A/N: Our writers have finished another section of this tale...remember you are welcome to add a passage by visiting homeofthegsraddict dot com and clicking on the link on the homepage. This chapter was beta'd by site member MyKate. We look forward to your reviews of this developing story!

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"I'm okay."

Sara worked herself around the chaos and unclasped Judy who had banged her head.

Robert was reached out to touch her, but she shook her head as she pushed passed him.

"Help Judy," she said as the horror of the last time she'd been in a car in torrential rain threatened to overwhelm her.

Getting out of the transport, Sara joined the others assessing the damage.

"Axle's gone, " Sara said quietly, and their heads turned to look at her.

"Hey, I know a few things about cars...alright?"

"How are we going to get to the station?" someone whispered, their worry masked by the persistent pounding of the rain.

Before she could answer, Robert joined them.

"We're going to walk..it's not that far," he assured them.

"In this?" one of them asked trying to get his bearings.

"Yeah...if we stick to the tracks. The car radio is bust, but they are expecting us...if we're lucky, we'll be met".

"And if we're not?" half-joked another.

"Then we'll be very wet and tired when we get there!" Sara informed him.

They took it in turns to help Judy, and Sara reflected that at any other time the walk would have been breathtaking.

But as they soldiered on through rain, they could barely see the path through it.

It seemed to Sara that she'd done this before...only in oppressive desert heat...

A shout ahead made them all look up, snapping Sara's thoughts back to the present.

"We're here!" whooped one of the young guys. Sara was too exhausted to care who it had been.

Now suddenly, there were hands lifting the heavy packs from her back and several friendly voices urging them all out of the rain.

Sara was losing her battle with fatigue as she felt a sure and steady grip of raincoated arms around her waist and shoulders.

Instinctively turning towards the source of this support, her lonely mind flashed the one image that she had always associated with comfort.

"Grissom?" Sara murmured gazing into blue eyes that peered out from under the bulky rainhat.

"I'm Dr. Phillips," the woman smiled reassuringly, but Sara failed to process the information as her body had finally shut down.

Sheer mental and physical exhaustion, mixed with the knock to the head she'd received from the side support frame when the vehicle had suddenly lurched to the side on the hazardous track as the axle gave way, were now taking their consequences as Sara's world suddenly faded to black, and her body went limp.

"Hey! I need help over here! We've got an emergency!" yelled Dr Phillips through the din as the commotion from the noisy storm was bolstered by the numerous loud voices filling the area around the compound.

Robert was at her side kneeling down instantly.

"Let's get her to one of the bed in the dorms," he said as he put one hand under Sara's knees, the other around and under her shoulders, before quickly lifting her up close to his chest as he hurriedly followed Dr Phillips.

Robert was sent from the room as soon as he'd placed her on the bed.

"You can come back later when she's been assessed," an elderly nurse told him as she began to tend to her patient.

A moment later, she realized the tall figure had not moved from the doorway.

Her glance shifted from the patient to his worried eyes and back.

"Are you and she?" she asked kindly.

With a final look at Sara lying death-like on the bed, Robert turned his attention to the nurse and shook his head.

"No...I...We..We're just friends."

Moving towards him, she patted his hand comfortingly.

"Don't worry. Dr. Phillips is a very good doctor".

Robert could only nod before backing out of the room.

Taking a deep, calming breath, he closed his eyes and squared his shoulders before moving down the hallway towards the exit doors.

As he reached out to push open the screened door, he twisted his head once more to gaze down the hallway before purposefully striding forward with such intensity that the screen door bounced several times before returning to rest in place.

He found himself very much in demand as soon as they had settled, organizing the distribution of people and work; whatever they could salvage and save had to be priority.

Robert was kept too busy to think about Sara, but when one of the radio operators came in asking for Sara, he went to the radio room instead.

"It's a Dr. Grissom on the line," he was told.

Taking a deep breath Robert switched the radio to send and spoke.

"Hello. This is Robert Crockett. I'm afraid Sara is unable to speak to you right now,"...

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Some hours later Sara woke to a dim light.

Glancing around she frowned, trying to remember where she was and how she'd got there.

Her movements attracted the attention of Robert who had found his way back to sit with her after ending the phone call.

"How are you feeling?" he asked quietly, taking her hand in his firm but gentle grip.

Sara's only response to Robert was a groggy smile.

Although she hated hospitals and was uncomfortable with having a fuss made over her, right now she was actually relieved to have someone here holding her hand.

