Sara sat in the interrogation room across from Heather, alone. She was swallowing her pride and coming to her for help now. She took a deep breath before entering the room, reminding herself to keep her cool. To not let this woman under her skin like she so easily can do.

"You're not here alone, without Grissom, to show me a distorted face and shoddy audio. You're here for another reason, aren't you?" Heather asked after Sara presented her with the only new evidence they gained. Heather felt deeply suspicious of Sara. She never liked her much if she were to be honest. Especially not with the way she left Vegas the first time. And then, after all of that, end the marriage because she wanted to stay in Vegas. Hypocritically cruel, she labeled her in her mind.

"I'm here, based on what I've shown you, to ask if you have any idea of who might be behind this." Her words were pleading, a fact not lost on Heather.

"I've had thousands of clients come through my domain over the years. Any one of them could be after me for a number of unforeseeable reasons."

"I'm not talking about you, Heather. This is about Grissom." She became more stern as she continued, "Why would one of your patients be after him? If you're not behind this, then help me help him."

Heather searched her eyes, "You're scared for him, aren't you?"

"I am." She spoke without blinking.

"Do you love him?" Heathers voice softened as she asked.

Sara stared back at this woman with whom she felt such hostility toward. This woman, who somehow always had a hold over Grissom in one way or another. Who continued to undermine their relationship at every turn.

"I do." She finally spoke.

"I believe you."

"You should." Sara was irritated that she had to justify any of this. Even if she didn't love him, she'd be working tirelessly to save his life. To find whomever who was after him. Why wasn't she? "Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Love him?"

Heather could see right through Sara and her transparent insecurities. "No." She paused, letting Sara think for a moment that she said she didn't love Grissom, "I'm afraid I can't help you." She pushed the evidence back across the table, amending the meaning to her words.

Sara felt her heart drop. She felt vulnerable and exposed now that she'd admitted for the first time, to herself or anyone else for that matter, that she still loved Grissom. She loved him with every beat of her heart. Her cold, indifferent exterior, the walls she'd built to protect herself, they were all crumbling and falling apart. A crushing pain pressed against her heart—the one that began when they'd first ended their marriage. She once thought it would never go away, but now she realized it never did go away. She'd just become good at ignoring it.

"Maybe you should comeback with Brass or Catherine next time. Or Grissom." She said with the sting of a poker. Trying to instigate Sara's intensity. But it didn't work.

"If you care about him at all, you should want to help us solve this. Why won't you? Do you hate me that much?"

"Hate you? Sara. To hate someone would mean you'd have to care about them on some level. I do not care about you."

"I can't understand why you have such contempt for me."

Heather was unfazed by the statement. Unchanging.

"Well, why don't you think about it and when you come up with something helpful. Let me know. Or Brass. Or whomever you deem worthy. Just… don't let your distain for me cloud your ability to help him. Alright?"

She stood and left without another word. She didn't even bother to look at her after her final statement.

She walked the halls to find Grissom in a layout room. He was hunched over the table and as she entered the room, she realized he'd been talking to a jar full of bees. Her heart melted at the sight. How could she be so angry with him? She wondered. His child-like amusement was so endearing.

When he realized her presence behind him he quickly stopped and straightened himself out.

"Hi." He smiled, speaking softly. She observed his body tensing slightly. "I was just talking to the bees..."

"Shocker." She smiled at him, causing his body to relax immediately. A boyish grin brightened his face. That smile always made her a little weak. It caused her to look at him, like really look at him. His beard was short but scruffy. And a bit patchier then she remembered it. His hair was almost blonde it was so light. Sun-bleached, she surmised, from long days on the top deck, out on the Sea for months on end. The new wrinkles that joined the others at the corner of his eyes.

"I heard you were in here and I thought maybe you could use some help." She let her smile flow freely.

He looked up at her now with bright eyes, "I'd love some. I miss working side-by-side with you… you and the bees."

There was a moment there now, where they shared a memory together without speaking it aloud. A memory of the two in beekeeper outfits, when he'd asked her to marry him… the first time. The clanking of their helmets as they awkwardly went to embrace the other. The memory of which swelled both their hearts with joy, even now replaying it in their minds alone.

She moved just past him and leaned down to look at the bees sitting on the lit layout table. It illuminated her. He looked down at her. She was so close to him now that he could smell her signature scent. He closed his eyes briefly, allowing it to assault his senses. How he'd missed that scent, dreamed of it.

"So fellas, what do you know?"

God he loved her. How could he not? As she spoke to the bees it became painfully obvious that he should have just moved back to Vegas to be with her. Find something else scientific to obsess over. Something that wouldn't take him away from her. How could he have let her go? It seems so obvious at the time. But now, the logic escaped him.

