A/N: We're back! Thank you to everyone who has been following this story. We are excited to bring you this new chapter. As always, please let us know what you think and have a great weekend!

Sara sighed as the rich aroma of coffee hit her groggy senses, a content smile on her face. A hint of pain twinged at her neck and her grin grew broader as she gently rubbed away the discomfort. Grissom had been whisking her away on date after date to see the shining sights of Vegas in a whole new light, but last night he'd made her see stars without even leaving the bedroom. Whatever pulled muscle her body threw her way was well worth it.

Nestling the fresh mug of coffee between her hands she turned to the open bedroom door. Grissom was still fast asleep, rolled onto his side to avoid the streaks of morning sunlight breaking through the drawn curtains. They were just bright enough for her to make out his face and she smiled at the peaceful expression it bore. Neither of them could recall a good night's sleep over their entire career in Vegas, but since she'd joined him on that boat it was the only expression she'd woken up to.

Sara jumped at the sound of her phone's loud buzz and rushed to the counter to turn it off before it could rouse her sleeping husband.

"Whoops." She muttered under her breath, switching it to silent before grinning at a cheeky text from Greg.

They'd agreed to meet for lunch to catch up and she was eager to see him, so much so that she'd planned on surprising him early at the lab. She'd checked first with their receptionist, Judy, that the team didn't happen to be working on a media-shattering triple homicide run, of course.

Grabbing her shoulder bag and pulling on a jacket haphazardly thrown across the floor the previous night, she scribbled a quick affectionate note for Grissom before heading out of the room.

Sara hadn't quite known what stepping back into the lab would feel like, but it was different. The grey building didn't seem quite so gloomy in the daylight, and the small pit in her stomach that brewed every time she walked through the door was gone. That much made sense, she was only visiting. Walking in no longer promised yet another putrified body, another raped little girl, another inhumane act of violence or cruelty she knew the city to be capable of.

In fact it was almost warming to see the lab again, and she even cracked a smile as she noticed a small scorch mark on the pavement beside her. It was almost identical to the one she remembered leaving there 15 years prior, when she and Warrick had set fire to an armchair for a case. The lab had undergone major renovations over the years of course, and the real burn was probably buried beneath several layers of concrete, but Sara chose to believe it just might be the same one.

Her grin still playing at her lips, she made her way inside the building. Swinging around a corner, she was met with a huge smile from Judy.

"He's in the break room." She said quickly.

Sara mouthed a "thank you" with a wink before heading to the back of the lab, careful to not be seen through the glass panes surrounding each room. She finally spotted him reaching into a cabinet for a bag of coffee that had his name scribbled across it in block letters and at least two layers of tape sealing it shut.

"Still hooked on Blue Hawaiian?" She asked, strolling casually into the room.

Greg jumped, almost dropping the bag in the process. Spinning around, his face balanced surprise and glee at the sight of his friend.

"Sara!" He stepped forward and she chuckled as he held her in a fierce hug.

"Hi Greg" She laughed as she returned his warm embrace.

He finally pulled back, an excited glint in his eyes, "What are you doing here?"

"It's good to see you too." She ribbed.

"Come on, I'm thrilled, I'm just surprised."

"That was the point, I thought I might catch you early, see how things were going over here."

"Missing the job already?"

Sara let out a wry chuckle, "Going home smelling like death everyday? Not so much. And there's a refreshingly low amount of putrefied bodies bobbing in the Pacific."

Greg nodded and her expression softened, lips pouting into a smile as she quietly added "You, though, I miss."

At this he grinned and waggled his eyebrows, earning a hearty laugh from Sara.

"We miss you too, Sar. The lab isn't the same without you."

"What, the boys don't like your music choices?" She joked.

Greg groaned, indignant. "We were processing a charred car last week and Hodges refused to play anything other than Opera. Opera, Sara."

"I wonder where he gets that from." Sara muttered under another laugh.

Greg plopped himself comfortably down on the sofa beside him, his arm draped over its back.

"You never really explained over the phone why you two were back so early. I mean I'm happy to see you and all, but we figured you'd be off for at least a year or so before hitting the shore."

Sara sighed as she leaned back against the counter, holding herself up with her arms and tilting her head to the side to stretch out her neck. Her eyes squinted slightly as she briefly mulled over the words and phrases playing through her mind. She had wanted to tell Greg about her and Gil's situation for a while now, but she knew that going about it without worrying him to death would be delicate.

"Something came up and we thought it'd be best to be on solid land to deal with it."

"Something came up?" Greg's perky tone was laced with a hint of concern.

"Yeah, look Greg before I say anything, you really don't have to worry about it, ok? I promise I'm alright."

He only frowned in response, biting back the series of worried questions that threatened to barrel out of his lips and giving Sara the space to speak.

