A/N: Once again, many thanks on the comments/reviews. As always they are very much appreciated. Pretty much everyone is in agreement on much of a piece of work, Jake is. :) As a writer, I feel that I've done a good job, when you can dislike a character so much - or love a character for that matter., as the case maybe. If I am allowed a favourite chapter, this would be another favourite of mine. Of course, this story wouldn't be what it is, without the guidance of my beta, JellybeanChiChi.

Chapter 6

The next morning, Sara headed into work, nursing a coffee and still feeling the affects of their disturbed sleep from the night before. Although Grissom's walk with Hank lasted more than an hour, Hank seemed restless all night long.

Walking through the halls, she headed towards her supervisor's office for updates and assignments. Out of the corner of her eye, Sara spotted CSI's Patrick Davies and Karen O'Shea in deep discussion.

They paused and turned to face Sara as she walked past them. Although she would have wished them "Good morning," she instead could only stifle a yawn. But she could feel their eyes on her as they continued to talk in hushed voices as she passed.

"Well, good morning to you, too."

Jake's voice made Sara stop, close her eyes and take a deep breath. Although his voice was a cheery tone, it simply raked on her nerves.

"Morning, Jake."

"You look like you had a rough night," Jake greeted, his high mood dipping slightly on seeing how drained she looked. "Hope it wasn't the little guy…"

"Nothing to be concerned about," Sara cut in, fighting off a yawn.

"Oh, now I can't be concerned?" Jake's retort might have been wrapped in a pretence of friendliness but sounded more sleazy to Sara.

"Not in the mood, Jake."

Jake took a step towards Sara and proved how sleazy he could be.

"You know," he started in a voice loud enough for the two co-workers eavesdropping nearby, "what you need is a good lay. I'm guessing the old guy certainly isn't up to the task."

From the corner of her eye Sara saw Patrick bite his lip to stop from sniggering as he turned his head away from Sara. He muttered something to Karen, making her snicker.

At that, Sara gave her full attention to Jake. "I think experience has taught us both that being up to task certainly takes you out of the running."

The truth of the matter was, Grissom could give men half his age a run for their money. But at this point, it wasn't about proving Grissom's masculinity; it was about emasculating Jake.

And it seemed to work. Patrick and Karen exchanged a knowing smile before they both turned and walked off. Karen gave a quick glance at Jake over her shoulder, before disappearing around the corner.

But more importantly to Sara, the retort made Jake speechless and red in the face. She took that as her cue to continue her original course of direction — her supervisor's office.

Although she gave an update on the Ashwood case, there still was not enough for the case to move forward. Karson asked Sara to work on an arson case, which was straightforward and finished by lunch.

She was in the break room, catching up on paperwork when Jake walked in, carrying a take-out paper bag and a coffee.

Not that Sara took note. She continued to concentrate on her paperwork that was until he placed a bar of chocolate and two Midol caplets in front her.

She turned to face him, her eyes glittering with anger.

"What?" Jake said innocently. "I thought this would help. Look. I remembered your favourite type."

Sara pushed the chocolate and the pills towards Jake. "Your juvenile personality is not charming."

"You're not giving a chance."

"There is no chance. When will you get that into your thick head," Sara said heatedly.

Her phone buzzed and checking the I.D she smiled, her mood brightening considerably, as she answered with a bright, "Hi babe."

She listened for a second, before adding, "Sure, but you don't need to come for me. I can meet you there. … No. It's not a problem for me to drive. See you soon. Love you."

She closed her phone and gathered up her paperwork, pointedly leaving the chocolate and the pills, before heading out of the break room without a backward glance.

Jake waited a moment or two, before following after her.

The family-owned diner, that was set just off the strip and frequented mostly by locals, was tastefully decorated in warm pastel colours. One wall consisted of a large window that over looked the parking lot. Usually on Wednesdays, Grissom had late classes at the University, and so it hadn't surprised Sara that Daniel was there.

Sara spotted Grissom sitting in the large booth nearest the parking lot, and had been pleasantly surprised to find that Grissom had invited Nick along.

Sara quickly greeted her husband and son with a quick kiss, before turning to give Nick a warm hug, before slipping into the gap beside Grissom.

Daniel babbled as he diligently chased the small pieces of Sara's veggie omelette and Grissom's veggie quesadillia around the table of the high chair he was strapped in. He picked up a morsel, and offered it to Grissom, who promptly pretended to eat the offering his young son offered him.

"So how is your insect schooling going?" Grissom asked Nick. It was easy to hear pride in his voice.

