Title: Now and Then
Author: Prawncocktailflavouredcashewnut.
Summary: Grissom and Sara reflect on how their relationship has changed since they met.
Genre: Grissom/Sara romance
Archive: Take it if you want, though I can't imagine why you'd want it
Authors note: This is my first ever fanfiction, and also the first piece of writing I've done that I've let anyone else but my sister read so if you want to review, I welcome constructive criticism but please be gentle. I know that this piece moves a bit slow but I just needed to get everything in there and I didn't know how else to do it. Also, the character of Mark may seem completely pointless but I promise you that later on in the story he is significant.
Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with the show CSI, nor do I own any of the characters in this fic- except for Mark, Jake, Hildi, Trisha and Casey. So basically I own all of them except for Grissom and Sara. I intend no infringement on the creators of the show or the actors who portray the characters, so please don't sue!
Enjoy!!!!!
Sara sat at the bar of the coffee shop finishing her coffee, she looked around her saw her friends who worked there walking over to her; there were no more customers to serve, it was early for students. It was early for her!
"Geez girl, what are you doing out of bed before 10:30?"
Her roommate was genuinely shocked to see her; she usually didn't surface 'til noon.
"I've got a lecture." She replied groggily, she was still half asleep. "You've always got a lecture, you just don't show up for them."
"Yeah, well I'm showing up for this one." She snapped. She wasn't exactly sure why she was up so early, or why indeed she was going to the lecture. Well, she knew it was something to do with that guy, she just didn't feel like explaining it to her friends when she wasn't even sure she understood it herself. Mark came up behind her, until then he had been collecting glasses and plates from the empty tables, he set them down on the bar and took a seat next to her, " What's it on?" He asked, "It's a study of Entymological advances in forensics and their involvement in the decomposition of corpses." Sara looked up from her coffee to find 4 blank faces staring back at her, Hildi's mouth had dropped open slightly and Jake's brow was creased like it did when he tried to divide big numbers in his head. She shook her head and smiled a little, "How bugs affect a dead body."
"Oh, now I understand," Trisha returned to her normal vague expression, * Probably wondering what to wear to the party tonight* Sara mused to herself. She wouldn't be going, but she knew everyone else was looking forward to it immensely, the last party of the semester was always a big deal, especially when coming from the Alpha Delts; The wildest most notorious frat on campus. Hildi's voice aroused her from her thoughts. "Well I still don't understand, I thought you hated bugs!" Her roommate was confused, but not as confused as she was. "I do hate bugs!"
"So why are you going then?"
"She's in love with her professor." Sara threw Jake a look that said he was pathetic and that he didn't get to her one bit. "I'm not in love with him," she stated exaggeratedly, "I just like listening to him, O.K.?"
None of them noticed as the handsome forty-ish man entered, they were all facing away from him and there was no bell on the door. He was about to say something when he heard the boy's remark about someone having a crush on a professor, thinking it might be wise to know, in case it got out of hand and he had to report it, he just stood there waiting for them to notice him.
"You like listening to him talk about bugs?" The blonde addressed the brunette; she thought this last statement of her friends was very confusing. But when she spoke about bugs, Grissom's attention was caught, they were talking about him! He looked to the brunette girl for an answer, as apparently was everyone else.
Sara felt everyone's eyes on her, she was annoyed that she was being forced to answer a question she didn't know the answer to, it hardly ever happened to her. She tried to explain her attraction to this man as best as she could. "Yes-no-oh I don't know. I just like listening to him talk. He's fascinating. He brings a kind of raw, unrefined enthusiasm to everything he says. His eyes glisten when he gets excited and he makes you want to listen because everything he says is worth knowing, even if it doesn't make any sense." Once again she was granted with blank faces. "What do you mean, even if he doesn't make any sense?" Mark was puzzled, he'd never seen Sara worked up over a guy before, it scared him that she might fall for her professor when there were plenty of guys her age around dying for a crack at her, when there was him. Sara was becoming exasperated, she knew she didn't make sense but she didn't know how to say what she wanted to without sounding like a crazed freak. "The guy's cryptic, he'll say something and you won't know what it means but you know that it's important and one day you'll be able to use it. Anyway it's not so much what he says that I'm interested in, he just makes it all so exciting. I could listen to him talk all day." Now she had a smile on her face thinking about him, and her urge to just be near him. Her smile however faded when she saw Trisha looking at her like she was insane. "About Bugs." She said, it wasn't really a question as a –I'm just clarifying that you're a psycho loony- statement, but Sara felt compelled to answer. "Not just about bugs, anything. I bet the guy could talk about garden furniture for three hours and everyone would still be on the edge of their seats."
