Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or the characters, still.

The surgery to fix Sara's broken arm went beautifully. Back in her room, she had an uneventful recovery, but as expected her arm was smarting pretty badly. She required more pain medicine sending her in and out of sleep. Meanwhile, there were visits from some of the ER team, including Ms. Bursen with her contact information for payback purposes. She gave Grissom shameless grief over puking in the ER. Even in her haze, Sara was enjoying that. Too bad the rest of the team isn't here to catch all this! Then came good-byes from the third floor staff, as they went about preparing her discharge. Fortunately, Lurie was not seen again, although he discretely followed her progress, even looked upon her in the recovery room, and he knew she would be leaving after the surgery.

Finally, Ms. Davies checked in. She so wanted to meet Gil Grissom face to face, and leave the couple her sincerest best wishes. Sara awakened when she walked in the room. Looking up at her smiling face, "Gil, this is Ms. Davies, with social services, Ms. Davies, this is Gil Grissom."

"Dr. Grissom, I've heard so much about you," she said somewhat jokingly.

He extended his hand, and smiled knowingly, "Thanks for handling this situation so expeditiously. I don't think I would have been able to stand anyone suggesting I could ever hurt this woman!" He took Sara's hand, looking down on her lovingly.

"I was happy to put it to bed." In her long career, she had seen some of the most loving touches on the surface turn brutal behind closed doors, but theirs were different. The looks they shared, and his touch on her hand, were obviously genuine and real. It warmed her heart to see them together like that. She then handed Sara an envelope, "Here is a copy of my consult. I thought you should have this. It should prevent you from having to answer another stranger's questions in the future, even if you were at another hospital."

Sara and Gil reassured her that they respected the job she did handling the case after all was said and done. Gil promised to call to set up the appointment to provide details of his encounter with Vincent Lurie. Ms. Davies promised to keep him aprised of the ethics committee's actions.

Gil took Sara home. It felt like years had passed since she'd last been there. Truth be told, their lives had changed immeasurably. Grissom went back to work almost immediately to ease the pressure on graveyard since they'd been absent. Sara padded around the house. Her internal clock was hopelessly off, she had trouble sleeping, and usually just napped at odd times. She wasn't up to doing much, and had trouble concentrating. She was uncharacteristically tentative, even during their lovemaking. She blamed her physical pain, and the unwieldy full-arm cast. Gil knew otherwise, he saw another type of pain, a melancholy, almost as if some of her passion, her zeal, what made her Sara, was still lost in the desert somewhere. When he tried to talk about it, she denied it. He suggested counseling, she bristled. He saw it, but was powerless to help her. He could only hope that time and work would bring her around.

He masterfully dodged Ecklie who had been meeting one on one with every member of the graveyard team; lab tech and CSI alike. He was brow beating them all for information on Grissom and Sara's affair. He just could not accept that no one knew. He could not accept that Sara didn't receive special treatment. He even met with receptionists and janitorial personnel. But, every story was the same; they first got wind of it only after the abduction. And, no, they saw no preferential treatment towards Sara; no displays of affection in the lab.

The only interview that deviated from the others was Brass. He barely grunted answers, and offered nothing but vague "I don't remember," or "How would I know." Ecklie strongly suspected Gil had confided in him, but all his answers screamed "Go to Hell!" so he was forced to give up. He was no match for Brass.

Catherine was ready for Ecklie, and by the time he met with her, she was actually relieved that she hadn't known, Sara had been right about that. The fact that no one knew would ensure the consistent rendition of all the stories, and protect them. Ecklie still couldn't accept that Catherine, especially Catherine, didn't know, as dialed into people as she was. He came down on her the hardest, asked her again and again, from different angles, going over their work on past cases even, but her story was exactly like every other CSI; she only learned of the relationship after Sara's abduction. The hardest issue was Grissom's handling of Sara after she was suspended. Ecklie knew Catherine was furious with the way Sara had acted towards both her and the witness. This is where he knew he could get Catherine to agree Grissom hadn't always been objective with Sara.

"Catherine, even you commented that Sara is inappropriately emotional on every domestic abuse case, to the point of risking the outcome of the investigation. Surely you agree that after the case you supervised, she needed to be severely disciplined if not outright fired!"

Catherine's stomach did a flip at the thought of Sara working that case, now knowing her past. "Truthfully, at the time, I might have. But since, Grissom has been proven right about the situation. He took responsibility for it, and obviously corrected whatever problems existed. She never displayed any insubordination to me in the slightest after that. She kept her cool in general. She never compromised an investigation, and has done remarkable work since."

"It looks like evidence that they were involved, to me."

"No, I'm telling you, whatever intervention he made was as a supervisor, and was no different than how he approached Warrick when he was consumed by gambling and screwed up an assignment worse than Sara ever did. Do I need to remind you about Holly Gribbs?"

While Ecklie was taking notes, she added, "And, I'm pretty sure Warrick and Grissom never dated!" she giggled.

