It took Sara a long moment to realize that somewhere in the last few minutes, while she'd been dozing on Nick's shoulder, Grissom had arrived. She felt a pang that she couldn't quite identify. Part of her was completely torn, she had wanted to be with him for so long and now it seemed that just being with him wasn't enough; she hadn't considered when she'd agreed to keep it all a secret that falling for someone made you want to tell the entire world. The fact that she couldn't do that had eaten away at her heart and she wasn't sure that she could recover from that even if Grissom changed his mind somewhere down the road.

She noticed the joy on Alex Vartan's face and she realized that what he had was something she very much wanted someday; but if Grissom was unwilling to go public with this relationship that they'd kept under wraps these last few months then that meant that he would never marry her. Not that she felt like she was anywhere close to being ready for it; but the fact that if he couldn't acknowledge publicly that he loved her then the possibility of it didn't even exist. If he loved her, why couldn't he acknowledge her? Maybe it was this that she found the most hurtful; these people that they both would trust with their lives he didn't believe they could trust with their hearts. Her eyes locked with Grissom's for a fraction of a second before she looked away. The fact that he didn't want to tell the world made her question if he really loved her at all.

The feel of Nick's hand coming to rest on her knee snapped her attention his direction; and it took her a minute to realize that he'd said something that she hadn't heard. She felt like a complete fool as she fumbled with her words. "I'm sorry, what?"

Nick smiled at her, there was an edge of something in his eyes that Sara couldn't really identify, but his smile put her at ease as he spoke. "I said I'm gonna take off." A hint of nervousness infused his expression for a fraction of a second. "Give me a call later, if you want to that is." He had been thinking a great deal about what they'd talked about earlier and about that kiss they'd shared. It seemed to him that there was a long way between what he wanted and where they were and he still wasn't completely sure what Sara wanted, but it didn't mean that he couldn't continue to be the friend to her he'd always been while testing out the waters a little bit more. Regardless of whether or not she wanted to be with Grissom in the end, he knew that he didn't want to lose her as his friend.

Sara nodded before she even thought about it. "Of course I will." They both still had several days still until IA completed their investigation and put them back on duty; she reasoned that spending time with Nick certainly sounded far better than sitting around at home wishing she was at work or worse, mulling over the situation with Grissom over and over again.

Nick glanced over at Grissom and then back towards Sara with a meaningful glance. "You gonna be ok?" He knew he really couldn't say any more than that.

"Yeah, sure." She wasn't so sure she wasn't lying, but what could she do? At some point in time she thought it was likely that Grissom would want to talk to her again about what had happened, but she was also fairly certain that it wasn't going to be right here.

Nick smiled and patted her knee before standing up and stretching a little to try and shake out the kinks in his neck that had developed while sitting in that hard plastic chair. He glanced around the room and addressed no one in particular. "I'm gonna head out and try and get some sleep." He wasn't sure he would actually get any, but he did feel a measure better after talking to Sara and learning that she hadn't really regretted that kiss after all; but it sure as hell did complicate things. He could take complicated though; the fact that she had doubts about being with Grissom did give him some hope that maybe just maybe he might have a chance with her at some point.

As Nick headed down the hallway toward the elevator, he heard a familiar voice and glanced off in the direction it was coming from. He paused for just a fraction of a second as he watched Warrick and his estranged wife Tina softy talking in a room just down the hallway from where Sophia was.

"I'm sorry, Warrick...I never meant for us to stop talking." Tina looked regretful that something so small had steamrolled into something this big.

"Yeah, me too." Warrick didn't waste another moment as he pulled Tina into his arms and just held onto her.

Nick felt like he was intruding, but he couldn't help but smile that his friend Warrick who had been so miserable had finally had the opportunity to work things out with Tina. He might have become more cynical over the last couple of years, but things like that renewed his hope that despite setbacks, there could still be happy endings. The elevator seemed to take an eternity to come and as he stood there waiting, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He glanced up and immediately felt his heart sink to his shoes as Grissom seemed to be walking purposefully in his direction.