Grissom smiled, this girl thought he was fascinating, that made him almost giggle. She sounded completely serious and her enthusiasm towards him was incredible, he'd never seen it before, except of course in him, with his bugs, but he surely couldn't be that interesting, he mused. He decided he wanted to see her face so he spoke. " Well, if you're going to listen to me talk all day you'd better get going, you'll be late." Five heads whipped round to face him.
Sara heard his voice and instantly stood up and turned round. There he was, the man with the incredible eyes, the one thing she hadn't told her friends about (which she was glad of now) was the fact that his eyes made her melt. They were so intense, and they had a devilish twinkle in them when he smiled. She felt her cheeks blush and she felt incredibly stupid as she stood facing the man she had just been spouting about two minutes earlier. *I wonder how much he heard*
The girl looked absolutely mortified at his presence. She was slowly turning a deep shade of purple, it made her look pretty. Grissom studied her as she struggled to regain her composure. She was tall and thin, dark brown hair pulled back in a pony-tail, nothing he hadn't seen a hundred times before, but from hearing her speak, Grissom could tell there was something about this girl that set her apart from the thousands of faces he saw every day. He smiled and waited while she looked up, down, to the side and behind her. Then she looked straight into his eyes, saw what was to become later known to her as his famous half smile and broke out into an incredible grin as she suppressed a giggle, she put her head in her hands and took in a long breath. The others watched this display in disbelief, none of them had ever seen Sara embarrassed and rarely speechless so this was a sight to be observed and recorded.
"Like I said, you're going to be late." This caused Sara to look up and she saw the challenging, teasing look in his eyes. She rose to his bait, "Well you're late too." She returned the look and raised her eyebrows. Everyone except Grissom knew that this was her flirting face, they'd seen it many times before, they all turned to see his reaction. Grissom saw everyone look at him and realized he was supposed to keep playing the game, "I'm the professor, I can't be late." He replied thinking he'd find her speechless. But the rest of them knew Sara better than that, this guy was a fool if he thought he was gonna win with something as feeble as that. "Technically," Sara began knowing that what she was doing was dangerous and that she was going to get stick for it, but there was something about him that wouldn't let her stop, "It doesn't matter what time I get there, I'm not late until I come in after the authority figure." She finished her statement so matter-of-factly that he couldn't help but laugh. * Yeah! Score Sara! * She thought and her smile turned to a look of smug satisfaction. " I give up!" Grissom held up his hands and smiled a full smile, his eyes twinkling. "You're too smart for me." They looked at each other, straight in the eyes. Neither could think of anything to say, so they just stood transfixed until Hildi broke in with, "Can I get you some coffee?"
Grissom averted his eyes from the enthusiastic intelligent young girl in front of him just long enough to say that he wanted an iced tea before turning back to the girl. He reached out his hand in order to shake hers, "Gil Grissom." He said as she took it. "Sara Sidle," she replied, "and I know who you are Mr. Grissom." He'd almost he forgotten the conversation he had overheard which had led to this entire discussion. "Of course you do," he stated, "I'm fascinating." He grinned, Sara looked mortified and Jake, the model of refinement, started laughing and managed to squirt milk out of his nose. Everyone laughed. Hildi handed the man his drink and he handed her some change, never once taking his eyes from Sara. Mark noticed this and walked off, in a moody fashion. "Walk you to class?" He offered. Gil didn't know why but he felt a strange urge to stay near her as long as possible. "Sure." Sara smiled at him, she didn't know why but she just couldn't stop grinning. He turned around and they were just about to walk out when Jake called to her, " Hey S, you comin' to the party tonight?" Sara smiled, Jake was a dedicated Frat boy and was determined to drag her to one of his parties, she pitied the boy, she knew and he knew that he'd never win. She turned to face him, Grissom did the same. "Jake, is the sky blue? Do birds fly? Is Sesame a street?" Everyone smiled; only Grissom didn't know that her answer meant the exact opposite to what she had said. "I'll take that as a no then." Jake hung his head disappointed and then looked up just in time to see her cock her finger like a gun, smile, wink and sweep out of the room with Grissom following. "Nice try Jake." Hildi called across the room. * the poor thing's never gonna give up hope, but he'll never get her away from her microscope to realize there are a hundred guys out there who'd love to do her* She glanced around the room to see Mark staring into a cup of coffee. *Or one that's completely in love with her, poor baby* She smiled and walked into the back to start washing up.
