She was woken by an irritated knock at her door. She was still in bed and light was filtering through the thin hotel room curtains indicating it was morning. She had clearly slept in. Grissom would not be amused.

"Hold on, I'm coming"

She ran her hand through her hair and slipped the zipper beside her bed on over the pyjama's she was wearing. Nick was the one waking her. He stood outside her door with a wide smile and a steaming hot cup of coffee.

"Late night last night Sidle?"

Against her better judgement she had gone for a meal with Robert when they finished up with the mother. The evening had gone surprisingly well and she had enjoyed his company, signing off with a peck on the cheek in the wee hours of the morning. She snatched the coffee from his hand and walked back into the room enjoying the feeling of the hot liquid slipping down her throat.

"Is Grissom mad?"

Nick sat down on the edge of her bed and began flicking through the channels on the TV while she got ready.

"He's gone down to the station already, I told him you and I would catch up"

"Thanks Nicky" she smiled as she slung her jacket over her shoulders and slipped on her boots. "I'm ready. Let's go"

The police station was only a short walk from their hotel. By the time they arrived Grissom was beginning to leave. He almost walked right into her as he stepped out of the police station with so much haste and purpose he wasn't watching where he was going.

"Uh... Sara. Good, you're here. There's a cabin about a mile away from where the mother was found. We're going to go and have a look around."

She nodded and they both followed him to his car without a word. Sara slipped into the front seat this time. Falling asleep in the car would not go down well today. She opened the window as wide as it would go despite the definite chill in the air.

"So how did It go with Officer Miller last night Sara?" Nick asked her from his position in the backseat.

She shot him a glare in her mirror before glancing at Grissom quickly. His eyes were firmly fixed on the road, not a whisper of emotion crossed his features.

"Uh, that is none of your business Nicky"

"Yeah but there isn't a lot more to keep me amused is there? Did he walk you home?"

"Leave it Nick" she warned him, still without a murmur from Grissom.

Officer Miller was waiting at the cabin when they arrived. What exactly had she been thinking when she went for dinner with him, she should have known Nick would torment her about it.

"There's lover boy Sara, try and keep your hands of each other ok?"

Grissom whirled around in his chair as he moved his car into park.

"That's enough Nick. What Sara chooses to do with her personal time is her business not ours."

He turned to look at her; she didn't like the expression in his eyes. The hurt reflected back to her, emotion she had never seen before.

"I don't want to hear about it unless it pertains to this case ok?"

He was angry, if he had just been hurt or upset she could have dealt with it. She would have probably spat back a comment to him, shot him down with a sarcastic monologue but angry Grissom was a different breed altogether. Angry Grissom was forceful and intimidating and she found herself completely speechless about what to say in response.

Robert didn't make it any easier when he winked at her as she exited the car. For some reason she now felt like she was walking on eggshells around Grissom. She hadn't technically done anything wrong. She had gone to dinner with a friend in her spare time. It had no impact on the case, no effect on her ability to work. Ok so she had almost been late but he didn't know that. She couldn't figure out why this was bothering him so much, or more to the point, why it bothering him was bothering her so much.

"There's no-one here. Property is registered to a Jason Carlisle. Local businessman, I've got Haslow chasing him up"

Grissom simply nodded and brushed past him into the darkened cabin as Nick and Sara shared a look akin to two naughty schoolchildren about to face the headmaster.

"Thanks Rob" she smiled sweetly at him as Nick nodded his thanks and they followed Grissom into the house.

"It's Rob now is it?" Nick teased before Grissom shot him down with one venomous look.

This was going to be a long shift.

They scoured every square inch of that cabin. It took most of the day and some of the early evening and they found nothing that would immediately tell them any of the victims had been there. They did find signs of sexual activity in the bedroom that they would have to wait to be processed but that could belong to anyone. It was fruitless. At least that's what they thought until they stepped outside. In the middle of a massively overpopulated forest lay the tiny yard belonging to the cabin. A small patch of grass, a kid's playhouse and a vegetable patch, nothing immediately striking them as unusual. Nick took the perimeter of the small fenced off area, carefully studying the area for footprints, blood drops or any other miniscule piece of evidence.

"You know there wasn't any signs of sexual trauma on the mother, if the contributions on the bed are from her then she came here voluntarily" Sara mused to no one in particular.

"It's not unheard of Sara, women cheat on the people they love all the time..." strangely, his statement was loaded with not so hidden meanings.

"You don't know that she cheated on him" she retaliated.

"I don't know that she didn't either"

Grissom held her vicious glare with an equally aggressive look tinged with betrayal. The tension simmering under the surface was palpable. Nick was about to interject when he stopped dead and raised his camera.

"Hey guys… I got a shoe."

Grissom and Sara both dropped their eye contact and gazed over at Nick.

"A shoe? What kind of a shoe?"

Nick placed a marker down and picked up a blue and red child's high top boot.

"I'm guessing the kind of shoe a 6 year old boy might wear"

Sara strode over to him and held out a clear plastic evidence bag into which he dropped the shoe. This could be just what they needed. It could prove that the kid was actually here which ties in to the mother murder.

"If the kid got away he might still be out there…" Said Sara, gazing out into the thick woodland surrounding them.

"Your right, we need to get mobile" Grissom was right behind her peering over her shoulder, taking in the very same view she was staring at. "Officer Miller? We need some more bodies up here, get as many people as you can. We need to find that little boy"

Then he was gone, back into the cabin as Robert picked up his cell phone and dialled the station. Within 30 minutes a whole team of officers had arrived at the cabin and were lined up taking instructions from Grissom. Sara and Nick held back along the outside wall of the house. Technically this was police business although they would ultimately be involved in the search they already knew what the instructions would be. Robert side stepped over to them with a small smile.