"Man, it is a lot of stuff, but I really enjoy it."

"I gotta tell you, Nick," Grissom said as he cut a few more pieces of food for Daniel. "When Sara told me about what you were doing, I was surprised."

"When the opportunity came up, I decided to go for it. I'll never be as good as you though, Griss," said Nick as he finished explaining why he'd taken the change to become the Grave shifts new bugman.

Grissom shook his head, with a slight smirk on his face.

"You'll do just fine, Nick. Give yourself a little credit."

Nick shook his head as he chewed on his burger.

"I've got big shoes to fill, and I know it. There's a reason you're top of the field, Grissom."

As Nick watched the couple tend to their son, Nick chuckled and smiled. Despite it being almost a year after their marriage and birth of their son, seeing Grissom and Sara like this, still caught him by surprise.

"I can't believe how big Cricket's grown, since we last saw him."

Grissom nodded and glanced at Sara as she leaned in closer to him, a smile on her face.

"Between taking that teaching position in L.A and this new case Sara's working on, things have slipped a little," Grissom agreed as he turned his attention back to his veggie quesadillia. "We were thinking of having a barbecue this Saturday, if you're up to it?"

"Sure. I'll let the guys know." Nick agreed, and Daniel decided to share his lunch with Nick. He promptly pretended to eat the offering, earning a toothy grin off the little boy.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, before Nick ventured to say, "You know, the lab, Grave shift, it's not the same without you two there." He chased a few fries around his plate, before looking up to face them both. "Don't you miss it?"

Grissom and Sara shared a look, as Grissom put his arm around Sara's waist.

"Sure, I miss the lab, and the team," Grissom admitted. "I love teaching at the University, but if I were to be completely honest with myself? I miss working with Sara the most."

They shared another look, as Sara bumped playfully against him, her hand running up his thigh under the table, and he's hand tightened slightly on her waist.

"Sorry to intrude, but could I borrow your ketchup?"

The atmosphere changed considerably at Jake's unwelcome intrusion. Sara's grip on Grissom's thigh tightened slightly in an effort to calm him, as she felt his body tense.

"Jake, why are you here?" Sara wanted to know, her displeasure at his presence clear on her face.

"I thought I'd have some lunch, same as you," replied Jake in an "isn't it obvious?" kind of tone, ignoring Grissom and Nick completely.

Jake glanced down at Daniel, who was watching him uncertainly.

"And this handsome little fella must be your son," Jake stated, bending down to Daniel's height, knowing full well, that he was getting to them both. "Hi there, Cricket," he cooed, mistakenly thinking that Nick's nickname was the toddler's name. "Aren't you going to be a little heart breaker when you grow up? He looks just like you, Sara." He added, despite the obvious fact that apart from his brown eyes, he was Grissom's double.

Grissom handed him the ketchup container, despite knowing Jake was only using it as an excuse to come to disrupt their lunch.

"Here's your ketchup. Now you can go. We're trying to enjoy lunch with our family and our friend."

"There's no need to be like that, Phil," Jake started to say as he rose to his feet.

While Grissom wanted nothing more than to correct Jake and throw him out of the restaurant, he noticed Daniel getting upset. The child's bottom lip pouted out in a perfect imitation of Sara, as he suddenly decided he didn't like this man that had suddenly appeared beside him. Large tears pooled in his eyes, as he took a shuddering breath.

Just as he moved to stand up, Daniel gave a frightened cry, large tears spilling down his cheeks.

"You've done what you set out to do, Jake. Just go." Sara demanded, as she rummaged in the diaper bag for Daniel's favourite red-black and yellow plush ant. Daniel immediately snuggled into it, at the same time as Sara gave him his pacifier, which he sucked busily.

Sara glared at Jake as she stroked Daniel's back as Grissom rocked him. He handed her Daniel as he snuffled quietly between frantic pulls of the pacifier.

"You heard what she said," Nick said in a warning tone as he rose to his feet. "Take a hike, Jake."

"Thanks for the ketchup," Jake replied, in a sneering tone as he held up the container. This time Grissom did rise to his feet, his mouth a thin angry slash on his face.

Sara placed a hand on his forearm both as a warning and a means of comfort.

Just for a moment, Nick thought that Sara's calming presence wouldn't be enough, as the two men stood toe-to-toe. Then, Jake turned and sauntered back to his table, and Grissom turned and sat down, his gaze fixed intently on his plate.

It was some minutes, before the tension eased enough for conversation to resume, and when it did, it wasn't with the ease of before.

