Hey so sorry it took me forever to get this chapter up. But it's a nice long one with lots of drama!!! I really wanted this chapter to be good and I think it turned out okay and I hope you do too! Anyway think that's about it. Enjoy

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Chapter 22 - "In A Matter Of Hours" Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon

He was desolate. Forlorn, hopeless, tormented, and brokenhearted. In other words he was miserable. There was no spring in his step. No light left in his eyes. Food had lost its taste. The sun had lost its warmth. Life had lost its meaning.

He had come to the realization that he no longer felt anything but the pain. A pain that ran deep into his core. There was not a single moment in the day that he did not feel that agonizing pain. It had become a part of him, of who he was. And he knew if he kept going like this, living in the constant darkness he'd come to call home, that there would soon be nothing left of him.

As each day passed by, he grew even more enclosed. Wrapped up in his own thoughts. In his own world. He was stuck in whirlwind of sorrow. He knew he couldn't take much more. He had to have an answer. An answer to the question that played over and over, like a broken record, in his head. He needed to know once and for all, if she still loved him.

Whether she did or not, he needed closure. He had to see her face again. To hear her voice just one last time. To see those dark eyes that had captivated his heart the first day they met. He knew what he had to do. He had to go back.

To tell her all the thoughts that had plagued his mind since the moment he'd left her. He had to tell her that he still loved her. And if she accepted him back with open arms or with a closed heart, he didn't care. He just needed to know. He had to end this chapter of his life before he could move on.

He grabbed his suitcase from the closet and started throwing things in. He decided to get the first ticket he could lay his hands on, no matter what the cost. In a matter of hours he would see her again.

In a matter of hours he would tell Sara that he loved her.

Sara sat in the break room staring at her coffee cup. Ever since her dream earlier that morning, she'd felt off. Like something wasn't quite right. Every time she looked at her hand, it was like she could see the ring, right there. Like she could feel it.

"Well you look like hell."

Sara looked up. "Gee, thanks, Cath."

Catherine smiled as she took a seat next to Sara. "You've been staring at your coffee for the past fifteen minutes. Either you know something I don't, like that it's going to turn into gold any second now, or you got something on your mind."

Sara sighed. "I had a dream last night or-or nightmare, I don't know. I just can't seem to get it out of my head."

"What was it about?" Catherine asked.

Sara didn't speak for a few minutes. Catherine watched her silently, seeing that she was truly upset by something.

"Grissom was calling me. He was telling me that he loved me. And Nick...Nick was there. I had an engagement ring on and Nick was holding me. But then all of a sudden there was blood everywhere and I couldn't stop it. Then Nick was gone. Grissom kept saying he loved me, over and over. And then I was alone."

"Any idea who gave you the ring?"

"No. And honestly I'm not sure I really want to know."

"Things are going pretty well with Nick though, right?" Catherine asked.

"They are, but I mean getting married? I-I don't know if I could do that."

"But you love him, don't you?"

Sara suddenly felt like she'd been hit by a car. Did she even love him? They'd been together for six weeks now and they'd known each other for years before that. But, love? Honestly she'd never even thought of it. Sure, she cared for him deeply. But love was a different story.

They had suddenly gone from being friends, to being something much more. It had been so quick that she never really thought twice about it. It had felt like the right thing to do. She was enjoying having someone to come home to. Someone to talk to about anything. Someone to help fill the void that Grissom had made when he left.

But marriage? She had thought that she would marry Grissom, but look how that had turned out.

"Look, Sara. I'm honestly not trying to stick my head in places where it doesn't belong but, if you don't love Nick in that way, you have to tell him. I know that right now that sounds absurd and painful, but trust me, if you don't tell him now you'll find yourself down the road with a kid and a guy you care about but don't love. And that's not a place you want to be."

Sara felt like she was running out of air. How did she let it get this far? How did it come to this? "He'll hate me, won't he?" She said softly.

Catherine heard the pain in Sara's voice. She truly did feel sorry for her. First the ordeal with Grissom and now she had to tell the man who'd helped her get through it, that she didn't love him. What else could possibly go wrong?

