Hodges stared down into the microscope, frozen stiff in abject horror by Wendy's suggestion. He was fighting to keep his lunch of a tuna salad sandwich from swimming its way back up.

"So – what do you think?" Wendy nudged Hodges, "We have to do something, right?"

"No, actually, I think we need to do nothing – not do anything, whatever, you know what I mean" Hodges stammered. "Listen Lucy," Hodges started in his best Ricky Ricardo voice, "this is one of those situations that will result in disaster no matter how much effort or thought goes into your plan. Trust me, I know what I am talking about here – everyone will be better off if we just let them be."

Wendy's mood sank to the floor. Sara and Grissom were not exactly the most open couple but this would go in the books as a bad year, not just for them as a couple, but for the whole staff, "in case you haven't noticed, things have been pretty awful around here."

Hodges nodded. There wasn't much else he could do, because she was right. He followed her eyes out into the corridor, watching people move through the halls in a daze. There was no joking around, no side bets about who could close a case the quickest or who was right on a wild theory. People came in, did their job and left. Between Sara's abduction, her abrupt departure and then Warrick, working with Doc Robbins in the morgue would be preferable. The crew was on edge and snappy. To call the workplace challenging would be a gross understatement.

Wendy leaned in closer to Hodges, so he was the only one that could hear her, "we have to do something to get everyone back together. Having a girl's night out and sleep over would be fun. It worked in the movie…"

"What movie?"

"Sex and the City."

Tilting his head up and cocking an eyebrow, Hodges couldn't believe she was serious. "Are you honestly comparing Sara Sidle to Carrie Bradshaw? And didn't the wedding end badly?"

"No, but duly noted that you know who Carrie Bradshaw is, and they eventually got married in front of their friends. I think it would be fun if all of the girls got together before she got married."

"Whoa, wait. They're getting married?"

"Who knows, for all we know they probably already are, but the point is, it would be great to get the team together and then you can arrange a guys night for Grissom…"

Blinking, Hodges wondered how things went from bad to really bad so fast.

"What? Like you wouldn't jump at the chance to do this for Grissom," Wendy taunted as she bumped him with her shoulder. "Unless of course you would rather that I ask Nick or maybe Greg. I'll bet that Greg would love to plan something."

"No! I mean no, I'll take care of things, and Sanders would only screw things up with some juvenile frat party. If anyone is going to plan Grissom's guys night, it should be me."

--

Grissom wasn't sure what he could say to convince Sara to go along with Wendy's plan. He knew she would hate it, but he had to at least try. "Honey, it'll be fun."

"Uh huh. The same way that a root canal would be fun," Sara countered.

He shook his head and watched her pack her things into his duffle bag, like a little girl that didn't want to go to the nerdy kid's birthday party. "They're just trying to be nice."

"Nice would be a gift certificate or dinner. This is not nice." Sara stopped packing and just looked down at the contents of the duffle. "Gil, I don't even know what to take – what to wear. I…I haven't been to one of these things."

Grissom felt his heart clench tight in his chest. This is one of those events that you take for granted that every kid has experienced. He went to his share of sleepovers as a boy, but he was confident that his encounters were not the same for Sara as a little girl. This was one situation that he couldn't help her with. It killed him that the real reason she didn't want to do this was because she was nervous.

He walked over and took her in his arms. That was all she needed to tear up. Bring his head into his neck, he could feel her warm tears. "Honey, hey, look at me –" Sara looked expectantly up to him, hoping for some solution that would allow her to stay at home and curl up in bed with him. "They're your friends, our friends, and they love you. They've missed you and they really want to do this for you. They think it will be fun."

"No, this is because Wendy saw that damn Sex and the City movie."

"True, but at least you don't have to spend the evening with Hodges halfway up your ass," Grissom said with a grin.

Having lightened the mood considerably, he asked, "So, when are they coming to get you?"

"Soon, probably another five minutes or so," Sara said as she checked her watch. "I think I will be fine as long as she doesn't have some scary movie marathon planned. I always hated that little girl from Poltergeist," Sara said with a small shudder.

While Sara finished packing, she heard a knock at the door, followed by Hank's barking.

"They're heeeeere," Grissom announced, as he went to the door earning him a scoff by Sara for his effort.

As he opened the door, he couldn't help but wonder who was going to have the more interesting night out.

Thanks for reading...more to come!