Jim Brass could tell that something was weighing heavily on Grissom's mind as he sauntered into the CSI Supervisor's office. "You really should go home once in a while."

Grissom glanced up with pursed lips, arching a single brow. "I could say the same for you." Brass still wasn't quite back to full time status, but he was working just as many hours as he had before regardless of that fact.

Brass took a seat in the chair opposite Grissom's desk. "I know for a fact that your shift is over and you can't be working Sophia's case." His statement was as much of a challenge as making it clear that if Grissom overstepped his bounds he would rein him in; he was too close to the case and he was supposed to be hands off.

Grissom studied his longtime friend for a moment before. "Jim, have you ever made a decision which at the time seemed perfectly logical and only after it's too late to change your mind you realize that you were wrong?" This seemed to have become a habit with him and his romantic interests, Teri, Lady Heather, and now most painfully, Sara.

Brass let out a wizened chuckle. "All the time; story of my life." His expression softened a bit. "Look, Gil, we all make mistakes; and just because you think it's too late doesn't mean that it is." Not that he always adhered to that philosophy, but after he'd been shot, he'd become much more optimistic than he'd been since he found out that his wife was cheating on him with his partner and that his daughter wasn't really his at all. He'd carried around a lot of baggage over the years, but after coming so close to death he realized it was time to put some of that down and start living life so he wouldn't have any regrets.

"But it is too late; she left me." Grissom looked stricken. He clearly believed that there was no chance that even if he did what Sara asked that she would come back to him; he'd seen the way she'd kissed Nick standing there in the middle of the parking lot at Desert Palm, not caring who in the world saw them. He wasn't sure he could give his heart with the wild abandon that she needed.

Brass looked a little confused; the idea that someone had left Grissom implied that he'd been seeing someone and that was a bit difficult to reconcile in his mind since he wasn't aware that Gil had been seeing anyone at all; just dancing around Sara Sidle in eternal avoidance of the issue at hand. "Who left you?"

Grissom felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach; if he told Brass that was the first step in admitting that he truly cared for Sara, maybe even enough to give up the career he'd worked so hard for. His words faltered for just a moment. "Sara...she left."

Brass had a deeply furrowed brow; surely his colleague wasn't implying what he thought he was implying. "Sara quit?" He knew that the shooting had been difficult for both Nick and Sara, but he couldn't imagine that she would just quit her job and leave.

Grissom shook his head. "No, she didn't quit..." He looked up and met his friend's eyes. "She left me...we were seeing each other." There was such a sadness around Gil Grissom's eyes and his voice just sounded listless, lacking emotion as if any feeling had been stripped away from him in whatever exchange they'd had.

Brass took a moment before he continued. "You and Sidle." He just wanted to be one hundred percent clear that they were on the same page.

Grissom seemed to have the need to confess as he nodded. "Yes, we didn't want anyone to know, we didn't want to risk our careers...but she changed her mind." The hurt etched across Grissom's face wasn't just from the fact that Sara had left, but from a deep regret that he'd made the most tragic mistake of his life.

"She didn't want to see you anymore?" Brass didn't quite understand it; Sara had spent years throwing herself at Gil; many of them wondered what the hell was wrong with the entomologist that he couldn't take the risk to be with a woman that was a sure bet to be the love of a lifetime for him; he'd even thought about giving the man a swift kick in the ass to get him going.

Grissom pulled off his glasses and rubbed his temples, clearly another migraine was on its way. "No, she wanted to go public and I told her we couldn't." His voice was laced with the anguish of someone who'd lost the thing that was most dear to them.

Brass shook his head in disbelief. "So go public." He didn't really see what the problem was; if that was all that it would take for these two socially awkward criminalists to find happiness together, then he was going to make it his mission to kick Gil's ass in a most profound way and he'd run interference with Ecklie, the Sheriff and anyone else who dared to threaten to terminate either of them. There was a reason that Las Vegas had the number two crime lab in the country, just behind the FBI's lab in DC, and the biggest reason was the team that comprised it.

"It's not that simple." Grissom sounded pained and he let out a deep sigh before replacing his glasses on his face. "She's found someone else." He had really screwed up and he didn't think there was going to be any way to fix it. He couldn't fix things with Teri, and he'd messed things up even more with Heather. But this was even worse; he had truly loved Sara, still loved Sara and the thought of not having her in his life was the worst feeling he'd ever felt.

"Then tell her you want her back." To Brass it seemed obvious; women might be difficult to understand, but one thing he'd learned over the course of his life was that to not even try was even worse than making a fool out of yourself if you really wanted someone. He wished that he'd learned that lesson for himself earlier in life, but it seemed that Grissom hadn't quite grasped the concept yet.

"She's with Nick." Grissom had one of those deer in the headlights expression that clearly showed that he was at a complete loss for what to do.

"Stokes." Brass hadn't expected this one at all; but then again, it made sense on some level, they were friends and they seemed to have a natural flirty banter between them; why shouldn't she go for Nicky; he was a good man.

"Yes." Grissom didn't think he could fix this one; he wasn't sure he wanted to put himself out there and risk his career if she just might choose Nick anyway. Maybe he should just console himself with being her friend; a good colleague. It would never be enough, but maybe it would have to be.