He wanted to hang onto this moment forever. Standing over a layout table side-by-side again. He could feel the surge of good memories running through him. It warmed him. He loved working with her. He'd missed it so much.

But alas, the moment came to an end as Hodges entered the room.

The bees took Grissom and Sara out into a remote section of Vegas at the base of several mountain peaks. They found themselves in beekeeper outfits once again, though much less bulky this time around.

They stood in the tented area and began to run through their experiement, color coding the bees. She painted a bee at his direction, holding it gently between tweezers. The blue paint easily attaching to the bee's hairs.

She could feel him looking over her shoulder, his body right behind hers, slightly touching her even. "First time for everything." She spoke a bit mindlessly as she painted the bee.

"Excellent. Well done." He smiled causing her to do the same. She shook her head internally. After all this time, after everything they've been through, it still felt unbelievably good to be his star pupil. For him to be proud of her.

"So this is more or less how the researchers tagged and identified the bees in that colony collapse disorder findings in Science?" It was the last topic they spoke about by phone, a few months after the divorce had been finalized. After Sara's birthday and turned upside down.

"Exactly." He glowed. Every bit of this. It's all he wanted. He wanted it back. He'd forgotten how happy he could be. How good it felt to be in awe of someone. The ability to volley intellect.

Once the bees were released, Grissom and Sara took a seat on camping chairs, side-by-side again. She breathed in deeply, taking in the fresh air of this beautiful day. It felt so good to get outside for a change. To slow down and wait for the science to speak to her.

She rolled up the netting of her helmet, to let the light breeze kiss her face. She leaned back and sipped at her thermos of tea.

He watched her movements and mimicked the way she rolled up her netting. God she's beautiful. He thought to himself as he watched her. Her body language so relaxed, face stoic as she gazed out into the distance. He wondered what she was thinking of in that moment.

He himself couldn't help but to think back to Costa Rica, when they'd spent a whole day just like this observing wildlife around them. Peaceful and quiet and serene. Just like this. But then, he held her hand. Now, they felt worlds apart.

Book soon his mind wandered again. He found himself contemplating how long it might have taken her to move on. If she'd dated anyone these last two years. How her life turned out.

He thought about what Catherine had said to him. How telling her might not be as selfish as he thought it was.

I'm still in love with you. I've never stopped loving you. Since the moment I saw you in 1999. I made a terrible mistake letting you go. I wish things were different. I miss you.

The words ran through his mind but refused to leave his lips. He just stared at her with wonder and admiration. Her beauty was absolutely breathtaking. Intoxicating. But he was so afraid of how she would receive his sentiment. So afraid of being stung. She'd have every right to react poorly to his words. But he knew it would break him. He couldn't bring himself to confront her so directly.

So instead, he let the moment stay peaceful. He watched her sip her tea. Her long legs crossed and body relaxed. And he let himself remember what it was like to have her. Really have her. What it was like to be free to touch her. To hold her. To make love to her. His heart ached at the very thought.

"Greg can't look at me." Grissom spoke after a good half hour of peaceful silence.

"I noticed."

"What's that about."

She smirked as she shot a look sideways at him. "C'mon, Grissom. People take sides."

"They do?"

She nodded, "He doesn't hate you... He's just... Team Sara."

He smiled a bit, "Aren't we all."

Later that night a big development in the case was made and Sara and Grissom rode with the SWAT team to the suspect's home. They walked behind the SWAT team as they approached the suspect. "Dolton Benton?"

Mr. Benton wore a suicide vest, his thumb on the trigger as he monologued. Explaining how he masterminded the whole series of bombings.

"What do you want? What is your goal?" Sara questioned once he finally stoped speaking.

"His life." Benton answered as he pointed to Grissom. "You came along and you turned her heart. She quit role playing because of you. She quit her practice because of you. She quit ME because of you." Benton wagged his finger accusingly at Grissom. "And now, everything Heather and I once had is gone."

"You can't lose something you never had, Mr. Benton. Lady Heather never slept with you. She never slept with any of her clients or her patients." Sara glanced sideways at Grissom upon hearing this. It was something she'd never known before, and frankly, had always assumed the opposite. "But you've been emotionally attached to her. Haven't you? Question now is, how attached are you to that bomb?"

While talking, Grissom was able to get a close enough look at the bomb to see that trigger was not hooked up at all. It was all for show.

"You see," He continued, "I know about bombs. I know about oceans too. There's a great mamal in the ocean known as the 52hz whale. All year he practices his love song for the female. Travels thousands of miles to find her. But when he finally gets the chance to serenade her, she doesn't give him a call back."

Sara's ears perked up at this. Was he really double speaking now, in this most dangerous moment, to speak with her. Just like how he did when they worked together but he was still too uncomfortable confronting her directly so he let his musing to the team speak for him.