The whole incident had resurrected buried memories of her desert crisis, and her anxiety level now mirrored her state in the days following that ordeal.

Robert clung to Sara's hand protectively, unconsciously rubbing his thumb lazily in a soothing motion.

Sara closed her eyes at the sensation, recalling how Gil had sat for endless days keeping some part of himself in contact with her at all times, often repeating just such motions while holding her hand.

She pictured his face, and how he had never left her side in those days following her rescue until her release from Desert Palms.

She smiled softly at the memory of their homecoming.

Gil had been so cautious of their every step lest she suffer any additional pain.

He had been so focused on keeping her safe from harm that even poor Hank had kept his distance, cowering in the corner, after receiving a death glare from Grissom as they had crossed the threshold.

Now, upon reopening her eyes, the smile evaporated as Sara realized there were no gentle blue eyes attached to this display of concern.

She pulled her hand out of Robert's grasp, almost wanting to apologize as she noted the hurt briefly flash across his eyes.

If she had been a party to his recent phone conversation with Gil, however, an apology would have been the farthest thing from her mind...

------

Grissom's mind was going in circles.

Dropping his keys on to the table, he sat and absently ran his fingers through Hank's fur.

"Boy, do I need some sleep," he said aloud, sighing as he was reminded there was no one there to care.

His mind was going back over the last couple of days, trying to get his thoughts into some sort of order.

The case was going, albeit slowly:

They had through reconstruction got a name of the guy who was currently the main suspect...

Brass was chasing him down, but the guy's wife seemed to have no idea where he may have gone..."Camping," she'd said...

Nick had found a video tape and they were searching for any kind of point of reference...

Hodges had been his usual self, but Langston had taken the developments in his stride...

and having finally gotten through to the campsite, some stupid guy had tried to tell him Sara had been "unavailable"...

he would try again just as soon as his eyes could focus...

Silently, Gil slipped into sleep, then falling sideways on the couch.

Hank whined, snuffled his hand, then scrambled up to join him.

Grissom muttered, but moved to accommodate him...the buzzing of the phone failed to wake either of them.

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"Damn it, Gil! Answer your damned phone, will you?" Catherine cursed.

"He never used to be like this...until recently," she commented to Ray Langston who stood to her side.

"We need him to take a look at this latest body with bugs, so we can get a time line as to where this guy fits into all this. We-" she started to say, then turned back to leave a message on the voice mail for Grissom.

"This is all futile. I'm gonna try something..I'll be back soon" Ray called over his shoulder as he hurried from the layout room.

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Meanwhile back at the Costa Rica main research head quarters, Sara now felt a deep-seated sadness overwhelm her at her memories having been so abruptly halted by the stark realization of another man trying to comfort and care for her.

Tears stung at her eyes, so she turned herself over and away from Robert's prying eyes.

Feeling the "butterfly bandaid" in place in the back of her hand holding a drip in place only added fuel to her emotions at the reference to the name given to the first aid strip.

In comparison to her past delight in and love of the insect that Gil had introduced and educated her in, she felt despair over the need for yet another hospital procedure.

Memories of other hospital stays and the events that surrounded them washed over her; but unlike those other times, there was no comforting words or soothing touches from Gil to ease her pain.

The silent tears finally broke free unhindered as she turned her face deeper into the pillow.

Grissom...

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Grissom woke to Hank's face snuffling into his.

"Okay, okay! I'm up!"

Rising stiffly off the couch, he mentally thanked Sara for insisting on a new one when they'd finally moved in together.

Letting Hank out to the small yard, he flicked on the coffee and checked his phone.

Missed calls..uh oh... Catherine had been trying to call..

Getting back to her about this case was certainly a priority...but his main focus remained trying to call Sara again.

He scrubbed his hands roughly over his face before reaching for his cell phone and leaning tiredly against the kitchen counter...

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Hours later, awoke to find herself alone in the infirmary room.

Before she had time to dwell on her previous thoughts, a movement at the door caused her head to whip around defensively.

The nurse came into Sara's room noting, but not mentioning, the tear-stained face that turned towards her.

"Hello! It's nice to see you finally awake," she spoke softly but with a genuine smile.

Sara returned a subdued nod, and began to turn away when the nurse's next statement stopped her movement.

"I have your young man on the phone...he is insisting he be allowed to talk with you," she said with a conspiratorial tone.

Speechless, Sara could only watch the nurse move towards the patient dresser, remove an old fashioned princess phone, and plug the jack into the wall outlet.

