaning to, her tone changed as she looked down. "She's uh, she's lucky to work with you." And realizing how that sounded, she tried to fix her mistake. "And I mean Greg and Carly too."

But Grissom wasn't going to let it slide, so he smirked with a raised eyebrow. "Was that a little hint of jealousy I heard?"

She looked at him a little shocked. "What!? No, I uh, we are just friends, so I shouldn't be jealous. I have no reason to be jealous."

Once again both feeling their hearts race a little, Grissom walked up to her and stopped before becoming bold and cupping her cheek while speaking softly. "Sara, even if we both believed at this point that comment 'just friends' is true, you have nothing to be jealous about, I assure you, ok?" All Sara could do was nod, afraid of doing anything else so she didn't scare him away, and he nodded with a smile in return before slowly moving his hand from her cheek, then he took a step back and cleared his throat. "I hope this new schedule doesn't change our breakfast time together."

Sara finally smiled again, still feeling the heat on her cheek where his hand had been. "For me it doesn't."

The smile came back as he turned and grabbed his jacket from the coat hanger on the door before turning to look at her. "Ok, I'll see you tomorrow morning after shift."

"OK." He nodded one more time before he turned towards the door again and opened it, but before he stepped through it, she spoke again. "Grissom." After he turned around to look at her again, she continued. "I will miss working with you."

Sincerely, he replied. "I'll miss working with you too." Then he finished with confidence. "But I promise it won't be forever, somehow, someway, we'll get the team back." He took a breath and shrugged a little. "That is if everybody wants to be back together, who knows."

She nodded in understanding, then they whispered their goodnights/good mornings before he walked out of the apartment, both sighing in content as the door clicked shut.

Even though things were said and hinted that put their friendship in a different category, they weren't quite there yet, but by now it was only a matter of time before they finally made things official.

AN: They are getting closer, stay tuned for next chapter :). Thanks for reading and please review.