"What's your choice of action?" Grissom's question hung in the air. It wasn't a simple left or right turn. This question had more behind it. Was she choosing to possibly see him instead of Nick? Was she choosing to be alone?

"For the first time, I don't know." She locked eyes with him, never moving from her seat on the couch. "What do you think I should so?"

He shifted in the recliner. "Whatever feels right."

"Did you feel right in my bed when you woke up?"

"I wasn't unhappy."

She nodded. "Neither was I." After a pause, she pushed herself up from the couch and stood in front of him. "My choice of action is to be happy. You make me happy, Gil. I'm not saying that this is going to be forever. I know that things happen. I also know that we can take things a day at a time." She kneeled in front of him to see eye to eye. "It felt right to have you by me. I want to know how right we'd feel together." She took his hand in her, turning it palm up and tracing the lines. "If only I was a palm reader."

Grissom tugged on her hand and stood at the same time, bringing her with him. His arms wrapped around her like giant wings. "How about we take things a day at a time?"

She nodded and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm still kind of tired. Would you... hold me?" The request was innocent. "If I promise to keep my hands to myself?"

He smiled to her and let his lips touch her gently, briefly. "We're not making a deal, Dallas. I have no qualms about holding on to you."

"Makes me wonder if you'd have qualms about letting me go if you had to."

He paused, losing any trace of a smile. "What do you mean?"

She pulled back from his arms and turned for the bedroom. "My head hurts. I need to nap now I think."

*~*~*

Catherine tapped on Grissom's office door. "You're sure working late." She stepped in without being invited and took a seat. "Wanna tell me what's on your mind?"

He shook his head. "Busy. That's all."

"That could be true. It could also be true that you're staying late because you got here late." She grinned. "Sleep late?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" he snapped.

Catherine jumped slightly. "Nothing. I just thought maybe you overslept." Narrowing her eyes, she stood and tried to get a better look at his laptop. "What are you working on?"

The screen had a picture of a Death's Head Moth on it. "I'm comparing statistics on bugs used in The Silence of the Lambs."

She sighed. "You and bugs. Well, I'm heading out. See you tomorrow?"

He nodded. "Take it easy, Catherine." As the door closed behind her, he flipped the window on his laptop back to the health screen about Intercranial Hypertension.

*~*~*

Dallas hadn't answered her phone in two hours. Grissom pressed the gas peddle down harder as he approached her house. The lights were out but her car was still in the drive. He pulled up along side it and jogged to her door. "Dallas!" he called out as he opened the door. She didn't answer. Panic was beginning to set in. He tore up the stairs to her bedroom and found her lying twisted on the floor. "Dallas!" Crouching beside her, he took a wrist and found her pulse immediately. He almost jumped when she groaned. "Dallas?" He brushed hair from her face and found her blinking.

"Grissom?" She blinked. "I can't move my head. It spins so bad that I have to stay still. If I don't move, I'm fine."

He nodded. "I'll call an ambulance."

"No. I just need something for motion sickness. It has something to do with my equilibrium. I just can't make it to the medicine cabinet." She closed her eyes. "And maybe you can move me to the bed."

Retrieving the medicine, he sighed. "You should talk to your doctor."

"It's nothing that can't be fixed." She laid still and limp as he lifted her onto the bed. "Oh God, I think I'm going to barf if I keep moving." She swallowed the pill and froze again. "I was hoping you'd come by. I couldn't get to the phone."

He sat on the bed next to her and brushed her hair from her face. "How long until this pill works?"

"Twenty minutes, give or take." She took his hand in hers and brought it to her lips, kissing it softly. "I think you should stop by more often. At least until I get better."

"And what if you don't get better?"

She put his hand down. "Why do you say that?"

"I found you on the floor. I thought you were dead."

She opened her eyes. "Do you love me?"

He looked away. "I'll put some water on the stove. Maybe some tea will help."

*~*~*

An hour later, Dallas was able to make her way down the stairs. She was moving slow, but moving.

Grissom set a mug of tea in front of her. "Better?" he asked.

She nodded. "Much." She sipped her tea, making a face at the taste. "What is this?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. I found it in your cupboard." He strolled to the fridge and opened it. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah. Just a sandwich works." She stood behind him and put her hand on his hip. "Something simple that feeds my hunger." She gave his hip a squeeze. "If you know what I mean."

"You must have been extremely deprived of sex when Cheyenne was around."

She took a step back. "What does that mean?"

