"Something about this just doesn't feel right." Mused Nick.

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that it took us hours, no days, to find anything on the first case but the guys finger prints were all over Saras apartment. Why do such a good job of cleaning up the first time if you're just going to be sloppy the next time around?"

"Well maybe he planned to clean up but he was interrupted." Greg speculated.

"Why not wear gloves?" The younger CSI shrugged at this valid point. Nick sighed. "You don't think he did this?" Frowned Greg confused by Nicks change of heart.

"No I think he did it. I know he did it, I mean the guy did confessed."

"He could be covering for someone."

"He could but… What if he just had an accomplice? Someone who cleaned up after him the first time but then not with the break in."

"Like who?"

She was in a daze, her mind blank. She had no asked where Grissom was taking her when he led her from his office, paid no attention to her surroundings or to the direction in which she was being driven. Her mind was blank. The gentle voice and strong hand placed lightly on her arm broke her from her trance. "We're here Sara." She stared into his eyes, the look of loving concern being one alien to her until that very moment. She followed him wordlessly from the car and through the front door, only realising then that this is not where she had expected to be.

"You brought me here?" She asked quietly.

"I was worried. You need to be somewhere you can relax, you look like you haven't slept properly in days."

"I haven't." She admitted simply.

"Have you eaten?" She nodded. "Would you like some tea?" She nodded again, more to stop him worrying than anything else. She stood silently in the middle of the living room and watched him as he made his way over to the kitchen. With every step he took away from her she began to feel weaker as if somehow his being near her gave her the energy to fight her demons. Almost without thinking she began to follow him, slowly observing as he filled the kettle and removed two mugs from the cupboard. So lost in his own thoughts, Grissom hadn't realised she was behind him until he felt two delicate hands on his waste. They moved around his body until they enveloped him and he felt the warm contact of her body pressed against his. He turned in her arms and she instantly rested her head on his shoulder, breathing in deeply to assure her self that he really was here. His arms moved around her body to hold her closer as he spoke. "Are you ok?" She nodded again.

"Thank you." Was all she could say, all she really needed to say. It was long after the kettle had boiled that they were still standing there, in the kitchen, in a silent embrace.

"Your boyfriend has already confessed to murder, breaking and entering and assault. We just don't think he did it alone." Began Brass. "In fact, we think that you helped him." The girl leaned back in her chair, eyeing the two detectives.

"You think?"

"Well no offence, but he doesn't seem like the brightest bulb in the packet and that murder, well it must have taken a lot of thinking about, a lot of work for it to be cleaned up the way it was." Brass continued, trying to perhaps flatter her into confessing. It had worked for him before and with little forensic evidence to support the theory, it had to be worth a try. "You just seem to me like the kind of girl who could pull that off." She shrugged.

"You don't have to be smart to be tidy."

"No you don't. But knowing how to cover up a murder… Now that takes some skill." She shrugged again.

"I guess." The two detectives looked at each other. She was not going to give up lightly they realised. "You can't keep me here." Said the girl. "You don't have anything to hold me on. So if you don't let me leave right now, I'm calling a lawyer." Both Brass and Sofia sighed inwardly. She was right. They couldn't hold her.

"Ok Miss Richards. You're free to leave. But don't be going too far."

"I wont. I have nothing to run from." She said standing up triumphantly and heading towards the door, which was suddenly pushed open by a rather flustered but satisfied looking Nick Stokes.

"I wouldn't count on leaving just yet." He said to her, waving the paper and evidence bag he held in his hand in the direction of Brass. "We've just finished processing your boyfriends house and it seems lover boy has dropped you right in it, so why don't you just take a seat and start talking."

Sara emerged from the bathroom feeling refreshed but very much ready to sleep. She perched on the edge of the mattress and unwrapped the towel from around her hair, letting it fall damp and loose around her shoulders, the gentle waves framing her pale face. Grissom came to her side and began to gently dry her hair with slow, circling motions. She gasped as his hand ran over place where her head had collided with the table causing him to instantly stop, his body filling with guilt. "It's just a little saw still that's all." She said, seeing his concern.

"Why don't you lay down for a while? Get some rest. I'm going to call Nick, get him to drop your stuff off here after his shift finishes."

"I had forgotten about Nick." She said quietly, rubbing her forehead firmly with her hand.

"I'm sure he'll understand." Grissom said taking her hand away from her face and kissing the back of it. She nodded and rested her head on the pillow.

"Stay with me?" She asked, closing her eyes.

"Always." He said pulling the covers over her, making her smile. Abandoning the idea of calling nick now, knowing Sara needed him here more, he came round to the side of her and pulled himself close, his arm wrapped over her, their fingers entwined. And she slept. For the first time in days, she slept.

She was looking decidedly nervous. "I swear I don't know how that got there." She said, referring to the blood they had found on a pair of her shoes in Carl Thompsons house. "It must have rubbed off the shoes he was wearing or something."

"I don't think so sunshine." Said Nick shaking his head. "You see the way it's positioned on the shoe, that isn't blood that 'rubbed off'. That got there when you helped your boyfriend cover up the murder of an eight year old boy, a boy that he only knew because his parents trusted you to baby-sit him." She was on the verge of breaking; Brass could see it in her eyes. It only needed one more push.

"Or maybe you didn't just help to cover it up. Maybe you helped to kill him?" That was all it took.

"I didn't kill him ok. When I got there he, he was already dead." A single tear fell down her cheek. "Carl begged me to help him. He said it was an accident and that if I really loved him, or cared at all about Jimmy and his parents, that I would help him to burry the body and make sure that they didn't ever find out he was dead."

"How exactly was that meant to show that you cared about him and his family?" Nicked asked, shocked by the reasoning behind the burial.

"Because..." She sighed. "Because if they didn't know he was dead then at least they could hope they would see him again. If they knew he was dead then that was it you know… he was really gone."

"He was really gone either way." Brass told her, but she knew this already. She always had really, her tears showing how sorry she was for the pain she had caused.

Having slept well for three days Sara decided she couldn't put off gong to her apartment any longer. But now as she stood there, Grissoms hand holding hers, she could feel herself crumbling again. Feeling her beginning to tremble, Grissom squeezed her hand tighter. "You don't have to do this."

"Yes I do." She turned the key in the lock and taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door and stepped inside. The curtains were drawn and she made her way over to the window, opening them one at a time. She paused to look out of the window, forcing herself to stop shaking before she turned around. It was her apartment, but it didn't look the same anymore. It didn't feel the same. She ran her hand along the back of the large purple chair by the window and looked over to Grissom. "It's strange, being here again. I don't really feel scared, just… sad." He walked over to her, holding out his hands for her to hold. She obliged and he pulled her towards him. "I don't want you to be sad. I want you to be happy." She rested her head on his shoulder.

"If you're here, I am happy." He smiled.

"Then be with me always. You don't have to stay here Sara." She lifted her head so their eyes met in the dimly lit room. "Move in with me?" Her breath caught in her throat for a moment and she swallowed hard.

"Grissom I, I don't know what to say."

"Say yes." She smiled, but she couldn't speak. She didn't want to cry, as she had shed enough tears over the last few days to last a lifetime, but her eyes began to fill with salty moisture anyway. "Sara, move in with me?" He asked again.

"Yes." She laughed. "Yes." They kissed, a long, passionate kiss. When they came apart, they were both smiling.

"Come on," Grissom said. "Lets go home."

THE END

Hope you liked it. (Sorry it took a while to get the last chapter up.) Please let me know what you think, you know I love to read your reviews :)

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