Disclaimer: I own nothing but my imagination.

Author's Notes: Spoilers for Seasons 4 and 5. Again thanks to my friend Christie for being there to read it! And thank you for not only reading this but for having read part 1 too... Thank you so much!! I hope you enjoy yourselves!

Part 2

Truth be told this situation wasn't exactly in his original day-plan.

He took a breath and somehow decided that it would be now or never. Since he had met her, he subconsciously understood that if there was a point when he would want to have a woman in his life, that woman would be someone like Sara. And right now he was quite certain that that woman could only be her and no one else. After all, he knew himself well enough to realize that the only person who would be able to give him a second look was someone who'd not be willing to take the first look for granted. Well that person was Sara.

After the incident with Adam Trent the other night, he had to admit he was a little shaken. His feelings for her were nothing new to him. It was no more than a year and a half ago when he almost about her talked in public.

That girl victim… What was her name? Oh, yes. Debbie. She looked just like his Sara. After having checked the apartment, he had to get out and see Sara standing in front of him in order to make sure she was there… Alive… The shock he underwent was enough for him to open up to a murderer and even resemble that man's relationship with Debbie to his own with Sara. It was almost frightening to think of their similarities. Both men unable to risk their careers to be with a younger woman, who offered them a life, allowed their dreams to pass them by; allowed their lives to pass them by.

Of course he would never kill Sara.

How do you murder someone you are in love with?

It was the same now with that schizophrenic. Why on earth should she be in danger for him to understand how vital for his survival her well being was?

His feelings, not asking for his permission, have been building up throughout all these years. But there's only as much a person can handle.

You reach a point sometime when those feelings become so heavy, so strong, you are simply overpowered. You don't have to be a genius to know when it's time to give up. You pick up the pieces that might have fallen on your way to her, do your best and let things flow.

Grissom recollected his thoughts.

"I only mumble when you are around..!" He smiled at her puzzled expression. "I, uh, - see? - I lose my words when I have to deal with you; as my friend Sara, I mean, and not my co-worker Sara. You see… Some people just can't deal with their feelings as easily as others. And as you are aware of, I'm sure, one of these people is me. The fact that I am –to put it put it this way- a man of science, doesn't necessarily mean, as you may have reckoned now and then, that I don't feel anything or can't have romantic feelings for another human being. How could I not? You were here these past years to torturingly remind me of exactly that." He paused to watch her reaction to his words or at least make sure she was listening. Even if she refused to let him be a more important part of her life, he would, if nothing else, have tried. He owed it both to her and himself, after all.

Sara, on the other hand, had been listening startled to his confession from the moment he opened his mouth and still couldn't digest what was happening. Was it really Grissom saying all this? Taken aback by his speech, she couldn't even ask him if he was ok..! After further consideration though, she came to the conclusion he was actually speaking the truth!

Recalling his talk the previous year in the interrogation room with that doctor, who must have killed that poor nurse (Debbie?), she replayed in her mind the exact words she heard from him, while standing unnoticed on the other side of the glass: "Sad, isn't it doc? Guys like us, couple of middle aged men who have allowed their work to consume their lives. The only time we ever touch other people is when we are wearing our latex gloves. We wake up one day and realize that for fifty years we haven't really lived at all. But then all of a sudden we get a second chance. Somebody young and beautiful shows up, somebody we could care about. She offers us a new life with her. But we have a big decision to make, right? Because we have to risk everything we've worked for in order to have her. I couldn't do it, but you did. You risked it all."

She felt a mild shiver piercing her body, that unbeatable feeling of drowning that had consumed her back then, returning now with the same power. Tears welled up her eyes and she hastily looked away, frantically praying they wouldn't roll down.

A moment passed and with a soft controlled voice she muttered:

"You couldn't risk your job to have me. Too much to lose if something went wrong… You were right when you said that." She blinked to make her tears vanish, before continuing. "I had heard you. In that interrogation room when you were talking to the suspect for the case of the girl with the butterflies; I was on the other side of the glass." Unknowingly, she answered the question that hang from his lips.

He looked at the pale skin of her face, her tensed muscles betraying someone in defense or even somebody on the verge of a break-down and realized it would probably take more than a declaration of his feelings to persuade her, he was not lying or whatever else she may have believed.

He stretched his right hand and reached for her face, his palm cupping her left cheek, softly caressing it the way she had once done for him, and forced her to turn around and look at him.

"Look at me." Her eyelashes buttered as his intense gaze softened. "Once upon the time, there was a boy different from the others. The strange silence that surrounded him, made the other kids dislike him; so he became alienated from the world. Disappointed by the people's indifference, he took refuge in nature and soon discovered he loved insects. There was something magical about them, so attractive that he became obsessed with not only them but science in general. When that boy grew up and became a man, he forgot there was even life outside the walls of the laboratory."

Sara had to smile. She made an attempt to speak and comment but then his thumb ran over her lips and held them united by gently pressing against them, making clear she had to let him finish first. With his hand never breaking contact with her face, he went on.

"One day, the man met a young lady and he soon found out she was a princess; in many ways." he smirked. There were only a few people who knew the meaning of her name; she had to expect Grissom to be one of them. Is there anything this man doesn't know?

"He liked that woman from day one. She… She was perhaps a bit different from the other people, too; captivating. Talking with her made him sometimes even forget his little bug-friends. The years though kept passing by and in the meanwhile he even managed to take her to work with him; that was the closer they ever got despite both of their wants. The man could not risk his previous safe life hidden into science to be with a person; even if he had feelings for her; even if it meant a whole new life with her. He thought he was safe there. And she was nearby, as well. But for some reason he kept losing her. There were times he realized they hadn't talked to each other for days. The princess fed up by his inability to make a choice often became emotional. She wanted either to truly be with him, the person she first got to know, or to escape the glass castle he had unknowingly put her in."

He paused at this and passed his fingers over her eyebrows, her eyes, her nose and finally her mouth, before abandoning her face and reaching for her hands. "We are technically in public, you know." She whispered. "I know." He said. With a lower voice he continued his tale.

"Some more time passed and when the man came to terms with the fact that she may be more important to him than his insects, he started wondering about her own well being. Would it be really fine if they were together? He was a lot of years older than her (in inverse proportion to his life experience). And even though she was stubborn enough to persuade a mule, he still had his reservations." Her hand twitched in his and she cast him a playful look.

"Hey!" she laughed and he smiled.

"What?! I'm talking the truth here!"

"… Whatever!"

"So, when he almost completely lost her, he felt lost himself. He decided it was about time to do what he should have done years ago."

"And what is that?" she asked with a harsh voice.

"What I am doing right now."
"Hm… A fable?"

"Is that a bad idea?"
"I dunno..! Don't you think you should ask me out first?"

"If I did, what would you answer?"

"Are you..? What are you saying here?!"

"Would you like to go out with me?"

"… Like dinner?"

"Hm…" he pretended to think. "Much more like a date. So lunch may work too!"

"And what if I say 'no'?"

"Are you?" he asked alarmed.

She laughed. It was enough with the games.

"No!"

"'No' what?"

"No, I won't say 'no'!" For God's sake what were they? Kids?

"That is, yes, I would like to go out with you..!" she added with a fake sigh.

"Thank you..!" was the only thing he managed to say, as he could swear at that moment that all the butterflies in his office were attacking his stomach.

They didn't talk for a while and kept looking outside. For all that, if the waitress went to their table, she would be able to see two people still holding hands, their fingers now intertwined.