Grissom and Sara walked along in silence, neither really knowing what to say. He studied her closely as she walked, she was graceful, lively even though she wasn't speaking he could tell. There was a spark in her eyes that he'd never really seen before, it drew him to her. Sara could feel his eyes on her as they moved; she turned to face him and looked straight at him. He looked back at her inquisitively, they had stopped walking. "Do you study everyone you meet so closely?" She asked, she didn't mean to be rude but he was starting to make her uncomfortable, she didn't like to be scrutinized. He looked taken aback by her comment, almost shocked. He didn't realize she'd noticed. * Of course she noticed Gil you idiot, this is the girl who just outsmarted you ten minutes ago! * He was about to comment on his behavior when Sara looked away from him. She turned to see her other roommate Casey running towards her shouting her name. She finally caught up to them, she studied the couple, Sara looked much like she always did, maybe a little flushed, but the man she was with looked put out, almost annoyed the intrusion. "What's up Case?" Sara asked, * it must be important if she ran all the way over here * Casey looked at her friend, a grin started to break onto her face, "I brought your mail, thought you might like to see, there's something there from San Fran Sisco." Sara's face went white, she looked worried as Casey gave her the letter and started to walk away. "Oh and by the way, your mother called, four times already!" She called back across the lawn. "Y'I bet she did." Sara called back, not taking her eyes off the white envelope she had in her hands. "She says next time if you don't pick up she's coming over." This made Sara look up; she made a sarcastic face, "From California?" Her friend laughed. " Sara this is the woman who once flew back from Dublin because Phil forgot to feed her dog!" This made Sara laugh, *Yeah but she cared more about that dog than she does me* "Pick it up, O.K.?" Casey had come to a standstill and was now conducting her conversation from almost ten feet away, no one cared. "Yeah, yeah." Sara called out to her and she turned to walk away, but she turned again when she heard Sara's voice. "Hey Case, if I pick up the phone, does that mean I actually have to talk to her?" Casey laughed, waved her hand resignedly and walked away to the sound of her best friend shouting out to her, "What? It was a legitimate question!" Sara turned to see her professor chuckling at her, "Well, it was." Sara laughed at herself. "Oh shoot, now we're really late." She said looking at her watch, then back to her letter. "I'm sure everyone in the bugs and dead bodies class is devastated he said dryly. "What's that?" He nodded towards the letter. Sara looked up to see what he was talking about, "Oh! I um, I applied for an internship at the San Fran Sisco Crime Lab." She looked back down at the letter and let out a deep breath, "I think I'm gonna open it later." She looked up and he smiled at her. "You're interested in forensics?" They had started to walk again and he had inclined his body towards her as he spoke. " Oh yeah!" she said and her face looked up and he saw that same enthusiasm in her he had back in the coffee shop. They talked about forensic science the rest of the way to class. When they reached the door, there were people still milling in, some talking excitedly, others sitting in their chairs laughing and talking. Grissom turned towards her, raised his eyebrows and smiled, "See," he said "devastated." She laughed and shook her head; she walked off to where her seat was, at the back. Grissom watched her go, then he turned and walked towards his desk. During the lecture he made eye contact with her a lot. She thought it was because he was making sure she was paying attention, but really, for some inexplicable reason, he just couldn't stop looking at her, to tell the truth, he just didn't want to.
