Chapter 11

The sun filtered into the room casting a soft light across her sleeping form. He laid in the bed, running his hands up and down her arms, studying the beauty in front of him. He sighed and leaned forward, placing a light kiss on her forehead. "Sara, time to wake up. I promised Catherine we'd have breakfast at her place."

He smiled affectionately when her eyes flickered open and her mouth curved up into a soft smile. Her hand came up and cupped his cheek. "Hey, how are you doing this morning?"

"Better."

"Good. Yesterday was...rough."

"Yeah." Grissom reached down and grasped her hand in his. "I'm glad I had you to help me get through it."

"Me too. I'm glad I had you too."

"Sara, if it weren't for you, I'm not sure I would have made it through the eulogy. I needed to see you before I could even start. I needed to grieve with you. Yesterday, nothing felt right until I had you in my arms."

Sara nodded. He wiped away a tear that had run down her cheek. "Thank you, for being there for me, for comforting me, for letting me finally break down and cry into your shoulder."

"Anytime Gil. I love you."

He nodded and kissed her softly, pulling her into his arms. Her arms wrapped around him and began stroking his back. He allowed a few tears to fall from his eyes, onto her shoulder. He would have been content to hold her all morning, but he knew Catherine was waiting and wouldn't hesitate to interupt them. He pulled back and kissed the tip of her nose. "We should get going." He sat up and pulled Sara up with him, watching her eyes as they seemed to reluctantly accept that they had to get moving. He grasped her hand in his and turned her face towards his. "Let's get this over with, then we can spend the afternoon alone together."


"Hey everybody, look who I found." When the people in Catherine's living room raised their heads, Brass pushed Sofia through the door.

"Catherine, thanks for having me. I hope it's okay that Jim invited me."

"Of course. Come in."

Jim smirked and pushed her further into the room before coming to stand next to Catherine. He cast a glance around the room. Nick and Sara were sitting on the sofa. Greg was on the floor in front of them. "Where's Gil?"

"In the kitchen, talking to Doc Robbins and his wife."

"Are they all staying too?"

"What?"

He chuckled and turned to Sofia. "Catherine's running a B&B here. Greg and Nick have stayed all week, and now, Grissom, Sara, Doc and his wife are all here? At 7:00 in the morning?"

"Jim, we work grave. Doc Robbins just got off shift. I invited him and his wife for breakfast, just like I invited you."

He was about to speak when Sofia cut in. "Thank you Catherine. It was very thoughtful."

Brass looked around the room again. "Anyone else here?"

"David stopped by briefly after shift. Archie and Wendy are on their way over from the lab. They said they'd drop in for a few moments, but they aren't going to stay long. Wendy's worried about imposing."

"Where's the kid?"

"Asleep in my room. She'll be up for school soon. Make yourselves at home. Breakfast will be in about a half hour. My mom had to go pick up a few things from the store."

"Guests eating you out of house and home?" He grinned when Catherine cast him an annoyed look. He winked at Sofia. "You know, Catherine, if I'd of know what a great B&B you've got here, I'd of booked myself a room."

"You're a funny man, Jim." She shook her head at him and smiled.

"I knew you thought so." His smile grew. It was nice to be able to joke again. They'd said their goodbyes yesterday. Today, it was time to move forward.


Greg looked around, desperate for an ally. Nick and Sara were ganging up on him. He wasn't worried about Nick. Nick had brought the subject before becoming silent and staring off around the house. Sara, on the other hand, decided to pursue it, relentlessly. He continued to scan about and noticed Sofia laughing at the conversation between Brass and Catherine. "Sofia, come over here. I need your help."

"Yes, Sofia, come here." Greg shot his head to look at Sara's and could see the mischief dancing in her eyes as Sofia approached. "Sofia, did you hear that young Greg here is about to become a published author?"

"No, I haven't heard that. Is that true, Greg?"

"Greg wrote a book about Vegas. His publisher is flying him to LA for a meeting."

Greg groaned. This wasn't turning out like he'd hoped. He'd forgotten what a tease Sara could be. He winced, waiting for Sofia to join in."

"Congratulations Greg." His eyes shot to Sofia's. He breathed a sigh of relief. Her congratulations seemed genuine. "When are they flying you in?"

"Sunday."

"They're flying him business."

"Really? Wow Greg, must be some book. What does it have? Mobsters? Showgirls? The whole dirty underside of Vegas?"