A slight tilt of the head, a broad smile, and an outstretched hand holding the receiver encouraged Sara to reach out hesitantly to accept this lifeline from her despair.

"Grissom?" Sara all but breathed out.

Gil's eyes drifted shut for a moment, willing his heart to stop pounding.

"Hi," was all he could muster at the moment, imagining her sleepy eyes as they used to rise and greet the new day while he snuggled closer to her in their blanketed cocoon where time had stood still whenever they were wrapped around each other.

The rush of feelings almost choked her at the warmth of his tone.

"Grissom,..I'm fine...really...just tired..."

After a pause, "I'm in Costa Rica," she said.

"Costa Rica?"Gil gave a short bark of laughter and wondered at the hand of fate.

"It's really beautiful here I'm told, when its not in the middle of a storm! And so many insects, all shapes and sizes...you'd love it," her voice trailed off, hating that he might worry about her if he understood how desperately she missed him.

"Sara," he spoke softly, "I'm sure it's every thing you say, I just need to...." the beeping warned of an incoming call.

"I'm sorry, honey, but I have to take this. I will call you again as soon as possible...I miss you."

The dial tone echoed in her ear.

"Yeah...me too," she said softly, though her heart broke to know Gil was no longer there to hear it.

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Costa Rica!

Grissom's thoughts raced back to the phone call from Frost...

The tiredness immediately left him.

Was it possible?

I'm not getting any younger...

That realization that made him take a long,hard look at his life.

Was this really possible? he thought again.

This time, a smile transformed his thoughtful expression.

Yes!

He'd make it so!

Reaching for his phone, he checked his call history for the number.

His fingers shook slightly as he dialed.

"Spencer Frost... Ah! Dr. Grissom!"...

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Grisson sat in his home office, his mind still reeling from the conversation with Dr Frost.

He still had another 4hrs before his next shift...and there was much to be done.

Instead of calling Catherine, Grissom quickly gathered his briefcase, locked up the house, and got Hank in the car ready to drop him off at the sitter's.

Twenty minutes later, he strolled into the lab with a small knowing smirk on his face, as lab techs passed him in the corridor frowning.

Sometime later that day, it had rapidly gone around the lab that their enigmatic boss was working out his resignation notice, that his current case would be his very last.

Yet after all these years, none of them actually knew the guy who'd spent so much time in this place.

Hodges reckoned, even bragged at times, that indeed he knew 'Gil', as he'd recently opted to call him; that he was his friend, confidant, and buddy. T

Techs and criminalists alike had all scoffed at this, but were now perplexed at how David seemed so upset and annoyed at being left out of being told the initial news officially by the man himself.

Having visited the personnel office, Gil dropped his stuff in his own office then sought out his team with a new found enthusiasm for life, for his future with Sara.

However right now, top of his agenda was hopefully finding Maureen Masters still alive, then finishing up the case so he could leave the lab, satisfied it was in capable hands.

As he made his way towards the layout room, he was met by Brass.

After giving Gil a quick update, he glanced across at him and asked," The sheriff wanted to know if you'd be willing to stay on?"

Noting the glare he received in reply, Jim just shrugged. "Asked and answered," he said as they separated.

"Okay what do we have?" Grissom looked round the room at his 'team' plus Langston as they began to bring everyone up to date with their findings.

"Well David has been waiting on you in the morgue with a bug infested body..." Catherine glanced at her watch, "...for the last six hours.

But if you'd bothered to answer your damned cell phone, you'd know that Gil," she said irritatedly.

Grissom let out a sigh.

Her demeanor told him she was taking badly the news of his leaving.

They had worked together for a long time, and the last thing he wanted was to see her hurting.

"Cath....." he started to defend himself by relating all he had accomplished in those hours: a power nap, the call to Sara, accepting the invitation from Dr. Frost, tendering his resignation...

One look at the glare directed his way, and he decided not to press the issue.

He didn't want to argue with her.

But he knew they needed to make time to talk about his decision to join Sara.

Turning back to the case at hand, Grissom cleared his throat and continued.

"Brass filled me in on the latest arrests and findings. So did you get anything from the tapes?" Grissom asked as he looked up to the large computer monitor's frozen frame in front of him.

Nick spoke up and went on to expain the details of their findings from the haul of video tapes they'd found and viewed.

"So it looks like your theory was right, Ray, confirmed with Catherine and Henry's findings. Good call."

