CHAPTER 7:

Sara woke up and thanked god that she had gone to bed without crying for once. This was her last night on shift and then she was off for a couple of days, she thought that maybe she should take a break away and go to visit her mom in San Francisco.

She wondered if she was going to talk to grisssom today. Even if she did she was ready for him, no matter what his attitude towards her was. She looked at her phone and saw she had 2 missed calls from him. Deciding that they were not work related she ignored them and said I'll deal with him when I see him.

After having her shower and some food she decided that she was going to ring her mom and tell her she was on her way after her graveyard shift ended in the morning.

It would be good for her to get away from Vegas for a while.

She parked up in the lab car park when out of nowhere grisssom appeared again. She jumped at his presence, "you have got to stop doing that" Sara said to him.

"Sorry" he said and just stood there looking at her. If Sara was being honest, he looked lost. Finally he found his voice," how are you?" and this time there was genuine concern in his voice.

Sara thought about just telling him they'll talk later but she felt she needed to give something at least, "I'm fine grisssom, I didn't dodge your calls on purpose, I was sleeping" he nodded understandingly "that's ok, that's good that you're sleeping, I was wondering if we could have a peaceful conversation at some point today?"

She could of protested, fobbed him off, delayed the inevitable but the thought it would make her break away more restful if she and grisssom came to some common ground pertaining to their situation.

"sure" that's all she gave him. "ok well IL talk to you later then" and with that he went inside the building.

Sara was surprised that he was so calm today when the last time he was practically running for the hills. This is good she said to herself, at least this means he has put some thought into what he is going to say.

As they all gathered in the break room for their usual assignments from grisssom, in walks grisssom, Ecklie and a new face. They all had a glum look and then Ecklie was the first to speak, "everybody I like to introduce to Robert Lemmur, he will be our new csi 3 on graveyard shift, I trust ye will treat him well and show him the ropes? Thank you."

It was then grisssoms turn to make it a more personal introduction "Robert comes to us from Nebraska, he was supposed to start next week but as luck would have it we got him earlier. Ok quick introductions before we start, this is Catherine my second in command, if I'm not here she's your girl, nick is csi 3 and so is Sara and over here we Greg who up until recently was our DNA lab tech and now csi 2."

Robert was standing there trying to take it all in, new faces, new surroundings, new start. "thank you all of you I hope I fit in here and I appreciate your patience as I try to adjust to the environment"

Grisssom looked at his watch and realised how late they were at getting assignments handed out, "right guys, assignments for the night are as follows, nick and Greg you have a hit and run in Henderson, victim is a 9year old girl. Catherine, 419 at the body farm, enjoy that one! And Robert I'm going to pair you up with Sara sidle for your first night, ye have a smash and grab in the local 711, Sara will show you the ropes, should be an easy one for ye"

At this Sara first protested, " ah grisssom, csi Lemmur is level 3 don't you think that a higher profile case would be more to his suiting?"

Grisssom who was not at all surprised by Sara's annoyance, "no I don't, Sara, you have your case, id suggest ye get going" and with that he left without giving her time to retort.

"bit of a ball buster, is he?" asked csi Lemmur. Sara just rolled her eyes "you have no idea, come on lets get to our scene, IL explain more on the way"

While they were processing the scene, Sara thought that Lemmur went off on his won and did his own thing which is good in a way but he needs to take direction and follow procedure to the way they do things. "Robert we usually do photographic evidence first before we start processing the scene" Sara trying to sound as friendly as she could.

Robert was quick to answer, "well I usually process so I know what I have to photograph, that way makes it easier and I'm not snapping a hundred shots that are irrelevant."

Sara thought it odd that on his first day he was already arguing about how things are done so she tried to be a bit firmer, thinking that he just needed a bit of guidance, "well that's not how we do things here and the budget at crime lab covers as many photos as we want"

He shrugged his shoulders and continued processing. Sara rolled her eyes and thought this guy was gonna be difficult to break into the new routine. She made a mental note to let grisssom know later.

The smash and grab was an easy scene to process especially with two level 3 csi's so they were finished quickly, on the drive back to the lab, Sara felt a wave of nausea wash over her and she knew she wouldn't have much time before she threw up, so she pulled into the next gas station,

" I'll just be a minute, do you need anything inside?" she said hoping out of the Denali, "eh, do you think this is appropriate stopping in a gas station, we have the evidence in the back of the truck, what about chain of command in evidence processing?"