"Hey, I'm sorry if I got you in trouble with your supervisor. He seems a bit pissed"

She checked to make sure Grissom wasn't watching before she responded, it would be the final nail in the coffin if she was caught undermining his authority by having a little chat in the middle of his speech.

"It's fine. He just wants to find this kid"

"Good, because you know, I'd really like to see you again. If you wanted to…."

She fixed her eyes on Grissom as she pondered his statement. Logically it was ridiculous to be even considering it. She lived 4 hours away for a start, not to mention the fact that they were intellectually poles apart. Logically she should be setting her sights closer to home but logic hadn't helped her out so far in her life. Logic had led her to believe at one point in her life that Grissom was her soul mate. That two people who were so physically, mentally and psychologically well matched could never be mere friends, Grissom however other ideas had. Logic had failed. Maybe it was time to throw caution to the wind and stop waiting for Grissom to finally see her. He had spent the last 5 years blind, it was never going to change.

Yet she watched him giving his speech, she drunk in every single word, studied the way his hands moved, the way his lips moved, the way he made eye contact with each and every member of the search party in turn. Emphasising the importance of their job. She willed him to look at her, if he looked at her just once with that same raw emotion she had witnessed from him earlier in the car she would never go on another date with Robert Miler again. just a single look and she would never look at another man again.

But he didn't, it was as though he was purposefully avoiding her gaze. It was time to have some fun.

"Sure, I'd like that."

Of course the very second she chose to turn and smile at him was the second Grissom would turn his attention to where she was stood. He couldn't possibly have looked at her when she was standing there willing him to catch her eye, willing him to show her that he cared.

The team fanned out across the expansive woodland. It was well into the evening before they all emerged onto the road on the other side. Their search had been useless. No-one found any trace of the little boy and not a single trace of the mother was to be found. Grissom thanked everyone and squeezed the bridge of his nose. He was stressed; the weight of this case was weighing on his shoulders.

"Hey, you wanna go get something to eat? I heard there's a great steakhouse round the corner from our hotel" Nick squeezed Grissom's shoulder and smiled.

"Yeah, that's… that's a great idea Nick"

They piled into the car, exhausted and sore from a very strenuous day.

"You coming for dinner Sara?"

She was half tempted to cancel her date with Rob and go with the boys to the steak-house. It was technically everything she hated in the world but at the same time socialising with Grissom outside of work was a big deal. Out of the corner of her eye she watched him as he drove. Not a glimmer of emotion passed through those eyes. She was beginning to think she had imagined his earlier lapse, the mask had fallen but now it was firmly back in place.

"Sorry, I have plans"

"Plan's with 'rob'?" Nick teased her.

"Nick you need to get a life…" she shot back with narrowed eyes.

They went their separate ways at the hotel; Sara quickly showered and changed into her most feminine shirt and trousers. She hadn't exactly packed dinner dresses and skirts in her work bag but the pale blue floaty shirt she picked out was not only quite a sexy little number but it made her skin look a little pinker than death which was saying something for Sara Sidle. Once, a long time ago, she had worn this shirt for Grissom. Or should she say for Grissom's lecture. He had told her how pretty she looked that night, a memory that had helped her hold onto him through many of their darkest times.

Suddenly, she had second thoughts. Somehow, it felt like cheating on him. Somehow, by wearing that shirt she was tarnishing that memory and that was something she could never do. She settled on a red satin instead topping it off with her black leather jacket and a pair of dress boot she stepped out to the hotel bar.

Rob was waiting for her, dressed smartly in black jeans and a shirt. He stood to greet her, placing a small kiss on her cheek as he ordered their drinks. So maybe they wouldn't be forging a lasting relationship here but she could enjoy the company of a nice man for the night and who knew, maybe there would be some extra's thrown in the package for good measure.

By the time Grissom and Nick sauntered back into the hotel she had already had her fair share of the house cocktails. Nick grinned from ear to ear as he approached them while Grissom positively growled at them both.

"Having a good night guys? Hope you're taking care of our Sara, Rob. I'd hate to see us fallin' out"

"Shut up Nicky, I can take care of myself" she didn't recognise her own voice slurring out those words. She must have been more intoxicated than she thought.

"I know you can babe, just making sure Rob knows it too"

Rob reached out his hand to Nicks and the two men shook hands. Nick winked and pointed at her as he took off in the direction of the elevator. Grissom was watching her with the steady eye of a seasoned investigator. She didn't like it. She struggled to bite her tongue with him at the best of times now was not the time to annoy her. He tilted her drink and took a sniff, pulling back as though the scent had burnt all his nostril hair off.

"Sara, how many of these have you had?"

"Enough to want to go dancing but not enough to want to go to sleep?"

Her logical inner voice was practically screaming at her to stop talking, to under no circumstances engage in conversation with this man while under the influence of alcohol but apparently she had stopped talking to that inner voice a few hours ago when she had donned her red shirt and sexy boots.

"Sara, I think you should go to your room and sleep it off" he took her glass and pushed it across the bar towards the bartender with a nod.

"Well you know what Grissom; I don't need to listen to what you think right now. I'm on my own time. You are NOT the boss of me out here"

Grissom couldn't have looked more offended if she had slapped him hard across the face. He looked between her and rob with a look of utter betrayal. Had she had less to drink she would probably have felt guilty but drunk Sara didn't do guilt, drunk Sara only did defiance.

"Ok fine, but don't come crying to me when you get another DUI Sara, I won't always be there to bail you out"

For a second she met his eye, she could barely breathe. What he said felt like a knife through her heart and she knew of only one way to hurt him as much as he just hurt her. She stood up from her stool. Grabbed Rob by the hand and pulled him towards the elevator.

"come on Rob, I'm gonna show you the night of your life"