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A/N: :) Thanks for all the reviews. Let me know what you think. I'm gonna go try to update New Beginnings before bed, but no promises (for those of you who read all my stories.)

Enjoy!


Chapter 20: Reconnecting

"Sara? …Sara Sidle?!"

I turned from Grissom automatically, despite the moment we'd just been wrapped up in—perhaps the first candid conversation we'd had since I moved to Vegas—scanning the crowd. And there he was, looking even more attractive with the hint of age in his face.

"…Michael?"

I was running to hug him without a second thought. This man, despite the years it had been since we'd last spoken, had saved me in all kinds of ways. After… Miami… I would have fallen apart, if it hadn't been for him. Even if I had never loved him the way I loved Grissom… He was a man who would always, always mean the world to me.

I pulled back, taking in his appearance. The aging was minor—he had the hint of more lines around his eyes. His hair was still full and jet black, and his physique was every bit as impressive as it had been when he was thirty. I did some quick math—He was eleven years older than me, and I was twenty-eight. He was pushing forty… He didn't look forty. He looked hot.

We shared some brief incredulity at running into each other here, and were headed straight into a trip down memory lane when he asked, somewhat hesitantly, if he was interrupting something. Which had me spinning back to Grissom, feeling terrible. We'd been in the middle of the most intimate moment we'd shared in months, and I had honestly completely forgotten about him in the surprise of seeing Michael.

I introduced the men, understanding at I did that there might be a certain amount of tension in the interaction—Michael didn't know who Grissom was, but Grissom knew about Michael. He had taken one look at the man in the picture in my Berkeley apartment and declared how much the man had clearly loved me.

There's a moment, after they shake hands and exchange pleasantries, when we're all uncertain. Michael is waiting for me to indicate whether I'm in the middle of something with Grissom or whether I want to take the time to catch up with him. Grissom is waiting for me to dismiss Michael. At my look of uncertainty, he takes his leave of us and walks away before I can argue… although, in truth, I think I would have chosen Michael. I saw Grissom every day. I didn't run into long-lost friends every day.

We watched Grissom walk away, and Michael turned and looked at me, smiling softly. "You're still so damned young." He said, by way of greeting, and then I was laughing.

"Did you expect me to age more than a year to each of yours?"

He pulled me to his chest, a bubbling laugh echoing through his chest. "I honestly thought I'd never see you again. …Sara, I… I'm just so happy we ran into each other."

"Me too." I said, hugging him tighter and then pulling back. It just felt so good to be close to him again. Nick and Warrick and Greg were great—but I'd known Nick and Warrick less than a year, and Greg had never been the type of friend I confided in. Used for sex, got trashed with, flirted shamelessly with, sure… but Michael was different. Our relationship was the kind that can only be achieved through long, hard-earned knowledge of another person. He was a part of my past. The others just… weren't… yet.

He grinned—the playful grin I'd missed—and I felt his eyes all over my face. "You have time to grab a bite before you have to head in to work?"

"Absolutely."

He guided me back towards the entrance to the Bellagio, a hand falling to the small of my back to guide me. I wasn't sure what its presence there meant, exactly—I remembered vividly thinking I would always associate the action with him, but I didn't, anymore. Grissom liked to put his hand there too—especially if he was so wrapped up in a case while we were walking somewhere that he didn't pay attention to his hands. It was in his nature now, to touch me.

Once we were inside the noise level dropped a little and he glanced down at me. "Is it okay just to head to a buffet? I'd prefer to take you someplace nicer, but if you've got to be to work in an hour or so…?"

I shook my head. "No, that's probably best."

The buffet at the Bellagio was still one of the nicest I'd seen thus far in Vegas, and I ascertained from the rows of poles and ropes that a few hours earlier we would have had quite the wait. We were directed to a table and our host took our drink orders immediately so that we could get up to get food. He sighed, rising even though we'd both just sat down. "Dan is gonna kill me for this."

I laughed—Dan had been his best friend since high school. Unfortunately, even as a thirty year old man, he'd acted closer to my age than I had. He'd been fun, and he and Kelly had traded enough double entendres to make a porn star blush on an occasion or two, but he'd been a little tiring. Kelly was energetic in a way that made you feel invigorated just being around her… Dan sapped the energy from everyone around him.

"You're here with him? Is this some sort of glorified bachelor's trip to the City of Sin?"

He looked a little abashed as we moved over to take plates and move down the rows of food. "More or less. Although, it wasn't my idea… if that does anything to redeem me."