"Nick, do you have a moment?" Grissom seemed all business, but there was something about his demeanor that made Nick nervous.

"Uh, sure." Nick didn't want to let on that the idea of being in the same elevator as his supervisor right at that moment was the last thing he wanted. His mind started swirling with all the possibilities; Grissom was a brilliant criminalist, surely he could dispose of a body without anyone knowing about it.

The elevator arrived just then and Grissom smiled. "After you." Clearly he intended to have a private conversation with Nick; although he was beginning to second guess himself that he should even do this. Wasn't Sara a grown woman, couldn't she make up her own mind; hadn't she already made up her own mind? Grissom wasn't sure he should even bring up the elephant standing there in the elevator with them as it began to make its descent down to the ground floor of the hospital.

Nick regarded Grissom a bit warily, for a man who wanted to talk to him, he was pretty silent; of course, just being in the same room with the man at times could make you nervous if you expected him to take you to task. The few seconds that it took to make it to the lobby felt like minutes to Nick.

"It's good that Sophia's doing well." Grissom wasn't really one for small talk, but he really wasn't sure that bringing up Sara was a good idea after all.

"Yeah, it is." Nick was feeling even more nervous now; he had no idea where Grissom was going to go with this, but he reasoned that they were off the clock and whatever he had to say was probably personal so he just dug right in. "Good thing for Vartan too; I'm glad the man got the chance to go public about his relationship with her."

Grissom looked blindsided for just a moment as he tried to determine exactly what Nick was trying to say. The elevator door opened and they walked out into the lobby towards the front door of the hospital. "They make a fine couple." He didn't want to address his own failings, not when he was still trying to figure out whether he could do the one thing that might save his relationship with Sara. Might, not would. He wasn't sure he was willing to take that step into the unknown.

"Yes, they do." Nick had a furrowed brow as they walked outside and then he stopped and turned towards Grissom. He did not have time for dancing around the issue; he needed to know if Grissom was going to be a man or not, and if he wasn't then he was going to pursue Sara himself and he wouldn't have a single regret for doing so. "It's too bad you couldn't do that with Sara. She deserves far better than that."

Grissom looked taken aback at the abrupt comment, clearly not expecting Nick to address what he'd wanted to avoid. He let out a tired sigh and looked at the younger man with a troubled expression. "You're right, she does deserve better." He meant it, he loved her, but he didn't know if he could give her the one thing that she'd asked for because it would mean that he'd have to give up everything he'd worked for.

Nick's expression softened. "I don't mean that you don't deserve her, Grissom, I just meant that she doesn't deserve to be kept a secret." He was bewildered how someone would want to keep it a secret in the first place. "I don't get it."

Grissom could appreciate where Nick was coming from, but he also hadn't already compromised his career by dating a subordinate; a subordinate who was not sure she wanted to be with him any longer. He had almost resigned himself to losing her completely. "It's complicated."

Nick scoffed. "Complicated my ass; you're either in love with her or you're not. You either go public with her or she's going to wonder if you ever loved her in the first place." He had a vague nagging thought that if Sara found out about this conversation she was going to give him an earful right after she kicked his ass.

Grissom was beginning to get a bit worked up at the exchange. "There's a lot at stake, Nick; there aren't rules prohibiting you from dating one of your coworkers; if this came out, my career would be over." His career had been the most important thing in his life for the longest time; no one else before Sara had ever put him in the position of even considering giving it up.

Nick wasn't put off at all and he didn't even pause as he answered. "Well if it was for Sara, I'd think losing my career would be more than worth it." He felt sad for Grissom he really did; the man had held for a brief moment the love of a woman that would have adored him for the rest of his life, but he didn't seem to understand that to keep her, there was a price and in the end, it was well worth it.

Grissom felt his heart sink as something dawned on him and he looked Nick right in the eye. "You love her, don't you?"