Grissom thought for a few minutes as the team gave him time to process. Straightening up, he made eye contact with them to signal he had formulated a plan.

"Okay. See if Archie can get us some good stills of the best shots of the cabin and work from there.

Greg check with Hodges on that trace you found on the shoe, it might narrow down our location.

Let me know of any results that come in that might be probative, I'll be down with David," he said leaving the layout room to go to his destination.

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He worked alongside the Coroner's assistant, collecting bugs and sharing his knowledge by instinct, he was after all a teacher at heart.

"You're going to miss this," David said, looking across at him shyly.

Taking a moment, Grissom pondered the statement before replying.

"There are bugs everywhere, David."

Gil paused to really look at the emotions washing over the young man's face.

"But I will miss you," Gil added softly.

He was startled to see the effect his words had on the young man, and felt a sudden pang at the realization that he would indeed miss David, as much as the rest of his team.

But all of these wonderful people combined could get close to filling the gaping hole left by Sara's absence.

She filled up all the places no one else knew, or much less cared, about.

Miss these colleagues he would.

But at least with Sara, he would begin to feel alive again.

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The whole building shook almost with the force of the winds.

Loud clatters, bangs, and piercing metal grinding could be hear throughout the place as the storm lashed it fiercely.

Men and women rushed around, in and out of the rooms checking, making sure their attempts to secure them safely inside had been enough.

The sound plus the commotion had Sara rolled up in a fetal position under the covers of the bed, as she desperately fought to find sleep. T

The nurse had offered her a mild sedation, after she made sure Sara had eaten along with taking in plenty of fluids, but the pills were refused immediately.

The doctor had drawn blood and had gotten a urine sample off Sara to run some test to try to rule out any other possible causes for her black out.

The bump to her head had been assessed and deemed only a minor injury, but the dehydration followed by the hastily penned note from Robert of her vomiting in the field a few times in the last couple of weeks had the physician concerned.

Sara just wanted the incessant noise to stop, and for everything to go away - especially Robert, who'd come back and was hovering round her bed for hours.

Pulling her limbs in tighter to herself, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to pull Gil's soothing voice from the vault of her memory.

The storm's rage made that task impossible.

Sara pulled on the blanket more tightly.

She felt pretty miserable right now.

As happens with all storms, however, the end was in sight.

Eventually, blessed silence came..the storm had passed, leaving in it's wake destruction and chaos.

Sara had forced herself up and into the thick of the clean up, hoping to keep her mind and body occupied.

Somehow it seemed such a chore.

For the first time in a long while, she felt utterly drained, her initial enthusiasm for this mission had waned.

She longed to talk to Grissom, but as yet there was no contact with the outside world since the lines went dead almost directly after her last conversation with Gil.

Crews were still busily working on restoring communications lines.

Watching the bustle of activity around her, Sara zoned out as she wrapped her arms around herself as she stood to the side, wondering where he was right now, imagining what he was doing...

------

At that moment, Grissom was sitting at the table in his office, various papers and books strewn across the surface.

"Astronomy?" Nick's voice asked as he entered.

Gil looked at him over the rim of his glasses.

"I'm trying to gain a new perspective."

Nick nodded curiously, taking a seat and pouring over the materials in an attempt to catch on to Grissom's train of thought.

They sat going over the information he'd gathered.

"You know, I will never forget the things you taught me," Nick said quietly.

Grissom raised his head, and they locked gazes.

"You were always my best student, Nick," Grissom replied.

Yes, for a short while, Sara had been his student, but even at the very beginning she'd been so much more

Until in the end, she had become the teacher.

The thought brought a mellow smile to Grissom's face.

Nick and Gil locked gazes for a moment, before Nick grinned widely at the mental picture of how happy Sara was going to be to see Grissom and realize he finally was showing her she was "worth the risk".

The moment passed quickly, and the two men turned back to the task at hand, their motivation to conclude this case successfully having been kicked up another notch.

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Sara stood silently taking in the scene before her.

In the wake of the torrential rains, every frond in the large tropical canopy glistened with the emerging sunlight.

The air felt oppressive, yet the moisture somehow made you feel alive.

Sara's fingers grasped the railing of the deck outside the medical tent.

Her thoughts were of Grissom.

For a moment, she indulged herself in the fantasy that if she peered down the path towards the bend in the high brush, he might magically appear.

Her heart raced in suffocating longing to see him, touch him, let him know by her barrage of kisses that she wanted no other home than with him.

So deep was Sara in thought that she did not observe Robert watching her.

