Sara woke the sound of the coffee grinder and the smell of fresh brewed coffee. She got up and went into the kitchen to find Jim cooking something. The smell was wonderful and as she approached she could tell what he was making; Belgian waffles with strawberry topping and powdered sugar, accompanied by scrambled eggs and home fried potatoes. She watched as Jim worked his magic. She had no idea that Jim was so useful in the kitchen; and not just cleaning, either.

When he was done, he set two plates on the dining room table along with the coffee and some fresh squeezed orange juice. He didn't use the juicer because he didn't want to wake her too soon, so he hand squeezed the juice and pulp from the oranges.Turning round', Jim saw Sara watching him. He was dressed in jeans and a tank-top and bare feet. She loved the way he looked when he went ultra casual as opposed to his usual suit and tie; which she loved as well, but she preferred the look he was sporting now.

Jim approached Sara and began to check her head wounds and sutures on her face. They were a nice, deep shade of purple and some bruising had yet to make itself evident. Truth be told, she looked like she'd been mugged. However, to Jim she was still beautiful; she was always beautiful to him. For the longest time he'd admired her from afar, but knowing that she had a thing for Grissom, he'd held back. But since her and Grissom's blow-up the previous year, Brass made his move and much to his surprise she'd been very receptive. At present, they'd been seeing each other on the sly for the better part of a year. It was hard to hide their relationship from a gaggle of investigators, but they'd been successful so far. The bit about him having her medical power of attourney was kind of a give away, especially since Brass had said it with Grissom present.

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In his office, Grissom had his head buried in a book when Brass came in. He sat in a chair opposite Grissom and sighed.

"She's going to need another few weeks of leave. She hurt her back pretty good and her arm is broken, this time." he explained

Looking at him with an odd expression on his face.

"Well, if she needs it she's got it. I took a look at her folder and she's got more than enough time. She's got her sick leave and she's got her vacation time. If need be, she can tap into her vacation time. But if I'm right, she'll be back in a few days. She can't sit still for long. If she comes back to the lab again, before her time is up, she'll be restricted to the building." he said

"Yeah, that's what happened last time she came in before time and she would up on her back at the bottom of a storm drain. This time she can't be permitted to leave the building." Jim said

Looking at the roster for the night and the cases, Grissom looked up.

"Well, Nick had a solo tonight, so when he comes back she'll assist him. They work well together. Or I could have her assist Greg; he had a solo tonight as well." Grissom stated

"I don't care who she helps, but we just have to keep her in the building." Brass said

Right at that moment Grissom saw Sara come walking down the hall with a cane. He called out to her and she joined Brass in Gil's office. They both looked at her with disapproving expressions.

"Ok, here's the deal. We all know you can't sit still for long before going crazy, so you can work in the lab. You are not permitted to leave the building. When Nick returns, you'll assist him with his case. Deal?" Grissom explained

"Look, we all know what happened and that you're technically on leave, but you have to promise us you'll comply and stay in the lab. No field trips, no taking the truck to follow leads and you have to be restricted to the lab. We can't risk you getting injured again." Brass said

"I understand. I just want to do my job. You can cancel my leave because I won't be sitting at home for three weeks. If I need a break, I'll just take a day or two, but for the most part I'll come in everyday." she said

With the terms having been agreed to, Sara waited for Nick to return so she could assist him in his case. She knew there was a car involved because a tow truck had just showed up at the back gate and the car had been loaded on to the rack. Just as she looked inside the car with benefit of her flashlight, Nick showed up. Sara explained that she was to help him on his case and as he asked her to bring in the evidence bags.

Sara had brought the bags into the vehicle bay and set them to the side. She asked Nick the particulars of the case and about the car.

"Well, I collected the evidence from where the car was found and had the car towed here so I can collect any evidence from the inside and exterior of the vehicle. I suggest you get a jumpsuit; there was a body in the trunk. Messy work." Nick explained

Sara grabbed a jumpsuit from the supply closet and suited up. She had her kit and as she examined the trunk Nick took the inside of the car. There was decomp enough in the trunk as well as blood and other nasty stuff. The body had been in the trunk for a week; as was David's best estimate. He took the body and left the car for Nick to process.

From the trunk, Sara recovered several bullets and sent them to Bobby for inspection and striation comparison. The body was with the coroner being autopsied for cause of death and other bodily injuries. Nick left Sara so that he could witness the exam. The stench was almost unbearable, so Nick and Doc. Robbins wore face masks. This was not the smelliest body Nick had encountered, but it was near the top of the list. As the good doctor made his "Y" incision and removed the breastplate, there was much to be seen. The body had only one kidney, no spleen and polyps on the lungs; this man had cancer. However, the cause of death had been determined as being from a gunshot to the head as well as some serious blunt force trauma to the head.

After the autopsy, Nick returned to the vehicle bay to find Sara working on the inside of the vehicle. First she'd collected all the visible evidence in the form of empty plastic bottles, cigarette boxes and other bits of trash. When all the evidence had been collected, bagged and documented, she set an aerosol superglue emitter on the centre console, between the two front seats and closed the doors. She was in the process of examining the evidence that Nick had brought back when he went through what she'd found in the trunk and inside of the car.

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It had been a long shift and Sara was glad to leave so that she could go home and shower. She smelled like dead body and she wanted the stench off of her. When it was time to leave Jim was idling in front of the lab, waiting for her. She climbed in and they drove back to Jim's place where he handed her two lemons that had been cut up. She took the lemons into the bathroom and rubbed them on her skin before showering.

