A/N: The story behind this fic is this: I recently read my first fic, "Ache and Intentions" and although I know it wasn't half bad, lol, and some people thought it was good... I was unimpressed. It wrote it like a year and a half ago. This is kind of my way of re-writing a similar situation. Sure, it's different, but the premise is indeed similar. This one may suck worse, I don't know. I actually like it better. And I enjoyed writing it. Hell, I was just glad my muse was still hanging around eventhough Sara isn't. So I hope you like it. Please, feedback is the juice.

Also, this is not really a WIP. So don't feel the need to avoid it because it is a chapter story. It is completely written. I am just posting it in increments. Yes. I'm mean.

PS. I totally have Bradley Cooper (you know the guy from Alias?) in mind for the role of Danny Wilson. Anyway, on with it...

Quotations

by faktreefinger

"Even if your hands are shaking
And your faith is broken
Even as the eyes are closing
Do it with a heart wide open
A wide heart
Say what you need to say"

Say, John Mayer

Sara Sidle picked up a stack of papers and shuffled them together, knocking them on the break room table to organize them better. Her right hand slid down the side of the stack and an acute pain tore across her palm.

"Ouch!" she cried out involuntarily.

Almost instantly, the man in front of her spun around, eyes wide with concern, his coffee sloshing over the edges of the mug.

"What happened?" he asked as his eyebrows scrunched together and Sara let out a chuckle as she saw his jaw clench, the minor burn on his hand being neglected.

"Just a paper cut, I'm fine," she said with an eye roll, but an appreciative smile.

Danny Wilson sat down across the table and wiped his hand on a stray Burger King napkin. Setting the mug down, he took her hand and inspected it. Sara rolled her eyes again and yanked her hand away.

"Really… just a paper cut!"

"Alright, alright!" he smiled and took a sip from his mug. "You finishing up?"

"Yes, finally," she answered and let out a sigh of relief, "Because unlike you, I am not on the day shift and I have been here for long enough."

"That doesn't sound like Sara Sidle to me," Danny said, leaning back casually in his chair and placing his Nike Shox on the edge of the table.

Sara stood up and neatly placed her paperwork in a manila folder. "Oh yeah, what do you know about Sara Sidle. You've only been here, what? A month? And we don't even work on the same shift."

"Two months. And it says a lot to me that I see you at least four times a week when by all accounts you should be out the door by the time I get here."

Sara placed her folder in a black messenger back and threw it over her shoulder. She didn't know if he was implying that she was a workaholic, but she didn't care to deny. Why bother, she thought. So she responded wryly, "Well, technically we should at least pass each other in the parking lot."

A smile spread across the lightly colored stubble on Danny's cheeks and he put the mug down. Leaning back into the table, he put his chin in his hand and stared at her for a moment. The smile looked dangerously adoring. Of course, Sara hadn't been blind to the fact that Danny had a bit of a crush on her. He flirted with her persistently and every time he saw her he attempted to converse with her some way or another. A casual touch on her arm or a playful nudge was common as well.

She couldn't deny a bit of attraction for the man. He was casual and he didn't seem quite as intense as everything and everyone else in her life at the moment. He was tall, taller than her with short, 

well-kempt, sandy hair that looked soft and warm. His green eyes were animated by his brow, which shot up or down whenever he found something interesting.

He was attractive and was made even more attractive by his attraction to her.

Still, there was always something to hold her back and she loathed having to turn him down if he ever asked her out. Which is why she felt like really should stop flirting back and forth with him, but she was still human after all and it felt good to be shown some attention every once in a while, especially after being rebuked by the one person you wished would.

But she didn't want… no… she couldn't afford to go there.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Sara asked, mindlessly adjusting the strap on her bag and feeling a bit uncomfortable under his gaze.

"I was just thinking about what you said, about me not knowing anything about Sara Sidle…"

Oh no, here it comes.

"I'd like to change that," he said effortlessly.

Sara bit the inside of her mouth, unsure of what to say. Mainly because she was unsure of what she wanted to say to him.

"Let's go to lunch," he suggested, his palm face up in the air as if he was offering it to her on a platter. His eyes sparkled a dark emerald green, wide and encouraging.

"I, uh..." she cleared her throat and adjusted the bag because it suddenly felt heavy on her shoulder. Absent-mindedly, she kicked the chair lightly with the toe of her shoe.

"You aren't married, are you?"

"No! No, no, no…"

"Have a boyfriend?" he asked, this time wincing as if he hadn't actually considered this.

Sara shook her head slowly.

Relief washed over his face. "Are you a nun?"

An unexpected laugh left Sara's throat. "Yeah, I'm a nun who moonlights as a crime scene investigator."