She had become like a forbidden fruit for him, and here now, in the backdrop of this tropical forest, his weary mind and fatigued body were losing the battle with his desires.

Robert's thoughts were becoming more obsessive.

If he really loved you, the kind of love you deserve, you would never have left him.

He can't really love you Sara, not like I could love you.

He isn't good enough for you.

He let you go. I would never let you go.

You really don't belong with him, Sara.

But we could be so happy together.

Sara was startled when large hands covered hers as she felt rather than heard a figure suddenly invading her personal space.

Turning her head to avoid the warmth of his breath against the side of her ear, Sara's heart pounded as she realized the others all seemed to have left to assess the damage to the relay station.

Her eyes closed as she felt his hand brush back her hair from behind her ear as Robert poured forth his emotions as he whispered, "I'm here, Sara. I'll take care of you."

With that, Sara felt herself being turned until she was face to face with Robert's unreadable expression.

Before another heartbeat passed, they were brought out of their moment by a distracting cry from inside the building, "Hey! phone lines are back on!"

"I need to make a call right away," Sara yelled out in reply, stepping quickly away from Robert.

A little shiver was shooting down her spine at the man's pure cheek of invading her personal space without invitation.

She rushed inside to see a few people already assembled waiting, obviously needing to use the only telephone in the building.

"Radio's not gonna be up and running for a few more hours yet. This is all we got," said one of the male research students Sara had spoken to before a few times.

"Get you a drink while we wait?" he asked with a genuine smile.

"Thank you, that would be really nice," Sara replied as she watched him take off to the kitchen area.

Felix was a great guy to have around, always helpful, caring, hard working and always eager to please those he considered his friends, but he and Robert seemed to rub each other up the wrong way, clashing at the slightest thing.

Plus Felix had made more than a few comments to Robert about his insistence on always being teamed Sara.

--------

Grissom concentrated on the busy highway en route to the college to review the tapes of the last video conference.

Something in that last round of interview had been nagging at Grissom.

He hoped that with their new leads, something would jump out at him to help him find the missing piece of their puzzle and allow him to wrap up the case and get to Sara.

At just that moment, his cell chimed.

"Grissom," he spoke in an agitated tone, not glancing at the caller ID.

He was tired, he was hungry, and he was missing his Sara.

At first, he thought this had to be a dream.

"Did I call at a bad time?" an almost nervous voice responded after the briefest delay.

"Sara," was all Gil could utter, his relief upon hearing her voice was palpable.

As the others in line waited as patiently as possible for their five minutes of talk time, Sara curled herself around the phone cord in an effort to secure the least bit of privacy.

She closed her eyes as Grissom spoke her name, his loving tone almost her undoing.

Before she could answer, however, her eyelids opened to spy the broad shoulders of Robert leaning against the door frame of the cabin - mere steps away from her position.

They locked eyes in a move that made Sara feel more than a little uncomfortable despite the proximity of the rest of those waiting to place a call.

"Gil," she breathed, barely forcing the sound past her lips which she unconsciously was burying into the mouthpiece in an effort to keep her words hidden from Robert's intrusive glare.

"Sara?" Gil inquired worriedly, "Is everything alright?"

"Yes. The storms passed over now and I'm okay...I just.....I miss you Gil" Sara said finishing on a long heartfelt sigh.

"Oh, honey, I miss you too." Gil replied in a tender low voice, as he pulled in at the college parking lot.

"Are you sure you're okay, Sara?" he asked worriedly.

He'd picked a hint of something up in her tone that made him think that not all was right with her.

"Yeah, I've just been a little under the weather recently....Nothing I can't handle," Sara added.

Gil still wasn't aware of any specifics of her having received medical attention for the bump to the head, dehydration, or the blood urine tests that were being run.

She hadn't wanted to worry him, nor had she mentiond Robert's unwanted advances towards her which were making her uncomfortable.

He had enough worries right now in dealing with the lab, the team after Warrick's death, her leaving him again, then trying to patch things up in their relationship after her attempt to set him free of obligation to her by means of that web cam message.

No, she'd decided, she wouldn't put added pressure on him by pushing him into a decision he'd later regret.

All she clung to was the hope that by his own volition he would make the decision to join her so that they could finally start their new life together.

"Sara..." Gil said in his 'Come on talk to me' tone.

"Really Gil. I'm fine. Right now, we're just trying to get the station back up and running to its status before the storm," she said reassuring him, as well as moving the conversation on to another subject.