Chapter Seven

Nick listened as the engine of Sara's car fired up and drove away. Standing there he heard the sound of the engine fade as she drove off into the distance.

After a few moments, he sat down, tracing small circles in the dirt with a finger. But he kept listening for the sound of the engine suddenly growing louder. He kept hoping that she'd change her mind, turn around and come back to him.

He took comfort in the fact that she'd returned his kiss. And as he sat there, he relived that first kiss, and then the second. Over and over again. He wondered what he could have done differently, said differently, to have made her stay with him.

But she did say she was going to think about it.

When the sun started to peek over the horizon, he finally gave up listening for her return, and he climbed down the side of the hill and drove himself home.

--

The sun was beginning to rise as Sara pulled into Grissom's driveway and parked next to his SUV. She sat behind the wheel, steeling herself for the questions Gil was sure to ask the moment she walked in.

Are you okay? Gil was sure to ask her; she thought he must be half out of his mind by now. She took stock of herself, formulating her answer. Was she okay? She didn't exactly know.

Where've you been? How in the world was she going to answer that one? Making out with Nick. No, the truth wouldn't do this time.

With a deep breath, she opened the car door and slid to the ground.

She opened the front door quietly, wanting a few extra moments of peace before the interrogation started. She was concentrating on being quiet, so it took her a moment to realize the house was still.

No television sounds. No soft music from the stereo speakers. There were no muted sweeping sounds of book pages turning.

Dropping her bag and purse in the entryway, Sara tiptoed into the living room. Grissom sat in the chair, his head lying back and to the side, his mouth open, his eyes closed. She stared at him for a long moment, anger and hurt growing.

"Thanks for being worried about me Gil," Sara muttered disappointedly and turned to head for the long hot shower that was calling her name.

--

Nick knew it was bordering obsessive, and perhaps the first stage of stalking, but he had to know if she'd gone to her own apartment or not. For the second time that night, he drove into her parking lot. And for the second time, found himself making a disappointed U turn right back out.

--

Sara closed her eyes against the spray of the shower. Images of the day streaked by her minds eye, despite her efforts to block them out. She stretched her neck back, letting the hot water hit her chest and breathed in the steam, trying to force herself to relax. Most of the replay was bitter sweet. She had been happy the majority of the day. And those moments with Nick in the desert, well, as much as they had been confusing, they weren't exactly…bad.

Nick did take up the majority of the pictures and snippets crowding her mind, how could he no? The warmth of his hands on her face, the way his lips parted slightly when he kissed her. The spark of starlight reflecting in his eyes.

"He fell asleep." The Nick in her mind said.

"He's tired," Sara defended unconvincingly.

"You've seen him stay up for three days straight working a case, Sara. He can't stay awake when the woman he's supposed to love is upset somewhere in the city of Las Vegas?" Imaginary Nick's voice rose inside her mind.

"Nick," she protested weakly and turned around, as if she could turn her back on him. It didn't occur to her to open her eyes.

"I'm not going away," Nick said.

"I can see that," Sara answered dryly.

"That was some kiss you know."

"I can't think about that right now."

"You should have stayed with me, Sara."

She took a deep breath. "I couldn't. I had to come home."

"Why?"

"Because I love him."

"Yeah? Then why are you thinking about me?" Imaginary Nick asked with a stupid grin on his face.

"Sara?" The voice came from the doorway, and reality flooded Sara as Imaginary Nick gave her a little wave and popped out of sight as she opened her eyes.

She cleared her throat and pushed strands of wet hair out of her face. "Yeah?"

"Honey, are you alright?" Grissom sounded genuinely concerned and stepped further into the bathroom.

Sara saw his cloudy shadow against the frosted glass shower door. Please don't come in here with me she thought and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Sara?" he prodded her silence.

She watched his shadow put down the seat of the toilet and sit down. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, Gil. Yeah, I'm fine."

"Where'd you go when you left Catherine's? I was worried."

Sara grunted out a half hurt, half guilty laugh. You should have followed Nick, he found me easily enough. "I just went to think," she told him the truth.

"Sara," Grissom began, and paused for a long moment. Sara waited staring at the marbleized pattern on the shower tiles, her elbows held tightly to her chest, chewing on a thumbnail.