Author: Prawncocktailflavouredcashewnut.
Summary: Grissom and Sara reflect on how their relationship has changed since they met.
Genre: Grissom/Sara romance
Archive: Take it if you want, though I can't imagine why you'd want it
Authors note: This is my first ever fanfiction, and also the first piece of writing I've done that I've let anyone else but my sister read so if you want to review, I welcome constructive criticism but please be gentle. I know that this piece moves a bit slow but I just needed to get everything in there and I didn't know how else to do it. Also, the character of Mark may seem completely pointless but I promise you that later on in the story he is significant.
Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with the show CSI, nor do I own any of the characters in this fic- except for Mark, Jake, Hildi, Trisha and Casey. So basically I own all of them except for Grissom and Sara. I intend no infringement on the creators of the show or the actors who portray the characters, so please don't sue!
Enjoy!!!!!
Sara sat at the bar of the coffee shop finishing her coffee, she looked around her saw her friends who worked there walking over to her; there were no more customers to serve, it was early for students. It was early for her!
"Geez girl, what are you doing out of bed before 10:30?"
Her roommate was genuinely shocked to see her; she usually didn't surface 'til noon.
"I've got a lecture." She replied groggily, she was still half asleep. "You've always got a lecture, you just don't show up for them."
"Yeah, well I'm showing up for this one." She snapped. She wasn't exactly sure why she was up so early, or why indeed she was going to the lecture. Well, she knew it was something to do with that guy, she just didn't feel like explaining it to her friends when she wasn't even sure she understood it herself. Mark came up behind her, until then he had been collecting glasses and plates from the empty tables, he set them down on the bar and took a seat next to her, " What's it on?" He asked, "It's a study of Entymological advances in forensics and their involvement in the decomposition of corpses." Sara looked up from her coffee to find 4 blank faces staring back at her, Hildi's mouth had dropped open slightly and Jake's brow was creased like it did when he tried to divide big numbers in his head. She shook her head and smiled a little, "How bugs affect a dead body."
"Oh, now I understand," Trisha returned to her normal vague expression, * Probably wondering what to wear to the party tonight* Sara mused to herself. She wouldn't be going, but she knew everyone else was looking forward to it immensely, the last party of the semester was always a big deal, especially when coming from the Alpha Delts; The wildest most notorious frat on campus. Hildi's voice aroused her from her thoughts. "Well I still don't understand, I thought you hated bugs!" Her roommate was confused, but not as confused as she was. "I do hate bugs!"
"So why are you going then?"
"She's in love with her professor." Sara threw Jake a look that said he was pathetic and that he didn't get to her one bit. "I'm not in love with him," she stated exaggeratedly, "I just like listening to him, O.K.?"
None of them noticed as the handsome forty-ish man entered, they were all facing away from him and there was no bell on the door. He was about to say something when he heard the boy's remark about someone having a crush on a professor, thinking it might be wise to know, in case it got out of hand and he had to report it, he just stood there waiting for them to notice him.
"You like listening to him talk about bugs?" The blonde addressed the brunette; she thought this last statement of her friends was very confusing. But when she spoke about bugs, Grissom's attention was caught, they were talking about him! He looked to the brunette girl for an answer, as apparently was everyone else.
Sara felt everyone's eyes on her, she was annoyed that she was being forced to answer a question she didn't know the answer to, it hardly ever happened to her. She tried to explain her attraction to this man as best as she could. "Yes-no-oh I don't know. I just like listening to him talk. He's fascinating. He brings a kind of raw, unrefined enthusiasm to everything he says. His eyes glisten when he gets excited and he makes you want to listen because everything he says is worth knowing, even if it doesn't make any sense." Once again she was granted with blank faces. "What do you mean, even if he doesn't make any sense?" Mark was puzzled, he'd never seen Sara worked up over a guy before, it scared him that she might fall for her professor when there were plenty of guys her age around dying for a crack at her, when there was him. Sara was becoming exasperated, she knew she didn't make sense but she didn't know how to say what she wanted to without sounding like a crazed freak. "The guy's cryptic, he'll say something and you won't know what it means but you know that it's important and one day you'll be able to use it. Anyway it's not so much what he says that I'm interested in, he just makes it all so exciting. I could listen to him talk all day." Now she had a smile on her face thinking about him, and her urge to just be near him. Her smile however faded when she saw Trisha looking at her like she was insane. "About Bugs." She said, it wasn't really a question as a –I'm just clarifying that you're a psycho loony- statement, but Sara felt compelled to answer. "Not just about bugs, anything. I bet the guy could talk about garden furniture for three hours and everyone would still be on the edge of their seats."
