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It was that time of year again, the annual masked ball for the Las Vegas Crime Lab. It was a time of year that most dreaded,
it was mandatory. The rule was that you could not go as the same thing twice in a row, and that made the team members scramble for their costumes and masks. Jim had already thought of what he would go as, so had Nick, Warrick, Greg, Grissom, Catherine,
Doc Robbins, even the elusive lab linguist, Uter had thought up a costume. The only one without a costume was Sara. She was at a total loss as to what she should go as. Brass had kept his choice from her, kept safely hidden away in his attic.
As the day rapidly approached, Sara was in a mad scramble for a costume that no one would ever recognize her in. She was sitting on her couch when it came to her. She had better act quickly, the party was in two days and she had to find a store that would accommodate her idea. She found one, and just in time. She purchased all the necessary attire and hid it at her place, in her closet.
Since she and Jim had started dating, they both realized that they had this weird sort of mind meld thing going on. They would finish each other's sentences. They would both have the same thoughts at the same time, etc. Sara took this as a good sign, while on the other hand, Jim thought it was kind of scary. He did not like the fact that she could read his mind more often than not.
The days flew by and the night of the party, Sara had opted to dress, and drive herself to the party, as did Jim. They wanted to see if they could recognize each other while in costume. Jim donned his best Lucky the Leprechaun outfit and departed for the banquet hall. When he arrived he noticed that Grissom was already there, he was dressed as a giant cockroach. Nick was also there, dressed as The Phantom of the Opera. Warrick and Catherine went as Raggedy Ann and Andy. Greg went as Grissom, which took some doing, considering he had to wear the glasses and dye his hair; he used a pillow to simulate Grissom's paunch. Grissom, seeing Greg, was none too pleased. He shot him an oddly scary look. Doc Robbins went as J. Edgar Hoover, in drag. Uter, the elusive German lab linguist arrived in a pair of lederhosen, looking like he should be on some hill top in the Austrian Alps.
The party was well under way as the day shift arrived and made their rounds. Brass was standing by the bar as he noticed a figure in the doorway of the banquet hall. The person was dressed to the nines as an ice hockey goalie; padding, gloves, jersey with the name "Gretzky" on the back of it, full face mask, mouth guard and even skates with blade guards and a goalie's stick. He thought to himself that this person must have spent a small fortune on their costume and pitied them, for it was probably the only time they would wear it.
He looked at his watch and noticed that it was getting to be a bit more than fashionably late and decided to call Sara and see what was up. He pulled out his cell and dialed. The phone rang and rang, but no one answered. Maybe she was already on her way and didn't want to talk and drive at the same time; she was always griping at Jim when he did it. She said it was unsafe and that it was a distraction and would likely contribute to an accident, and she didn't want to have to identify him at the morgue, just because he was driving and using his cell at the same time.
He was at the bar next to the goalie, watching them dump their drink into a squirt bottle like they used during games. Man,
he thought, this person thought of everything. They even glued a puck to their stick face. He was truly impressed by the lengths this person went to not to be recognized. He watched as the goalie walked away, he watched the skates and the person seemed to have really good balance, they were walking perfectly. He watched as they walked over to Grissom and struck up a conversation. The conversation seemed to be fairly deep, Grissom was gesturing wildly as his cockroach arms swung about violently.
Jim had yet to see Sara and was beginning to become worried. She had said she was coming, but he had no idea what to look for. He watched as Greg and Grissom shot each other looks from across the room. Jim was busy looking at his watch when he accidentally bumped into the goalie. They didn't even budge, he was truly impressed, if it had been him in that get up; he probably would have fallen over in a second.
"My apologies, I was distracted." He said apologetically
"No problem." Answered the goalie
"You seem to have really good balance on those things." He said pointing to the skates
"Well, I just lean on the stick a bit and that helps too." The goalie answered
Jim looked intently at the full face mask. It covered their entire face, only eye holes and some venting for breathing were open space. He stared into the goalie's eyes and immediately he knew it was Sara. He never would have guessed she would go to such lengths not to be recognized, but he knew it was her, nonetheless. He decided he would try a little game. Since he knew it was her, he would have some fun with it. He would proposition her. He knew it was her when he heard her voice, even through the mouth guard, but only fully realized it when he looked in her eyes. He wanted to see what she would do, but first he had to get himself some liquid courage. He offered her a drink and they walked to the bar together. She poured her drink onto her squirt bottle and he took his in his hand and they both walked out to the terrace.
