Sara recognized the tired look in his eyes as soon as they met with her own. It was brazingly obvious that he hadn't slept in days. She could also see tension knitting his brow as Ecklie once again began his speech on vacation days and sick days.

She leaned deeper into the cold wall behind her, trying to will herself to leave, but wanting desperately to hear the outcome of the situation.

"I'm giving her three months, Conrad, and that's my final answer to you." Grissom's voice was soft, terse, "She hasn't had a real vacation the whole time she has worked here. It is the least we can do."

"Really?" Ecklie asked with a sneer.

"Plus, it won't be for another six months." Grissom said as he buried a file in a drawer out beside him, "By than we can have someone good to take over for her."

Sara watched as Grissom's eyes met with her own as Ecklie opened his mouth to talk, "She goes out and gets pregnant and somehow we have to give her time off for it?" he leaned in on Grissom's desk, "She is nothing but a problem, Gil. When are you going to see that?"

Grissom got up then, closing the door. That was as far as Grissom would let Sara hear. Still, through the blinds, she could see Grissom in Ecklie's face fighting for her.

God she loved him.

She smiled sadly as she positioned herself back in front of the mounting evidence of the day. This is what she would be looking at for the next six months. No more field work for her, just tons of evidence and long hours staring at it.

She slid her gloves on only partially aware of the nausciousness growing in her abdomen. It reached it's peek when she was called into Ecklie's office an hour later.

Walking down the hallway she started to feel worse and worse. Grissom was out in the field. There was no one to protect her from whatever it was that Ecklie wanted to berate her about.

When she walked into his office, she paused at the door, her hand still on the handle, scared to let go of it, "Yes?"

She heard him tell her to sit.

Sara seated herself.

Sara had always thought that he looked like a shark. Something about the sharpness to his face and the fact that he was quite vicious when need be. She figured this was a 'need be' situation as she watched him page the front desk to tell the receptionist to hold all his calls.

Sara watched as he opened a folder; presumably her's, and leafed quietly through some papers. Without him seeing it, she rolled her eyes lightly.

"Okay." he said as he gathered a few papers together and handed them to her, "I need you to fill these out." his voice was gruff.

"I thought Grissom was going to handle this." she said, her eyes roving over a few documents concerning her request for vacation, "Shouldn't he be doing this?'

"He's in the field now doing overtime because of you." Ecklie eyed her darkly, "Things are going to be different around here for a bit now that you can't be helping in the field. I just don't understand why you have to keep messing everything in your life and in this lab up."

Sara looked at him, her anger building in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to tell him off. She wanted to reach across the desk and punch his face in.

"I have a whole file cabinet dedicated to you. Your blow ups, your sleeping on the job, your blatant attitude problem..."

"Can I take these with me?" she was getting up, but he told her to sit.

"I know it's Grissom's call, but he's going to see what a problem you are and at somepoint; maybe when you finally mess up for good, he is going to come to his senses..."

"I have to pee." she said as she gathered the papers, "Thanks."

She left in such a hurry that he didn't have a chance to mention any more of her short comings.

She filled out the paperwork and by seven that night was ready to hand it in to Grissom. She knocked lightly on his door.

He looked up from a folder of photo's, "Come in." he said.

Sara walked in, a small smile on her lips, "Here are the papers for my three months vacation." she shrugged, "And thanks for talking to Ecklie."

He puzzled the papers she handed him, "Who gave you these?"

She seated herself, "Ecklie called me into his office while you were out in the field."

"What?" he said with a furrow in his brow, "He knew I had these papers for you." he said as he stapled the four filled in sheets together, "Did he say anything to you?"

Sara shook her head, hiding her discomfort at lying to Grissom, "No."

"So he just handed you these papers and had you go on your way?" he was watching her closely.

Sara smiled and shook her head, "Yeah." she gave him a half smile, "That was it."

Grissom watched her smile fade into a thin line and then disappear from her face, "I find that hard to believe."

"Me too." she shrugged, "I guess he knew you had your hands full."

The office around them was quiet as Grissom studied her for a long moment.

Sara slid her hand over her belly a few times as she nervously waited for Grissom to tell her she could go. He didn't.

"What else did he say to you, Sara?" his words were edging on impatience.

Sara looked at a loss for words, "Nothing."

Grissom sighed, "Alright." he said, not wanting to upset her, "Did you ever get in touch with Hank again?"

Sara found that she would have rather been still discussing Ecklie, "No. He moved."

Grissom raised his eyebrow, "Where?"

"Out of state." Sara gave him a small grin, "I checked with his work, but they don't know where he went either. No one knows. He just took off." she raised her eyebrow, her smile twitching on her lips, "You know his girlfriend is pregnant too?"

"Didn't know that." he said as he glanced down at her thin fingers lying over her swelled stomach.

"Yeah." she drummed her fingers against her warm belly, "I guess he had to hit the road. Get outta Dodge." she smiled faintly, "I think me telling him I was pregnant with twin girls blew his mind."

Grissom sighed again, his eyes glancing over the sheets she had filled out, "He's not a real man Sara." he finally said as his eyes met with her eyes, "A real man would have stuck around and worked something out."

"A real man," Sara said quietly, her eyes now on her stomach, "wouldn't have cheated on his girlfriend."

The office was quiet again, except for the ticking of the clock.

Grissom watched her for a moment. Her head bowed. Her hands covering her stomach.

"Did you ever think of giving them up for adoption?" his voice was soft.

Sara's head popped up, "No." she said almost harshly, "I couldn't put them in the system." her eyes had taken on a wild look, "I was in the system and I hated it. I couldn't do that to them just because I made a stupid mistake." she shrugged, "It's not their fault that I mad a bad decision."

"You're going to be okay?" he had a sadness to his voice that Sara had never really heard before.

"Yeah." she cleared her throat, "Fine."

He let his eyes linger down to her belly again,"If you need anything..."

She smiled, pushing herself to stand, "I'll be fine."