Danny laughed and took once last sip of his coffee. He got up and placed the mug in the sink, not bothering to rinse it. Turning back to her, he slipped his hands in his faded jeans and leaned against the counter. He exuded confidence and Sara thought that was part of his appeal. Everyone loves confidence, especially those that have decreasing amounts of it. And he was different. He seemed so out of place in a place like Las Vegas. He looked more like a park ranger or a marine biologist. The color of his skin, naturally tan, was like a tattoo of California. His hair, a sandy blonde color, looked kissed by the sun.

Overall, he looked as if he didn't belong in Sin City and she felt sorry for him because she knew he would change. His relaxed features would tense over time and his skin would toughen under the desert sun.

She wondered if people had thought of her this way when she first arrived in Vegas. Well, if they had, they had been right. Vegas had a way of wearing you down so that you constantly expected bad things instead of good.

The most recent "bad thing" was Nick's abduction. It was a sore that everyone in the lab had bandaged and now, nearly a month later, the bandages were starting to fall off and things were beginning to feel okay again. Except Sara had felt a dark pain well up inside of her, a pain that she couldn't bear to approach just yet. It was loneliness and hopelessness. The fact that they had found Nick in time, while it was a relief and a blessing, was not the point. She had been approached and reminded of her own mortality and the mortality of those she loved.

Though it was Nick in that box, well, it could have been anyone. And the result... may have been different.

But she hadn't really talked about it because in all honesty, she really only wanted to talk to Grissom. With a secret feeling of guilt, Grissom was who she imagined fighting for air in a Plexiglas coffin and she was sure the dark feelings that were creeping in the back of her mind would go away soon, if only she could gather some reassurance from Grissom. Unfortunately, no matter how far they had come in their friendship over the past year, after Nick's abduction he had faded away into his office rarely surfacing even for field work and she couldn't bring herself to try and force him out of whatever state he was in. She couldn't bring herself to be vulnerable to him any longer… when he would give nothing in return.

Danny looked easily at her and cocked his head to the side curiously. "It's just lunch. Who turns down a free lunch?"

She stared back, opening her mouth without a reply formed. After a short sigh, she smiled.

Danny pushed away from the counter and grabbed a balled up napkin from the table. He held it up and pointed to the trash can in the corner by the door. "Okay if I make this, you have to go to lunch with me. If I miss—"

"Oh, come on," Sara said with a laugh.

He scowled, holding the napkin. "Actually…" he put down the napkin and picked up a stray packet of hot sauce, "I'm gonna use this."

Sara decided to play along, finding a rare type of joy in shenanigans like this. "Okay, fine, but you have to stand at the sink."

His head cocked to the side. "I love a challenge." He backed up.

"You were saying, 'If I miss'…"

"Right, if I miss, I'll wash your car," he said and immediately threw the package of hot sauce towards the trash can, making it in.

"Oh, yes!" he looked at her with a smile, then a mock frown of pity. "Guess you'll be washing your own car, Sidle."

Sara laughed and gave her head a shake.

"I played basketball in high school," he added.

She really did find him fun so she smiled genuinely at him. "Fine, you shark. When?"

A broad smile spread across his face. "Now. It's my lunch break."

"Now?" her eyebrows came together and she shrugged. "No, I'm too tired, I think I'm just gonna—"

"You're also hungry," Danny interrupted.

"I am?"

"Trust me, you're starving. You want a nice juicy hamburger," he said walking over to her and gently taking her by the wrist leading her out the door.

Sara scowled. "Doubtful. I don't eat meat."

He turned to her, his eyebrows raised and his eyes widened comically. "Reeaaally?"

"I'm a vegetarian."

"See? I'm learning already!"

They laughed and didn't pay much attention as they rounded the corner. Danny placed a hand on the small of Sara's back and she almost ran into Grissom, whose head was lowered into the file folder in front of him.

"Whoa!" Sara said, stopping short, and Danny grabbed her arm instinctively to stop her from plowing into her boss.

Grissom's head shot up in alarm and the folder nearly flew out of his hands. Sara noticed his eyes practically dart to the tan fingers lightly grasping her forearm. Danny's hand lingered there longer than necessary and to the untrained eye, his fingers slowly grazing her bare flesh would have seemed innocent. But Grissom's eyes were anything but untrained. His eyebrows rose slightly, pushing his glasses down his nose further. He closed the folder, removed the glasses, and licked his lips, pressing them together. His eyes returned to Sara's face and they revealed something Sara wished she hadn't seen.

Jealous Grissom meant nothing to her. It just meant he would be awkward and grumpy around her. But it never pushed him into anything worthwhile. Indeed, Jealous Grissom was a bear.

Jealousy was worthless.

"Hey," he said, his composure returning at an unusually slow rate for him. He let the hand that held the folder drop to his side and added casually, "What are you still doing here?"