I smirked. "It sounds like the type of thing he would talk you into."

Conversation dwindled as we moved along the rows, until we had filled our plates and moved back to sitting down at the table that had our drinks waiting for us. I sighed happily, looking at him.

"You look great. …Tell me… everything."

He grinned. "Well… I went back to school, got my PhD in English Lit. I'm teaching at Harvard now." His smile softened, and he tilted his head. "Being there… I'm reminded of you all the time, Sara."

There was a slight sadness in his eyes that I didn't like to see. I glanced down at my food, picking up my fork. "You, uh…Still visit your parents during the summers?"

He nodded, slowly. "Yeah—I spent the whole summer there, this last time. It's part of the reason Dan felt the need for a 'man-cation.' My… mom is pretty sick."

I went from smirking at the word that was clearly Dan's invention—mancation—to frowning. "Oh no." Without thinking, I put my hand over his. "What is it?"

"Breast Cancer. …They managed to catch it pretty early, though, so… we're hopeful. It's just… been hard on all of us. And then…" He smiled, but the sadness remains. "She keeps telling me to stop dawdling and give her grandchild before she dies, which… doesn't help. At all."

I squeezed his hand. "I'm so sorry."

He shook his head. "Don't be—right now, things look good." He squeezed back. "Tell me about you. …You're living in Vegas, at some big shot crime lab, huh?" He teased, and I allowed him to change the subject. If he needed it, who was I to force the issue?

I grinned. "Yeah, I am. I… work with some of the best criminalists in the country." I wanted to say something else… but what else did I have to tell? I wasn't going to talk about Grissom, and I wasn't going to talk about my mother. "Kelly's married, she has a two year old little boy. …She's teaching art in Seattle."

He smiles. "Wow—who would have guessed that she would be the one of the three of us to settle down?"

I tilt my head. "…What do you mean?"

He swallowed the bite in his mouth. "Oh, I… Sara, I meant no offense. I loved Kelly—you know that. I just meant… she seemed like she would like the single lifestyle more than… well, either of us."

I frown, knowing that Kelly has only ever slept with two men in her life, and is married to one, and that despite her avid drinking in college, she'd never taken it too far—she didn't drink at inappropriate times and she never drove. She was anything but a party girl. …But I also know that he doesn't mean anything by it, so I let it go, nodding.

He frowns. "What about here in Vegas? I mean, other than the job. …Tell me about your life."

I don't have anything to tell him, so I choose to tell him about the team. They're the friends I have, here, and the only real semblance of a life outside of the lab… even if they're not entirely 'outside' the lab. We finish eating and I glance at my watch.

"I'm really sorry, but I've got to run if I want to make it to the lab on time."

He smiles, leaving a tip on the table. "Let me walk you to your car…"

So we walk out again, his hand on my lower back again.

"How long are you in town for…?"

"We fly out the day after next… Did you want to get together again?"

I smile. "I'd like that, if Dan can spare you from your intense schedule of drinking and hopping from strip club to strip club…"

"Maybe you can make some suggestions for him." He teases. I roll my eyes.

"I don't really know much about the tourist or… party scene. Although…" My eyes lit up. "My team would know. Catherine used to be an exotic dancer, and Warrick would know the best places to gamble. Greg could hook you up to the party scene, and Nick… well, Nick's just fun." I chuckled. "Will you be conscious around seven or eight tomorrow morning? I bet I can talk them into grabbing breakfast to give some old friends some pointers on the best way to spend their last night in Vegas."

He frowned, a little, when I said 'old friends,' but he smiled through the rest of it. "I will be—I can't make any promises for Dan, but… I would love to meet the people who are important to you, Sara."

His words rang with a genuineness that I had forgotten. Michael was such a good man. I smiled and hugged him tightly when I got to my vehicle. "I'll give you a call tomorrow morning and let you know. …Did you have a cell phone, or should I just call the Bellagio and ask for a room number?"

He chuckled, and pulled out his wallet, writing his cell number on the back of a card advertising Cirque du Soleil and passed it to me. "If I don't answer this, we're room 1010. …Should be easy enough to remember."

I grinned. "Great. It was so good seeing you again…"

"You too. …Don't be a stranger, even if… breakfast doesn't work out. We… shouldn't wait another seven years to talk again."

I nodded, giving him yet another hug, and then climbing into my car and hurrying off to the lab. I was pushing it, but I probably wouldn't be late… as long as traffic wasn't too bad.