It was a warm night out, a little too warm for a Vegas night and definitely too warm for Sara to be wearing all that equipment. Jim knew she had to be suffering under all that padding and face mask and skates. She dare not remove any of her costume, for any bit of her flesh would reveal her. She could not take off her gloves; her hands were small and pale. She could not take her skates off; her feet were small and feminine, and she certainly could not take her mask off until midnight. She had trapped herself. She was beginning to curse her idea to come as a hockey player.
They sat on a bench at the corner of the terrace; maybe she would be able to catch a nice stiff breeze as it passed by the building. She tilted her head back and squirted some of her drink into her mouth. Inevitably, some of it ran down the front of her jersey and she would end up going home smelling of liquor. Jim laughed to himself as he watched her discomfort. He wanted to tell her that he knew it was her, but he was having too much fun watching her squirm. Jim looked down at his watch as the hour marker went off and indicated that it was 11:pm. He looked up and at Sara.
"One more hour." He said
"One more hour till what?" she asked
"Till, you can take your mask off and I can see who is under there." He said nonchalantly.
Sara did not answer. She suspected that he knew it was her and she would not let him get the better of her. She had to think quickly. She got up and headed back inside to the rest of the team. She met up with Nick and Greg, who were amusing themselves with Grissom's costume. They kept pulling at his limbs when Sara spoke out and said,
"Hey, now, leave the bug alone."
"I'm not a bug, I'm a Madagascar Hissing Beetle." Grissom growled at her
"You look like a bug to me." she said
"And you look like someone who spent way too much on their costume." He snapped
He looked at her intently and tried to figure out who was behind the mask and under all the padding. He was baffled. Nick and Greg winked at her and she knew that they knew it was her. As Nick turned to walk away, he whispered in her ear,
"Great costume, Sar."
He and Greg walked towards the bar and she turned to see them walk away, leaving her to the intense scrutiny of Grissom, who was now full blown staring at her.
"Confused?" she asked
"Yes." He answered
"Well, that's the best place for a scientist to be." She said as she turned and walked away.
He scratched his antennae and it hit him. She was good, by far the best. He was impressed. He should have figured it out sooner, but the mouth guard had him stumped. Her speech was slurred and he could barely understand a word she said. Sara looked up at the clock on the wall and decided to make her exit. She turned to see if Jim was looking at her. He was occupied with Uter, who was now even more verbally incomprehensible than usual. She made a dash for the parking lot and as she sat in her car, she stripped herself of her skates, gloves and mask. She drove home and made it just as her watch marked the midnight hour.
The clock rang out and the whole crew removed their masks, but Sara was nowhere to be found. Jim looked everywhere when he ran into Uter, babbling something about a hockey player almost knocking him over on their way out. That's when Jim realized she had left the party, lest he figure her out. He walked through the lot and to his truck. He drove to Sara's apartment and as he parked in her visitor's spot, he looked in her car to see the gloves, mask and skates lying on the front seat. He smiled widely as he walked up to her door and pulled her key from his pocket and unlocked the door. He crept quietly into her apartment and to her bedroom. She was asleep, in bed, wearing a shirt he had never seen before. The shirt proudly stated that she was a Wisconsin Badgers Ice Hockey fan. He grinned as he undressed himself and slipped into bed next to her. He scooted up behind her and draped his arm around her waist. She stirred slightly and rolled over to see him staring at her. She smiled and asked him what he was grinning about.
"What are you grinning about?" she asked
"Oh, nothing, I met someone really interesting at the party, that's all." He said
"Oh, really, who?" she asked
"Someone came in dressed as Wayne Gretzky." He said
"Really, that sounds fascinating." She said sleepily
"That's not the thing of it, the thing is that they had his name on their jersey, but they were carrying a goalie's stick. Wayne's not a goalie." He explained
"And you're telling me this because,?" she said slightly annoyed
"Well,it just struck me as curious, that's all." He said with a certain mount of satisfaction in his voice.
Sara smiled at him and sighed.
"How long did it take you?" she asked "Actually, it took a while. You were doing so well on those skates and the mouth guard was a real nice touch, but what gave it away, was the eyes. Your eyes always tell me the truth." He said lovingly
She tilted her head up and met his lips with hersfor a brief kiss before they both slipped into a slightly alcohol induced slumber.
The End