She couldn't stay away for long.

After leaving CSI: Crime Scene Investigation midway through season eight, Jorja Fox (Sara Sidle) didn't expect to return so quickly. "When I left in October, it was so decisive--everybody got me a goodbye cake. It's a surprise for me to be back, especially this soon," Fox told TV Guide.

Fox knew when she left that it wouldn't be the end. "Let's just say the door was left open," she said. "The kindest thing that the writers did for Sara Sidle was to walk her out in one piece. I had an amazing, beautiful, honorable, dignified exit." Part of Sara saying goodbye meant leaving Gil Grissom (William Petersen) behind. "It was decided she was just split from Grissom," Fox explained. "As a couple, they are a little dysfunctional in some ways, but in other ways, they are fabulous. In areas of communicating their hearts, it's never been a specialty for either of them."

If Sara had spoken to Grissom before leaving, Fox said, he might have convinced her to stay in Vegas. Instead, they went in a different direction with the pair when she departed. "An executive producer asked me, 'What would Sara say in a letter?' And I responded, 'I'll write something down and I will send it to you.' I never expected in a million years that it would become in the letter," she said.

Fox's return will include the third episode of the season. "It involves an old friend of Sara's who has to confront a [life or] death situation with his wife," Fox explained. She filmed the episode during the last week of May. CSI Files previously provided a spoiler report (contains major spoilers) for the episode "The Happy Place, which was originally rumored to be the second episode of the ninth season. The report reveals the likely identity of Sara's "old friend".

Fox kept up with CSI after she left. "When I heard I was returning, there were certain parts of last season that I felt Sara would be aware of," she explained. "I watched as much as I could." The actress may be returning to CSI for the beginning of the ninth season, but she said she isn't ready to do a new television show. "It will be so hard to follow up CSI," she said. "No matter what I do, it's big shoes to fill. If I'm going to do TV, then my loyalty and my heart belong to CSI."

Pick up the June 23-29 issue of TV Guide for the full interview. Thanks to Jorja All Around for the heads-up.

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