Grissom smiled, this girl thought he was fascinating, that made him almost giggle. She sounded completely serious and her enthusiasm towards him was incredible, he'd never seen it before, except of course in him, with his bugs, but he surely couldn't be that interesting, he mused. He decided he wanted to see her face so he spoke. " Well, if you're going to listen to me talk all day you'd better get going, you'll be late." Five heads whipped round to face him.
Sara heard his voice and instantly stood up and turned round. There he was, the man with the incredible eyes, the one thing she hadn't told her friends about (which she was glad of now) was the fact that his eyes made her melt. They were so intense, and they had a devilish twinkle in them when he smiled. She felt her cheeks blush and she felt incredibly stupid as she stood facing the man she had just been spouting about two minutes earlier. *I wonder how much he heard*
The girl looked absolutely mortified at his presence. She was slowly turning a deep shade of purple, it made her look pretty. Grissom studied her as she struggled to regain her composure. She was tall and thin, dark brown hair pulled back in a pony-tail, nothing he hadn't seen a hundred times before, but from hearing her speak, Grissom could tell there was something about this girl that set her apart from the thousands of faces he saw every day. He smiled and waited while she looked up, down, to the side and behind her. Then she looked straight into his eyes, saw what was to become later known to her as his famous half smile and broke out into an incredible grin as she suppressed a giggle, she put her head in her hands and took in a long breath. The others watched this display in disbelief, none of them had ever seen Sara embarrassed and rarely speechless so this was a sight to be observed and recorded.
"Like I said, you're going to be late." This caused Sara to look up and she saw the challenging, teasing look in his eyes. She rose to his bait, "Well you're late too." She returned the look and raised her eyebrows. Everyone except Grissom knew that this was her flirting face, they'd seen it many times before, they all turned to see his reaction. Grissom saw everyone look at him and realized he was supposed to keep playing the game, "I'm the professor, I can't be late." He replied thinking he'd find her speechless. But the rest of them knew Sara better than that, this guy was a fool if he thought he was gonna win with something as feeble as that. "Technically," Sara began knowing that what she was doing was dangerous and that she was going to get stick for it, but there was something about him that wouldn't let her stop, "It doesn't matter what time I get there, I'm not late until I come in after the authority figure." She finished her statement so matter-of-factly that he couldn't help but laugh. * Yeah! Score Sara! * She thought and her smile turned to a look of smug satisfaction. " I give up!" Grissom held up his hands and smiled a full smile, his eyes twinkling. "You're too smart for me." They looked at each other, straight in the eyes. Neither could think of anything to say, so they just stood transfixed until Hildi broke in with, "Can I get you some coffee?"
Grissom averted his eyes from the enthusiastic intelligent young girl in front of him just long enough to say that he wanted an iced tea before turning back to the girl. He reached out his hand in order to shake hers, "Gil Grissom." He said as she took it. "Sara Sidle," she replied, "and I know who you are Mr. Grissom." He'd almost he forgotten the conversation he had overheard which had led to this entire discussion. "Of course you do," he stated, "I'm fascinating." He grinned, Sara looked mortified and Jake, the model of refinement, started laughing and managed to squirt milk out of his nose. Everyone laughed. Hildi handed the man his drink and he handed her some change, never once taking his eyes from Sara. Mark noticed this and walked off, in a moody fashion. "Walk you to class?" He offered. Gil didn't know why but he felt a strange urge to stay near her as long as possible. "Sure." Sara smiled at him, she didn't know why but she just couldn't stop grinning. He turned around and they were just about to walk out when Jake called to her, " Hey S, you comin' to the party tonight?" Sara smiled, Jake was a dedicated Frat boy and was determined to drag her to one of his parties, she pitied the boy, she knew and he knew that he'd never win. She turned to face him, Grissom did the same. "Jake, is the sky blue? Do birds fly? Is Sesame a street?" Everyone smiled; only Grissom didn't know that her answer meant the exact opposite to what she had said. "I'll take that as a no then." Jake hung his head disappointed and then looked up just in time to see her cock her finger like a gun, smile, wink and sweep out of the room with Grissom following. "Nice try Jake." Hildi called across the room. * the poor thing's never gonna give up hope, but he'll never get her away from her microscope to realize there are a hundred guys out there who'd love to do her* She glanced around the room to see Mark staring into a cup of coffee. *Or one that's completely in love with her, poor baby* She smiled and walked into the back to start washing up.