Jim took his own shower in his bathroom and when he had finished he dressed in sweats and t-shirt. In her room, Sara dressed in the same manner as Jim and then padded out into the kitchen for some coffee. Jim was checking his e-mail one last time before he went to bed and noticed Sara at the coffee pot. He didn't tell her that it was decaf because he didn't want her to be up for hours if she was going to go in next shift. When he was done, he got up from his desk and told Sara goodnight and excused himself to go to bed.

It was about an hour after Jim had gone to sleep that Sara decided to do the same. She washed her coffee mug, set on the drying rack and went to her room. She climbed under the soft flannel sheets and down comforter and slowly fell to sleep.

Jim woke to the sound of Sara screaming and jumped out of bed to see what the matter was. She was still asleep, but for some reason she was screaming for help. Jim sat on the bed beside her and shook her awake. Her eyes full of sleep, she slowly woke and looked around; a far off look on her face. It was when she saw Jim that she realized something was wrong.

"What's the matter, hun?" he asked

"God, I was having a really bad dream. Crane was there and he had a gun to your head. He was threatening to shoot you for some reason. Then, all of a sudden he pulled the trigger and I saw you drop to the ground; dead. I rushed to your side, cradled your head in my lap and shouted "NO!" I couldn't bear to lose you. I can't bear to lose you." she explained

"What are you saying?" Jim asked

After a moment's hesitation, she replied

"I love you, Jim. I think I've always known that. Nearly from the moment we first met, I liked you. As the years have passed, I've grown to love you. Every time you put yourself in harm's way, my heart sinks within my chest. Every time I hear of an officer involved shooting, either on the news or on my scanner, I'm afraid its you. I know you don't share my feelings and that's ok with me. Just know that there's someone out there that loves you; someone that's not far away." she went on

This was a lot of information for him to assimilate. He knew that she liked him as a friend, but never in his wildest dreams did he think that she loved him. Truth be told, he loved her, too. However, he didn't want to say anything; out of fear of being shot down. Now he knew the truth and was more comfortable with his feelings. He wondered if he should tell her of his feelings for her. Since she had been honest and open with herself and feelings, should he not do her the same courtesy? Should he open up to her in the same way that she had him? He hesitated for a few moments and then spoke.

"Truth be told, I've loved you from afar for many years. But I know you have a thing for Grissom, so I dare not make any advance. So, as I said, I've loved you from afar." he said simply

Sara looked at him and saw the emotion in his eyes and the expression on his face. There was no lie in what he said, nor was there in what she had said; but what would they do now, knowing what they now knew? Part of Sara wanted to grab hold of him and give him a big fat kiss, but there was another part of her that said she should wait and that things would happen in their own time. Jim was thinking the same exact thing and as he got up from her bedside he leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead and went back to his room where he'd get no more sleep that day, no matter how hard he tried. As for Sara, she pulled her diary from her backpack, unlocked it and made that morning's entry. It was in regard to the discussion she'd had with Jim and his reaction to her words and expression of feeling and emotion. When she had completed her entry she closed and locked it and left it on her bedside table. She tried to go back to sleep but no matter how hard she tried, sleep eluded her.

After about an hour of flopping around, she got up and went into the living room and sat on the couch, flipping through the channels. She kept the volume low so she wouldn't wake Jim, but it was useless; he was already awake.

Propping his head up on a couple of pillows, Jim lay in his bed and took the tellie remote in hand and hit "play" on the dvd player. He was watching a movie that always helped him sleep, not because it was boring, but because he'd seen it so many times he could close his eyes and watch the film in his mind. The movie; Lawrence of Arabia, the extended version. It wasn't enough that the movie was nearly three hours long alone, but this version had footage that had originally been left on the cutting room floor. This version was nearly four hours long.

From the living room, Sara could hear the tellie in Jim's room and after a few minutes she realized what film he was watching. She got up and knocked on Jim's bedroom door. He called out for her to enter and as she slowly opened the door, he lifted the covers beside him on the bed and patted the mattress, beckoning her to join him. She slipped in next to him and made herself comfortable beside him. She lay on her side with her arm cautiously draped across Jim's belly and her head rested on his chest. He wrapped his right arm around her and drew lazy circles on her back with his fingertips.

With each other's comfort and the sheer feeling of companionship, each of them fell asleep within a relatively short period of time. The movie continued to run and when it was over, the dvd player and tellie automatically shut off, leaving them to sleep in silence. They slept until around 4:pm when the alarm went off. Neither of them having gotten any real sleep, Jim set the alarm for 7:pm. That would give them 1 hour to get dressed and get to the lab on time.

The second time the alarm went off both of them woke and got dressed and left for the lab so that Jim could drop Sara off and he could make it to the station on time.

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Walking down the hall, Sara made for the locker room to drop her stuff off and after that she went in search of Nick who was in one of the exam rooms going over the evidence from the previous night's case. He'd made no real headway on the case, but Bobby had reported to him that the bullets that had been recovered from the body and the car came from a gun that had been used in an officer related shooting two years past in Washington DC. The officer, Danielle Schaffrath, had been killed during a crack house raid. Now the gun was in Vegas and had been used to kill another officer, as it turned out. The body in the trunk of Nick's evidence car was an officer from Los Angeles. Seems like this particular firearm didn't like cops.