Sara waited for his silent nod to continue, "My doctor called about some results that I could only hear about in person, so we had to run back for an appointment-" she waved away Greg's annoyed expression.

"I know, ridiculous, but the point is that they ran some tests and… they found a treatable, non-cancerous tumour." Sara's insistence on those two words didn't stop the flash of panic crossing Greg's face.

"What?"

"We're treating it Greg, and Gil is here with me to-"

"What are the symptoms? Sara, are you in pain? Is it going to get worse? Why didn't you tell us earlier? We could've helped-"

His ramblings were cut off by Sara's hand coming down gently on his forearm in a calming gesture. In his worry he hadn't even noticed her walk closer to the couch to crouch down beside him.

"I'm happy to answer those, Greg, but maybe one at a time." She offered him a small smile.

"Sorry."

"It's okay." Sara gave his leather-clad arm a reassuring squeeze.

Greg finally settled on his first question and spoke quietly, "Where is it?"

"On the pituitary gland. It's not small, but it's manageable."

He nodded, trying to recall the detailed graphs from a medical textbook he had dived into a few years ago for a case.

"Pituitary… that's under the hypothalamus right?"

"Yeah, look at you whiz kid." The older woman grinned up at him brightly.

"I listened to the autopsy recording from that brain switcheroo case we worked at the Tasty Time. It seemed pretty cool so Doc gave me a crash course… Does it hurt?"

Sara dropped her gaze to the floor with a small sigh, eyebrows knitting into a frown.

"Sometimes."

It was almost a whisper, her eyes glazing over for a moment before giving her head a small shake and looking back up at Greg, "but it's not blunt pain, mostly discomfort from the symptoms. It affects hormones, so migraines, exhaustion, and I haven't had a normal menstrual cycle in… far too long."

"How are they treating it? Do they use radiation on that sort of thing?"

"Yeah, it's one of the ways they eliminate it, it's what we chose. I still have a few sessions to go through. They're low-risk." She chose to not develop on the risks, not wanting to send her friend spiralling again.

"Are you feeling any better?"

"I'm not feeling worse, we're taking it as a good sign. And my doctor seems to think everything is on track."

Greg nodded, his fears somewhat qualmed by her answers. As he processed them in silence, he noticed Sara's eyes had glazed over again.

"How are you doing, Sar?"

She was touched by how caring he sounded, "It's… not easy. I'm tired, I'm stressed out all the time and the sessions always feel a little intense. But I'm ok, and I have Gil. He misses you too, by the way."

"How could he not?"

Greg flashed her a dazzling smile and she chuckled.

"I'm glad you two have each other, even if he took you away from us to go be sea batman."

"Me too. And I mostly have to stop him from being sea batman." She retorted, referencing the dozens of times where he'd suggested breaking multiple international laws in a morally grey plan to stop another poaching boat from slicing off more shark fins.

Despite her joke, the hint of sadness in her answer wasn't lost on Greg.

"Are you sure you're ok? I mean, is there something else?"

Sara dropped her chin, shifting her jaw with a look he couldn't read. She slipped her hand away from his arm and pressed both of them to her thighs as she stood from her crouch. Moving around him, she sat beside him on the couch and leaned forward with a sigh.

"Yeah, there is. The tumour is what's called a prolactinoma. It inhibits specific hormones from being produced, specifically those linked to fertility. The imbalance…"

Her eyes watered and she bit down on her lower lip in an effort to keep the tremor out of her voice.

"It's probably why Gil and I could never have a child."

Greg's eyebrows shot up and he felt his chest tighten at her crestfallen face.

"Sar, I'm so sorry." He squeezed out.

Since she had opened up to him about her father, Greg had always sensed that she would be an amazing mother and despite her typically anti-traditional takes, he often pictured her starting a family once she'd left the oppressing confines of the lab. He just hadn't realised she'd wanted one for so long.

"I didn't know you and Grissom were trying."

"We hadn't really talked about it seriously, we decided we would take things as they came. But we still tried for a while. We thought it might be an age thing, Gil even had a few check-ups done…" She paused, "But now that we might never… I feel like I'm taking away his chance at a family. I feel like I'm disappointing him." Her voice cracked on her last words as she fought to choke back a sob, a tear rolling down her cheek.

As much as Grissom reassured her that she always would be, she worried that she wouldn't be enough for him. Sara knew (and was relieved) that he was above the somewhat dated and traditional need to have a family in order to be happy, and that he'd lived most of his life content with the probability that he wouldn't have children in his future. But she wanted more than anything for him to be happy, and from the way he'd lit up when he'd first spoken to her about a giggling little Sidle-Grissom, she felt now that she was taking that happiness away from him.

It broke Greg's heart to see his friend in this state and he shifted closer to her, winding a comforting arm around her back to lay his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at her and swiped at her cheek with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, I'm a bit of a bummer these days."