"You were quick to get in the sack with Nick and now, you've only been away from him for a couple of days and you want to sleep with me."

"If you recall, I was interested in you before Nick. That's why I invited you over for dinner." She moved and sat back at the counter. "You know, men are so hypocritical."

"Pardon?"

"So I like sex. Big deal. At least I'm not tramping around with guys that I don't know and trust. I had sex with Nick. Yes, I admit that. I want you. I admit that as well. Men my age sleep with at least five times as many women and it's considered normal, but I exude sexual confidence and I'm deprived?" She rapped her fingers on the counter. "It's not fair."

He paused to review her words. "I'm sorry. I'll be the first to admit that men truly are more sexually open as to their choice of partners." He sat across from her. "I just felt that you were trying to latch on to someone as a result of your lack of romance. With your job and raising Cheyenne, you barely had time for yourself. You admitted that. It just seems like overcompensation."

"You are completely overanalyzing this. It all goes down to a primal need, Gil. It's that attraction between two people. It's the lust." She moved back around to him. "It's two people realizing the heat they feel when they touch." Her finger trailed from his shoulder to the back of his neck and toyed with the hair there. "The electricity." She removed his glasses from his face and slid her leg between his. "The sheer power of the connection there." Her lips brushed by his but didn't kiss him. Her voice was a whisper now, competing with the sound of her breath. "Tell me you don't feel anything when you touch me." She brought her mouth to his ear, letting out a shaking breath.

He swallowed before placing his hands on her hips and pulling her closer. "I feel it."

*~*~*

The sheets were tangled with the muck of sex. Dallas lay sleeping on Grissom's chest, gently rising and falling with his breaths. He wasn't sleeping though. His fingers ran through her hair soothingly. Eyes wide, he lay pondering what was going to happen next. He wasn't even sure what had already happened. Three hours had passed in sheer bliss. He didn't regret sleeping with her. He did care about her. She was a dear friend.

The doorbell shook him from his thoughts. Slowly, he removed her from his arms and slipped his pants on. Once he was sure she was still sleeping, he made his way downstairs and opened the door.

Nick was smiling at first until his eyes glanced over Grissom and noted that he was missing his shirt and shoes but had obviously been serviced. "Grissom? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Dallas is sleeping. Keep your voice down."

Nick set aside the flowers in his hands. "Sleeping. Did you wear her out?"

"Nick, I don't think I have to explain anything to you."

"I was here to try and make things work between Dallas and I. Grissom, I love her. I really do." He shook his head. "But you just had to..." He stopped. "No. It wasn't you. She broke up with me."

Grissom had an odd look on his face. "You love her?"

Nick paused. "Does it matter?"

*~*~*

Nick sat in the pizza parlor where he first took Dallas and sipped his beer. The pool table was being used by a bright teenage couple that were laughing and flirting with each other. He could just see Dallas there, taunting him about the fact that she was a better pool player.

When Cheyenne died, he'd known that for some reason, Dallas pout the blame on him. Nick had made every attempt to be supporting but the guilt made her blame someone else. That person was him. He thought that she was coming out of her shell at the funeral but she hadn't.

Dallas' trip to the hospital had made him realize something. His heart ached when he thought about losing her. He was prepared to help her in any way possible. Instead, she had given him a cold shoulder, broke up with him, and slept with Grissom.

"This seat taken?"

Nick didn't look up. "Yes. It's for my invisible friend Clem."

Dallas sat in front of him. "Grissom said you'd come by while I was sleeping."

"Yeah, I guess he wore you out."

She flinched. "Okay, I deserve that." She folded her hands on the table. "Things have been a little different lately. I know that. I'm taking my meds and I'm getting better."

"Right, and he's just helping you out with your cardio workout."

"Nick, may I finish?"

"Maybe. Do you even know why I showed up at your house?"

"I think I know, but you can elaborate for me if you want."

"I had flowers, I had a smile, and I had a speech prepared to tell you that I love you and that I want you back." He sipped his beer. "Then Grissom answered the door in just his pants and that kind of ruined the mood for me."

She hesitated. "You love me?"

"I don't know. I thought I did but maybe I don't. I sure as hell know you don't love me. Otherwise you wouldn't have done what you did."

"Either that or I was turning to comfort."

"I wasn't comforting?"

"Snug fit."

"Pardon?"

"Nothing. I just... I didn't think we fit well together."

He swallowed. "Did I hurt you? I mean, did I say something wrong? Did I..."

She reached out and took his hand. "No."