Grissom excused himself to head to the restroom, and Nick and Sara continued to talk amongst themselves, as Daniel held his own intense conversation with his ant, occasionally pointing at Nick or Sara with a stubby finger and smiling around his pacifier.

Sara's cell rang, just as Nick spotted Jake heading towards the restroom, a few seconds after Grissom had entered.

"I won't be a sec," Nick said, as he quickly rose to his feet, and headed quickly towards the men's restroom.

He opened the door, just in time to see Grissom angrily swipe Jake's pointing finger from his chest, the veins in his neck standing out as he breathed heavily in his anger.

"You forget, old man, I know what she likes and how she likes it. Don't believe her; she practically begs me to be inside her when we're working together."

Grissom's hands tightened into fists, the knuckles white, his face a mask of fury Nick had seen on a few occasions, directed mostly towards suspects whose crimes had involved children or had beaten their wives.

Nick stepped forward just as Grissom's arm rose poised to strike.

"Hey, Griss, Sara's waiting just outside with Dan. She got a phone call, I think she needs to head back to the lab."

It took a few seconds to sink in, before Grissom lowered his arm. He took a small step toward Jake, his face mere inches from the younger man's.

"Stay away from Sara," he intoned, his voice heavy with threat, before turning on his heels and leaving the restroom.

As he reached the door, his back stiffened and he paused just for a second as Jake called after him, "Face it, Phil, you're just an old man trying to recapture his youth, with a young wife. She's going to get bored with you!"

Grissom came out the door with Jake and Nick behind him. A few steps from the restroom, Sara stopped them all.

"The lab just called, Bryson Ashwood and Tessa Driscoll have been stopped outside Barstow. They were on a Greyhound headed to San Diego. They're going to be sent back to Seattle. Tessa and her son are with Child Services."

Grissom, his face pale and still showing traces of his anger, took Daniel from Sara's arms. "I'll get his things and meet you at the car."

"OK," Sara said, concerned about Grissom's demeanor. She was going to follow him to the table, but seeing Jake quickly exit to his car and Nick follow him, Sara put two and two together and hurriedly headed towards the entrance.

No one saw Patrick Davies leave the men's room as he closed his phone, a smirk on his face.

Sara caught up with Nick outside. They watched as Jake had already gotten in his car and pealed out of the lot.

"Jesus, Nick, what happened?"

Nick shook his head. "Jake got in Grissom's face. Wound him up something awful. I haven't seen Griss like that in a long time."

Sara was going to get more details, but Grissom exited the restaurant and walked straight to the car. The fact he didn't even recognize Sara, worried Nick.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" Nick asked, concern heavy in his tone. "He's still pretty wound up."

"You mean Jake? I can handle that asshole."

"No," Nick said, swallowing a lump in his throat. "I mean with Griss."

Sara nodded, as she glanced towards Grissom busily strapping Daniel into his car seat. She placed her sunglasses on the top of her head, as she turned to face Nick, again.

"Nick, come on. This is Gil you're talking about. He might be angry, but not with me."

"Why don't you let me talk to him, just for a second…"

"No offence, Nick, but right now, me and Daniel are the only two people that could get close to him. I'll be fine."

"I don't know; Jake wound him up pretty tight," Nick edged, still unconvinced.

Sara shook her head, with a slight smile. "Nick. Listen to yourself. It'll be fine."

Nick watched her walk to the car, still unsure if Sara was doing the right thing.

As he watched, Sara reached up to touch Grissom's cheek. From what he could see, Nick knew that their former boss was still far from happy. Sara continued to soothe him, before leaning in and kissing him. Grissom hesitated a second, before he returned her kiss, his hands settling on her waist, pulling her closer.

When they broke apart, Sara rested her forehead against Grissom's, her hand settling on the back of his neck. Grissom nodded at whatever she said to him, before he tightened his hold around her and initiated another kiss. They quickly parted and Sara dipped into the backseat where Daniel was. Closing the door, she turned to face Grissom once more and the two shared another conversation before she headed towards her own car.

Nick glanced across the street to see Jake sitting in his car. Nick ran towards the car while Jake was preoccupied watching the couple say goodbye and part ways.

A heavy slap on Jake's hood broke the peeping tom from his reverie. "I don't know what your problem is with Grissom, but they love each other, and they're happy…She's happy," Nick said angrily. "Do yourself a favour. Finish up what you need to on this case, and get the hell back to Seattle. She's moved on, and you should too."

"Screw off, cowboy," Jake said as he drove off in a dust of smoke.