"No, no, Sara it's okay, don't apologise. No one expects even someone as bad-ass as you to be doing perfectly fine with all of this." His attempt at cheering her up earned him another glimpse of a smile.

"Look, I don't know if anything I can say would help, and you definitely know the bug man better than any of us do. But I don't think you could ever disappoint Grissom, especially now. It's not your fault, none of this is. He knows that. You got ahead of it and you're doing everything you can as quickly as possible. You have nothing to blame yourself for. I'm sure if you asked him, he'd tell you himself that you'll always be enough for him and that it was never a question. Besides, he never lies, even when he really, really should. Just ask Ecklie."

They both snickered before falling silent for a few moments.

"Thank you, Greg." Sara spoke softly.

They both knew that his words would do little to settle the twisting knot that had long since rooted in her stomach, no matter how touching they were to hear. But they still felt comforting to Sara.

She would never tire of the deep calm of the open seas and Grissom at her side. But when she'd heard the news over the phone, she suddenly felt cut off from the rest of the world, as if she and Grissom were trapped on the little boat and holding on for dear life against the overwhelming waves of fear and guilt that crashed into her chest. Despite how frustrated Sara was with herself that she had to drag Gil away from his peace and back to the noise and chaos of Vegas, she had missed her family. And Greg's supportive hand on her shoulder now felt like another hand gripping the railing of the Ishmael beside the warmth of Grissom's, stilling it against the storm.

He shifted to hug her tightly and she closed her eyes with a sigh when he answered.

"Anytime."

Sara's phone buzzed on the glass table and she pulled away from the embrace with a quick pat on Greg's back. He waved off her apology as she rummaged through her bag for the device and smiled at her awoken husband's cheeky text.

"Gil says hi."

"Hi back." He grinned as he shuffled over to the forgotten bag of coffee beans on the floor, "Coffee?"

She raised her brow and nodded to the small pot sitting next to the communal one that carried the same name tag as the half empty bag in Greg's hand, "You're offering to share your pot of gold?"

He scoffed before filling a black mug imprinted with the lab's logo with the communal coffee pot and handing it to her. Sara narrowed his eyes as he topped off his own mug with his personal stash.

"You get that hot water from the "Big Island" too, Greg?"

"No."

Her lips pursed in amusement before curling into a smirk, "Then that coffee's technically lab property."

Greg stared at her in disbelief, "You know, carrying his name doesn't mean you have to turn into him"

Sara tilted her head in question before he clarified, "Grissom said the same thing to me… years ago. Apparently being boss meant he had coffee privileges." The last sentence was bitterly mumbled.

"Oh. Well you know, technically I was your boss."

"Yeah, for forty minutes." Greg deadpanned, "Then Gotham called."

They both broke into laughter and Sara was relieved by the change of atmosphere, not wanting her reunion with Greg to be a glum one and simply enjoying his gleeful company again.

"Sara! You're back!"

They both turned to see Henry happily stroll into the room, Hodges on his heels. She gave them both a brilliant toothy smile and a warm hug, "Hey guys! Good to see you"

"You too. You've got a tan."

Sara smirked at Hodges's bluntness, "Well, it's strange but when you don't share the same shift hours as a vampire, your body thanks you."

"Good to know you've still got the sass, Sidle." Sara rolled her eyes affectionately at the comment.

"How's that been, living on a boat?" Henry piped up.

"It has its perks. It's quiet, mostly."

"Ouch."

Sara glanced over David's shoulder to spot Morgan leaning against the break room door frame, mock hurt written all over her face. Sara's face split into a wide grin as the blonde broke her indignant facade with a giggle, meeting Sara halfway for a tight embrace.

"I miss talking to you too, Morgan." She recovered.

"You'd better." Came Brody's cheeky reply.

They broke apart and Sara leaned against the table behind her, eyes hopping from one friend to the next, "Well this feels familiar."

"You'd have made for a great boss, Sara." She smiled appreciatively at Henry's support as the team nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, but I'm sure Catherine is doing amazingly. Are you getting any help on the team?"

She knew promoting Hodges and Henry to the field had been a good decision, but it had also left the Toxicology and Trace departments with a gaping personnel hole.

"Two techs are transferring in next week from LA on a temporary basis. And she's been working on getting this program started to get more women formed and hired in the lab. It's kind of awesome, actually." Morgan answered.

"Sometimes the day shift guys pull double shifts to fill the gaps. Personally I find them a little slow, but they've got big shoes to fill." Hodges shrugged matter-of-factly. He then mouthed a pained "What?" when Henry hit him in the shoulder and whispered disapprovingly, "Dude."

"Hang on, I know Greg is putting in a little overtime, but how come you're all still here?" Sara frowned quizzically.

"Putting in a little overtime, mostly making up for some of the paperwork pileup."

