Disclaimer: not mine blah blah cry cry

Thanks to: Amorith and Ash – my very first beta's, thanks guys – u both rock

A/N:  Okay so this is my first fic, be kind, be gentle, but most importantly - be honest.  This would never have been written if it weren't for the inspiration given to me by all the talented GS writers out there, especially those at the CSI-GrissomSara Yahoo Group J

Sara tried not to grin at Grissom's obvious attempt at flirtation.  He was getting quite good recently – something had seemingly loosened him up a couple months before hand, much to Sara's amusement. Despite this, she still had some reservations about this 'new and improved' Grissom.  There had been plenty of times in the past where he'd shown her a glimpse of himself, but it always ended in her own heart ache.

"I think you should go home to bed, Grissom, you look like you haven't slept in days," she said, still grinning.  They were seated in a diner along the strip, reviewing the case they had been stuck on for the past couple of days over some lunch.

Grissom raised an eyebrow at her, "wanna come?"

Sara's own eyebrows raised, albeit unintentionally, as her grin grew into a full-blown smile.  She was both thankful and slightly annoyed when Nick chose that precise moment to collapse into the booth beside her.  She cleared her throat and broke the eye contact she held with Grissom and turned towards Nick.

"Hey guys! You already finished lunch? I thought I'd catch you in time but I guess not, how's your case coming along? You need any help?" he asked enthusiastically.

"What, don't tell me yours is solved?" Sara asked him.

"Yeah, the husband confessed, gave us everything!"

"Hmm, bastard," Sara muttered as she began to pack up the files and papers in front of her. 

Nick grinned and looked up at Grissom, "so you want any help with this?  From the sounds of it your guy is more of a sicko than mine was… you know the media has named him The Hunter now, 'The Hunter strikes again' and 'Watch out for weirdos people, they could be The Hunter' – what kind of name is that anyway, 'The Hunter'?  Please…"

"No I don't think we'll be needing any help Nicky, we've pretty much got this under control…" Grissom butted in to stop Nick's rambling.

The case that Sara and Grissom had been agonizing over for the last couple of days involved a man who kidnapped his victims for an approximate week.  He then took them to the bush where he let them run for their lives whilst he spent possibly days hunting them as if they were wild animals.  And they had finally found a lead.  At the most recent crime scene Grissom had found a man snooping around the area.  He'd taken his details and over lunch Sara and him had realized that the suspect was connected to at least two of the victims through his classes at college – they were all mature aged students. The problem was finding the evidence connecting him to the murders.

Sara yawned.  "You know, I think I'm gonna head home to bed – I can't pretend to be awake anymore," she said making Nick stand from the booth – a bewildered look across his face.

"But my lunch…?" he said in mock hurt.

Sara mock glared at him in return, "Aww Nicky, Grissom's just as good company as I am."

"No, Grissom's about leave as well," Grissom said, smiling slightly at Nick's disappointed response.

"Oh fine, I guess I'll just have to get take away and take it back to the office…"

"Okay guys, I'll see you both tonight," Sara said quickly and left the diner - too many thoughts were racing through her mind and her bed was calling her.

"Guess she really is tired," Nicky said slightly confused at the speediness of Sara's departure. 

Grissom said goodbye to Nick and exited the diner a minute or so after Sara.  As he walked into the parking lot he realized Sara was not actually gone.  She stood leaned up against his Tahoe, arms crossed, looking in the other direction.  Her head turned towards him as she heard him approach.  His head tilted to one side as an eyebrow rose questioningly.

Sara rolled her eyes at him, "Hey don't get any ideas man – I forgot you drove us, that's all."

Grissom breathed a laugh as he walked to the other side of the car and unlocked it. "Sure, and you couldn't have caught a cab because…?"

They both got into the car and closed the doors, "why would I catch a cab when there is a perfectly…" her sentence was cut short by the man in the backseat as he pulled out a knife and held it to her throat.

Grissom's eyes widened, his body froze.  Sara tried to control her breathing; her frantic eyes found Grissom's.

"What do you want, you want money? Here take my wallet, all my cards…" Grissom reached for his wallet.

"HANDS where I can see them Dr. Grissom – just put them on the steering wheel like a good little CSI."

At the mention of his name Grissom looked into the face of the man who was holding Sara at knifepoint.  It was the suspect from his investigation, the man he had spoken to earlier that day.

"What do you want?" Grissom asked again.

"I want you to drive, let's go on a road trip shall we? That's it, just start the car and, oh, you might want to try and drive a little bit smoother than you usually do – we wouldn't want any accidents now would we?" He held the knife so close to Sara's neck that she flinched, drawing a small cut of blood.

Grissom was furious, but could only do as he was told – slowly turning on the car and shifting into drive.