She'd been sitting at the break room table for 12 minutes staring at the latest New York Times crossword puzzle. Alternating between tapping the pencil absentmindedly on the table and her teeth, she was lost in concentration trying to get as far as she could without help. He could do them in pen without help and it was no big deal. She'd be damned if she wasn't going to be as good as he was . . . eventually. Plus, it gave her a much needed break from sifting through the evidence of her latest case. Taking a sip of her tea, she sighed and put down the puzzle. It was time to get back to work and she really wanted to finish the puzzle. As a compromise to herself, she ripped it out of the newspaper and walked to her locker and put it inside her purse.
The rest of her shift involved entering prints into the database and analyzing a note left at the scene of the crime. The victim was a 26 year old woman named Francessca Martin. She was found badly beaten and strangled to death in her apartment. The obvious suspect was her long time boyfriend who, conveniently, was no where to be found. It was no secret that Sara loved locking away men involved in any kind of domestic abuse, and if it meant working past the end of her shift, well then so be it.
When the exhaustion finally set in around 10 am, she stretched out her back and went to drop off some paperwork in Grissom's office. Most of the team had gone home already so she was surprised to see her supervisor still sitting at his desk. Standing outside his office without being seen, she took the opportunity to admire his face while he worked. It had a determined yet peaceful look to it. One that meant he was engrossed in whatever he was researching but since no one was there to bug him, he was throroghly enjoying himself. She cleared her throat to get his attention.
"Hey, I thought you'd gone home," he said, suppressing a yawn.
"No, I've been working on the Martin case and I got caught up in some of the evidence. What are you still doing here?"
"There was a body on dayshift they found covered in maggots and flies. They asked me to do a timeline to place TOD." He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "I was just thinking about getting ready to go home. Would you like to join me?"
There was a twinkle in his eye that unmistakably meant anything but going to bed. She enjoyed these moments when he let his guard down at work. It meant that he had progressed with his ability to embrace their relationship instead of seeing it as an obstacle.
"Hmm, sounds tempting. . ."
"What if I said I'd make you breakfast?"
"Mushroom omlettes?"
"You got it, anything to spend some time with you. It's been way too long. Let me finish up this one documentation and I'll see you at my place. Thirty minutes ok?"
"Perfect, I'll have enough time to run home and change. I got kind of dirty at the scene and I want to clean up a little bit."
He shot her one of his knee melting grins as she was turning to leave. The man never ceased to amaze her.
45 minutes later she was walking up to his door. She didn't exactly know when it stopped but she was surprised to realize she didn't feel nervous butterflies in her stomach when she went to his house. In the beginning of their relationship she always felt fidgety and nervous before she walked up to Grissom's door. Part of it being the fear that when he answered he would think it was a mistake and start pushing her away again. The other part being that he just wouldn't answer at all. But now, having been in a comfortable place in their togetherness for a few months, she never really worried about that stuff anymore. Right now, she was mostly thinking about that mushroom omlette because she was starving.
She knocked on the door to the tune of "Shave and a Hair Cut" and waited for him to answer. That scene from the Roger Rabbit movie played through her mind and she had to giggle. Grissom answered the door to see her grinning like an idiot. She blushed slightly but gave him a peck on the cheek when he raised his eyebrow at her, as if to say 'What?'
"Sorry I'm late. Traffic was more hectic than I thought." She brushed past him and set her coat on the couch.
"That's ok," he said. "I just finished slicing the mushrooms so you're just in time. Everything else is ready to go, except the coffee. You want to start that while I start the food?"
"Sure." She went to the cupboard where he kept his coffee and filters. She placed a filter in the pot and began to measure out scoops.
"You know, it amazes me," she said. "A year ago I couldn't have even imagined being in your apartment, and here I am being all domestic and helping you make breakfast."
He tried to hide his smirk behind the dish towel on his shoulder, but she saw it before he could.
"You're anything but domestic, Sara. Until just a few years ago you lived on take out."
She reached out with her long legs and playfully kicked his ass.
"Yeah, well it's amazing what being in love can do to a woman."
He smiled and went back to assembling omlettes. Fifteen minutes later they were seated at his kitchen table eating quietly and basking in each other's tired company. They had both put in a long hard day and were fighting with every fiber of their body to stay awake. As Sara finished the last bite of her omlette Grissom gathered up their plates to rinse them in the sink. It was sounding better and better to crawl in bed and let sleep erase all the stiffness and pain for a few blissfull hours.
"Griss, I'm sorry but I just can't stay awake any longer. I'm going to go wash up and then crash. You coming?"
"Yeah, right behind you. I just want to put these in the dishwasher."