No, this was not turning out as he'd hoped. Sofia had now joined in. Some ally she turned out to be. "That's it, I'm taking you all out of the dedication."

"Come on Greg, don't be like that."

He caught Sara's playful look and grinned. "Well, you could always make it up to me. I'm all yours until Sunday, Sara."

"Yeah, two days with a hot shot author? Too bad I'll have to pass."

"You don't know what you're missing. What about you Sofia, do you want the chance to make it up to me?"

"Nice try Greg. I know I wasn't in your dedication to begin with." Sofia grinned and leaned into him, whispering in his ear, "Besides, you wouldn't know what to do with me."

Greg blushed. Yep, some ally. He looked up to see Sara's amused glance and blushed even further. He should have never called Sofia over.


Greg's beet red face was priceless. She wished she'd heard what Sofia had whispered into his ear to cause that reaction. Greg was normally fairly unflappable when flirting. She turned and raised an eyebrow at Sofia. When Sofia only shrugged, Sara let out a laugh.

She'd forgotten how much fun they were to be around. It was easy with Greg; he was so carefree. It was nice to see him smile again. The few times she'd seen him the past week, he hadn't smiled. His eyes had been sad and she missed the smiling, easy going Greg. When he became a CSI, she watched him mature as he experienced a new, harsh reality he hadn't seen before. Sara worried that Warrick's murder would have huge reprucussions on him. When they began to tease and laugh and smile, she allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief. Greg would change, no doubt, but he would be alright. She wasn't sure about Nick.

Leaning back against the arm of the sofa, she looked up at Nick, who'd been silent for the most part, but seemed to have been following along earlier. It shocked her to see that he'd spaced out. Wanting the familiarity of just being able to hang out with him again, she grew determined to coax out a smile. She looked to the blond beside Greg. "Sofia, did you learn any new interrogation techniques in Phoenix?" Sofia raised her eyebrows at Sara. Sara continued, "Greg's easy, but Nick," she indicated the silent man next to her, "well, Nick is a little tougher."

Nick's face shot to hers, his eyes questioning where she could be going with this.

"He's got a crush on a girl, but I can't find out anything about her."

"You're just jealous, Sara." Sara smiled, so far so good. She decided to continue.

"If she's anything like the girls you normally go for, I'm not."

"Well, she's not. She's…sweet."

Sara's eyebrows raised. Her tone went from teasing to questioning. "Sweet? Really? What do you mean by sweet?"

"Just sweet...really sweet…and shy. She's the kind of girl you take home to your mother."

Sara gawked at him before noticing Greg and Sofia doing the same. Nick looked wistful and sad at the same time. Sara knew he was thinking about how he stayed in the diner to talk to her instead of leaving with Warrick. She tried to ease the tension. "Wow Nick, you've never dated one of those before."

Greg must have picked up on what Sara was trying to do because he decided to jump in. "Yeah, well, Sara, you're the kind of girl I'd take home to my mother."

When Nick let out a laugh, Sara knew the tension had been relieved. After internally thanking him, she smiled and turned to Greg. "Greg, I'm the one girl you can be sure of never taking home to your mother."

"Sara, you wound me."

"You'll survive." She stood up and noticed Grissom watching her from the doorway, smiling softly at her. She smiled at him before turning back to her friends. "Listen, I'm going to head out."

Nick looked at her. "Call me tomorrow?"

She shook her head. "I'm flying out tomorrow." She watched as Greg and Nick's faces dropped.

"You're leaving tomorrow? Sara, we've barely seen you, now you're just going to disappear again?"

"Greg, I'm sorry. I have to go back, but I promise I'll keep in touch this time."

Nick stood up and pulled her into a hug. "You better. Take care Sara. I'll miss you."

Sara nodded and completed her goodbyes. She pulled Grissom away from the house and wiped at her damp eyes. Grissom squeezed her hand. "I know it's hard, but you have to go back to move forward. Nick understands and I'm sure Jim does too. If Greg and Catherine don't now, they will."

Sara nodded and followed Grissom to the car. She had one last afternoon with him. One afternoon to spend with the most compassionate and understanding person she knew. One afternoon to spend with the love of her life. She wouldn't spend it questioning her decision to leave him or her friends, just as she knew he wouldn't spend it dwelling on the two unsolved cases plaguing him. They would find somewhere peaceful to sit and hold each other and just feel each other, letting the rest of the world fade away.