"Yeah, I didn't leave Catherine with the easiest mess to deal with." Sara dropped her head apologetically.

"We're doing fine here, we've dealt with far, far worse. What about you?" Brody asked cheerfully.

Sara caught Greg's small but kind smile and mirrored it across her own face. Reaching behind her for her mug of watery, bitter coffee she answered steadily, "I'm good. We're good."

She cared deeply for every person in the room, and she wanted to open up to them. But her earlier emotional exchange with Greg- although comforting- had been draining. She wasn't sure she would fare well with another wave of panicked, worried questioning and chose to put it off until the treatment had run its course. After all, there wasn't much of it left to go now.

Morgan seemed satisfied with her answer, choosing not to prod any further as Sara's tone suggested it was all she would say on the matter.

The team had settled back into their usual comfortable banter when a knock sounded at the door and Lindsey Willows's head poked through.

"Hey guys, sorry to interrupt but someone's pager is going off in DNA."

They all reflexively checked their pockets and belt loops before Henry cursed, finding his empty.

"Dammit, Hodges we've got to file the fingernail scrapings for the Morrison case by 2 pm or we'll miss the DA's deadline, I completely forgot." He rattled off. His friend's eyebrows shot up and they both quickly excused themselves, striding from the room as they caught up on the case details.

As they left, Lindsey finally spotted the older woman in the centre of the room giving her a small wave.

"Sara! I didn't know you were back!"

She moved to receive the same warm embrace Sara had given the rest of the team, and as if on cue Greg and Morgan's pagers beeped in unison.

"Shit, looks like Brass needs backup at a drunken pileup on the Strip. It's way too early for DUIs." Morgan turned to Greg, "What's yours?"

"Robbins needs help sorting through the autopsy reports for our court case tomorrow. That's gonna take hours." His eyes flicked to Sara, "I can have Super Dave cover for me."

She waved him off, "No, he'd only ask if he really needed your help, it's important. It's ok, we can move lunch."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, and I'll swing by again before we head back out to sea anyway, say bye to everyone." Sara assured him.

Morgan's pager beeped angrily this time and she quickly silenced it, "I've gotta run. Sara, it was really great seeing you again. Greg, I'll uh," her voice softened, "I'll see you later."

He nodded and flashed her a sheepish smile in response. Sara arched an eyebrow at the tender exchange, pressing her lips together to suppress her own grin as they both watched Morgan dial Brass's number before jogging away.

Sara's piercing gaze honed in on Greg, "What was that about?"

"Guess we'll have to have lunch." He shrugged innocently and she pursed her lips in amusement.

""I gotta run, I'm sorry about the change of plans Sar, promise I'll make it up to you."

Despite his rush, he still took a few moments to step forward and hug her once more.

"We're here for you, Sara, don't forget it." Greg whispered. The sincerity of his words almost brought another tear to her eye but she swallowed it down and slipped out a heartfelt "Thank you."

They pulled apart and with one last sweet smile to her and Lindsey he strolled out of the breakroom, making sure to take his precious cup of brew with him.

Sara's attention moved to the team's newest recruit who was reaching into the mini fridge for a foil-wrapped sandwich.

"Make sure you check for blood pints before putting anything in that fridge." She half joked.

"Wait, that actually happens? I always thought my mum made those stories up to gross me out."

Sara gave a throaty chuckle, "You'd be surprised."

"You'd think after all the security warnings and rules she printed out for me she'd have mentioned the blood fridge." Lindsey laughed back, poking suspiciously at her sandwich and reassuring herself that those red drops were most probably ketchup.

"She's not riding you too hard, is she?"

"A little, but that's okay, she really wants this for me. And I'm enjoying it, I think. I solved my first case last week."

"You worked a solo? As a CSI I?" Came Sara's surprised questions.

"Well sort of, I had way too many officers with me- courtesy of my mother- and it was just a really minor vandalism case. A smashed-in windshield, the kid confessed right away."

"A solve is a solve. Way to go, Lindsey." Sara winked and smiled proudly, sending a blush to the younger woman's cheeks.

"Thanks, Sara." She grabbed a bite of her food and was relieved to find it tasted normal.

"Oh, my mo- uh, Catherine might want to see you while you're here- where's that old whale's ladylove hiding were her words. I'm guessing that's you." Sara snorted.

"I know she has forms for you to sign to tie up some loose ends on the whole you-running-away-and-dumping-your-fancy-job-on-her thing. Also her words. She's out but she'll be in her office any minute now if you have the time."

"Sure, thanks, I'll swing by."

Sara leaned down to grab her bag, slipping her phone back into its front pocket and grabbing her now cold coffee with her free hand. With a wide smile and a quick bye to Cath's daughter, she left the room and rounded the corner towards the supervisor's office, feeling a whole lot lighter than when she had first walked in.