Sara was getting annoyed now and really felt unwell, "IL only be a second and you'll be in the truck the whole time" and off she ran.

When she got back into the truck he too had a look of annoyance on his face, "I'm didn't mean to be rude but I thought it was unprofessional, its just not the way we did things in Nebraska" "I understand that but you have to realise that you are not in Nebraska anymore and we do things differently in Las Vegas and as you know we have the highest solve rate in the country, and for the record, I am always professional"

"of course" he said and then there was silence the rest of the way home.

Once they got to the lab, Sara showed him the procedure of how, when and where to log in the evidence and then where to go next. "if you want I can show you the lab rooms and introduce you to the techs?"

Lemmur shook his head "nah that's ok, seen one seen them all, where to next Sidle?"

Sara thought it odd, he should be taking every opportunity he can learn the ropes and get to know the people he is going to be working with. "do you want to be here Lemmur?" she stared him down.

"excuse me?" he said looking at her doe eyed.

"it's just that you seem like you have very little interest to be here, I'm wondering was it your choice to move here or were you made come here?"

Sara saw a sinister glint of anger in his eyes, "well that's none of your business is it, I'm here regardless so you had better get used to it"

On that note, Sara walked away, she did not need to be babysitting some jumped up, arrogant little know-it-all who didn't want to be here.

In his office was where she found him, "grisssom"

He looked up from his paperwork and nearly jumped out of seat when he saw Sara making a bee line for him, "what's wrong?" an obvious look of annoyance on her face, '"your new guy is a piece of work and he doesn't want to be here, he's challenged me on nearly every aspect of the case"

Relaxing that it was nothing more serious he said " Sara, I think you may be exaggerating a little, he seemed fine earlier, he had a high solve rate in Nebraska, he's supervisor spoke very highly of him."

"so why did they move him? Because it certainly wasn't his choice to come here" grisssom chuckled at how worked up she was getting "Sara who wouldn't want to be in our lab? It's a great accomplishment to work here, I'm sure he was just being over eager, but IL have a word if makes you happy. On another note how are you feeling?"

"fine grisssom, I'm just fine, I better get back to your lovely csi" she said sarcastically.

"wait Sara, how about you ask him to process some of the evidence I'm sure he can manage and we go for an unofficial break? Outside the lab?"

For the first time in weeks she didn't mind being with grisssom alone, "ya sure I can do that"

Back in the same diner, in the same booth, Sara and grisssom both hoped that their talk wouldn't end the way it had done the last time they were here. After they ordered, neither of them talked, Sara was studying her hands aware of grisssom eyes on her which made her self-conscious.

He was the first to speak "what are you thinking?" she finally made eye contact with him, "I was just thinking the same thing about you".

Grisssom looked into the distance for a second then continued, "I think that we need to come to a common ground, we have a lot to sort out Sara. Things are going to change a lot for both us very soon whatever we decide. I'm apprehensive about the future and what it brings"

He was as honest as hed ever been these last few weeks and Sara knew it. "I know." There was another awkward silence, "I'm keeping it" she said rushed just in case he got other ideas or wanted to discuss them.

"Sara, how could you ever think that I would want you to do anything but?" Sara was so glad he said that and she thought that maybe he was finally getting it. "but we have to go to Ecklie, whether he keeps us on the same team or splits us up, he needs to know, you need to be risk assessed and put on lighter duties if and when you need, the team needs to know also, which means we have to tell them about us"

"I thought there was no us" she hadn't meant to say it so bluntly but she'd been hurt so much by him and now it was his turn to hurt.

"well then they need to know about our history regardless of our future" grisssom said more sternly.

"and your ok with this?" Sara asked. " I didn't say that, but what other option do we have, they are going to figure it out soon, or would you rather they not know who the father was?" he asked half afraid of the answer.

"no, your father, I'm not denying that nor would I ever. The team and Ecklie don't need to know straight away tho, I'm still trying to get use to everything myself"

"Sara the sooner the better. It's for your safety, if I wasn't the father and you were just another employee I would be telling you the same thing"

Sara nodded agreeing, she knew he was right and secretly she was delighted that he was outing her first for once, "ok, we'll tell Ecklie but can I wait till after I come back from San Francisco?"

"sure" he smiled and was happy that they made some sort of a start in repairing their strained relationship.