"Honey, I don't…I have no excuse for forgetting the honeymoon…Work has been…Well, I don't need to tell you, you know…"

Sara shut off the water with a snap and pulled the towel down from where it hung over the shower door. Wrapping herself tightly, she flung the door open. "Yes Gil. I've been working too. All you had to do was make plane reservations. I planned a wedding! A wedding that, may I remind you, YOU wanted. Not me. I would have been fine with a drive through chapel."

"I wanted our friends to be there, to witness our commitment. I love you, Sara."

"You love me so much, that when you didn't know where I was, you went right out searching the streets of Vegas looking for me? Or, did you come home and fall asleep?"

Stepping out of the shower she brushed past him and crossed the hall into the bedroom.

Grissom was stunned. He had fully expected Sara to forgive him, like she always had. It took him a moment to regain himself and follow her into the bedroom. By the time he arrived in the doorway, she'd grabbed a blanket from the closet and the pillow from his side of the bed. She shoved them into his arms as soon as he was in her sight.

"You find the living room so easy to sleep in, go sleep out there!" She spit the words at him.

"Sara…" Grissom used the tone of voice he reserved for her and small children.

"Nope," she held up a finger silencing him. "Not this time Grissom."

She hadn't called him by his last name in a long time, and he was amazed to find himself hurt. He stood in the doorway, his mouth hanging open, not knowing what to say or do, and watched as she walked into the closet and came back out a moment later wearing sweats and a tee-shirt. She wouldn't even change in front of him, he realized.

"This is not my fault," Grissom began, and continued to speak without thinking "I'm not the one who married someone else."

Sara stopped. "What did you say?"

"You should have been paying attention."

"I was thinking about you!" she cried.

"Really? And what was Nick thinking about?" Grissom cocked an eyebrow.

"At least Nick was there, and it wasn't even his wedding."

"Well, apparently, it was," Grissom chided.

She stormed past him and down the hall.

"Sara," he called after her. "Where are you going?"

"Away from you!" She said just before she slammed the door shut behind her. A moment later a revving engine and squealing tires announced her departure.

--

"Again?" Catherine asked, and Warrick couldn't decide if her tone was disbelieving or pleading.

"Yeah, I'm up for going again," he said with that remarkable ability he had of sounding cool and hot at the same time.

"Good," she said, trying her best not to sound too anxious. "Just let me stretch out my legs, they're beginning to cramp up, all that time in one position."

"You were the one who wanted me to show you…" he began before she cut him off.

"I know, I know. Not blaming you."

"All right," Warrick drew out the words smoothly as he watched her shake out her hair and stretch cat-like across the bed.

She settled back in, draping her body horizontally across the middle of the bed. She propped her head up on one hand, and let the other hand fall to the mattress. She patted the top of the sheet. "Ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready," Warrick told her and shuffled the deck of cards in his hands. "Now, remember, the face cars are ten points, the ace is one point…"

"And the numbered cards are worth that number of points, I get it, I get it."

Warrick nodded approvingly and began to deal. He'd dealt out three cards when the phone rang.

--

Nick rolled over on to his back and irritably kicked the sheets off. Thoughts of Sara and Grissom plagued him. Nick wondered if she would make the same cooing sound with Grissom as she did with him. If her knees buckled when Grissom kissed her, as they had on the mountaintop.

The taste of Sara's kiss, the feel of her in his arms, neither would let him sleep. He had thought that once he'd kissed her, he'd never be able to stop. But not only did he stop, he let her slip away from him.

Nick swung his feet to the floor and rested his head in his hands, and was grateful he'd somehow gotten the day off, which was a miracle considering they were down two CSI's. The two that were supposed have been off on their honeymoon. Nick lay back down, and forced himself to think of Hawaii.

The gentle breeze and warm sun of his imagination had just lulled him to sleep when the jolting sound of the ringing phone woke him up.

--

Sara wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand and pulled out her cell phone. She flipped it open and punched one of the speed dial buttons. She cleared her throat, swallowing away a lump of tears as she listened the phone on the other end ring. After two rings, it was picked up. "Hey, it's Sara. I'm on my way over."