It was such an incredibly Grissom thing to do, she almost couldn't believe it. She listened more intently now, trying to decipher his cryptic words.

"Why? His love ballet is sun at 52hz. A sonic signature one note higher then the lowest sound of a tuba. The average female hears at 10 to 15hz. So she never hears his song. They call him the lonely whale. And year and year, for a hundred years he works on a new love song. And never, ever, gets a call back. Eventually he dies off. Forever alone… heartbreaking."

Sara winced at this.

"But you've been calling out too, haven't you? You've been calling out for Lady Heather's love. But she's not calling back, is she? And the frightening part for you is… she never will. And it has nothing to do with me."

"It has everything to do with you!" Benton cried.

"You know that's not true. My guess is you saw me comforting her and her granddaughters funeral, didn't you? And you made some quick assumptions. But the thing about judgements and assumptions is, they're often based on stories we tell ourselves, not reality. Stories like, being strapped to a bomb."

He nodded in the direction of the trigger in Benton's hand.

"You can tell yourself your strapped to that bomb all you want. But it's not the reality, is it?"

Sara looked at the vest again to see that Grissom was absolutely right, they bomb was not attached to the trigger in Benton's hand. She waved over the SWAT team who rushed in and disarmed him before loading him into the truck.

Sara turned toward Grissom. "You did good, Gil."

He smiled sadly in return.

"Keep practicing your song, I'm sure you'll get better." She smiled just as sadly at him, placing a hand on his shoulder before walking away from him.

He tried. He told himself. He took Catherine's advice, and told her how he felt in the only way he felt safe to do so.

Grissom sat across from Heather in the interrogation room. She'd just finished giving a recorded statement to Brass and now, Grissom was allowed to see her.

"Heather. Before I go back on my boat…" He paused a moment, trying to swallow the lump in this throat. "I just wanted to talk you." His words came out hoarse and sad.

"Thank me for what?"

"When we first met, I—I had a shell around my heart. I had lost my belief in humanity. The only truth I knew was empirical science. I just wanted to thank you for… opening my heart. Through you I—I learned to love someone."

"Sara?"

Grissom paused for a moment. Letting Sara's name echo through his ears. He nodded, "She restores my faith in the human being. Plus, she helped me with my crossword puzzles." He smiled at the countless memories he had of picking up a crossword he'd started only to find that she'd finished it… in pen. "She's been my best friend. I'll miss her." His eyes fixated on the table as he tried to push away the thick emotion in his eyes and throat, "For the rest of my life." He smiled sadly once he finally looked back up at her.

"You still love her."

He nodded, "Always."

"So why the sea?"

"Isak Dinesen once said that the cure for anything is salt water. Sweat, tears or the sea." Grissom shrugged.

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds; admit impediments. Love is not love; which alters when alteration finds."

He continued her thought, "Or bends with the remover to remove. O no; it is an ever-fixed mark; that looks on tempests and is never shaken; it is the star to every wandering bark… Sonnet 116."

"Love prevails where it is meant for you. Have a little faith."

"We had something really beautiful." He said sadly and Heather could now see the glistening of unfallen tears in his eyes. "And I let it go. I let her go."

"At the time, you seemed pretty certain."

He nodded, "I thought it was the best thing for her. To release her. But these last two years without her… I think I realize now that maybe I couldn't have done something else. I could have worked harder to keep her happy. Instead, I gave up. I just thought she deserved better then what I had to offer."

"What do you think now?"

"Seeing her again." His heart constricted tightly in his chest, "I just miss her so much."

Heather nodded in understanding, her eyes softened at the hurt she saw her friend displaying.

Grissom left Heather and walked back down the halls toward his old office where he came upon Sara posing with Ecklie for the reporters as he handed over her new "Lab Director" badge.

"Congratulations, Sara. I'll talk to you later."

"Thanks, Conrad." She smiled widely and turned around to see Grissom standing there, watching as the press filtered away. He put his hands together and clapped softly, smiling at her.

She laughed softly thought a wide smile, "Thank you." She walked closer to him. "I never thought I'd see this day coming.. but with D.B. out…"

"You deserve it. Vegas is lucky to have you." He offered.

"The oceans are lucky to have you." She countered. Speaking softly as she watched him shrug awkwardly. "Ironic, isn't it? I'm the one who always wanted to get out of Vegas and you're the one who thought you'd never leave."

He tried to decode her tone. Was is sadness? Resentment? Regret? He couldn't place it. But hearing her speak those words hit him hard. He'd never truly thought of it like that before.