Grissom and Sara walked along in silence, neither really knowing what to say. He studied her closely as she walked, she was graceful, lively even though she wasn't speaking he could tell. There was a spark in her eyes that he'd never really seen before, it drew him to her. Sara could feel his eyes on her as they moved; she turned to face him and looked straight at him. He looked back at her inquisitively, they had stopped walking. "Do you study everyone you meet so closely?" She asked, she didn't mean to be rude but he was starting to make her uncomfortable, she didn't like to be scrutinized. He looked taken aback by her comment, almost shocked. He didn't realize she'd noticed. * Of course she noticed Gil you idiot, this is the girl who just outsmarted you ten minutes ago! * He was about to comment on his behavior when Sara looked away from him. She turned to see her other roommate Casey running towards her shouting her name. She finally caught up to them, she studied the couple, Sara looked much like she always did, maybe a little flushed, but the man she was with looked put out, almost annoyed the intrusion. "What's up Case?" Sara asked, * it must be important if she ran all the way over here * Casey looked at her friend, a grin started to break onto her face, "I brought your mail, thought you might like to see, there's something there from San Fran Sisco." Sara's face went white, she looked worried as Casey gave her the letter and started to walk away. "Oh and by the way, your mother called, four times already!" She called back across the lawn. "Y'I bet she did." Sara called back, not taking her eyes off the white envelope she had in her hands. "She says next time if you don't pick up she's coming over." This made Sara look up; she made a sarcastic face, "From California?" Her friend laughed. " Sara this is the woman who once flew back from Dublin because Phil forgot to feed her dog!" This made Sara laugh, *Yeah but she cared more about that dog than she does me* "Pick it up, O.K.?" Casey had come to a standstill and was now conducting her conversation from almost ten feet away, no one cared. "Yeah, yeah." Sara called out to her and she turned to walk away, but she turned again when she heard Sara's voice. "Hey Case, if I pick up the phone, does that mean I actually have to talk to her?" Casey laughed, waved her hand resignedly and walked away to the sound of her best friend shouting out to her, "What? It was a legitimate question!" Sara turned to see her professor chuckling at her, "Well, it was." Sara laughed at herself. "Oh shoot, now we're really late." She said looking at her watch, then back to her letter. "I'm sure everyone in the bugs and dead bodies class is devastated he said dryly. "What's that?" He nodded towards the letter. Sara looked up to see what he was talking about, "Oh! I um, I applied for an internship at the San Fran Sisco Crime Lab." She looked back down at the letter and let out a deep breath, "I think I'm gonna open it later." She looked up and he smiled at her. "You're interested in forensics?" They had started to walk again and he had inclined his body towards her as he spoke. " Oh yeah!" she said and her face looked up and he saw that same enthusiasm in her he had back in the coffee shop. They talked about forensic science the rest of the way to class. When they reached the door, there were people still milling in, some talking excitedly, others sitting in their chairs laughing and talking. Grissom turned towards her, raised his eyebrows and smiled, "See," he said "devastated." She laughed and shook her head; she walked off to where her seat was, at the back. Grissom watched her go, then he turned and walked towards his desk. During the lecture he made eye contact with her a lot. She thought it was because he was making sure she was paying attention, but really, for some inexplicable reason, he just couldn't stop looking at her, to tell the truth, he just didn't want to.