A/N: Last part but I hope not the least one. Don't forget to hit the review button after reading;)

A/N2: Sylvie, terima kasih banyak:)

- Distance -

Part 3

"Hello there Mrs. Taubman." The overly giddy voice of Greg Sanders could be heard from the other end.

"Not funny, Greg." Sara hissed.

"Whoa, down girl. I'm just asking you out for a team breakfast. You done with your bum yet?"

"Greg, I can't really talk to you right now." She spat out.

"Okay, okay… sorry… Just meet us upfront when you're done. We'll be waiting."

"'kay." Sara clicked the phone shut only to open it again. "There's this Damien Gossling, our friend at the embassy. And Christophe, Christophe Lefevre, Gil's fellow lecturer." Sara took the proffered paper and pen from Al's hand and scribbled the phone numbers down.

"Good." Al took the paper while smiling reassuringly. "Knowing Gil, he's probably just too busy with his experiments to charge his phone battery. Go get some rest. I'll call you as soon as I have spoken to them."

Sara nodded, more to calm herself than to obey her friend's advice. She climbed up to the main floor, eyes glancing at her phone every now and then.

The break room was occupied by Wendy and Hodges, both laughing merrily. Sara had no choice but to walk away.

She made a stop in the hallway, once again pushing the speed dial button.

Please, Gil. Please.

She got no answer but a long steady beep.

The horrible image of a car accident, homicide, robbery, and all dreaded possibilities flashed in front of her. Grissom was practically living alone in Paris with no one to really tend to him. They had friends and colleague, but they were new to them. No one would really notice if one Gil Grissom went missing even for a day.

Mr. Taubman's dead body flashed in front of Sara's mind and she had to fight the urge to vomit. After a while she decided to call again as she continued walking.

Still no answer.

She felt nauseous, yet kept on walking and hit the redial button.

Freakin' beep. She swore under her breath.

In anger and in frustration, Sara clicked the phone shut and shoved it down her pocket.

Maybe Al was right. Maybe he just forgot to charge the battery. Maybe he just had misplaced the cell phone somewhere and too occupied in his job to notice.

Sara absentmindedly dragged her feet to the front desk, thinking of calling him again after a while.

Greg was leaning against the counter, laughing at something Judy had just said when he spotted her.

"Hi, ready for breakfast?" Greg waved happily.

"No, she's not." Nick came from behind, spinning her around. "I know Frank's is not as polished as a French restaurant but even you can't go down there with your lab coat."

Sara looked down, noticing that she had forgotten to take off her lab coat. "I'm not coming to breakfast."

"Really?" Catherine joined them, already changed into something casual yet, as usual, tight. "Why is that? Don't tell me you want to review the Taubman case again."

"No." Sara shook her head, "I… I'm just… tired."

"Look, sweetie," Jim stood from the waiting bench he had been sitting on. "It's a rare opportunity. It's been a while since we ordered the same runny eggs and the skewed pancakes. You could sleep between bites." The detective winked.

Sara looked around; her friends were all there, ready to have fun. Yet all she wanted was to be alone, waiting for the second she could finally reach her husband.

It was funny how sometimes when Grissom was around she wanted to have a little time on her own. Then it was even funnier that when he wasn't around all she wanted was to hear his voice, all she wanted to do was to hug him and to be loved by him.

It was weird that when she was in Costa Rica and in Paris sometimes she missed Greg's laugh, Jim's punch lines, Nick's drawl, and even Catherine's antics. Then now, when she was in Vegas with them all, she wanted nothing to do but book a flight to Paris and make sure that Grissom was alright.

She sat on the waiting bench, held up her hands in surrender. "Guys, I'd love to have a breakfast with you."

"Good, then let's go have a six-weeks-late welcome-back breakfast." Nick drawled, playfully tugging at her lab coat.

"But I'm kinda busy right now. See, I've been trying to reach Grissom. And he-"

"Oh, no!" Someone exclaimed behind her, someone with an all too familiar voice.

Sara spun around, nearly giving herself whiplash.

There, standing at the entrance, the man she had been worrying about, clutching a briefcase in one hand and his jacket in another. His shirt slightly crumpled and his hair slightly askew, clearly had just been through a long journey. A dopey smile was plastered on his unshaven face.

"Hi," He waved, "I'm sorry, my phone-"

Grissom had no time to explain; Sara had thrown herself in his arms, hanging on to him like a lifeline.

"You are here, you're okay." She whispered, barely able to hold back tears.

"Yeah." His briefcase already dropped, he rubbed her back, kissing her forehead. "I got a call from USF, an invitation, and I miss you. I thought I could surprise you."

Sara buried her head in his chest, drawing deep breaths of relief. "I've been trying to call you."

"I'm sorry honey. I lost my charger and then there was this flight arrangement and this seminar material that I needed to review," He tightened his hold of her, finally recognizing his mistake. "I'm so sorry, I-"

"Ahem," Four people cleared their throats simultaneously behind them unwittingly causing the couple to break up.

Nick and Greg both grinned at them. Brass played it casual, smiling at his old friend. Catherine smirked, raising her brows and planted her hand on her hip.

"I'm glad that Romeo could meet his Juliette, but my stomach's screaming and I got to pick my Mom at eleven." Catherine quipped.

"Come on, your timing is perfect." Brass linked his arm around Grissom's shoulder, dragging him outside. "Breakfast's on me."

"You can resume your romantic reunion later." Nick playfully nudged Sara with his shoulder. "The bugman is ours this morning." He followed Brass with a smirking Catherine on his heels.

"Man, I can't believe Grissom is here!" Greg exclaimed as he came beside Sara. "Can I tell him about Mr. Taubman?"

Sara could only smile and nodded, picking her phone up and dialing Al's number.

"Al, I found him-" She smiled at Al's reply, eyes reverted to Grissom who was looking back at her and waved. "He's here, meet us at Frank's."

She waved back, smiling happily when Grissom blew her a kiss

Greg copied Grissom's motion and exaggeratedly stuck out his lips. "Tu me manques, ma chérie!" He shouted from the door, adding a big self-hug.

Sara laughed, freely, for the first time in days.

EnD

Thank you for reading until this last part, see you in another chance:)