Disclaimer: I do not own anything at all. Please don't sue.

Spoilers for Goodbye and Goodluck

Into the Sunset

Chapter 1

The bed creaked as Sara adjusted her position on it. Sighing, she flipped open her cell phone yet again. After four times of opening and closing it and three trips off the bed, pacing her hotel room, Sara took a deep breath and entered the familiar number. The cell phone was shaking in her hand as she held it to her ear. When the call went straight to voicemail, Sara let out a sigh of relief. "Hello, this is Grissom. Leave a message." She almost hung up, but knew she had to leave a message. He would see her number and know she called and he would worry if there was no message accompanying it.

"Hey Gil, it's me…Sara…but I guess you knew that…sorry…I umm…I wanted to see you…I'm sorry…I don't know if you want to see me. If you don't, I understand. Besides, you are probably busy with the lab and can't get away…Sorry, maybe this was a mistake, but if you want to see me, give me a call…please…if not, I understand…I love you…bye."

Sara closed her phone and pulled her knees to her chest. She wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked herself, squeezing her eyes shut and burying herself in her doubts. Trembling, she wondered if it was a mistake calling him, if he even wanted to see her, and how she would deal with it if he didn't. Tears sprung from her eyes. I walked away. I left the best thing that ever happened to me. What if I can't get it back? Sara curled herself up on the bed, pulling a pillow to her chest. She wept as she clung to the pillow.

The room was dark and the blinds were drawn when Grissom woke from his slumber. As he stretched out, his foot made contact with the arm of the sofa. Remembering where he was, he swung his legs over the side and pushed himself into a sitting position. His hand came up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His arm lingered as he looked at the time on his watch. Shift was about to start and he had only three hours of sleep.

The case Grissom had worked on previously weighed heavy on his mind: domestic abuse, ending in murder. It was the kind of case that would eat away at Sara, had she been there. In her absence, it tore Grissom apart. He had worked tirelessly in an effort to put away the abusive husband and father after the man savagely murdered his wife. The eyes of the now motherless children haunted Grissom. Innocence was replaced by fear, sadness, desperation. The murder left two young boys and an even younger girl huddled together, about to be separated by social services. It was the image of the young girl that lingered in Grissom's head. Her sandy blond locks fell in front of her wide eyes, her head down, hiding her eyes even further. She was clinging to her brothers' hands and when she looked up at the investigator, her eyes piercing his soul, Grissom's heart broke. He wondered what Sara's eyes had betrayed when she watched her mother murder her father.

When the evidence was mounted against the father, Grissom wanted to be in the interview room. Normally, he loved to revel in revealing how he solved the puzzle, but in this case, he just needed to make sense of it all, as though it were a key to Sara's past. That night, though, he missed the interview. Brass and Catherine had blocked him from the interrogation room. He was tired and worn and Catherine ushered him to his office before he could muster up an argument. Reluctantly, he admitted he needed some sleep and grudgingly followed the pair's advice. Brass promised him an update after he and Catherine finished the interview.

Reaching for his phone, Grissom checked his voicemail. Three messages. He played the messages. The first was from Ecklie, demanding the backlog of paperwork perched on Grissom's desk. He quickly deleted the message. The second was from Brass, informing him that the DA filed formal charges against the husband in the domestic abuse/murder case. Since all the evidence was logged, the case for now, was closed. Grissom sighed. Now that shift had started again, a new caseload would begin. He listened to the last message. Sara. She needs to see me. I need to see her. He wondered about both the message and the timing of it. Part of him was afraid that she needed to see him to give him bad news, ending their relationship for good, saying goodbye, needing closure. The larger part of him wondered if she was reaching out, if she could feel the pain his recent case caused him, if she felt the same pain and if she was perhaps ready to come home, needing him in the way he needed her. Despite his rational, scientific mind, he always felt a strong, almost paranormal, connection with Sara. He had no doubt, that if soul mates existed, then she was his. When he needed her the most, she called to tell him that she needed him.

