Chapter 3: A Day at the Lake

Two days had past since she had walked out of the crime lab and she already wanted to go home. All she had done all day was sit out by the lake and watch the ripples from the water that ran off the mountain go by.

"I'm going to go crazy." Sara yelled to the mountains as she walked back up to the cabin. She looked around the cabin everything was neat and tidy. She had worked all day yesterday cleaning dust and dirt from the floors, ceilings, and walls.

"I have to find something to do." She said to herself as she walked to the back of the cabin and looked out. There was a lot of space; she could plant a flower bed. 'Yeah right, me plant a flower bed my ass.' She walked back into the cabin she had to have something to do so she decided that maybe she should give the whole flower bed thing a whirl.

She walked out and climbed into her Tahoe and drove toward the small town. 'I can do this.' She thought as she picked out flowers, potting soil, fertilizer, and boards to cage in the flowers.

Grissom walked into the break room and was greeted by Greg and Sophia; he looked longingly at the empty chair that Sara should have occupied. "First off I want to say good work to both of you, you guys did a great job on the case." He said looking at the two of them.

"Have you talked to Sara lately?" Sophia chimed in looking at him.

"No I haven't, she is on her well earned vacation." Grissom said looking at the two assignment slips in front of him.

"Yeah, no thinks to you." Greg said under his breath. It was at these times that Grissom was glad he had had the sugary to fix his hearing.

"What do you mean 'no thinks to you.'?" He looked at Greg with an unnerving stare.

"I…uh…didn't…how do you know what I said?" Greg looked at him.

"I might be old Greg but I'm not deaf." Grissom almost winched at the thought. "Now what did you mean." Grissom asked as he looked at the younger man.

Greg sighed there was no way he was getting out of this one easy. "I talked to her last night she said she thought she was headed for a major breakdown because she wasn't happy with her life or her job." Greg thought it better to leave out the part about her saying that Grissom was the reason of her breakdown.

"And what dose that have to do with me?" Grissom said hotly as he rose from his chair handing out assignments not really caring who got what.

"Nothing I don't know what you thought I was talking about." Greg got up, grabbed his assignment, and ran out toward the parking lot.

"Grissom," Sophia said obviously not happy that she had been forgotten in the conversation.

"Get to work." Grissom said as he stormed out of the room toward his office.

"I'll never understand him." Sophia said as she got up and walked out to the parking lot.

'What was I thinking a flower bed?' Sara sighed as she walked out carrying a bag of potting soil on her shoulder. Her cell phone went off just as she was about to tear the bag of soil open.

"Thank you god!" Sara exclaimed as she answered. "Sidle…Greg what's up? What the hell? Why?" She jumped up from the ground listening to Greg talk frantically. "Oh my god…How could you Greg? I don't believe this." Sara said as she walked over to the lake. "Whatever." With that Sara hurtled the cell phone into the lake.

'Grissom's coming up here, to this lake, to talk to me about my problems, fuck.' Sara thought as she walked back over to the flower bed she had started and tore open the bag and dumped it into the box she had made with the boards.

She planted pink, red, and white flowers till her back hurt and she heard the sound of gravel crunching under tires, just before she heard a car door slam and heavy footsteps on the front side of the porch.

"Sara," Damn, it was Grissom.

"Walk around to the back of the cabin." She screamed not thinking, she could have not answered and then maybe he would have gone away. No Grissom was to smart for that simple of a trick he would have figured it out.

"Hi," he said standing up on the porch and looking down at her as she wiped the sweat from her brow. She looked up at him and had to bit back a groan when she saw him.

He was wearing jeans and a tee shirt, something she hadn't seen him in since he had been her meteor in college, with cowboy boots that looked old and wear out. He sported a cowboy hat on his head and his face looked softened by the sun.

"Hi," Sara said standing gathering up the tools she had been using.

"I just wanted to come up here and…"

"Greg called me; I think I'll need a new cell phone when I get back to the lab." She looked out toward the lake, her cell phone was probably somewhere in the middle more than likely it was already at the bottom.

"You throw your cell phone into that lake." Grissom said pointing at the lake not a foot away.

"Yes I was mad." Sara said as she walked up the back steps onto the porch sidestepping Grissom and making her way around to the front of the house.

She saw Grissom's Tahoe and the bags on the top. 'Is he going to stay here?' She wondered to herself as she throw the gardening tools into a box and walked inside to wash her hands. Grissom fallowed her inside standing in the living room admiring the paintings on the walls.

"Can I get you anything? Water, tea, milk, a soda." Sara asked trying to start a conversation.

"Yes water would be fine." Grissom said as he watched her bend over and remove two bottles from the refrigerator.

"Here you go." Sara said walking into the living room and handing him a bottle. She walked over and sat down on the couch motioning for Grissom to do the same he fallowed her.

"Why aren't you happy in Vegas at work or in your personal life?" Grissom finally broke the silence after about twenty minutes he couldn't stand it anymore.

"Greg told you I was unhappy." Sara accused sipping her water and looking out the window.

"Yes but then I started to think back on the way things have been in the past few months and I realized you going away has been a long time coming I just hoped it would disappear and that you would get over whatever was bothering you." Grissom said watching her more than anything. Sara snapped her head up and looked at him her face had cooled down but the heat was still in her eyes.

"Lets just get one thing straight you can't just 'get over' what's wrong with me ok and I really don't want to have this conversation, now if you would be so kind as to leave me alone and go find a hotel somewhere I would be willing to talk to you tomorrow at around noon or so when I felt I could deal with all the bullshit you seem to be dishing out." Sara said walking into the kitchen putting her water back in the refrigerator then walking to the door throwing it open.

Just as she was about to yell at him to get out the first bolt of lighting hit, she watched as the sky turned dark and the rain came pouring down while another bolt hit on the ground just outside the cabin.

"I don't believe this." She said walking out on the porch and out into the yard. "IS THIS SOME KIND OF CRUEL JOKE?" She screamed looking up at the sky and began to sob.

Grissom watched her for a few minutes than walked out into the rain to retrieve the crying woman.

"Sara," he said softly as he watched her cry into his shoulder when he picked her up from the mud she had slipped into. "I'm sorry I just wanted to talk I didn't mean to make you mad." Grissom said packing her up to the porch sitting her in the porch swing. "Sara I'm so sorry I just want us to be friends I don't want us to lose that." Grissom said walking into the living room and retrieving the afghan from the back of the love sit.

"I know you didn't Grissom." Sara said as he wrapped her up in the blanket and held her hand. She stared at the ground.

TBC…