Disclaimer: Gil, Sara, and the rest of CSI doesn't belong to us.

"Joyeux Noelle"

Chapter 1

Sara Sidle-Grissom squinted as she carefully picked up a hair from the carpet of her latest crime scene with her tweezers. She placed the hair in an evidence bindle and sealed it, before putting her tweezers in the pocket of her vest and standing to stretch the kinks out of her back. It had been a long night, starting with a robbery/shooting at a convenience store and ending with a double homicide in one of Las Vegas's many suburbs. Sara was now well into overtime and exhausted. She used to work hour after hour without caring, taking quick cat naps to get her needed rest. But since her marriage to Gil Grissom, all of that had changed. Even now that he was in Paris and she was in Vegas, she hurried home to talk to him on the phone or chat with him over the computer.

Sara put her hands on the small of her back and grimaced. The muscles were in knots from hours of bending over collecting evidence.

Nick Stokes looked up and smiled sympathetically. "We're almost done, Sar," he told her. "You'll be home talking to Griss before you know it."

Sara grinned at him. Nick knew how much she missed her husband.

"So when is Grissom getting here?" Nick asked.

"I'm waiting for him to call me with flight details," Sara told her friend. Hopefully, Grissom would have that information today. He had several lectures scheduled right before Christmas, so he hadn't been quite sure when he'd be able to get away.

"What are you guys planning for Christmas?" Nick asked as he finished bagging the last of the evidence.

"Just a quiet day with the two of us," Sara replied. "Catherine invited us to come over, but we decided to celebrate at our house this year."

"Uh-huh," Nick grinned knowingly. "Celebrate is right." He waggled his eyebrows up and down at Sara.

"Nick!" Sara blushed, but before she could respond her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller I.D. and her grin nearly split her face in two. "Hi," she answered softly, walking away from Nick and heading for the front door.

Nick chuckled softly. He knew by the tone of Sara's voice that it was Grissom on the other end of the line. He was glad to see Sara find happiness; he didn't know anyone that deserved it more.

Outside, Sara walked across the dusty, sandy yard and leaned against the crime lab's large black SUV. "I miss you," she said into the phone with a sigh.

"I miss you, too, Sara," Grissom replied. "It's almost Christmas and then I'll be in Vegas to celebrate with you." Their current arrangement of Vegas and Paris worked well most of the time, but he missed curling under the blankets with Sara at the end of the day and feeling her soft warm skin pressed against his. He was the one sighing this time, but he pulled himself back to the present when he realized Sara was speaking to him. "What was that, Dear?"

"Do you have your flight information yet?" Sara pushed away from the side of the car and opened the passenger side door. She rummaged through the glove compartment for a pen and a piece of paper.

"Yes, I booked my flight this morning. Do you have paper?" Grissom asked.

Sara settled herself in the passenger seat and placed the piece of paper on her thigh. "I'm ready." She held her pen poised over the sheet of paper and waited for Grissom to give her his flight information.

"I'll be arriving at seven a.m. Christmas morning on American Airlines Flight 174; we have a short layover in New York before we continue on to Vegas." Grissom couldn't keep the smile off of his face at the thought of seeing Sara. He could hear the happiness in Sara's voice when she repeated the information back to him.

"American Airlines Flight 174 from New York arriving at seven a.m. on Christmas morning." Sara leaned back in the seat and made herself comfortable. "I can't wait to see you. I went shopping at Victoria's Secret yesterday." She grinned saucily at the phone even though her husband couldn't see her.

Grissom groaned into the phone. "I miss you, Sara, and you shouldn't tease me like that."

Sara laughed, but was suddenly lonesome. In a city full of people with good friends like Nick and Greg around, she ached with loneliness. The only person who could fill the void inside of her was on the other side of the world. "Christmas will be here before we know it," she said, trying to boost her spirits.

Gil sighed. "Three weeks." There was silence for a moment as they both contemplated the lonely days ahead of them. "I can't get there any sooner, Sara. My schedule is booked."

"I can't make it to Paris right now," Sara commiserated. "It looks like we'll just have to wait."

The minutes, days, and hours crawled by for Sara. She kept herself busy by decorating the townhouse for Christmas and planning a menu for a romantic Christmas dinner for two. She went grocery shopping and bought all of her husband's favorite things. Christmas Eve morning when she got off of work, Sara gathered her cleaning supplies and cleaned the house from top to bottom. When she finished and put her supplies away, she flopped down on the couch and turned on the television, willing the rest of the day to go by quickly.

Sara must have dozed off. When she woke up, a news report was on. The reporter, an African-American woman in her early thirties, was speaking of a horrific tragedy in France. Sara sat up and tucked her hair behind her ears, her eyes glued to the television.

"Although the explosion at the Parisian airport happened several hours ago, not much information is known at this time."

Sara gripped the cushions of the couch tightly in her fists; her breath came in short gasps as she leaned forward closer to the TV. Gil would have been at the airport in Paris several hours ago.

To Be Continued....