Standing up, Grissom walked to the door and flicked on the light switch. He walked over to his desk and sat down, looking over the schedule. He had two consecutive days off coming up and the two days flanking his days off were completely covered. He had just closed his case. He could get away right away.

Grissom hesitated as he was about to call Sara back. The fears of the possibility of her ending it lingered in his mind. He shook those off, comforted by the fact that she had ended the call with "I love you." He was about to hit send when he heard a soft knock on his door. It opened slowly and Catherine peeked in. "Gil, assignments." Grissom nodded and followed her out the door. As they walked down the hall, Catherine took in Grissom's disheveled look. "Gil, you need some rest. You're tired."

Grissom never responded, but followed her silently into the break room, still thinking about the message from Sara. He handed out assignments to everyone but himself, not wanting to get caught up in a case and ruin his chances of seeing Sara. When the team collectively raised their eyebrows at his lack of a case, he shrugged. "Ecklie's been getting after me about paperwork." As they dispersed, the team of CSI's shook their head at Grissom's appearance. Once they had left, he made his way back to his office to call Sara.

Grissom sat behind his desk to make the call. It rang only once before Sara answered. "Hey, Gil."

Grissom smiled at the sound of her voice. "Hi."

"Look…" they both started in unison. Grissom chuckled as Sara spoke. "Go ahead."

"No Sara, you start."

Grissom leaned back against his chair and held his breath as he waited for Sara to start. "Okay." Grissom heard a pause over the phone. He closed his eyes as she continued. "I…I think I need to see you."

Grissom forced himself to release the breath he was holding. The next obstacle to speaking was the lump that had formed in his throat upon hearing her tone. He swallowed the lump and spoke softly. "Okay. Where are you? Are you still in San Francisco? I could come there."

"No!" Grissom cringed at Sara's outburst. "I mean yes, I'm still in San Francisco, but I don't want you to come here. I…I kind of wanted to meet some place neutral. Maybe somewhere in between?"

Grissom took a deep breath and removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Okay, where?"

"I don't know. Tahoe?"

"Tahoe? Sierra Nevadas? Sounds great. Where on the lake?"

"I don't know, you choose."

Grissom opened up his laptop and typed in Lake Tahoe. "Okay."

He heard Sara clear her throat. Her voice was so soft he almost never heard it. "When?"

"I can leave right after shift."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I've already checked the schedule."

"So…I'll see you tomorrow?"

Grissom sighed and smiled softly. "Yeah, tomorrow. I'll make all the arrangements and call you with them. Are you going to drive or fly?"

"Drive probably. Gil…thanks."

"It's not a problem."

"Not just for making the arrangements. Just…thanks."

"Sara?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"Yeah…bye."

"I'll call you right back." Grissom hung up the phone and looked over the various locations and accommodations on the screen in front of him. He decided on renting a vacation home on the more remote south end of the lake. Luckily it wasn't heavy tourist season and he was able to find a nice cabin available for the time he had off. As it was away from the ski hill and in between communities, he was able to get four nights for a great deal. He phoned Sara back and relayed the information.

Grissom worked on paperwork until shift finished. He handed in what he had finished, grabbed his jacket from his office and made his way to the exit. Passing the break room, he ran into Catherine, clutching a cup of coffee.

Catherine looked at Grissom quizzically as he walked by and moved to the exit. She called out to him. "You're leaving on time?"

Grissom turned back and looked at her. "Yeah." The one word answer peeked her curiosity.

"Oh? Did you get some sleep earlier?"

"A few hours."

"Good. It's good to see you leaving on time too. Get some rest."

"Catherine?" He stopped her.

"Yes?"

"I think you're right. I need some time off, clear my head. You have shift tomorrow."

Catherine spit out the coffee she had been drinking. She rushed into the break room to get a rag to clean up her mess. As she wiped up the coffee she looked up at Grissom. "Tomorrow? You're taking time off beginning tomorrow? With that short notice, you better be going after Sara."

Grissom narrowed his eyes in warning. "Catherine, we talked about this."

Catherine groaned. "Yeah, yeah. I know. You won't go, she doesn't want that, you want her to be happy. Just…I don't know…just do something to make you happy again."