"I'm a horrible person, aren't I? How could I let it-I just, I can't hurt him like that. He's done so much for me; helped me through so much. How could I do this to him?"

"Sara, you're not a horrible person, alright? You have to believe that. After what Grissom did to you, you deserved some happiness. And Nick made that happen. But like any normal human being, you got caught up in it. You let it get too far. So what? You made a mistake, it happens.

But if you come right out and tell him now, it'll get better. It's like ripping off a band-aid. You just have to get it over with fast and it hurts like hell at first, but then the pain will go away."

"He's everything I should ever want. He listens, he talks, and he really cares about me. He loves me. So why don't I love him back?"

"Because that's the logical way to look at it. And love is anything but logical. So it may seem like he's perfect for you, but really he's not. He may be everything that you need in a guy, but he's not the right one. I'm sure he knows that's true, but right now he's too concerned about making you happy. Which he does, just more as a friend than a lover."

"You really think this is the right thing to do?" Sara asked, biting her lip.

Catherine shook her head. "I do."

Grissom drove down the familiar streets of Las Vegas. He had to admit it felt good to be back. He only hoped it could be for good, although he knew that was most likely impossible.

The whole flight there, his mind had been racing. Coming up with different ways of how to tell Sara that he still loved her with his whole heart and that he'd like to have her back.

But now, as her drew closer and closer to the lab, he decided against everything he'd come up with. If he was going to do this, then he just had to do. He'd walk right up to her and spill his heart out.

And pray to God that she accepted him back.

"Hey Greg, you seen Sara?" Nick asked a huge grin on his face.

"Yeah. She's in the break room with Cath. How come?" Greg said, wondering why he looked so happy.

"I got something I want to ask her."

"Like ask her ask her?" Greg said, a little shocked if what he was thinking was true.

Nick laughed a little nervously. "Yeah. What do you think?"

Greg didn't know what to say. He was happy that Sara was happy, but something about her being with Nick always felt strange to him. But it wasn't his place to say anything, so he'd kept his mouth shut. "Yeah...Yeah, good luck man."

He watched as Nick headed towards the break room. He hoped he knew what he was doing. And that Sara felt the same way about him.

Grissom pulled into the parking lot of the lab. His heart was racing. This was it. Do or die. He opened his car door and got out. The cool night air flooding around him.

"Here goes everything." He said under his breathe.

"Nick. I was just coming to find you. We uh need to talk." Sara said nervously.

He grinned at her. "Good, cause I wanted to talk to you too."

"Y-you did?"

"Yeah, don't look so nervous, Sara. It's nothing bad."

"Right. Um yeah sorry." Sara felt like she was going to be sick. Her legs felt like they would give out any second and she was sure Nick would be able to hear her heart, which was beating furiously.

"Come on, let's sit down." Nick said, leading her over to the table in the break room.

Sara was wishing like hell that Catherine hadn't left her alone.

"So you said you wanted to talk to me about something?" Nick said.

"Um yeah, but you go first."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Sara said. The longer she could put it off, the better.

"You know that I care about you a lot, right?" He asked.

She shook her head, not trusting her voice anymore.

"Well I know that this may seem sudden and too fast, but I've been thinking about it for a while now. And I believe it's the right thing to do. It's what my heart is telling me and I can't ignore it any more.

We've known each other for a long time now. I've always thought of you as my best friend. We've been through a lot together, especially recently. And lately I've noticed that my love for you has grown. It's become something much bigger.

All I care about now is you. Making you happy. Making you feel safe, and loved. And I want you to know that if you think this is too soon or if you need time, just tell me. Don't feel bad about it. I want to do what's best for you."

As Nick said this he reached into his pocket.

Sara wanted to cry, scream, and run. Run as far away as she could. This couldn't be happening.

"Sara Sidle, will you marry me?"

She couldn't speak. She just looked at him. She didn't even realize that she was crying until he wiped a tear away. All of a sudden she could feel eyes watching her, but they weren't Nick's. Looking past him, she couldn't help but let out a small gasp when she saw who was standing in the door way. His name fell from her lips in a whisper before she could even think.

"Grissom."

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