Chapter four

Nick looked up when Greg walked into the break room; the younger man looked like shit… dark circles dragged his eyes down. Nick smiled, remembering his own years as a CSI level one. Greg made his way to the coffee machine grabbing his hidden stash of coffee and began to make himself coffee.

Nick chuckled to himself as Greg slumped down yawning "you shouldn't work so hard Greggo" nick said affectionately causing Greg to glance at him then sigh rubbing what felt like grit into his eyes "not working… worrying" Greg offered in a mumble behind his hands. Nick frowned then understood, he had to admit he was worried about Sara too. He had known her long enough to know that she didn't behaviour like that… she didn't let her wall down often. Studying Greg Nick assumed that her outburst had scared him… Greg wasn't use to that Sara.

However Greg hadn't gotten any sleep because of his dreams… he groaned inwardly as his mind dragged one to the surface. Of Sara's soft creamy skin beneath his finger tips, his hands and lips exploring her. He had woken when she had called his name in a moan. However he figured that Sara's voice was no way the same as his alarm clock.

He managed to grab a quick-all be it cold shower- before coming back to work. Nick gave him a half hearted smile and Greg was brought back from his wonderful but confusing dreams.

"Your one to talk… any more news on the husband" Greg asked as Nick shook his head with an unhappy look "nope… guy has gone AWOL. Took all the money out of the joint bank account, Brass did a background check and red flags popped up" Nick shook his head and looked at Greg who was staring into his coffee "the guy was bad news from the start… abuse, assault, B&E… abuse charges were brought up about ten years ago, his first wife" Nick grabbed the file before him "she was brought in after being found by a neighbour. She been beaten to a pulp, however she never fingered this Keats guy so he got off but fortunately for the first Mrs Keats all he ended up giving her was a divorce" "no so lucky for Sara's friend" Greg bit off. Nick looked at him and sighed, knowing deep down that Greg cared deeply for Sara… more then either would like to admit. But he didn't say anything he guessed it was up to them.

"look Greg… you have to keep strong" Nick ordered as Greg turned his brown eyes on Nick and nodded "yeah…professional" Greg admitted dropping his eyes back to the coffee sitting in front of him.

"Not just that" Nick had surprised the younger man, for he looked at him and frowned bringing a small knowing smile spread across Nick's face. Greg turned away and blushed slightly, this was something he didn't want to discuss… but then again if Nick had figured it out then…Nick dropped his smile and in hushed voice finished his statement "for Sara too" he looked back at the file in front of him and made sure he knew he wasn't going to say anything more.

"Doc Robins is going to page me when he can get to the body. They have a back log of bodies, so we go to brass tell him to talk to the first wife" Nick stated as Greg nodded not trusting himself to speak just yet. Thankfully Catherine and Warwick stepped into the break room and smiled at the two of them.

Catherine looked at Greg and gave him a motherly smile "you ok Greg you look like hell" she offered heading for the coffee, Greg grinned and lent back "ah well, when you live the life of a playboy you have to expect it" Greg declared causing everyone to groan. Nick stood and hit Greg in the shoulder "come on then Hugh, you can think about the bunnies later" Nick ordered grinning at Catherine and Warwick. Greg held back for a moment as Warwick settled at the table and thumbed through a file "Catherine did you managed to get to the hospital" Greg questioned as Catherine nodded, not looking at him.

"yeah, Sara's looking like crap too… but she managed to pull herself together for Lotte… their releasing her tomorrow" Catherine informed him and Greg straightened "did they say when" Greg noticed how his voice sounded but didn't care, Catherine didn't show she had notice the squeak for she was now stirring her coffee "nope just said early, Sara is going to call when she's settled the girl in… said she'll probably see you or nick later on during the two weeks" Catherine informed him and Greg frowned.

"two weeks" he questioned and Catherine shook some of her golden blonde hair from her face and looked at him "yeah, Sara cleared it with Grissom and Ecklie to take two weeks off… you know to get Lotte settled in, and get legal things sorted out" Catherine was puzzled by Greg's look then sighed, guessing that Sara only spoke to him the night before, before anything had been said about Georgians will.

"Sara's gaining full custody of Lotte… adopting her and she has to deal with the legal side. Catherine told him and Greg nodded before Nick walked back in "sanders" he called causing Greg to jump and spin around. Going red Greg ducked his head and headed towards the door "bye guys" he called as he ducked out of the way of Nick and down a corridor.