"Yeah…" He said a bit wistfully. His mind consumed with the thoughts of what could have been. "Wow." He took another long pause, not sure what to do or say, "So…" his fingers interlocked with apprehension. Should I just say it? Should I decode my 52hz whale story? Did she not catch it? Was he too cryptic.

But she took his hesitation as just that. And decided to relieve him of his inability to speak the way she had countless times before.

"I hope you find what you're looking for out there." Her voice was hoarse with unshed ears. She waited, searching his eyes once more, or perhaps taking them in and committing their hue to memory. "Goodbye, Gil."

His mouth feel agape wit the unspoken words he'd wished he'd said to her but was just left to watch as she walked past him and down the lab hall, out of view. A sadness and loneliness so deep and so terrifying rushed over him. He couldn't breath. He'd lost her, completely. He realized for the first time in that moment. He lost her forever.

He took a deep breath once he finally felt able and began to make his way out of the lab.

"Gil." Catherine caught up with him, "You're not going to say goodbye."

"I'm sorry, Cath—"

She saw it all in his eyes. "Oh, Gil." She grimaced with deep sadness for her friend. "I'm so sorry."

"I've got to go."

"Yeah okay. Where are you off to this time?"

"I'm not sure yet. But my boat is still in the San Diego Harbor."

She hugged him and let him walk through the double doors and out of the lab.

"Where's he goin?" Lindsay asked as she joined her mother in the hallway.

"Away."

"What about Sara?" Catherine simply shrugged sadly as her response. "They're so clearly in love with each other. Why is it so difficult?"

Catherine smiled in an amused sort of way at her daughters naivety. "They're both very stubborn. And neither is willing to say what needs to be said because each is afraid of the other's reaction."

"That's ridiculous."

"You mind grabbing Heather's statement tape from PD and handing it off to Sara?" Catherine asked to move on.

"Sure thing."

So Lindsay made her way to PD to do just that. Once she was in possession of the tape, she decided to watch it. Heather was an enigma to her, completely fascinated with this off beat character that seemed to illicit such strong emotions from everyone she came in contact with.

And as she sat there in PD, watching the tape, she realized they never turned the camera off at the end. And when Grissom entered the room, the camera was still rolling.

She leaned in, mouth falling open at the words he spoke to Heather. Maybe they won't speak to each other, but she could still hear his words.

With a spark of excitement, Lindsay rushed back to the lab to find Sara in her new office. Grissom's old office.

"Sara! Hey!" She spoke as she entered the office. "Here's the video tape of Lady Heather's final interview before Grissom released her."

Sara examined the envelope briefly before placing it on the side of her desk atop a mountain of paperwork. "Oh, great. Thanks, Lindsay." She returned her focus back to the documents she'd been filling out.

Lindsay thought for a moment. Not wanting the tape to sit on Sara's desk untouched for too long.

"I, uh, I watched the whole interrogation." Sara looked up, realizing she was still in the office, "Uh, I learned a lot. Especially at the very end. You should watch it."

Sara furrowed her brows as she watched Lindsay turn on her heels and disappear down the corridor. She picked up the envelope again. The last thing she wanted to do right now was watch Heather's statement. She had the written document right in front of her. What else could be gained from watching the video? She placed the envelope back down and returned her attention to her paperwork.

But Lindsay's words kept echoing through her mind "…Especially the end." Finally, curiosity got the best of her. She gave in and popped the tape into the player.

She fast forwarded all the way to the end, not in the mood to hear much more from Heather. But she hit play when she saw Grissom's reflection on the two-way mirror behind Heather as he entered the room and took a seat.

She leaned in and listened to their conversation. "She's been my best friend… I'll mis her for the rest of my life." "You still love her?" "Always."

Sara's breath caught in her throat. Her heart constricted tightly in her chest. And suddenly, it all pieced together for her. All of Grissom's communication quirks. His inability to express himself to her. She needed to shed her stubborn bitterness and hear the words she was lucky enough to have captured on tape. She couldn't let him get away again. As she looked around his old office she realized that none of her professional accomplishments really meant anything to her if it was a the cost of the life she really wanted. The life she wanted with him.

She quickly wiped away a tear and grabbed her office phone.

"Stokes."

"Hi."

"Sara?"

"From one Lab Director to another, I need a favor." Nick had left Vegas a year prior to become the Lab Director for the San Diego Crime Lab and they pair hadn't spoken much since he'd made that move.

"Anything."

"I need you to stall Grissom from setting sail. He's on his way back to his boat at the San Diego Harbor."

"Really!?" He spoke excitedly.

"Really."

"I'll get a uniform over there. Make sure he's got all his permits in order. But it'll probably only buy you an hour or so."

"That's all I need. Thank you."

" 'Bout time, Sara."

"Thanks, Nicky."

Sara hung up. She had a lot to do in a short period of time.