Title: See You on the Other Side

Author: Viggorrah

Pairings: GSR

Setting: Summer between the 4th and 5th Seasons

Disclaimer: I own nothing; I just like to throw my favorite characters into sick little fantasies that I create in my head.

Rating: T

Summary: Two CSIs switch sides, and become victims of a maniacal kidnapper. GSR

A/N: Just want to say THANKS to my beta, CSI4Coolbeans!! YOU'RE AWESOME and this story would probably still just be a thought in my head if it weren't for you!

Prologue

It felt weird to him, being where he was. He was sitting in his midnight blue Denali, pondering whether or not he should go through with the 'ingenious' plan he had come up with. He scratched the beard that he had grown over the last year and sighed deeply. Screw it.. he told himself. He opened the door, got out and locked the truck. He paused for a second, and then put his hands in the pockets of the light blue jacket he was wearing, and proceeded to walk to the apartment building. He opened the door for himself, turned to his right, and walked up the staircase, even though every step that was taken felt like a sin. The top of the staircase was reached, and he continued walking down the hallway, passing numerous rooms before he stopped in front of a specific door. Should he really do this? He didn't move for a moment, quietly staring at the door, thinking about the consequences that might occur if he continued. After mustering up any and all courage he had, Gil Grissom raised his right hand, and firmly knocked on the door.

Sara Sidle has just gotten up out of bed. She threw on some black jeans and grabbed a dark blue sweatshirt from her closet. Sara usually got up around this time to get ready to report to the Crime Lab for work. When she heard the knocks on her door, she was thoroughly surprised. She usually never had visitors; never mind the time currently being eight fifteen at night. Her neighbors knew she worked nights, and never bothered her around this time. She walked through her apartment, to the door, and unlocked it. Sara was surprised even more when she opened the door and saw the blue eyes of the man standing before her.

"Grissom?"

"Hey, Sara."

"What, uh..what are you doing here?"

"I, uh," He seemed very uncomfortable to Sara. "I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

"May I come in?" There was a silence between them as she debated whether to let him in or not. "Please?" Sara reluctantly moved aside to give him room to walk into her apartment. He stopped a little ways in and waited until the door closed to follow her into the kitchen.

"You want a drink or something?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks."

"So, what do you need to talk to me about right this second?" Grissom detected a hint of annoyance in her voice. “Why couldn’t have you just waited until I got to the Lab?”

“I wanted to talk to you privately.”

“We could have talked in your office.”

"I heard that you had another run-in with Ecklie last night." He answered, ignoring her statement. Sara noticed, but answered his question.

"Yeah. And?"

"I want to know what happened." He said bluntly.

"Why do you even care?" Sara didn't understand why he wanted to know what happened; he hasn't cared about anything pertaining to her lately.

" Sara," Grissom sighed. "I need to know about these things if I'm going to help you."

“Why do you feel you need to help me? Because you’re my supervisor? Is that it?”

“Yes.”

"Is that all you are to me now? My boss?" He was silent and stared at the floor. "What happened to us, Grissom?" She whispered.

"I don't know, Sara."

"You don't know? You don't know?" Sara was getting angry by this time. "How the hell can you say that?"

"Because I don't know." Sara saw some aggravation in his azure eyes when he looked up at her.

"Grissom, you avoid me all the time, you partner me with everyone else except you. I haven't worked a case with you in God knows how long!" She crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't stand there and tell me you don't know why you're doing these things."

"I have to distance myself from you." He answered slowly after a few seconds of contemplation.

"For what purpose?"

"To avoid being tempted."

"Tempted? To do what? Have a relationship with me?"

"Yes." She silently bore her eyes into his until Grissom averted his gaze to the wall. Sara was hoping he would look back to her, but when he didn't, she became even angrier with him. She shook her head.

"I can't do this anymore." Grissom's head popped up.

"What?"

"This. Us." She scoffed. "Or lack thereof."

"I-"

"More importantly, I don't want to do this anymore." She interrupted Grissom, who continued to stare at her without saying anything back to her. Sara shook her head. "I need you to leave." He didn't move. "Please." She whispered. He hesitated for a second, but eventually turned on his heel and walked back to her front door. Sara slowly followed him out the door and locked it behind her. She continued to follow Grissom down the hallway and out of the apartment building. He noticed her presence behind him, but he didn't dare turn around to face her.

"So, I guess I'll see you at work?" Grissom said when they were outside; she merely grunted and walked off to his left, towards her truck he guessed. He sighed deeply as he stared at her retreating back while she walked away from him. He started walking off the opposite way, back towards his Denali. Well, that went great! He thought sarcastically to himself. Not only did you gain another reason for Sara to hate you, you pushed her even farther away. His brow furrowed and he frowned. What the hell is wrong with you? Why can't you just let her in? Why can't y- Grissom's thoughts were cut off by what he thought was someone calling his name from behind him. He froze and slowly turned back to face the apartment complex, confusion evident on his face.