He closed his eyes and rubbed her knuckles with his thumb. "Then why are you hurting me?" His eyes opened only to lock on hers and convey their pain.

She swallowed. "I don't want to hurt you, Nick."

"Then why? Why him?"

She gave his hand a squeeze. "I wanted him. I took him. That's the way things are, right? If you want something, you take it. It's primal. Like the need to defend yourself."

"Defend yourself from what? You're not making sense."

"Of course I'm making sense. Can't you see? I love you, too."

*~*~*

Catherine rang the doorbell on Dallas' front door and waited for a full three minutes before ringing it again. When the younger investigator answered the door, she almost didn't recognize her. Dallas' eyes were circled dark, her hair greasy and uncared for, very unlike her.

She smiled. "Catherine! Come on in." She opened the door wider and let her in. "I wasn't expecting company."

"Nick and Grissom both said that you haven't let them in for about four days." Her eyes roamed the house where clutter and garbage prevailed. "They were worried."

"They have no need to be worried. I've just been working on something for Cheyenne."

"Your sister?"

"Yup. You see, I think there's a pattern here that I'm missing. Trebkos, Nick, Grissom... They're all involved." Her voice had quieted down and she was looking out the window.

Catherine took a deep breath. "Why don't you shower and come with me? Let's go talk to your doctor."

"No. You see, if I leave here, then they can find me. I'm not done here yet."

"Would you mind then if Dr. Clay came to see you?"

"Who's Dr. Clay?"

"A psychologist."

"You think I'm crazy. I'm not. You see, the men around me are the reason all this stuff is happening." She stopped when her nose began to bleed. "Catherine?" Her eyes rolled into her head as she fell to the ground.

*~*~*

Nick sat next to an unconscious Dallas and took her hand. The tubes coming from her arm and nose didn't take from her beauty. The doctor had told him that she would be sleeping for several hours, if not a day. Her blood pressure had been so high that he was surprised she was alive. The doctor had also stated that the attending ER physician had missed some of the damage that was already done to her brain. Dallas was now scheduled for an operation to alleviate pressure that had built up in a section of her brain. It had probably been affecting her moods and thoughts for a few weeks. Essentially since Cheyenne's death. This meant that Dallas breaking up with Nick and sleeping with Grissom might not have been her fault.

Nick kissed her hand and sighed. "What's going on in there, huh?" He stroked her hair. "What thoughts are up there?"

*~*~*

Catherine found Grissom in the hospital lobby and handed him a cup of coffee. "You wanna talk?" she asked, sitting next to him.

"I'm not sure. After what the doctor told us, I'm not sure."

"You just have to remember that it wasn't really Dallas. She's still the same woman we knew back when her sister was alive. Anything else she's said or done might be attributed to her hypertension."

"Might be. 'Might' being the operative word. I'm not sure what was our Dallas and what was Hypertension-Dallas." He sighed. "I don't understand. She seemed lucid most of the time. She didn't ramble or anything until when you found her before she passed out."

"The doctor said that she could be completely lucid but not be there. It was just something like instinct taking over for her."

"Sheer power, not over-analytical."

"Pretty much. She still had her knowledge but she wasn't connecting the dots like she normally would be. Electricity would be redirected in her brain."

Grissom closed his eyes against the memory of Dallas' voice. "The electricity. The sheer power of the connection there." That electricity was now gone.

*~*~*

Two days and one surgery later, Dallas Waters opened her eyes to several bouquets of flowers, get-well cards and boxes of chocolates. "Is this Heaven?" she whispered, her voice raspy.

"Pretty close. Flowers and chocolate." Nick took her hand. "Welcome back. How are you feeling?"

She smiled. "Drugged. What happened?"

"Quite a bit. You also have a new hairstyle."

She brought a hand to the bald spot on the top of her head. "Aw, shit."

He chuckled. "I brought some scarves for you to wear." He kissed her hand. "You had me pretty scared."

"Things are sketchy. I don't remember everything."

"The doctor said you might have some memory loss as a result of the pressure you had on your brain. Most of it will come back but there will be a lot that you're not going to remember."

She nodded a little. "Okay."

Nick handed her some water. "The doctor says that things will be fine as long as you take your medications."

She nodded. "Haven't I been taking them?"

"The damage happened before then."

"Damage?" Her look was petrified.

"Nothing serious."

"Good. As long as you're with me, I'll be fine." She brought his hand to her lips and kissed it.

Grissom looked down and shut the door as silently as he had opened it, heading back down the hall.