Chapter 53 – The Guilty Kiss

Charlotte and Lindsay were back at school. Catherine and Sara were both calmed down a little bit. George had been MIA for three weeks and they hadn't heard, seen, or sensed anything from him. Sara still wasn't sleeping through the night but she was working on that. Catherine wouldn't dare close the case but it was old enough that it couldn't be their top priority. If ever any one of them got a free moment they would work on trying to find George.

Now that things had calmed down a little bit Sara had time to think. And now that she thought about it, she had barely thought about her wedding since Nick proposed. She hadn't made one plan, invited one person, not done one thing and now she realized that she was going to have to do a lot to get ready. She sat down one afternoon while Charlotte was at school and made a list of everything she was going to need to get this wedding planned. It ended up being very long and that freaked Sara out even more. She showed it to Nick and he just laughed.

"Don't worry, Sara. We have plenty of time to plan the wedding," was his answer. That didn't really ease her nerves about it, but he was right. They did have lots of time. Nonetheless, she got right to work. She started looking for places or halls. She started writing out a list of guests, and she started putting together the wedding party. When she explained to Charlotte that she got o be the flower girl she was super excited.

"I get to walk to the aisle in front of everyone?"

"Yep," Sara answered.

"Wearing a really pretty dress?"

"Yep."

"And with pretty shoes?"

"Yep."ihis brai was being exposedH

"And with flowers in my hair?"

"Yep."

"And I get my picture taken?"

"Yep."

"And can Chester come too?"

"Ye-no. No, Chester can't come."

"Why not?" Charlotte whined.

"Because…Chester wouldn't want to come to a wedding."

"Yes, he would," she argued.

"No, he wouldn't."

"Yes, he would. He even told me so."

"Did he say he wants to be a flower girl?"

"Yeah."

"Well I'm afraid he can't be a flower girl."

"Why not?"

"Because…" Sara searched her brain for a logical reason for a teddy bear not to come to a wedding. "…he can't walk down the aisle by himself and your hands will be full with the basket of flowers."

Charlotte thought about that. "Oh," she said.

Sara was busy for quite a while with the wedding plans. Charlotte volunteered to help and Nick helped as much as he could.

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It had been seven weeks since George was last seen. A few people were still working it on their down time, but otherwise, the case was unofficially closed. Sara wasn't even slightly happy about this, but she had to let it go. She had a lot on her plate right now and couldn't afford to take on anything else.

Unfortunately, when she walked into the lab that night everything else on her stacked up plate was shifted. She didn't even notice him standing there at first. She walked in reading a file folder she had taken home that day. She was about to leave the main lobby when she heard her name and looked up.

"Sara?" He asked it quietly, almost as if he was amazed that she was actually here.

Sara didn't recognize him at first. He looked familiar but couldn't put her finger on exactly where she knew him from.

"Do I know you?" she asked after a second or so.

"Yes…I'm…its Trevor"

Then it hit her. Memories hit her like a tidal wave. "Oh my God," she whispered. She blinked and took a step back. She couldn't believe this. It couldn't be him. He was in San Francisco…in the hospital…in a coma. She looked at him as if she was seeing a ghost. She blinked again. Maybe she was seeing a ghost. She couldn't be sure.

"Do you remember me?" Trevor asked, taking a nervous step toward her.

Sara's eyes opened wide. She looked at him sideways. She remembered the dreams. She remembered the truck. She remembered him. She remembered him like she had seen him an hour ago. But she hadn't. She hadn't seen him for eleven years. And the last time she had seen him he was lying in a hospital bed, white as a sheet with tubes and needles sticking out of him. This was unreal. Of course she remembered him. But did she want to know him again?

"Sara? You remember me?" Trevor was walking slowly up to her. Sara's voice was still sitting in her stomach. Even if she wanted to say anything she wouldn't be able to. Either way, she needed to get him out of here where everyone could see a piece of her past.