"I was just leaving," Sara said, meaning to sound just as cavalier but it came out rather rigid. She was uncomfortable and she realized it didn't exactly answer his question but really all she wanted was to continue walking down the hall and out the double doors as soon as possible.

Grissom gave a perfunctory nod and looked at Danny. His jaw seemed to clench. It was clear Grissom had no clue who the tall blonde man so casually invading her personal space was, so Sara reluctantly introduced them. "Grissom, this is Danny Wilson. Ecklie's new addition."

"Oh, nice to meet you. Gil Grissom." Grissom shifted the folder to his left hand and offered his right to Danny. Danny took it and smiled at him. "I'm surprised I haven't run into you yet."

Well if you ventured out of your office for more than ten minutes, Sara thought bitterly, wishing the unfortunate encounter would come to an abrupt end and then wondered if she was being ridiculous.

"Yeah, I've been here nearly two months. I was wondering when I would meet you. I've heard a lot about you," said Danny.

Sara immediately wished he hadn't said that because Grissom's eyes flicked over to hers and she realized what it implied. Well, she hadn't mentioned Grissom to Danny at all and honestly she didn't want Grissom to think she had.

Sara shifted uncomfortably and pulled at the strap of her bag.

"You're a big hit in the San Francisco lab. My supervisor talked about you a lot when it came to forensic entomology."

Sara turned sharply to Danny. "You're from San Francisco?"

He nodded. "Yep."

Sara thought that was an odd coincidence and said dryly, slightly under her breath, "Well, Dr. Grissom has quite a reputation in San Francisco."

She wasn't sure why she said it and Grissom looked at her curiously. A secret, almost nonexistent smile crossed his lips and their eyes locked. Sara was unaware of how they might have appeared to Danny for those few seconds, but she cursed the blush that crept up her cheeks caused by the relaxed, nostalgic look in Grissom's eyes.

Slightly annoyed by this relapse, Sara broke eye contact and turned to Danny. "We better go; your lunch hour is fading away by the second."

"Right," Danny replied, a good-natured smile on his face. "Be seeing you," he said to Grissom.

Sara bit her lip and brought her hand up to wave goodbye at Grissom. "See you tonight," she said to him, her voice sounding small to her own ears.

Sara was embarrassed and she hated the fact that she had made it clear to Grissom that she and Danny were going somewhere together. She hadn't meant to do that, it just slipped out that way. She wasn't trying to make Grissom jealous.

Well, at least not consciously.

She slipped past Grissom with a weak, fake smile and headed down the hallway and out the door with Danny. Slipping on her sunglasses and taking a deep breath of hot, dry air, she turned to Danny and asked, "So where do you want to go?"

"You're the picky eater. You choose." He nudged her shoulder with his playfully and she smiled crookedly at him.

"Okay, I know a place."

"I'll drive," he said, pulling keys out of his pocket.

Sara followed Danny to a sleek, dark blue Honda Civic in the front row of the parking lot. He opened the passenger door for her and she slipped inside the hot interior of the car. The car smelled and looked brand new. She relaxed her tired head on the headrest and waited for him to enter the car.

He slid into the driver's side and looked at Sara. "Where we headed?"

"Take a right at the light over there."

A moment passed and the silence seemed heavy, like an unwanted question was about to be asked. Her instincts were clearly right, when he cleared his throat and glanced at her. "So, what's with Grissom?"

Well, that was a loaded question. "What do you mean?"

"He seemed to be a bit…disgruntled. Were you picking that up?"

Sara thought about how to answer. Of course she noticed. She knew a little something about the looks Grissom tended to give when he found something disagreeable. The moment his eyes caught the sight of Danny Wilson touching her arm… she recognized the slight jaw clench and the feigning of indifference. Well, his eyes had been just as disloyal as they always were. Although his face was relaxed and calm, the embodiment of unconcern, his eyes whispered surreptitiously. And this time they had told her he didn't much care for the fact that Danny Wilson was standing so close to her, or that he had touched her.

Well, maybe she was projecting a little but either way she knew that deep down, Gil Grissom had a feeling of belonging when it came to her and she couldn't even be angry about it because she felt the same way over him.

But she really was trying to forget about that and move the hell along with her life. That is why Danny Wilson is a good idea after all, she told herself.

So she shrugged and smiled a little, making it clear that there was nothing there to be read into when it came to Gil Grissom. "He kind of lives in his head. He was probably just distracted by a case."

"Oh. Well he's your boss. You outta know."

"So, do you like sushi?" she asked cheerily, changing the subject away from her boss.

The man that she loved… and would just have to get over it.

Yes, Danny Wilson was a good idea. He had to be.

TBC...