Finally finished writing an update, this chapter has been a while in the making, I got a little lost with the story, but back on track now. Hope people are still interested in reading. Thanks for sticking with me if so, really hoping to get another update done soon.

Chapter Five

Days passed without seeing Sara, she was with Grissom on every case assigned to her, and I seemed to be in the field more than in the lab. I had expected the breathing space would help me forget my newly discovered feelings for her, but it only made them stronger and I missed her.

I had spent a lot of time thinking about the past five years and how Sara and I had fallen out, or at least never seemed to develop a friendship like we had with the rest of the team. I remembered Grissom telling me he was bringing in an outsider to help with the Holly Gribbs investigation.

I had been so filled with anger and sadness over the events that had unfolded and led to Holly's death: I had been looking for someone to blame outside of our team and I had blamed Sara to avoid having to face blaming one of my best friends, Warrick, who was ultimately a large factor in the situation. From then on Sara had kept her distance from me.

We'd been friendly enough to work together but we rarely made an effort beyond that. I remember taking her for a beer when Hank and she had split, but we'd barely spoken; I had merely offered my presence rather a shoulder to lean on.

I had never taken the time to understand her emotional involvement with cases that involved domestic violence; yes, they were dreadful cases to work, but it was deeper than that for Sara - I had never asked her why she reacted the way she did, but certainly had belittled her for it.

Then Eddie's death - Sara had worked a double shift and hadn't even stopped to eat or drink in an attempt to solve the case, I hadn't even said thank you.

I tossed and turned in my bed, unable to sleep. The harsh sunlight broke through gaps in the curtains - it was sometime in the afternoon but I wasn't sure exactly, I had lost track of time even though I hadn't slept at all. I wondered how, as my loneliness was consuming me, Sara could bring herself to offer support to me, when I had failed to support her on so many occasions.

I sat up in my bed, glancing at the clock. 2pm. I knew I couldn't sleep, there wasn't any point trying again. I had agreed with Nancy that I would pick Lindsey up from her after-school club at 5:30pm, which left me with a few hours - I decided the best place for me was the lab.

CSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSI

Latte in hand I headed through the glass corridors of the lab. I didn't recognise a lot of the daytime staff, people didn't tend to stay long with Ecklie as a boss - his staff turnover was ridiculous.

I chucked my rucksack into my locker before letting myself into Grissom's office and started work on file-mountain. I gradually made my way through file after file, enjoying the interrupted peace that was a rarity on graveyard shift.

Grissom's office was odd, I had never seen why he took such interest in animals in jars, or why he enjoyed bugs so much; his office definitely was a shrine to the animal kingdom. I glanced from the jarred baby pig back down to my work only to be startled by the door handle turning.

Sara entered the room, looking surprised that I was in there. "Oh sorry..." she held a few files in her hands, "I just wanted to leave these on Grissom's desk."

I smiled at her, reaching out my hand across the desk and she approached me to pass over the papers. I placed the manila files on one of the many piles on the desk and looked back at her.

Sara looked beautiful, as always; she wore a pair of dark jeans that showed the shape of her toned legs off wonderfully, and a green shirt that was a little big for her slender frame but she wore well.

"Take a seat." I offered and she took the chair opposite me.

"You been here long?" she asked.

"A couple of hours," I shrugged, trying not to make a big deal of the fact I had nothing else in my life to do.

"Me too," she grinned at me, "I think we need to find ourselves a hobby."

I laughed a little, but I could feel myself blushing at the activities I imagined sharing with her outside of the lab.

"We should, y'know, we could-" Sara was cut off by the loud ringing of my cell-phone.

I didn't want to answer, I wanted Sara to finish her sentence, but the ringing persisted. It was when I saw the caller ID that my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach - Lindsey's school. I answered, "Catherine Willows speaking."

"Hi Miss Willows. My name is Juliette Ford and I'm the head teacher at Riverheads School. I'm ringing to inform you that Lindsey has been in a fight and I'm afraid you're going to have to come and pick her up."

"Is she okay? What happened?" I felt as though I was going to be sick. My mind and heart were racing.

"Lindsey isn't hurt, Miss Willows, but you will have to collect her."

"I'll be there in ten minutes." I replied, getting to my feet as I ended the call.

Sara got to her feet as I did, she looked concerned.

"Lindsey's in trouble." I explained. "I need to go to the school."

"I'll come with you." Sara spoke. It wasn't an offer, it was a demand, and I was thankful for it.