She grabbed his arm and dragged him into the break room. She slammed the folder on the table, suddenly furious that he just showed up like this. She shut the glass doors and spun to face him. When she looked at him, however, he anger subsided a little. He had always been so nice and kind and that puppy dog look on his face she had always liked was there now.

"What are you doing here….how…how are you here?" Sara stuttered. This was impossible. This was absurd! How was this even probable?

"I…A few weeks ago I was put under a new surgery that fixes the part of a brain that's damaged in coma patients. I…"

"You woke up," Sara whispered. Her voice quivered. She didn't know how long she could stay here without crying. This was way too much. She was praying that she would wake up and realize this was all just part of those dreams she had been having.

"Why are you here?" she asked quietly after a few awkward seconds.

"I came to see you." Trevor started walking toward her again. He was still a good six feet away but she could see him so clearly. Just like she did before…before this mess happened. She still remembered a lot about him and now that she saw him again even more memories came flooding back.

"I tried to call you but the number I had didn't work. So I called that coroner's office you worked for and they said you now worked at the San Francisco lab. I called them and they said you'd been transferred to Vegas."

Sara looked up. "Yeah," was all she could manage to say.

"Well…why did you move to Vegas?" He asked it like it was a very obvious question.

"I was offered a job. You…do you remember Grissom?"

Trevor looked taken aback. "Yeah…your professor. What does he have to do with this?"

"He heads up the night shift here. He needed me to solve a case then offered me a job."

Trevor looked down. He had a look of abandonment on his face. "Why…why did you have to leave?"

Sara just looked at him. Trevor looked back up at her. "Why did you leave me?"

Sara blinked and looked at him like it was the craziest thing she had ever heard. "You were unconscious. You had been unconscious for…nine…almost ten years when I left. They told me you would never wake up." Sara walked up to him. He looked like he might cry. "I had to move on."

"Why?" he asked after a second.

Despite herself Sara let out a little bit of a laugh. "Trevor, I can't date an unconscious man."

Trevor looked down again. He had a hurt smile on his face. The one thing Sara always disliked about him was his sensitivity. He had always worn his heart on his sleeve and when he was upset you always knew. "You didn't wait for me…" More a statement then a question.

It was Sara's turn to look at her feet. After a deep breath and a few seconds she looked back up at him. "I didn't know there was anyone to wait for. I didn't know you were going to come back." Sara's voice was getting louder and quicker. She couldn't believe he expected her to wait eleven years for a man who might or might not wake up. "I didn't know what to think. Trevor, it hurt me too much."

"It hurt you?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Yes! My boyfriend was lying in a hospital bed!" She walked forward and put her hands on his shoulders. He was only a little taller then she was. As soon as she touched him he gasped a little and looked up at her. Her hands felt like they were fused to his shoulders so she moved her fingers a little to make sure she could still feel them.

"It was so hard to see you hurt like that. And the doctor told me you might never wake up. You could have stayed like that forever. And you can't expect me to put myself through hell watching your body deteriorate like that."

Trevor looked straight into her eyes. They were the impossible green that she remembered. His hair was still brown but it was now dotted with a few grays. He was still the very handsome man she had fallen in love with so long ago, but with deeper lines on his face.

Trevor was thinking the same thing…just looking at her. They were looking at each other for so long that Sara forgot how long she had been standing there. It could have been a few seconds or a few hours, she didn't know.

Then, without warning, he stepped forward and kissed her. It was very soft and Sara was so taken aback she just stood there again. She was frozen to the spot. She couldn't move and couldn't think. Again, Sara lost track of time. She could have been standing there for hours or seconds, but Sara finally got a hold of herself. She pushed back, taking several steps back, finally bumping into the couch. She had her hand on her mouth and was looking at the floor in between them.

"I can't do this…" she whispered. She had no idea why but she looked out the glass doors. Maybe she sensed him there or maybe she was just checking to make sure the coast was clear, but she looked up just in time to see the horror struck look on Nick's face, confirming that he had just seen when she had just done.

Author's Note: I have but my protective gear on so feel free to throw things at me!