The attempt at humor was totally lost on Ecklie. He was frowning, shaking his head, visibly agitated, but Catherine continued with a slight smile, "Grissom's still a Catholic deep down, he forgives when someone's remorseful. Don't misjudge that as preferential treatment for Sara, we all benefited from that at some point along the way with him."

She stood to leave, "Conrad, this is the bottom line, they were incredibly professional. They left no clue about their relationship. I promise you, I was totally floored to learn about it. In fact, if you are wondering if their relationship affected their work, just the fact that none of us knew tells you it didn't. They were always the consummate professionals."

He just shook his head and frowned. But the story kept coming back the same. Calls to Grissom went unanswered, and he couldn't seem to catch him in the lab. Finally, he called their home, "Sara?"

"Yes."

"Conrad Ecklie."

"Oh."

"I hope you're healing up."

Silence

"I need to meet with you when you're up to it. We need to discuss you returning to work, and, well, your relationship with your supervisor," he grimaced on the other end of the line.

"I can come in tomorrow, what time?"

And the meeting was arranged. "Tell Grissom I need to see him, too."

Grissom drug himself home after another double, and Sara told him of the phone call and the meeting scheduled the next day. "Do you need me to go with you?" he asked.

"No, I can hold my own with him. I don't feel like I have anything to apologize for, the work we've done the past two years speaks for itself. In fact, I think I'm ready to face the music, get it over with. Waiting around here, not knowing what will happen to me, to us, it's wearing on me."

"Just stay calm, don't give him any more to hold up to you. He surely knows how to push people's buttons. If he wants to come down on you, you need to let me deal with him. You really shouldn't be disciplined or punished over this, but we need to be careful going toe to toe with him."

She just smiled, thinking back to the time when she definitely didn't stay calm in front of Ecklie. It almost cost her her job, but ultimately brought Gil to her. "So where will you be?"

"I'll make sure I'm somewhere else," he simply smiled, "if you're sure you don't need me there, that is. My whole strategy is to avoid the man as long as possible; I figure by the time he's interviewed everyone else, maybe there won't be too much left for him to ask me. What I'm worried about most is he'll break up the team. If it comes to that, you stay with them, I'll move to swing, they have never settled on a supervisor since Catherine moved back to grave."

"Gil, you're a fixture on that shift, I can't see that."

"It's bad enough we'll be separated, but I can't stand the thought of you not being around people who know and love you after everything you've been though."

She reluctantly agreed, but ultimately she couldn't come to terms with being the person who came between Grissom and his team. She would cross that bridge when the time came.

Deep down, what Sara feared far more than Ecklie, was returning to that girl she was as a child. The one everyone talked about, stared at. She knew her relationship with Grissom would mean she wouldn't be viewed the same, no longer 'one of the guys'. More than that, it made her heart race to think what gossip was flying around, what unkind, untrue, things people were saying about her, and the most private, sacred, part of her life. She knew walking into the lab for that meeting, the stares would be burning, and she would feel that heat.

"I'll be fine," she lied, "I survived the miniature killer, I'm pretty sure I can survive this!" She snuggled up to him, "The hardest part will be getting dressed by myself with only one good arm." They smiled, and kissed, and Gil gladly helped her get undressed for now, looking for that passion, that spark. The part of her he loved the most. He loved her so completely, he would wait as long as it took for that part of Sara to awaken. He had no doubt that it would, and he would let her do it at her own pace, offering his unending support at every turn. He reasoned she had earned that and then some, putting up with his own tentativeness for so many years.

When time came to get ready to go into the lab, Sara got an early start to her dressing routine. She gave up on trying to shower the first day home, finding it almost impossible to keep the plaster cast dry, even with plastic bags wrapped around it. Bathing worked best, and Gil helped out by continuing to wash her hair for her. The tradition started in the hospital, and was something they both came to embrace. Gil washed her hair the previous night, just before going in for his shift. He talked her into letting it dry naturally, curling softly around her face. As she dressed, she cussed in frustration; the easiest things were so dang hard with that stupid cast. She had to clasp her bra first and then step into it, and then, wrestle the shoulder strap over the cast, and so on. Her jewelry had to be without clasps, and buttons, a nightmare. Fortunate that she got a head start on the process, she then drove herself to the lab with a few minutes to spare before her appointment with Ecklie. She just sat in the car for a while; trying to muster up her courage. Not to face Ecklie, but to face the stares in the lab. Knowing it was inevitable; she marched inside, looking at the floor, or looking straight ahead, unable to make eye contact with anyone. No one tried to speak to her as she passed. She went straight to Ecklie's office, and softly knocked….

The End….the story picks up at the beginning of the episode "A La Cart" 8 X 02…..

A/N: This was my first attempt at this. Thanks to all those reviewing this story, they are very much appreciated. And, thank you to all who have endured these ramblings in silence. Group hug.

A/N 2: To all of you Lurie-haters out there….I know you wanted to see him drawn and quartered, but he's still out there, sequel material…..Just rest assured he has months of hassles from the hospital and state board of medical examiners to keep him busy, he's in plenty of hot water.