As you've probably guessed we're heading into some M rated material, so please be aware of that as you continue to read this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'll try and get another update done in the next few days. :)

Chapter Eight

The following week passed like I was in slow motion. Catherine had called in sick the day after our kiss, saying she was obviously still ill from the desert and had come back to work too early, Grissom had told her to take as much time as she needed. With Catherine off Grissom seemed to be super-aware of my health, making sure I had regular breaks and that I did all my shifts in the lab instead of out at scenes with Nick and Warrick.

I felt like I was going insane, mine and Catherine's kiss in the evidence room was all I could think about. I wanted her like I'd never wanted anyone in my life. Just remembering her finger on my lips gave me goosebumps. The longer she stayed away, the more my heart ached, and the more confused I felt. Did she want me at all? If she did, why was she doing this? Had I gone too fast for her? I had debated going over to her house but she obviously wanted space and it didn't feel right to intrude on that.

Grissom seemed intent of helping me clear all of the team's administrative work, which was technically his anyway, but I was grateful for the company. His conversations over bug identification or evolution of the human mind helped keep me busy, and sometimes he spoke of his mother, a subject that seemed to be quite a private to him, which gave me confidence in our friendship.

We had had quite a troubled three years working together in the lab; I had, for a while, had some quite intense feelings for him and had made it pretty clear to him on several occasions but he never returned my feelings and gradually my heart let it rest. I knew now that Grissom was married to his work, this was what his life was about and that was enough for him, in a way I respected him for that but also envied him: I so badly wanted to shut down all of my emotions and just get on with living, but I knew without Catherine I wouldn't be living at all, just existing.

I had taken a seat next to Grissom in his office, working at one end of the desk while he took the other. I was writing a finalized case report statement for a case that Nick and Warrick had just wrapped up - a missing man who had ended up being found dead in the trash outside the Bellagio. Apparently he taken an overdose, fell in there and died. Nothing in Vegas surprised me anymore.

I could still remember how Catherine had moaned my name as I'd kissed her neck.

I shut my eyes, trying to stop my mind from teasing me with memories.

"Are you alright, Sara?" Grissom asked.

"Yes, fine." I smiled at him and continued working.

"You know if something was bothering you, we could talk about it?"

"Mhmm." I offered him another smile and he seemed to leave it there after that.

Days more passed and I started to give up hope that there was any trace of my friendship with Catherine that was salvageable, let alone a relationship. I was starting to feel claustrophobic in the lab every day, but Grissom had listened to none of my complaints, I knew he was only looking out for me but I couldn't be his secretary forever, I was meant to be a CSI.

I almost yearned for the simplicity of how things had been before Catherine and I had crashed in the desert. The glances we'd shared that would make me wonder for the rest of the day if she had been thinking the same things I had; how she had seemed to have her shirt unbuttoned an extra button so that my eyes would struggle to focus on anything but her chest; the dreams I would have of her dancing for me; the odd brush of skin that would make my stomach do somersaults.

It was like she wanted me to want her, but she didn't want me in return.

Only now she had taken it too far and I had fallen deeper in love with her.

"Sara... Sara!" Nick waved his hand in front of my face and I blushed that I had been so oblivious to his presence.

"Nick, hi." I smiled at him.

"We're going for burgers, are you in?" he asked.

I noticed the cup of coffee in my hands had gone cold. I must have been sat here a while. "No, thanks."

"Your loss!" Warrick piped up from the doorway.

I laughed, "I'm fine, honest, guys, you go."

Nick and Warrick left me alone and I checked my watch - it was 6am. Shift was nearly over.

Grissom had gone out on a double homicide case with Brass, leaving only Greg and a few other lab assistants in the lab from the graveyard team. Day shift weren't due in for another hour and my footsteps echoed down the empty lab corridors as I made my way to the locker room to get my stuff. I was debating a trip to the nearby bar for a couple of beers to help me sleep but I knew drinking at 7am was a slippery slope I wasn't sure I could risk.

I hung my CSI jacket up inside my small locker and slipped on a brown cotton shirt over my black t-shirt.

I really wanted a beer.

"Hey."

I spun around to see Catherine stood in the doorway. She looked serious and it made me nervous.

"Hi." I turned my attention back to my locker, mindlessly shuffling items around in order to distract myself from her. My heart was going at one hundred beats per minute as I tried to stay cool.

"Is Grissom around?"

"No, he's on a case. It's just me, Greg and a few other staff left." I looked up from my locker to see her heading towards me and she took my hand in hers as she became close enough, pulling me around to the end of the line of lockers at the back of the room so that we couldn't be seen from the corridor. She trailed a finger down the side of my face, her eyes filled with something I couldn't decipher, but it made my skin tingle.

"I'm sorry about the day other day." I said, my voice shook a little as my body filled with nervous anticipation as to what she was going to do.

"Don't be." She replied, "Please don't be."

She pressed her lips against mine and I was surprised by the force of her kiss. She had her body hard up against mine, my back to the cold metal of a locker, and her hands either side of my head as she ground her hips against mine, her kisses hungry.

I slipped my fingers under her pink silk blouse and slid them up her soft back, reveling in the feeling of her bare skin under my touch. I moaned as the friction between my legs was becoming more and more intense; Catherine's kisses refusing to let up in their passion, her tongue massaging mine.

She brought her mouth to my ear, her breath hot against my skin, "I want you."

I couldn't help but moan in response to her words as her hips continued to grind against me.

I wanted my hands all over her.

I wanted her in my bed.

The sound of footsteps came down the corridor and into the locker room, my hands falling away from Catherine's back as we realized someone else was in the room.

Catherine stepped back away from, smoothing out her shirt before giving me a small smile and stepping out from the end of the lockers, into view of whoever was there.

"Grissom, hi. I was looking for you." Catherine smiled.

"In the corner of the room?" he asked.

"I thought I'd dropped my earring there last week, but I couldn't find it," she lied.

I kept my back to the locker and tried to breathe quietly. Catherine had decided that whatever was going on between us wouldn't be shared with anyone else in the lab and it wouldn't be fair to make myself known now.

"What did you want me for? Are you feeling better?" Grissom asked.

"Yes, I think I'm ready to come back to work." Catherine started to walk away from near where I was hiding and outside the room, I heard Grissom's footsteps follow her down the corridor and after a few seconds I slid out from behind the locker.

I grabbed my bag from my locker and left the lab.

My whole body felt like it was on fire - I needed a cold shower, as soon as possible.