She was riffling through her purse for the toothbrush she'd shoved in there on her way out the door. Anymore this was the only thing she brought over with her. She always slept in one of his old t-shirts and she always carried a fresh change of clothes in her car in case she was running late to work. Not to mention the spares she kept in her locker atwork, but she hadn't been running that late since the very beginning of their relationship when they couldn't keep their hands off each other. In the process of finding the toothbrush, the crossword puzzle she had saved fell out of her purse and onto the table just as Grissom was walking up behind her.
Immediately he picked it up and began working. He was like an addict, once he found one he almost never put it down until it was solved. Not wanting to miss out on her chance at glory, she gingerly yanked it from his hands and put it into the side pocket on her purse.
"Hey! I was going to help you with that," he pouted.
"Oh no you're not," she said. "I want to do one on my own, without any help. I don't care how long it takes me, I want to be able so say I finished a New York Times Crossword puzzle by myself, sans help from you."
"It's not like it's cheating if I help, you know."
"I know, but that's not the point."
She waggled her toothbrush at him as she headed for the bathroom. He would never understand that for Sara his intelligence, while inspiring at times, could be irksome when it came to things like crossword puzzles. Especially when Sara knew she was no dummy by anyone's terms. This just happened to be the one thing she chose to try and excel at compared to him. It was a daunting task considering his track record already but at least it would make her feel victorious even if he didn't care one way or another.
Still thinking about the crossword puzzle she walked back into the bedroom after completing her night time routine. Smelling of mint and soap she snuggled into bed beside him. She laid her head on his chest, in the hollow spot on his left shoulder right above his heart. This was her spot. This was one of the spots on his body that was specifically contoured for her it seemed. There was at least one other but she was too tired to think about that one . . . for now.
She woke several hours later to find Grissom absent from the bed. Although midly disappointing, it was not uncommon. She grabbed the throw blanket from the foot of the bed and wrapped it around herself while she walked groggily to the living room. She found him sitting on the couch watching a cable news channel. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a worn Dr. Pepper tee.
'Ironic,' she thought. 'I've never seen him drink soda.'
"Morning!" he piped at her chipperly.
"Ugh. Sleep well I take it Mr. Sunshine?" Sarcasm was it's strongest with Sara until she'd been up for about half an hour.
"Mm Hmm," was all the reply she got.
After making a cup of tea and some toast she sat down on the couch next to him. Watching TV together wasn't something they normally did but it made for a nice change. They could still be together but maintain a comfortable silence. At some point during a rant by a guest anchor on Fox News Sara got up to check her purse for her cell phone. She'd been expecting a call from one of the lab techs about the results of the tests she left with them regarding the Francessca Martin case and wanted to see if she'd missed a call or text message.
Just before her hand made contact with her phone, she noticed the crossword puzzle was sticking up from the pocket into which she'd so uncerimoniously shoved it the night before. She grabbed the corner with the tips of her fingers, handling it as if it were evidence and she was breaking the rules by touching it without gloves. Her curiosity won her over though and she unfolded it to find multiple erase marks covering the page. All of her answers were still there and intact (and in her hand writing) but it looked as if Grissom and worked the puzzle in pencil until it was solved and then erased all her answers.
Carrying her fraying paper over to him she set it on his lap.
"Why did you do this? Now I have no room to make mistakes because you wore the paper out with an eraser." She wasn't angry, per se, but an answer would be nice.
He looked up at her sheepishly, as if he'd been caught with a Playboy by his mother.
"I'm sorry, hon. I really am. But when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep I started thinking of the part of it I'd seen last night before bed and I thought that if I used pencil and erase all my answers it wouldn't be a big deal. I guess the paper wasn't as sturdy as I thought it was. But I promise that you won't be able to see any of my answers so it won't be like I helped you."
She was bummed that he did her crossword puzzle, the one thing she'd wanted to do for herself. But she was also impressed at his thoughtfulness in making sure that she was able to do it on her own even though he solved it when she asked him not to. 'How,' she wondered, 'could men be so endearing and infuriating at the same time?'
"Can I make it up to you?" He was looking at her with blue eyes that had the warmth of a tropical ocean behind them. They seemed to hold illicit memories of what they'd done on a secluded tropical beach, which was giving her a clear indication of how he wanted to make it up to her. Looking down at what she'd been holding and acting like a child over she decided letting Grissom 'make it up to her' was ultimately going to be more gratifying than finishing a crossword puzzle.
She set the endangered crossword on the coffee table and shut off the TV as she sauntered back into the bedroom.
"I'm sure we can work something out," she replied. "Here's your clue: 69 Down, 4 letter word for Copulate."
"I don't think I'll have a problem solving this one." He murmered, getting up to follow her.