Disclaimer: CSI is the property of CBS and its creators and my only payment is the good feelings I get from your reviews.
Author's Notes: This was written for a valentine's day challenge more than a year ago, but I never posted it here. The story takes place before gsr was canon.
Sara Sidle had arrived early for shift as always. She liked having free time to make the transition from home to work. Sitting on the bench, she opened her locker and began the process of getting ready for work. First she put her jacket and purse on the coat hook. Next depending on where she was in a case she would slip out of the shoes she'd worn from home and into her work boots or leave them on for working around the lab.
Since she'd finished up her case this morning after leaving her report on Grissom's desk she changed into the boots knowing tonight she'd get a new case. On the floor of the locker where it had been lying underneath her work shoes, was an ivory linen invitation sized envelope with her name written in a flowery calligraphy.
Carefully picking it up, she opened the envelope and pulled out a sheet of matching paper. The paper not much bigger than her hand felt soft and expensive. She noticed the writing on it was similar to the envelope's front, but thought the paper to small to have been run through a printer. In the center of the sheet was a poem.
"Sara,
Valentine's comes but once a year
Before the next one I want to share
The sweet tributes you need to hear
It's time I show you how much I care
Open wide your eyes and mind
With senses keen and science skill
The clues you will easily find
Identifying the holder of this quill.
Your Secret Admirer"
Flipping the paper over she tried to figure out who would have left something like this for her. Since it was the evening of February 13th, that didn't leave her much time to figure out who had left this note before Valentine's Day. She theorized that this Secret Admirer was probably connected to the Crime Lab. Not that that really reduced the list of possibilities, she was well aware of the various lab techs, police officers and coroner employees had shown interest in her over the years.
Most were aware that she wasn't interested in pursuing anything and were content to be friends; guys like David Phillips, Bobby D. and Archie. The police officers' at the scenes often showed interest, but the gossips had spread Hank's experiences pretty thoroughly through the department. Not many wanted to start dating a workaholic who worked with decomposing bodies and bugs. Then there were the ones like Nick and Greg who she enjoyed flirting and playing with. Oh they were handsome, smart, and funny, but didn't stand a chance. Maybe if things had been different she might have felt something for either guy, but Grissom had been there first. Grissom.
She smiled wistfully when she thought about him. An old proverb came to mind "Love makes the time pass. Time makes love pass." She mentally knew the truth of the first part, but at times like these she wished she could prove the latter to her heart.
Closing her eyes for a brief second she allowed herself to wish it was the sort of thing he'd do, but she honestly couldn't really see it from a man whose sentiment on the plant he'd sent her at work just said from Grissom. Folding the sheet up, stuffing it back into its envelope, she tucked the pair into her back pocket. It was the first clue that she'd found in her office mystery.
In the break room she reached up into the cupboard over the coffee maker to pull her coffee cup down from the shelf. Sara quickly peeked into the mug and was surprised to find another folded up piece of paper in her mug. In the same calligraphy font she found a quote printed on the folded slip.
"I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a woman."—Joss Whedon"
As Greg and Grissom entered the break room she smiled at the pair as she poured herself a cup of coffee thinking about the quote she'd just found.
Who would give her a quote by Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Quotes were such a Grissom thing, but he rarely used pop culture ones preferring the more Classical quotes from guys like Shakespeare and Plutarch. She knew Archie was a serious sci-fi buff, but did that include Buffy? As Grissom would say she had more questions than answers and would just have to follow the evidence.
Grissom passed out the assignment sheets, she absently noted the smudge of black ink on his hand and meant to warn him, but was distracted by Greg who'd been partnered with her to handle a jewelry store robbery. Walking out to her SUV she was surprised to find a beautiful red rose on her windshield with another slip of the linen paper tied around the base of the plastic container.
Smelling the fragrant rose bud as she unrolled the paper. Her smile grew as she read the printed words. "If I had a rose for every time I thought of you, I'd be picking roses for a lifetime. -- Swedish Proverb"
She found another note at the crime scene when she kneeled down in front of the destroyed glass counter and pulled out her fingerprint powder, underneath the container she found more linen paper.
"There's this place in me where your fingerprints still rest... and your whispers softly echo. It's the place where a part of you will forever be a part of me.-Gretchen Kemp.
Sara began to wonder who could have had the time and ability to hide these notes and find these quotes. She discounted people who didn't work in the lab, whoever was doing this had known which piece of forensic equipment she'd been most likely to use, like her fingerprint powder. Sara wondered how well this person might know her.
Later that night while working in the Trace Lab working on the evidence collected at the scene. Sara left the room for a moment to refill her cup of coffee. When she returned she discovered another envelope was left on the table safely away from the evidence.
"They are wrong who say that love is blind. On the contrary, nothing - not even the smallest detail - escapes the eyes; one sees everything in the loved one, notices everything; but melts it all into one flame with the great and simple: I love you." –unknown."
Sara read the quote and finally knew in her heart, mind and gut who her Secret Admirer was. For most of the night she'd figured that since Nick was off that the most likely candidates were Greg or Grissom. As she read this quote again she knew for a certainty. Boxing up the evidence and lugging it back to the vault. Sara grinned as she began the first step of her plan, the next step would be finding an empty work station.
Standing in the doorway she watched him for a moment, this was possibly the happiest Valentine's Day she'd spent in Las Vegas. Tapping on the door frame she waited for him to look up.
"Sara." Grissom sat back as he looked at the leggy brunette leaning in the doorway. "What can I do for you?"
"Do you have a minute?"
"Sure."
Handing him a plain business envelope she took a seat on the edge of his desk. Sara's smile grew as Gil blushed.
"How did you know?" He asked noticing the envelope wasn't addressed to Gil or Grissom, but to Sara's Not So Secret Admirer.
"The quotes tipped me off, but I didn't know for certain until I was waiting and noticed the ink stain on your finger and that little scrap of linen peeking out of your garbage can."
"Oh. Well the evidence never lies."
"True. Happy Valentine's Day Griss."
Then because he finally knew what to do about this. He pulled her off the desk and into his arms so he could kiss her softly. Pulling back a little he whispered in her ear a final quote. "You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel.-unknown. Happy Valentine's Day Sara. I love you."