"GRISSOM!" His spine straightened as he perked up to Sara's voice coming from another area around the building. Grissom took his hands out of his pockets and dashed off in the direction in which Sara had walked off. He came to a dark corridor in the building and saw Sara staring down at something on the ground.

"Sara!" He ran up and stood next to her. "What happened? What's wro-?" He looked down at his feet; there was a woman with a gunshot wound to her temple lying on her back, dead. There was a large blood pool underneath her, and her eyes were still open, emptily staring at the ceiling.

"I walked by and happened to see her." Sara motioned to the woman. "She was already dead when I got here; looks like she's been dead for a while, too."

"At least a few hours." Grissom agreed with her.

"Do you have your cell on you?"

"No, I don't; you'll have to go back up to your apartment." He looked behind him and then back to her, who gave him a weird look in response.

"Aren't you coming, too?"

"No. I need to stay here with the body."

"What?"

"Just as easily as whomever the killer is left her here, they could, just as easily, return for what ever reason."

"So, they waited 'X' amount of hours and now they're gonna come back an-"

"Sara," Grissom sternly interrupted her. "I want you to go back upstairs to your apartment and call the police." He nodded to the woman on the ground next to him. "I'm going to stay here with the body, just in case they return to the scene. Even if they don’t return, I don’t want anybody else to stumble up on her."

"What are you gonna do if they do come back?" He stared blankly at her.

“I don’t see where you’re going..”

"Grissom, you'll be by yourself and beyond that, you're unarmed. You'll have no way of protecting yourself."

"I'll be fine," He said simply, disregarding her slight hint of concern for his safety. "The quicker you the police, the quicker they'll get here." Sara glared at him before silently conceding to his request, by walking back around the corner and of the door to the apartment building. Sara followed the exact same path she had taken from her apartment and, soon, she reached her door. She pulled her keys out of her pocket and unlocked her door. The door opened easily, and she closed it before briskly walking to her bedroom to grab her cell phone. Sara flipped it open, dialed 911, and put the phone to her ear.

"Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?"

"I need to report a homicide, please."

"May I ask your name, ma'am?"

"Sara Sidle; I work for the Las Vegas Crime Lab."

"Alright, Miss Sidle. What's the address?"

"Four-nine-nine-five South Maryland Parkway." There was a short silence before she heard the operator again.

"A Las Vegas Police Unit is en route and should arrive soon, within the next fifteen minutes." Sara thanked the operator and closed the phone. When she returned to the area in which she had left Grissom in, she found him crouched down, examining the dead woman. As he heard her footsteps behind him, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure it was her before he stood back up and turned to face her.

"What were you doing?" She asked accusingly.

"Just looking." He replied with a slight shake of his head. Grissom placed his hands back in the pockets of his jacket. "Someone on their way?"

"Yeah, they'll be here in about fifteen minutes." He nodded.

"Good."

"So, what do we do now?" He shrugged.

"Nothing; we just wait." The two descended into an awkward silence, and Sara decided sit down with her back against the wall, about eight feet away from the body. Grissom watched her from the spot where he was leaning against the opposite wall and then averted his attention to any and all movement around them. He would inconspicuously check to his right, check to his left to see if anyone was walking by or walking towards them.

"You wanna know something funny?" Sara's voice cut through the silence like a knife through butter, and it made him jump ever so slightly. He didn't say anything in response to her question, though; he looked at Sara to let her know he was listening. "I came to Vegas for one reason."

"Because I asked you to?" Grissom checked to his right again.

"No."

"Why, then?"

"Because of you." Confused, his gaze slowly fell on Sara again.

"What’s the difference?"

"I came to Vegas because of one simple fact: you were here." She shrugged. "I thought you'd be happy."

"I am happy."

"You don't show it. Your actions don't even convey that you give a damn about me."

"That's not true." Sara gave him a disbelieving stare.

"Oh? Really?" She scoffed and looked away from him. "Coulda fooled me."

"Sara, I do-."

"Don't even say it." She interrupted him. "If you really cared, all the stupid shit you've been doing lately wouldn't be happening."

"I was hoping it wasn't going to affect you."

"How the hell wasn't it supposed to affect me when it involves me?" Grissom didn't answer her, but looked straight into her chocolate brown eyes and it hurt him to see the all pain and anger in them. Pain and anger that shouldn't be there; pain and anger that he had caused. Sara broke the connection, got up, and went over to the body to examine it as he did. After a few moments, while she still had her back to him, something moved to Grissom's left in his peripheral vision. He turned his head fully see what it was, but as soon as he did, he wished he hadn't.