A/N: I didn't really know what to do with this chapter, so I hope you guys like it!

Hidden Emotions

Chapter eighteen

He now knew that he was going to have to somehow let her know that he was attracted to her. It didn't matter if she knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her or not, he just needed her to know that she had to wait for him. Wait for him to come to terms with his feelings, wait for him to get the courage to risk his job for her, wait for him to say those three small words to her.

His first move, well, his first move didn't go as planned. Well, it wasn't planned at all. He was reading what felt like a suicide note. It was a request for a leave of absence from her. She came into his office, probably to see if he had read it.

"What's this?" He asked her, which he knew was, well, stupid, because he knew damn well what it was.

"It's uh; it's... Just what it says it is; a request for a leave of absence. Six months... A year, maybe"

What was she talking about? He couldn't go six months, possibly a year without seeing her.

"Why?"

"I was thinking of checking out the federal government system - FBI ..."

He snorted. He knew he shouldn't have.

"We have the best lab in the country" 'Way to go, dumbass, great way to convince her to stay.'

"I need a different work environment"

"What does that mean?" He knew he was sounding harsh. He didn't mean to. If only he could say that to her.

"One with... Um, communication. Respect"

"Everyone here respects you"

"You don't" She said it looking him directly in the eye. She thought he didn't respect her?

He didn't know what to say.

"Is this about that hamburger thing?"

"No, Grissom ... this is not about that "Hamburger" thing. I don't believe you. How can you reduce everything that I've said to some kind of single quirk? Do you think the problem here is just about me?"

No. He knew it wasn't

Not getting any reply she carried on.

"If you don't sign my leave, I'm gonna have to leave" She turned around and started to leave. He felt like she was leaving his life forever. He had to stop her. He knew this was his chance, he had to tell her he needed her.

"Hey, Sara?"

She turned around.

He took a breath. Why was it so hard for him to do this?

"The lab needs you here." 'You've done it again. Is everything that comes out of your mouth about your job?"

"Great" She smiled. Bitterly.

His second move was made under the influence of Catherine. They were at his townhouse for a meal, nothing romantic, they had been friends for years and they actually had meals at his house quite often. This one, though, she had planned, every time she planned something it was because she had something to discuss. This time it was about him and Sara. Chopping vegetables she brought it up.

"I heard about you and... Uh, Sara" She said it carefully; she could sense how tense he was about it.

He didn't want to talk about it.

"Sara, you know, she gets very... Emotional"

Catherine couldn't believe him, he always tried to avoid deep, heart to heart conversations.

"Are you in denial? No, that's ... no, no ... way too analytical. Wow, you got burned bad, huh? Welcome to the club. I got third-degree burns from my marriage. Happens to everybody. Everybody just moves on."

"Good. Let's move on"

She wasn't going to budge that easily.

"But you have to deal with it. You have to deal with it first. You got to deal with it before it goes away. You are the supervisor. You have responsibilities, and people are making a family around you whether you like it not, whether you give them permission or not. We don't have to go to the Grand Tetons together; just ... every now and then you got to lift your head up out of that microscope."

He had to admit; he knew what she was getting at. He knew he had to do something to stop her from taking this leave of absence.

He nodded.

"Yeah" He knew what he was going to do. He grabbed his phone book and flicked through it while Catherine moved into the living room where she sat with her wine, looking out of the window. He found the number he was looking for and dialled it.

"Yeah... I-I-I'd like to get some flowers for a girl, no, no, not flowers. A plant, a living plant, she likes vegetation... Yeah, that'd be fine. To a Sara Sidle. . Deliver it at the CSI division, Las Vegas Police Department the one out on North Trop Boulevard. Yeah, you can bill me at the same place. Gil Grissom." There was a pause. He was thinking. "The sentiment? Oh, oh, on the card. Yeah, um, uh, have it say... Have it say, uh... From Grissom" He smiled, satisfied. Hoping it would make her stay.

His last move was made when they were working on a case about a dead ice hockey player. They were sitting on the stands next to each other discussing the case.

"Two minutes for elbowing, four minutes for high sticking, ten minutes, un-sportsman-like conduct." Grissom said, not exactly talking to Sara, but speaking his thoughts. It was a habit he had, that he didn't really notice often.

"Boys will be boys" Sara said, looking out onto the ice.

"Yeah, sounds like these boys went to a fight and a hockey game broke out"

"You just don't like sports"

"That's not true; I've been a baseball fan my whole life" He said, quite proudly.

"Baseball, well that figures- All those stats." There was a hint of surprise in her voice, she couldn't imagine Grissom sitting in front of a TV watching something non-bug related.

"It's a beautiful game."

"Since when are you interested in beauty?"

He saw his chance. He took it.

"Since I met you"

She looked at him. Did he just say that? She carried on staring at him as he went on to tell her what they should do at the scene, she was so surprised she couldn't get up from her seat for at least another minute after he was a safe distance from her.

Sara knew he was trying to get something through to her, the past two weeks he had been strangely nice to her. She couldn't explain his reason for wanting her to stay, or why he had said what he had on their last case, but she had to admit, the plant had made her smile, and made her stay, she just wished she knew how he felt about her. It would put her mind at rest.

A/N: I think this chapter turned out alright, but let me know what you think, and please give me some ideas, I don't just want to follow the script, and I want to know what you guys would like to see happen.