Sara looked up from Lotte when there was a knock at the door. She glanced at the time and noticed that she was nearly ready to take Lotte home "come in" she called, avoiding waking Lotte up, the child was dressed and ready to go but she fell asleep while Sara was talking to the doctors about the release. Greg smiled brightly as he looked around the corner of the door and his brown eyes settled on Sara "hey" he greeted and slinked into the room, hands now crammed into his pockets and his head ducked slightly. Sara relaxed at the sight and carried on packing what she needed, the lists the doctors had given her.

"What you doing here Greg, didn't your shift finish half an hour ago" she asked as Greg nodded then sighed "yeah, it is… I was just… I mean" Greg trailed off looking at his feet that had become the centre of his attention. Sara frowned at his behaviour and wondered why he wasn't his usual self… even fearing that their embrace they shared the night before last had made it awkward between them. That was the last thing she wanted.

Finally built up enough courage and looked at Sara "um… Catherine told me you getting out and I phoned Doctor Lloyd and he confirmed it… I thought if you wanted I could give you a lift back to yours seeing as your car is still at the lab" Greg told her as Sara raised her eyebrows then smiled gently. She hadn't even thought once about that, she just wanted to get Lotte to somewhere safe and homely that she didn't even think about how she was going to get her.

Blushing she smiled at Greg and nodded "thanks Greg, I completely forgot about that little detail… but are you sure, you just got off a shift" she pointed out as Greg gave her a mega watt smile lighting up his eyes "of course not… what good is it being this young and energetic and not be able to go 24 hours with out sleep" Greg questioned wiggling his eyebrows causing Sara to giggle, but it didn't last long for she looked at Lotte and memories flooded back. Squaring her jaw Sara zipped the bag up and moved to Lotte gently shaking the girl "Lotte, honey" she called sighing as the girl protested, then Sara took a firmer tone and Lotte finally woke up groggily "it's time to go" Sara told her and in her half sleep half awake state Lotte grinned drowsily "to see mommy" Lotte questioned half raising her head. Sara bit back the tears when Lotte finally woke up and understood what she asked and what the answer had to be. But Sara couldn't and wouldn't answer that question… not to anyone just yet. So she simply scooped the girl up and pressed her tightly to her in hopes of keeping the harsh world out.

Greg swallowed hard and didn't dare give into the impulse to wrap his arms about both Sara and Lotte, it seemed both the woman and the young girl brought something protective out in him… a need to make sure neither of them ever came to harm.

He noticed Sara was looking at him with that pleading look once more and he understood straight away, he headed over to the bags and grabbed them then he turned and headed to the door fumbling with it for a minute before he managed to get it open and held it open for Sara to walk out with Lotte pressed against her.

Greg took Sara's keys from her and managed to get her apartment door opened and headed over to the couch and dumped the bags on the floor while Sara headed to her room, she didn't have a chance to clear out he small room that was meant to be her office but turned into her storage room. Greg shifted his feet, thinking about what next to do, he headed to the door ready to leave when Sara didn't return after five minutes but as he hand closed around the handle he heard movement behind then Sara's voice "oh," she started and Greg looked at her. She had allowed her hair to fall loose around her shoulders and removed her jacket and shoes, she had pulled a comfortable jumper on.

"Your going" Sara questioned as Greg held his mouth shut nodding "yeah… thought you wanted to grab some shut eye… plus I think I need some before my shift" Greg told her and Sara nodded ducking her head embarrassed then she nodded to her self and looked at him once more. she walked towards him and sighed "if it's ok, I'll drop by after my shift" Greg asked as Sara nodded giving him a smile "that would be great" she assured not knowing what to say, Greg too did want to say anything that could ruin it… he didn't know how to say goodbye, he didn't want to say goodbye.

Sara walked over to him and hugged him tightly, taking him by surprise at first then his own arms wrapped around her waist and he held her tightly. They stood like that for a few moments before Sara pulled back and kissed him on the cheek flicking her dark brown eyes up to his.

"Greg I didn't thank you for the other night… I just needed to… just thank you Greg for being there, I was glad it was you with me" Sara told him and kissed his cheek again, her lips lingering before she pulled out of his arms, folding her arms not daring to look into Greg's eyes. He could hear himself stammering something about it being a friend's duty then suddenly he was sitting behind the wheel of his car. He didn't understand what happened, of what just passed between him and Sara he did know that if he didn't go now he would go back up there and confirm what he guessed might be lingering in those brown eyes upstairs